Corsair Obsidian 550d?

maybe i've missed this somewhere... but are the side panels on this case 'double thick' like in an antec P18x? or are they just the same steel as in an 800d, but with acoustic foam glued on the inside?

.... c'mon! where's the unboxing video already?!!!?!?! ... heh :)
 
The side panels are powder coated steel with closed cell foam for acoustic damping foam applied.
 
ok so the foam is spongier than what i thought it would be. I was expecting dynamat or other mass loading foam.

The magnetic filters are nice but aligning them can be a pain. Don't know why but I was hoping that the front door was held in place by magnets. It's actually just 4 little nubs. Hope those don't break easily. The removable panels are plastic.

Overall nice but for some reason I expected just a little more. Still happy I chose it over the P280 because of the removable hard drive bay.
 
night_2004 said:
Somebody was a little anxious :p. I imagine most of the cases won't be arriving until Wednesday.
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well I dont really care about rebates. But I ordered it friday afternoon so I should qualify. Newegg is in CA and im in NV so really quick shipping.
 
from your initial impressions, i have to wonder if i'm going to be impressed with this case at all.

Re: magnets vs nubs. I assumed magnets would be used here. Disappointed hearing that. Small details matter.

I expected top quality sound damping material, not super light / spongy type foam. denser = better right? d'oh!

... i guess i shouldn't bash it, without having seen / heard it myself.

Do the fan vent covers have the damping material as well?
 
depends on types of sound you're trying to cut out. Spongy foam is better for high pitch sounds like fan noise so I understand it's use. We'll see how good it is once reviews come out. Im still a ways away from building my system. I need a good mobo, processor and ram still.


Mass loading material reduces vibration and flex. A combination of the two is used for better dampening (I used to install car audio equip/sound dampening)

Yes the fan covers have the spongy foam. Also the front fan filter is hard to remove. Uploading pictures now.
 
now the question is how will this work with my H100. Should I pull air in to pressurize the case? can I go with 140mm fans instead? Questions questions.
 
I was planning on pulling air in because I don't want warm air cooling the radiator. I was going to do a layer of case, then fans underneath that, then the radiator.
 
Would you guys recommend waiting for this case, or just going with, say, the 650D? I'm still waiting on Amazon to give me an ETA but they still don't have a clue x_x.
 
Ruffy I would have you H100 mount in the top in a pull config and have the hot air go right out the back.
 
BigDirtyNoob said:
Would you guys recommend waiting for this case, or just going with, say, the 650D? I'm still waiting on Amazon to give me an ETA but they still don't have a clue x_x.
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I was considering the 650D but it is just too big, plus I hate windows.
This case is still pretty big for a mid tower. It's larger than my P180 (wider, but shorter by 0.5")
 
tinate said:
Thanks for the pics. Are the front 3.5" cover panels actually warped or is it just the camera?
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YOu mean 5.25" cover? Dunno whats going on in that picture. im holding the cover in my hand now and it doesn't look like that. Crappy camera.
 
Momo said:
Re: magnets vs nubs. I assumed magnets would be used here. Disappointed hearing that. Small details matter.
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The front uses four metal posts to act as pivots/latches. This wouldn't be possible easily with magnets, because we wanted the door to be openable from either side of the case without having to switch out any hardware. The posts won't wear down, but after a few thousand uses, the plastic latches on the door might flex a bit. Which is why there are extra plastic latches included in the accessory kit, in case that piece is broken or flexed too much.

To be completely honest - I think this is one of my favorite cases we've made. It's got a good look, very clean design, and it's exceptionally quiet.

We did a lot of testing with different foam types, some denser, some lighter, and what we felt was the best wasn't the densest or cheapest - it was what we ship. Which is fairly dense, but not exceptionally heavy, foam. The additional noise damping we got from going to a denser foam was unnoticeable, and anything lighter definitely got louder.

Having tested this against all the other "silent" cases we bought, I can tell you we didn't stop development until we beat them on noise levels AND cooling.
 
Redbeard said:
The front uses four metal posts to act as pivots/latches. This wouldn't be possible easily with magnets, because we wanted the door to be openable from either side of the case without having to switch out any hardware. The posts won't wear down, but after a few thousand uses, the plastic latches on the door might flex a bit. Which is why there are extra plastic latches included in the accessory kit, in case that piece is broken or flexed too much.

To be completely honest - I think this is one of my favorite cases we've made. It's got a good look, very clean design, and it's exceptionally quiet.

