Corsair Obsidian 350D Case Review
by Dustin Sklavos on April 25, 2013 11:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- MicroATX
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Introducing the Corsair Obsidian 350D
It seems like just yesterday we were talking about Corsair's gargantuan Obsidian 900D, a behemoth designed with the single goal of housing as much computer as you can possibly imagine. The Obsidian 900D supersized the already successful 800D (along with its price tag), and judging from the comments left on the review it's exactly what a lot of the watercooling enthusiasts were waiting for.
What you may not be aware of is the fact that the 900D ran...a little late. I had one of the early review units, and it had actually been sitting in my living room for some time before the new embargo date hit and gave me a deadline. That's part of the reason why we're seeing another case from Corsair as quickly as we are; had the 900D been on time this still would've seemed like a pretty quick turnaround time. Proving someone over there has a sense of humor, though, Corsair is following up their largest case with their smallest.
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I'm actually a little disappointed that the campaign around the 350D was basically subsumed by the 900D, because of the two cases I think the micro-ATX 350D is actually the more interesting one. With the 900D, the sky is really the limit as to what you can put in it (or more accurately, your wallet is the limit). The 350D, on the other hand, is a case for people who thrive on limitations. That's not to say the case has limitations, per se, but when you're confined to the micro-ATX standard you start having to make creative decisions. As you'll see, Corsair made a few of their own that make the 350D a particularly interesting specimen in what's often one of the most diverse enclosure categories.
| Corsair Obsidian 350D Specifications | ||
| Motherboard Form Factor | Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX | |
| Drive Bays | External | 2x 5.25" |
| Internal | 3x 2.5", 2x 3.5" | |
| Cooling | Front | 1x 140mm intake fan (supports 2x 120mm/140mm) |
| Rear | 1x 120mm exhaust fan | |
| Top | 2x 120mm/140mm fan mount | |
| Side | - | |
| Bottom | - | |
| Expansion Slots | 5 | |
| I/O Port | 2x USB 3.0, 1x Headphone, 1x Mic | |
| Power Supply Size | ATX | |
| Clearances | HSF | 160mm |
| PSU | 200mm | |
| GPU | 300mm | |
| Dimensions |
17.3" x 8.3" x 17.7" 440mm x 210mm x 450mm |
|
| Weight | 13.3 lbs. / 6.1 kg | |
| Special Features |
USB 3.0 via internal header Removable drive cages Removable filters on intakes and bottom Supports 280mm radiators |
|
| Price | $99/$109 (without window/with window) MSRP | |
What needs to be considered in evaluating the Corsair Obsidian 350D is that this case is pretty clearly designed capitalize on liquid cooling. While my experiences with Corsair's closed loop coolers have been inconsistent, everyone benefits from them having a 280mm cooler like the H110 in their lineup. The existence of a 280mm cooler in Corsair's portfolio doesn't necessarily demand they include a place to mount it in all subsequent case designs, but it makes a convincing argument.
The reviewer's guide makes a big deal about using the 350D for water cooling, both with Corsair's products and with custom loops. There are five total fan mounts, and all of them support radiators: the top of the case features two 120mm/140mm mounts, the front of the case features another pair of 120mm/140mm mounts (and the 3.5" drive cage is removable), and then the rear of the case features a 120mm fan mount. What does surprise me is that Corsair opted not to include an additional fan mount beneath the drive cage, in the bottom of the case. It feels like a missed opportunity.
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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.