Review on CORSAIR Carbide Mid Tower Quiet Gaming by Bill Howard

This is the first Corsair case I've bought having bought half a dozen Antec cases over the last 20 years. I was looking for something reasonably quiet and durable material with the right amount of metal to resist RFI and EMI - in other words, without the tempered glass that's all the rage these days. My work machine is housed in a Corsair 330R case, which I thought was decent but wasn't available, so I decided to buy the 275Q instead. The construction is sufficient. Fit and finish are good. I have had cases with thicker plates and heavier construction but have avoided lighter cases. The sound deadening material feels a little flimsy compared to my other cases, but it's there. There is not enough space between the bottom of the motherboard tray and the side panel. Some wiring needs to be routed here, but straight out of the box the wiring has been pressed into the sound-absorbing material in a way that leaves a lasting impression. Most of the edges have been rounded off nicely (important for wiring), but nothing hides the sharp threads on the motherboard standoffs. The 3.5-inch bays have thin plastic shells and don't vibrate. A lot of new builds these days don't have a spinning disc so they don't care. But if you're looking to fit cheap storage, it might not be as quiet as you'd expect. The 3.5-inch models are mounted so you have plenty of room on the drive connector side, unlike many other cases that require right-angle connectors or sharply bent cables. The PWM repeater instead occupies one of the 2.5"..2 mounting points on the motherboard. The real problem is that the PWM repeater's input cable was too short to reach any of the fan headers on my motherboard. I don't overclock and I only use two stock fans and my MB has two fan headers so I was able to eliminate the PWM follower but if I was planning on using it as part of my build I'd get upset over such a careless oversight - the fans themselves were long enough to reach the MB connectors after disconnecting them from the PWM repeater.The front is plastic and difficult to remove.So much for reducing EMI.The top has a nice metal grille but the front is wide open I think if I put a big heatsink in there it might be of use, but I don't overclock and don't use liquid cooling so it wasn't in my plans.. not very l iron. There are no special air ducts or partitions inside. The reduced number of 3.5" bays will not be an issue for many newer builds and will allow for more flexible cooling options. This should also give the manufacturer the opportunity to save material. The $90-$100 base case where this case is currently priced suggests it needs to be something more than that.