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Kevin M.

Kevin M.

Joined on 02/21/12

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 2
Most Critical Review

Great when it works, but unreliable

MSI Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB HBM2 PCI Express x16 CrossFireX Support ATX Graphics Card RX Vega 56 Air Boost 8G OC
MSI Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB HBM2 PCI Express x16 CrossFireX Support ATX Graphics Card RX Vega 56 Air Boost 8G OC

Pros: - It's a beautiful card, love the design of it - Performance in gaming is great

Cons: - Can get very loud - Currently RMAing my second card due to overheating/crashing.

Overall Review: Love the card when it works properly, but currently RMAing my second one of these card for the same issue with overheating and crashing. Happens even during non-intensive tasks like web browsing or watching videos, very frustrating to have such an unreliable card. Good news is so far MSI support has been pretty helpful and easy to work with.

Beautiful case with compromises

Corsair Carbide Series Air 240 CC-9011070-WW Black Steel Micro ATX / Mini-ITX Air 240 High Airflow MicroATX and Mini-ITX PC Case
Corsair Carbide Series Air 240 CC-9011070-WW Black Steel Micro ATX / Mini-ITX Air 240 High Airflow MicroATX and Mini-ITX PC Case

Pros: - One of the coolest looking cases you can find on the market IMO. It's also one of, if not the smallest micro ATX case you can buy right now. - Super easy to build in thanks to the dual chamber design. Cable management is top notch. - Case build quality is pretty good (except for side panels, see cons) - Magnetic dust covers are convenient

Cons: - GPU clearance: You're going to have to be really careful about what gpu you buy for this case, as they can either be too long (touches front panel fans) or too wide (more common, won't fit with glass panel on). I underestimated this issue when I bought it, but it's very annoying knowing that you can't buy just any video card that you like. - CPU cooler clearance: You're basically going to be either forced to use a noisy, expensive liquid cooling setup, or a low profile air cooler. Most of the best high performance air coolers will not fit in this case, as they'll be too tall for the glass panel to close. Not a big issue if you're fine with liquid cooling. - Side Panel quality: The side panels on this case are super flimsy. Out of the box, both of my side panels were warped just enough that it's a real pain to put them back on properly. The non-windowed side panel noticeably flexes even when on the case, causing some visual gaps along the case edges. It's a minor annoyance, but an $80 case from corsair shouldn't have quality issues like this. - HDD cage + CPU power cable issues: To properly route the cpu power cable in the back chamber of the case, you'll either have to remove the HDD cage, or (if the cable is flat) run it underneath it, which is a super tight fit and makes removing and replacing the cage a pain.

Overall Review: If I would have properly looked into the issues with this case beforehand, I probably wouldn't have ended up buying it. The GPU clearance issue is more frustrating that I initially thought, as this won't fit many of the most popular and best reviewed cards (namely EVGA FTW and MSI models). Also, as someone not interested in liquid cooling my cpu, I probably shouldn't have gotten this case, as it's basically built to fit a corsair AIO cooler. But for the most part, I'm still happy with the Air 240. I was mostly concerned with size and aesthetics when i bought it, and it definitely checks those boxes. Outside of the flimsy side panels, the case is of high quality and allows for easy, beautiful builds. If you can deal with the compromises, I think you'll be happy with this case.