Corsair Carbide Air 740
Reworking internal perfection.
The design of this cuboid case is unique way of keeping a small footprint on an otherwise cumbersome full tower.
Corsair’s Carbide Air 740 is a well-needed upgrade on the ageing 540. Gone are the dual 5.25-inch front drive bays, the floor mounted 3.5-inch hard drive mounts, and the simple refined design. In its place is a sleeker, tuned matte chassis, designed around the digital age.
The cleaner internal layout allows for far superior cooling options, yet with still enough hard drive space to keep even the most enthusiastic RAID 5 supporter happy. It looks stunning, more so in person than any box art or stock photography could ever reveal.
Speaking of cooling, you’re spoilt for choice. In the main compartment, you can fit a 360mm radiator in the front, a 280mm rad in the roof and in the floor, and a 140mm rad in the rear, or of course their corresponding fan sizes. The secondary chamber is a little less forgiving, with the potential to mount two 80mm fans in the rear, and there’s a sufficient filtered intake grate for your power supply to suck air through as well. The main compartment is most intriguing. It actually gives you the option to run a more thermally attuned cooling orientation.
The 2.5-inch bays in the rear compartment were a tricky to remove, resulting in us snapping two of the retaining pins off one of the cages. Bad design? We think so; however, it’s certainly not enough to detract from the positives.