Corsair Carbide Series Spec-04 Review

Performance Analysis

With only a single front intake fan, cooling performance was never going to be a strong point for the Spec-04. The lack of a rear or roof exhaust fan clearly hampers the chassis when it comes to CPU cooling, and a delta T result of 64°C is disappointing.

Things are hardly better on the GPU front, either, with the delta T of 54°C again putting the case towards the bottom of the pack. To be fair, other low-price offerings like the Phanteks Eclipse P400S and BitFenix Nova do not fare much better, and if you're worried about temperatures then additional, basic fans are not much of an extra expense.


In terms of noise, the Corsair Spec-04 doesn't do a whole lot to contain whatever your system produces but isn't so porous as to be terrible in this regard, and the front 120mm fan isn't too loud either.

Conclusion

At £55, the Spec-04 was never going to blow us away. Corsair is evidently looking to entice gamers on a budget with the aggressive design and LED fan, and the chassis is otherwise designed to be simple to work with and capable of housing a standard gaming rig. In this regard, it certainly succeeds, so we're not here to stop you buying it if it takes your fancy – just maybe add a fan or two if you're running some hot hardware.


However, a look at the wider market paints the Spec-04 in a bad light, even with this in mind. The BitFenix Nova, for example, fits the bill for a cheap and cheerful case for just £30. Now, Corsair's case here certainly has more going for it – build quality, extra fan mounts, and slightly better cable management, for example. However, a look at the £60 Phanteks Eclipse P400 and £65 NZXT S340 shows that for just a little extra you can have a lot more, including a PSU shroud, vastly superior cable routing, support for all-in-one liquid coolers, and dual USB 3.0 ports. The Phanteks case even offers some basic fan control and RGB lighting as well as dust filters for its roof fan mounts.

We don't envy Corsair – at this price point, it's up against some very stiff competition. In the end, the Spec-04 delivers on being able to house a gaming rig with ease, but it doesn't quite offer enough to be award-worthy at the current price.