I am probably one of the few people actually downgrading my case size, as I came from one of the monster Azza Genesis cases being sold back in 2012, but mine developed a few cracks, so alas it was time to upgrade, and I wound up going with this.
Positives: Case is very roomy. Outstanding airflow. Cable management options are excellent, plenty of tie down points. Unlike most cases, the back panel fits on in such a way that it allows PLENTY of room for you to hide cables behind motherboard tray. Also, unlike some other cases I looked at, SSDs mount vertically in the back part of the case, so if you have all SSDs and no HDDs, you can remove the hard drive cages, mount two additonal fans at bottom of the case, and have nothing but open air between the front of the case and your cpu/expansion cards, with no cables in the way whatsoever. I also love the fact that the doors are screw-less. I read reviews that other people had issues with warped doors both front and back, and trouble with the doors latching, but thankfully I had none of those issues. My doors slide in and out of place like butter, yet stay firmly latched unless I physically lift the latch. I guess I was one of the lucky ones. Regarding the complaints that the case is made of cheap material, to me, the material did feel lightweight, BUT it still felt sturdy. I was completely comfortable moving it from one spot to another, by gripping the outer lips at the top of the case both front and back. I actually like that its lightweight. It's so much easier to move than my last case. Plus, my temps run cooler than they did in my Genesis case, and I'm sure the lightweight material has a lot do with that. Last but definitely not least, I LOVE the filters in this case. One on top, one on front, two on bottom. They are super easy to pull out and clean.
Negatives: Only had small issues, not enough to knock an overall star off for. As other mentioned, the case fan speed defaults to the highest setting when you turn the computer on, and it's pretty loud and powerful. I wish it would stay where you last put it, but just a minor detail. I just automatically hit the switch a couple of times after I hit the power button. The only relatively big negative that I had is that if you have large fat hands like I do, it's not very easy to install expansion cards, especially if you're installing a very high end graphics card such as the 1080 ti. There is maybe a half inch of space between the top of the brackets and the outer shroud of the case and if you don't aim the thumbscrew just right, it's very easy to drop the screw into crevices on your motherboard, or even worse, into the shroud of the video card's fan like I did. I did that several times and probably removed and reinstalled my video card ten times before I gave up and asked my wife (who has very small hands) to screw those thumbscrews in for me. I highly recommend having a magnetic screw driver handy when installing the expansion cards so you can easier grab screws that drop. If anyone has tips to make this process easier, I'm listening.
Other thoughts: Even with the issue I had installing the expansion cards, I highly recommend this case, especially if you're not ready to make the jump to liquid cooling and prefer good old fashioned air cooling like I do. You aren't going to get much better than this when it comes to good airflow. For those complaining that the one filter on top isn't enough, in most cases, the top fans are meant to be exhaust fans, so we're lucky that corsair even including a filter on top. This is the first case I've seen that even had a filter in that location, and if you're getting dust around that area despite the top fans being exhaust fans, you've probably got too many exhaust fans in your case and not enough intake fans (negatively pressurized case). Bottom line, I was hesitant to get this case because of a few of the other reviews, especially the ones that mentioned the case being flimsy, but I took a chance and I'm really glad I did. No regrets on buying this case. I expect to have this for years to come.
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
