Corsair Graphite Series 600T mid-tower gaming case

At the place I interned this summer, which was an Ad Agency company(I'm still in school, so I don't have a steady job) A couple of the computers we built used SSDs...and I must say they were rediculous, there was almost no lag time on everyday tasks. A 60-120gig F SSD would make a great boot drive...which is what I'm considering.
 
SSDs are to hard drives as the first 3Dfx card was to graphics accelerators. Seriously, I can't remember a single upgrade that's made my computer seem faster and more functional since then. Processors, memory, even coolers and cases are all evolutionary - but SSDs are a much more revolutionary upgrade (well, or non-revolutionary when speaking of rotating media, but still).

They make huge differences in laptops, too.
 
fantomau said:
Its the costs of SSDs that can make some people not get'em.
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Agreed they are expensive and though price per GB keeps tracking downward they have a long way to go to match HHD's in cost. That being said many of us have dropped a few hundred on a new CPU, a GPU upgrade, or additional RAM. The performance gain from using an SSD as a boot/application drive literally blows these other upgrades out of the water.
 
The first SSD with Vertex 2 performance to reach $100 for 60+GB will launch the SSD firestorm.

In two years, all computers will be offered with SSD/HDD combos.
 
Got mine today, I like the case a lot. Has everything I liked about my 800D, now need to find some gentle typhoons in stock!
 
Just a rough setup for now, a bit more to do but this thread needed more pics! Bad picture, I'll get some better ones later when it's more complete (the fans are actually white, not blue :p).

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Atara said:
Just a rough setup for now, a bit more to do but this thread needed more pics! Bad picture, I'll get some better ones later when it's more complete (the fans are actually white, not blue :p).

snip
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Finally! Been waiting for some owner pictures to pop up in this bad boy. Let's get some more guys, inside and out.
 
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In that case, heres a picture! That stupid 8 pin MOBO header! I need to find an extension cable asap.

This pic kind of makes it look not very nice....you can't notice a lot of the cables, its a lot darker in real life, and it looks 10x better.
 
Here's some better ones, I'll try and get some better ones tomorrow when I have some lighting :p

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Just found this thread and thought I'd join the forums! I've had my eye on the 600T for a few months as a Christmas upgrade for my aging Akasa Eclipse 62.

Initally it seemed like a near-perfect case for my needs until I read this review today:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2010/09/23/corsair-graphite-600t-review/1

After owning a Lian Li PC7 which didn't feel as sturdy as my Eclipse I'm not opposed to steel and plastic (especially considering the lower price) but some reviews are saying the plastic is tough and durable and yet Bit-tech have argued to the contrary so I guess I'll have to see one in person.

I love the well thought out cable management (even if the case had to be more generously-proportioned horizontally for it), SSD-compatible drive bays and front USB 3.0 as I want a case to last if I'm spending $160 on it (a reasonable price in my opinion). The RV02 cools much better and just as quietly but the style just doesn't quite do it for me and it seems to have its issues also, just like any other case I suppose. I love the fact Corsair decided to go down a subtle route with the styling of the case, very clean, symmetrical. I can't stand most of the cases released nowadays!

The apparently poor CFM from the fans is a bit of a concern but then again, so is noise for me so I can sacrifice a little cooling for quietness. Is there enough clearance to replace the fans with other 200mm fans, given the shallow blade pitch of the stock ones?

I do applaud Corsair's efforts to build in radiator support also (even if it is only of the slim variety). I'm not fan of garish LEDs either but I like the choice of white over the usual RGB fodder and I can always snip the wires if I want or maybe try putting black tape over the LEDs. A switch option would've been nice but nothing's perfect.

I definitely respect Corsair's efforts in the chassis market and still hope that the 600T is the case for me this holiday :)
 
Custards87 said:
Nice pics, looks great! Any chance of some in the dark to see how the lighting looks?
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I'm not a big fan of lights but I do like the white LED fans in this case, it's really subtle. Corsair did a great job with this case IMO, looks great.

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Redbeard said:
I don't mean to be rude or to stifle discussion, but I don't really think it's fair to make declarative statements about a case that almost nobody has reviewed. The 600T still hasn't had any real in-depth reviews with performance numbers, and none of the one or two that are out there compare it to the FT02.

