CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW Tempered Glass Mid-Tower ATX Case Review

A New High Airflow Contender at $79

CORSAIR recently launched a trio of 4000D cases, with the 4000D, 4000D AIRFLOW, and 4000X RGB. Front panels have a lot to do with the different models, as the standard 4000D has a solid steel front panel, the 4000D AIRFLOW uses a ventilated panel, and the 4000X RGB provides tempered glass (and 3x SP RGB ELITE fans).

While the other two models do provide intake via “dedicated ventilation channels on either side”, the 4000D AIRFLOW will naturally offer the best cooling potential – and includes two 120mm AirGuide fans “utilizing anti-vortex vanes to concentrate airflow and enhance cooling.” I was most interested in this model, and that’s exactly what we have for you today.

Case Exterior

The 4000D Airflow offers a no-frills exterior design that could be described as elegant in its simplicity. It offers clean lines, a matte finish, dark tempered glass side panel, and not an RGB in sight. Oh, and that fully ventilated front panel since this is the Airflow version.

This front panel is steel with triangular openings throughout, and is mounted with metal tabs for easy removal. There is a removable screen filter for the front intake as well.

The side panel on the component side is dark tempered glass, and both side panels are secured with a combination of methods – the panels snap in place, and are secured by captive thumbscrews.

The rest of the case is conventional mid-tower, though Corsair adds a pair of vertical expansion slots. The case also offers a vented top panel with a magnetically attached screen filter, and the bottom has a filter for the PSU intake.

I’ll pause here to draw attention to Corsair’s yellow accents. It’s different, and I personally like it. There is a logo tab on the edge of the top screen filter, yellow accents on the thumbscrews, and inside the case.

What does it mean? Could a Corsair designer be a fan of MoFi turntables? We may never know. But I like it.

Before moving on to a close look at the interior, a quick inspection of the enclosure reveals a simple (and yellow accented) case I/O selection featuring (from left to right) power, USB Type-A, USB Type-C, 3.5 mm audio, and reset.

The case also offers a pull-out PSU intake filter accessible from the rear, and for your reference the above gallery also includes a look at the internal cable connector selection and one of the plastic HDD trays.

Finally, the overall dimensions of the case include a length of 453 mm / 17.83 inches, width of 230 mm / 9.06 inches, and height of 466 mm / 18.35 inches. It weighs 7.8 kg / 17.20 lbs when empty, and will most likely weight more when components are added, unless they are weightless.

Case Interior

After removing the side panel we enter the component chamber. It is of the standard “open layout” variety common in the post-optical era, and you may notice that Corsair is adopting a shield to … shield extraneous cables from view.

Component clearance for the 4000D AIRFLOW is listed as follows:

• Maximum GPU Length: 360mm
• Maximum PSU Length: 180mm (220mm if HDD cage is removed)
• Maximum CPU Cooler Height: 170mm

There is compatibility for radiators ranging from 120 to 360 mm depending on position, with the front intake supporting a long radiator depending on HDD cage position. Additionally there is 25mm (about 1 inch) of space behind the motherboard tray for organizing cables.

Corsair is implementing what they call “RAPIDROUTE” cable management with the 4000D AIRFLOW, consisting of plastic guides and velcro straps to allow for a single channel for major cables.

Completed Build

I won’t go over the build process here, other than to say it was free of any issues. If you’ve built inside a mid-tower with a decent amount of room inside, there’s nothing especially notable to report – though I did find that Corsair’s cable shield panel did a nice job of hiding some of the cables from view.

You may have noticed that this build – featuring as it does an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 FE – has a less than ideal GPU power delivery aesthetic thanks to a rather chunky dual 8-pin adapter, but that’s just the world I’m living in right now.

Around back things are fairly neat and orderly:

I did use Corsair’s channel for some of the cable routing, but I made use of the cavity created by the cable shield for the larger ATX power cable – and created a second path for additional cables to keep things flatter, and make it easier to close the rear panel (which in this build was bulge-free).

Exactly as built, the rear panel snapped into place easily, and I very much appreciate the option of using thumbscrews to keep this panel in place for those builds where the cables are less than ideally routed. (Rear side panel case bulge is real. Ask your doctor about treatment options.)

Performance

An appraisal of enclosure performance is only as good as it is thorough, so take the following as just one example of a challenging load situation. Since I only tested one system configuration the data is here for your reference.

Compared to results from the same system on the open test platform, the GPU results were nearly identical, with the range being 76 – 77 C in ambient temps of 21.5 – 22.0 C. However these temps are targeted by the GPU, so average clock speeds will be a better determination of performance here (more on this in a moment).

As to CPU temps, I was going to create an open testbed vs. 4000D chart until I realized that all testbed GPU temps were recorded using 100% CPU fans to prevent thermal bottlenecks with our processor. Still, load temps topping out at around 75 C with a Ryzen 9 3900X are fine, though I probably would have had lower numbers with the radiator positioned on the front intake – drawing in cool air – rather than the top (which would also have likely affected GPU temps).

(For the record, the same CPU/cooler on the open testbed with 100% CPU fans was only 41 C under this simulated gaming load. If you can live with the noise, the H100i PRO RGB is extremely effective with high fan speeds.)

To see if GPU clocks were affected to any significant degree inside the 4000D vs. open testbed, I created this chart using the GPU clocks from GPU-Z from the 10x consecutive Metro Exodus benchmark runs, both in and out of the case.

There isn’t much – if any – variance here, but let’s take a closer look at the tail end of the test when temps would be at their highest inside the enclosure.

There is a bit of an offset in the chart above which helps demonstrate that these clocks are pretty much a mirror image of each other.

Ultimately I was left with this conclusion about thermals: GPU temps and clocks were unaffected by being inside the case thanks to great GPU airflow, and enclosure CPU temps will be higher than an open testbed, depending on the cooler used, fan profile settings, and position within the case.

Noise levels are going to depend primarily on component selection with the 4000D AIRFLOW, but it didn’t add much noise of its own at idle with a reading of 34.1 dBA with an SPL meter positioned just 12 inches from the front panel. After fully saturating the system with heat during the simulated gaming loads, noise only reached 38.4 dBA as the CPU cooler and GPU levels rose under load (the included case fans are fixed).

Conclusion

This review is easy. The case is a penny under $80, it offers outstanding airflow with its vented front panel and included fans for intake and exhaust, and I think it looks great, too.

The 4000D AIRFLOW has a fully ventilated front panel (photographed from inside the enclosure).

Aesthetics are subjective, but objectively there is enough going for the 4000D AIRFLOW to make this one of the most appealing options at this price level.

I found the build process to be solid, and there was a bit more room for cables behind the motherboard tray than other similarly-sized cases I’ve tested. The open component chamber offers plenty of room for even very large GPUs, and the case can accommodate a longer PSUs if needed thanks to the modular HDD cage.

The 4000D AIRFLOW would be my pick of the new 4000 series because of the ventilated front panel, and I am very impressed with the level of quality and overall performance given the price tag. For me this is an easy “editor’s choice” for a mid-tower case under $100.