Corsair Carbide Spec 04 Review

  

The Build and Cooling

 As you might expect, the Spec-04 comes with the base minimum of screws and a few cable ties.  There is though everything you need for your build.

  

 

The instructions are mainly image based, and are easy enough to follow.

  

 

With the ATX motherboard in we’ve fitted our Havik 120 for scale.  150mm of head room for a cooler isn’t a massive amount, but it still leaves plenty of decent choice.

  

 

Although there are plenty of cable management holes, there isn’t one up at the top of the 8 pin CPU cable.  There is a hole nearby, but it is hidden by the motherboard when installed so you’re either going to have to feed the cable under the motherboard, or run it across the top on the front side.

  

 

Corsair don’t give the roof as radiator compatible.  That said, we did manage to fit a 240mm rad up there.  Granted it’s tight, but provided you’re running standard height RAM and don’t have anything tall on the motherboard, it is just about possible, as can be seen in the image below.  Word of warning though, just because we got one up there doesn’t mean you’ll be able to.

  

 

The front of the case is not given as being able to take a 240 or 280mm rad.  There’s certainly plenty of depth on offer, with 174mm of space before the motherboard, and 110mm of room before you reach the cable management holes.

  

 

The mounting holes aren’t slotted, so you’re going to be pretty tied down with regards to where you put the rad, and with only a small space at the bottom you’re going to have to put the end tank at the top.

  

 

Guess what!  A 360mm rad will actually fit into the front of the Spec-04.  We can’t think why Corsair don’t mention this.  Again, be wary of spacing and sizes if this is something you’re tempted to try.