Corsair’s Bulldog case goes on a diet

CES 2016: Better in every way, plus more goodies

Corsair logoCorsair was showing off a lot of goodies at CES from the Bulldog family to new cases. Bulldog is by far the most interesting but the cases are pretty solid too.

You might recall our earlier writeup of the Bulldog case and accessories at Computex. Since then there has been a lot of work on the case and it has been radically redesigned internally for things the user will probably never notice. Supports have been re-engineered for ease of build and access, the PSU pulls cold air in better, baffles have been added under the plastic shrouds, and so on. What you probably will notice, or at least I did, was that Bulldog is now significantly smaller, quite the trick while making it easier to work on.

Corsair Bulldog case final design

The new case is less red

As you can see the outside of the case is now a shinier ‘piano’ black with the red accents removed so it fits in better with the media center devices at the base of your TV. Between these changes and the internal ones, the case was delayed a bit from Q4/2015 to Q1/2016 or not too long. Getting the little things like the PCIe 16x ribbon cable extensions take time to source and test, you really don’t want to buy from a company that doesn’t test like Corsair does, really. Delays can be a really good thing in some cases.

Corsair Bulldog case accessories and boards

All the accessories you could want for your Bulldog

The most interesting part is the range of accessories that Corsair has to offer with Bulldog, starting with the Gigabyte Z170N-WiFi mobo. It has a unique mounting bracket along the front edge to stiffen it and allow for easy mounting in the Bulldog. Likewise the liquid cooled GPU is made to drop right in but a stock Fury X will also fit without mods. The cooler and PSU are also made with cable lengths just right for Bulldog. In short Corsair is making a real ecosystem around this case.

A bare case, PSU, and liquid cooler will run $299, throw in the Gigabyte Z170N-WiFi board for a total of $399. If that isn’t enough it will be sold through system builders later in Q1 with prices depending on what they add to the mix so if you want a complete Bulldog PC and don’t want to sully your hands with screws and cables, you can go that route too. About the only disappointment was that the Lapdog keyboard will not feature my brilliant suggestion of a molded in curve on the leading edge to relieve pressure on the gut of their core audience. Know your users.

Corsair Carbide Spec Alpha cases

Carbide Spec Alpha in two of many colors

From here we have a line of cases called Carbide Spec Alpha, a lower end $79 offering for the DIY market. It is angular, bright, and aimed at a specific region that is not the US. The look is fairly polarizing, most US/EU residents find it a bit less elegant than other cases, those in Asia find it much more attractive. No matter which camp you are in, it will come in enough colors to match your needs even if you don’t like the design. Or you love it, that is the point of polarization.

Corsair Carbide 400C case

Corsair Carbide 400C case

Last up we have a smaller variant of the Carbide 600C and 600Q launched a few months ago. This new pair is called the 400C and 400Q for clear and quiet respectively. These cases are a bit smaller and one comes with a window, the other with lots of sound deadening material, and both should cost about $99 or so. Like the Spec Alpha, the 400 series does not have bays for optical devices, a trend that is becoming much more common in the industry. Even the Bulldog ships with a USB stick for drivers instead of a CD, the times they are a’changin.S|A

The following two tabs change content below.

Charlie Demerjian

Roving engine of chaos and snide remarks at SemiAccurate
Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through Guidepoint and Mosaic. FullyAccurate