Corsair’s New Case

Redbeard said:
The prototype has uneven fan spacing up top, the final version will have the correct spacing for a triple 120mm radiator.

As for construction, making this entirely out of aluminum would have pushed the cost through the roof, so it's a combination of steel and aluminum.

Glad to see you guys like it so far. I've been lurking in the case & cooling forum for about 2 years now trying to come up with a cool design for it.

My job at Corsair is to have a hand in the creation of just about anything but the memory. Cases, Cooling, Power Supplies - I'm trying to listen to you guys and build what you want to buy.

This is not going to be a cheap case, retail will be $250-300 probably. Still working it out.

Shipping one of these things costs more than shipping 200 flash drives. heh.
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Coolermaster made a full aluminum case for $250, so I don't see why the cost would "shoot through the roof"

Besides it not being all aluminum, I quite like the way the case looks. I like how the inside is painted black. Also, I can't tell from the pics, but I do hope there a lot of holes for cable management.
 
E.E.L. Ambiense said:
Looking at the other photos, I'd say the spacing on the prototype is 15mm, so you're good with the Swifties, HWL, and Feser rads. But who knows what the final design will have. I doubt it will be 24.5mm for Thermochills though.
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The problem with radiators in general is that no one adheres to a set fan spacing standard. While its true Feser as switched to to the 15mm spacing of swiftech and XSPC, older Feser 120x3' were 17mm. And, TC used its oddball fan spacing, so unless Corsair wants multiple skews similar to say Mountain Mods, the default should probably be 15mm. Either way, this could turn out to be a really nice WC case.
 
Googling "Corsair new case" ran across this link, looks like from CeBIT itself with more pictures of the insides and front as well. Linky to case, looks like they do have the USB in front as well, just hidden behind a door like the hot swap drives. Seems like a solid case just I need more hard drive slots. :(
 
if its anything like the quality of the power supplies then I will say its worth your money.
 
E.E.L. Ambiense said:
Looking at other photos of the case on other sites with a mobo installed in it, I'd say a PA will easily drop in there with enough clearance no problem. But it will require modding anyways because of the fan-spacing up top, but that's expected with a Thermochill rad, right? ;)
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It shouldn't be expected with a Thermochill radiator. You can make the space dual purpose. It isn't that hard.
 
This is a great looking case. I'll be picking one up... I really should work on filling the spare chassis I have layng about instead of of buying new ones.
 
I definitely like the looks. For me, I could do without 5 x 5 1/4 bays. Perhaps 2 bays. A non-windowed case would be nice. Good stuff for sure.
 
arnemetis said:
The killer question for me is the fan spacing - will it use thermochill's unusual spacing, or the more common spacing of swiftech/feser/etc radiators? See what I'm talking about here. My first guess would be whatever corsair's own watercooling uses is what this case will have :confused:
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It isn't that hard to do. Just put an obround slot to cover both spacings and you should be fine.

It will look something like this:

_________
( + + )
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

That should pick up the 24.5mm spacing for the thermochill from center to center and everything else in between is 15mm spacing for the rest of the radiator group.
 
$250+ is far too much for this though, as others have said. $150 tops. An Antec P182 is a very similar layout, in steel. Another $25-30 over its regular selling price should /more/ than make up for the difference in materials cost if you're buying in bulk.

As is I can get an equally specced Lain Li for far, far less than $200, and there I'm paying at least some premium for the name. What's more, it's all aluminum and I know what I'm getting. They're proven. The PC-7B Plus II is $80 + $20 shipping at Newegg right now -- sure the Corsair has a bottom chamber and the 3 fan space on the top, but is that worth a $100 premium? I don't think so.
 
Omerta said:
Coolermaster made a full aluminum case for $250, so I don't see why the cost would "shoot through the roof"
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We could make a full aluminum case for $250, but not with the rest of the features we included and not in the size we wanted. There are trade offs - do we spend the extra money on aluminum instead of steel or do we spend it on hot swappable hard drive docks with a door easily accessible from the front.

Also, this case is a full tower, it's not really designed to be a Lan Party or portable case anyway, so the weight savings from aluminum would be negligible.
 
