Let's talk about Corsair's cases for a minute

[OhNoesItsDobby]

I'd imagine 90% of people today who have ever sat down at a keyboard have at least heard Corsair's name be mentioned at some point in a given discussion about PCs. They do make some freaking amazing stuff, and I was really impressed with their Computex lineup this year thanks to their new cases and GPU water cooling bracket. However, this is also the exact reason I've started to be a bit put off by them.

 

My main gripe is with one of the cases they announced at Computex, the Air 240. I loved the design and aesthetic of the Air 540, and would almost certainly have got one, had it not been a big, bulky E-ATX case. So naturally as soon as I heard about the 240 I immediately thought my prayers had been answered.

Now, at this point there's not much information at all about the finer details of the Air 240, such as its drive capacity and such, but from just looking at images of it, such as this one, you can clearly see the internal layout of the motherboard chamber is very compact, having barely enough space for the 2 GPUs, and is so narrow that the usual 120mm rear fan is replaced by a pair of what look to be 80mm ones. From this, you'd imagine that the clearance for air cooling CPU heatsinks isn't that great, which begs the question; Why bother making an 'Air' case that has no hope of fitting any decent regular-sized air cooler? In every single Computex image I can find, the Air 240 has a liquid cooler + radiator fitted, and this is exactly where my issue lies. It may well be just me that is bothered by this, but why does every single case that Corsair release have to sacrifice air cooling potential just to cater to water cooling support?

 

Processors from both the blue and red team at the moment are some pretty powerful pieces of hardware even at stock, and to be quite honest don't need overclocking, or therefore strong water cooling. Obviously there are still plenty of people who want to squeeze the utmost performance from their hardware, and that's totally fine, water cooling is right up your alley. But there are still a lot, like moi, who feel it just isn't necessary, and that while the CPU is plenty strong on its own with no OCing, would like to get a decent air cooler purely for the sake of silence and/or hardware health.

 

I had the exact same gripe back in January when Corsair came out with the 250D. It ticked every single box for me, but the one thing that instantly put me off was that they just had to shoehorn in the 240mm rad mount on the side, which simply doesn't seem necessary for a case where space is already at such a premium. Though it only applies to me personally, the same goes for the 450D. It would've been an instant buy for me, but the extra height added on by the space in the top for water cooling rads made it too tall for my desk, so no dice. The only case that I did really like in this regard was the 380T, since it has fairly open front-to-back airflow with meshed, filtered panels all-round, with enough apparent internal space for a rear 120mm fan mount AND a regular-sized CPU heatsink.

 

Again, it might just be me that gets really bothered by this, but if my only other option is sticking with the stock cooler, I still don't want to spend £100 on an H100i and some noisy high-pressure fans just to keep my CPU cool when a decent, quiet air cooling heatsink for less than half the price will do the same job. I also am aware there are plenty of low-profile coolers out there, and the only one that ever really stood out to me was Noctua's NH-L9i, but... that fan colour.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love Corsair's stuff just as much as the next guy, but TL:DR, their insistence on water cooling support everywhere when it isn't necessarily needed is really beginning to put me off their newest stuff, to the point where I actually wouldn't consider the Air 240 to be an air-cooling friendly case.

 

What do you guys think? Does Corsair have enough water-cooling friendly cases already? Or is this something people want to be standard everywhere?

[Goldilock]

water cooling is industry standard, I can get some 50 USD with a ton of fan slot like 10 slots but doesn't have radiator support.

 

Plus you can get into water cooling cheaper than it  used to be.

[ShadowCaptain]

 

 

What do you guys think? Does Corsair have enough water-cooling friendly cases already? Or is this something people want to be standard everywhere?

 

Both options as standard, frankly corsair have such a wide range of cases I dont think there is any room to complain, they have cheap medicore cases, tiny cases and the biggest cases, they cater to almost any configuration

[OhNoesItsDobby]

Both options as standard, frankly corsair have such a wide range of cases I dont think there is any room to complain, they have cheap medicore cases, tiny cases and the biggest cases, they cater to almost any configuration

On the flipside though, with such a massive range of cases with WC support already, it doesn't seem like they'd hurt much by omitting it from even one new case.

[Nineshadow]

I can add a 240 rad on top of my 200r with some modding.

A thin one though.

[ShadowCaptain]

On the flipside though, with such a massive range of cases with WC support already, it doesn't seem like they'd hurt much by omitting it from even one new case.

 

Not sure, I mean if they dedicated a case to air, and perhaps went all out including full quiet edition fans, perhaps really 99% of pc users are not enthusiasts and corsair are trying to sell their products by making them appealing

 

If that means forcing water cooling into everything for marketing then they will do that. As much as they are pc enthusiasts at heart they are still doing it to make money. It is a business.

[Enderman]

 It may well be just me that is bothered by this, but why does every single case that Corsair release have to sacrifice air cooling potential just to cater to water cooling support?

Are you blind? Have you not seen the shit ton of other cases corsair has released that DO support tower coolers? 900D, 750D, 760T, 780T, etc...

Obviously you cannot seem to conceive the fact that a small form factor case does not have room for a tower cooler. Water coolers are just as affordable as air coolers, some even less than $50. If you seriously cannot afford that, then why buy a $150 case.

Also just because the product name is 'Air' doesn't mean it needs to be compatible with every air cooler. The 'Air' stands for air flow, which it has. If you want an air cooler in it you can find small towers that will fit, obviously not a NH-D15.

