Corsair Obsidian Series 650D Mid Tower Case Review

Style, Performance, Ease of Use, Construction… these are probably the four biggest factors which most of us look at when choosing a case. Normally I find myself making some sacrifices in one of those categories, even when looking at more expensive cases like the Corsair 650D which clocks in at $179.99 with Free Shipping. Almost regularly I find myself having to look at cases with more unattractive styles to suit the other three categories, but today I’ve found a case that easily fills out all four categories for me.Corsair’s Obsidian Series has been a case line about unprecedented potential and unrivaled performance; today they’ve done well to hold themselves to such expectations. Between amazing build quality, excellent airflow, and one of the best build qualities on the market, Corsair has presented a product that impresses and leaves you with this satisfaction and feeling of self accomplishment that most cases lack, in my opinion.

Just starting out, the build quality of this case is, simply put, great. The side panels have a durable paint job and excellent rigidity. Fan grills do not flex when installing a fan, drive bay covers are equally as well built and even feature aluminum plates installed over plastic covers to completely match the case’s aesthetic design on the front with its brushed aluminum finish.

When you move on to the airflow aspect of this case, you can easily get stunned. Just placing your hand in front or on top of a fan grill, you can feel plenty of air being sucked in or pushed out of the case. Yet when you listen with your ear, you need to bring your ear right up to the case to actually hear it in operating. I’m not normally one to worry about noise as I always have rigs running Folding @ Home and thus GPU fans cranked up to keep the temps down, but I can still appreciate the effort Corsair put into this case in keeping the performance to an optimum level while the noise is as low as possible.

If I were to just choose a case based on looks, Corsair would win against almost any other case on the market right now. Grommets on almost all of the cable management holes, all back interior, black internal wiring, and even fully modular PSU’s with all black cables, Corsair knows what elegance looks like. It’s uniform, taught, and sleek. With just small bits of flare added with the sharp corner; the 650D is arguably the best looking case to come out in a long while.

Legit Bottom Line: Corsair’s Obsidian Line of Cases has proven itself to be almost the go to line for computer enthusiasts and today is no exception; the Obsidian Series 650D is the one of the best cases I have worked with yet.