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
Testing Methodology
For testing Micro-ATX and full ATX cases, we use the following standardized testbed in stock and overclocked configurations to get a feel for how well the case handles heat and noise.
| ATX Test Configuration | |
| CPU |
Intel Core i7-2700K (95W TDP, tested at stock speed and overclocked to 4.3GHz @ 1.38V) |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 |
| Graphics Card |
ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP (tested at stock speed and overclocked to 1GHz/overvolted to 1.13V) |
| Memory | 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600 |
| Drives |
Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD Samsung 5.25" BD-ROM/DVDRW Drive |
| Accessories | Corsair Link |
| CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 |
| Power Supply | SilverStone Strider Plus 750W 80 Plus Silver |
Each case is tested in a stock configuration and an overclocked configuration that generates substantially more heat (and thus may produce more noise). The system is powered on and left idle for fifteen minutes, the thermal and acoustic results recorded, and then stressed by running seven threads in Prime95 (in-place large FFTs) on the CPU and OC Scanner (maximum load) on the GPU. At the end of fiteen minutes, thermal and acoustic results are recorded. This is done for the stock settings and for the overclock, and if the enclosure has a fan controller, these tests are repeated for each setting. Ambient temperature is also measured after the fifteen idle minutes but before the stress test and used to calculate the final reported results.
Thank You!
Before moving on, we'd like to thank the following vendors for providing us with the hardware used in our testbed.
- Thank you to Puget Systems for providing us with the Intel Core i7-2700K.
- Thank you to Gigabyte for providing us with the GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 motherboard.
- Thank you to Crucial for providing us with the Ballistix Smart Tracer memory.
- Thank you to Corsair for providing us with the Corsair Link kit.
- Thank you to Cooler Master for providing us with the Hyper 212 Evo heatsink and fan unit.
- Thank you to Kingston for providing us with the SSDNow V+ 100 SSD.
- Thank you to CyberPower for providing us with the Samsung BD-ROM/DVD+/-RW drive.
- And thank you to SilverStone for providing us with the power supply.
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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....