As somebody said before, the FT02 and 600T are in very different categories. The FT02 is an aluminum chassis that costs 50% more than the 600T, so comparing them isn't really fair. It's like comparing a CX430 PSU against a TX750 PSU. They're not designed for the same user.
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Like I thought, just like the 800D, the only real benefit of the case is that it's easy to build in compared to other cases. Otherwise this case is completely over-hyped\ just because of the corsair brand name.
 
Omerta said:
Like I thought, just like the 800D, the only real benefit of the case is that it's easy to build in compared to other cases. Otherwise this case is completely over-hyped\ just because of the corsair brand name.
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I'm sorry you feel that way. I put a lot of hard work into the case and focused specifically on what I thought made a good case - I wanted a good balance between noise and cooling, but focusing on being really easy to build in was a priority for me.

There are better aircooling cases out there, and if that's your main priority I don't think anybody would fault you for buying one.

That being said - I'm very happy with the 600T, I feel it's priced very competitively to the other products in the market with its size and feature set, and I think the build quality and features will speak for themselves.
 
Redbeard said:
I'm sorry you feel that way. I put a lot of hard work into the case and focused specifically on what I thought made a good case - I wanted a good balance between noise and cooling, but focusing on being really easy to build in was a priority for me.

There are better aircooling cases out there, and if that's your main priority I don't think anybody would fault you for buying one.

That being said - I'm very happy with the 600T, I feel it's priced very competitively to the other products in the market with its size and feature set, and I think the build quality and features will speak for themselves.
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Sorry, I may have come across as insulting/harsh in my last post. I still feel it's a good case.

I just kind of hold corsair to a higher standard because you specifically are on the forum getting feedback from all of us, so I always kind of expect something just a notch above the competitors with you guys. You guys did that with the 800D as a full-tower case. But I feel you guys didn't really bring anything new to the mid-tower segment with the 600T like Silverstone has done with the FT02 or RV02. It's still a solid case, but it wouldn't be my first choice if I was in the market for a mid-tower. I'd still likely go with a Silverstone or Lian li case if I was in the market. But when it comes to a full tower, I'd pick the 800D. And when it comes to the 600T, i believe if coolermaster had released it, it wouldn't nearly be getting the same attention.

Hopefully the 600D will have better air-cooling than the 600T while maintaining the quietness and while offering nearly the same w/c capabilities as the 800D.
 
Hey Redbeard, would you still suggest installing the H70 as an intake with the 600T?
 
Omerta said:
Sorry, I may have come across as insulting/harsh in my last post. I still feel it's a good case.

I just kind of hold corsair to a higher standard because you specifically are on the forum getting feedback from all of us, so I always kind of expect something just a notch above the competitors with you guys. You guys did that with the 800D as a full-tower case. But I feel you guys didn't really bring anything new to the mid-tower segment with the 600T like Silverstone has done with the FT02 or RV02. It's still a solid case, but it wouldn't be my first choice if I was in the market for a mid-tower. I'd still likely go with a Silverstone or Lian li case if I was in the market. But when it comes to a full tower, I'd pick the 800D.

Hopefully the 600D will have better air-cooling than the 600T while maintaining the quietness and while offering nearly the same w/c capabilities as the 800D.
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Well, I happen to like some of the Silverstone and Lian-Li designs because I like their aluminum construction - but you certainly pay for that. The FT02 is over $200 and a much closer competitor to the 700D. The 600T competes pricewise more with the RV02, and while the RV02 might offer superior aircooling temps out of the box, I think the 600T can fit more hardware and provides a much cleaner build experience. First rule of engineering is everything's a trade-off, right? heh.

Thanks for the criticism. I do think we're held to a higher standard, we started off as an engineering company dedicated to screening and binning high-end RAM chips. We moved into engineering great PSUs and flash memory products, and then moved into cases and cooling. We focus a lot on engineering things from a usability perspective.

That being said, users can definitely swap out the 200mm fans with faster versions or even move the hard drive trays out of the way for better GPU and CPU temps, so I feel like we're not just duplicating other people's parts - we're trying to make something that's more usable and easy to build in, as well as functional.

So for airflow - we may focus on an aircooling case in the future - the 600T is certainly a very good aircooling case (my temps don't match bit-tech's, but then again, neither does my setup or my lab or any number of other variables) but I'm sure if you are less concerned with noise or price there are cases that beat it.
 
