Corsair Obsidian 650D Computer Case

Written by Austin Downing

Tuesday, 31 May 2011

Table of Contents: Page Index
Corsair Obsidian 650D Computer Case
Closer Look: Exterior
Detailed Exterior Features
Closer Look: Interior
Detailed Interior Features
Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Page 2 of 6

Closer Look: Exterior

The exterior of a case is the first thing many people notice and the Obsidian 650D does not disappoint in that aspect. The sleek black exterior of the 650D helps it fit into a gamers den, or a nice home office.

The sleek black brushed aluminum exterior 650D is a simple elegant design. It is a nice departure from the flashy exteriors that have become popular for gamers in recent years. At the same time this mid-tower case leaves room for up to four external 5.25" drives and a full complement of connections from the front panel.

The top of the 650D shows one of the two 200mm fans used for cooling. The 200mm fan can be replaced with either 2 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm radiator or fan depending on what user would like to use for cooling. At the same time Corsair has also included an external docking mount for both 3.5" and 2.5" drives allowing users quick hot swap access to their data.

Both sides of the 650D utilize the locking mechanism that was introduced on the Graphite 600T. This allows for users to quickly remove the sides of the 650D to work on the components inside. One thing that should be considered with the Obsidian 650D is that although classified as a mid-tower case, in reality fits in between a traditional full-tower and mid-tower.

Continuing the excellence that has been seen so far on Obsidian 650D, Corsair has amazingly included eight expansion slots on the back of the case! This means in this mid-tower case users can easily run a quad-SLI/CrossFireX setup. This is an amazing feat, possible mostly because of the size of the 650D. None-the-less, some reviewers here wouldn't be caught using a case with less than eight expansions slots and so we may finally have a mid-tower case for them.

From the bottom you can see the removeable filter under the PSU that has been included on the 650D. Also apparent are the feet that Corsair uses keep users PSU's off the ground and supplied with fresh air.

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Comments

# KING — CHARLEY MACHICOTE 2011-06-01 09:43

Sounds like a mixed review.. it is a decent looking case nothing stands out to me . see no side cooling or venting holes for heat to release . There are some good ideas like the hard dive port on the top hidden cabling. but thats about it. The price is a little high for a case with basic improvments that should be standard at this time .. guess the price of aluminum had alot to do with this...

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# RE:KING — Austin Downing 2011-06-01 09:53

For most cases you do not want side cooling or venting holes. It is more effective to have unobstructed airflow through the case so that the exhaust fans can effectively remove all of the hot air.

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# peon — CHARLEY MACHICOTE 2011-06-01 10:23

If you have a case you know that never happens the air input and exuast never equal each other .. and thats my case of point the air has to go some where unless you have your fans working overtime aginst each other.. but good luck with that

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# RE:PEON — Austin Downing 2011-06-01 10:37

Of course, hence why builders either have a positive or negative airflow in their case. Which one is better will be a argument that will go on till the end of time nonetheless having a positive or negative pressure happens. I personally prefer a positive pressure in all of my cases to help keep dust, hair and such out of them.

Still you do not want opening in the side of a case that will let that pressure out and will lead to a less effective cooling situation.

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# Side fans common — Mergatroid 2011-09-13 10:14

Many of corsair's other cases have side mounted fans, and the 600 series has some versions that come with a side mesh able to mount four 120mm fans. Generally, people with more than one video card will want some type of side fan to help remove heat generated by the video cards (although not always), especially if the cards are non reference and exhaust some of their heat inside the case. As for pressure differences, the case will determine which is best in any particular instance, and generally a temperature probe from a fan controller will settle any arguments.

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# Expensive, but nice — Nate Swetland 2011-06-01 10:43

Nice review. Overall, I like the case. I really like all of the cable routing options. I like that you can remove the middle drive cage in case you have lager VGA cards, or simply dont need it.
I can't say that I am fond of the top external drive bay. It seems like something that not everyone would be interested in, and just adds to the cost. I like the front I/O panel, its nice that you can close it, and it is nice that it is on the front instead of the top or side.

Can you install the hard drives backwards to allow the cables to go behind the motherboard? Sorry if you addressed this, I didn't see if you mentioned it or not.

Overall, I think it is nice, but it really would need to drop a bit in price before I would become seriously interested in it.

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# Yes — Mergatroid 2011-09-13 10:27

Actually, if you install the drives with the cables sticking out the left side you've installed them backwards and may have a hard time removing them.

