Corsair 230T Value Gaming PC Case
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,961 words · ~9 min read
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with its power loss protection affordability and performance the sp920
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from a data makes upgrading to an SSD remarkably safe and simple so the
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graphite 230t appears on first glance to
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be Corsair's response to the cheap bold looking gaming cases on the market that
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deliver a lot of flash but not a lot of Dash upon further inspection we find
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that that's exactly what it is It's relatively Compact and lightweight
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doesn't have a ton of extra features comes in a variety of colors and
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includes orange red or blue LED fans depending on the configuration you
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choose as well as an aggressively shaped window and speed arrows that are
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strategically positioned to make it go faster this case was extremely
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polarizing when it first launched with many criticizing the looks but I
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actually disagree and I feel like Corsair has nailed their Target
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demographic here with the look but what do you think let me know in the comments
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but while we might normally say okay
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it's for gamers check and it looks cool check editor's choice this is Corsair
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and we hold them to a higher standard than other casemakers because they ask
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for more money than other casemakers so we're going to dig deeper and evaluate
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this case as if it's not just empty bling and it has to deliver in terms of
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functionality as well also I like tearing apart his creations and finding
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all the cost-saving compromises he made just for the sake of giving George a
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headache but before we do that I'll need my special announcement
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hat thank you no one's here with the special but before I do that I'll need
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but it's pretty simple just like modus on Facebook fill out a brief form and
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starting at the front of this case we've got two usb3 ports headphone and
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microphone jacks and a pretty cheaply implemented power and reset switch setup
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that makes only one side of the power button actually pressable not a huge
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deal though moving down we find three 5 and a/4 in base that for some
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inexplicable reason aren't actually perforated and only have what look like
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holes filled in with plastic maybe this is to keep the front bottom to top back
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airf flow scheme in the case operating smoothly but but other than that I'm not
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100% sure further down we find the included dual front 120 mm LED fans
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orange on this model behind a mesh van filter that unfortunately is actually
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quite difficult to remove for cleaning you need to remove both side panels
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which slide on front to back rather than
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back to front for some reason then undo all six plastic Clips individually to
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remove the entire front bezel moving on
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to the top of the case we've got nowhere to put this side panel or what I mean to
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say is we've got ventilation holes with noise isolating rubber grommets in them
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so they can be easily moved to support either dual 120 or 140 mm fans or even a
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dual 120 or dual 140 mm radiator as long
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as your motherboard heat sinks don't interfere with the extra thickness from
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the rad unfortunately our Sabertooth Z87
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didn't allow either of these radiator mounting options so we went with a rear
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120 mm thick rad to match the fan that was already in there but your mileage
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may vary also at the back we've got our standard 7 PCI expansion slots with some
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extra ventilation holes next to them and a bottom mounted power supply with an
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easily removable fan filter that will keep dust from the air that it intakes
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directly from the bottom of the case of note is that you can install the fan
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either way so we opted to leave the fan facing up this doesn't make use of that
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dust filter but it does keep the power supply safe if you plan to use the PC on
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a carpet where the other orientation would result in basically Zer air flow
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uh that's an issue with any case with a bottom mounted power supply pretty much
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though moving inside we start to find some nice little Corsair touches in no
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particular order the motherboard standoffs are pre-installed with their
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signature nubbin standoff in the middle that holds the board in place while
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you're installing it all the metal bends are folded over and nicely finished so
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it's pretty much impossible to cut yourself while you're working in this
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case all internal wires and connectors are all blacked down to the very ends
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with the exception of the HD audio connector a notable feature by the way
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at this price point makes it look really clean inside and the tooless 5 and 1/4
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in 2 and 1/2 in and 3 and 1/2 in Drive mounts are all pretty well implemented
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the 5 and 1/4 in Bays use a simple metal
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tab system the four 3 and 1/2 in Bays each have a nice long Spike that goes
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into the side of the drive that holds it very securely in place and they feel
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surprisingly rigid especially when you consider that the cage is actually
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plastic something I don't recall having seen before and then finally the four 2 and
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1/2 in mounts are easy to use with a simple you know slide in from the back
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technique it's not perfect though it is pretty tight as you jam it in there but
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quite loose once it's installed so if you put a hard drive in there with a
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Slimmer than usual profile it might wiggle around causing damage now go
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listen to the last 20 seconds or so of this video and think of penises this
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time you're welcome ease of use aside cable management is a bit of a sore
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point with the 2 and 1/2 in cage for me since Corsair recommends you leave the
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SATA connectors hanging towards the video card I know you won't see them due
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to the shape of the window but I still wish they could be managed differently
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somehow other than that cable management isn't bad there's isn't a ton of space
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behind the motherboard tray due to the compact case design but anchor points on
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the back of the tray will help you route the eight pin connector to the nice big
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hole at the top left of the motherboard tray and the bent right hand side gives
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plenty of space for your 24 p and PCI
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Express cables for everything else you can use a combination of the space
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behind the motherboard tray or above the hard drive and SSD mounts to make things
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as tidy looking as you can it would be easier to achieve Perfection with rubber
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grommets in the spacious Cable Management holes here but that was
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obviously a cost-saving emission speaking of holes between the ones on
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the right and the bottom of the motherboard and the large CPU cutout at
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the back I expected the motherboard tray to be pretty flimsy but I was very
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pleasantly surprised in this regard it's rock solid in fact the 230t meets or
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exceeds my build quality expectations even my unreasonable Corsair ones in
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every way especially when you factor in the solid price point it's just playing
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better than similarly styled blingy competitors so at the end of the day I
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guess that's what this is It's a value case that I think will appeal to its
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target audience one that delivers good if not groundbreaking features and
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Cooling and surprisingly solid build quality at a fair price it gets my
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better than spending your money on a really fancy steak than forgetting to
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cook it in time and you get a disease from eating it award for stunning
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excellence in the field of humdrum mediocrity an award that I reserve for
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only the best products that Target a given price point and achieve a
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compelling enough value proposition that someone looking to spend that amount of money might want to consider buying it
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all of these silly award Jokes Aside this is actually why I don't really
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review much entry level stuff I feel like there can't be any surprises in my
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conclusion about the product the 230t is good but it's made by Corsair it wasn't
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going to be totally stupid in the first place it was going to be good I mean
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because of cost constraints though it's not like George can make the rivets out
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of like magnesium unicorn horn alloy so
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I just feel like there isn't much to say other than it met my
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expectations but you guys let me know if I'm wrong was this video up until the
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goofiness at the end as interesting to watch as when we cover high-end stuff
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do you just straight up want to know like what's a good $70 case so you can
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go and buy a truckload of 230 T's tomorrow or do you prefer that we focus
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on the high-end stuff that's fun eye candy but you don't necessarily intend
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to buy need your feedback my peeps and I guess like all the all the jokes aside
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from the you know the hum drum mediocre actually very solid case definitely a
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recommended buy at 70 bucks if that's what you guys are looking for all right
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so that's pretty much it guys like this video if you liked it dislike it if you
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disliked it share the video accordingly if you thought other people should watch
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it please share the video also guys we've got our support Link in the video
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description along with a pricing and availability link for where to buy this
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case if you do want to check it out in the support link you can also find where
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give us a monthly contributions so we can keep making these videos if you think that they're good and finally a
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Kickback thanks for again for watching and as always don't forget to subscribe