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  • The Sorcerer - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    NZXT Gamma and now Shinobi. Both brilliantly made cases for that price. Get a good set of fans and that's all one needs for a mid-end gaming rig.

    Just a question, wouldn't filling up the HDD bays and doing the required cable work (SATA Power connectors and SATA cables) give more clear idea about how good the cable management should be? MATX layout boards are bundled with shorter SATA cables, whereas a full-fledged atx motherboards (Like...890GPA UD3H) comes with bit longer cables.

    Its been a very long time since I got my hands on those prebuilt systems with "slim" unit linueups, but back in the days negative pressure enclosures were nicely made and well thought construction to hold the adds-ons nicely.
  • Dustin Sklavos - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    I can actually comfortably say cable management in the 650D will still be stellar even if you load the whole thing up. Why? Because internally it's nigh identical to the 600T and I did exactly that with my primary machine.
  • randinspace - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    Why doesn't Corsair just produce a model that comes with one of their popular (?) water cooling units?
  • AlexKitch - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    I'm a big fan of this case but had such problems getting my hard drives into the hard disk bays. I felt like I was about the snap them every time.

    Also, make sure you get the update to this case which upgrades the fan controller and mounts the front intake fan on rubber standoffs rather than the original screws - this solves a lot of noise/resonance problems.
  • darckhart - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    what's the model number for the "update?"
  • AlexKitch - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    Corsair's website has it listed as product SKU# CC650D-FANKIT . When I bought the case, it had already been included in the box (but not fitted)
  • Locklear - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    The front fan is a real offender in noise. Something to do with the pitch of the fan-blades in combination with the front mesh. Just built a new comp with this case, and switching the 200mm fans with Cooler Master Megaflows worked wonders on noise. The annoying "whirling" disappeared completely. The fan change will come at a slight price though. You have to sacrifice one drive cage and move the other to the middle position in the cabinet due to the added 10mm depth on the megaflows (200x30mm). Using other 200x20mm fans should also work fine.
  • rbg08 - Saturday, July 30, 2011 - link

    Good to about this fix. I own this case and just yesterday ordered a Xigmatek XLF-F2004 White LED Black Case Fan (200x20mm) on sale from Newegg to match the fan on my Dark Knight-S1283W CPU heatsink. I was debating whether to install it in front or on top. Sounds like I may decrease noise as well by mounting it in front.
  • malignate - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link

    This is my biggest complaint about this case since I've set it up! If you do a search on youtube for 650d and noise, there is a video demonstrating this problem. I went back and forth with Corsair on a solution and the best they could come up with was to send me another fan. As mentioned, it has to do with the combination of the fan and the front mesh.

    I tried replacing the front fan with the XIGMATEK CLF-F2004 White LED fan, which is also 20mm so it still fits without drive cage modification. This took some adjustment because the fan screw mounts on the fan are facing for an exhaust fan, not an intake fan. I ended up using wire ties and attaching it to the front mesh. Not pretty but it still works. Unfortunately, this fan has the same problem with this case but is slightly muted. I think I'm going to have to go the Cooler Master Megaflow route and move the hard drive cage as has been recommended by others. This is a ridiculous design flaw for a case that costs this much and seems otherwise well thought out. Corsair needs to fix this.
  • flong777 - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - link

    I own the 650D and the case is not noisy - nor does the Anandtech review reflect excessive noise. I don't think that I have the updated fan kit either. No case that moves air is going to be entirely silent. Read the reviews on the Fortress FT02.

    People should not be misled into thinking that this case is noisy. I mean if you are really sensitive about noise, turn the fans to low and you will have trouble hearing the system at all.

    With the fans on low I hear my CPU cooler but not the case - I have the Noctua NH-D14 cooler.
  • mscrivo - Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - link

    you're crazy if you can't hear the noise. I just bought one of these cases, and 2 days in, its driving me nuts. Its more than audible, especially compared to my old P180B.
  • ooostephen - Saturday, January 14, 2012 - link

    same here. i tossed some 'vent filters' used for air conditioners, in the front, and that made a noticeable diff. it also helps keep the dust out.
  • DanNeely - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    Even if the cooling worked well, this would be a killer for me. It looks ugly, and most mobos are coming with a header now for an internal connection making the kludge obsolete.
  • LtHawkins - Saturday, July 30, 2011 - link