The 3.5" drive cages can be completely removed, or one drive cage can be mounted directly in front of the PSU so the space behind the front 200mm fan is completely empty.

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# HDD — Austin Downing 2011-06-01 10:48

Nate I discussed that, I found that for the PSU I used since it did not have thin, or 90 degree power connections, I was running into the possibility of snapping off the PCB from my SSD. I decided it was a better idea to install it backwards in order to mitigate this problem

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# average joe — CHARLEY MACHICOTE 2011-06-01 10:52

your right about the positive and negative aspect of this . dont know if you have seen the airboy case its a giant mesh case .. air flow everywhere.. but since water cooling has become so effective all you relly need is to cool the motherboard fans that cool radiators mounted on top of case not inside of case ..this would be a good case for water cooling..maybe some one should test out both and have a honest rating temperture cooling all around. I myself can not afford to do it so I leave it to benchmark reviews to find some one who has done the research or do it themselfs .. case I maybe wrong and you right..

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# Front Panel Connectors — endocine 2011-06-09 19:52

Is it possible to remove the front panel connectors cable bundle?

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# yes — Mergatroid 2011-09-13 10:29

You can completely remove the front panel circuit board of you choose, or you can unplug and remove any cables you don't want.

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# RE: Corsair Obsidian 650D Computer Case — Austin Downing 2011-06-09 21:06

Not that I can tell, any particular reason you would want to?

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# Cable glut — endocine 2011-06-10 05:43

cable glut, i never use the front panel connectors. maybe i should start doing so, but i've noticed that most cases use really cheap cables for them. Case manufacturers should make these things plugabble.

im totally fine with running a USB hub to my desk from a built in port on the back.

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# Cable Glut — Bruce Bruce 2011-06-10 06:51

I like that term... I've actually cut off some of the cables leading to the front (or top) I/O connectors on some builds, just to get rid of the annoyance. Firewire is usually the first to go....

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# High quality panel connectors — Mergatroid 2011-09-13 10:33

The front panel connectors on Corsair cases are high quality, and you will get as good or better results from them as you would from any hub. They will not cause problems hubs can cause because they run directly to the USB connectors on the main board. Also, the audio is full HD audio, and can be programmed separately from the connectors at the rear of your motherboard so you can have a separate audio channel running to the front (for headphones running voice communications) while still having other audio running out your speakers (such as game sounds or music).

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# RE: Corsair Obsidian 650D Computer Case — Austin Downing 2011-06-10 09:26

I found that on these 650D the cables are of very nice quality. And even if they are ugly they can be run behind the motherboard so that they can be out of site and out of mind.

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# I Like It — Tom 2011-06-29 08:31

i like that the case is wide, compared to other cases, to accomodate tall CPU coolers, and i like the plain, and "square", utilitarian look of the case.. it is close to what i would want in a case.. it is amazing to me that such a case is so hard to find..

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# RE: I Like It — Austin Downing 2011-06-29 15:55

Cases like this are not hard to find. It is more like cases like this that don't cost a arm and a leg are hard to find.

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# Internal Temperatures — Tim 2011-07-21 20:46

So, do you have any screenshots of the air temperatures inside the case while it is running?

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# RE: Internal Temperatures — Austin Downing 2011-07-22 16:39

Unfortunately no. What cases are you looking to compare it to?

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# Good review — Mergatroid 2011-09-13 10:39

Overall a good review of a good case. If I didn't already own a 600T I might pick up a 650D.

The only advantage the 600T has is the space on the top. I was able to mod the 600T so I could fit an H100 rad up top with four fans in push/pull, something you couldn't do on the 650D without putting a set of fans outside the case. I like the looks of the 650D better though. Corsair has done a great job with their mid tower cases.

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# Harley_Squirrelnuts — Martin 2012-07-03 08:55

Like the case but the fan controller is terrible. I used the four outlets to power the two casing fans and the two fans on the Corsair H100 water cooler. Two months into ownership and the controller speed became erratic, surging and slowing. A week after that it quit. Corsair provided a replacement at no cost. Thanks! Same routine, quit after two months. I have read on bulletin boards that this is common. Controller overheats and burns out. Now I have ordered a Kaze II fan controller.

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# Same on the 600T — Mergatroid 2012-07-03 18:25

Many people have said the same thing of the Corsair 600T fan controller as well. Personally, I prefer aftermarket fan controllers over controllers built into cases, so I never bothered using the controller in my own 600T. The Kaze Master II is a great choice for this case.

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