The Corsair 230T Case Review: A Humdrum Mediocrity Award Winner

As I sat down to review the Corsair 230T case, I couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia. It's not that I'm old and out of touch with modern technology, it's just that this case feels like a product of its time. The design is straightforward, the features are well-executed, and the price point is unbeatable. But as I delved deeper into my testing and research, I began to realize that the 230T is more than just a bland, unremarkable case. It's actually a masterclass in value engineering.

The first thing that struck me about the 230T was its cage design. I'd seen plastic cages before, but this one was something special. It's rock-solid in place and feels surprisingly rigid, especially considering it's made of plastic. The four 2.5-inch mounts are also easy to use, with a simple slide-in-from-the-back technique that makes installing your drive a breeze. However, I did notice that the cage is not perfect – it's pretty tight when you first install it, but once everything is secured, it becomes loose. This might be a problem for users who plan to install drives with slim profiles, as they may wiggle around inside the case.

Ease of use aside, cable management is a bit of a sore point for me. Corsair recommends leaving SATA connectors hanging towards the video card, but this creates a lot of clutter and makes it difficult to manage cables behind the motherboard tray. I understand that cost constraints are a factor here, as the 230T is an entry-level case at $70. However, I wish there was a better way to manage cables without relying on makeshift solutions like rubber grommets.

Despite my minor quibbles, the 230T's compact design means there isn't a ton of space behind the motherboard tray. This can make cable management challenging, but anchor points on the back of the tray provide enough room to route cables to the top-left hole in the tray and the bent right-hand side offers plenty of space for 24-pin and PCI Express cables. With a little creativity and some extra planning, you can keep your cables looking tidy and organized.

The motherboard tray itself is another surprise – it's rock-solid in place, meeting my expectations for build quality. The large CPU cutout at the back is also well-designed, providing easy access to your motherboard's chipset and RAM slots. Overall, I'm impressed by the 230T's attention to detail and commitment to building a solid, reliable case.

As I concluded my review, I couldn't help but feel that the 230T is a product of its time – it's not going to win any awards for innovation or groundbreaking design. However, in terms of value engineering, it's hard to find a better example. Corsair has managed to pack a lot of features and quality into this case at an unbeatable price point. If you're looking for a good $70 case that won't break the bank, the 230T is definitely worth considering.

But let's be real – I don't review entry-level cases often because I know exactly what to expect. The 230T meets my expectations in every way, delivering solid build quality and features at an unbeatable price point. If you're looking for a case that checks all the right boxes without breaking the bank, the 230T is a great choice.

If you want to watch me review this case in more detail, check out our video transcript below.

