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
Conclusion: Not Perfect, but Very Close!
When all is said and done, I'm left with an extremely positive impression of the Corsair Graphite Series 600T. I was skeptical at first; the Antec P182 has panels that are insulated to reduce sound, and the construction of the 600T admittedly felt cheaper, with steel and plastic everywhere. In practice, though, the 600T wound up being at least subjectively quieter than my P182 with its four Tri-cool fans.
So, the good stuff: the 600T is, as the headline says, cool and quiet. Getting a system installed in this case and then periodically tweaking it is an absolute breeze. The 600T's internals are spacious, and the largely tool-less design means not having to keep spare screws around or trying to remember where you put the other drive rails. A modular power supply makes installation that much easier, letting you install parts in phases and gradually try to keep everything orderly. The motherboard tray has a cut-out in the back for mounting larger heatsinks that require a backplate, the top of the tower has an impressive four USB 2.0 ports, and the case is even designed to hold a water-cooling system. My P182 felt positively antiquated compared to the 600T.
And the bad stuff: I'd say the pricetag is probably justifiable, but $159 isn't cheap. You get an awesome, easy-to-work-in case with excellent cooling, but $159 is still $159. I was also disappointed to see how easily the right side panel (the one that hides the cable spaghetti) bows. It's good that the panel is flexible enough, but it's unattractive. This is a minor complaint unless the case is going to be at eye level. The fan controller also doesn't seem to do a whole lot, and I can see how people would be irritated by the white LEDs in the fans. You can't disable those lights either.
At the end of the day, the Corsair Graphite Series 600T is a fantastic case and is absolutely worthy of our Bronze Editors' Choice award. Why not better? The bowing side panel is an unsightly blemish on an otherwise attractive case, the white LEDs could be annoying for some, and the fan controller doesn't actually appear to do much. These issues are all pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, though. They're worth putting up with in exchange for the excellent noise and thermal qualities (I actually tested the case with CrossFired 5870s at one point and found the difference in noise and temperatures to be fairly low), and the case is really an absolute joy to work in. $159 may seem a bit steep, but in our opinion, it's worth it. The 600T is a hell of a case.
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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.