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
Testing Methodology
For testing full ATX cases, we use the following standardized testbed in stock and overclocked configurations to get a feel for how well the case handles heat and noise.
ATX Test Configuration | |
CPU |
Intel Core i7-2700K (95W TDP, tested at stock speed and overclocked to 4.3GHz @ 1.38V) |
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H |
Graphics Card |
ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP (tested at stock speed and overclocked to 1GHz/overvolted to 1.13V) 2x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 in SLI (full fat testing only) |
Memory | 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600 |
Drives |
Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD Samsung 5.25" BD-ROM/DVDRW Drive 3x HGST DeskStar 3TB 7200-RPM HDD |
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 |
Power Supply | SilverStone Strider Plus 1000W 80 Plus Silver |
Each case is tested in a stock configuration and an overclocked configuration that generates substantially more heat (and thus may produce more noise). The system is powered on and left idle for fifteen minutes, the thermal and acoustic results recorded, and then stressed by running seven threads in Prime95 (in-place large FFTs) on the CPU and OC Scanner (maximum load) on the GPU. At the end of fiteen minutes, thermal and acoustic results are recorded. This is done for the stock settings and for the overclock, and if the enclosure has a fan controller, these tests are repeated for each setting. Ambient temperature is also measured after the fifteen idle minutes but before the stress test and used to calculate the final reported results.
For the "full fat" testbed, the GTX 560 Ti is swapped out for a pair of GTX 580s, and three hard disks are added to fill out the case.
Thank You!
Before moving on, we'd like to thank the following vendors for providing us with the hardware used in our testbed.
- Thank you to Puget Systems for providing us with the Intel Core i7-2700K.
- Thank you to Gigabyte for providing us with the GA-Z77X-UD4H motherboard.
- Thank you to Crucial for providing us with the Ballistix Smart Tracer memory.
- Thank you to Cooler Master for providing us with the Hyper 212 Evo heatsink and fan unit.
- Thank you to Kingston for providing us with the SSDNow V+ 100 SSD.
- Thank you to CyberPower for providing us with the Samsung BD-ROM/DVD+/-RW drive.
- Thank you to HGST for providing us with the trio of hard drives.
- And thank you to SilverStone for providing us with the power supply.
65 Comments
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Juddog - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Woah that case is a monster!Belard - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Thought it was big? A few years ago, I built a PC with the Thermaltake Mozart TX. That case is easily bigger than this. The TX is almost all aluminum and very light. It even has mounting for a second motherboard (itx), tons of drive bays, off top of my head, 8 120mm cooling fan spots.It's a beautiful case, it's too bad they no longer make them. An update with USB 3.0 would be nice. It sold for about $250. Google images for the case.
Juddog - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
I'm thinking Corsair probably added some steel because of complaints with various parts of the 800D having durability issues.KLC - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
"It superficially looks and is built like an overgrown ATX case..." No, it superficially looks like a CRT console TV from 1975.wolrah - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Am I the only one who yearns for the days when case windows were an optional extra or something people had to hack in to their case? These days it's challenging to find a large case without one. I do not want to spend hours doing Voodoo-style origami with my server's cables, please don't force me to put them on display.Sabresiberian - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
There are many cases that don't have a side window. I suggest you buy one of those instead of one that is designed for people who like side windows.I found 6 on newegg in about 2 minutes that will hold huge motherboards and have 10 or more expansion slot capability.
So, no it's not hard at all to find a good case without a side window.
wolrah - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Finding a case that meets those criteria is different from one that looks good and is good to work with. I assumed I didn't have to be that specific, but for purposes of clarity I have not been able to find any good looking (read: simple) large cases with good build quality and reasonable interior designs that lack windows. There are numerous cases like this one, excellent on all factors except that stupid piece of plexiglass.Looking on Newegg right now, since that's your example, I see what I assume to be the same six cases you found. The Thor, CM Storm, and Fusion are all chunky, fugly "LAN G4m3r" styled machines which look like they fell out of a [H]ard|OCP mod thread. All of those are really pushing the definition of "no window" as while it's technically not a clear window the massive open screen on the side has basically the same effect.
That leaves two Lian-Lis. They're excellent but incredibly expensive and have always pretty much been in a league of their own.
So yea, unless I want to pay out the nose for the best of the best, it is in fact rather hard to find a large case without this stupid computer ricer shit.
Biggestinsect - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
All Caselabs enclosures give multiple options for side panel design; solid, vented and different windows. They have a couple cases in this price range. Sleeving wires and artfully plumbing the cooling is a lot of the fun of building plus having a window lets you quickly know when and if the thing gets dirty or starts leaking.Sabresiberian - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
I get that you aren't finding what you want, but I still think you vastly overstated the situation, and tried to make out like Corsair did something wrong here. They didn't; they just targeted people with a certain taste in cases, and you weren't in that group. And, there is plenty of room to route cables behind the mainboard tray, so griping about needing to spend extra hours routing cables really doesn't make sense. (If you are watercooling, you are likely to spend far more time routing cooling tubes, heh.)The cases we found on newegg are all decent cases; it's really just a matter of personal taste in appearance and what price you are willing to pay. And, the Lian Li cases are about the price of this one, so I don't know how you can complain that this case comes with a side window but those are "incredibly expensive" so not suitable for you. If they aren't suitable because of price, the side window is a moot point, because this case is too expensive as well.
I'm not trying to pick on you here, I'm trying to get you to see that the case scenario isn't as bleak as you think it is. :) Hey, at least we don't have to put up with one brand or the other of a beige box with no real ability to cool components, heh. Cases have come a long way!
Really, I think the solution would be to provide optional side panels, but I don't know how feasible that is since not all that many people are going to buy a case like this anyway. I have no use for a side window myself - but I do like side fans, and that's one reason I went with an Enermax Fulmo GT. That case won't help you though since you can still see through the fans, and that's not what you want. (Newegg doesn't carry the Fulmo GT anymore, says it's discontinued, but I still see them on Amazon.) And, it's a steel and plastic case, so if aluminum is your thing that won't suit you either.
CaseLabs is an option that people have mentioned - but it looks to me like you'll end up paying more for one of their cases than the ~$350 this one costs, so don't know how that's going to work for most people. I paid $210 for the Fulmo GT, that was plenty for my tastes. I'd be willing to spend more - but I have no need to, so there's no point.
I just has a thought - could you buy a 900D and simply put it so the window doesn't show?
kzinti1 - Friday, June 14, 2013 - link
If you're so against looking at the innards of your case because of a window, why not just go to your local hobby shop, ask for a spray can of black paint for radio-controlled car bodies and paint the inside of the window? I guarantee a perfect opaque finish every single time.If you want a removable finish then go to your local car supply and ask for a roll of black-out limousine window tint and stick it on the inside of the computers window. Another simple way to ignore your lousy computer wiring job and also your trouble-shooting led's.
The window tint would be best as it's easily removed when you sell your case, since with your inattention to detail when assembling your computer, you'll probably fry your components sooner than later.