Corsair Graphite 380T Mini-ITX Chassis Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The Corsair Graphite 380T isn’t exactly cheap, but this is a flagship mini-ITX chassis and for this level of features, you expect to pay a premium. The chassis is available in three colours and prices start at £99.95 for the black model, £109.99 for the white and £109.99 for the yellow. All prices are pre-order from Overclockers.co.uk.

Overview

When I first saw this chassis as Computex I joked that it look pretty ridiculous, actually I still think it looks ridiculous, but that’s just like, my opinion man. For the banana coloured cat box that it is, I would still happily own one, and it only took a short while of actually working with the chassis to realize this is an absolutely superb product overall.

There are a few minor issues with it that I noticed, the first being that while the chassis main frame feels rock solid, the way the side panels fit in feels a little imprecise; the bottom plastic clips just rest into the chassis and I’d have preferred a hinge or something here to give them a more robust feel that is more in line with the sturdiness of the rest of the chassis. There is a large space behind the PSU that I think would benefit from a few extra cable tie loops, nothing major, but I’m really clutching at straws for faults here. Finally we have the design, it’s a real Marmite aesthetic here, you’re either going to love it, or hate it, but one thing is for certain, it’s unique.

General quality of this chassis is very high and it wants to be given the premium price tag. The yellow finish looks superb, there are dust filters everywhere you would expect them to be and they’re all easily accessible and maintainable, there is a three speed fan controller built right into the chassis and the carry handle feels rock solid, even with a full rig installed.

Working with this chassis was an absolute joy, installing the 240mm radiator was stupidly simple compared to many mini-ITX chassis which favor a top mount and require you to strip out optical bays (there are none of the 380T). Then of course we have that GPU compatibility, Corsair say the chassis will hold 290mm card, but with a little bit of care and the temporary removal of the front panel I got a 308mm card into the chassis easy enough; just keep in mind that this only worked for my Sapphire R9 270X Toxic, you may not be so lucky with other over-sized cards.

“It’s easily one of the strangest looking chassis I’ve seen, but it’s incredibly practical and versatile, whilst also being easy to work with. If you’re after a battlebox with minimal fuss to take to your next LAN event, look no further than the 380T. It’s a little expensive, but you certainly get what you pay for.”

Pros

• Easy installation process
• Removable hard drive bays
• Lots of room for excess cables
• Plentiful fan and radiator mounting options
• Built in three speed fan controller
• Dust filters on all intakes
• Durable carry handle
• Easily accessible side panels
• LED lighting with on/off switch
• Room for long graphics cards

Cons

• The high price may put some people off
• Side panel mounting system could be a little more robust (plastic lip at the bottom)

Neutral

• The design is pretty quirky and it does look like the boxes used to carry pets around

Thank you Corsair for providing us with this sample.