Corsair Vengeance C70 Case Review (Military Green)

Corsair have earned a great reputation in enthusiast circles over the years by releasing some fantastic CPU coolers, computer cases, power supplies and solid state drives. The company continue to strengthen their market position and today we are looking at their latest dramatic styled C70 case made from solid steel with carry handles. The Corsair Vengeance C70 is a military-themed mid-tower case that’s designed with high air flow and liquid cooling solutions in mind. It also ships with plenty of modern features, such as; front panel USB 3.0, cable management solutions and removable hard drive cages. In addition Corsair have added a few interesting and useful features which we cover shortly in the review. Will this new recruit to the market stand on its own merit? Does it deserve a medal? Lets take a look and find out... Official Specification: Warranty: Two years Available Colours: Military Green, Arctic White and Gunmetal Black. Dimension: 501mm (H) x 232mm (W) x 533mm (L) MB Support: ATX, mATX Expansion Slots: 8 Form Factor: Mid-tower Material: Steel Drive Bays: Three (3x) 5.25” bays, and Six (6x) 3.5”/2.5” hard drive bays Cooling Three: (3x) 120mm fans Front I/O: (x2) USB 3.0, (x1) Headphone, (x1) MIC, Power, and Reset Switches Power Supply: ATX (not included) The Corsair Vengeance C70 is supplied in a no-frills brown box that provides adequate information about the case and its features. On one side the box shows a line drawing of the case itself whilst the other side shows an exploded view of the sections of the case that are removable. Just underneath this image are some of the features Corsair are especially proud of, and they have outlined them on the back of the case. This includes cooling specifications, tool-less design, storage support and GPU compatibility. Corsair have provided this information in a variety of languages, to cater for the international market. Inside the box is an installation guide, warranty information and a small brown box with various screws, cable ties and a USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 adapter. The case we were sent for review is the 'Military Green' version. This is reminiscent of an Army ammunition or supply box and would be ideal for avid gamers who love first-person shooters and military real time strategy games. If this colour isn't appealing then there are GunMetal Black and Arctic White versions available here. Taking a closer look at the front panel, there is a sizable Bright Red power button, a much smaller drive activity light, line-in and microphone jacks and 2xUSB 3.0 slots. There is also a dramatically designed reset switch, which is surrounded by a plastic shroud to prevent it being accidentally pressed. This features black and yellow angled hazard stripes, much like a missile launch button. I think this looks fantastic. Towards the bottom of the front panel, a small Corsair badge is located in the middle of the mesh that provides air flow to any storage drives inside. Corsair have taken a different approach to front air flow, as the fans that are traditionally seen mounted to the front panel (behind the mesh) have now been relocated to the hard drive caddy inside the case. This approach allows for higher unobstructed air flow inside the case and for increased cooling capability for the graphics card. The side panels are pressed steel, the left hand windowed panel featuring a slightly smoked window that is clear on one side and features vents (with mounting holes) on the other, that allow for 2x 120mm or 2x 140mm fans to be installed. The panel is removed by another innovative idea Corsair have introduced; top latches. Again this further adds to the ‘ammunition box’ theme and works surprisingly well, with a secure and positive action. The bottom of the latch has to be lifted to its upright position for the clip to be removed from the top of the case. They are well weighted and won’t come undone accidentally. At the rear of the Vengeance C70, you will find the standard 120mm fan exhaust vent and a multitude of perforated ventilation holes. Taking a look at the top of the case, Corsair have catered for those who demand a case that is easily transported and have included two very sturdy handles at either end of the case. There is also a large perforated area in the top of the case that allows for additionally mounted fans or for 280mm radiator support. The first thing that will grab your attention are the fans mounted to the HDD cage. As explained earlier in the review, this is designed to pull air from the front vent, cool any storage devices, then exhaust the (slightly warmer) air towards any graphics cards being used in the system. This could be particularly useful for providing additional cooling for Crossfire or SLI configurations. It is also worth mentioning that Corsair have placed a little thought into fan mounting configuration. Corsair have the fan cables facing the motherboard tray, which made it much easier to route them out of eye sight. The C70 also ships with three rubber grommets and a large cutout to hide and route cables. Corsair have also added flat, latching clips in the right-hand side of the case that allow for cable management; these can store many cables underneath. Storage drives can be installed quickly and easily. The Vengeance C70 uses a tool-less bracket system for mounting the drives. These brackets feature a design that allows both 3.5" and 2.5" drives to be held in place, as the mount features 4 small holes that can be used for securing a solid state drive. Standard 3.5" hard drives are stored by side locking clips that can be found in each corner. Once the drives are in place, the mount is easily secured into place by sliding it back into the case, until it clicks into position. Located above the drive caddy are 3x 5.25" bays. Instead of the sliding plastic clips, Corsair have opted to use a small flexible strip of metal with two small rods on the inside, which are designed to 'hook' into the optical bay. This enables users to very quickly remove or secure an