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Corsair is a relatively new player in the case market as they've only been selling cases for about two years. But every case they've produced to date has been very well received by enthusiasts and most have won a number of prestigious awards. In fact, their Graphite 600T case won our sought after ‘Must Have' award when we reviewed it last year.
Today we are going to look at the Corsair Obsidian 650D Mid-Tower case which is the smallest model in the Obsidian range. It shares the same styling cues as the larger 700D and 800D cases but comes in at a much more affordable price point. It doesn't look like Corsair have compromised much on the feature set to achieve this lower price, though, so we are excited to look at the case in more detail.
Features
- Dual 200mm fans provide outstanding cooling for even the hottest components
- Easily accessible dust filters make maintenance simple and hassle-free
- Quick-release side panels make it easier than ever to upgrade your hardware
- Integrated fan controller lets you quickly adjust cooling performance and noise levels
- Four tool-free optical drive bays and up to six SSD-ready hard drive trays provide plenty of expansion
- CPU backplate cutout makes it easy to upgrade your CPU cooler
- Brilliant cable routing system provides a way to keep your system neat and tidy
- Adjustable drive cages can be removed and relocated to accommodate large video cards
- Room for long power supplies gives you peace of mind for future upgrades
Corsair supply the 650D in a large brown cardboard box which is decorated with an image of the case on the front and a few details about the case within. Inside, the case is suspended between two slabs of polystyrene which should provide a decent level of protection from negligent couriers.
All the bundled accessories are supplied in a resealable plastic bag which is attached to the inside of the case during shipping. Corsair provide all the accessories we could ask for. These include an installation guide, motherboard and hard drive screws, SSD mounting screws and a few cable ties.
For a mid-tower case, the Obsidian 650D is quite large. Some manufacturers would try and disguise this be incorporating a series of curved plastic panels but Corsair has opted for a much more simple square design for the case. This is no bad thing, though, as the 650D is actually quite attractive to look at.
Corsair have chosen to finish the front of the 650D in black brushed aluminum which looks and feels much more exclusive than steel or plastic. Even though the rest of the case is constructed from steel, this seems to be good quality and gives it a reassuring weight.
The front panel connections are disguised behind a flap which opens to reveal pretty much everything we could ask for. From left to right there are two USB3.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks, two USB2.0 ports and a firewire port. The power button is illuminated white when the system is on and is located on the left side of the front panel flap next to the HDD access LED.
The reset button is hidden beneath the flap, though, to the right of all the connections. On the top of the case at the front there is a small flap which slides back to reveal a hard drive docking station. There is also a fan speed control located under this flap which lets you tweak the noise level of the case.
In the roof of the case there is a sizable fan grille which has mounting points for pretty much every fan configuration you could want. The case is supplied with a 200mm exhaust fan installed but this can be replaced by two 140mm fans or two 120mm fans. There is an additional 200mm fan in the front of the case which acts as an intake. This is covered by a removable mesh panel which has an integrated dust filter.
Moving round to the rear of the case we find the usual 120mm exhaust vent populated with a Corsair branded fan. The case features eight vented expansion slots and two external watercooling holes which contain rubber grommets to stop dust from getting in.
The PSU mountings are located at the bottom of the case with a vent on the underside to feed the fan with cool air. This vent features a dust filter which can be easily removed from the rear of the case.
Accessing the inside of the Obsidian 650D is a very simple process thanks to Corsair's ingenious latch system that features on all their Obsidian and Graphite cases. This is far superior to any thumbscrew system that we've seen and makes this case ideal for those who swap over components frequently.
It's clear that Corsair's engineers have put a lot of time into perfecting the interior of this case as it makes the process of building a system in the 650D a very simple one. We don't think we've seen another case manufacturer that has managed to find space for more cable routing holes than Corsair. These make it very easy to achieve a tidy build, especially if you use a modular power supply.
There isn't quite as much room as we'd like for cable routing behind the motherboard tray but there is more than you get in a lot of cases. The latches on the side panel can be a little difficult to get back in place if you stuff all the cables behind there but, if you're careful, there shouldn't be any issues.
Corsair have implemented the same tool-less power supply mounting mechanism in the Obsidian 650D that we saw in the Graphite 600T case. This consists of a small piece of metal which slots under the back of the PSU and is secured to the floor of the case using two thumbscrews. While this does mean that you can install a PSU very securely into the 650D without using a screwdriver, it would be almost as easy to just pop the usual four screws through the back of the case.