MrE said:
The problem with radiators in general is that no one adheres to a set fan spacing standard. While its true Feser as switched to to the 15mm spacing of swiftech and XSPC, older Feser 120x3' were 17mm. And, TC used its oddball fan spacing, so unless Corsair wants multiple skews similar to say Mountain Mods, the default should probably be 15mm. Either way, this could turn out to be a really nice WC case.
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True, but the so-called 'standard' is 15mm spacing. That's what the majority of manufacturers use now. The Feser issue was quickly fixed to their credit, although a few 17mm-spaced rads did get out. It's just the way it is. Majority rules, unfortunately. And that's coming from a Thermochill user too. Someone linked to rad templates earlier, which oddly enough is actually my work, but a lot of this is explained on that page about it. Corsair can 'slot' the top spacing to allow for 15-17mm spacing, but I don't see a clean way of adding 24.5mm spacing. Granted, none of that matters to me personally because I'd mod it even if it were solid up top. :) But I see the need for it for non-modders.

Maybe perhaps Corsair can sell the stock case with a solid top, as well as make a 'rad fan' top available for additional money?
 
Kill a couple of 5.25" bays and add a couple of harddrive bays instead of the 4 you have now and that would be good too. That way, you can cover the single drive solution, plus larger raid setup too.
 
Methadras said:
Kill a couple of 5.25" bays and add a couple of harddrive bays instead of the 4 you have now and that would be good too. That way, you can cover the single drive solution, plus larger raid setup too.
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There are mounts for 2 more HDD in the bottom chamber of the case, they just aren't included on the backplane.
 
If I were designing that case I would have gone with 2 5 1/4" external bays and the same 4 hot swap bays and then all the rest should be 3.5" internal bays for harddrives. I would also have a bank of 6 spots for 2.5" harddrives since that is the direction we are heading in.
 
E.E.L. Ambiense said:
True, but the so-called 'standard' is 15mm spacing. That's what the majority of manufacturers use now. The Feser issue was quickly fixed to their credit, although a few 17mm-spaced rads did get out. It's just the way it is. Majority rules, unfortunately. And that's coming from a Thermochill user too. Someone linked to rad templates earlier, which oddly enough is actually my work, but a lot of this is explained on that page about it. Corsair can 'slot' the top spacing to allow for 15-17mm spacing, but I don't see a clean way of adding 24.5mm spacing. Granted, none of that matters to me personally because I'd mod it even if it were solid up top. :) But I see the need for it for non-modders.

Maybe perhaps Corsair can sell the stock case with a solid top, as well as make a 'rad fan' top available for additional money?
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The spacing difference between a 24.5mm center-to-center spacing and 15mm center-to-center spacing is 4.5mm or .187" or 3/16" of an inch. Not that big of a deal in my opinion.
 
Redbeard said:
There are mounts for 2 more HDD in the bottom chamber of the case, they just aren't included on the backplane.
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Ah. To bad you couldn't extend the back plane to cover those as well. Are the PCA's already fabbed? I assume they are just from the initial prototype you've made from the looks of it. If not, extending the backplane PCA to cover the other 2 would be cool too, but I definitely understand if you couldn't do it.
 
Redbeard said:
The prototype has uneven fan spacing up top, the final version will have the correct spacing for a triple 120mm radiator.

As for construction, making this entirely out of aluminum would have pushed the cost through the roof, so it's a combination of steel and aluminum.

Glad to see you guys like it so far. I've been lurking in the case & cooling forum for about 2 years now trying to come up with a cool design for it.

My job at Corsair is to have a hand in the creation of just about anything but the memory. Cases, Cooling, Power Supplies - I'm trying to listen to you guys and build what you want to buy.

This is not going to be a cheap case, retail will be $250-300 probably. Still working it out.

Shipping one of these things costs more than shipping 200 flash drives. heh.
Click to expand...

It appears to be a great case!

I'd would purchase this case, however, I've got my eye on a different power supply. I'm diggin' on OCZ's 1K watt unit...but I'm sure your power box stacks up well against it.

Any chance we can get the case minus the PS?
 
ICOM said:
It appears to be a great case!

I'd would purchase this case, however, I've got my eye on a different power supply. I'm diggin' on OCZ's 1K watt unit...but I'm sure your power box stacks up well against it.

Any chance we can get the case minus the PS?
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The case isn't sold with the power supply included.

It was there for illustrative purposes.
 
I gottta wonder about the drive bay situation myself. I know (based on what I just read) that it's got the 4 hot swap bays, and 2 more underneath, but 5 optical bays? I've never EVER in decades of building and repairing machines EVER seen more than 2 drives in a desktop machine of any kind - people that are serious about duplicating discs for whatever reasons usually buy a SCSI or similar mini-tower designed for multiple drives, or they just own an external device with multiple optical drives in 'em.