We did a lot of testing with different foam types, some denser, some lighter, and what we felt was the best wasn't the densest or cheapest - it was what we ship. Which is fairly dense, but not exceptionally heavy, foam. The additional noise damping we got from going to a denser foam was unnoticeable, and anything lighter definitely got louder.

Having tested this against all the other "silent" cases we bought, I can tell you we didn't stop development until we beat them on noise levels AND cooling.
Click to expand...


I did notice the extra latches, Which is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Good as in you're covering your bases providing something like that.
Bad because you're basically saying (You're going to need this)

Didn't know the posts were metal,Good job on that. Im still happy with this case over the p280. My only true gripe is the front intake filter. It could use a pull tab or something..
 
Thanks for the input - we'll look at adding that in future revisions. Probably a good idea.
 
Hey Ruffy, two things:

1. Do you think it would be easy to remove the silver bezel for the IO area and paint it black?

2. Pretty keen on putting a 240 radiator at the front of the case (and the top) where the hard drive cages are. What are your thoughts on moving the hard drive cages back (or at least just the bottom one)?

Thanks in advance mate.
 
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SilentWolf.Aus said:
Hey Ruffy, two things:

1. Do you think it would be easy to remove the silver bezel for the IO area and paint it black?

2. Pretty keen on putting a 240 radiator at the front of the case (and the top) where the hard drive cages are. What are your thoughts on moving the hard drive cages back (or at least just the bottom one)?

Thanks in advance mate.
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1. Do-able. You have to remove the top cover, which thankfully is held on by screws. 8 screws for the top cover from the looks of it.

2. Nope not gonna work, the fans sit flush with the hard drive cage. Now if you remove both trays yes. You could mount a drive in a 5.25 bay with an adapter though.

Also I thought we could move the harddrive bay to be by the psu? for the life of me I cant figure out how.

Lastly to Redbeard, There is some space above the 5.25" Bays for a redesign try to put a card reader up there or something :p Or figure out a different\hidden route for the front panel wires.
 
Redbeard, once again you're honest and to the point. Good show my man, glad to hear that.

Good points regarding the magnets vs posts, i hadn't thought of it from that perspective.

The 550d otw to me is for my brother in law. I'm jealous. I'm pretty certain i'll be selling my Obsidian 800d and replacing it with a 550d for the acoustic properties alone. The only downside for me would be not being able to push AND pull on my H100... cannot think of any other downside to switching to a 550d for myself.

... any tidbits you can share on a 'quiet' 800d size / style case Redbeard? i know you guys are working on something of the sort!


Redbeard said:
The front uses four metal posts to act as pivots/latches. This wouldn't be possible easily with magnets, because we wanted the door to be openable from either side of the case without having to switch out any hardware. The posts won't wear down, but after a few thousand uses, the plastic latches on the door might flex a bit. Which is why there are extra plastic latches included in the accessory kit, in case that piece is broken or flexed too much.

To be completely honest - I think this is one of my favorite cases we've made. It's got a good look, very clean design, and it's exceptionally quiet.

We did a lot of testing with different foam types, some denser, some lighter, and what we felt was the best wasn't the densest or cheapest - it was what we ship. Which is fairly dense, but not exceptionally heavy, foam. The additional noise damping we got from going to a denser foam was unnoticeable, and anything lighter definitely got louder.

Having tested this against all the other "silent" cases we bought, I can tell you we didn't stop development until we beat them on noise levels AND cooling.
Click to expand...
 
Ruffy said:
1. Do-able. You have to remove the top cover, which thankfully is held on by screws. 8 screws for the top cover from the looks of it.

2. Nope not gonna work, the fans sit flush with the hard drive cage. Now if you remove both trays yes. You could mount a drive in a 5.25 bay with an adapter though.

Also I thought we could move the harddrive bay to be by the psu? for the life of me I cant figure out how.

Lastly to Redbeard, There is some space above the 5.25" Bays for a redesign try to put a card reader up there or something :p Or figure out a different\hidden route for the front panel wires.
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Thanks for the reply mate, I was thinking about drilling mounting holes in the bottom of the case so that the hard drive cages could be closer to the PSU. Then I could have two 240 radiators :cool:.
 
got mine tonight unfortunately didn't have much time to mess with it. The front panel not using magnets is not an issue for me since I simply don't plan to open the door at all.

