Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 Review
Category : Cases
Published by Luca Rocchi on 03.05.17
The Carbide SPEC-04 is the latest mid-tower case from Corsair, which offers plenty of interior space in order to build gaming systems. Furthermore there is also enough space for small all-in-one water coolers on the front and at the rear. Apart from that, the Carbide SPEC-04 features quite an aggressive design and rather edgy lines. The Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 is available in three different color options for a price of 65 euro.
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Preview
Specifications
| Model: |
SPEC-04 |
| Case Type: |
Mid tower |
| Dimensions: |
201 mm (W) x 433 mm (H) x 492 mm (D) |
| Material: |
Steel, ABS |
| Color: |
Black |
| Drive Bay: |
5.25": |
0 |
| 3.5": |
3 |
| 2.5": |
2 |
| Expansion
slots: |
7 |
| Form factors: |
ATX, mATX, mini-ITX |
| Cooling: |
Front: |
2x 120mm / 2x 140mm (1x 120mm included) |
| Rear: |
1x 120mm / 1x 140mm |
| Top: |
2x 120mm |
| Bottom: |
/ |
| Side: |
/ |
| Watercooling |
Front: |
120mm / 140mm |
| Rear: |
120mm / 140mm |
| Top: |
/ |
| Link to the product: |
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Product overview
Overview |
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The Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 is a rather small mid-tower case with an aggressive design and rather edgy lines. The front, doesn't feature any 5.25" slots, in fact, there is only a large dust filter and behind it you find two fans. The top is quite simple and comes with a clean design with a big mesh. The I/O panel is placed on the right side of the front panel and it has been equipped with one USB 2.0, one USB 3.0 port, audio jacks and the power/reset buttons.
Being a budget oriented case the Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 doesn't come with a vast number of features, nevertheless there are dust filters covering the fan slots. The back panel is simple and you get seven PCI expansion slots, the opening for the motherboard I/O panel, a 140mm fan slot and the opening for the standard ATX power supply. The bottom of the case has been equipped with four plastic feet, which ensure that the PSU gets enough fresh air to operate correctly. |
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Installation
Overview |
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Despite it's rather compact size, the inside of the Carbide SPEC-04 offers space for an ATX form-factor motherboard. Apparently you can also install mATX and miniITX motherboards. The motherboard tray features pre-soldered standoffs allowing you to put your motherboard in place in a breeze. Furthermore there is the usual large cut-out behind the CPU socket, which allows you to install aftermarket cooling solutions without having to remove the entire motherboard. Around the tray there are several openings for routing cables and there is enough clearance between the motherboard tray and the right side panel. Corsair also added openings for mini-ITX motherboards giving you the possibility to install such a board although it would look odd in our opinion due to the free space. The only thing we can actually really criticize regarding the internal layout is that it's very hard to route the EPS cable through the corresponding cable management hole.
Like with all new cases, there is plenty of space for ATX power supplies in the bottom of the case with the fan facing outside. This particular case allows the installation of up to three 3.5" HDDs and two 2.5" HDDs/SSDs. For our system, we chose to use a longer graphics card and an AIO cooler. As you can see from the pictures below we have not encountered any problems related to a lack of space, dimensions or assembly and all the components are correctly placed inside the case. Despite the fact, that there isn't too much space for wiring it was possible to arrange the cables neatly. If you're planning on installing an all-in-one water cooler we recommend you to check the specs in detail to make sure you can actually fit it.
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Ventilation options
Overview |
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The cooling concept of the Carbide SPEC-04 is rather simple. There is space for up to two 120/140mm fans in the front, two 120mm in the top, and one 120/140mm fan in the back. Included in the delivery you will find one 120mm fan with a 3-pin header and red LED.
If you are a fan of water cooling this case won't be you're preferred choice. Nevertheless there is the possibility to equip it with an all-in-one water cooler as we demonstrated on the previous page. The front and the rear can be equipped with a 120 or 140mm radiator, while in the top there is simply not enough space. A quick look at the top shows that the space available is rather small and the DIMM slots are pretty close to the roof of the chassis. Although this is a budget oriented case, we would like to see more flexibility in terms of cooling. As we mentioned before the space is limited and therefore we recommend to carefully check the specifications of each component before you build your system.
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Temperatures
Overview |
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For testing purposes we're using an MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC motherboard, an Intel Core i5-6600K CPU, which receives cooling through a SilentiumPC Fortis 3 HE1425 MCE cooler as well as a MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G graphics card. To put the CPU under full load, we're running prime95 for 10 min and in the case of the GPU we use Furmark also for 10 minutes. After these ten minutes, we're going to write down the temperatures. The ambient temperature is close to 24°C. |
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All noise dampening panels installed |
Idle (°C) |
Full (°C) |
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Intel Core i5-6600K |
29 / 28 / 29 / 28 |
52 / 55 / 56 / 53 |
| MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G |
49 |
69 |
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Less is better |
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Conclusion
Rating |
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Cooling |
Features |
Layout |
Build Quality |
Value for Money |
| Pros |
+ Good compatibility aircooling |
+ Dust filters |
+ Interior space |
+ High quality materials |
+ Price |
| Cons |
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- EPS cable not easy to plug
- No rubber grommets |
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The Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 is a mid-tower PC case designed for those who don't want to spend a lot of money on a gaming rig. This case is an entry-level enclosure but it is also compatible with all-in-one water cooling solutions as well as rather large air coolers. Corsair decided to make use of a modern design with rather edgy lines. The materials used and the build quality are on a good level, which is something we certainly expected from Corsair. We also like the asymmetrical front panel that improves the overall looks of the chassis.
On the inside there is quite a lot of space available. If you fit an ATX motherboard you can easily install a radiator in the front and one in the rear. Apart from that all drive bays have been moved to the lower part of the case. Testing the case as delivered with one 120mm fan in the front, we found temperatures to be on a reasonable level, while the noise level was very low. Althoug this case features compact dimensions dealing with the cable management is an easy task. On the tray there are several openings that help with cable management, however we have found some issues with the opening devoted to the EPS cable since the space there is very tight. Furthermore we would like to see rubber grommets to improve the overall look of the case.
The Carbide SPEC-04 from Corsair is a PC case which we can definitely recommend. If you are looking for a budget-oriented mid-tower PC case with a pre-installed fan that is compatible with AiO water cooling gear, this is a great product. Building a nice and clean looking rig is very simple and straight forward with this case. The Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 is available on Geizhals for 65 Euro excluding shipping costs. The Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 earns
4 out of 5 stars.
