Corsair Carbide Air 740 review - Article

Corsair Air 740 
Cubist mid-tower chassis from the Carbide series 

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, …oh, hey guys (Hilbert turns off Phil Collins track). Today we review the new Corsair Air 740 chassis. The mid-tower chassis positions itself in the Carbide series of PC cases from Corsair. Corsair took the DNA of the Air 540, yet advanced on that design pretty significantly. The new 740 is not just impressive, it absolutely is innovative for a chassis as well. 

Now, I don't know if you can all remember the Air 540, but think cube, big space and large see-through side panel. The new 740 is pretty much based on that very same concept, yet is different in many ways. You'll notice the new more rugged bezel and top (which I agree will take a little getting used to). Then the chassis inside, oh man... the space and airflow in this thing are insane. Basically the Corsair Air 740 is made out of two compartments, one houses your motherboard and PCI-Express cards and kit like your graphics card. That segment is exposed to the see-through panel (well, door really) so you get to put the best components on display. All the way on the right side there is a second compartment, here you can mount your HDDs and SSDs, nicely hidden. Also, the power supply is housed in that hidden compartment and there is just so much space for cable routing, it's insane. Obviously we'll show you that in the photo-shoot.

Corsair has been going strong in the chassis market. Very few of their PC cases left us with mixed feelings. It started years ago with that Obsidian 800D and later the 900D which to date are among the most well known and reputable chassis. With the Graphite series they pursued a somewhat more mainstream to gamers level of PC cases. And then came the Carbide series for which Corsair pursued a more mainstream market, and as we all know that means a cheaper product often resulting in stripped away features, style and functionality that we know and learned to love from, say, the Obsidian or Graphite series. Admittedly, what Corsair has been doing with the Carbide series works well, as it did convince me in a positive way when they launched the initial series. These chassis remain good looking and really are feature rich products. Once Corsair released the Air 540 I was a little surprised to see it launch in the Carbide series, but it makes sense as you'll learn throughout this article. Later on the Carbide Air 240 was released, the cubist mini-me version of that chassis. 

So the latest magic evolving out of that Carbide series of PC cases from Corsair is the Air 740 and it once again is probably among the more unusual chassis you have seen to date. The Carbide Series Air 740 is designed with a wider outer shell, and the innovation can be found in the fact that it has two side-by-side chambers (internally) with optimized airflow. This design helps the case deliver good cooling whilst remaining at low noise levels. The main chamber of the Carbide Series Air 740 houses the pretty aesthetic kit such as your motherboard and stuff like your graphics card. The second chamber holds the power supply, SSDs, and HDDs, hidden behind the motherboard tray. The separate compartments make building quite easy and provides amazing cable routing functionality. The layout in each chamber is optimized to limit obstructions and streamline airflow from the intake fans to the hottest PC components, resulting in lower temperatures and noise levels.

The Air 740 certainly has an unusual yet rather tempting design. Have a look below, after which we'll go more in-depth; next page please.