We'd love to hear from you – do you prefer watching high-end reviews or are you more interested in learning about entry-level cases like the Corsair 230T? Let us know in the comments! If you have any questions or feedback about the case, feel free to share them with us.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwith its power loss protection affordability and performance the sp920 from a data makes upgrading to an SSD remarkably safe and simple so the graphite 230t appears on first glance to be corsair's response to the cheap bold looking gaming cases on the market that deliver a lot of flash but not a lot of Dash upon further inspection we find that that's exactly what it is It's relatively Compact and lightweight doesn't have a ton of extra features comes in a variety of colors and includes orange red or blue LED fans depending on the configuration you choose as well as an aggressively shaped window and speed arrows that are strategically positioned to make it go faster this case was extremely polarizing when it first launched with many criticizing the looks but I actually disagree and I feel like Corsair has nailed their Target demographic here with the look but what do you think let me know in the comments but while we might normally say okay it's for gamers check and it looks cool check editor's choice this is Corsair and we hold them to a higher standard than other casemakers because they ask for more money than other casemakers so we're going to dig deeper and evaluate this case as if it's not just empty bling and it has to deliver in terms of functionality as well also I like tearing apart his creations and finding all the cost-saving compromises he made just for the sake of giving George a headache but before we do that I'll need my special announcement hat thank you no one's here with the special but before I do that I'll need my special announcement hat thank you because to celebrate Geek Pride day modus is hosting their annual geek Stakes sweep stakes and giving away some serious swag including an msig gs60 gaming notebook an Oculus Rift a lro camera an AR Drone and more it runs until June 6th and you can find full details in Link in the video description but it's pretty simple just like modus on Facebook fill out a brief form and you could be drawn at random to win you're allowed one entry per day so make sure you're coming back to increase your odds but who is modus you might ask and why are they giving stuff away modus is a global IT staffing and recruiting company with dozens of offices worldwide that connects professionals with careers at Great companies that range from small startups to Fortune 500 it costs nothing to submit a resume and an exciting new career could be waiting for you check them out at modus.com starting at the front of this case we've got two usb3 ports headphone and microphone jacks and a pretty cheaply implemented power and reset switch setup that makes only one side of the power button actually pressable not a huge deal though moving down we find three 5 and a/4 in base that for some inexplicable reason aren't actually perforated and only have what look like holes filled in with plastic maybe this is to keep the front bottom to top back airf flow scheme in the case operating smoothly but but other than that I'm not 100% sure further down we find the included dual front 120 mm LED fans orange on this model behind a mesh van filter that unfortunately is actually quite difficult to remove for cleaning you need to remove both side panels which slide on front to back rather than back to front for some reason then undo all six plastic Clips individually to remove the entire front bezel moving on to the top of the case we've got nowhere to put this side panel or what I mean to say is we've got ventilation holes with noise isolating rubber grommets in them so they can be easily moved to support either dual 120 or 140 mm fans or even a dual 120 or dual 140 mm radiator as long as your motherboard heat sinks don't interfere with the extra thickness from the rad unfortunately our Sabertooth Z87 didn't allow either of these radiator mounting options so we went with a rear 120 mm thick rad to match the fan that was already in there but your mileage may vary also at the back we've got our standard 7 PCI expansion slots with some extra ventilation holes next to them and a bottom mounted power supply with an easily removable fan filter that will keep dust from the air that it intakes directly from the bottom of the case of note is that you can install the fan either way so we opted to leave the fan facing up this doesn't make use of that dust filter but it does keep the power supply safe if you plan to use the PC on a carpet where the other orientation would result in basically Zer air flow uh that's an issue with any case with a bottom mounted power supply pretty much though moving inside we start to find some nice little Corsair touches in no particular order the motherboard standoffs are pre-installed with their signature nubbin standoff in the middle that holds the board in place while you're installing it all the metal bends are folded over and nicely finished so it's pretty much impossible to cut yourself while you're working in this case all internal wires and connectors are all blacked down to the very ends with the exception of the HD audio connector a notable feature by the way at this price point makes it look really clean inside and the tooless 5 and 1/4 in 2 and 1/2 in and 3 and 1/2 in Drive mounts are all pretty well implemented the 5 and 1/4 in Bays use a simple metal tab system the four 3 and 1/2 in Bays each have a nice long Spike that goes into the side of the drive that holds it very securely in place and they feel surprisingly rigid especially when you consider that the cage is actually plastic something I don't recall having seen before and then finally the four 2 and 1/2 in mounts are easy to use with a simple you know slide in from the back technique it's not perfect though it is pretty tight as you jam it in there but quite loose once it's installed so if you put a hard drive in there with a Slimmer than usual profile it might wiggle around causing damage now go listen to the last 20 seconds or so of this video and think of penises this time you're welcome ease of use aside cable management is a bit of a sore point with the 2 and 1/2 in cage for me since Corsair recommends you leave the SATA connectors hanging towards the video card I know you won't see them due to the shape of the window but I still wish they could be managed differently somehow other than that cable management isn't bad there's isn't a ton of space behind the motherboard tray due to the compact case design but anchor points on the back of the tray will help you route the eight pin connector to the nice