# Corsair 100R Silent Edition Review



## saikiasunny (Jun 28, 2016)

The Corsair Carbide 100R Silent edition is one of the cheapest Low Noise cases in India. It is an entry level mid tower case with no-nonsense look, all black interior, support for longer graphic cards, cable management and a fan controller all under Rs 5000. In this price range it competes with loads of cases, especially those targeting the gamers.

*Packaging and Accessories*

Unfortunately my review sample came in a bad condition. The box was damaged during shipping. But still for those who want to know, the 100R comes inside a plain brown box. The case itself is held within two styrofoam spacers and is wrapped in a plastic bag. I just wish Corsair adds more spacers around the side panel area.

All the required screws and some zip ties were packed in a brown box which was mounted in one of the drive trays. Neat. The warranty card and manual were also present here. The following accessories arrived with the case-

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*Exterior*

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Take a one good look at the 100R and you will see that it draws heavy inspiration from the Obsidian series. Majority of the cases in this price range are targeting the flashy gamer look but the 100R follows a very minimalist design scheme and omits any kind of flashy goodies. This is good because this design will suit both gamers and professionals alike.

The front of the case is made up of high quality plastic and features a brushed look. It can be removed with a pull from the bottom. There are no visible vents on the front which leads to a very clean looking face. The top area features the I/O area along with a single piece reset and power button.

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The I/O includes two USB 3.0 ports and the standard mic and headphone jacks. Below the I/O area, you get two 5.25″ drive bays.

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The bottom area is clean with no vents and features the newer Corsair logo.

Moving on to the sides, we get to see the bulged panels. As I told you guys earlier, my sample took some damage during the shipping. The side panels along with the top panel received some dents which look ugly but otherwise the case was good.

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These bulged side panels help in better clearance for cable management and CPU coolers. Both the side panels are identical and are interchangeable. Like the solid front, there are no vents here too. The Panels are held by thumbscrews so you can easily remove them.

On sides of the front panel are some slotted vents which feed air to the front fan. There is a mesh lining behind these vents but no proper dust filter. You also get to look at how bad the dent was.

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The top of the case is completely solid and is non removable.

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At the bottom of the case you get the opening for the PSU which is covered by a dust filter. The case rests on four plastic feet that are of sufficient height to let air in. I just wished that they used rubber at the feet ends to go with the “silence” theme. But the good is that they are not glued to case like some cheaper cases usually do.

The PSU dust filter can be removed by pulling out towards to the back using a small tab. It is also the only dust filter in the whole case.

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At the back, it is a standard affair. You get 7 perforated expansion slots, a fan and 2-way PSU mounting holes. Extras include a 3-step fan controller. You can control all the three fans in the case from this central point. The fan controller is powered by a SATA power connector and can power 3 fans at one time.

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There are two good things about the controller. First the cables are all black and have sufficient length to them. And second the controller is easily removable. So you can pop it out if you don’t use it. One complaint with the controller is with the steps. It is very easy to miss the medium setting here. I was constantly hitting the high and low settings but not the medium.

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*Removing the Panels*

I will cover up the front panel first. It is removable and fortunately no wires are attached to it. It is held on by plastic clips and  you just pull it out from the bottom to remove it. The panel also holds the covers for the 5.25″ bays which can be easily removed by squeezing two latches. These covers and the panel is covered by sound dampening materials on the inside.

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After removing the panel you see the two spots for mounting two 120 or 140 mm fans. One 120mm fan is included here. The 140 mm fans will have to be mounted on the outside of the case. The top fan pushes air directly to the GPU area and the lower fan should provide air to the HDDs. The I/O panel is screwed on so if you ever bust it, you can easily order one from Corsair in mail.

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Once you remove the side panels you get the view of the all black interior. At first glance I see ample space for a decent build. I will talk about it in the build section. As this is the silent edition of the 100R, so both the side panels are covered with sound dampening material. They are not overly thick but should provide enough absorption.

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The layout is conventional, with everything placed where you expect it to be. The PSU rests on the bottom on four rubber spots which came off in my case’s case. The bottom front houses the 3.5″ drive bay with support for four 3.5″/2.5″ drives. At the top front you get support for two 5.25″ drives.

All the cables are black colored so hiding them will be easier. The top bunch of cables you see here is from the fan controller. You also get cable routing holes all around the motherboard area for both ATX and smaller boards. There is a generously sized CPU cutout on too which should help in easier cooler installation.

