Corsair Graphite Series 380T Review

Performance Analysis

The 380T's thermal performance is very much a mixed bag – we see high CPU temperatures but low GPU ones. Noise, meanwhile, is on the low side, especially from the case fans (even at full speed), but with the masses of mesh you can expect to hear the rest of your hardware clearly. Therefore, selecting a quiet PSU, graphics card and CPU cooler is probably a good option unless you want to add your own wind sound effects to games.


We'll start with the bad news, which is the CPU cooling. At its lowest speed, the 380T manages a delta T of 64°C. The additional airflow at medium and full speed do improve things a little, taking it to a low of 61°C, but this isn't enough to move it up from third last. In fact, only the passively cooled In-Win 901 and the heavily insulated SilverStone PS09 have done worse. We weren't expecting the result to be this high, but repeated tests confirmed the results.

Even so, we don't think this result should be the cause of much concern, provided you're not using a low-profile air cooler like our test system. As you can see, the cooler is positioned so close to the rear fan that the two are likely battling for air. There's 150mm of clearance above the CPU, so you'd be much better off buying a tower cooler (albeit a small one) with front to back airflow so that the 380T's fans are working for rather than against you. With the rear 120mm mount and side 240mm mount, Corsair is also pushing people towards using an all-in-one liquid cooler – unsurprising given the company's own investment in this area.


The better news is the cooling capabilities for graphics hardware, which is what LAN-goers are likely to care more about anyway. With a best case result of 47°C, the only cases to beat it are the In-Win 901 (with fans installed) and the SilverStone Raven RVZ01, as both of these actually have fans blasting cool air towards the graphics card. The 380T doesn't have this, but it does have the next best thing, which is a constant supply of cool air through the large mesh section. The GPU doesn't operate entirely independent of the case fans, as lowering the fan speed does increase temperatures, but a result of 50°C at minimum speed (which is very quiet) is a great result.

Conclusion

£110 is a lot to ask for a mini-ITX chassis, though the black version has an asking price of £100. Granted, it's not as expensive as the luxurious In-Win 901, but it does look costly compared to the likes of the Antec ISK600, for example. However, it does offer a fair bit for your money, including three speed fan control, full dust protection, internal lighting, 240mm radiator support and an excellent carrying handle. These aren't common features in mini-ITX cases, especially not all in a single product.


The 380T is also dead simple to work with and built like a boulder too. It also has a fairly unique aesthetic bound to draw the attention of onlookers (and kitty lovers) at LAN parties. If you're the paranoid sort, then that attention may not be welcome given how easy it is to access your precious hardware inside, but otherwise the Graphite 380T would make for an excellent LAN companion. Typically, we'd be reluctant to recommend a chassis that scored as badly as this for CPU cooling, but the design makes clear that it is intended for tower coolers or AIO liquid coolers, and most users willing to spend this much on a chassis won't be opposed to splashing out on more effective cooling, and graphics hardware is well looked after too. As such, while the relatively steep price tag will be off-putting to some, the 380T works hard to justify it, and we're hard-pressed to find many other areas where we can criticise it.