Corsair Carbide Series 330R Quiet Case Review

1. Introduction2. Corsair Carbide 330R: Packaging & Bundle3. Corsair Carbide 330R: Exterior4. Corsair Carbide 330R: Interior5. System Installation6. Testing Methodology and Thermal Performance7. Acoustic Performance8. Closing Thoughts9. View All Pages

To put this case through its cooling paces we will be using a test system consisting of an AMD FX-8350, Gigabyte WindForce GTX 780 and multiple storage drives. This system allows us to produce a substantial amount of heat and effectively test the Corsair Carbide 330R‘s cooling capabilities.

For stress testing we use a mixture of Prime95 and FurMark to create the maximum heat output. Prime95′s ‘Small FFTs’ setting allows us to stress our CPU. FurMark’s ‘GPU Burn-in’ mode creates the maximum amount of load our GPU is ever likely to see.

Test System:

• Processor: AMD FX-8350.
• Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme9.
• CPU cooler: Thermaltake Frio (100% fan speed).
• Memory: 8GB Patriot Viper 2133MHz.
• Graphics card: Gigabyte GTX 780 WindForce OC (‘auto' fan setting).
• Power supply: Seasonic SS-760XP 760W Platinum-rated.
• Storage drives: 256GB SanDisk Ultra Plus (OS), 320GB Seagate 7200.12.
• OS: Windows 7 Professional with SP1 64-bit.

Thermal Performance Test Procedures:

• The case’s default fan configuration is used to give an accurate interpretation of the out-of-the-box performance.
• The Corsair Carbide 330R‘s default fan configuration is: 1x 140mm front, 1x 120mm rear.
• The fans are operating at full speed.
• We allow the system to idle for 15 minutes and record the stable temperatures.
• We allow the system to operate under extreme stress for 15 minutes and record the stable temperatures.

Room temperature was maintained at 21°C.

At idle, the Corsair Carbide 330R has no problem taming our test system's components. When a demanding load is applied to the graphics card and CPU, the 330R struggles to keep temperatures low, but at no point did we near the thermal thresholds of our components. A low-noise case with the ability to keep a GTX 780 below 80°C is actually fair performance.

Despite not receiving direct airflow and relying on pressure-infused circulation, the temperatures of our storage drives stayed below 30°C throughout testing. We would have no concerns regarding the safety of our components when using the Corsair Carbide 330R for an extended gaming session.

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