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Corsair Obsidian Series® 350D mATX Chassis Consumer Review
Author's Note
For those looking for a fully detailed product review, I would direct you to Corsair's product listing or TTL's video review, both of which will be linked at the bottom. This is meant to be a consumer review so all details will not be covered.
Introduction
Today we take a look inside Corsair's new MiniMe, the Obsidian Series® 350D. This pint-sized Obsidian marks the first micro ATX case released by Corsair and once again, they don't disappoint. The Obsidian 350D was designed to deliver high-end performance and cooling potential for IT enthusiasts in a compact shell and that's exactly what you get. Let's dive in and see what Corsair has in store for us.
First Impressions
I recently purchased this case to begin my personal system over-haul. I've always preferred micro ATX setups and I'm a bit of a Corsair fanboy so this case caught my attention from the start. First, the case looked smaller than advertised on the product listing. As soon as it was unboxed, my mentality changed completely. I had more than enough work-space and room for my hardware. It was in prefect shape when it arrived and included all advertised components. The 120mm and 140mm fans that came with the case worked flawlessly. It truly was all they claimed. However, The first issues I ran into with the case was the front fan filter, front detachable panel, and 2.5" SSD bays. While I enjoy the design and convenience of air filters, I feel they could have done a better job with securing the filter as it sits quite lose, falls out without much pressure, and can be difficult to reattach at times. The front detachable panel covering the filter is quite sensitive to pressure as well. While moving the case around the cover would constantly detach from very little pressure so I would advise taking the panel and filter off while moving the case around or working on it to avoid damage. Additionally, the SSD bays are quite difficult to separate and you'll probably need some kind of tool to help. I used needle-nose pliers to release the locks which seemed to work well without damaging anything. Other than that, I would say you couldn't ask for much more out of a micro ATX chassis as it offers so much in terms of performance potential. Let's move on and take a closer look at some of the features.
Techinical Specifications
Along with a variety of other features, the Obsidian 350D comes equipped with a 2-year warranty, compliments of Corsair. The case measures 17.7" long, 8.3" wide, and 17.3" tall, allowing builders plenty of room for extra long graphics cards, tall CPU coolers upto 160mm, and custom water-cooling setups. With room for two 240mm radiators, top and front, and with Intel's recent release of the Haswell architecture accompanied by a wide variety of high-performance mATX z87 motherboards, this chassis has the potential to become a pint-sized powerhouse. I would also note that if you plan to use a 240mm top radiator or an H100i, you lose the ability to mount an optical drive in the top 5.25" bay. However, you can still mount short back-end controller panels, such as a multi-fan controller, so you don't totally use the bay.
Expandability is usually the main concern when looking at a micro ATX case, or atleast it is for me. Corsair did a good job of maximizing expandability and graphics potential on this one. The 5 expansion slots and room for upto 380mm GPUs allows for dual GPU setups without using all the bays and the front 140mm fan creates a nice airflow over the GPUs. Of course, this would be dependent on the motherboard used and any other add-in cards you might plan to use, but it's nice to see an mATX that has decent graphics expandability.
Although the product is listed as only having two 2.5" internal SSD bays, it actually comes with three. In addition to the three SSD bays, the 350D comes with two 3.5" HDD bays and two 5.25" optical bays. Obviously, some custom watercooling kits with dual-bay pumps will prevent builders from being able to use optical drives. Also, I had an issue getting the 5.25" bay tool-free lock to clamp down. I was able to get the clamp locked down but it took several minutes and a lot more effort than there should have been. Seems the standouts for securing may be a little too thick for some optical drives.
Another concern I had initially was how the cable management would turn out with my non-modular PSU given that this is an mATX case. Yet again, Corsair put my worries to rest. With almost 1" of space behind the motherboard tray and multiple tie-down points, including a long awaited CPU power connector tie-down, cable management was a breeze. I would imagine that if I could achieve this with a non-modular PSU, builders using modular, or even semi-modular power supplies, can expect no problems when routing cables. Additionally, this chassis can support upto 180mm ATX power supplies so getting enough power into this case for your hardware shouldn't be an issue.
Conclusion
While the Obsidian 350D does have some restrictions, they are minimal in comparison to what builders can achieve from this product. The sturdy construction of the case, although not as sturdy as it's Obsidian big brothers, is a testament of Corsair's quality and design. Also, with this beauty retailing for $110 US (€83 Euro), it offers high-performance quality at a great value and is competitively price with it's only rival (in my opinion), the Fractal Design Arc Mini.
Resources
Corsair Obsidian 350D mATX Chassis Product Listing
TTL's Corsair Obsidian 350D mATX Video Review
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