Corsair Obsidian 900D Case Review: Think Big, That's Only HALF as Large
by Dustin Sklavos on April 16, 2013 11:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- Water Cooling
- ATX
- XL-ATX
Conclusion: Highly Priced and Highly Specialized
It should go without saying at this point that Joe Everybuilder isn't going to be interested in spending $349 to cool his single CPU, single GPU, air-cooled build. The Corsair 900D positively dwarfs our full fat testbed and really, it would take serious work to fill up this case anyhow.
My primary concern when reviewing most cases is ultimately how they perform thermally and acoustically, with aesthetics taking a bit of a backseat. If a case is hideous but does its job really well (looking at you, Antec GX700), and the price is right, sacrifices can be made. The 900D is a different beast entirely, though; airflow design and stock performance just aren't part of the equation, and anyone who buys the 900D and then uses it in its stock configuration is someone who has more money than sense. I can tell you that with the pair of closed loop coolers I've installed in my Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 (Swiftech H220 on the CPU and Arctic Accelero Hybrid on the GTX 680), Nanoxia's airflow design and fan control became somewhat less important. Note that this design, coupled with a Noctua fan wherever I could put one, allows my ~$109 case to very effectively cool a 4.6GHz i7-3770K and a GTX 680 overclocked as far as the silicon itself will allow under NVIDIA's voltage spec. I bring all of that up to give you perspective on the 900D and its potential position in your computing life.
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The 900D is exceptionally well built, and outside of the expansion slots, it's easy to assemble. At $349 it prices itself right out of contention for the vast majority of users, and the fact that it's an underwhelming choice for air cooling further shrinks its niche. That makes it a strange sort of halo product and while liquid cooling enthusiasts will probably love it, they were already reasonably well served by the 800D. At $49 more it's not unreasonable to just make the jump to the 900D if you were going to buy the 800D in the first place. I do think for the price Corsair could've sucked it up and included the other two drive cages, but I have a hard time sweating the case still shipping with nine cages.
If I'm a bit ambivalent about the 900D, it's for two reasons: one, I had to actually build and move the thing, which wasn't fun, and two, I'm not really sure anyone really needed it. The 800D was already popular and doing well on its own, so Corsair just made a better one. That's fine, but the majority of their case line is going unaddressed. A little birdie told me I'll be seeing something new and exciting from them soon, but they're at the point now where they need to start actually refreshing and improving existing designs. More than that, air cooling has always been a weak point in Corsair's portfolio, and it's something that desperately needs to be addressed.
This is another one of those cases where you already know if you want it or not. Whether or not it's worth the money is subjective; I feel like if I were a liquid cooling enthusiast, the Corsair Obsidian 900D would be pretty close to the holy grail. I'm not sure I'd fork over the cash for it, but in its weird way I don't think the price is actually even part of the discussion. If you do pony up for it and you know what you're planning to do with it, I think you'll be happy with the 900D.
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Jorgisven - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
Spam on a forum board has a special place in hell reserved for it.idimitro - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
I am still wiping my saliva after reading the article, but the price helped me to sober up. The case is nice but too expensive. I have Xigmatek Elysium and It can also fit comparable amount of radiators, but only for ~150$. The build quality is for sure worse, and yes you might need to do some modding and tweaking, but where is the fun in just putting the radiators in a box if you don't get your hands dirty :)I think Anand should review the Xigmatek as it is a good case but surprisingly unpopular.
Objective - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
So this is basically the overpriced cheap and rattly Chinese knock off of Caselabs Cases.Pass..
Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Just out of curiosity, what about this case is cheap or rattly? It was probably manufactured in China (or more likely Taiwan), but the design is American.Biggestinsect - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Design wise the 900 is nothing like anything made by Caselabs. The SMH10 has similar dimensions and that's about it. Completely different internals.JFord047 - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
A Good review, however basically the same as what was described in Corsairs Video, expanded slightly and an opinion.Still does not answer the Questions I have though! Being one of the now getting Fossilised generation, cases have come a long way, as has the cooling technology. but here in the UK unless your a really rich person, or old enough to have the family moved out, space is at a premium. So the computer will have to share the Bedroom or the living Area, making it a Very large noisy lump.
I do like the case! I love the space to work, and the variable structure internally, however How much more space is it going to take up compared with the 800D its pegged to replace?
I already had to modify the desk for the 800D, and only have 2.5" left to play with, I assume here that I am slightly Ferked.
I have plans for 12 Drive bays "8 old Archive Drives" 24 years of acquired computer software & Data crud. But I want to Liquid cool it to reduce the noise. I am interested in how that's going to go lol.
The main gripe with the 800D was in fact the lack of Space, the liquid cooled X58 UD7 board gave the possibility of 10 drives, the case at a push took 7 + 1 DVD Writer, the 3 EVGA GTX 580 Hydro Coppers 's on a Separate loop meant that the pipe work was Horrific to do anything with after! The 900D appears to address these problems!
I have to do more research into this, but it would one first glance appear that the 900D is only 1.5 800D's welded together, and put on a Big Mac diet for the width, (something I was planning to do before the 900D was announced)
One of the best cases I ever tripped across for space was the coolmaster Cosmos, but it was just too Big - and LOUD, even liquid cooled! this would appear to be the same case, with a rear space for cable routing.
So it's really nothing new, just an amalgamation of loads of past cases, built as a Single, All the Mods Done for you.... What I really need is the Manual!!!!
JFord047 - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
As an Afterthought.... the BIGGEST REASON! for a case with a lot of space for me, is the fact that I only have 1 working Arm!It adds an extra Twist to building a computer - hence I only build 1 every 4 years.
After measuring I have to buy 4 copies of Clive Cusslers's The Navigator as well as the case, they are the right size to raise the desk up high enough to get it underneath.
At the moment it only takes 2 copies of Mrs Beaton's Household management for the 800D :).
cjs150 - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
This is simply a bigger, less cute version of the legendary TJ07 case. Looks to have better cable management and I like the way the HD cages work but that is about it. Also looks to suffer from same problem as TJ07 namely limited airflow to motherboard, from experience that is a quick way to fry the RAM!With a 480 radiator you can cool 3 graphics cards. Then the 240 radiator could cool the CPU and (possibly RAM) leaving another Radiator up top to cool the motherboard chips. Totally insane but fun.
Denithor - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
*Scratches head.In an era when CPU makers are pushing TDP lower and lower, they bring out this behemoth of a case aimed at supreme cooling? What are they thinking? I just don't get it.
Sabresiberian - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
wut?