It's hard to be surprised lately when it comes to computer cases. There's so much variety in the market that many different combinations of size and features have already been tried by different companies. Competition seems to have stabilized. Enter Corsair with the Carbide 600C and a design we haven't seen in the case market for some time: inverted motherboard mounting. And be sure to check below for a special giveaway!
The Carbide 600C ($150, C$190) is an ATX full tower, and Corsair is known for their generally good build quality and user-friendly designs. The outside of the case is minimalistic, with a small Corsair logo debossed on the front panel. Unlike most windows cases, which have their viewing port on the left, the 600C's inverted design means its clear plastic panel is on the right of the case. While the window looks nice, it's definitely plastic—you can see a colour difference when you look at it from an angle, and the panel itself is flexible once you unlatch it from the rest of the body.
The top panel has the expected I/O, with four USB ports, chrome audio jacks, illuminated power and reset buttons and a three-speed fan controller that works with the three included AF140L fans. The front includes a swing-out panel for two 5.25-inch bays, a useful feature for some when many case makers are moving away from those entirely.
The metallic finish on the front panel looks great, but any handling will quickly become visible. The front panel itself is detachable and has a gap big enough to draw air into the interior. It hides two included 140mm fans, which can be swapped out for 120mm fans if necessary. They're covered by a large, dense dust filter that is easy to remove and clean.
Because of the inverted ATX layout, the power supply for the 600C is located at the top of the case—sure to give flashbacks to anyone who assembled a Pentium 2. The case has eight PCI slots, two 3.5-inch bays and three 2.5-inch bays to complement the two 5.25 bays at the front. A third 140mm fan sits at the back of the case, where the power supply would normally go. The 600C sits on tall case feet, as it is designed to allow extra cooling in the form of three 120mm fans or two 140mm fans on the bottom of the case.
The SSD caddies sit vertically on the back of the motherboard tray, with the 3.5-inch bays above them mounted horizontally. While most users don't have more than five drives, you would expect more available storage in a case this size. The NZXT H440, which is actually slightly smaller than the 600C, comes with five 3.5-inch bays and seven 2.5-inch bays. Considering how much room we had after assembling our system, it seems like a separate cage with additional storage bays could have been an option.
The motherboard tray of the 600C is basic, with simple mounting and large rubber grommet for cable management. The power supply sits in is own separate chamber above the 3.5-inch drives, giving any finished system a clean look. We would have liked to see more cable ties around the 2.5-inch bays and elsewhere, though—the existing layout looks messy no matter what you do. The 10.5-inch Nvidia card we installed had at least three or four inches of extra space, so the 600C should fit GPUs of just about any length. There's definitely room for a watercooling setup in this case, even with some of the bulkiest radiators and AIOs on the market.
One thing about the aesthetics of the case that sticks out is that Corsair's innovation hasn't been embraced by every other hardware maker. Anything that features a logo with writing, such as many of the Nvidia graphics cards and most AIO watercooling solutions for CPUs, will be inverted along with the rest of the parts. Some products have logos that rotate or can be modified, but it's certain to buy some who want their look just right.
One strange thing on our testing was that the 600C seemed to run one degree cooler when inverted—that is, returned to a more familiar orientation—than it did when placed on its feet. It's not a huge difference and may be the result of some unknown factor, but it's definitely a surprise.
In the end, the Carbide 600C is another in a line of solid cases from Corsair. But its hard to say how useful its unique selling point will be for many users. The side panel looks great and the case has plenty of room for cooling, but its lack of drive slots and large size hurt it in comparison with other cases with similar features. If your setup demands a computer placed on the right, the 600C is a good option. It's just not clear if the inverted layout is a big benefit in usability.
We've teamed up with Massdrop to give our audience a gift as the holidays approach. This is so much better than a sweater from Grandma: we're giving away and LG 34UC97S, a a 34-inch 3440x1440 curved IPS monitor to one of our lucky fans. Be sure to like the video above (that's not necessary for the contest, we just appreciate your support). To enter, sign up for Massdrop through this link right here: http://dro.ps/hardwarecanucks. This is a great way to grab a great monitor.
