Assembly

Installing the motherboard is quick, as you just have to screw it down. As you can see, the rear fan is much closer to the CPU cooler than in other cases. A 140 mm top down cooler will most certainly collide with the fan, as most cooler manufacturers aim to keep clear of the memory slots to the right of the CPU socket.


The included hard drive trays are of very good quality and work quite well. While you have to use some of the included screws to hold an SSD in place, a 3.5" drive just snaps right down, thanks to the embedded metal pins.


Once filled, simply slide the trays into the bays of your choice until they snap in-place. Regardless which type of hard drive is installed, or even if the tray is left empty, things hold quite well.


To install the optical drive, you do not really need to pull off the entire front, but I have done so to reveal the 140 mm fan in the front of the chassis. Rhanks to covers with long prongs on the inside, simply popping them out is quite easy without disassembling the chassis.


With the bay free, just slide the drive into place and the plastic lock will take care of the rest. It is strong enough to hold the unit well enough. To release the drive, just pull on the tab of the locking mechanism and push the ODD out the front again.


You will have to use normal screws to secure the power supply. The thing I noticed is the amount of force needed to push the unit into place, as it is an extremely tight fit. I am not sure if this just an issue with the sample or if Corsair has not allowed for more play in general. In the end everything fits just fine, so this is just a small annoyance.


With everything installed, the Corsair Carbide 300R makes a adequate impression in terms of cable management. Since the chassis lacks rubber grommets, you can still see the cables everywhere. Most of them are routed behind the motherboard tray as well.

Finished Looks

Closed up, the Corsair Carbide 300R looks quite spiffy. The drive bay is hugged nicely by the two outward edges of the front, while the white LEDs are, as always, a nice touch.


Naturally everything in the front is easily accessible. The same goes for the back, especially since the fan is no longer blocking the rear I/O of the mainboard tray for example. You can clearly see that the two openings of the side panel line up perfectly with the expansion slots of the motherboard, giving you the possibility to cool graphics cards with additional fans if you wish.


Taking a quick peek at the top, one can clearly see all the internal components and the grey optical drive. A dust filter would have blocked the view a bit, giving the chassis a more solid look in this area.