Corsair Carbide 600C Review: One of the best looking mid-towers yet

Steve

Steve

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We haven't seen much of Corsair this yeat but the drought is now over with the arrival of the Carbide Series 600C, a sleek, minimalist-looking mid-tower with a radical inverted ATX layout -- this is no run-of-the-mill budget offering.

The company's primary goal with the Carbide 600C was to create a beautiful modern looking PC that lets you show off all your hardware through a giant transparent side panel. The inverted ATX layout helps to orientate parts such as the graphics card(s) so they are facing upwards, showing off their best angle.

The design also does a good job of concealing cables with cleverly positioned tie-downs and routing grommets. The PSU and drive bays are concealed behind removable covers, so you have a choice of showing off your pretty PSU or keeping a low profile.

Read the complete review.

 
I like it, especially the minimalist look but it's quirky layout just looks wrong to me... and it would have to stand on the 'wrong side' of my desk.
Apart from that I think it's not too bad at all.
 
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The drive bay door is a turn off for me. The average person will have the door broke off in no time, whether they use the bay or not.
 
I like it, of course I always like change and this one has some interesting ones, but I would agree that for the size the $150 price tag is going to make most think twice before laying out that kind of cash. If it was a full sized tower I would pay it, but for now I'm going to wait until the mark 'em down at Walmart .... LOL
 
While minimalist case designs are my thing, I can't look past the fact this has a top mounted power supply. After using bottom mounted for years now I can't go back. Also not a big fan of not having any option for top exhaust..

Sexy case, but definitely not my first choice.
 
That price tag is a little bit of a turn off for me, considering the type of case it is. Granted, I'm silly enough to seriously consider the Lian-Li PC5s so take that comment with a grain of salt... The positioning of the "front panel" also bothers me. If this case is supposed to be left hand oriented, then the front panel ports should be on the right side (front of case facing you), not the left. Or better yet, instead of following the top panel vertically, it would have been better to follow it horizontally on the front edge. It may be more run of the mill that way and would force the 5.25" bays down to compensate for the space needed, but symmetry for such a minimalistic case is more aesthetically pleasing. I don't mind the drive bay door, but I agree with cliffordcooley in sentiment. I do like the overall minimalistic design, the massive cutout, all the grommets and the three 2.5" drive brackets behind the motherboard.

For someone who does place his PC on the left side, I wish I liked this case more ha ha ha...
 
cliffordcooley said:
The drive bay door is a turn off for me. The average person will have the door broke off in no time, whether they use the bay or not.
Click to expand...

Having broke the door off a Coolermaster Cosmos.... I agree, I would have to snap that sucker off.
But having an NZXT H440 I am quite happy knowing I don't really need a drive bay. Maybe for when I install windows, which having an external in a drawer would suffice. I should order one.

Currently running Dying light behind this window. CPU is at 60% load and 50 Degrees.
My GPU is at 66 degrees, 99% load. Which isn't too bad. But airflow is not my cases strong point.

See I like the idea of its internals upside down, but the PSU should be at the bottom like on my case, but then should it if it is all upside down it is in the bottom but the top, and now I am confused. Its messing with my head.

Just give me a case where I can put my Kraken x61 at the front as intake without losing every hdd bay.
No top exhaust fan option ? I too don't think that is wise, but then the stats show a rather cool case. Would they of been better with top exhaust ? Maybe this is not the case I am looking for.
 
cliffordcooley said:
The drive bay door is a turn off for me. The average person will have the door broke off in no time, whether they use the bay or not.
Click to expand...
I was skeptical when I first saw Steves article, I thought he was being over generous by giving it a score of 95. I've since seen the case in the flesh so to speak, seen how it works (I know that sounds silly) and I'm a convert, in fact I now think he was being stingy giving it that paltry score.
I can get used to having my case to the left of me and there's was only one thing I found I could nitpick about and that's the fact that the buttons and ports on the top are longitudinally orientated, not laterally and on the far side of the case, making them awkward for me to reach unless I lift my lazy butt.
Nothing is perfect, nothing ever is but I hope to see more manufacturers following suit. It's expensive, yes, but I nearly, nearly shelled out for it this afternoon, thankfully sanity reigned, helped in no small measure by a withering stare and pouting lips from the wife, not to mention a bit of common sense which I often lack when it comes to my beloved PC.
Oh yes, the PSU should also be at the bottom of the case, the lower the COG of a tower case is, the better. Maybe next time.
 