    I just built a system and got around this by connecting the USB3 expansion panel that came with my motherboard to the mobo header, then connected the 650D USB3 connector to that, but I'm keeping it all internal - I tucked the panel into one of the external drive bays that I'm not using. Won't work for everyone, but if you have a spare drive bay, theres no reason to have wires come poking out the back of the case.
  • Locklear - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    Seem to remember Corsair stating that they would release a substitute frontpanel which has usb3 internal header connections instead of the current one. This one will be available on their web-shop. No idea about the timeframe though.
  • darckhart - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    free replacement? or paid? i hate how some charge you for something that it should have come with in the first place. (i'm looking at you evga and your high flow brackets for the 580s)
  • Locklear - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    As far as i remember it's not a free replacement, as it's not a defect. The case (and all other cases with usb3 front ports i know of) was designed like this because internal usb3 headers on motherboards were not that common when it was designed, so they opted for a "universal" solution instead.

    There are ways to work around the problem with things like this http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accesso...
    But I agree.. It's not the ideal solution.
  • Goty - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    Solution for negative pressure: simply turn the exhaust fan in the top of the case around. I built a PC for my father in this case and it works just fine.
  • Wieland - Saturday, July 30, 2011 - link

    That will get rid of the negative pressure, but it will introduce other airflow problems, inefficiencies.

    That intake will be right next to the only exhaust so a lot of the air it blows in will go straight back out of the case. This cold air will take up some of the capacity of the exhaust fan and make it less efficient.

    The top fan is oriented almost directly opposed to the airflow coming from the front of the case, and the opposing airflows will probably create some dead zones. If you have a big tunneled heatpipe cooler oriented front-to-back (like my Kingston XT-1264), it will push air around and away from it.

    With that big open vent on the top and positive air pressure there's bound to be some recycled hot air. The fan filter they removed will now be an absolute necessity to keep out dust.
  • EJ257 - Thursday, August 11, 2011 - link

    I have the HAF932 with a similar fan setup. I really think the big fan on top is a great idea because the heat likes to collect near the top of the case. I turned the back fan around so its acting as an intake too and I haven't had issues with it. So now the airflow is front/back intake, top exhaust.
  • HilbertSpace - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    This case is great once you get rid of the 200 mm fans (far too loud). I replaced the top 200 with two 120 mm fans running at 500 rpm, replaced the back 120, and front 200 mm with a 140 mm fan (this requires your own mounting solution as there are only mounting points for 200 mm fans).

    Not it's nice and quiet - on par with my old Antec Solo case (similar to Sonata). I only hear a slight bit of air movement noise.

    The side window panel can be replaced for $20-25 with a solid one from Corsair's website.
  • Aikouka - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    I own a CNPS9000, and I'm curious how you like the 9900? My biggest gripe on the 9000 is that I believe they were phasing out the product at NewEgg, and all I could get was one with a silly green LED. At least my PC is fast and furious (and cool). ;)
  • varneraa - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    I'm not familiar with the cooler you are using, but I wonder if you could significantly improve the thermals by orienting the cpu cooler to exhaust through the top of the case and then have the rear 120mm fan pull air into the case.
  • Dustin Sklavos - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    I actually tried that with my 600T and it made virtually no difference, so it's reasonable to assume that wouldn't help the 650D either.
  • Meghan54 - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    "...it doesn't change the fact that you're exhausting more air than you're bringing in."

    Did you even read what you wrote, Mr. Sklavos? Do you think, using the fans that come with this or any other computer case, that you can create a negative pressure inside the case in relation to the outside atmospheric pressure? And in the above quoted line, you seem to imply that the case can be imploded due to the fact that a partial vacuum is being created inside the case, since you're saying the fans are exhausting more air than comes into the case.

    Of course, that is utter bullshit. Why?

    First, the case would have to be completely air tight to have the "more air out than In" phenomenon to occur. Second, the fans must be capable of tremendous static pressure to actually suck more air out of a case than moves into the case. Given what the author has said, eventually the case would implode as an end result of all that "negative pressure" being created and given enough running time.

    But we all know case fans do not have very high static pressure output curves and neither are computer cases air tight. Therefore, the air exhausting from the case exactly equals the amount of air entering the case, nothing else can be happening.

