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
Assembling the Corsair Vengeance C70
I've gone on record repeatedly as saying the only way Corsair cases could be easier to assemble would be if Corsair included an engineer with them to just do the whole thing for you, so imagine my surprise when assembling the C70 turned out to be a hair more fraught than I'm used to experiencing from them. It's still worlds easier than many competing brands, but there were a couple of hitches.
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Maybe it was just my review unit, or maybe it was just my rotten luck, but I found installing the motherboard to be unusually difficult despite the fact that Corsair includes both a mounting post (for the center screw hole of the motherboard) and pre-installed mounts in the tray. The problem is that the mounts used are actually in unbelievably tightly (the top six are permanently affixed to the tray), and the screw holes for them don't seem to have been machined quite wide enough. That, or the green paint used for the finish is abnormally thick, but either way I wound up having such a hard time moving the mounts that I just left the side of the board "dangling." I also had one of the screws I was using actually break inside a mount. I can see all of this being much easier for someone else, and if you use a standard ATX motherboard you won't even have to bother with moving the mounts.
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Installing our optical drive in a 5.25" bay was a little different, too. The bay shields are in very securely, and to remove one I wound up having to actually remove the front fascia of the case. Once I did so, though, the optical drive went in with just a bit of force (which is common), and the toolless mechanism (along with general tension of the drive cage) actually holds the drive in very securely without a need for screws.
Everything else went pretty swimmingly after those two, though. The drive trays continue to be very easy to work with, snapping neatly onto 3.5" drives while 2.5" drives screw into the bottoms of the trays. Expansion cards go in just as easily, with thumbscrews holding the expansion bay shields in place. And of course, the power supply went in without a hitch.
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Corsair has almost perfectly evolved cable management in the C70. There's a healthy amount of clearance above the motherboard (owing to the space needed for a 240mm radiator and fans) that makes connecting the AUX 12V line a breeze. Meanwhile, routing cables behind the motherboard tray just got even simpler, as the channels in the tray help direct the cables while the included clamps allow you to essentially lock everything down. Cabling was ultimately unbelievably simple, and every other vendor should be taking note here: this is how it's done.
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Despite hiccups with the motherboard (and to a much lesser extent the 5.25" bay), Corsair continues to set the standard for ease of assembly and service, and I can't wait to see these advances appear in future designs of theirs.
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LeftSide - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
I couldn't agree more! I actually love the design and want the green, but I would have to replace the glass in the side. The perforations just look cheap. I wonder if it's easy to replace?ClutchNerd - Wednesday, March 13, 2013 - link
Double wall some 32-bit digi camo duct tape from walmart. Effective, clean (Doesn't get that crap dust residue buildup), and goes great with the olive green. FYI to everyone calling it "Ammo can green"....it's actually "Olive green" which is the exact same color used by the military.Barbarossa - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
George from Corsair here - first things first, the review was very thorough, Dustin. Thanks for paying attention to the details.The thermal performance results are somewhat surprising - we've got a couple of internal test platforms we use to just thermal performance, and the C70 was among the best. In fact, the specific reason we moved the fans to the back of the hard drive cage was because it dropped GPU temps in our tests 2-3 degrees at idle and even more at load.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions - even though your results don't match ours, there are so many possible configurations that I'm sure we were bound to be surprised sooner or later.
It sounds like the ID isn't really for you - that's fine. The C70 is the most outlandish/aggressive design we've ever done. We knew it'd be love it or hate it. As a company, one of our strengths is refined and streamlined designs - we felt like taking a step in another direction with this case.
Again, thanks for the review - even though it isn't 100% positive, it only helps us develop better cases going forward.
Dustin Sklavos - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
George, I'm really psyched that you guys popped up here.You know I'm a big fan of Corsair's hardware and I kind of just have to report on what my experience is with the kit. As far as the ID goes, I tried to be fairly balanced with it and keep in mind what the readers are usually into, but judging from the comments here you don't have anything to worry about.
I think it's definitely an unusual step for Corsair. I don't want to ever discourage you or any other company from being daring with their products and trying radically different approaches/designs/etc. I just feel like you weren't as experimental with the internal design as you could've been. Apart from the random crap like trouble tightening the screws, the overall logic of how the case comes together is stellar and I want to see that progress in future cases.
You guys are SO CLOSE to making a bulletproof case design and I think you'll get there. I want to see the ease of assembly and typical acoustics of a Corsair and the thermal performance of a SilverStone. Corsair doesn't have an enthusiast standby in their stable yet quite like Antec's P180/182 were or SilverStone's FT02 can be, but like I said...you're really close.
As a sidenote, if you'd like to share your testing data with me and what your results looked like, it can at least inform my future reviews.
LeftSide - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
George, can you comment on how the side plexiglass is installed? Could I easily replace it with a custom solid plexiglass? The perforations for the side mount fans are the only thing keeping me from getting this case.soloburrito - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
I don't see how any air can make it past the hard drive cage and feed those front fans. I bet removing just one cage and having a fan pulling in cool air directly from outside the case would make a noticeable difference in tempsThat said, i really like the design as far as "gaming" cases go. It stands out, but yet it's still fairly classy maintaining clean lines and staying away from cheap, glossy plastic to add "flare". Check out the other colors. The white version looks fantastic with the "smoked" side window.
Open up the hard drive cages a little more and add a top fan from the factory. A $140 case that only includes 3 120mm fans (albeit good quality) seems a little too frugal, Corsair. At the very least put the third fan on the side panel or roof to stimulate better airflow inside the case.
Zebo - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
Looks like something you attach to a tank not really suitable for house.milkod2001 - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
@Corsair George,if you still here,
is Corsair planning in future revisions of 600T add all magnetic dust filters and internal USB3 header as 550D comes with? These are only thing holding me off that case :(
Barbarossa - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
I can't comment on any unannounced stuff. Sorry man.Gunbuster - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
I wish newegg would get these in stock....