Corsair Graphite 380T: Testing & Results

Testing Methodology

Because the Corsair Graphite 380T offers a design that is optimized for airflow we decided to see how it performed under our synthetic test conditions, as well as comparing to the Corsair Obsidian 250D which features a more restricted design. All tests were conducted at a room temperature of 25 °C using the stocks fans that came included with both cases. Fans were running at 100% speed the whole time, including the CPU and GPU fans. We chose to use an air cooler as it will more accurately represent the airflow within the case. Each test was conducted three times, and the average of the three results is our end result. 

Test System

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87N-WIFI 
• System Memory: 8 GB G. Skill Ares
• Processor: Intel Core i5 4690k (@4.1 Ghz / 1.15 Volts)
• Disk Drive: Seagate 1TB SSHD
• PSU: Rosewill Hive-650W
• Graphicss Card: Sapphire HD 7950 OC
• Air Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 (only one fan installed) 

Test Software

• CPU Stress Test: Prime95 v285 (Small FFTs)
• GPU Stress Test: FurMark v1.9.2
• AMD Driver: AMD Catalyst 14.4
• HWMonitor v1.25

Results:

Furmark is a test program that runs an intensive OpenGL fur rendering algorithm to measure the performance and the temperature of modern graphics cards. The Sapphire HD 7950 features an open design which is great for our testing purposes as it introduces more heat into it’s surrounding areas as compared to a blower design. The HD 7950 was kept at stock settings, with the exception of having the fans running at 100% during the entirety of our tests. Surprisingly the Obsidian 250D beats the 380T by one unit at idle, however when stressed there does seem to be a small improvement in choosing the 380T.

For our CPU load test we used Prime 95, which is a free application that calculates Mersenne prime numbers by loading a demanding algorithm. We decided to to use the small FFTs option which is more focused on loading the CPU caches and floating point units, instead of loading the system memory. Our core i5 4690k is overclocked to 4.1 Ghz at 1.15 volts, which gave adequate temperatures for our low profile Noctua NH-U9B to handle adequately. Again very good temperatures for both systems. however the Graphite 380T has a two degree advantage over the 250D under stress.