Corsair Carbide 600C Review
Category : Cases
Published by Luca Rocchi on 08.12.15
After a little break Corsair is back with a new case, which belongs to their Carbide series. The Carbide 600C is a full-tower offering plenty of space for high-end setups and custom watercooling gear. The key feature of this case is the reverse ATX layout, which is supposed to bring improved cooling. On the following pages we will see if this new Corsair case is able to convince us or not.
Rating |
| |
Cooling |
Features |
Layout |
Build Quality |
Value for Money |
| Pros |
+ Good compatibility for watercooling
+ Numerous spots for fans
+ Dust filters |
+ Extensive bundle
+ Fan controller |
+ Interior
space
+ Inverted ATX
|
+ Good build quality
+ Midplate PSU |
|
| Cons |
|
- No extension for power cables |
- E-ATX
|
|
- Despite the good amount of features we believe that price is a bit too high |
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Preview
Specifications
| Model: |
Carbide 600Q
(Quiet with sound dampening material)
| Carbide 600C (Clear with window) |
| Case Type: |
Full-tower |
Full-tower |
| Dimensions: |
260mm (W) x 534 mm (H) x 453 mm (D) |
260mm (W) x 534 mm (H) x 453 mm (D) |
| Material: |
SECC Steel, Plastic |
SECC Steel, Plastic |
| Color: |
Black |
Black |
| Drive Bay: |
5.25": |
2 |
2 |
| 3.5": |
2 |
5 |
| 2.5": |
3 |
3 |
| Expansion
slots: |
8 |
8 |
| Form factors: |
ATX, mATX, mini-ITX |
ATX, mATX, mini-ITX |
| Cooling: |
Front: |
2x 120/140mm (2x Corsair AF140L) |
2x 120/140mm (2x Corsair AF140L) |
| Rear: |
1x 140mm (Corsair AF140L) |
1x 140mm (Corsair AF140L) |
| Top: |
/ |
/ |
| Bottom: |
3x 120mm / 2x 140mm |
3x 120mm / 2x 140mm |
| Side: |
/ |
/ |
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Features
Dust filters
There are washable dust filters covering all larger openings of the Carbide 600C. Thanks to a quick release system they are very easy and convenient to remove. |
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Well-thought cable managment
On the Carbide 600C, Corsair used rubber grommets through which cables can be routed from one side to the other. The grommets fit very tight and they don't come off easily, unlike it's the case with so many other enclosures. Also in the delivery there are velcro straps right behind the motherboard tray. |
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PSU Cover
In order to hide all the cables connected to your power supply, there is cover hiding away the unit. This helps creating a neat and clean looking system. |
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Watercooling ready
The Carbide 600C is also ready for watercooling gear. If you wish to install a custom loop, there is the possibility to equip this case with up to three radiators. Two of them can measure 280mm or 240mm in lenght and the third one could be a 140mm model. |
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Fan controller |
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Product overview
Overview |
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|
| With the new Carbide 600 series, Corsair introduces two different cases, where one is called Quiet and the other goes by the name Clean. In this article we're going to review the Clean version however the main difference between the two only concern a side panel and noise dampening materials. At first glance the Carbide 600C is an elegant case with rather simple yet unusual design. The new Carbide 600 is made of high-quality metal and plastic and there are also small elements from brushed aluminum at the front ant the top. The Carbide 600C Clean is a generously sized full-tower case offering enough space even for high-end systems with multiple graphics cards. The front doesn't feature any large openings and there are only a few small air intake hole, which help with cooling. Like the Graphite 760T we've reviewed quite some time ago, Corsair decided to equip this case with a huge and easily removable plexi window. On the Carbide 600C the overall quality of the window has been improved by adding two big metal strips, which improve the stiffness. The I/O connectors are placed at the top of the case and we find two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports, a small fan controller and two classic 3.5mm audio jacks. |
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Installation
Overview |
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The interior is simple and clean, and it features a reverse ATX design with some interesting features. With this model Corsair decided to separate the PSU and motherboard area using a midplate; it's not the first we've come across something like this and we really like it, since it allows for better cable management and cleaner builds. Due to the reverse ATX layout, the placement of the components is easy to understand and we find the PSU on top with the GPU in the upper part of the case. According to the maufacturer, this arrangement of the components should allow for better cooling of the GPU and CPU. The Carbide 600C is a case for enthusiasts and users who like custom water cooling builds, since there is quite a lot of space for radiators. Nevertheless you can equip this case with two 3.5" HDDs and three 2.5" drives and all of them can be installed using tool-less sledges. The motherboard tray is made out of solid steel, and it features a large opening behind the socket, which allows the user to install aftermarket CPU coolers without taking the motherboard out. The tray features a few openings, which have been covered with rubber grommets to create a neat cable management. Between the motherboard tray and the left side panel there is enough space to hide plenty of cables. Carbide 600C is compatible with ATX motherboards and it's also compatible with a large number of coolers and radiators.
