Page 2 – Physical Look – Outside
Like other gaming cases on the market, the Corsair 4000D I am reviewing today has a tempered glass side panel. The use of tempered glass allows you to show all your RGB goodies in the case, but it can also be messy if you leave fingerprints on it. The other side panel is made out of steel with a matte black finish. It is less likely to show any fingerprints on the steel side panel, but you probably will not see this side as often. To keep the tempered side glass clean, it is a good idea to have some cleaning cloth around, so you can confidently show off your computer to your friends -- assuming you can have anyone over during COVID-19, of course.
Moving to the front of the case, the front panel situation is very interesting. You can see the base of front panel is made out of plastic, and there is also a steel panel on top of the plastic base. The gap between the plastic base and the steel panel provides airflow into the case, while the use of steel makes sure the case is strong and durable. The front panel is held on by four ball-and-socket joints, which can be removed by a quick tug to reveal a large removable air filter held on by magnets at the top and clips at the bottom. It has no opening for an internal 5.25" drive, which means no internal CD/DVD drives can be installed. Having no optical drive is not a big deal unless you really want to watch some Bluray movies without using an external option. On the top, the 4000D features an opening for top-mount fans and radiator. To prevent the dust from getting in, a removable dust filter is provided on top of the case. This is not a simple dust filter; it is a dust filter with a small yellow rubber lip. You can easily remove the dust filter for cleaning using that lip. It is a really nice little feature.
The dimensions of the 4000D are 230mm in width, 466mm in height, and 453mm in depth. I have not seen a mid-tower like this wide for a long time. It really gives me the feeling that the cable management will be straightforward thanks to the width. It is always a good idea to roomy horizontal space in a case for cable management.
A power button, USB 3.1 Type-A port, USB 3.1 Type-C port, reset switch, and a single audio/microphone jack are located on the edges of the top panel. A white power indicator LED is inside the power button. It is really nice to see a USB Type-C port, since it is 2020 and not 2010, although the year 2010 does not seem too long ago for me, haha. However, I believe there is still some room to improve for this layout. Normally, a mid-tower would have two USB Type-A ports. I understand that we still have two USB ports on the 4000D, just that one being Type-C, but I still want to have a pair of Type-A ports there. For me, the more ports the better. The single audio/microphone jack is another nice feature of this product. For most of us, we have both laptops and desktops, and laptops are commonly equipped with a single audio/microphone jack only. When we buy a headset, we definitely want something that can be used on both laptops and desktops, so it will be inconvenient if we have to deal with the situation where the laptop has a single jack, while the desktop has a dual jack. I do acknowledge many gaming headsets come with a separate headphone and microphone plug, so it could be inconvenient to some. An included Y-split cable will rectify this situation.
In the above picture, you can clearly see the top dust filter has very good quality. It is magnetically attached to the chassis, but the gap between the filter and the chassis is hardly noticeable. If there is no handle, it will be really hard to pull the filter up. Another thing worth mentioning about gap between panels is the connection between the tempered glass side panel and the front panel. The connection is pretty smooth. The gap is really small and there are no sharp edges between the two panels. To remove the side panels, users do not need to use any tools. Four captive thumbscrews can be easily unscrewed and the side panels can be popped off. Note the side panels of 4000D do not need to be pulled backward to remove them, since there is no rail mechanism to hold these panels. A pop out of the ball-and-socket joints is all you need to get the panels off the chassis.
The back of the Corsair 4000D, like the rest of the case, is simple and clean. There are four major sections at the back; namely, the power supply mounting area, motherboard I/O backplate, rear exhaust, and expansion card slots. According to the shape of the power supply mounting hole, the power supply is horizontally mounted at the bottom section of the chassis. Since the power supply has already taken this bottom position, the motherboard can only be located above it, meaning the I/O backplate opening is at the top. There are seven conventional expansion slots available on the 4000D, which is standard for an ATX mid-tower. On the other hand, if you want to have a better view of your graphics card, it is also possible to vertically mount it. Clearly, you can see two more vertical expansion slots by the right side of the back panel. As for the rear exhaust, as you can see from the photo above, there is a 120mm fan included from the manufacturer.
There are four plastic stands on the bottom of the case to support the Corsair 4000D, rising the case up about 3cm on top of the resting surface for better ventilation. The pair of front stands are extended from the plastic frame of front panel. The four stands are on the four corners of the bottom, so there is no doubt about the stability of the case. Meanwhile, there are four rubber bottoms provided to further enhance the grip of the stands. It is nice to have some rubber feet that can offer some kind of protection to your floor or table surface. You can also see from the above photo a washable filter is attached to the bottom grille of the chassis. The filter is nicely reinforced by a hard-plastic frame, so they are removable for easy cleaning and installation. Note the power supply of this case is bottom-mounted, therefore the ventilation area behind the filter is actually designed for the power supply.
Overall, the Corsair 4000D is a good looking computer case made out of metal, plastic, and tempered glass. The gaps between panels are small and even, which shows a high level of assembly quality. The tempered glass also exhibits quality attributes in terms of distortion, or lack thereof. The USB Type-C port on the top panel really keeps this product up to date with the trend of technology.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
