Wednesday, October 28th 2015
Corsair Unveils the Carbide Series 88R Micro-ATX Chassis
Corsair unveiled the Carbide Series 88R micro-ATX tower chassis. Although made from steel with plastic and brushed aluminium-like inserts, the case is designed to be affordable and targeted at the micro-ATX gaming build crowd. To begin with, the 88R has a conventional, roomy layout, with a bottom-oriented PSU bay, and a high-clearance forward area. The motherboard tray serves up a 383 mm of clearance for video cards (even a lengthy R9 295X2 should fit), up to 150 mm for the CPU cooler, and up to 160 mm for the PSU.
Storage areas include a single 5.25-inch drive bay, and two each of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch trays. Its cooling system includes two 120 mm front intakes, which can hold on to 240 mm long radiators, two 120 mm top exhausts, and a 120 mm rear exhaust. Front-panel connectivity includes one each of USB 3.0, USB 2.0/1.1 ports; and HDA audio jacks. Measuring 440 mm x 198 mm x 378 mm (DxWxH), the case weighs 3.65 kg. It is priced at US $49.99.
Storage areas include a single 5.25-inch drive bay, and two each of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch trays. Its cooling system includes two 120 mm front intakes, which can hold on to 240 mm long radiators, two 120 mm top exhausts, and a 120 mm rear exhaust. Front-panel connectivity includes one each of USB 3.0, USB 2.0/1.1 ports; and HDA audio jacks. Measuring 440 mm x 198 mm x 378 mm (DxWxH), the case weighs 3.65 kg. It is priced at US $49.99.
13 Comments on Corsair Unveils the Carbide Series 88R Micro-ATX Chassis
The N200 is basically identical, while having build quality that is as good as or better than this Corsair case. The direct airflow path to the GPU was done in the N200; the 2 vertically placed SSDs are also in the exact same position. A 240mm rad can easily be placed in the front too.
There's no window in the N200 but it does get better ventilation, even with the 120mm side mount covered up. Here, the front intake is reminiscent of the H440, and perhaps even worse (at least you could take the mesh out in the H440 for some more airflow), and there is no ventilation on the side.
Corsair must have an excellent Marketing operation though because their cases always get a lot of attention, contrary to the best mid tower now available (CM 690 III) which hardly gets mentioned.
Fan controllers comes in 3.5" and if you need an OD most externals are as good as the internal ones.
I'm not being a smart@ss (at least not more than usual), I am genuinely curious.
The aqua aero also only comes in 5.25"
They should realize there is a market for that, and not everyone chooses MATX because of budget constraints, some people do that because they don't need massive towers but they still want something with some thought put into it and some nice design - no 350d or CaseLabs S5 don't cut it... That's why Apple has so many fans, because they make nice looking things.