The Carbide 600C ($150, C$190) is an ATX full tower, and Corsair is known for their generally good build quality and user-friendly designs. The outside of the case is minimalistic, with a small Corsair logo debossed on the front panel. Unlike most windows cases, which have their viewing port on the left, the 600C's inverted design means its clear plastic panel is on the right of the case. While the window looks nice, it's definitely plastic—you can see a colour difference when you look at it from an angle, and the panel itself is flexible once you unlatch it from the rest of the body.
The top panel has the expected I/O, with four USB ports, chrome audio jacks, illuminated power and reset buttons and a three-speed fan controller that works with the three included AF140L fans. The front includes a swing-out panel for two 5.25-inch bays, a useful feature for some when many case makers are moving away from those entirely.
The metallic finish on the front panel looks great, but any handling will quickly become visible. The front panel itself is detachable and has a gap big enough to draw air into the interior. It hides two included 140mm fans, which can be swapped out for 120mm fans if necessary. They're covered by a large, dense dust filter that is easy to remove and clean.
Because of the inverted ATX layout, the power supply for the 600C is located at the top of the case—sure to give flashbacks to anyone who assembled a Pentium 2. The case has eight PCI slots, two 3.5-inch bays and three 2.5-inch bays to complement the two 5.25 bays at the front. A third 140mm fan sits at the back of the case, where the power supply would normally go. The 600C sits on tall case feet, as it is designed to allow extra cooling in the form of three 120mm fans or two 140mm fans on the bottom of the case.
The SSD caddies sit vertically on the back of the motherboard tray, with the 3.5-inch bays above them mounted horizontally. While most users don't have more than five drives, you would expect more available storage in a case this size. The NZXT H440, which is actually slightly smaller than the 600C, comes with five 3.5-inch bays and seven 2.5-inch bays. Considering how much room we had after assembling our system, it seems like a separate cage with additional storage bays could have been an option.
The motherboard tray of the 600C is basic, with simple mounting and large rubber grommet for cable management. The power supply sits in is own separate chamber above the 3.5-inch drives, giving any finished system a clean look. We would have liked to see more cable ties around the 2.5-inch bays and elsewhere, though—the existing layout looks messy no matter what you do. The 10.5-inch Nvidia card we installed had at least three or four inches of extra space, so the 600C should fit GPUs of just about any length. There's definitely room for a watercooling setup in this case, even with some of the bulkiest radiators and AIOs on the market.
One thing about the aesthetics of the case that sticks out is that Corsair's innovation hasn't been embraced by every other hardware maker. Anything that features a logo with writing, such as many of the Nvidia graphics cards and most AIO watercooling solutions for CPUs, will be inverted along with the rest of the parts. Some products have logos that rotate or can be modified, but it's certain to buy some who want their look just right.
One strange thing on our testing was that the 600C seemed to run one degree cooler when inverted—that is, returned to a more familiar orientation—than it did when placed on its feet. It's not a huge difference and may be the result of some unknown factor, but it's definitely a surprise.
In the end, the Carbide 600C is another in a line of solid cases from Corsair. But its hard to say how useful its unique selling point will be for many users. The side panel looks great and the case has plenty of room for cooling, but its lack of drive slots and large size hurt it in comparison with other cases with similar features. If your setup demands a computer placed on the right, the 600C is a good option. It's just not clear if the inverted layout is a big benefit in usability.
And now, the contest!
We've teamed up with Massdrop to give our audience a gift as the holidays approach. This is so much better than a sweater from Grandma: we're giving away and LG 34UC97S, a a 34-inch 3440x1440 curved IPS monitor to one of our lucky fans. Be sure to like the video above (that's not necessary for the contest, we just appreciate your support). To enter, sign up for Massdrop through this link right here: http://dro.ps/hardwarecanucks. This is a great way to grab a great monitor.
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