Not sure about the issues raised in the preview though - all the issues mentioned about fan positions and PSU orientation seem to indicate problems for airflow, look forward to a full review and test on it (come on CPC).
Some great ideas there though, especially for a first attempt. I'm sure quite a few will be "borrowed" by other companies soon.
For those of you guys wondering about the release date, the answer is it should be on shelves Late August/Early September. We're in production now. The unit in the review is a pre-production unit, so the CPU backplane will be changed, and a few screws and rivets will be strengthened in order to prevent flex and whatnot. Mostly fit and finish things.
I admire the fact that Corsair is breaking into new markets, but as it says at the start of the article.... it's just all over-engineered.
They seem to have spent too much time with silly things like that hatch on the CPU socket, the HDD bays and the roof with the recessed area for alternative grills. Clearly, on an aesthetics front, they've gone for the Lian Li look (sleek, monolithic tower), but they seem to have missed the whole point of a Lian Li, the fact it's a perfect blank canvas for a unique machine (which lets face it when your looking at spending £220+ just on a case your gonna want).
This seems to be the case for the kind of person who will buy Dominator GT RAM rather than a cheaper kit and overclock.... a little more money, a little less sense, a little less effort.
EDIT: Oh, and as I keep saying. Steel is the biggest mistake they made here, without doubt.
Nice looking case, but I'd go for a TJ07 at that price.
Also, from the preview it sounds as though the funny sideways fan (that's meant to suck the air underneath into the tiny gap between it and the case over the HDDs and expel it behind the motherboard tray) doesn't work very well? I'm surprised they kept that idea tbh; it sounded ineffective from the get-go.
Steel's not a problem imo- aluminium scratches and vibrates, and they have a nice aluminium front fascia for looks. I doubt many people who go to LAN parties regularly would plump for such a large, heavy case anyhow, and aluminium full tower cases in this price-range use thicker, heavier aluminium anyhow.
Seriously WHAT is it with Aluminium? Everytime i read comments on a non-aluminium case everyone's like "eww steel". How is it any better than steel? It's soft as butter and a whole lot more expensive than steel.
Is it the weight? Well grow some nerd muscles, guys.
Many of the newer Lian-li aluminium cases don't vibrate.
Many LAN party-goers use larger than average size cases in order to accommodate their components, including radiators. Steel has its advantages, such as its strength, but only compared to a lighter aluminium. If you build an aluminium case to the same weight as steel, the aluminium case should be 'slightly' stronger than steel.
LAN party goers and others who often transport their desktops, appreciate the light weight aluminium cases, especially when their internal components weigh a ton.
The other benefit of aluminium is its superior ability to act as a heat sink and dissipate heat. The internal heat ransfers through the case walls over 4 times more effectively than steel. It may only make a few degrees difference to the 'general' in-case temperature, but more noticeable on an aluminium hard drive bay or power supply section. However, it's still nice to have this feature wheras a steel case keeps the heat inside the case as it's more difficult to transfer it.
The next benefit of aluminium, especially brushed aluminium, in my opinion, is that it looks more like something that should cost £200 plus. Scatch issues are not much of a problem unless one's case finds itself in a battlefield. :)
Just to add to the heat sink benefit of aluminium: One of the main reasons why an Aston Martin DBR9 will have a aluminium roof is to help cool the high cockpit temperatures for the race driver.
For those of you guys concerned about the plastic pieces - we've used them for a reason.
1) The plastic piece over the hard drive fan is so it intakes air from the lower chamber and doesn't recirculate the ambient main chamber air.
2) The plastic pieces behind the CPU backplate, the SATA backplane, the lower hard drive bay, and all the rubber grommets assure that the warm air from the hard drive exhaust isn't allowed to infiltrate the main chamber.
It took a lot of work to get the airflow set up well - and though it's unorthodox I think when performance numbers are actually up you'll see it performs pretty well with the default config and even better with the top 3 fans installed.
For me I don't care with a big tower case if it's steel or aluminum, if it adds cost I don't want it. I don't move my case enough to care about lightness.
As for being a blank canvas, I quite like what they've done - the compartments, mobo tray hatch, HDD caddies, clever SATA cabling, decent WC space etc is all a nice addition, most of which LiLi have already implemented in their fancier cases.
Horses for courses tbh. :p
Quote:
Originally Posted by tron Just to add to the heat sink benefit of aluminium: One of the main reasons why an Aston Martin DBR9 will have a aluminium roof is to help cool the high cockpit temperatures for the race driver.
While that's a benefit I imagine the reason it has an aluminum roof is to lower the centre of gravity and keep the weight as low as possible to allow for better balancing.
