Corsair Obsidian Series 900D ATX Full Tower Case Review - A Mixed Bag. Bought over 6 months ago ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[Marinatall_Ironside]

 

Hello, and welcome to my review of Corsair’s Obsidian Series 900D ATX Full Tower case. I will first apologize by saying that this is going to be a really long review as there is a lot to cover and I would like to try and cover them as adequately as possible. It has been over six months since I have owned this case and I have finally installed a system inside of it so I can give you guys a proper review of it. As always I will include pictures of the built system as part of my commitment to show you guys proof of the system and will talk to you guys about my experiences so far with it.

 

If you are going to buy the 900D, it’s for one of several reasons:

• You just want a big-ass case (hey that’s me here!)

• You are going to build a big-ass dual loop watercooling loop in it

• You are going to build a quad-GPU, dual-CPU workstation powerhouse inside of it

• Build a big-ass file server and/or VM server

• Go all-out for your next computer

• All of the above!

 

So without further adieu, let’s go over the specifications and the dimensions:

 

Technical Specifications

• I/O connectivity

  • 4 USB 2.0’s

  • 2 USB 3.0’s

  • 3.5mm Headphone and Microphone jacks

  • Power and reset switches with LED indicators for HDD activity and power.

• Device Expansion

  • Ten PCIe expansion slots

  • Four 5.25” device bays

  • 3 HDD/SSD cages with one of them equipped with a SATA backplane for hot-plugging. Each cage holds three drives for a total of nine drives. This can be easily expanded to 15 total storage drives by acquiring two more cages to add on top of the three included.

  • A spot for an additional power supply (seriously who uses two power supplies?)

• Compatibility

  • GPU clearance of almost 20 inches

  • PSU clearance of 11 inches. An AX1500i or the Super Flower Leadex 2000 will fit just fine.

  • Air cooler clearance of 170mm, so you can’t fit the juicy Cooler Master MasterAir Maker 8 air cooler in here unfortunately.

  • Fits every single common motherboard form factor, including the rare XL-ATX and HPTX motherboard form factors. Will also fit an SSI CEB and SSI EEB motherboard since that clearance is afforded and (possibly) all the motherboard standoffs all line up just fine.

• Cooling

  • 14-15 possible fan mounting locations (depending on the length of your power supply)

  • Comes with three Corsair AF120L and AF140L case fans

  • Five possible radiator mounting positions. This is possible if you are using 140mm-styled radiators in the lower compartment and if you go with a thin radiator for the front.

  • Compatible with any AIO liquid cooler on the market

  • Four removable dust filters

• Materials

  • Mostly steel composition

  • Two cast-aluminum support frames

 

Dimensions

• Weight: 41 lbs.

• Overall exterior measurements: 25 ⅝ L x 27 ⅛ H x 9 ¾ W

• Cable Management space: 1 ⅛ (taken from motherboard tray)

 

So the technical specifications are all really up there for a mass-marketed case. And for me, 1 and an eighth of an inch of cable management space is just awesome. As you can see I managed it well enough that I can get the side panel on with absolutely no issue whatsoever. If you are having a problem getting the side panel on, then you didn’t do a good enough job managing your cables enough to get it on in the first place.

 

The I/O is good, although I feel like it can be updated to have a couple of USB Type C connectors (though I don’t imagine Corsair doing this at all). The I/O is hidden via a hinged door that you press on the upper-left corner and it swings down. The tactile sound it makes is pleasing to me to say the least, and it does a good job of holding it in place.

 

If you have a particular use for 5.25” devices like I do, then you have your fix. It comes with four of them to be exact, and I am currently using one to hold my SupremeFX Hi-Fi USB DAC in place (which is amazeballs by the way). If you still use an optical drive of some sorts, I would wonder if you still have that one game released in 1996 (like the first Diablo game or the first StarCraft game) that you can still play and/or you also watch Blu-Ray movies on your computer too. I’m not going to be taking any more guesses, so let me know what you use an optical drive for in the comments below.

 

The device expansion is just insane. You get ten expansion bays total for your obscenely powerful GPU setup (for what God only knows what you’re doing with four Nvidia Titan X’s), and the clearance is almost 21 inches from back to the front drive cage. There are also tabs in the expansion slots to keep your GPU from sagging (as it’s a common issue with big-ass GPU’s which should have triple-slot brackets anyway and comes with a dual-slot bracket included as a spare)

 

The 900D also comes with an additional PSU mounting point for dual power supply systems (which I don’t know why someone would want to do dual power supplies) if your rig actually has a use for two of ‘em. I am only using one of two spots, and it’s just fine IMO.

This case can literally fit any motherboard form factor you can think of that’s available on the market, including XL-ATX and HPTX. However I feel like Corsair poorly documented this, as this case has the clearance available to it to fit both the SSI CEB and the SSI EEB form factors rather easily. I have seen someone use a Micro-ATX motherboard in here and it looked way too small for that case (seriously). Even my E-ATX Asus Rampage V Edition 10 looks too small because there is just that much space in there it’s absolutely bonkers! Therefore there should be no problem building inside of that case.

