Corsair Obsidian 650D Mid-Tower Chassis Review

[PAGETITLE=Introduction][Top Ad] As hardware reviewers, it's our job to remain impartial about the products that we look at - but that doesn't mean we can't get friggin' excited! This is Techgage's resident case freak, about to have a look at the long-awaited Corsair Obsidian 650D mid-tower. I have been nearly rabid about this case since I saw the first pictures at this year's CES in Las Vegas. The 650D is modeled after the Obsidian 800D and 700D, but is in a much smaller package supporting ATX and mATX motherboards. The outer styling is quite subdued compared to many cases on the market today, but on the inside it offers many features that made the larger versions so popular - without taking up extra real estate. It's time to dive in and have look to see if the 650D can keep up with its bigger brothers. The case comes wrapped in a cloth bag to help protect an impeccable finish. Even though the 650D body is made of steel, the front panel is aluminum and has a brushed finish. Making up the bottom half of the front panel is a large vent that hides a 200mm fan. The entire vent, which features an air filter, can be removed by pushing in at the top and lifting it away. Towards the bottom of the vents is a nice shiny Corsair logo, just in case you forget which company makes the case. At the very top left is the power button and hard drive activity LED, both of which glow white. Both have a very thin piece of silver trim around them so there is a little bit of style to go along with the substance. To the right is a flip-down cover that opens when the top right corner is pressed. Behind it starting on the left are two USB 3.0 connections, standard 3.5mm microphone and headphone jacks, two USB 2.0 connections and an IEEE 1394 port, finishing up with the reset button on the very right. Below this are the four 5.25" drive covers that can be removed by pushing in on small clips from inside the drive bays. Over on the left side of the case at the top are two quick-release latches. Anybody who is routinely opening their case to swap out hardware will find these a welcome addition. Just pull down and the panel can be lifted away cleanly. The left panel also features a large, rectangular window so that users can show off what's under the hood. The window is trimmed with plastic for a super-clean, finished look. The back of the 650D has a small hole in the top left corner for two USB 3.0 cables to be fed through. These cables can be connected to the rear ports on the motherboard I/O in order to provide connectivity for the front panel. Below this are the motherboard I/O opening and a 120mm fan to exhaust warm air out the back of the case. Further down are 8 vented PCI slot covers to allow for some serious triple-GPU setups. To the right of the slot covers are two holes with rubber grommets to run hoses for water cooling and the opening for the power supply at the very bottom. Nothing much to report on the left side panel other than the same quick release latches at the top. Up on the top panel towards the front is another cover that slides back under the panel itself. This hides a hot-swap SATA hard drive bay that can accept either 3.5" or 2.5" drives - provided the motherboard supports AHCI. This is a great alternative to the 800D that features front-loaded hot-swap bays. At the front right corner of this bay is the four channel, 3 speed fan controller that some may miss due to the small size. The controller allows users to choose between silence and performance by selecting either low, medium or high speed settings. Towards the back is the grill that shows off the second 200mm fan to exhaust warm air. If needed, the stock fan can be replaced with up to two 120mm or 140mm fans with the option of installing a 240mm radiator for water cooling. Flipping the case over shows a bit of a curious combination of feet. The front are textured rubber to help reduce any sliding or slipping while the rear feet are hard plastic. This was likely chosen to allow the case to move easily if the front is raised up seeing how the front rubber feet grip surfaces very well. At the very back is a removable air filter to help keep dust out of the power supply. A simple tug on the filter and is all it takes to slide it out the back. While the outside may not seem too different than the larger versions, it's time to strip the case down and have a look at the inside. [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Interior] With those pesky panels out of the way, the front now shows off the huge 200mm fan and empty drive bays. The front panel comes off cleanly leaving all buttons and connections on the frame. On the left side we see the business end and there is a fair bit to cover. The hard drive cage at the front bottom allows up to six 3.5" or 2.5" hard drives to be installed via the plastic trays. Any 3.5" drives can be installed without tools thanks to the metal mounting pegs that are surrounded by rubber washers to absorb any vibration. Tools are required if installing 2.5" drives since they