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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
65 Comments
View All Comments
Ubercake - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Looks a little smaller than my Thermaltake Spedo. I do like it though.Even without water, it's really easy to work in a case this large.
Ubercake - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
It's actually bigger front to back, but not as tall.Ubercake - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Dimensions are actually bigger all the way around on the 900D. It just doesn't look that way. The spedo has 2 rear 120s. I wish more newer cases had these.truprecht - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
That's not a computer case, that's furniture.nleksan - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
I have been water cooling for a long time, and I have owned a lot of "water cooling cases", some of which were good, a few of which are truly great, but the majority of which are frankly terrible for one reason or another. This is a very niche market and it is one that demands perfection at such a price point as the 900D is attempting to compete, but the sad fact is that most people are going to buy this case simply because it has the (frankly worthless) Corsair name attached to it.I have two fully liquid cooled builds right now, the first is in a Switch 810, without doubt the most capable water cooling case anywhere near it's price range, with as much radiator space, if not more, than the nearly 2.5x pricier 800D.
The other build is at the opposite end of the price spectrum, sitting in a custom made fully equipped Case Labs TH10 (XL Pedestal, 120mm Extension up top, etc) with 4x 560 + 1x 420 + 2x 360 radiators all cooling the system. It makes the monolithic 800D look like a SFF case in comparison, and the build quality is simply so far ahead as to be indescribable.
Which brings me to the point... Case Labs now offers the SM5 and SM8 cases at the same or lower prices than the 900D, but with nearly limitless customizability, build quality that is unrivaled, and small touches absent on anything from the company that Corsair has become.
I simply don't see why this case would sell, it's as much a dinosaur as it's circa 2008 brother...
Biggestinsect - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Confounds me how most tech sites get all revved up about this case but seem to be unaware of any of CaseLabs' offerings. Corsair and especially higher end stuff from Lian Li and Silverstone have nothing near the build quality at any price point.cjs150 - Friday, April 19, 2013 - link
I love my TJ07 but totally agree about the build quality. Holes not perfectly aligned, lack of cable management etc. Case labs looks a lot better (also like mountain mods) on biold qualityhyperdoggy - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
Oh wow, the window is flushed with the side panel, that is awesome! normally case windows looks like someone broke the window on the side panel and they ghetto attach some acrylic on till they can afford to fix it, fine for a sub $100 case, big no no on a $200+ case.isorashi - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
+1: Fluke referenceZoeAnderson24 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - link
uptil I looked at the draft of $4237, I have faith that...my... father in law woz like they say actualey receiving money in there spare time from their laptop.. there dads buddy haz done this for only about ten months and just repayed the loans on there home and got a new Jaguar XJ. go to, All29.comCHECK IT OUT