Corsair Obsidian 350D Case Review
by Dustin Sklavos on April 25, 2013 11:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- MicroATX
Testing Methodology
For testing Mini-ITX and Micro-ATX cases, we use the following standardized testbed in a stock configuration as well as with add-on graphics cards to get a feel for how well the case handles heat and noise. As we've retired our Micro-ATX board from the testbed, Micro-ATX enclosures will be using the Mini-ITX testbed.
| Mini-ITX Test Configuration | |
| CPU |
Intel Core i3-2120 (65W TDP) |
| Motherboard | Zotac Z68ITX-A-E |
| Graphics Card |
Intel HD 2000 IGP Zotac GeForce GTS 450 Eco ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP |
| Memory | 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600 |
| Drives | Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD |
| CPU Cooler | SilverStone NT07-1156 with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 |
| Power Supply | SilverStone Strider Plus 1000W 80 Plus Silver |
Each case is tested with just the Core i3's integrated graphics as well as with a discrete graphics card. The system is powered on and left idle for fifteen minutes, the thermal and acoustic results recorded, and then stressed by running four threads in Prime95 (in-place large FFTs) on the CPU, and OC Scanner (maximum load) is run when the dedicated GPU is installed. At the end of fiteen minutes, thermal and acoustic results are recorded. If the enclosure has a fan controller, these tests are repeated for each setting. Ambient temperature is also measured after the fifteen idle minutes but before the stress test and used to calculate the final reported results.
We try to maintain an ambient testing temperature of between 22C and 24C. Non-thermal test results aren't going to be directly comparable to the finest decimal point, but should be roughly comparable and give a broader idea of how the enclosure performs.
Thank You!
Before moving on, we'd like to thank the following vendors for providing us with the hardware used in our testbed.
- Thank you to Puget Systems for providing us with the Intel Core i3-2120.
- Thank you to Zotac for providing us with the Z68ITX-A-E motherboard and GeForce GTS 450 Eco.
- Thank you to Crucial for providing us with the Ballistix Smart Tracer memory.
- Thank you to Kingston for providing us with the SSDNow V+ 100 SSD.
- And thank you to SilverStone for providing us with the power supply and NT07-1156 heatsink/fan combo.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
65 Comments
View All Comments
ushlak.morante - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
Not a bad little case, could be a little smaller for me personally but depends on what you are looking for. I do still think that the TJ-08E manages to do pretty much the same job in a smaller space although it could do with a few of the updates that Corsair has used to bring it more up to date.ezridah - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
Nice looking case and nice review. It would be nice to see you review the Fractal Design Arc Mini now. And they also came out with the Arc Midi R2 recently.529th - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
what the ffffffff is in the reflection of the first pic!? LOLtnerb - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
Are you going to be doing a review of the HAF XB anytime soon? Definitely interested in a CM open-air approach to microATX that's also portable.Comdrpopnfresh - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
does it come with the bowl of noodles?Jambe - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
It's 41.6 liters? There are dozens of full-ATX mid-towers smaller than that!I would not call this "small". Perhaps in comparison to the absolute largest cases available, but those are outliers (and the vast majority of DIYers don't need that space, anyway).
Rosewill's Line-M mATX case (at 27 liters) might constitute "small" but certainly not anything over 40! Yowza.
Anyway, it certainly seems to be a nice case, and the review and photos were thorough as usual.
Jackie60 - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
If Anandtech are doing cookery reviews could I please see the rating for the hot and sour soup.HisDivineOrder - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
It's telling in your recounting of past Corsair cases you completely forgot the Obsidian 550D.I think when I came into this review I expected the 350D to be the 550D except smaller, so imagine my surprise when it was a 650D but smaller. You state it can be used with the H110, but since you did not test it, I wonder if this is true. Corsair states outright that the H110 will not work with the 550D even though it has the 140mm fans at the top (due mostly to the way motherboard heatsinks are often fitted and where the power cables go in at the top). If only you did more than test air cooling...
I also find it interesting you made allowances for this case to be a "water-cooling focused case" and forgave middling air cooling, but with the 550D where there are tons of ATX options for other cases by Corsair if you want air cooling you demanded "great" air-cooling or bust. Curious. Those priorities seem backwards to me.
I can't help thinking you'd be doing us all a big favor in using this case the way it was intended to be used and throwing a microATX motherboard with two GPU's into this case and giving us a real performance test of its cooling rather than a rather fringe case of someone using a mITX instead.
And I look forward to the now inevitable Obsidian 150D mITX case that should come any month now. At least then your mITX motherboard will FINALLY make sense to me when you use it.
DanNeely - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
IIRC the most recent hardware updates left AT with an mITX board and a full ATX board for case testing.LoneWolf15 - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
Beautiful. My only wish is for one more 5.25" (or a 3.5") external bay, which could be done easily. I'd switch from my Corsair 650D in a heartbeat, but I have a DVD-RW, a 5.25" Lamptron fan controller, and a 3.5" multi-memory card reader, and I'd like to keep all three.