optical drive with minimal fuss. For testing today we are using a selection of high performance, yet affordable components, targeting the widest possible enthusiast gaming audience. Test System: Processor: i5 2500k Motherboard: Asus Maximus Extreme IV Memory: 8GB Mushkin Ridgeback 2133Mhz Solid State Drive: 120GB Corsair Force 3 SSD Hard Drives: 2TB Western Digital Green, 2TB Seagate Barracuda Green Graphics Card: Sapphire 2GB 6950 (Reference design) Power Supply: 1200W Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold Operating System: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate Edition Software: CPUZ Prime95 (64 bit) HWMonitor Test: In order to test the cooling performance of the case, we pushed the CPU to a relatively common overclock speed and plugged all of the provided case fans into the 12v connections of the motherboard and ran several tests with the following methodology: CPU stress tests will contain a 10 minute run of Prime95 (blend) 4.4Ghz at 1.36 volts. GPU results will be recorded after a 5 minute run of Furmark. Running the tests for this length of time is sufficient enough for the temperatures to plateau and has a low risk of damaging hardware should an issue arise. To test today we measured case performance in a room ambient environment recorded at 22c. The case cooling performance is distinctly average and we feel Corsair may have improved this if they connected the intake fans to the front of the case, rather than the internal drive bays. Today to test the acoustical performance of this chassis we have set our Pyle Digital Sound Level Meter PSPL03 one meter away from the case. We measured only noise from the case, by disabling all other system fans. As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings with real world situations to help describe the various levels. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA – High Quality Computer fan 40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA - Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA - MP3 player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA - Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA - Threshold of Pain 140dBA - Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA - Instant Perforation of eardrum The Corsair Vengeance C70 certainly isn't the quietest case on the market, measuring around 37 dBa with the fans running. We would swap these fans out for silent models from BeQuiet! as the sound proofing of this chassis is poor. The Corsair Vengeance C70 is definitely a design that will split opinion. Some may loathe the rather unusual appearance, while others may find its rugged, no frills military design quite appealing. There is no doubt it is built like a tank and will survive plenty of abuse over the years. If this is important to you, then we recommend you shortlist this case when considering a new purchase. Whether the implementation appeals to you or not, it is difficult to deny that Corsair are trying to break the mould by bringing a fresh and innovative design to the PC case market. In doing so, they have introduced a few ideas we may see other companies copying in future designs. The case is beautifully finished, with an even, smoothly coated paint finish. It also has a few tricks up its sleeve for easy access and portability. It is however let down by a few niggling, but important concerns. The hard drive sliding tray system works well, but once a drive is mounted in place it is incredibly stiff and rigid. An unpleasant side effect of this robust design means that removing the drive again is quite tricky as it feels firmly wedged in place. This is by no means a major issue, but it was something we noticed when inserting and removing multiple drives. The cable routing clips at the back of the motherboard are a fantastic idea and I hope other manufacturers adopt a similar system. Sadly, they are made from flimsy plastic and two of the three clips snapped while being released from the clipping mechanism. This negates the tough 'army' design concept for us and is an oversight on behalf of the company. Using thicker, more durable plastic would easily resolve this concern. The cooling capabilities of the case, on paper, appear impressive. However there are a few design issues which could be addressed for the next revision. The hard drive inner fan placement is certainly a bold move, however the best position is clearly on the outer chassis, pulling in cool air directly. Additionally, Corsair could have included a grill on these fans as they could possibly catch on any cables plugged into larger graphics cards. While these fans do move a reasonable amount of air, they are noticeably loud, not helped by poor chassis sound proofing. We would swap these fans out for higher grade models immediately if we were using this case regularly. Unfortunately this could add another £20 to the overall cost. Ultimately, the case is built to last and will appeal to those who like its chunky, military theme. Innovative features could make this case class leading, but Corsair seem to have overlooked some important details which lower the overall appeal. You can buy this case from Overclockers in the UK for £119.99. There is a week offer running at time of publication dropping the price to £112.98 inc vat. Corsair face tough competition at this price point, especially with the noise and cooling concerns we mentioned. The next revision of this case could be a world beater, if they rectify the cooling and noise concerns we mentioned. Pros: Some innovative ideas. Feature rich. Great cable management. Sturdy design and construction. Cons: Some lesser quality parts used. Some may think it gimmicky. Tough competition for the price. Loud fans. Poor sound isolation. Kitguru says: We like this case because it is built to last, and is styled to catch attention. Sadly it has poor sound isolation and the fans need replaced with quieter, more expensive units.

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Corsair Vengeance C70 Case Review (Military Green)

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