For our test we used an mATX motherboard with and a 240mm All-in-One. As you can see from the pictures there are plenty of slots for the fans and radiators. The Carbide 600C offers space for CPU coolers measuring up to 200mm in height and graphics cards can measure up to 370mm in length. In other words you can install any CPU cooler without checking its specs. Despite the very generous dimension of our Club 3D R9 290X GPU, we could install it successfully without any issues. |
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Ventilation options
Overview |
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| The Carbide 600C offers plenty of spots for fans and included in the delivery you will find two 140mm fans; one is in the front and one in the rear. Overall, the case offers space for two 120/140mm fans in the front, two 140mm or three 120mm in the bottom area, and one 120/140mm in the rear part. As you could have guessed, this means there is enough space for a 280/240mm liquid cooling radiator and in the front as well as in the bottom you could even place a 360mm radiator. |
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Temperatures
Overview |
For testing purposes we're using an ASUS P8Z77-I ITX motherboard, an Intel Core i5-2500K CPU, which receives cooling through a Kelvin S24 cooler as well as a Club3D R9 290X royalAce graphics card. To put the CPU under full load, we're running prime95 for 10 min and in the case of the GPU we use Furmark also for 10 minutes. After these ten minutes, we're going to write down the temperatures. The ambient temperature is close to 24°C. |
|
All noise dampening panels installed |
Idle (°C) |
Full (°C) |
|
Intel Core i5-2500K |
37 / 36 / 35 / 34 |
55 / 56 / 56 / 57 |
| Club3D R9 290X royalAce |
37 |
74 |
|
Less is better |
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Conclusion
With the Carbide 600C, Corsair offers a full-tower case, which is ready for a custom watercooling loop. Apart from that this case offers a lot of interior space. The Carbide 600C is very well compatible with high-end configurations. The inverted ATX layout features improved airflow and the temperatures on our test CPU and test graphics card were indeed very good. Apart from that Corsair offers the Carbide 600 in two different versions, where the “Clear” comes with a plexi window and the “Quite” features noise dampening material. The build quality fully reflects the company's standards, with high quality materials and good finish. We appreciate the aluminum plates on the front and top, which add a nice touch to the overall looks.
On the inside this case is quite spacious. Installing an ATX motherboards is not big deal. There is a lot of clearance in the front and at the bottom, which can also be used to install radiators. Nevertheless we have to mention that the Carbide 600C is not compatible with E-ATX motherboards. When it comes to cooling you can install almost anything you want may it be a huge aircooler or a custom watercooling loop with 360mm radiator.
The MSRP price of the new Carbide 600C is 149 US-Dollar. Despite the rather rich bundle, which includes three 140 mm fans that allows you to have a case ready-to-use, we believe that the price is slightly steep. While we appreciate the three fans included, we like to see even a small extension power CPU cable since the distance between power supply and the 8-Pin-EPS header on the motherboard it's pretty long. The Carbide 600C receives 4 stars out of 5.
