Corsair Graphite Series 380T Portable Mini-ITX Case Review

September 15, 2014

The Bottom Line


MSRP $149.99


  • Case handle for easy transportation.
  • Built-in interior light and fan controller.
  • Fits full-size graphics cards.


  • Limited to Mini-ITX motherboards.
  • Pricey and large.
  • Not all components will fit the smaller chassis.
  • Not much room for running cabling and tubing.

You probably don't relish the idea of lugging around your desktop PC from one place to another—nor should you, considering how hostile most PC cases are to travel. But if you look hard enough, you can find lovable, luggable exceptions, and Corsair's $149 Graphite Series 380T ( at Amazon) aims to be one of them. We first saw this case at Computex 2014, and we maintain: The aesthetics on this unique-looking chassis take inspiration from an Igloo-brand picnic cooler. When you think about it, though, a cooler isn't the worst thing to imitate when you're trying to keep PC components from overheating.

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T.jpg

Mind you, there's no place to pour that bag of ice inside; it's the handle on top that's especially cooler-like. A sturdy grip built into the frame of the chassis (which is made of less material than you'll find in a typical mid-tower or full-tower case), it makes transporting this case not only possible but feasible for LAN-party animals who refuse to roll onto the scene with anything but a full-fledged desktop system.

Certainly, carrying a laptop would be more convenient, but that comes at the cost of extensibility and the premium price for what few mobile upgrades are available. With Corsair's Graphite 380T, on the other hand, your primary limitation is the Mini-ITX form factor. (This case can even take a huge video card.) While Mini-ITX is a valid concern, today's tiny desktop motherboards are far more feature-rich than they were even just a short while ago.

Given the newness of the platform, you won't yet find any Mini-ITX motherboards built around Intel's X99 chipset, so that rules out stuffing in a bleeding-edge Haswell Extreme Edition setup based on a chip like the Core i7-5960X Extreme Edition ( at Amazon) , at least for the time being. However, you can pick and choose among dozens of Mini-ITX boards that support Intel's mainstream Haswell line, along with plenty that accommodate AMD's various sockets, notably the FM2 and FM2+ for the company's combined CPU/GPU chips.

What we're getting at here is that there's an audience for this type of chassis, if not several. For starters, think about young adults heading off to college. A portable desktop like the one you can build inside the Graphite 380T is easy to transport from home to dorm room and back home again during school breaks. And, of course, there's the industry-wide push to plant PC gamers in the living room. Granted, the Graphite 380T isn't as svelte as a typical Steam Machine candidate or an HTPC chassis like the SilverStone Grandia GD08 . But if a snazzy-looking cube fits in with your living-room motif, Corsair's case is a candidate for gaming on your large-screen TV.

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Angle View).jpgIt's also an attention-grabber wherever you put it, and it's available in yellow, black, or white. (We tested the yellow version.) The colored plastic forms a skeletal frame for the case, flanked by removable side and front panels that are heavily perforated to allow copious airflow. However, it's not just the colorful frame contrasting with the panels that catches the eye, but the curves and angles that give the Graphite 380T a cool, futuristic vibe.

Most who view the Graphite 380T will come away with one of two opinions: that it looks gnarly, or it looks gaudy. Either way, Corsair didn't sacrifice functionality for unique aesthetics. As we'll get to in a moment, the Graphite 380T is a cleverly crafted enclosure with a handful of thoughtful conveniences, along with a few challenges for first-time builders.

Design and Features

In designing this chassis, perhaps the biggest favor that Corsair did for system builders was to make the side and front panels so easy to remove...

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Sides All Open).jpg

You'd think, after decades of case design, that all enclosures would be a cinch to open and button back up, but as the Antec GX700 we recently tested reminded us, that's not always true.

However, it is true here. The Graphite 380T's side panels pop right open by lifting the door handle on top, while the front panel is easy to eject by pressing in on the upper portion...

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Front Open).jpg

The front face snaps back into place with gentle pressure. To put the panels back on, just line up the bottom lip and snap them shut. It doesn't get much easier than that, though the plastic clips that hold them in place don't instill confidence that a piece won't break over time, especially if you're the type of PC-building landlord who is constantly checking on your component tenants. It's not that anything feels chintzy about the Graphite 380T, but any time you use small plastic parts as fasteners in place of metal, the risk increases that something will break.

The colored-plastic frame consists of three parts with distinct lines where they attach to one another. They appear as accented bezels since the side and front panels take up so much of the case's surface area. On the outside, both the left and right side appear the same, made mainly of perforated stock...

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Side View).jpg

You'll find it's easier to insert components from the left, as you can see here...

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Insert From Left).jpg

That's because there's a pair of metal reinforcement beams that run the length of the case horizontally inside on the right...

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Fan Mounts).jpg

There's no such obstruction on the left side, but what you will find, if you look closely, is a small power switch nestled inconspicuously on upper rim...

