Performance
Testing smaller chassis usually reveals a fair amount of variance in CPU cooling performance, but on full-tower solutions such as these, there's very little in it: all are perfectly capable of serving-up a good supply of clean air. Our Core i5-3570K is overclocked to 4.4GHz, yet it runs well within thermal limits during a demanding Prime95 stress test.
We do see a bit more of a divide when it comes to GPU cooling, however, as full-tower cases with side intakes tend to deliver the best performance. Corsair's Graphite Series 780T doesn't have that advantage, and though the temps are perfectly fine, we suspect removing the hard-disk cages would help clear a front-to-back airflow path and further improve performance.
Both the 760T and 780T are closely matched in terms of CPU and GPU cooling performance, but the newer 780T does have the edge when it comes to acoustics. Aided by a three-step fan controller, the latest full-tower Graphite Series enclosure does a good job of keeping noise levels down to an acceptable level.
It's a shame the fans don't stay on low speed - as mentioned earlier, turning the PC off results in the controller reverting to full speed. In that scenario under-load noise level peaks at 44.2dB.