Originally Posted by tron Just to add to the heat sink benefit of aluminium: 'One of' the main reasons why an Aston Martin DBR9 will have a aluminium roof is to help cool the high cockpit temperatures for the race driver.
While that's a benefit I imagine the reason it has an aluminum roof is to lower the centre of gravity and keep the weight as low as possible to allow for better balancing.
Racing cars aren't designed for driver comfort.
That's the reason I made sure to include the clause: "One of" - to avoid implying that the heat benefit is the only benefit. Other factors are usually a combination of: cost; weight and how a material behaves under various types of stress depending on the location on the car and its application. Also, speaking of 'low centre of gravity', and low weight benefits, a DBR9 could have benefited from a carbon fibre roof like other parts of the car.
Let us hope that it does not finish in the same way as Silverstone Raven 1, which got only the First Look (and then somebody got the urge to test some cheap stuff). Anyway, Raven 1 was found to be amazing in cooling the graphic, now I wonder how it would do with the new Corsait Hydro H50, how it compares to this case and the new Raven 2.
Originally Posted by antaresIII Let us hope that it does not finish in the same way as Silverstone Raven 1, which got only the First Look (and then somebody got the urge to test some cheap stuff). Anyway, Raven 1 was found to be amazing in cooling the graphic, now I wonder how it would do with the new Corsait Hydro H50, how it compares to this case and the new Raven 2.
Who knows if we will ever find out?
There was a large disagreement over the Raven and Silverstone pulled the case before we had a chance to test it properly unfortunately, so, we will never know.
Of course we want a Raven 2 as well for review :) and hope it'll stay here long enough this time ^_^
Originally Posted by DragunovHUN Seriously WHAT is it with Aluminium? Everytime i read comments on a non-aluminium case everyone's like "eww steel". How is it any better than steel? It's soft as butter and a whole lot more expensive than steel.
Is it the weight? Well grow some nerd muscles, guys.
On small, cheaper cases steel is fine. On a huge, £200+ super tower it doesn't make sense at all. If Silverstone, Lian Li and CoolerMaster can produce high end, sturdy fully aluminum cases for the same price why couldn't Corsair?
And yes the issue is weight, as someone who's owned a 20kg (EMPTY) Kandalf I can tell you right now EVERYTHING becomes a hassle, from changing a CPU heatsink to swapping out a dead fan (and i'm a dryliner who's used to slinging up 3m plasterboards all day).
If your the kind of person who builds a rig then doesn't touch it for months at a time then theres no issue, but personally i'm digging inside my case for some reason or another on practically a weekly basis.
Corsair picked a tough time to come to market. I hope the unconventional cooling is all its hyped up to be at that price, not that it wont sell on looks alone!
TBH while inovative, the Raven1 has some really bad oversights in my eyes, cost far too much and a very marmite 'gamer' styling. The Raven2 and Fortress FT02 however are both simply stunning and looking forwards to how they perform! The new Lian-Li offerings are looking fantastic too.
Quick question to Redbeard:- Will the hotswap caddies be available separately? Kind of defeats the point if they are not. :)
Originally Posted by D-Cyph3r On small, cheaper cases steel is fine. On a huge, £200+ super tower it doesn't make sense at all. If Silverstone, Lian Li and CoolerMaster can produce high end, sturdy fully aluminum cases for the same price why couldn't Corsair?
And yes the issue is weight, as someone who's owned a 20kg (EMPTY) Kandalf I can tell you right now EVERYTHING becomes a hassle, from changing a CPU heatsink to swapping out a dead fan (and i'm a dryliner who's used to slinging up 3m plasterboards all day).
If your the kind of person who builds a rig then doesn't touch it for months at a time then theres no issue, but personally i'm digging inside my case for some reason or another on practically a weekly basis.
This be true ;)
As a HAF 932 owner and someone who swaps hardware in and out of (mostly SECC) chassis and is a LAN party regular, I've sworn that my next case/mod/WHATEVER is going to be aluminum or something lighter.
Originally Posted by 500mph But don't some rad's have different spacing between fans? Any plans to accomodate that or is it being manufactured in mass already?
There is tons of space for a fat radiator + fans in the roof. We checked with a 2" thick thermochill.
Comments 76 to 100 of 152
ReplyNot sure about the issues raised in the preview though - all the issues mentioned about fan positions and PSU orientation seem to indicate problems for airflow, look forward to a full review and test on it (come on CPC).
Some great ideas there though, especially for a first attempt. I'm sure quite a few will be "borrowed" by other companies soon.
Finally..the price...good grief £225 :| !
Probably not for me....
They seem to have spent too much time with silly things like that hatch on the CPU socket, the HDD bays and the roof with the recessed area for alternative grills. Clearly, on an aesthetics front, they've gone for the Lian Li look (sleek, monolithic tower), but they seem to have missed the whole point of a Lian Li, the fact it's a perfect blank canvas for a unique machine (which lets face it when your looking at spending £220+ just on a case your gonna want).
