Corsair Carbide Series 100R case

When I received the go ahead and funding from Higher Headquarters (aka my Wife) to proceed with this: Custom Computer Build I had on my list a new tower computer case, however with all the other parts costing more than I anticipated I had to lower my expectations and features. What I found was this case::

Specifications:

Question: Is this a good case?

Answer: Yes for the price.

Question: Did you have any problems with the case?

Answer? Yes, two -

1.Over all the case is a good case however space inside for add on devices is limited, understandably because this is a mid sized tower not a full tower. The liquid coolant radiator will only fit in one mounting point, that is at the rear upper point beside the motherboard ports, the other mounting points are not useable with this cooing unit, however Corsair does offer a liquid coolant CPU heatsink/cooler.

2. The front panel usb / sound ports were non functional when connected to the motherboard, a quick call and an RMA resolved part of the problem. The USB 3 ports now work, there is sound from the headset jack however it has a lot of static. I would open a new RMA but have decided because the USB ports work not to bother with the front panel sound.

For the price I would think this case is a fair trade for the older Antec full tower I gave up. Why go with the new  ? Because the Antec tower is over 20 years old, the case innovative at the time I bought it (actually two of them) and has had many motherboards, drives, ect. in and out of it there is no provision for liquid cooling with out cutting up the case.

With five fans running constantly (the processor and video card create a lot of heat under stress) the case "vibrates", the hum is very annoying when not using a headset to drown it out. Such as while I am sitting here writing for this web site or my blog. To cut down on the noise I have put some rubber strips between the case covers and the case chase, this does dampen some of the vibrations. Why do the case covers and other parts vibrate? Thin sheet metal, the old Antec case was heavier steel, if I left the screws out of a cover it would vibrate also; however with the screws in place it didn't.

Something else I had to do to the case is to mount the fans with a small piece of rubber for each screw to keep the fans from causing vibrations also, when the computer was started it sounded like a jet engine with all the different sounds.

In conclusion I give this Corsair Carbide Series 100R case a 8 out of 10, why an 8?

Because the sheet metal it is made of is too thin. The thin sheet metal vibrates when a fan is mounted to/on it. Having worked on Aircraft for a long period of time I know that excessive vibrations will cause the metal to crack. The manufacture could have put the sheet metal thickness in it's specifications however how many people would know that 7 to 8mm sheet metal is very thin? The support from Corsair was above normal tech support these days, I give them a 10 out of 10, not only was the support person knowledgeable they were courteous and friendly. I received my replacement part if five days which is not too bad.

Would I recommend this Corsair Carbide Series 100R case?

Yes with these things in mid:

You are not putting a powerful motherboard and cpu in the case that needs liquid cooling. You are not using a video card that has a powerful 120Watt Graphics Processor. And you do not need more than three fans, that would be one for the CPU, one for the Power Supply, and the circulation fan that comes with the case.