Corsair Obsidian 550D: Starting to Specialize
by Dustin Sklavos on March 29, 2012 3:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- mid-tower
Introducing the Corsair Obsidian 550D
We've been keeping track of the evolution of Corsair's line of enclosures since the Graphite 600T was released. Even as the newer enclosures generally found themselves lower and lower in price, there was a clear evolution as Corsair's engineers gained more experience and confidence with their designs. Yet each new design up to this point has been a little bit of refinement and a little bit of experimentation without any specific specialization. That changes with the 550D.
.jpg)
There's definitely some experimentation going on here, and there has to be: the Corsair Obsidian 550D is the first case Corsair has engineered specifically for silent running. That's not all they've experimented with, though, as you'll soon see.
Corsair's case isn't the only thing new about this review, though; we've also gone back and substantially revised our testbed and testing methodology to correct for some abnormalities and issues that may have affected the results of our previous tests. We're including some new data that should hopefully prove useful in both the short and long term. But first, let's get the skinny on the 550D:
| Corsair Obsidian Series 550D Specifications | ||
| Motherboard Form Factor | ATX, Micro ATX | |
| Drive Bays | External | 4x 5.25” |
| Internal | 6x 2.5"/3.5” | |
| Cooling | Front | 2x 120mm intake |
| Rear | 1x 120mm exhaust (supports 140mm) | |
| Top | 2x 120mm/140mm fan mounts | |
| Side | 2x 120mm/140mm fan mounts (or 1x 200mm fan mount) | |
| Bottom | 1x 120mm/140mm fan mount | |
| Expansion Slots | 8 | |
| Front I/O Port | 2x USB 3.0 (via motherboard header), 1x Headphone, 1x Mic | |
| Power Supply Size | Standard ATX | |
| Clearances | HSF | 180mm |
| PSU | 180mm | |
| GPU | 12.5" / 318mm | |
| Weight |
16.5 lbs. 7.48 kg |
|
| Dimensions |
20.9" x 8.8" x 19.5" 531mm x 224mm x 495mm |
|
| Special Features |
Acoustic dampening foam USB 3.0 via motherboard header Dual removable drive cages with three drive trays each |
|
| Price | $139 | |
Corsair's design essentially falls into the same market as Antec's P280, but theoretically it's a step up from other silent-engineered cases like NZXT's H2. It has all the same accoutrements you've come to expect from a Corsair enclosure (including remarkable ease of assembly) while cribbing some ideas from Fractal Design's very successful Define R3. How successful this experiment was remains to be seen.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
59 Comments
View All Comments
Nje - Friday, March 30, 2012 - link
The side panel can also fit a 200mm fan, would be interesting to see if it is possible to fit a 200mm fan and a NH-D14..stratosrally - Friday, March 30, 2012 - link
I have SLI'd GTX580s and a Corsair H60 with push/pull 120mm fans in my Scout. It is a noise machine - and that is with a custom solid side window - no vents or fans on it. I added a second 140mm intake in the 5.25"bay area under my single ODD so there are 2 front 140mm intakes, 1 top 140mm exhaust, and the 2x120mm push/pull rear =exhaust.I'd really like to try this case, the only change from as AT tested would be add an additional 120mm bottom fan next to the PSU, and keep my push/pull on the rear exhaust. I'd want to leave the solid side and top panels installed to keep noise at a minimum.
I wonder if I'd see a temp rise? My Scout is just crammed full, it has 1 SSD and 2 HDD and an audio card.
jimmyzaas - Saturday, March 31, 2012 - link
I like everything about this case except for the Front IO/power button position. If you have something plugged in to the USB port, like a usb cable for your cellphone or a usb thumb drive, you won't be able to open the door to access your optical drive or other 5.25" devices without first unplugging your device. This is just stupid IMHO.Many cases out there got this simple thing right by placing IO and buttons on TOP of the case. Why do you have to be special and put it in some ugly color-mismatched rectangular cutout in front of the case that feeds through a hole in the front door?
Sure you can remove the front door completely but why would you want to go that route? If I wanted something that looks like a Silverstone RV03, I would have bought that. I'm getting this case for the minimalistic look with the door in tact.
Death666Angel - Sunday, April 1, 2012 - link
It is, as you correctly denote in the graphs, "Degrees Celsius". Which is not "C" but rather "°C". But since you are dealing with deltas here, it would be much simpler to just use "Kelvin", "K", as most people do. :-)Thanks for making the switch to deltas though! :D
1ceTr0n - Sunday, April 1, 2012 - link
But you honestly do the worst case reviews with the worst reviewer possiblyhelvetio - Monday, April 2, 2012 - link
I just built a new system with this case and I really like it. The door can open to both sides, but the clips that allow this to happen are a bit delicate and I already broke one. Fortunately two spares are included.Since I keep the PC on the desk, it is important to me that the front ports and buttons are on the front, not on the top.
The PC is very quiet, even to my hypersensitive ears, the loudest part of the build as an evga GTX 460 but the sound proofing further lowers its noise.
Mosab - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - link
1- From what I have seen the GC is Zotac not ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP.2- (GPU thermals are at the 90C) that is toooooo much for the GTX 560 Ti. I have GTX560Ti and I think that 90C is extreme even for over clocked one
cyberguyz - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - link
They sink in the motherboard pan appproximately 1/4". If you are using a mATX board like the one in this article, you are fine, but if you have a full size board like an ASUS Maximus IV Extreme Z that has that lovely bank of 'lay down' SATA ports right at the edge of the motherboard, get set to break out a hammer and do some remodelling of that case.You see that raised area surrounding the motherboard pan area? It is just high enough that it blocks access the bottom-most sata ports on these motherboards. You just can't get a SATA connector into them. In short, unless you want to ding up your case to fit that really expensive full size motherboard with SATA connectors facing to the edge, I would suggest steering away from any of the Corsair Obsidian, Carbide and possibly the Graphite series cases.
As you can guess, this is from bitter experience after buying a Carbide 500R, getting it home and being faced with this conundrum.
jmunjr - Friday, April 16, 2021 - link
"but I also feel like there are large parts of it just waiting to develop issues with vibration in the future."8 years after building my system in this case it is as quiet and noise free as it was on day 1. Never an issue and never a vibration. This is the best case I have ever owned by far.