Corsair Graphite Series 600T: Cool and Quiet
by Dustin Sklavos on November 26, 2010 2:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- 600T
Thermal and Noise Testing
For testing the 600T, I actually used the components from my personal system in the Antec P182. Noise was measured using an Extech SL10 sound meter, while temperatures were measured conventionally using HWMonitor. The test system specs are as follows:
| Test Configuration | |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-930 overclocked to 3.6GHz, undervolted to 1.125v |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R rev. 2.0 |
| Graphics Card | XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5 |
| Memory | 3x4GB Corsair Value Select DDR3-1333 |
| Drives |
Memorex DVD+/-RW Combo Drive LG HD-DVD/Blu-ray/DVDRW Combo Drive 2x Western Digital Caviar Blue 640GB (RAID 1) 2x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB (RAID 0) Kingston SSDNow 64GB |
| CPU Cooler | Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 w/ Nexus Silent 120mm Fan |
| Power Supply | Corsair 750HX Modular Power Supply |
My machine isn't particularly noisy to begin with, but it's reasonably powerful and the Core i7-930 can still generate its share of heat. To generate load temperatures and noise, I ran 3DMark06 in a loop with Prime95 in the background and left it running for fifteen minutes at a time. The system was tested with the fan controller at its lowest and highest settings, and the sound meter was positioned one foot away from the tower, on a tripod, pointed directly at the side of the case.
Right away we can tell the fan noise isn't appreciably higher with the controller maxed, but these numbers are also excellent. Subjectively, it has to be nearly dead silent in the apartment for me to be able to hear the tower running, idle or under load. And for those that are curious, the Nexus 120mm fan produces temperatures comparable to the Xigmatek's stock fan at substantially lower RPMs and noise levels.
Once we move into temperature testing, we can see that temperatures are generally pretty solid and that yes, all the other reviews are right: the fan controller and differing fan speeds just don't matter that much. The 200mm fans do seem to move enough air to keep everything fairly cool given the extreme load the system was placed under for stress testing. Since the hard drives are directly behind the front intake, they also remain exceptionally cool. As Martha Stewart would say, it's a good thing.
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darckhart - Friday, November 26, 2010 - link
haven't read all the words yet, but thanks very very much for the pictures. good angles. i am always checking for the few things that annoy me and i was able to see clearly in your installation. thanks!marc1000 - Friday, November 26, 2010 - link
Dustin, could you PLEASE do one more test if you still have the case? Invert the top 200mm fan to make it an INTAKE fan (or the rear 120mm, or both) and check the load temps again. When I inverted all fans in my case, the temps dropped by a fair amount. I know each case is different, but if you could make this test and post the result here in the comments I would be very thankfull. (maybe if it makes any difference you could even change the case recomendation to silver).JarredWalton - Friday, November 26, 2010 - link
I assume you mean to make all of the fans intake and go the positive pressure route? Because "inverting all the fans" wouldn't really make sense. We should have more case reviews coming from Dustin, and we're working to come up with additional useful tests so if you have any other suggestions/requests please let us know. :-)glad2meetu - Saturday, November 27, 2010 - link
I think many of us will be interested in a review of the new after market cpu coolers for LGA-1155 around the Jan 9 - Jan 31 time frame. Some minimal details of the new motherboards are starting to come out. On the same note, it would be interesting to see if some of the low airflow problems with several cases is mitigated when an after market cpu cooler is used within thttp://www.anandtech.com/show/4028/corsair-graphit... case.marc1000 - Saturday, November 27, 2010 - link
yes, Jarred, what I meant is make all of the fans intake. my current case is a micro-atx that only had exaust fans, and the only way I could improve the temps was turning all fans intake. the only exaust ones are the psu fan, and the gpu fan - it's a 5770 with the first "batmobile" cooler, it seems loud as hell in such a small case :(anyway, this "positive pressure" test is fairly simple to do. I hope you guys can include it in following reviews. (and I hope you read this comment!)
best regards,
marc1000 - Saturday, November 27, 2010 - link
sorry for the typos, I'm writing from my phone ;)Solidstate89 - Friday, November 26, 2010 - link
First off, I love that you're starting to do case reviews. I usually come to Anandtech first and foremost when I'm considering a tech purchase in hopes that you guys did a review of said product.I'd love for you guys to consider doing a review of the Fortress FT02. One of the more innovative cases on the market from what I've seen.
sonicology - Saturday, November 27, 2010 - link
I would like to second this.Anandtech has been my first choice for reviews for nigh on 8 years now, great job with the site guys.
Also, any chance of reviewing the aforementioned Fortress FT02 case? I will shortly be in the market for a new case and this one his definitely caught my attention.
kevith - Friday, November 26, 2010 - link
I really like this case when I see it, the design appeals to my taste, both color and the rounded edges. And the price of a good cabinet has never bothered me much, the case is the housing of all our precious - and pricey - hardware. And - like it seems to be the case with Dustin and his old Antec - you can almost grow a long-lasting, love-like relationship with your case. And when it comes to love, there is no price...And if the case really is Cool & Quiet, I think I´m falling a little in love already.
But - as so often - this is where my problems start. Like Phoenixlight wrote, I too would have liked to see some comparisons. It´s almost as if this belongs to an in-depth review of a case. Since all installations are different, you have to have something constant to relate to: A build that´s always the same- until upgraded - that stands in the same room under pretty much the same conditions all the time.
And when you follow the link to the review from bit-tech, it truly shows exact the opposite of Dustins conclusion: The 600T does indeed suck at cooling.
Now, Anand is my main source for hardware reviews, but the two others I do take seriously as well, are Tom´s Hardware and... Bittech. (Since I live in Dennmark EU, prices and products sometimes are more equivalent at Bittech to what I can buy here.)
So now I don´t know hat to think. Are my new love like I want her, wellrounded, quite and still cool? Or is she a hotrunning babe, from whom I´l never get nothing but the Blues?
Dustin Sklavos - Friday, November 26, 2010 - link
Personally I'd go for it.bit-tech's review is solid but it's at odds with my experience and with Tech Report's review of the same case (I used to work at TR and can vouch for their reviews). I was able to put Crossfired 5870's in this case without an appreciable increase in temperatures or noise.