secure with screws through the bottom of the tray once the metal pegs are removed from the washers on one side. If extra room is needed or if the hard drives are restricting airflow more than the user would like, the top half of the drive cage can be removed by loosening two thumbscrews and sliding it out. If the drive bays are still required, the top half can be secured to the bottom of the case with the thumb screws just behind the original position so users with a large number of drives do not need to sacrifice storage capacity for the sake of space or temperatures. Above the drive cage are the locking mechanisms for the four 5.25" drive bays. To install drives here, gently pull on the latch to disengage the pegs in the bay, slide the drive into place and let the latch spring into position to keep everything snug and secure. At the bottom of the case towards the rear is the ventilation area for the power supply. The power supply sits on two rails to lift it up and rests on an adjustable brace at the front. The brace can be sized in order to keep just about any power supply in place thanks to the two tabs on the top that stop any vertical or horizontal motion. This is done without tools thanks to the inclusion of two more thumbscrews. The rear of the case shows off the vented PCI slots that are secured in place with thumbscrews to help keep tool usage to a minimum. Above it is the 120mm exhaust fan with the wire finally in the proper position in the top corner from the factory. Too many times I find myself removing, rotating and reinstalling this fan so that the power wire is in the proper place for cable management. Now it's time for the motherboard tray, which many will notice features Corsair's characteristic everywhere-you-look cable management system. Down the right side are cable management areas, each with rubber grommets installed to keep everything looking clean no matter what your motherboard configuration may be, but also to hide wires from the 5.25" drive bays. There are also some coming up from the bottom for running power supply leads or front panel connections to the bottom edge of a motherboard. The large hole without the grommet is used to run wires from the top section of the hard drive cage if it has been moved to the bottom of the case. Up in the top-left corner is another small hole to run the 12v power connection up the back of the motherboard tray. Finally the tray has a gigantic cut-out in the CPU area to help with installation and removal of after-market heatsinks. All of this adds up to "no excuse" for having a mess of wires visible... ever. At the top of the case there is tons of room to install a 240mm radiator by swapping out the 200mm fan. The bits and pieces that Corsair includes with the 650D consist of rubber washers, screws for installing additional fans, screws for securing the motherboard and drives and yet more screws for securing 2.5" drives to the bottom of the trays. Also included are small zip ties for cable management, a product brochure showcasing some of Corsair's other products and a quick-start guide that is more of a list of features than a guide. Oddly enough, the rubber washers are not mentioned in the parts on the back of the guide. So now it's time for my favorite part, the build. Here we separate the men from the boys. The wheat from the chaff. The cases from the... non-cases. Forget it. Let's throw some gear in it! [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Installation & Testing][Top Ad] Seeing how this was my first experience with a Corsair case, and after hearing Rob exclaim about how great the 800D is, I am happy to say that I wasn't left disappointed. Everything installed without any clearance problems, all cables were long enough to reach the appropriate headers and there was tons of room to work. The case comes with the motherboard standoffs in place for an ATX motherboard. If a micro-ATX motherboard is used, as is the case with this build, they simply need to be removed and screwed into the correct pre-drilled holes. The middle standoff is a knuckle that keeps the motherboard in place while being secured. This proves to be one of my favorite added bonuses in any case that features it and makes installation a snap because the board does not need to be pushed and held towards the back of the case to line up the holes with the standoffs. As I mentioned, 3.5" drives are mounted through use of the metal pegs that slip into the screw holes on the sides of the drives. 2.5" drives are mounted from the bottom of the tray with the included screws once the metal pegs are removed from the rubber washers on the side that rests against the drive. Once done, they simply slide in and click in place. The mounting system is very solid and should not cause any problems if the case needs to be transported. The power supply went into place with all four mounting points lining up dead-on with the opening. The front brace also slid into the perfect position to...

Corsair Obsidian 650D Mid-Tower Chassis Review

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