Can anyone measure the max internal motherboard area size? I'd appreciate it.
 
dudewth said:
Hey Redbeard, would you still suggest installing the H70 as an intake with the 600T?
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Honestly, my best balance of CPU/GPU with the 600T is by using the rear fan(s) as exhaust and turning the top fan around as an intake. Got some really nice GPU temps that way.
 
When considering the charts Omerta posted keep in mind that temp and sound level testing on cases should be conducted at the same time and under the same condition to achieve results which are accurate enough to compare. Ambient temp, environment, and the like all come into play.
 
Redbeard said:
Honestly, my best balance of CPU/GPU with the 600T is by using the rear fan(s) as exhaust and turning the top fan around as an intake. Got some really nice GPU temps that way.
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Does that apply with normal air cooling as well?
 
bobthfd said:
When considering the charts Omerta posted keep in mind that temp and sound level testing on cases should be conducted at the same time and under the same condition to achieve results which are accurate enough to compare. Ambient temp, environment, and the like all come into play.
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True but unfortunately case performance testing is lagging in many sites. Most don't put in the effort seen at bit-tech or anandtech. Due to their consistency I rely on bit-tech the most when it comes to cooling performance. When it comes to build quality and determining what makes a case good for modding I look elsewhere.

If it was middle of the pack I wouldn't care but the placement really puts a damper on a CASE that I admire for its exterior look and cleanliness after installation.
 
Redbeard said:
Honestly, my best balance of CPU/GPU with the 600T is by using the rear fan(s) as exhaust and turning the top fan around as an intake. Got some really nice GPU temps that way.
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I take it this is specifically referring to when using a H70/H50 on the CPU as opposed to an air cooler? I'd be interested to see what difference using both as an intake would make air cooling wise, however I'm sure if it was more efficient you'd have left it that way at stock...
 
Redbeard said:
Honestly, my best balance of CPU/GPU with the 600T is by using the rear fan(s) as exhaust and turning the top fan around as an intake. Got some really nice GPU temps that way.
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Ahh didn't notice this in my skim through. I was curious if I could turn the case into a positive pressure case from negative. In spite of the flaws of positive pressure I think the airflow is going to be better for the 600T.
 
Redbeard said:
I'm sorry you feel that way. I put a lot of hard work into the case and focused specifically on what I thought made a good case - I wanted a good balance between noise and cooling, but focusing on being really easy to build in was a priority for me.

There are better aircooling cases out there, and if that's your main priority I don't think anybody would fault you for buying one.

That being said - I'm very happy with the 600T, I feel it's priced very competitively to the other products in the market with its size and feature set, and I think the build quality and features will speak for themselves.
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I received my 600T on Tuesday and had it in operation that night. I can unequivocally state that the stated design goals were solidly met, the case is exactly what it was advertised to be, the cost is most fair, the quality is very high, and it fulfills the purpose that drove me to buy it. It is certainly not an ideal case but then it would be impossible to build an ideal case, assuming the design for an ideal case is definable, which it is clearly not. There is a quote from someone that goes "you can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time". I think this quote clearly applies to many of the comments above.

In other words, Corsair designed and marketed a case that, in my opinion, is an excellent compromise of all the things that make up a really good case. It is impossible for any design to be compatible with everyone's idea of a really good case so I hope people here will recognize this and not be so harsh if they do not agree with the design features of the 600T.

I guess it bothers me when I read some of the posts here that transcend being constructive and appear to have a negative tone to them.
 
RhoXS said:
I received my 600T on Tuesday and had it in operation that night. I can unequivocally state that the stated design goals were solidly met, the case is exactly what it was advertised to be, the cost is most fair, the quality is very high, and it fulfills the purpose that drove me to buy it. It is certainly not an ideal case but then it would be impossible to build an ideal case, assuming the design for an ideal case is definable, which it is clearly not. There is a quote from someone that goes "you can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time". I think this quote clearly applies to many of the comments above.

In other words, Corsair designed and marketed a case that, in my opinion, is an excellent compromise of all the things that make up a really good case. It is impossible for any design to be compatible with everyone's idea of a really good case so I hope people here will recognize this and not be so harsh if they do not agree with the design features of the 600T.

