Corsair Obsidian 350D Windowed Edition Case Review

1. Introduction2. Corsair Obsidian 350D: Packaging & Bundle3. Corsair Obsidian 350D: Exterior4. Corsair Obsidian 350D: Interior5. System Installation6. Testing Methodology and Thermal Performance7. Acoustic Performance8. Closing Thoughts9. View All Pages

To put this case through its cooling paces we will be using a test system consisting of an Intel Core i5 3570K, Radeon HD 7850 and multiple storage drives. This system allows us to produce a substantial amount of heat and effectively test the Corsair Obsidian 350D‘s cooling capabilities.

For stress testing we use a mixture of Prime95 and FurMark to create the maximum heat output. Prime95′s ‘Small FFTs’ setting allows us to stress our CPU. FurMark’s ‘GPU Burn-in’ mode creates the maximum amount of load our GPU is ever likely to see.

Test System:

• Processor: Intel Core i5 3570k.
• Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4-M.
• CPU cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12DX (100% fan speed).
• Memory: 8GB Patriot Viper 2133MHz.
• Graphics card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Dual-X (‘auto' fan setting).
• Power supply: Seasonic Platinum-1000.
• Storage drives: 128GB Kingston V100 (OS), 1TB Samsung F3, 1TB Samsung F2.
• OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

Thermal Performance Test Procedures:

• The case’s default fan configuration is used to give an accurate interpretation of the out-of-the-box performance.
• The Corsair Obsidian 350D‘s default fan configuration is: 1x 140mm front intake fan and 1x 120mm rear exhaust fan.
• The fans are operating at full speed.
• We allow the system to idle for 15 minutes and record the stable temperatures.
• We allow the system to operate under extreme stress for 15 minutes and record the stable temperatures.

Room temperature was maintained at 23°C.

With just two case fans, the Corsair 350D offers solid cooling performance, regardless of its micro-ATX form factor.

Adding an extra exhaust fan in one of the roof mounts would be a quick and easy way of improving cooling performance.

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