By David Ramsey
Manufacturer: Corsair Components, Inc.
Product Name: Carbide 500D Premium Mid-Tower Case
Model Number: CC-9011116-WW
UPC: 843591032278
Price As Tested: $149.99 (Amazon)Full Disclosure: Corsair Components Inc. provided the product sample used in this article.
The ATX form factor is still with us more than 20 years after Intel finalized its specification in 1995. But other evolutionary pressures are affecting the design of the classic mid-tower computer case, such as the elimination of optical media and its 5.25″ drives; the move from 3.5″ hard drives to 2.5″ and m.2 storage, and of course the replacement of clear plastic side panels with the now almost mandatory tempered glass for enthusiast cases. Like most modern cases, the Corsair Carbide 500D Premium Mid-Tower Case eliminates 5.25″ drives, resulting in a blank front panel, but unlike some other cases we’ve reviewed, it uses the space thus freed to good effect, and makes some innovative design decisions along the way. Benchmark Reviews will evaluate and build a system in this case to let you know how well this new thinking works.
- Magnetically latched tempered glass side panels
- Room for two 3.5″ drives and three 2.5″ drives or SSDs
- Rooms for 3x120mm, 2x140mm fans or 360mm radiator in front, and 2×120/140mm fans or 240mm radiator at top
- Dimensions (L x W x H): 500 x 237 x 507mm
- 7 slots
- Covered power supply
- Rear cable cover
- Front panel: Power, reset, headphone, microphone, 2xUSB 3.1 Type A, 1xUSB 3.1 Type C
Let’s take a look at this case in the next section…
Corsair markets The Carbide 500D as a “premium” computer case, and it certainly looks the part. While the case chassis seems to be the standard mild steel, the top and front panels are brushed and anodized aluminum, and the side panels are smoked, tempered glass. Best of all, the side panels swing open, supported by substantial hinges and held in place while closed by magnetic latches. Glass panels are heavy and it’s so much nicer to have them swing open on sturdy hinges rather than having to remove thumbscrews and lift them off.
The large glass panels are heavy, and Corsair supports them with thick steel hinges. A single screw secures the panel to the hinge; once the screw is removed, the panel can be easily lifted off. You will want to remove the side panels when you move the case: the magnets that secure the panels in the closed position are not very strong and the panels will tend to swing wildly as you move the case around.
While I still miss 5.25″ drive bays– yes, I have a lot of optical media– at least Corsair is adapting the case design to their absence. All drives are mounted on the back of the motherboard tray, and the front of the case is freed up for fans and radiators.
The top of the case comprises a “floating” brushed aluminum top panel with a pattern cut into it.
At the top front of the case are the power and reset switches, along with two USB 3.0 ports, a single USB 3.1 Type C port (your motherboard must explicitly support this with an onboard connector), and standard microphone and headphone ports. Although the power button lights up, there is no drive activity indicator light, which is disappointing.
The Corsair Carbide 500D is “fully filtered”, with a pull-out filter for the power supply intake at the bottom of the case…
…and a magnetically secured filters at the front and top of the case. Although the front and top case panels are not removable, it’s very easy to remove and clean the filters.
Let’s look at more aspects of this case in the next section.
A straight shot of the interior of the case shows a fairly conventional design, including modern conceits like a massive cutout to ease installing cooler backplates, and a covered power supply. But where are the drive brackets?
They’re all on the back of the motherboard tray. At the front of the case are two tool-less 3.5″ drive trays, and under the motherboard cutout are three removable 2.5″ drive sleds.
The front of the power supply cover is blocked, the first time I’ve seen this on any case. Corsair does not want you to have any ugly cables in view in the case interior! If you’re into bespoke water cooling, Corsair’s provided several mounting points for pumps and reservoirs in the bottom of the case in front of the power supply cover
The case is a seven-slot design; with NVIDIA no longer supporting SLI with more than two cards, this is fine. You’ll notice two extra slots above the main seven; at CES 2018, Corsair showed this case with a vertically-mounted graphics card attached to the top of the power supply housing, with its back plate secured in those two slots. However, our review unit came with none of this hardware and it’s not mentioned in the very brief manual.
Although the case is filtered, the fact that the side panels, when closed, leave substantial gaps at their top and bottom edges mean that dust will make it into your case anyway.
Accessories comprised the aforementioned very brief manual and a bag of screws, cable ties, and other bits. One thing I really liked is that Corsair includes in this bag both 8 long screws for fan/radiator mounting, and extra rubber bumpers for where the glass door meets the front of the case.