And yes I know you can use those bays for all sorts of goodies (like system monitors, fan controls, etc) but... geez... 5? :)

With people wanting to add more and more hard drives, wouldn't say 3 opticals and space for 6 hot swaps with potentially 3 more down below seem a bit more obvious? No, I don't expect the whole project to be scrapped (how silly of me) but, perhaps in the future... maybe someday a poll here or at multiple forums would be a good idea, a survey of sorts into exactly what people might want in a case.

If Corsair is that committed to giving us what we want, I would say that's the best way to know for sure...
 
I think the black interior is a big +. Many people blacked out the inside of their Rocketfish tower cases, so having that already done is a nice bonus.
 
I like the fact that you are open to input. That's a rarity in itself.
 
E.E.L. Ambiense said:
I like the look of it, definitely. What's up with the uneven fan-spacing up top, or is it just me?
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I'm guessing the 2 closer fans are there to support a 2x120mm radiator, and the 3rd fan is spaced somewhat further away to accommodate the nozzles and tubing going to and from said radiator.
 
Currently what I have been looking at is something with exposed 5.25 bays, nice solid construction with minimal plastic, lots of big fans, and good internal layout with no front door, and no windows.

The door on the hotswap bays seems like a nice execution of a door wihout making me open and close stuff for an optical drive.

Most of what I have seen that fits the bill is between $150 and $240 with no PSU.

If it is $300 with a 100w PSU, I can't say it would be a bad deal compared to the competition. Heck, the coolermaster sniper is mostly plastic, and a corsair 100w PSU plus the case will run you $300.

However, if it has no CPU, street price better not break $200 unless there's something really special about it. If it hits $250 street price, it is running right into lain li and silverstone cases with good reputations and performance.
 
I'd buy it.

Ordering a Corsair 850 this Friday and the 6GB of DDR3 Dominator is pretty slick too.
 
raz-0 said:
Currently what I have been looking at is something with exposed 5.25 bays, nice solid construction with minimal plastic, lots of big fans, and good internal layout with no front door, and no windows.

The door on the hotswap bays seems like a nice execution of a door wihout making me open and close stuff for an optical drive.

Most of what I have seen that fits the bill is between $150 and $240 with no PSU.

If it is $300 with a 100w PSU, I can't say it would be a bad deal compared to the competition. Heck, the coolermaster sniper is mostly plastic, and a corsair 100w PSU plus the case will run you $300.

However, if it has no CPU, street price better not break $200 unless there's something really special about it. If it hits $250 street price, it is running right into lain li and silverstone cases with good reputations and performance.
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$250 sounds reasonable to me. Hot-swappable drive-bays, lots of cable management, simple and attractive aesthetics. A comparably-featured Lian Li case would be >$300 (the PC-A7010 for example).
 
Oh, and I agree with others who have stated that five 5 1/4" bays seems excessive these days.
 
Joe Average said:
I gottta wonder about the drive bay situation myself. I know (based on what I just read) that it's got the 4 hot swap bays, and 2 more underneath, but 5 optical bays? I've never EVER in decades of building and repairing machines EVER seen more than 2 drives in a desktop machine of any kind - people that are serious about duplicating discs for whatever reasons usually buy a SCSI or similar mini-tower designed for multiple drives, or they just own an external device with multiple optical drives in 'em.

And yes I know you can use those bays for all sorts of goodies (like system monitors, fan controls, etc) but... geez... 5? :)
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Top drive bay: DVD/Blu-ray
Empty drive bay.
Bottom two drive bays: WC Reservoir

;)
 
Wow... that sure is a beautifull looking case. As others have said, my only complaint would be the excess drive bays that come with EVERY damn case these days. I really only see 3 being put to use, and that's probably pushing it with the enthusiast crowd. I can definately see myself purchasing one of these, as just about everything else seems perfect for me. Yes, I even like the window. Putting a lot of time into cable management and not being able to see it is pointless IMO.

PS Redbeard: If you need someone to look it over look no further ;)
 
20729757414fc36ee2a3.jpg


Familiar, or very familiar? :D

But yes, it's quite nice.
 
Hmm, as long as this case could be bought (discounted) for no more than $199 (newegg?) I see a winner. And then also offer combo deal with some of your power supplies... I would be interested in buying one right now for my next build.
 
My positive take on this is the layout, what looks to be a tray design, and grommets on the tray as opposed to the slots as present on my p180. What bothers me is what looks to be air intake slots on the floor of the case directly in front of the PS. That plus sitting on a floor equals a choked air intake, but in my situation it means my computer now doubles as a dust buster. I am however interested, as I'm sure there is plenty of intake on the front end and I can make a blockoff plate for the bottom.

Kudos for PS on the bottom. Its why I bought my Antec.
 
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