Corsair Carbide 400Q Mid-Tower Chassis Review

Peter Donnell / 9 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The 400C and the 400Q are unreleased at the time of writing this review. However, Corsair told us that you can expect an MSRP of $99 in the US and £79.99 in the UK. Check with your local and online retailers for stock or pre-orders, as they should be available anytime soon.

Overview

Corsair has absolutely knocked it out of the park once again. The 400Q ticks every box you would want in a mid-tower chassis and the same is no doubt true for the windowed side panel version, the 400C. The price isn’t particularly cheap, but given the additional features, it’s certainly competitive.

I love the 400Q, as the noise dampening materials and covered top panel are going to work wonders for reducing noise from the system. If you’re tired of hearing the higher pitched noises from your GPU and CPU coolers, then this will certainly take a lot of that away. Of course, if showing off your hardware is a big priority for you, and I’m sure it is for many gaming system builds, then the 400C and its huge side panel window will be ideal for that too. The interior of the chassis is gorgeous, with that tidy PSU shroud hiding all the less attractive hardware, and also aiding with a lot of the cable management, it’ll look great regardless of which model you choose.

A full-height dust filter on the front panel and another large filter on the base of the chassis will ensure your system is fed clean air, helping reduce the maintenance times. The top panel cover will help with this too, as it’ll prevent dust and debris from falling into the top of the chassis.

Airflow is very good overall, with a lot of ventilation at the front, without breaking up the clean look of that front panel. There’s optional ventilation at the top and a 120mm mount in the rear. If you want a quiet air-cooled system, this is perfect for it. If you want to open it up and fit more fans and radiators, you’ve got that option too, making it future upgrade proof.

Component compatibility is very high, with room for large PSUs thanks to the removable 3.5″ hard drive bay. GPU clearance is plentiful, so even the biggest graphics cards on the market won’t have any issues here. There’s enough room for thicker radiator designs, large CPU coolers and more. Overall, a lot of great features that will help you achieve a clean, well cooled and quiet system build.

Pros

Good build quality
Clean and stylish aesthetics
Washable and slide-out dust filters on all intakes
Two high-quality fans pre-installed
Removable top cover for additional cooler
Large GPU support
PSU shroud
Dedicated 2.5″ drive mounts
Excellent cable routing

Cons

None

Neutral

No 5.25″ drive mount, although I don’t know many people who’ve even used one in the last few years

“If you’re looking to build a quiet desktop or a flashy gaming rig, the 400C and the 400Q certainly have a lot to offer to any system build. Clean looks, quiet performance and an excellent interior layout that will make building your system as easy and enjoyable as possible.”