Corsair Carbide 500R Mid-Tower Case Review
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Taking a closer look at the 500R
The Corsair Carbide 500R in white has all the steel panels painted white on the outside and contrasted by the black ABS and steel mesh middle sections. This high contrast look is unique and definitely sets a theme. We could see someone using this case to launch a full black and white mod with white cable sleeving, black or white water cooling tubes, black and white fans, and maybe repaint key parts of their hardware with the two tone look. The paint quality is consistent with no noticeable bubbles or orange peel.
The front has the I/O panel up top with four 5.25″ mesh panel covered bays below that panel that have dust filters behind them. Further down you can see the dual 120mm fan inlets to bring cool air in and over the hard drive cages. The case comes with two 120mm white LED fans installed.
The left side of the case has bump out to accommodate the large included 200mm side intake fan right over your GPU’s and a mesh panel with mounting points for different fan configurations as needed.
The right side of the case has a matching bump out space with gives you tons of room to run even the largest 24pin ATX power cables behind the motherboard panel while keeping the looks symmetrical.
The top of the case has another steel mesh panel and a small tray to hold items or some swag from a LAN party.
The front I/O panel comes with power and reset buttons, power on LED (inside the power switch), HDD activity light, and front USB 3.0 ports. It also has a 1394 firewire port along with the headphones and mic ports. One of the unique things about the Corsair Carbide 500R is the front mounted fan control on the right side. You can turn the fan lights on or off and you can select high, medium, or low speed for the included dual front fans and side 200mm fan. For a value case this is an impressive array of features.
The mesh top has a press to pop open top that Corsair made famous on their 650T case. You simply press down and the mesh pops up as you can see in the bottom picture giving you full access to the top area of the case.
This is a top down view of the top of the case with that mesh popped off. You can see the dual 120mm fan mounts and the pre-drilled holes for a 120mm or 240mm radiator set up.
On the back of the 500R there are 8 slots for card, four water cooling pass through grommets and the rear mounted 120mm fan with optional 140mm screw holes. The bottom has a two way PSU mounting hole pattern so you can flip your PSU over to point the side mounted fan either up or down. This may also help with cable run distance depending on the PSU selected.
This is a view of the front of the case with the panels off. You can see the space for the four 5.25″ bays and the included dual 120mm fans.
The bottom of the case has rubber feet and a filter tray for the optional 120mm bottom fan mount and if you point your side mount fan PSU down it will filter that too. There are four thumb screws that hold the bottom hard drive cage in place.
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