    Where does the air get into the case, then? Between the optical drives or drive covers, around the side panels, through the rear venting.....all avenues of air infiltration or exhaust, depending on how the fans are arranged. You can have every single fan blowing into the case you want, you won't have tremendously increased positive pressure, if any at all, because the air will escape via every seam, crack and crevice it can find. And even using ultra high output fans, I doubt anyone's seen a case either implode from too much negative internal pressure nor explode from too much positive internal pressure.

    Honestly, about all one can do is direct the movement of air within a case with fan air flow, not increase internal air pressure in any meaningful amount, especially given what are typically used for case fans (low noise, low rpm large fans.)

    Simply, put a lot of fans blowing into a case and you'll have exhaust of the exact same amount of air put into the case from every seam, crack, hole, and crevice found in the case. Put a lot of fans exhausting air from a case and you'll have an equal amount of air entering the case through the same cracks, holes, crevices, and grills in the case. Our fans are not strong enough to either create a partial vacuum or partial positive pressured environment within any steel/aluminum/plastic enclosure that leaks air around and through multiple seams found on every case.....they're not air tight.
  • Dustin Sklavos - Saturday, July 30, 2011 - link

    Wow...now that is some physics rage.
  • Casper42 - Monday, August 1, 2011 - link

    Way to go all agro on an assumption.

    The case will implode?
    Did we read the same article?

    Here is the deal Mr Wizard, if you Push more air into the case than you exhaust, you get leakage coming out of the case in places you might not want. If you pull more air out of the case than you push in, then you get the same leakage in reverse. You have air sneaking in places you were not intending. This is exactly what you are saying in that the case is not airtight.

    The problem with both of those is 2 things as I see it.
    1) You stand a higher chance of recirculating hot air back into the case
    2) Your fans have to work harder due to the unbalanced airflow.

    I don't think number 2 is a big deal, as you rightfully mentioned that today's craptastic PC fans don't stand up well when it comes to large amounts of static pressure so the impact of such pressure on fan rotation and resistance is negligible at best.

    But the problem with air coming in or leaking out from places you dont want is one that should be rectified. And as I read it, thats really what the writer was trying to say.

    IMHO, the best way to design a case to deal with airflow is to push in more air than you have FANS to exhaust it, put the exhaust fans in strategic locations near things that need to be extra cooled (CPU, GPU and PS) and then leave some perf'd areas of the case on the exhaust side of the design to allow the excess pressure to leak out gracefully without building static pressure.
  • ckryan - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link

    In the conclusion you state a desire to see more intake air going straight to the tower. I would submit there is one prime example of this, the Lian Li PCA05 NB. The intake fan is on the back, blowing air in directly to the tower cooler which is like two inches away. With a Noctua U12 SE2 I don't even use a push fan, just one pull fan. The exhaust exits out the front, and all of the fans line up. If your primary concern is CPU temps, this is your case. GPU temps are not great however, though a reference style cooler helps. The good new is the GPU can't heat up the CPU even if the card puts all the heat into the case.

    On the other hand, there is something to be said for large, intelligent cases with good cable management - an area where the PC A05NB falls directly on it's Taiwanese face.
  • Casper42 - Monday, August 1, 2011 - link

    I have jimmy rigged a similar design but done it in reverse. Install a 120mm intake across 3 5.25" bays that shoots air right into a Zalman 9700 and then the rear 120 is exhaust. I refer to this as the upper zone because my GPU cuts off all the air the lower front 140mm is pulling in. With the GPU exhaust and some missing slot covers the 140 blows across the drives and GPU and creates a lower zone that is also pure front to back as well.

    With one case I had to put packing tape over the holes in the side panel that were for traditional "top down" coolers like the retail CPUs come with.
  • marc1000 - Monday, August 1, 2011 - link

    there is one thing i've been pointing on the comments of some case reviews here at anandtech: we can improve the thermals by turning ALL fans into intake fans, and let the hot air go out of the case by his own way on every opening. I did this in my case (a custom small micro-atx) and it worked great, but I do not have others cases to test, so this is my suggestion to people who can actually test cases.

    turn the back fan of this corsair to an intake fan, and maybe even the top fan too. let the cold air force out all hot air. I believe this would make a noticeable difference.

    regards,
  • malignate - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link

    I'm not sure if others had this issue but I had to file down the inside of the front panel where the external 5.25 drive bays are so that my dvd and blu-ray drives would properly fit. Before that, the space was so tight that it took me at least 15 minutes to manipulate the front panel until it snapped over everything just right. If it was only a mm or 2 wider, that would make a huge difference in the ease of handling the front panel.

