Corsair Obsidian 650D: Transmuting Graphite to Obsidian
by Dustin Sklavos on July 29, 2011 1:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- mid-tower
Conclusion: Everything But Performance
I'm not particularly happy with the results of Corsair's Obsidian 650D. I love everything else about the case: I love how it looks, I love how easy it is to assemble, I love how feature rich it is, and I love how clean the installations are by virtue of Corsair's smart internal layout. The 650D is a great looking case and makes a convincing argument for spending up over the 600T (although I do still like the curved accents of the 600T's design.)
Unfortunately, negative air pressure cooling is yesterday's news in the world of case engineering. There's only one other negative pressure design we've tested: Antec's Sonata IV. But the Sonata IV has a very clear and clean thermal design: a single intake on the side allows air to be pulled into the case by the processor cooler and then exhausted through the back 120mm fan. It's not a great design, almost entirely because it's incredibly loud under load, but the way the case channels air is simple, obvious, and direct.
The Obsidian 650D, in comparison, seems almost schizophrenic. Air is brought in through the front 200mm intake, and then hopefully routed up and split through the rear 120mm exhaust and the top 200mm exhaust. Tower coolers in the standard orientation like the one on our testbed are seeing air flow through them oddly, and some of that air is likely just going straight out of the top before it even touches the cooler's fins. What's worse is that Corsair's design offers you virtually no way to improve the cooling: you can change out the 200mm exhaust at the top for two 120mm or 140mm fans, but it doesn't change the fact that you're exhausting more air than you're bringing in.
Really what we need to see are more designs that channel air straight through the tower cooler on the processor. I'm not personally a fan of exhaust vents in the tops of enclosures; something about them just seems counterintuitive and I'd prefer to see air more directed like in the Antec Sonata IV (but without the noise). Everything else about Corsair's case is fantastic, but the thermal design needs to go back to the drawing board.
Unfortunately, that also brings us to the pricetag. With a $199 MSRP (though currently available online for as low as $165 if you know where to look), the 650D just doesn't offer enough performance to recommend it over other enclosures. SilverStone's RV03 can be a royal pain to put together, but it's a stronger performer for less money. Even the BitFenix Shinobi (with the proper fans added and installed) might be a better choice if you're looking for performance out of a mid-tower, and it costs half as much.
There's an awful lot to like about the Corsair Obsidian 650D, which is why it's such a shame it can't produce thermal performance in line with other cases in its class. I've read the 600T is an excellent case for top-mounted water-cooling, so it stands to recommend the 650D for the same purpose. If you've tried that and had a good experience with it, by all means, please sound off in our comments. But for regular users with air-coolers, there are better deals to be had.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
36 Comments
View All Comments
The Sorcerer - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link
NZXT Gamma and now Shinobi. Both brilliantly made cases for that price. Get a good set of fans and that's all one needs for a mid-end gaming rig.Just a question, wouldn't filling up the HDD bays and doing the required cable work (SATA Power connectors and SATA cables) give more clear idea about how good the cable management should be? MATX layout boards are bundled with shorter SATA cables, whereas a full-fledged atx motherboards (Like...890GPA UD3H) comes with bit longer cables.
Its been a very long time since I got my hands on those prebuilt systems with "slim" unit linueups, but back in the days negative pressure enclosures were nicely made and well thought construction to hold the adds-ons nicely.
Dustin Sklavos - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link
I can actually comfortably say cable management in the 650D will still be stellar even if you load the whole thing up. Why? Because internally it's nigh identical to the 600T and I did exactly that with my primary machine.randinspace - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link
Why doesn't Corsair just produce a model that comes with one of their popular (?) water cooling units?AlexKitch - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link
I'm a big fan of this case but had such problems getting my hard drives into the hard disk bays. I felt like I was about the snap them every time.Also, make sure you get the update to this case which upgrades the fan controller and mounts the front intake fan on rubber standoffs rather than the original screws - this solves a lot of noise/resonance problems.
darckhart - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link
what's the model number for the "update?"AlexKitch - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link
Corsair's website has it listed as product SKU# CC650D-FANKIT . When I bought the case, it had already been included in the box (but not fitted)Locklear - Friday, July 29, 2011 - link
The front fan is a real offender in noise. Something to do with the pitch of the fan-blades in combination with the front mesh. Just built a new comp with this case, and switching the 200mm fans with Cooler Master Megaflows worked wonders on noise. The annoying "whirling" disappeared completely. The fan change will come at a slight price though. You have to sacrifice one drive cage and move the other to the middle position in the cabinet due to the added 10mm depth on the megaflows (200x30mm). Using other 200x20mm fans should also work fine.rbg08 - Saturday, July 30, 2011 - link
Good to about this fix. I own this case and just yesterday ordered a Xigmatek XLF-F2004 White LED Black Case Fan (200x20mm) on sale from Newegg to match the fan on my Dark Knight-S1283W CPU heatsink. I was debating whether to install it in front or on top. Sounds like I may decrease noise as well by mounting it in front.malignate - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link
This is my biggest complaint about this case since I've set it up! If you do a search on youtube for 650d and noise, there is a video demonstrating this problem. I went back and forth with Corsair on a solution and the best they could come up with was to send me another fan. As mentioned, it has to do with the combination of the fan and the front mesh.I tried replacing the front fan with the XIGMATEK CLF-F2004 White LED fan, which is also 20mm so it still fits without drive cage modification. This took some adjustment because the fan screw mounts on the fan are facing for an exhaust fan, not an intake fan. I ended up using wire ties and attaching it to the front mesh. Not pretty but it still works. Unfortunately, this fan has the same problem with this case but is slightly muted. I think I'm going to have to go the Cooler Master Megaflow route and move the hard drive cage as has been recommended by others. This is a ridiculous design flaw for a case that costs this much and seems otherwise well thought out. Corsair needs to fix this.
flong777 - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - link
I own the 650D and the case is not noisy - nor does the Anandtech review reflect excessive noise. I don't think that I have the updated fan kit either. No case that moves air is going to be entirely silent. Read the reviews on the Fortress FT02.People should not be misled into thinking that this case is noisy. I mean if you are really sensitive about noise, turn the fans to low and you will have trouble hearing the system at all.
With the fans on low I hear my CPU cooler but not the case - I have the Noctua NH-D14 cooler.