OK, it’s time to build a system in The Carbide 500D…
The Corsair Carbide 500D case will accommodate mini-ITX, micro-ATX, and ATX motherboards; but not extended ATX motherboards. All case standoffs are pre-installed and the center standoff is a locating peg, making it easy to get your motherboard positioned properly. This ASUS X99-based ATX motherboard drops in easily and leaves plenty of room for everything else.
If you’re installing a radiator, you’ll need to remove either the top radiator bracket, which can handle up to a 240mm radiator, or the front bracket, which can handle a 360mm. Attach the radiator and fans to the bracket, and then slip it back in and secure with the provided thumbscrews.
The bottom of an ATX motherboard is just a millimeter or so above the power supply shroud, so thick cables like The Carbide 500D’s USB 3 header might be under a little tension. In this case it would be better to use headers at the front of the motherboard if they’re available.
Oddly, the two 3.5″ drive brackets are designed so that the drive must be installed “upside down”, with the bottom of the drive facing out through the glass rear panel.
With everything installed, the area behind the motherboard tray is uncommonly neat. The Carbide 500D is designed to have the cables run down a defined vertical path as shown here; Corsair supplies Velcro straps to secure them. Space in front of the power supply is handy for stuffing excess cabling.
This is the first case I’ve seen with a metal cable shroud. This gives this part of your system an exceptionally clean look, which almost makes the glass side panel make sense. There’s a cutout in the left side of the cable shroud to handle the SATA power and interface cables from a 3.5″ drive mounted in the top drive bracket. But seriously: just look at how neat this is. How does the back of the motherboard tray on your current build look?
This was an exceptionally easy build! I’ll present my final thoughts and conclusion in the next section.
Corsair has brought some real design innovation to the CC-9011116-WW Carbide 500D computer case, and by forgoing included LED lighting and supplying only two fans, they’ve kept the MSRP to a very reasonable $149.99 (Amazon), as well as giving the enthusiast builder more choices in deciding how the case will be lit. That said, I still would have preferred to see at least one illuminated fan included as standard; as is, the included fans are likely to wind up on the purchaser’s fan pile.
Although I’m still dubious about the concept of a glass panel behind the motherboard tray, Corsair’s at least provided a clever solution to cable clutter. Ample cable clearance, good design, and the metal shroud that covers virtually all your cabling makes an ultra-neat “behind the motherboard” area super easy to achieve. Since the side panels are held closed by magnets, you can’t “force” them closed against bulging cables as you can on normal cases, and Corsair’s cable management solution avoids the problem entirely.
Cases with tempered glass panels are trendy right now, and they’ve migrated down from the high-end case market to the mid-range such as The Carbide 500D. The problem with building a system in such a case has always been keeping things as neat as possible: nobody wants to look at a rat’s nest of tangled cables, after all. By shrouding the power supply, closing off the front of the shroud, forcing all cabling behind the motherboard, and providing a unique cable management system, Corsair has ensured that the motherboard compartment will be tidy; but beyond that, they’ve designed the case so that even the cabling behind the motherboard is mostly out of view.
I have built systems in literally dozens of cases over the past few years, and The Carbide 500D is by far the easiest case I’ve seen to have a super-clean build in. It would be difficult to have a messy build in this case even if you wanted to. As it is, Corsair’s design eliminates hours of “fun” with cable routing and zip ties.
I have only a few complaints:
- Why do the 3.5″ drive brackets force you to mount these drives upside down?
- I’d prefer the magnets that secure the side panels be a little stronger. Really, the heavy glass side panels will swing open if you bump the case with your elbow.
- No drive activity light? Really? Corsair, enthusiasts LIKE drive activity lights.
As the industry migrates away from optical drives and 5.25″ bays in general, many vendors have simply eliminated these bays without evolving the design of their cases. Although I’d still prefer at least one optical drive bay, even if it’s only for a slimline drive, it’s nice to see Corsair giving some serious thought as to how case design should change in response. If you like glass paneling, don’t use optical drives, and don’t mind supplying your own internal lighting, the Corsair Carbide 500D Premium Mid-Tower case is something you should take a look at.
+ Compact size for a full ATX case
+ Magnetically secured glass side panels
+ Innovative design eliminates cable clutter
+ Fully filtered airflow
– No support for internal optical drive
– No drive activity LED
– No included lights or fans
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Performance: 9.00
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Appearance: 9.25
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Construction: 9.50
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Functionality: 9.00
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Value: 9.25
