Corsair Graphite 380T Review

Up Close:  Interior

The 380T is only able to accept M-ITX Motherboards, which are positioned horizontally at the rear of the case.  The Motherboard tray is a continuous sheet of steel which runs from the front to the rear.  There’s a large CPU cut out in the tray, however, as we found out later it’s not well positioned for AMD socket boards, so best fit that cooler or back plate before you mount the Motherboard.   It’s also a bit of a shame that the Motherboard tray is single piece and can’t be split as it would have been nice to have the option to  mount rads in the front of the case.  As it is though, it does at least offer a place for custom water pumps and reservoirs to be mounted. 

     

 

A small rack holding two flexible tray type mounts is positioned at the front of the case and provides storage for up to 2×3.5″ drives.  This rack is easily removed by means of a single thumb bolt.  As we pointed out above, having made the rack removable, why not make the section above it removable, if not to enable large rads to be utilised , then at least to make it possible to rotate the HDD rack to allow for longer PSUs than the permitted 160mm.  At the back of the case we find a vertically orientated 2.5″ rack capable of holding 2×2.5″ drives.

     

 

Air is brought into the case through the large front mesh area by a single 140mm White LED fan.  If you want to swap things around a bit then a pair of 120s or even a single a 200mm fan will fit in just fine.  Sadly there’s no room behind the fan for a rad.  At the rear Corsair have included a single 120mm non LED fan as extract.

     

 

With both side panels removed there’s actually reasonable access to the inside of the case.  With all the wires for the front I/O emerging from the top corner Corsair have been thoughtful enough to place several cable tie point along the roof.  there’s also a small white LED up there to illuminate the case interior and Motherboard area in particular.  The LED is controlled by a really mall switch located just inside the roof.  Where we’re grateful for the ability to turn the LED on and off, we’d much rather have had this switch on the front I/O or even the rear of the case, as it its present position it does rather smack of an after thought.

    

 

Turning the case around to look at it from the other side we see the two rails on which  2x120mm fans or a 240mm rad can be fitted.  The rails themselves are easily removed allowing even better internal access.  Access to the rear of the PSU area however isn’t so great and even with the max length 160mm PSU fitted you’re going to have fun with the cables back here.