 

Radiator clearance is great as well. You can fit 64mm thick radiators (with fans too) inside of this case (though it will be a tight-ass fit once you get ‘em installed). Daniel Cannon, system builder and owner of Singularity Computers did this twice a few years ago with EK CoolStream XTX rads to prove my point because this case has that much room to afford it, including the top of the case.

What was it like building inside of it?

Best way to put it, it is absolutely stunning. But there is only a couple of snags I’ve encountered and I’ll talk about them shortly. But the overall assembly is so easy because the case gives you boatloads of room for you to work in without having any sort of problem. If you are having problems building inside of a 900D, you’re doing it wrong.

 

The tool-less side panel releases are sooo convenient to have, as it makes it quick and easy to get them off. Like I can literally take off one of the side panels within a second after depressing one of the buttons in the back. This also goes with the ones for the lower compartment when you need to get at the drives down there or if you need to remove the fan filters. Though sometimes it can be a little bit tricky to remove as they can get caught in the balls that fit into the sockets.

 

The top filter can be removed by pressing up against the tab and pulling it towards the side of the case where you show off your system, and removing it. The metal grate can get bent out of shape, making it difficult to get back on (which is why I removed it completely). It also requires some force to remove as it is a tight fit too.

The storage drive sleds are also handy, as you are not required to use tools (with the exception of SSD’s). Once you get them installed in them, it’s just easy to just slide it right back in.

 

Cable management is awesome. You have one and one-eighth of an inch to manage all of your cables with three clips as well, and I did do a good job of it. If you are having an issue with getting the side panel on, the you need to redo your cable management to get it back on, as you have enough room to do at least a decent job of it.

Screwing in the thumbscrews for the expansion slots is a pain in the ass, as it’s tough for the threads to catch once you have a GPU installed. You’ve got to finagle the GPU a little bit to make it easier for the threads to catch, otherwise you’ll be having a hard time. I’m one of those guys who prefers to use normal screws rather than thumbscrews to get them tighter for a reason, and it looks nicer IMO.

 

And the weight, goddamn. Didn’t I mention that it comes in at 41 pounds with the default configuration? It becomes even more heavy when you build a computer inside of it. I can guess it comes in at around 55-65 pounds, making it very heavy. So heavy there’s no way in hell am I going to take it to a LAN party. If my friends want me at a LAN party so bad and this is the only computer I have, then I’ll volunteer one of them for some muscle.

 

Functionality

The functionality of the case is a mixed bag of feelings. Airflow is very lacking since there’s a panel in front of the three intake fans. I am trying for positive air pressure and with this factored in, there’s no way I can get that. Another factor is the drive cages are in the way of the fans. But temps seem fine for now. It’s just something left to be desired, and I feel like Corsair missed this opportunity.

The way I have it set up is I have three Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilentPro PL-2’s as front intakes, two Cooler Master MasterFan Pro 120 AB’s as exhaust, pushing air through the AIO liquid cooler (which blows BTW at lower RPM’s and can be much better performing at higher RPM’s), and the special LTT Edition Noctua NF-A14 PWM fan exhausting air, spinning at amazingly low RPM’s too.

 

The Conclusion

The 900D is almost an amazing case to build in. There are some issues with building inside of it, and airflow is something left to be desired. The technical specifications are ridiculous as well, giving more than you ever need just in case that time does indeed come for ya. Watercooling in this case is also amazing too, since I have seen builds inside of the 900D that looks really good, and you can certainly build a dual loop watercooling system inside of it.

 

Attaching caster wheels will not look as good whatsoever. Caster wheels require four mounting points for a solid mount and you cannot get away with only one mount. If anything I would build a floor cart for this case that can hold a lot of weight.

 

• Pros

  • Lots of room to work in

  • Excellent cable management space and layout

  • Excellent watercooling support

  • Excellent air cooling support

  • Highly flexible in terms of system configurations

• Cons

  • Very heavy

  • Expansion card thumbscrews are difficult to get at

  • Some build quality aspects could be improved

  • Poor airflow

 

Overall it is a good case, but there are some aspects that are a total miss from what I have found. The case currently retails for USD $333.49 on Amazon as of posting this review.

 

The Corsair 900D was purchased on the 21st of December, 2015.

 

Original Document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RrDdg6B8LFHhTxZQnu4h-O1ERS1dY9L-_FcUQuCYwM0/edit?usp=sharing

[squirrl]

I wouldn't say it has poor airflow. Being such a big case, with a decent WC setup it can run entirely passively. 

I do agree that it's heavy though. I've taken it between houses with a system inside and it's taken 2 people and a pulley system to get it in and out of the box from a desk, up and down stairs and back onto a desk.

[Marinatall_Ironside]

On 8/28/2016 at 2:59 AM, squirrl said:

I wouldn't say it has poor airflow. Being such a big case, with a decent WC setup it can run entirely passively. 

I do agree that it's heavy though. I've taken it between houses with a system inside and it's taken 2 people and a pulley system to get it in and out of the box from a desk, up and down stairs and back onto a desk.

Yeah. Allow me to clarify more on why I said there's poor airflow. The reason why I said that was that the case fans are being restricted by big metal plates and narrow gaps, causing the fans to not be able to pull enough air and move it across the case. Unlike cases like this one, Caselabs cases doesn't have that, and you get juicy airflow easily, and cooling systems love nice, cool air, which means lower temps.