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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kenyee - Saturday, November 27, 2010 - link
Dustin:I noticed you mentioned you used an SSD and then said the case is quiet. Does it quiet down the track seeking noises of hard drives or fan noises of graphics cards? It looks like a very open case for airflow and open generally means you hear everything going on inside the case :-P
And it doesn't look like the intakes are covered by dust filters as another poster mentioned. Did you ask Corsair why they didn't do that?
Seems like those are the only things missing except maybe a size comparison w/ your P182 case. This sounds like a great case overall except for the filters and positive air pressure...
Dustin Sklavos - Saturday, November 27, 2010 - link
The removable grates basically fill the role of "dust filters."I have four hard disks in there in addition to the SSD along with a Radeon HD 5870. At this point I'd like to mention that reviews have cited the 5870 as being a little loudish, but I've never had a problem with it. The case masks sound very well, and airflow seems good enough - even with the intake fan blowing through four hard drives and the SSD - to keep the 5870 running very cool so the fan never spins up.
As I mentioned in an earlier comment, I actually tried running two 5870s and there was very little appreciable difference in noise, both at idle and under load.
strikeback03 - Monday, November 29, 2010 - link
Maybe I'm blind, but where are the power and reset buttons? They don't appear to be with the ports and fan controller.Also, I personally prefer the front panel stuff to be at the top but facing forward not up, as I have a shelf in my desk above the tower area.
ehpexs - Monday, November 29, 2010 - link
You guys should do a review of the Fractal Define R3. It would stack up very well to this case.Mephi5to - Friday, January 7, 2011 - link
Rectal Defiler R3 ? :)C'DaleRider - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
"They've moved into Solid State Disks, power supplies, enclosures, and even brought their first gaming headset to market just this year. Each entry has met with some success...."I laughed so hard when I read "met with some success" that coffee came out my nose.
Corsair's entry into power supplies was met with a bit more than "some success", and some people credit Corsair for making enthusiast power supplies (high quality assembly, excellent performance) more affordable. Prior to Corsair's entry into power supplies, you had Antec as the everyman units, uninspiring and many times horrid, or PCP&C and Enermax.....both fine power supply lines but both more expensive than need be. Corsair moved the price point down without sacrificing any performance or quality.
Cannyone - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - link
I bought this case just a few weeks ago. The system I installed in it was an Asus Rampage III Formula with a Core i7 930, and two EVGA GTX-470s in SLI. At first I used a Prolimatech Megahalems cooler, but then switched to a Swiftech H2O-X20 Edge cooler.The Swiftech really helped my CPU Temps. But because I connect two displays, the video cards don't down-clock to 2D mode they just drop down to "low power 3D mode". This meant my #1 card was running at just less than 70°C while Idling at the desktop.
The end result was that the case was neither cool nor quiet.
I tried to upgrade the fans. But without at least one 120mm fan supplying the GPU area with cool air (from the side panel would be ideal), I doubt this case will be able to work with even 1 high powered Nvidia card. I felt forced to reinstall my system in my old HAF 932 case. :(
KaosFaction - Monday, December 6, 2010 - link
Did I miss something, or is this basically a reboxing (slight slight changes) of the Cooler Master Storm Sniper Black?gtech50 - Thursday, March 17, 2011 - link
Quote -"The power supply's cooling is essentially completely cut off from the rest of the system, and there's a vent in the bottom of the case (with a removable filter) for the power supply's fan. This isn't a problem either; the case is built on a raised base that keeps all but the shaggiest of carpeting from clogging up the vent"RAISED BASE???? What raised base?
There is barely 1/8" clearance from the filter to the floor I have cut pile carpeting and it clogs the filter.
I'm returning the case because of this simple overloooked MAJOR design flaw.