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
Conclusion: Corsair's First Real Misfire
Doing two generally negative case reviews in a row isn't a happy job, and this one is only made worse because frankly, I like Corsair's stuff. I have Corsair RAM in my desktop along with a Corsair SSD, and I'm still using the K90 keyboard. I'm used to being fairly impressed with their kit, but the Corsair Vengeance C70 is a real misstep for their case lineup. Aesthetically it feels off, though that's admittedly a matter of taste, but more importantly the performance is poor.
It's tough to pinpoint exactly where thermal performance went awry for the C70, but I have a couple of theories. The first is that their thermal performance has always been more middle-to-good. That's not necessarily a major problem, at least on the first few cases, because as engineers they're still experimenting and working out the kinks. Internal design has been gradually improved over time, but it's always been incremental. In the C70 that evolution seems to have almost ground to a halt, with only the cage-mounted intake fans being a real change. I also think the amount of ventilation on the C70 may actually be harming performance, as air isn't channeled in a way to maximize performance.
I'm reasonably certain that an end user willing to tinker and test different cooling configurations in the C70 will be able to get better results than I did, but by extension Corsair should've had this figured out before the case even shipped. Whatever the optimal fan configuration might be, I'm pretty sure this isn't it. The fans that come preinstalled are actually fairly quiet at full throttle, but they don't seem to be moving a whole lot of air either. As a result, the case's performance is severely short-changed. Slightly better airflow from the case fans can actually do wonders for reducing thermals and noise, as the fans on the processor and graphics card wind up not having to work anywhere near as hard.
Even with our limited comparison results right now, there's no good reason to go with the C70 over competing offerings. Corsair's own Obsidian 550D costs the same amount of money in retail, is very nearly as customizable, and is much, much quieter. By the same token, Antec's Eleven Hundred costs as much as $40 less than the C70, has some of that enthusiast kick to the external finish, and has substantially better performance at similar or better noise levels. You lose the ability to mount a 240mm radiator in the top of the case, but Antec's similar P280 gives you that option back, and it's still $20 less.
The ultimate problem I have with the C70 is that Corsair is addressing things that were already its strong suits instead of shoring up their weaknesses. Corsair cases were already easy to assemble, and while the increased ease of assembly is welcome, it wasn't the problem. Aesthetically Corsair has always made fairly good-looking cases, so why deviate so wildly from what's been working out fine for them? Meanwhile, the one real weakness of Corsair's cases—thermal performance—is not only left unchecked, but seems to actually be a bit worse.
At the end of it all there's just no reason to buy the Vengeance C70 unless you're married to the look. Antec will outperform it for less money with either the Eleven Hundred or the P280, and even Corsair has better deals with the Carbide 500R and Obsidian 550D. It's easy to build and service, but that's all it really has going for it, and unfortunately that just isn't enough.
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SilthDraeth - Thursday, May 17, 2012 - link
But then again, I am a sucker for that ammo can military green.kyuu - Thursday, May 17, 2012 - link
Pretty sure the "ammo can" was actually the basis for the aesthetics, with the military green, the clips for the side panels, and the handles on top. I actually rather like it as well (though I'd personally probably go with the gunmetal grey instead).The cooling performance is disappointing, unfortunately. However, didn't I see the reviewer state that the ambient temperature was higher than normal, which would skew the results...?
Dustin Sklavos - Thursday, May 17, 2012 - link
Thermal performance is listed as the delta above ambient, so all of the thermal results are adjusted to compensate for differences in ambient temperature.Arghem - Thursday, May 17, 2012 - link
But as the base temperature of the CPU goes up it will draw more current and produce more heat. So making the temperature relative to ambient does not correct for a higher baseline temperature. If this was done in hot conditions then the thermal performance data for the chassis is not accurate relative to other chassis.I realize they are doing as good as they can here but making the temperature relative does not remove bias created by lower or higher environmental temperatures.
JarredWalton - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
It removes a large portion of the bias. It's not like Dustin is testing at 19C for one case and 30C for another; the temperatures are relatively constant at 23~26C (25.5C for this review). A 2C ambient difference should not create a 5C delta, which is basically what we're seeing with this case.Now, you could stuff more fans into the C70, and that might help. I also think Dustin is right in that the initial positioning of fans is poorly selected -- I'd say at the very front of the drive cages would be better at least. Or you could use a watercooling setup and that would likely help tremendously. The thing is, you can do all those same things with a P280 or Eleven Hundred, and you should still end up with superior results.
kevith - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
You nailed it!Arghem - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
Your certainly right that the front fan placement is highly questionable. I wasn't meaning to imply that the higher ambient accounted for the entire difference in thermal performance only a portion of it. And yes probably a small portion in this case.I was just pointing out that presenting the temperature as relative to ambient isn't perfect. It's simply the best that can be done without a perfectly controlled environment.
BMAN61 - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
" Or you could use a watercooling setup and that would likely help tremendously."Yes; watercooling any setup vastly improves temperatures, but still requires air cooling to expel air from within the case (via the radiator), and a balanced amount of air coming into the case to create positive air pressure. So if the chassis has dismal airflow; it doesn't matter if you're using water cooling or not, temperatures will still be bad.
Being one that owns a (water cooled) Corsair 700D; I can say that airflow is what has been the problem with many of these cases, the 140mm fans that were shipped with the 700/ 800D cases are all garbage, but neither of these cases had (have) any fan mounts (other than one fan mount on the bottom) to bring fresh air into the chassis.
m0n5t3r - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Out of the box, yes the cooling performance isn't great. The stock fans really don't contribute in the cooling, they are pretty shitty. But as you can see that is a lot of ventilation and fan mount options.Chaitanya - Thursday, May 17, 2012 - link
I still own a Ammo, I kept it aside just because of the looks were awesome.