My main concern and again I've only just glanced over the case is the back outside panel doesn't secure snuggly. Even after 'clicking' into the mechanism it still has a large amount of play and there doesn't appear to be anyway to secure it using thumbscrews like I have seen on all my previous cases. Maybe once I get some cabling routed behind the motherboard it will provide enough pressure to secure the panel and hopefully prevent rattles. I hate rattles they drive me nuts and I instantly became worried seeing this.

Everything else on the case looks awesome, hopefully tomorrow I can start setting up my system. If anyone would like some specific pictures or thoughts let me know. My system is very basic so any watercooling questions probably won't be best answered by me.
 
Damn i would snatch this case up in a second if it had a window and a black front IO port :/
 
MrSmoke said:
Damn i would snatch this case up in a second if it had a window and a black front IO port :/
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I think they opted to go windowless so that there's more sound dampening material to go around. You could probably mod it to include a window though!
 
Ruffy said:
This case is still pretty big for a mid tower. It's larger than my P180 (wider, but shorter by 0.5")
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Ruffy, how much of an upgrade do you think the 550 is over the P180? (that's the case I'm using)
 
rickten said:
My main concern and again I've only just glanced over the case is the back outside panel doesn't secure snuggly. Even after 'clicking' into the mechanism it still has a large amount of play and there doesn't appear to be anyway to secure it using thumbscrews like I have seen on all my previous cases. Maybe once I get some cabling routed behind the motherboard it will provide enough pressure to secure the panel and hopefully prevent rattles. I hate rattles they drive me nuts and I instantly became worried seeing this.
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That's not normal - we'll gladly replace that back panel if it bugs you or rattles. It should fit pretty snugly.
 
recieved mine up here in canada from newegg this morning. Just carried it out to the car on my shoulder, heh. Surprised at how 'light' the box was.

If this case is sturdily built / acoustically competetive / doesnt suffer from the lack of heft, the lightweight factor is going to be a nice engineering win for corsair over other 'quiet' cases out there.

Assembly / migration is tomorrow evening, i'll post impressions.
 
My case should arrive on the 8th. Its sitting in DES MOINES, IA, right now. If I take the top panel off to mount 2 x 140 fans, is it going to get much louder? I guess I'll find out this weekend. Unintentionally place an order one the 2nd. I had no idea there was a rebate going on or how long the case been available.

On the side note, I also received a Fractal Design case that was left on my doorstep yesterday. Can I go to the local shipping store and mark "Return to sender" to refuse a package from NewEgg???
 
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To the owners thus far, is the front panel silver bit removable? I would be interested in removing it and painting it, or overlaying some carbon fiber.
 
walkman said:
Ruffy, how much of an upgrade do you think the 550 is over the P180? (that's the case I'm using)
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A thousand times better, the cable grommets/holes are a much needed feature that the p180 just didn't have. A lot more room around the psu. my p180 always had issues with the bottom HD cage always getting its wires caught in the fan.

Also the width helps a lot, theres much more room behind the mobo tray than in the p180. Good place to hide cabling.
 
I have to also comment that I as well feel more encouraged to buy Corsair products just because of Redbeard posting on these forums and keeping in touch with everyone, and shipping out replacements parts like a boss!
 
Yes, I love companies that actually have active pr employees or just let their employees post.

So for my next build is

Corsair H100
Corsair 550D
Corsair Vengence Ram

Hmm what else do I need that corsair makes.
 
A friend of mine recently got an order placed for an Intel i7-3930K and I've been helping him pick components. So far I think I've convinced him to get a 550D, an H100, 16GB of Corsair DDR3 RAM, and a Corsair AX850. Originally Corsair wasn't even on his interest list -- I educated him a little bit about Corsair quality.
 
a few questions:
1. How solid are the rubber grommets on the cable holes do they have a tendency to fall off like on other cases?

2. On the top side panel intake is there room to mount a side panel fan if you have a large CPU cooler, lets say if I mounted a Cooler Master Gemini S524 would I have room for a fan there too? What about the Hyper 212 Evo how much room would that leave?

3. Does the power supply have mounts to prevent vibration?

4. What are the specs on the stock fans that come with the case (RPM, Noise Level(DBA), and Air Flow (CFM))?

5. Does the case come with a 5.25 to 3.5 converter so I can install a 3.5 card reader?

6. How much of an improvement in airflow should I expect to see if I were to remove the front panel door and fan cover, is it a noticeable improvement or should I just keep them on?
 
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