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Skidmarksdeluxe said:
one thing I found I could nitpick about and that's the fact that the buttons and ports on the top are longitudinally orientated, not laterally and on the far side of the case, making them awkward for me to reach unless I lift my lazy butt.
Click to expand...
Pretty much exactly what I said ha ha ha. Glad that you like the case, I wonder if I can find it on display in a box store at least to look at it.
 
madboyv1 said:
Pretty much exactly what I said ha ha ha. Glad that you like the case, I wonder if I can find it on display in a box store at least to look at it.
Click to expand...
If you're in North America it might be a little difficult seeing that you guys buy all your things online (which is good) but here in South Africa that fad has yet to seriously take off (although I'm doing it more and more myself) but we still have a lot of brick and mortar stores, mainly in the malls so seeing something like this with the naked eye while you're out shopping.. easy. We also get these newly released products very quickly which still amazes me.
 
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Experimentongod said:
Top mounted PSU is such a failure, the real deal breaker.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't go so far as to call it a deal breaker but I'm sure they could've easily designed and engineered the case to accommodate it at the bottom.
That said, the heat rising up from the other components wouldn't affect new, power efficient PSU's, they run very cool themselves, even the high wattage ones but having it at the bottom of the case is far better because of the lower COG, making the case much more stable, but unless you're the type that gets excited, shaking the table, banging things around and bumping it, it shouldn't be a problem.
 
What kind of IT enthusiasts would spend money on an advanced PC case and then fill it with 1TB HDD-s? :)

Today it seems completely unrealistic :)
 
VitalyT said:
What kind of IT enthusiasts would spend money on an advanced PC case and then fill it with 1TB HDD-s? :)

Today it seems completely unrealistic :)
Click to expand...

I don't know, is this just a general question/statement or is there a reason you said it?

Skidmarksdeluxe said:
I was skeptical when I first saw Steves article, I thought he was being over generous by giving it a score of 95. I've since seen the case in the flesh so to speak, seen how it works (I know that sounds silly) and I'm a convert, in fact I now think he was being stingy giving it that paltry score.
I can get used to having my case to the left of me and there's was only one thing I found I could nitpick about and that's the fact that the buttons and ports on the top are longitudinally orientated, not laterally and on the far side of the case, making them awkward for me to reach unless I lift my lazy butt.
Nothing is perfect, nothing ever is but I hope to see more manufacturers following suit. It's expensive, yes, but I nearly, nearly shelled out for it this afternoon, thankfully sanity reigned, helped in no small measure by a withering stare and pouting lips from the wife, not to mention a bit of common sense which I often lack when it comes to my beloved PC.
Oh yes, the PSU should also be at the bottom of the case, the lower the COG of a tower case is, the better. Maybe next time.
Click to expand...

Glad you got to see it in the flesh ;)

Experimentongod said:
Top mounted PSU is such a failure, the real deal breaker.
Click to expand...

I was disappointed with the PSU location at first but after using and testing the case I couldn't really find any reason to hate it.
 
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VitalyT said:
Steve said:
I don't know, is this just a general question/statement or is there a reason you said it?
Click to expand...
Looks like my reasoning didn't pass your reason-meter... :)
Click to expand...

I don't understand your use of the word "fill" or the context " fill it with 1TB HDD-s". To me fill would imply full of 1TB hard drives and that wasn't the case.
 
Was mildly interested until I saw that the psu was on top. stopped reading article immediately. I'll stick with my 900 for now.
 
Steve said:
"Storage was taken care of by a pair of 3.5" WD Red 6TB hard drives, two 2.5" Red 1TB drives and a Crucial MX200 1TB SSD."
Click to expand...
My bad about the other bays, reading comprehension at it's finest.
Steve said:
I don't understand your use of the word "fill" or the context " fill it with 1TB HDD-s". To me fill would imply full of 1TB hard drives and that wasn't the case.
Click to expand...
2TB 2.5" drives are currently available which is possibly what he was referring to. My comment (brainfart aside) was guessing that the 1TB Red drives might have possibly been from the QNAP/Synology NAS-off, so you were simply reusing them opposed to buying new drives. Hope that clears up my intentions in posting.
 
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madboyv1 said:
My bad about the other bays, reading comprehension at it's finest.

2TB 2.5" drives are currently available which is possibly what he was referring to. My comment (brainfart aside) was guessing that the 1TB Red drives might have possibly been from the QNAP/Synology NAS-off, so you were simply reusing them opposed to buying new drives. Hope that clears up my intentions in posting.
Click to expand...

Yep that is exactly what I was doing so you nailed it :D

The system has been dismantled now and is ready for the next case review. Realistically the drives installed don't really matter, the dimensions of a 250GB 2.5" HDD are physically the same as a 2.5" 2TB Samsung SSD 850 Pro and therefore you get the idea of how well the case handles these drives and how easy they are to install, so it's a non-issue ;)
 
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