The motherboard standoffs are pre-installed to make the process easier and there is an absolutely huge cutout in the motherboard tray for installing CPU coolers.
Corsair have chosen to use thumbscrews to secure expansion devices but we would definitely recommend tightening them with a screwdriver as they are awkward to grip with your hands. There is plenty of room for long graphics cards including the AMD Radeon 6990 which is the longest currently on the market. Should you need more space in the future, though, the top three hard drive bays can be removed.
It seems that Corsair have designed the Obsidian 650D with water cooling in mind as there is a huge amount of headroom (at least for a mid-tower case) above the motherboard for a radiator and fans. This makes the 650D perfect for those who want to cool their system using Corsairs upcoming H100 240mm watercooling unit. You could realistically install any radiator up to a depth of about 30mm with fans on one side into the roof of this case. You don't even have to stick with 240mm radiators, though, as there is also mountings for 280mm radiators with 140mm fans.
There is only one part of the interior which we can find fault with: the hard drive trays. There isn't anything significantly wrong with them but they feel quite flimsy and cheap compared to the rest of the case. It also baffles us why Corsair would put the SSD mounting holes on one side rather than in the middle as it means that we are forced to remove one of the plugs that secure hard drives in place which, as we've found, can easily be lost. Installing a hard drive into the tray is very simple, though, requiring us to bend the tray around the hard drive so the four pins sit in the holes on either side of the drive.
Installing optical drives into the case is also easy, thanks to the tool-less mechanism which secures them in place. Removing the bezels from the front of the case is much easier after you've removed the front panel of the case. There are four optical drive bays in total which means there is room for a dual bay reservoir if you plan to use water cooling in the case.
To test the Corsair Obsidian 650D we will be using an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition CPU in conjunction with one of the finest motherboards available on the market, the Asus Crosshair V Formula. To cool the CPU we will be using a Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro.
Test System
Chassis: Corsair Obsidian 650D
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
Motherboard: Asus Crosshair V Forumla
Cooler: Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro
Memory: 4GB Kingston HyperX Genesis DDR3
Storage: OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS
Power Supply: Thermaltake Tough Power XT 750W
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Everest Ultimate Edition
Prime 95
Furmark
The diagram above shows how the airflow is set up out of the box. The 200mm fan at the front of the case is the only intake with a further 200mm fan at the top of the case acting as an exhaust. There is also a 120mm fan acting as an exhaust at the rear of the case.
For our temperature tests, we used Prime95 and Furmark to load the system for 15 minutes and then recorded our results. We then restarted the system and left it idling at the desktop for 15 minutes before recording the idle results.
These temperatures are exactly what we would expect from this system. The 200mm and the 120mm fans do a good job of shifting lots of air through the case, even on the minimum speed setting.
When the case fans are set to the minimum speed, the noise level is acceptable but far from inaudible. The case fans are still clearly audible over the other fans in the system at this speed. When the fans are set to the maximum speed they are very loud so we would recommend leaving them at the minimum setting as they still shift plenty of air. Those looking for a silent case similar to this should consider the Fractal Design Define XL which is a good deal quieter.
Even though the Obsidian 650D is essentially a smaller version of the top-end 800D case, we think it is a very impressive case in its own right. It offers everything we look for in a case at this price point.
We can't think of a case that we've reviewed that has a better internal design than the Obsidian 650D, except perhaps the Graphite 600T which is virtually identical inside. All of the cable routing holes are exactly where they need to be and are filled with high quality rubber grommets that aren't going to fall out after poking a cable through.
The cutout in the motherboard tray is big enough to accommodate any CPU cooler back-plate, no matter where the CPU socket is positioned on your motherboard. There also seems to be a vast amount of room to work with inside the case which makes system installation a doddle.
There were only a couple of tiny things that we didn't like about the 650D like the hard drive trays which felt a little flimsy and the loud fans when on full speed. But the only reason we noticed these things is because the rest of the case is so impressive.
As is often the case with impressive products, the Corsair Obsidian 650D doesn't come cheap. At a price of around £125 at YOYOTech we think it still offers great value for money but won't be affordable for a lot of users. But for those who can find the cash, we would definitely recommend it, especially for those who want to use water cooling.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Solid build quality
- Side panel latches
- Easy to work with
- Well thought-through internal layout
Cons
- Flimsy hard drive trays
- not the quietest
KitGuru says: Another very impressive case design from Corsair.
