Corsair has announced two new chassis: the Carbide 330R and the Carbide Air 540. The two cases aim to have good cooling abilities while still maintaining low noise levels.
The Carbine 330R follows the traditional tower-design. It is an affordable tower that still carries some sound dampening features. The chassis can house up to E-ATX size motherboards, up to four 3.5" or 2.5" drives, and has room for up to five fans. Both the front and the top of the enclosure can hold up to two 140 mm fans; the rear of the case can hold a 120 mm fan. The interior of the case is fitted with sound dampening material in a number of locations. External connectivity is taken care of by a pair of USB 3.0 ports as well as a microphone and headphone jack.
"Corsair cases are known for being good looking, easy to build, and highly configurable," commented Thi La, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Memory and Enthusiast Component Products at Corsair. "The Carbide Air 540 and 330R cases build on this tradition with Direct Airflow Path layouts for even better cooling and quieter operation."
The Carbide Air 540 is a much more unique enclosure. Essentially, the chassis has two spaces: one main part and another part behind the motherboard tray. In the part where the motherboard is housed, the airflow is built to be as direct as possible. No hard drives, power supply, or optical drive bays are placed here -- only the motherboard, CPU, graphics card and any other possible expansion cards. The second compartment of the enclosure houses the power supply, hard drives or SSDs, as well as the optical drives and cable clutter. The case will support graphics cards up to 320 mm long as well as either six 120 mm fans or five 140 mm fans. There is also plenty of room for water cooling. External connectivity is handled by a pair of USB 3.0 ports as well as a microphone and headphone jack.
Corsair's Carbide 330R will retail with an MSRP of $89.99, while the Carbide Air 540 will cost $139.99. Both of the units are already available in select retail channels.