big hole at the top left of the motherboard tray and the bent right hand side gives plenty of space for your 24 p and PCI Express cables for everything else you can use a combination of the space behind the motherboard tray or above the hard drive and SSD mounts to make things as tidy looking as you can it would be easier to achieve Perfection with rubber grommets in the spacious Cable Management holes here but that was obviously a cost-saving emission speaking of holes between the ones on the right and the bottom of the motherboard and the large CPU cutout at the back I expected the motherboard tray to be pretty flimsy but I was very pleasantly surprised in this regard it's rock solid in fact the 230t meets or exceeds my build quality expectations even my unreasonable Corsair ones in every way especially when you factor in the solid price point it's just playing better than similarly styled blingy competitors so at the end of the day I guess that's what this is It's a value case that I think will appeal to its target audience one that delivers good if not groundbreaking features and Cooling and surprisingly solid build quality at a fair price it gets my better than spending your money on a really fancy steak than forgetting to cook it in time and you get a disease from eating it award for stunning excellence in the field of humdrum mediocrity an award that I reserve for only the best products that Target a given price point and achieve a compelling enough value proposition that someone looking to spend that amount of money might want to consider buying it all of these silly award Jokes Aside this is actually why I don't really review much entry level stuff I feel like there can't be any surprises in my conclusion about the product the 230t is good but it's made by Corsair it wasn't going to be totally stupid in the first place it was going to be good I mean because of cost constraints though it's not like George can make the rivets out of like magnesium unicorn horn alloy so I just feel like there isn't much to say other than it met my expectations but you guys let me know if I'm wrong was this video up until the goofiness at the end as interesting to watch as when we cover high-end stuff do you just straight up want to know like what's a good $70 case so you can go and buy a truckload of 230 T's tomorrow or do you prefer that we focus on the high-end stuff that's fun eye candy but you don't necessarily intend to buy need your feedback my peeps and I guess like all the all the jokes aside from the you know the hum drum mediocre actually very solid case definitely a recommended buy at 70 bucks if that's what you guys are looking for all right so that's pretty much it guys like this video if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it share the video accordingly if you thought other people should watch it please share the video also guys we've got our support Link in the video description along with a pricing and availability link for where to buy this case if you do want to check it out in the support link you can also find where to buy our the cool Linus Media Group t-shirts that we make as well as how to give us a monthly contributions so we can keep making these videos if you think that they're good and finally a way that you can change really the doorbell whatever I'm just going to keep going your Amazon Link in your bookmark bar to one that has our affiliate code so whenever you buy new underwear you can go ahead and give us a small Kickback thanks for again for watching and as always don't forget to subscribewith its power loss protection affordability and performance the sp920 from a data makes upgrading to an SSD remarkably safe and simple so the graphite 230t appears on first glance to be corsair's response to the cheap bold looking gaming cases on the market that deliver a lot of flash but not a lot of Dash upon further inspection we find that that's exactly what it is It's relatively Compact and lightweight doesn't have a ton of extra features comes in a variety of colors and includes orange red or blue LED fans depending on the configuration you choose as well as an aggressively shaped window and speed arrows that are strategically positioned to make it go faster this case was extremely polarizing when it first launched with many criticizing the looks but I actually disagree and I feel like Corsair has nailed their Target demographic here with the look but what do you think let me know in the comments but while we might normally say okay it's for gamers check and it looks cool check editor's choice this is Corsair and we hold them to a higher standard than other casemakers because they ask for more money than other casemakers so we're going to dig deeper and evaluate this case as if it's not just empty bling and it has to deliver in terms of functionality as well also I like tearing apart his creations and finding all the cost-saving compromises he made just for the sake of giving George a headache but before we do that I'll need my special announcement hat thank you no one's here with the special but before I do that I'll need my special announcement hat thank you because to celebrate Geek Pride day modus is hosting their annual geek Stakes sweep stakes and giving away some serious swag including an msig gs60 gaming notebook an Oculus Rift a lro camera an AR Drone and more it runs until June 6th and you can find full details in Link in the video description but it's pretty simple just like modus on Facebook fill out a brief form and you could be drawn at random to win you're allowed one entry per day so make sure you're coming back to increase your odds but who is modus you might ask and why are they giving stuff away modus is a global IT staffing and recruiting company with dozens of offices worldwide that connects professionals with careers at Great companies that range from small startups to Fortune 500 it costs nothing to submit a resume and an exciting new career could be waiting for you check them out at modus.com starting at the front of this case we've got two usb3 ports headphone and microphone jacks and a pretty cheaply implemented power and reset switch setup that makes only one side of the power button actually pressable not a huge deal though moving down we find three 5 and a/4 in base that for some inexplicable reason aren't actually perforated and only have what look like holes filled in with plastic maybe this is to keep the front bottom to top back airf flow scheme in the case operating smoothly but but other than that I'm not 100% sure further down we find the included dual front 120 mm LED fans orange on this model behind a mesh van filter that unfortunately is actually quite difficult to remove for cleaning you need to remove both side panels which slide on front to back rather than back