It doesn't have anything to do with the case fans or powering on/off the system, nor does flipping the switch trigger a hologram message from Obi-Wan Kenobi. (Darn! —Ed.) It does, however, illuminate a hidden light on the inside of the case. This is a rare amenity in case design, and a most welcome one, especially for those inevitable times when you drop a screw into the innards of your PC build. You don't want a piece of metal floating around inside while you scamper for a flashlight, right?

Well, that idea sounds good in theory. Unfortunately, Corsair's implementation of the internal light reduces its practical value. To power it, you need to connect a SATA cable from the front panel to a connector on your power supply. That's fine and dandy, but you also need to turn the system on. As any seasoned system builder knows, working inside a live PC is just asking for trouble—especially fishing out metal bits with the PC powered up! The light would be far more useful in the build process if it would illuminate without the system up and running. Come boot time, you should be done mucking around inside, anyway.

Continuing on, up on top is where all the fun stuff is at. Notably the case handle...

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Handle).jpg

It's about 1.5 inches wide and 6 inches long, with enough of a recessed cutout beneath to fit large hands (or serve as a tray for loose objects like flash drives). Though it may look precarious to carry around a desktop by a plastic handle, no worries here: This is a sturdy design. We didn't notice any play in the handle or surrounding parts, nor did we feel even an inkling that the handle might break, sending our fully built system crashing to the ground.

Near the front of the case's top is an I/O panel...

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Ports).jpg

In addition to the ports, which we'll discuss later, you'll find power and reset switches here, plus a button for the integrated fan controller, a feature that's typically reserved for pricier cases.

Finally, if we direct our attention around back, we can see a painted black finish and four thumbscrews...

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Back).jpg

You can't remove the back panel—nor should you ever need to—though you can slide a standard ATX-form-factor power supply unit (PSU) in from the rear. The thumbscrews hold in place a backplate that needs to be taken off, and once you do, the PSU will slip right in.

If you're running a modular PSU, one thing you'll want to figure out beforehand is how many and which cables you'll need for your build. It's far easier to plug the necessary cables into your PSU before installing the unit in your case, so plan carefully to avoid having to yank it out mid-build to get access to the modular connectors.

Cooling, Ports, and Bays

The importance of airflow grows exponentially as you shrink a chassis down in size; without sufficient cooling, a compact case is hardly any better for your components than an Easy Bake oven. Corsair is no Johnny-come-lately to the case-and-cooling party, so we're not surprised to see such good potential for cooling in this case, but we're nonetheless impressed. As we previously mentioned, both of the side panels and the front panel are perforated, giving the system plenty of opportunity for free airflow.

Normally, this amount of ventilation would be a nightmare for neat freaks, but in this case, dust filters sit between the outer honeycomb mesh and the inner plastic outline. Technically, the dust filters are removable, though it doesn't appear Corsair really intended that as a feature. Several sections of the outer mesh wrap around and grip the plastic panels on the inside. Rather than go through the hassle of freeing the dust filters, you're far better off removing the panels altogether and giving each side a blast of compressed air or some attention with a vacuum cleaner on an as-needed basis. Alternately, you could run them under water; just be sure they're completely dry before putting them back on. While you're at it, take note of the pull-out filter on the bottom of the case for the power supply intake fan...

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (PSU Filter).jpg

Make sure to give that one a good cleaning on occasion, as well.

In addition to all that ventilation, the Graphite 380T comes with a 140mm LED-illuminated fan installed up front and an unlit 120mm fan on the back. If more cooling is needed, you can install a pair of 120mm fans on the right side of the case (on the horizontal rails we showed you earlier), provided you didn't already occupy the space with a 240mm radiator for a liquid-cooling setup. Before you go that route, however, do some research on the Web. We've read some early complaints that not all radiators play nice with the 380T design.

Do you own an internal DVD burner? Alas, you won't be able to install one here. The Graphite 380T appears large enough to fit a 5.25-inch optical drive, and a peek inside the case reveals it might have been feasible. That is, had Corsair decided to include a bay for one, but it didn't. In fact, you won't find any externally accessible drive bays behind the front panel, or anywhere else. Most of us get our media through digital distribution channels these days anyway, though the lack of an optical-drive bay is something to note if you were hoping for the Graphite 380T to double as a DVD or Blu-ray player. It also means having to make accommodations to install an operating system, such as tracking down an external optical drive or a bootable USB flash drive. Either way, you'll find a pair of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports on the front I/O to plug these devices into. (The I/O up here is also home to separate headphone and microphone ports.)

It's a different story on the inside of the Graphite 380T. Though the case can only swallow a Mini-ITX motherboard, you can stuff its belly with up to four solid state drives, or a combination of 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives...

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Interior).jpg

Two of either kind slide into a removable drive bay situated toward the front of the case (you can see it above, in the lower-right corner of the case), and no tools are required here if you're putting in 3.5-inch drives. Squeezing the clips frees a drive tray from its cage, which has four pre-installed metal screw tips on the sides that line up with the holes on a standard hard drive. If you're installing a solid state drive in either of the trays, you'll need to fasten it to the tray using the included screws.

