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Building, Testing, And Evaluation
The Crystal 570X includes long radiator screws, fan screws, motherboard/short radiator screws, and a small pack of M3 screws for attaching 2.5” drives to the 3.5” trays.
Like the power supply shroud logo, the LED controller uses a SATA-style power connection. The Crystal 570X has no HDD LED or reset button, and its two USB 3.0 ports are fed by a single header. The fan motors are powered by three-pin, motherboard-controlled headers.
With approximately 15.7” of clearance between its front fans and slot panel, the only thing preventing the Crystal 570X from holding an EATX motherboard is the stepped-in section of motherboard tray that’s designed for the added thickness of 3.5” drives. Other than the 2.5” trays having slip-in latches, hardware installation follows the steps outlined in our How To Build A PC.
Here’s how the Crystal 570X compares to its two closest rivals in dimensions, features, and price:
We retain the hardware configuration from previous ATX case reviews to maintain result consistency. It includes a Core i7-5930K at a very small overclock and moderate voltage level cooled by the mid-sized Noctua NH-U12S, and a Gigabyte triple-fan GTX 970 with its fans cranked to full speed during load testing. The motherboard is set to a 115°C throttle point, and temperatures in the chart are above ambient (the thermal reading minus the room temperature).
Test Results
With great mass comes great latent heat, and glass doesn’t absorb (or release) that heat as quickly as most metals. While I generally take my final reading after the rate of temperature rise declines below one degree per hour, that process took around six hours in the Crystal 570X.
Though glass warms up slowly, the lack of any exhaust fan is a likely contributor to the 570X’s continued, noticeable temperature climb over many hours. Corsair specs this one to have an exhaust fan in its marketing material, and we expect that the company will probably follow through on that specification once a few sites publish data like this for the first batch of exhaust-fan-free cases.
While noise levels don’t look great, the Crystal 570X did a fine job altering the pitch of that noise to a more white-noise-like “whoosh.” It was also very quiet at 50% fan speed, although the temperature issue prevented it from finishing that test under load.
I like a fan that’s able to spin up to super-airflow speeds and slow down to whisper quiet mode, but those only score well in reviews when we’re able to test them at those lower speeds.
Given the lack of a cheap exhaust fan in a pricey glass case, value comparisons aren’t really as fair as any of us would like. Even the top-performing Enthoo Evolv plays second fiddle in value to the far-cheaper Cullinan, but most users would prefer the Evolv’s higher quality. Similarly, I expect that many builders will use custom fan configurations to optimize their Crystal 570X, simply to take advantage of its aesthetic appeal.
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