Corsair carbide spec - Reviews 2024

We love bringing you world and national exclusives! On this occasion we are pleased to announce the new Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 box that is coming to the market to renew the design of the SPEC series and offer a nice variety of colors for just $ 60. Grab the popcorn. Let's get the party started!

We appreciate Corsair's trust in the transfer of the product for its analysis:

Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 technical characteristics

Unboxing and design

We find a basic presentation but that perfectly meets its objective of protecting the product and getting home safely.

While in the rear area we have all the specifications and detailed technical characteristics of the box. Let's continue that this box will give us enough in this analysis.

When we proceed to open the box we find:

Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 box. Instruction manual.

The Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 is built in a classic ATX mid-tower format with dimensions of 433 x 201 x 492 mm (length x width x height) and a weight of around 7 Kg. If we compare with other tower formats, we see a box that is not especially large but is not the smallest of this format either.

Corsair has decided to use high quality plastic throughout the exterior of the chassis and in our case a colorful yellow design. At the exit we will find three designs: Full black, black combined with red and the one we have: yellow and black.

As we are seeing lately in the chassis that we analyze… we do not have a front without bays of 5.25 ″ or any space for external units. On this occasion we have some metal mesh grilles that improve the air flow to the box. How well, it will come to us in this hot summer that awaits us.

It is surprising that Corsair does not opt for a control panel on either the front or the roof of the tower . This time, we have it located on the right side of the box, so it forces us to have it on our left or on the ground. A cheap box doesn't boast much and features: a power button, a USB 3.0 connection, another with the classic USB 2.0 and the necessary audio input / output.

While on the roof of the tower we only have two holes for 120mm fans. The rest is accompanied by a smooth surface.

On the sides we find a window on the left side of methacrylate, which will allow us to quickly view the entire interior of our PC with just a glance. While the cover on the right is painted in black (like the entire chassis) and we do not have any remarkable details.

At the back we see the hole for the installation of the power supply at the bottom, the best possible position. We also see seven expansion slots and a multitude of perforations in the metal to once again improve air flow. Great job from the Corsair boys!

Before going inside and assembling the system we leave you a quick view of the floor. It is summarized in 4 rubber feet that prevent any vibration on the surface that we install it and a filter that prevents the entry of any lint.

Interior and assembly

As usual, to access the inside of the box we just have to remove the screws quickly without the need for tools. Once extracted we see an internal structure painted in black and that is compatible with motherboards with ATX, Micro-ATX and ITX formats.

Before going into more details we leave you some images of the back of the box. Everything well organized and incorporating everything we need.

Yes now! We continue with the inside of the box. Although the optimal management of the wiring is decent and allows us to keep the air circulation almost always cool, we recommend making some extensions, but we will talk about this later.

As expected, a semi-tower of this size has a total of 7 slots to install expansion cards. For example, our graphics card, a capture device for streaming or a sound card to improve that of the motherboard.

As standard, it incorporates a 120mm fan in the front, but we can install a total of three 120 / 140mm fans. Which is quite interesting, since it would allow us to create a large internal air flow. In the event that we want to install liquid cooling, we should move the case of the bays of the hard drives to install a double or triple radiator of 240 or 360 mm.

In addition, we have the option of installing a 120mm rear fan (basic) and two 120mm ceiling fans. It is important to know that liquid cooling will not fit us correctly on the ceiling, due to lack of space and it forces us to use the front.

We continue with a fixed cage for 3.5 and 2.5 ″ hard drives. This design is quite interesting, since as we have previously warned they can be de-attached to mount liquid cooling. On top of them we have the option to install up to two 2.5 ″ SSDs.

Regarding the compatibility with high performance hardware is maximum. It allows us to install graphics cards with a maximum size of 37 cm and heatsinks with a maximum height of 17 cm.

Another of the benefits of this box is that it is compatible with power supplies with a great length: maximum of 22.5 cm. For example, our Corsair RM1000X looks great assembled.

To end the review we leave you an example of quick assembly that we have done. Although we have mounted two setups, but we only have photos with the Intel platform?

Final words and conclusion about Corsair Carbide SPEC-04

The Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 is an ATX format box that reaches the mid-range market for PC chassis. Available in various colors, a striking design and the possibility of mounting high-end hardware.

In our case we have mounted two platforms, the first a Z77 socket and the second on the recent AM4 platform with a Ryzen 1700. In both tests it has given a great result and is that the cooling capacity improves as long as we add a rear fan. It also allows us to install a graphics card of up to 37 cm, 17 cm processors and a power supply with a maximum length of 22.5 cm.

We recommend reading the best PC cases.

And it is here, where we see that Corsair incorporated a greater number of fans in this box. Another drawback that we have seen is that the organization of the wiring can be greatly improved. The gaps could incorporate some plastic rubbers that avoid that the cables are in contact with the metal and the distribution of the same could be somewhat better.

Availability should be immediate in Spain and is expected to reach around 60 euros. We believe that it is a more than recommended price, but you have to take into account its pros and cons. And we are also interested in migrating to a superior model for a little more price. Although if you go on a tight budget it becomes an option to consider.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ AGGRESSIVE DESIGN.	- COULD BUILD MORE FANS.
+ VARIETY OF COLORS.
+ HIGH PERFORMANCE HARDWARE SUPPORT.
+ POSSIBILITY TO MOUNT A LIQUID REFRIGERATION ON THE FRONT.
+ ALLOWS UP TO 7 FANS.