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Getting on the back of the motherboard tray, you get no surprises. The usual tie loops and the cable routing column and holes. You can see the bunch of cables coming down from the top area. They have sufficient length to reach any obscurely placed connector. 

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For the clearance, the case can support Air coolers of height 150mm. So coolers like the famous Hyper 212X will have some clearance issues. It also support AIO 120mm coolers like the Corsair H80i. As for the PCI cards, you can fit graphics card of 414mm in the top spot and 275mm for the lower slots.

The space right behind the motherboard tray is not huge but is acceptable at this price point. It is around the 0.6mm mark. The side panel bulges help here by providing a bit more breathing space by adding another 10mm of space

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The space behind the cable column is comparatively more at around the 10mm mark. So all concluded a modular PSU with flat cables is recommended here.

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In total there are 11 cables routing holes on the tray which is rather good.There are no rubber grommets here but all the holes have rolled edges which will save your cables and your hands from cutting. If you can get a bit creative with it then a good looking system in this case will not be that difficult.

There are seven expansion slots and all of them are perforated. The PCI slot area is not tool free. You will have to bring out a screwdriver to mount expansion cards. The screws are outside the case and are covered by a protective metal plate.

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At the front of the case you get an HDD cage which can hold upto four 2.5″ or 3.5″ drives. It uses a sliding tray mechanism and the trays are made of flexible plastic. HDD installation is tool free and are simply snapped into place and 2.5″ drives are screwed in from the bottom.

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At the top front you get your DVD drive cage with support for two drives. They are secured using tool free latch mechanism. The system is made up of glossy plastic which I personally don’t like. They seem a bit flimsy but overall lock on tight.

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*Build Process and Experience*

Building a PC is always a refreshing experience. Every time you learn something new. With the Corsair 100R I learned that using flat PSU cables is a great idea.


    Installing the motherboard is straight forward and made easier with the pre installed stand-offs for the standard ATX layout. I am using a Micro-ATX so I altered it in required way. Unfortunately I somehow bent the motherboard I/O backplate so I couldn’t install it.
    The PSU goes in as usual; you can mount it with the fan facing up or down.
    Next up are the drives. The 5.25″ drive installation is tool free so you simply lift up the latch and slide in the drive from the front. For the 3.5″ drives, you snap the tray around the drive and pop it back in the cage. It’s that simple. For mounting the 2.5″ drives you will have to use a screwdriver.
    Installing a card is easy enough. You slide into the slot and screw it from the back.


With everything installed, it is time for cable management. This is the place where the building experience of case is made or broke. With the 100R, it was a mixed bag experience.

The cable routing holes were placed in their usual location except the 8 pin power connector on the top left. It sits behind the motherboard not on top of it. Due to this you will have to route the cable before installing the motherboard. If you are using a PSU with normal cables and not flat cables, then it is almost impossible to mount the motherboard without bending it. I just wished it was just a cm above compared to its current position.

At last I simply moved the cable from the front side of the case.

The other problem I saw was behind the HDD tray. The SATA connector was hitting the side panel whenever I was opening or closing the panel. This was mainly because the HDD connector was sitting out of line with the side panel bulge. It almost broke one of the cable connector. This problem can be solved by using right angled SATA connectors.

All in all with some more time and effort one can easily assemble a clean looking system inside this case. At this price point though, no one is going to complaint a lot about cable management.

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*Wrapping it Up*

At a price of Rs 4800 on Amazon.in at the time of writing, the Corsair 100R Silent Edition provides a decent and competitive feature set. It is the cheapest silent PC case in the Indian market.

At this price you are getting a case with sound dampening materials, fan controller, almost tool free installation, high quality construction and a no non-sense feature package.

There are some small problems here though. The 8 pin cable pass through hole should be more carefully placed. You will have to use a flat cable here for proper reach from the back. Also a bit more room for working behind the motherboard will be really appreciated. The next problem is not with the case itself but the packaging; the case needs some form of protection in the sides.

All said, my conclusion will be that if you are looking for an upgrade to your cheap and old PC case then the 100R represents a Great Value for Money. Just don’t expect features of a high end case in here.

*Pros– Good design, Sound dampening, included fan controller, tool free installation, high quality panels.

Cons– 8-pin cable hole implementation needs work, packaging needs to be toughened*

*Overall Score- 7/10*

Original Article and Shopping links-* Corsair 100R Silent Edition Review *


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