I guess it bothers me when I read some of the posts here that transcend being constructive and appear to have a negative tone to them.
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Let me ask you an honest question. If coolermaster had designed the 600T and sold it, would you be as interested or would you want to buy it as much? I doubt it.
 
Omerta said:
Let me ask you an honest question. If coolermaster had designed the 600T and sold it, would you be as interested or would you want to buy it as much? I doubt it.
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absolutely. I don't care who makes it, I want it to look good. That being said, the numbers from the bit tech review seem to be more indicative of the fan quality than the case. They said that the fans have shallow blade pitch and that the control knob didn't change the speed much. Something tells me if you put higher cfm fans in, you'd get better results.

That being said, I don't need monster temp drops from my case. I want a clean good looking case that looks nice in the office. I also like the one intake fan because I have a dog, and it limits the amount of time I'm cleaning filters. Finally, I don't OC, and have an aftermarket cooler, so my temps are fine in a cramped as hell centurion 5, so I'm not the least bit worried about a 600T.
 
Omerta said:
Let me ask you an honest question. If coolermaster had designed the 600T and sold it, would you be as interested or would you want to buy it as much? I doubt it.
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I realize the bit-tech review was somewhat lackluster, but we've gotten a number of other reviews that are quite fantastic, actually:

The Tech Report
http://techreport.com/articles.x/19638

Legit Reviews
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1412/1/

Hardware Canucks
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...raphite-600t-mid-tower-case-video-review.html

Hardware Heaven
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1030/pg7/corsair-600t-case-review-conclusion.html


Plus a number of non-english sites in Germany, France, etc, that come across as mostly positive.

Like I said - it's not perfect, but nothing is. If you compare it to other cases in its class (Antec 1200, CM Storm Sniper, HAF 932 / X, NZXT Phantom, Silverstone RV02, etc) you'll see that there are tradeoffs in each one. Building a case from scratch, like the 600T, is tremendously expensive and time consuming - and at the end of the day all you can do is try to reach a balance between features and cost and performance. I think we hit a sweet spot, but sales will end up proving that theory one way or the other.

So in a few months, we'll know for sure. Until then - I think if you actually see a 600T next to its competition you'll see what I'm talking about.
 
Omerta said:
Let me ask you an honest question. If coolermaster had designed the 600T and sold it, would you be as interested or would you want to buy it as much? I doubt it.
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Don't be so sure. In fact - your just plain wrong.

My decision to buy a case was made very quickly. One day I had no thoughts of buying a case, the next day I decided to replace my existing case. Its just the way I typically buy toys, cars, etc. My buying "modus operandi", once I make a decision to buy something, and much to my wife's chagrin, is a willingness to pay more for a high assurance of high quality, assuming the product still meets my needs. Given a choice of high quality or a loss of some features I almost always go for quality over features. This means I typically do not shop as thoroughly as I should once I find a product I am happy with but am very flexible and willing to change my decision if something I think is better intrudes somehow.

I originally started to consider Lian-Li cases since my experience with them has always been good and I perceive them to be high quality products. I never looked or even gave consideration to looking at other vendors, including Coolermaster or Corsair. By coincidence I was looking at Corsairs website for some totally unrelated reason and stumbled into the 600T. I really liked the understated but not boxy appearance of the 600T and it seemed to meet all my criteria. No Lian Li case I saw really came close to it. Coupled with Corsairs reputation for high quality I was 90% to a decision right then and there. I did do a cursory look at Coolermaster and some others on Newegg but, for various reasons, nothing seemed to compete. The cases either required too many many fans for cooling, I had no assurance of quality, appearance was too blingy, motherboard was not standard, etc. The Silverstone F02 did get my attention but I did not like its appearance, it uses too many fans, cable management is not as good, and the motherboard mounting does not appeal to me.

I would have certainly considered Coolermaster if I had seen a product that met met my needs and I was able to find reviews and postings that attested to high quality. I know little of Coolermaster but I knew little of Corsair too until I bought one of their power supplies last month.

So you see, you don't have a clue about how and why I made my decision. Corsair, for a number reason was the front runner in this race but only because they had a product with features/appearance/reputation that nobody else matched. If there was a Coolermaster, or any other vendor for that matter, that had a product that I thought competed with the 600T, it certainly would have ended up on my short list.
 
