Corsair Vengeance C70 Case Review: Going for the Gamers
by Dustin Sklavos on May 17, 2012 5:45 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- mid-tower
Introducing the Corsair Vengeance C70
Corsair has had an excellent run as a case designer, showing growth with each new enclosure by adding some features, subtracting other ones, moving things around, and generally continuing to experiment. The Obsidian and Carbide lines in particular have shown healthy progress, but today Corsair launches a fourth line under their popular Vengeance gaming brand: the Vengeance C70.
While the exteriors of the Obsidian and to a lesser extent Carbide cases have all been fairly austere, the Vengeance C70's target is pretty clear: they're going after gamers. Thus far, products in the Vengeance market have generally been of high quality and haven't been particularly ostentatious, but the C70's external design is an unusual step for Corsair. Is the C70 as a whole part of Corsair's continued evolution as a case designer, or is this their first major misstep along the way?
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For the first time since I've started reviewing Corsair's cases, I'll admit I experienced trepidation when I saw the press materials for the C70. Military green? Handles on the top? Industrial-style power and reset buttons? This wasn't the Corsair I knew, the company whose most ostentatious design so far was the Carbide 500R (or, arguably, the well-received Graphite 600T). Sure, the C70 is available in white and gunmetal gray (a personal favorite) as well, and the interior is vintage Corsair, but it still feels to me like an odd bird in their lineup. Before we get to the detailed analysis, we'll start with the regular specs table:
| Corsair Vengeance C70 Specifications | ||
| Motherboard Form Factor | Mini-ITX, Micro ATX, ATX | |
| Drive Bays | External | 3x 5.25” |
| Internal | 6x 3.5"/2.5" | |
| Cooling | Front | 2x 120mm intake fans behind drive cages; 2x 120mm fan mounts |
| Rear | 1x 120mm exhaust fan | |
| Top | 2x 120mm/140mm fan mounts | |
| Side | 2x 120mm/140mm fan mounts | |
| Bottom | 2x 120mm/140mm fan mounts | |
| Expansion Slots | 8 | |
| I/O Port | 2x USB 3.0, 1x Headphone, 1x Mic | |
| Power Supply Size | Standard ATX | |
| Clearances | HSF | 170 mm |
| PSU | 180 mm | |
| GPU | 12.5" / 320mm | |
| Weight | ??? | |
| Dimensions |
19.72" x 9.13" x 20.98" 501mm x 232mm x 533mm |
|
| Special Features |
USB 3.0 connectivity via internal header Toolless side panels Support for up to 11 fans Carrying handles Removable drive cages "Military Green" finish; also comes in "Gunmetal Black" and "Arctic White" |
|
| Price | MSRP $139 | |
On paper and without seeing the case, there's not a whole lot that stands out with the C70. The one area that looks unusual is the sheer number of fan mounts available. While testing the Vengeance C70, the enclosure that remained fresh in my mind was the Corsair Obsidian 550D, their case engineered for silence. In terms of expansion and cooling potential, the 550D isn't actually all that different from the C70; with the C70 you lose a 5.25" external bay but gain three fan mounts, which would be more impressive if the flexible 550D wasn't already capable of supporting eight. That owes to Corsair's positioning the C70 as a potential go-to for watercooling, with two different places to mount 240mm radiators. Indeed, all of their review materials present the C70 with Corsair's own H100 closed loop liquid cooler installed. We didn't have a watercooling kit for review, unfortunately, so we're looking at the C70 primarily as a typical desktop chassis.
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LeftSide - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
I couldn't agree more! I actually love the design and want the green, but I would have to replace the glass in the side. The perforations just look cheap. I wonder if it's easy to replace?ClutchNerd - Wednesday, March 13, 2013 - link
Double wall some 32-bit digi camo duct tape from walmart. Effective, clean (Doesn't get that crap dust residue buildup), and goes great with the olive green. FYI to everyone calling it "Ammo can green"....it's actually "Olive green" which is the exact same color used by the military.Barbarossa - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
George from Corsair here - first things first, the review was very thorough, Dustin. Thanks for paying attention to the details.The thermal performance results are somewhat surprising - we've got a couple of internal test platforms we use to just thermal performance, and the C70 was among the best. In fact, the specific reason we moved the fans to the back of the hard drive cage was because it dropped GPU temps in our tests 2-3 degrees at idle and even more at load.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions - even though your results don't match ours, there are so many possible configurations that I'm sure we were bound to be surprised sooner or later.
It sounds like the ID isn't really for you - that's fine. The C70 is the most outlandish/aggressive design we've ever done. We knew it'd be love it or hate it. As a company, one of our strengths is refined and streamlined designs - we felt like taking a step in another direction with this case.
Again, thanks for the review - even though it isn't 100% positive, it only helps us develop better cases going forward.
Dustin Sklavos - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
George, I'm really psyched that you guys popped up here.You know I'm a big fan of Corsair's hardware and I kind of just have to report on what my experience is with the kit. As far as the ID goes, I tried to be fairly balanced with it and keep in mind what the readers are usually into, but judging from the comments here you don't have anything to worry about.
I think it's definitely an unusual step for Corsair. I don't want to ever discourage you or any other company from being daring with their products and trying radically different approaches/designs/etc. I just feel like you weren't as experimental with the internal design as you could've been. Apart from the random crap like trouble tightening the screws, the overall logic of how the case comes together is stellar and I want to see that progress in future cases.
You guys are SO CLOSE to making a bulletproof case design and I think you'll get there. I want to see the ease of assembly and typical acoustics of a Corsair and the thermal performance of a SilverStone. Corsair doesn't have an enthusiast standby in their stable yet quite like Antec's P180/182 were or SilverStone's FT02 can be, but like I said...you're really close.
As a sidenote, if you'd like to share your testing data with me and what your results looked like, it can at least inform my future reviews.
LeftSide - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
George, can you comment on how the side plexiglass is installed? Could I easily replace it with a custom solid plexiglass? The perforations for the side mount fans are the only thing keeping me from getting this case.soloburrito - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
I don't see how any air can make it past the hard drive cage and feed those front fans. I bet removing just one cage and having a fan pulling in cool air directly from outside the case would make a noticeable difference in tempsThat said, i really like the design as far as "gaming" cases go. It stands out, but yet it's still fairly classy maintaining clean lines and staying away from cheap, glossy plastic to add "flare". Check out the other colors. The white version looks fantastic with the "smoked" side window.
Open up the hard drive cages a little more and add a top fan from the factory. A $140 case that only includes 3 120mm fans (albeit good quality) seems a little too frugal, Corsair. At the very least put the third fan on the side panel or roof to stimulate better airflow inside the case.
Zebo - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
Looks like something you attach to a tank not really suitable for house.milkod2001 - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
@Corsair George,if you still here,
is Corsair planning in future revisions of 600T add all magnetic dust filters and internal USB3 header as 550D comes with? These are only thing holding me off that case :(
Barbarossa - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
I can't comment on any unannounced stuff. Sorry man.Gunbuster - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
I wish newegg would get these in stock....