Corsair Spec 04, CX750 & H60 – The Perfect System Starter Kit?

Final Thoughts

How Much Does it Cost?

Amazingly, the Corsair Carbide Series Spec-04 Tempered Glass chassis is available for just £55.99. You can get the older acrylic panel version for even less at just £47.52. However, I would pay the extra for the glass, it’s a much nicer looking chassis for very little extra investment. The addition of a Corsair H60 liquid cooler is just £69.94. However, you have lots of options here, as the older model is just £60, and you can get a dual fan version for under £70 too. Finally, we have the PSU. Priced at just £82.99 it’s pretty great value for the performance it offers. With 750W of power, it’ll run an overclocked CPU and any high-end GPU with ease. For an extra £15 though, you could get a less powerful 650W RM650X, but with Gold rated efficiency and fully modular cables. Overall, you’re looking at anywhere from £190.51 for the cheaper items here, to £208.92 for the ones we used, or £223.92 if you go for the RM650X PSU.

Overview

So, while today wasn’t about benchmarking or performance in any way, I still think there’s a lot to take away from this. With this “feature” I simply wanted to get some hardware together within a reasonable budget just to see what the final product or products would look like. I must admit, I’m pretty happy with the results and it might not have worked, but it certainly did. For those looking to invest in their first system build or even just give an older one a makeover, getting change from £200 for a quality power supply, liquid cooler and tempered glass chassis is pretty damn fantastic. Sure, you can do that with other brands too, and I suspect I’ll explore that in the coming weeks also.

What About Peripherals?

So as I’ve no doubt said a few times already, we did the first part of this feature a little while ago. For a budget of just £150, I got a Corsair mouse, mouse mat, keyboard, and headset. You can check out that feature here for more details. However, when you combine the totals, we’re still talking of all those peripherals, and the hardware explored today for under £350. Corsair’s flagship hardware can set you back £150+ for a keyboard, hundreds for a chassis, and £300+ for a PSU, and so on. However, for most gamers out there, you simply don’t need to, as I’ve demonstrated today.

Branding

I often test hardware in a mixed brand environment, I’ll have a soup of logos and testing hardware from test benches to anything else. It’s rare we see all of one brand together like this. I think there’s a certain zen to the aesthetics when everything matches like this. Sure, it’s not for everyone, and I myself run mixed brand hardware and peripherals. However, just like having the colours schemes match, having the matching brand does seem to add to the aesthetics quite a bit. Sure, you’re going to look like a massive fan-boy but who cares, haters gonna hate.

What Would You Do?

What changes would you make for around a similar budget? Think you can do better with a £350 budget for a headset, mouse, keyboard, chassis, PSU, and liquid cooler? Be that cheaper, better performance, better looks, it’s up to you. Let us know in the comments, and who knows, perhaps we’ll try put that build together in the coming weeks.