[Corsair George]

Are you blind? Have you not seen the shit ton of other cases corsair has released that DO support tower coolers? 900D, 750D, 760T, 780T, etc...

Obviously you cannot seem to conceive the fact that a small form factor case does not have room for a tower cooler. Water coolers are just as affordable as air coolers, some even less than $50. If you seriously cannot afford that, then why buy a $150 case.

Also just because the product name is 'Air' doesn't mean it needs to be compatible with every air cooler. The 'Air' stands for air flow, which it has. If you want an air cooler in it you can find small towers that will fit, obviously not a NH-D15.

 

You have hit on it. The Air 240 was designed to be compact with high airflow. Growing a SFF case to fit a 160mm+ tall CPU cooler is not logical for us. If you want to fit a large tower cooler, there are numerous bigger SFF options like the BitFenix Prodigy or the Aerocool Dead Silence thing. 

[Enderman]

You have hit on it. The Air 240 was designed to be compact with high airflow. Growing a SFF case to fit a 160mm+ tall CPU cooler is not logical for us. If you want to fit a large tower cooler, there are numerous bigger SFF options like the BitFenix Prodigy or the Aerocool Dead Silence thing. 

Thanks man, I'm glad you've joined our forum! Welcome

[jmaster299]

On the flipside though, with such a massive range of cases with WC support already, it doesn't seem like they'd hurt much by omitting it from even one new case.

Except that Corsair no longer supports air cooling though. They abandoned their air CPU coolers a couple of years ago now and push only liquid cooling options. So while some people may not like it, it makes perfect sense for Corsair to push liquid cooling in their cases. The Air 540 and 240 are a bit deceptive in their product name. They promote air flow through the case by moving the components that don't require cooling to a separate part of the case, but the case itself still favors the use of radiators.

[Flaming Brain]

Liquid cooling has gone from a fringe sect of builders to a much more common cooling technique. Thanks to companies like Corsair for promoting LC for the masses by giving people simple inexpensive options.  (ok that sounds like a commercial but really just my observations )   I certainly believe as more companies adopt LC techniques (calling all GPU mfrs!) that LC will be even more prevalent, the cost will go down and adoption will go up even further.  Recently I purchased an h100i from Amazon for $74 and that was cheaper than the going rate of the D-14, so the sealed units are giving the exotic air a run for the their money.

All that being said I think that some case design can certainly be improved utilizing the space available a bit better.  Fitting an h100i into a 250d with the hoses by the front fan w/o kinking them much is a case in point.

[OhNoesItsDobby]

Are you blind? Have you not seen the shit ton of other cases corsair has released that DO support tower coolers? 900D, 750D, 760T, 780T, etc...

"is really beginning to put me off their newest stuff" - Key word there being newest. And I only talked about the smaller cases in my OP.

 

Perhaps I should elaborate more;

 

 

You have hit on it. The Air 240 was designed to be compact with high airflow. Growing a SFF case to fit a 160mm+ tall CPU cooler is not logical for us. If you want to fit a large tower cooler, there are numerous bigger SFF options like the BitFenix Prodigy or the Aerocool Dead Silence thing. 

See, this is the thing. I realise the 240 is supposed to be SFF, which is awesome since the 540 was pretty chunky, but it just peeved me that it's great for air cooling every component except the CPU. Space efficiency was clearly the focal point, I just think it's a shame to have what seems such a glaring omission, and like I said in my OP, that was the dealbreaker for me. Fractal managed 160mm of CPU cooler clearance in the Node 804 by simply having it a bit wider than it otherwise could've been. The only reason I would choose it over the Air 240 would be its hardware support.

 

The Air 540 and 240 are a bit deceptive in their product name. They promote air flow through the case by moving the components that don't require cooling to a separate part of the case, but the case itself still favors the use of radiators.

^ This is basically my point right here.

[Enderman]

See, this is the thing. I realise the 240 is supposed to be SFF, which is awesome since the 540 was pretty chunky, but it just peeved me that it's great for air cooling every component except the CPU. Space efficiency was clearly the focal point, I just think it's a shame to have what seems such a glaring omission, and like I said in my OP, that was the dealbreaker for me. Fractal managed 160mm of CPU cooler clearance in the Node 804 by simply having it a bit wider than it otherwise could've been. The only reason I would choose it over the Air 240 would be its hardware support.

The air 240 is mini-ITX while the Node 804 is micro-ATX. HUGE difference in size...

[AbeTrve]

The air 240 is mini-ITX while the Node 804 is micro-ATX. HUGE difference in size...

 

Now, at this point there's not much information at all about the finer details of the Air 240, such as its drive capacity and such, but from just looking at images of it, such as this one,

Welp. I clearly see two GPUs there.

[OhNoesItsDobby]

The air 240 is mini-ITX while the Node 804 is micro-ATX. HUGE difference in size...

Check again, the Air 240 is micro-ATX. 

[Corsair George]

The air 240 is mini-ITX while the Node 804 is micro-ATX. HUGE difference in size...

 

The Node 804 is about 41L in volume, the Air 240 is 33L, overall about 20% smaller. In person this is pretty significant. 

 

More importantly, the footprint of the Node 804 is 207 square inches, and Air 240 is 159 square inches. This is very noticeable on the desktop. 

 

The Node 804 and Air 240 are really designed to do completely different things. If you want or need a ton of drive capacity, the 804 is the better case. 

[Accursed Entity]

Is it me or the Air 240 has 4 pci slots right?

[airdeano]

@Accursed Entity

 

yes, most mATX cases use 4-PCI slots and some go the 5th is room allows.