Corsair Obsidian 900D Case Review: Think Big, That's Only HALF as Large
by Dustin Sklavos on April 16, 2013 11:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- Water Cooling
- ATX
- XL-ATX
Noise and Thermal Testing
As I mentioned in the introduction, doing our standard noise and thermal testing on the Corsair Obsidian 900D is primarily an academic affair. When you're dealing with a liquid cooling system, optimal airflow design becomes slightly less important. This isn't an air cooling case the way, say, a SilverStone FT02 might be.
Ambient temperature was 21C during testing.
In its stock configuration, the 900D is closer to the middle of the road. This isn't a tremendous surprise; the stock fans are about as basic as a $349 case is going to get.
Because the 900D doesn't include a fan controller, the fans included push the case's bare minimum noise level to 33.6dB.
Overclocking the system should produce fairly similar results.
Again, the 900D produces...acceptable results as an air cooling case.
Noise continues to be an issue due both to the lack of a fan controller and the lack of any acoustic padding in the enclosure itself. While we're not judging the 900D on the terms it's meant to be judged by here, I do think omitting noise dampening material may have been a poor decision on Corsair's part.
Up until this point drive thermals have been fairly poor, but please note that even under the worst circumstances we're still talking about being 10-15C below spec for these drives at least. They're still running cool, it's just not the aggressive over-cooling a lot of enthusiast cases do.
That said, stock air cooling continues to be fairly underwhelming. This is one place where the competing Rosewill Blackhawk Ultra does have an edge: it includes a stock air cooling design that's pretty aggressive and effective.
Despite the lack of a fan controller, under our most stressful test the 900D is able to run quieter than any of the other cases we've reviewed since adding the "full fat" testbed.
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Jorgisven - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
Spam on a forum board has a special place in hell reserved for it.idimitro - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
I am still wiping my saliva after reading the article, but the price helped me to sober up. The case is nice but too expensive. I have Xigmatek Elysium and It can also fit comparable amount of radiators, but only for ~150$. The build quality is for sure worse, and yes you might need to do some modding and tweaking, but where is the fun in just putting the radiators in a box if you don't get your hands dirty :)I think Anand should review the Xigmatek as it is a good case but surprisingly unpopular.
Objective - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
So this is basically the overpriced cheap and rattly Chinese knock off of Caselabs Cases.Pass..
Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Just out of curiosity, what about this case is cheap or rattly? It was probably manufactured in China (or more likely Taiwan), but the design is American.Biggestinsect - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Design wise the 900 is nothing like anything made by Caselabs. The SMH10 has similar dimensions and that's about it. Completely different internals.JFord047 - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
A Good review, however basically the same as what was described in Corsairs Video, expanded slightly and an opinion.Still does not answer the Questions I have though! Being one of the now getting Fossilised generation, cases have come a long way, as has the cooling technology. but here in the UK unless your a really rich person, or old enough to have the family moved out, space is at a premium. So the computer will have to share the Bedroom or the living Area, making it a Very large noisy lump.
I do like the case! I love the space to work, and the variable structure internally, however How much more space is it going to take up compared with the 800D its pegged to replace?
I already had to modify the desk for the 800D, and only have 2.5" left to play with, I assume here that I am slightly Ferked.
I have plans for 12 Drive bays "8 old Archive Drives" 24 years of acquired computer software & Data crud. But I want to Liquid cool it to reduce the noise. I am interested in how that's going to go lol.
The main gripe with the 800D was in fact the lack of Space, the liquid cooled X58 UD7 board gave the possibility of 10 drives, the case at a push took 7 + 1 DVD Writer, the 3 EVGA GTX 580 Hydro Coppers 's on a Separate loop meant that the pipe work was Horrific to do anything with after! The 900D appears to address these problems!
I have to do more research into this, but it would one first glance appear that the 900D is only 1.5 800D's welded together, and put on a Big Mac diet for the width, (something I was planning to do before the 900D was announced)
One of the best cases I ever tripped across for space was the coolmaster Cosmos, but it was just too Big - and LOUD, even liquid cooled! this would appear to be the same case, with a rear space for cable routing.
So it's really nothing new, just an amalgamation of loads of past cases, built as a Single, All the Mods Done for you.... What I really need is the Manual!!!!
JFord047 - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
As an Afterthought.... the BIGGEST REASON! for a case with a lot of space for me, is the fact that I only have 1 working Arm!It adds an extra Twist to building a computer - hence I only build 1 every 4 years.
After measuring I have to buy 4 copies of Clive Cusslers's The Navigator as well as the case, they are the right size to raise the desk up high enough to get it underneath.
At the moment it only takes 2 copies of Mrs Beaton's Household management for the 800D :).
cjs150 - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
This is simply a bigger, less cute version of the legendary TJ07 case. Looks to have better cable management and I like the way the HD cages work but that is about it. Also looks to suffer from same problem as TJ07 namely limited airflow to motherboard, from experience that is a quick way to fry the RAM!With a 480 radiator you can cool 3 graphics cards. Then the 240 radiator could cool the CPU and (possibly RAM) leaving another Radiator up top to cool the motherboard chips. Totally insane but fun.
Denithor - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
*Scratches head.In an era when CPU makers are pushing TDP lower and lower, they bring out this behemoth of a case aimed at supreme cooling? What are they thinking? I just don't get it.
Sabresiberian - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
wut?