    I'd also love this case to have just a bit more room behind the motherboard tray for wire routing. Once you start adding a lot of components, it can get pretty tight back there with the various cable routing. The biggest offender of this is probably the motherboard power cable, which has an additional wrapper on it. I've heard others suggest that the front panel connectors also make it a bit crowded in that space. Either way, these modifications would make it that much easier to handle.

    I don't have much to say about air flow problems as that seems to be covered well in this article and the discussion.

    They need to fix the front fan/mesh interaction noise problem. It is so distracting! You can see a demonstration of it by searching youtube for 650d and noise.
  • flong777 - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - link

    I own the 650D and my temperatures are far cooler than the ones that you post for this case. Everything in the case stays around 40C except my XFX 6950 which hovers between 50C - 60C and the fan rarely goes above 30%.

    My build is:

    2600K - not overclocked yet - hovers around 40C under load
    Noctua NH-D14
    AsRock Extreme 4 Gen 3 mobo - Stays below 40C under load
    2 x 4 GB DDR3 1600 Gskill RAM - Stays below 30C under load
    Corsair HX 850 PSU - never runs at high fan, it is silent
    XFX 6950 two-fan GPU - Stays between 50C - 60C under load with the dual fans set automatically to 30%

    My ambient temperature is 83Fhere in Arizona. I really can't understand the temperatures of your system. The 650D is a very good cooling case IF you remove the top HDD cage.

    If you remove the top hard drive cage (this leaves you three bays for your build) then the front intake fan blows a direct path over the motherboard, the GPU and the CPU. This improves temperatures a great deal - probably 3C-5C difference.

    Really, who is going to need more than three storage drives, four if you include the hot-swap bay? With the exception of a few power users, the setup I use if very functional for most people AND you get a major bump in cooling performance.

    Really, it is kind of commonsense. If you leave the top HDD cage in then the front intake fan blows directly into it and it reduces the efficiency of the case air flow greatly. I am surprised more reviewers don't catch this. You have to use your head a little bit Anandtech when you review this case.
  • GodelNoodle - Saturday, August 27, 2011 - link

    Thanks VERY much for this comment, flong777! I'm still trying to decide on the case I'll choose for my next PC, and I've been strongly considering the 650D. I'm just a little worried about heat and noise, and it seems like the Level 10 GT does a much better job on both counts (but I like both the price and the aesthetics of the 650D far more).

    I don't have one, though, and from the pictures in the review, I'm having trouble picturing how removing the top drive cage would help. It looks like the fan in the front panel doesn't extend anywhere near the top drive cage, so I can't see how removing it would affect convection all that much.

    Did you mean the bottom drive cage, or am I missing something? Does the intake fan extend higher up than it seems? Is there another fan up there in the front? Is the frame on the fan open at the top, perhaps, allowing for the fan to blow upwards a bit?

    Thanks.
  • mfarlow - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link

    Over the years I've built quite a few PCs. Each time I've had to access my current case, and determine if an upgrade was in order. During that time I've also built PC's for family members and friends, and each time had to select a suitable case based on their needs and budget. So I've had an opportunity to identify what is important to me in selecting a case.

    I've had my last case for close to 7 years now, as it more than met my needs. It was a Thermal Take Tsunami mid-tower case. I selected that case primarily for looks and features. It fell somewhat middle of the road in performance, but excelled in features that were important to me, and had aesthetics that made sense for where it would be used. It was a luxury case, and served its role quite well. If it wasn't for purchasing a new GPU that was too long to fit, I probably wouldn't have even considered a new case.

    So I found myself catching the upgrade bug. My aging Core2Duo, while capable seems to be falling behind the pack, and it's time for a new build. I wanted another mid-tower, but something with a little more room than the old Tsunami (which was quite spacious for it's time) to accommodate today's larger graphics cards. I also wanted a case that would last me for several years, and one that I wouldn't feel the need to upgrade anytime soon.

    My needs were (in order of importance)
    - Build Quality
    - Ease of Use
    - Aesthetics
    - Features
    - Performance

    - Cost
    Actually cost and performance were pretty important, but I had a range that any case would need to fit into before being considered. Once within that range, those became less important.