This seems to be the case for the kind of person who will buy Dominator GT RAM rather than a cheaper kit and overclock.... a little more money, a little less sense, a little less effort.
EDIT: Oh, and as I keep saying. Steel is the biggest mistake they made here, without doubt.
But they make nice RAM. :D
Also, from the preview it sounds as though the funny sideways fan (that's meant to suck the air underneath into the tiny gap between it and the case over the HDDs and expel it behind the motherboard tray) doesn't work very well? I'm surprised they kept that idea tbh; it sounded ineffective from the get-go.
Is it the weight? Well grow some nerd muscles, guys.
Many LAN party-goers use larger than average size cases in order to accommodate their components, including radiators. Steel has its advantages, such as its strength, but only compared to a lighter aluminium. If you build an aluminium case to the same weight as steel, the aluminium case should be 'slightly' stronger than steel.
LAN party goers and others who often transport their desktops, appreciate the light weight aluminium cases, especially when their internal components weigh a ton.
The other benefit of aluminium is its superior ability to act as a heat sink and dissipate heat. The internal heat ransfers through the case walls over 4 times more effectively than steel. It may only make a few degrees difference to the 'general' in-case temperature, but more noticeable on an aluminium hard drive bay or power supply section. However, it's still nice to have this feature wheras a steel case keeps the heat inside the case as it's more difficult to transfer it.
The next benefit of aluminium, especially brushed aluminium, in my opinion, is that it looks more like something that should cost £200 plus. Scatch issues are not much of a problem unless one's case finds itself in a battlefield. :)
1) The plastic piece over the hard drive fan is so it intakes air from the lower chamber and doesn't recirculate the ambient main chamber air.
2) The plastic pieces behind the CPU backplate, the SATA backplane, the lower hard drive bay, and all the rubber grommets assure that the warm air from the hard drive exhaust isn't allowed to infiltrate the main chamber.
It took a lot of work to get the airflow set up well - and though it's unorthodox I think when performance numbers are actually up you'll see it performs pretty well with the default config and even better with the top 3 fans installed.
I know what you mean, but I disagree.
For me I don't care with a big tower case if it's steel or aluminum, if it adds cost I don't want it. I don't move my case enough to care about lightness.
As for being a blank canvas, I quite like what they've done - the compartments, mobo tray hatch, HDD caddies, clever SATA cabling, decent WC space etc is all a nice addition, most of which LiLi have already implemented in their fancier cases.
Horses for courses tbh. :p
Racing cars aren't designed for driver comfort.
That's the reason I made sure to include the clause: "One of" - to avoid implying that the heat benefit is the only benefit. Other factors are usually a combination of: cost; weight and how a material behaves under various types of stress depending on the location on the car and its application. Also, speaking of 'low centre of gravity', and low weight benefits, a DBR9 could have benefited from a carbon fibre roof like other parts of the car.
Who knows if we will ever find out?
There was a large disagreement over the Raven and Silverstone pulled the case before we had a chance to test it properly unfortunately, so, we will never know.
Of course we want a Raven 2 as well for review :) and hope it'll stay here long enough this time ^_^
On small, cheaper cases steel is fine. On a huge, £200+ super tower it doesn't make sense at all. If Silverstone, Lian Li and CoolerMaster can produce high end, sturdy fully aluminum cases for the same price why couldn't Corsair?
And yes the issue is weight, as someone who's owned a 20kg (EMPTY) Kandalf I can tell you right now EVERYTHING becomes a hassle, from changing a CPU heatsink to swapping out a dead fan (and i'm a dryliner who's used to slinging up 3m plasterboards all day).
If your the kind of person who builds a rig then doesn't touch it for months at a time then theres no issue, but personally i'm digging inside my case for some reason or another on practically a weekly basis.
TBH while inovative, the Raven1 has some really bad oversights in my eyes, cost far too much and a very marmite 'gamer' styling. The Raven2 and Fortress FT02 however are both simply stunning and looking forwards to how they perform! The new Lian-Li offerings are looking fantastic too.
Quick question to Redbeard:- Will the hotswap caddies be available separately? Kind of defeats the point if they are not. :)
Corsair.com ships products worldwide from multiple hubs in Asia, North America, and Europe.
As a HAF 932 owner and someone who swaps hardware in and out of (mostly SECC) chassis and is a LAN party regular, I've sworn that my next case/mod/WHATEVER is going to be aluminum or something lighter.
Plus, it's easier to mod, period :p
There is tons of space for a fat radiator + fans in the roof. We checked with a 2" thick thermochill.
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