Another drive cage rests at the rear of the case. This one is flipped on its side next to the PSU and is not removable. (It's visible in the lower-left corner, above.) However, it does offer tool-less installation for one or two 2.5-inch drives.

That's a fair amount of storage for a Mini-ITX system. Depending on the motherboard, a power user could configure a fast and capacious storage scheme that rivals that of a high-end pre-built system. For example, a pair of 512GB SSDs in RAID 0 gives the operating system 1TB of speedy flash storage, and you'd still have room for one or two multi-terabyte hard drives for secondary-storage chores.


Despite its overall compact footprint, the Graphite 380T is a bit oversized for a strictly Mini-ITX case. Even so, that's not a bad thing for first-time or otherwise inexperienced PC builders. Both will appreciate the elbow room, or more precisely, the wrist room.

Given the case's overall modularity, we were a bit surprised to find that the motherboard tray isn't removable. In lieu of such a convenience, Corsair had the courtesy to pre-install four metal protrusions that serve as standoffs for your motherboard. This eliminates the need to line them up yourself, and since they're not removable, you don't have to worry about a standoff getting stuck on a screw, a common occurrence in traditional builds.

There's enough vertical height to install a CPU and stock heatsink after screwing down the motherboard, though you'll find it easier to take care of that task beforehand. For our testing, we used an Asus AM1I-A motherboard and AMD Sempron 3850 processor, which we installed without issue...

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Mobo Installed).jpg

We used AMD's demure stock cooler here, but you can put in a CPU cooler as high as 6 inches tall.

While our chosen motherboard only featured a PCI Express x4 slot, you can install a full-size dual-slot graphics card up to 11.4 inches long if your motherboard has a PCI Express x16 slot. To put that into perspective, Nvidia's flagship dual-GPU GeForce Titan Z graphics card measures 10.5 inches long. Combined with the storage options we covered earlier, you could build a very beastly system inside the Graphite 380T capable of driving a 4K (Ultra HD) display.

The biggest challenge you'll run into with this chassis is cable management. Corsair left plenty of room behind the motherboard to house excess cabling, and you'll even find a few spots to tie down bulky bundles using the four included zip ties. However, if you clutter the empty space too much, you'll obstruct the airflow originating from the front intake fan.

You can also hide some cabling underneath the removable drive cage, though it's a bit cramped there. If you're not making use of the drive cage, that'll free up things in a big way. Your best option, then, is to take it out and bury the bulk of the cables where it was.

No matter what you try, however, unless you are among the most talented and patient of cable-management gurus, you're likely to end up with a mess of cables shoved underneath and to the sides. Corsair was kind enough to leave room next to the side panel for this purpose, and once closed, nobody will be the wiser.

Image: Corsair Graphite 380T (Face On View).jpg


Corsair understands intelligent case design, and it shows in the Graphite 380T. While the outside is audacious, the company didn't take any unnecessary risks on the inside and kept the design simple, with several conveniences and enough space to keep builders from becoming frustrated with cramming parts into a compact case. Of course, it's not as compact as it could be, considering only Mini-ITX motherboards are invited to hop aboard, but the additional space is part of what makes the Graphite 380T a mostly painless case to work with.

At $149 retail for the yellow and white versions (the black model runs $139), the Graphite 380T's pricing is definitely upmarket, but it's not without some justification. The ease with which the side panels come off and the presence of the built-in fan controller add to the overall value, as does the sturdy handle.

What this chassis really boils down to is whether or not you can be content with a Mini-ITX foundation, and whether you find the aesthetic design appealing. If yes on both accounts, the Graphite 380T will have you nodding in approval throughout your build—even if you can't actually stash that six-pack of Bud inside.

Corsair Graphite Series 380T Portable Mini-ITX Case



  • Case handle for easy transportation.
  • Built-in interior light and fan controller.
  • Fits full-size graphics cards.


  • Limited to Mini-ITX motherboards.
  • Pricey and large.
  • Not all components will fit the smaller chassis.
  • Not much room for running cabling and tubing.
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The Bottom Line



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About Paul Lilly

Paul Lilly

Paul is a level 77 technology journalist who has racked up years of experience contributing content to many leading tech publications, both in print and online. He's skilled in old-school adventure gaming, a craft he's been honing since the Commodore 64 era. Though it's a rare skill set that many would argue is no longer relevant in today's FPS landscape, he'll counter that he's squirmed out of numerous sticky situations by yelling, "Look behind you, a three-headed monkey!" Born in Massachusetts and currently occupying his time in Michigan (with previous stints in California and West Virginia), Paul is an avid Boston sports fan who bleeds green for his Celtics. When he's not knee-deep in PC hardware or in the stands rooting for whichever team is in town, Paul's need for speed and adventure takes him down winding roads on his motorcycle.

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Corsair Graphite Series 380T Portable Mini-ITX Case at Amazon
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