    As I searched around, reading reviews, and doing my research, the 650D stood out for build quality, ease of use, visual appeal and features, but it was slightly over my budget. I understood it wasn't the best performer in it's price range, but performance numbers were good enough for my needs. I was actually set to pull the trigger on either a 600T (available for about $150), or a CM690II (for about $80). The 600T had everything I wanted, except I wasn't sold on the looks. The 690II had a great price, but was significantly lacking in features. I was really leaning towards the 600T when I came across a special selling the 650D for $140! At that price point I couldn't find another case that had the features, build quality, and looks that I wanted. Yeah I know there are a lot of great cases in that price range, some that perform much better than the 650D, but they all looked like gamer cases, and I needed something a little more professional looking.

    So here I sit with my new 650D. I yanked my existing components out of the old case, and rather quickly loaded them into the new one. The build went incredibly smooth, cable management was a snap, and I was really impressed with the overall attention to detail on this case. From the center stand-off, to the appropriately placed tie-downs, everything seemed like it was gone over with a fine tooth comb. Not once did I find myself wishing something was designed differently. I ended up with a very clean build, all done in about 1/2 hour.

    Now I know my old Tsunami wasn't a high end performance case. I was seeing about 27C idle on my CPU with that case, which is perfectly reasonable for an OC'd C2D. In the new case, my temps are now idling at 14C. That is a huge difference! I turned the case fans down to their lowest settings, and idle temp bounced up to 15C, still 12 degrees cooler than my old case. The reviewer looked at a number of very well performing cases, and the 650D wound up in the middle of the pack. I'll take middle of the road among the top performers any day.

    There's been a lot of talk on here about fan noise and the need to replace the fans. I'm baffled by these comments. At the lowest settings my case is almost silent. Honestly I have to look at the top exhaust fan every now and then to make sure it's actually running. I'm sure there are even quieter fans available, but I see no need for them. If it wasn't for my CPU cooler, this build would be suitable for my HTPC, it's really that quiet. You can find YouTube videos showing just how quite this case is, if you are concerned by the comments posted here. Many people on other sites have commented as to how quiet this case is.

    The 650D has an elegant look that fits right in with my office decor. It has exemplary build quality which I know will hold up for many years to come, probably outlasting a couple more builds. The case is an absolute delight to build in, with everything very well thought out, there's even a small stash in the bottom for hiding unwanted PSU cables. I'm actually looking forward to getting my new components in and having another go at building in this case.

    If like me, you require a more professional looking case, appreciate lots of features in your case, and are OK with a case that performs better than good enough, I think you would be more than happy with the 650D. I wouldn't pay over $150 for the case, as there are other options at that price point that offer a better value, but in the sub $150 range this case fits my needs quite well.
  • mfarlow - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link

    Sorry I mentioned the wrong numbers for my CPU temps. They were 47C originally and fell to 32C after the case swap.

    Also I'm wondering if the reviewer may have been somewhat underwhelmed by this case having spent so much time already with the 600T. I know that I often appreciate more the features of a new case, when those features are new to me. If I had the 600T for some time, and bumped up to this case, I think I would feel a little less excited about the case. Kind of like upgrading your 2008 car to the same care only the 2009 model.
  • bwebmasta - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link

    The more I read reviews, the more I see emotion and personal views mixed in. I also have noticed more of a "shock value" or "wanting a laugh" statements made too much as of late also. People make decisions to buy or not buy things due to reviews to a degree, and this review is not on point in several respects.

    The cooling in the 650D stock fan temps are around 25-29C using a closed liquid cooled solution such as the H100. The fans do the job and perform. Yes, the fans are noisy but that can easily be changed by using fans such as Noctua, Fenix, or Typhoons. I went with Noctua's at the top in a push-pull and Fenix 200/120 blue LED fans for the front and rear. I wanted less noise and the LED to match my build theme. However, the stock Corsair fans are adequate, but temps will vary according what cooling solution used.

    On the USB issue, that is another easy solution get a Fenix 3.0 adapter. Simple, and as mentioned earlier this case came out when most MB's did not have a 3.0 header. Corsair should update the case now, and would well take heed to do so.

    Overall, the 650D is a well thought out case, good fans, and excellent cable management. Many reviews praise this case and several awards were given for the design and functionality, so obviously something was done right. This case also can easily be bought for $150, and a rebate for $15 was offered at the time of my purchase I was very pleased with the price. Sure some things could be better, but isn't that with anything? Something could always be improved.

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