to front for some reason then undo all six plastic Clips individually to remove the entire front bezel moving on to the top of the case we've got nowhere to put this side panel or what I mean to say is we've got ventilation holes with noise isolating rubber grommets in them so they can be easily moved to support either dual 120 or 140 mm fans or even a dual 120 or dual 140 mm radiator as long as your motherboard heat sinks don't interfere with the extra thickness from the rad unfortunately our Sabertooth Z87 didn't allow either of these radiator mounting options so we went with a rear 120 mm thick rad to match the fan that was already in there but your mileage may vary also at the back we've got our standard 7 PCI expansion slots with some extra ventilation holes next to them and a bottom mounted power supply with an easily removable fan filter that will keep dust from the air that it intakes directly from the bottom of the case of note is that you can install the fan either way so we opted to leave the fan facing up this doesn't make use of that dust filter but it does keep the power supply safe if you plan to use the PC on a carpet where the other orientation would result in basically Zer air flow uh that's an issue with any case with a bottom mounted power supply pretty much though moving inside we start to find some nice little Corsair touches in no particular order the motherboard standoffs are pre-installed with their signature nubbin standoff in the middle that holds the board in place while you're installing it all the metal bends are folded over and nicely finished so it's pretty much impossible to cut yourself while you're working in this case all internal wires and connectors are all blacked down to the very ends with the exception of the HD audio connector a notable feature by the way at this price point makes it look really clean inside and the tooless 5 and 1/4 in 2 and 1/2 in and 3 and 1/2 in Drive mounts are all pretty well implemented the 5 and 1/4 in Bays use a simple metal tab system the four 3 and 1/2 in Bays each have a nice long Spike that goes into the side of the drive that holds it very securely in place and they feel surprisingly rigid especially when you consider that the cage is actually plastic something I don't recall having seen before and then finally the four 2 and 1/2 in mounts are easy to use with a simple you know slide in from the back technique it's not perfect though it is pretty tight as you jam it in there but quite loose once it's installed so if you put a hard drive in there with a Slimmer than usual profile it might wiggle around causing damage now go listen to the last 20 seconds or so of this video and think of penises this time you're welcome ease of use aside cable management is a bit of a sore point with the 2 and 1/2 in cage for me since Corsair recommends you leave the SATA connectors hanging towards the video card I know you won't see them due to the shape of the window but I still wish they could be managed differently somehow other than that cable management isn't bad there's isn't a ton of space behind the motherboard tray due to the compact case design but anchor points on the back of the tray will help you route the eight pin connector to the nice big hole at the top left of the motherboard tray and the bent right hand side gives plenty of space for your 24 p and PCI Express cables for everything else you can use a combination of the space behind the motherboard tray or above the hard drive and SSD mounts to make things as tidy looking as you can it would be easier to achieve Perfection with rubber grommets in the spacious Cable Management holes here but that was obviously a cost-saving emission speaking of holes between the ones on the right and the bottom of the motherboard and the large CPU cutout at the back I expected the motherboard tray to be pretty flimsy but I was very pleasantly surprised in this regard it's rock solid in fact the 230t meets or exceeds my build quality expectations even my unreasonable Corsair ones in every way especially when you factor in the solid price point it's just playing better than similarly styled blingy competitors so at the end of the day I guess that's what this is It's a value case that I think will appeal to its target audience one that delivers good if not groundbreaking features and Cooling and surprisingly solid build quality at a fair price it gets my better than spending your money on a really fancy steak than forgetting to cook it in time and you get a disease from eating it award for stunning excellence in the field of humdrum mediocrity an award that I reserve for only the best products that Target a given price point and achieve a compelling enough value proposition that someone looking to spend that amount of money might want to consider buying it all of these silly award Jokes Aside this is actually why I don't really review much entry level stuff I feel like there can't be any surprises in my conclusion about the product the 230t is good but it's made by Corsair it wasn't going to be totally stupid in the first place it was going to be good I mean because of cost constraints though it's not like George can make the rivets out of like magnesium unicorn horn alloy so I just feel like there isn't much to say other than it met my expectations but you guys let me know if I'm wrong was this video up until the goofiness at the end as interesting to watch as when we cover high-end stuff do you just straight up want to know like what's a good $70 case so you can go and buy a truckload of 230 T's tomorrow or do you prefer that we focus on the high-end stuff that's fun eye candy but you don't necessarily intend to buy need your feedback my peeps and I guess like all the all the jokes aside from the you know the hum drum mediocre actually very solid case definitely a recommended buy at 70 bucks if that's what you guys are looking for all right so that's pretty much it guys like this video if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it share the video accordingly if you thought other people should watch it please share the video also guys we've got our support Link in the video description along with a pricing and availability link for where to buy this case if you do want to check it out in the support link you can also find where to buy our the cool Linus Media Group t-shirts that we make as well as how to give us a monthly contributions so we can keep making these videos if you think that they're good and finally a way that you can change really the doorbell whatever I'm just going to keep going your Amazon Link in your bookmark bar to one that has our affiliate code so whenever you buy new underwear you can go ahead and give us a small Kickback thanks for again for watching and as always don't forget to subscribe\n"