Redbeard said:
I realize the bit-tech review was somewhat lackluster, but we've gotten a number of other reviews that are quite fantastic, actually:

The Tech Report
http://techreport.com/articles.x/19638

Legit Reviews
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1412/1/

Hardware Canucks
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...raphite-600t-mid-tower-case-video-review.html

Hardware Heaven
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1030/pg7/corsair-600t-case-review-conclusion.html


Plus a number of non-english sites in Germany, France, etc, that come across as mostly positive.

Like I said - it's not perfect, but nothing is. If you compare it to other cases in its class (Antec 1200, CM Storm Sniper, HAF 932 / X, NZXT Phantom, Silverstone RV02, etc) you'll see that there are tradeoffs in each one. Building a case from scratch, like the 600T, is tremendously expensive and time consuming - and at the end of the day all you can do is try to reach a balance between features and cost and performance. I think we hit a sweet spot, but sales will end up proving that theory one way or the other.

So in a few months, we'll know for sure. Until then - I think if you actually see a 600T next to its competition you'll see what I'm talking about.
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I wouldn't be surprised if bit-tech is utterly wrong anyway. I've owned a few cases that they reviewed. One example is the atcs 840. They gave it a 10 for build quality, and it is anything but a 10 when it comes to build quality. I'd give it a 6. They also originally butchered their RV02 review big time. I think they finally fixed it. They gave the g700 a horrible review, even though it's the best wireless mouse I've owned, and I've owned plenty wireless mice.

When it comes to the 600T, if I wasn't running a GTX 480, I'd want it over the other mid-tower cases on the market made except the FT02 and possibly some Lian Li offerings. But that's really only because I don't prefer the 600T's looks over some of the Lian Lis or the FT02.

I owned the 800D, and I liked the case for the most part outside of the cheap slide-out bottom filter and the cheap plastic coverings for the HDD fan and backplane area. I hated how they latched to the case. It's not like I'm a corsair hater. I buy corsair power supplies and ram over the others because I know you guys will stand by the product, and I'd like to the same thing with cases seeing as SilverStone's customer service sucks IMHO. And I tell others to buy corsair products. I've recently done two builds for friends and had them get corsair ram, power supply, and and an h50. So I'm not a corsair hater if I come across as such. I have numerous corsair parts in my rig, too.

I'm actually looking forward to whenever you guys release the 600D as I'd like to switch away from the FT02 whenever it is released as there are a few things that do annoy me about the FT02. Mainly having to remove the top panel in order to remove the side panels just to get the dust filters. I just hope with the 600D you guys improve air-cooling a good deal when compared to the 800D. Maybe put more intake fans along the bottom compartment compared to where the 800D only has one and have bottom intake fans FT02 style but without the rotated motherboard. And have the rear fan instead be an intake instead of exhaust to cool the cpu with the top fans exhausting. I don't know? Just an idea. Then theoretically you can mount two triple rads at the bottom intake compartment and top without modding of the 600D if you guys do indeed decide to make the 600D w/c friendly.

I'm sure the 600T is a good case when it compares to the competition, but I still don't feel like it revolutionized the mid-tower market with some new features the same way the 800D did to the full-tower market. But I do think you guys will be able to do that with the 600D. That's just kind of what I expect out of Corsair. If coolermaster had released this case, I wouldn't be as tough on it. But yeah, I don't think there's a theory to prove, as it's pretty much a given the 600T will sell very well, especially because it's competing mainly with cases from Coolermaster, antec, thermaltake, and you guys are a step above them.
 
RhoXS said:
So you see, you don't have a clue about how and why I made my decision. Corsair, for a number reason was the front runner in this race but only because they had a product with features/appearance/reputation that nobody else matched. If there was a Coolermaster, or any other vendor for that matter, that had a product that I thought competed with the 600T, it certainly would have ended up on my short list.
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I didn't say I have a clue as to why you were drawn to the 600T. It's why I asked. Because I still feel like the 600T is getting more attention from the enthusiast market than it deserves thanks to the Corsair brand name, even if that wasn't particularly the case for you.

Oh and by the way, I just bought a 600T just to check it out. I'll probably end up giving it out for free on the forum after I'm done checking it out.
 
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