Corsair Vengeance C70 Case Review: Going for the Gamers
by Dustin Sklavos on May 17, 2012 5:45 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- mid-tower
Noise and Thermal Testing, Stock
Going into testing, I had a couple of reservations with the Corsair Vengeance C70. While I'm happy to see them moving more towards positive air pressure designs, Antec has proven time and time again that positive pressure isn't necessarily the key to success. I was curious about the intake fans placed behind the drive cages, but also concerned that Corsair just hadn't made enough progress in terms of actual thermal management. As it turns out, my concerns were well founded.
It wasn't that Corsair hadn't made much progress in terms of thermal design, it's that it seems like they haven't made any progress. That's a serious problem, because thermals have historically been the weak point of their designs. Corsair makes easy to build cases, and some of them do have decent thermals, but they've never been stellar and certainly don't excel the way Antec's Eleven Hundred does.
Ambient temperature during testing was about 25.5C which can account for some of the difference, but essentially the C70 is still in line with the Obsidian 550D and Fractal Design's $40 Core 1000. That isn't promising.
Unfortunately the C70 is also a bit louder under load than the similarly-priced Antec Eleven Hundred, a case that, at least in our stock settings, substantially outperforms it.
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Sabresiberian - Thursday, May 17, 2012 - link
Me too; appearance wise, I think it looks pretty cool. Otherwise, not so much, but it gets a "+1) from me for appearance.What I really want though is a case that will handle a 10-slot mainboard. Your case can't, it's not in the running for my dollar.
;)
Samus - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
I think its awesome. I painted a case ammo can green for lanparties 15 years ago, I loved that hunk of case and 17" CRT :)All they need to do is team up with LG or Lite-on to make a matching faceplate.
exordis - Thursday, May 17, 2012 - link
I'd love to know how easy it is to set watercooling up in this case. If that's what they were aiming for it might explain the bad thermals for an air cooled set up.Not that they shouldn't be trying to do both well.
ZekkPacus - Thursday, May 17, 2012 - link
I really feel like Corsair's cases, similar to most of Antec's higher-end cases, are designed with the idea and suggestion that the end user will install more fans. Most of Corsair's cases are also designed with a fairly obvious radiator mount, too.Would be interesting to see you go back to a few cases (for example, the 500R, this case, and the Antec 1100), add 2 fans per case and a 240mm rad, and see how they do. I can't imagine anyone would spend $100+ on a case just to use the stock fans.
bah12 - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
"I can't imagine anyone would spend $100+ on a case just to use the stock fans."I can't imagine paying $100+ on a case and NOT using stock fans. That is a good bit of money to be spending for bleh cooling. One should not be asked to pay that amount, then turn around and spend more. Either sell it for less and I'll buy my own fans, or perform reasonably in a stock configuration. Just my 2 cents.
ZekkPacus - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
Pretty much every case I've ever used, I've added fans to the stock configuration. Mostly extra intakes.ClutchNerd - Wednesday, March 13, 2013 - link
What kind of 1d10t spends a crapton of money on a rig and DOESN'T buy some bada$$ fans to go with it? Thats like buying a McClaren F1 and NOT buying z-grade tires to hug the road... or buying a Cadillac Escalade without the spinners then b1tching that you're caddy doesn't have enough chrome on it. Or buying an 84" tv without the sports package. Think about it...zyxtomatic - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
I know this is an old comment, but I had to reply: A McClaren F1 *does* come with extremely high performance tires from the factory. Absolutely no need to upgrade those until they wear out. :)Robert in Calgary - Thursday, May 17, 2012 - link
This case comes in three colours from the get go, yet I still can't get a White 550D?Rather.....annoying!
ExodusC - Thursday, May 17, 2012 - link
This actually seems to be a decent case, and since aesthetics were obviously in mind here, I can't stand the fact that they cut side-vent fan mounts/perforations- I personally have stopped running my systems wide side fans as I don't run a dual-GPU setup and with logical fan placement and case design, side fans are unnecessary (and can often times hurt airflow if you're not smart).Just my personal preference- for cases with large windows (see: aesthetics), fan perforations are ugly and can let out noise and let in dust if you're not using them (and if you are, you need dust filters, obviously).