A Closer Look - Inside

As previously mentioned, all panels, including the front, are covered by sound-insulating material. It is fairly thin, but quite dense. Taking a look at the interior, it becomes apparent that the entirety of the chassis's depth will be taken up by the motherboard and any liquid cooling, which allows for such compact dimensions.


Turning the chassis around, there are various cable-routing holes of which the major ones are covered by rubber grommets. Corsair made sure to include a large number of hooks to make cable management easy, and a large opening allows for unobstructed access to the CPU cooler's mounting bracket. You will also find a plastic contraption for up to three 2.5" drives here.


You may pull the front off the chassis, which reveals a lot of sound dampening material. Corsair also placed a 140 mm retail quality fan into the front, behind a large, removable dust filter, and you may install an additional 140 mm fan or remove the pre-installed fan to free enough space up for three 120 mm units or a 280 mm or 360 mm radiator.


What makes Corsair's new Carbide cases unique has also been included with the 400Q, as there is a plastic shroud that covers the PSU and hard-drives. It is made of two parts, so you could just remove the cove for the hard-drive bays or take both off. While the shroud makes sense for the 400C with its large window, having it in the 400Q is more of a "nice-to-have."


The cage for both 3.5" drives can be moved slightly should you want a thick radiator in front or need the space for something else. You can get to the trays through the other side of the chassis.


With the shroud and hard-drive cage removed, you can clearly see the mounting possibilities for the fans or a radiator in front.


The PSU bay on the bottom of the rear uses rubber spacers that have been glued into place as resting points for the power supply. Above that are the seven expansion slots with their own covers - each of these is held in place by a thumbscrew, which makes removing them a breeze. The 120 mm fan with its gray blades in the very top is set to push air out through the back.


There are only the fan/radiator mounts in the ceiling. The angle at which I took these pictures clearly shows how far these have been placed away from the motherboard tray, so you will not have to worry about a radiator interfering with any on-board coolers or components.


All the cables within the Corsair Carbide 400Q are sleeved black and are of the default variety. Not much to see here, so let's move right along.