Hardware First Look: Corsair Obsidian 800D

Steel's not a problem imo- aluminium scratches and vibrates, and they have a nice aluminium front fascia for looks. I doubt many people who go to LAN parties regularly would plump for such a large, heavy case anyhow, and aluminium full tower cases in this price-range use thicker, heavier aluminium anyhow.

 

Seriously WHAT is it with Aluminium? Everytime i read comments on a non-aluminium case everyone's like "eww steel". How is it any better than steel? It's soft as butter and a whole lot more expensive than steel.

Is it the weight? Well grow some nerd muscles, guys.

 

Many of the newer Lian-li aluminium cases don't vibrate.

Many LAN party-goers use larger than average size cases in order to accommodate their components, including radiators. Steel has its advantages, such as its strength, but only compared to a lighter aluminium. If you build an aluminium case to the same weight as steel, the aluminium case should be 'slightly' stronger than steel.

LAN party goers and others who often transport their desktops, appreciate the light weight aluminium cases, especially when their internal components weigh a ton.

The other benefit of aluminium is its superior ability to act as a heat sink and dissipate heat. The internal heat ransfers through the case walls over 4 times more effectively than steel. It may only make a few degrees difference to the 'general' in-case temperature, but more noticeable on an aluminium hard drive bay or power supply section. However, it's still nice to have this feature wheras a steel case keeps the heat inside the case as it's more difficult to transfer it.

The next benefit of aluminium, especially brushed aluminium, in my opinion, is that it looks more like something that should cost £200 plus. Scatch issues are not much of a problem unless one's case finds itself in a battlefield.

 

Just to add to the heat sink benefit of aluminium: One of the main reasons why an Aston Martin DBR9 will have a aluminium roof is to help cool the high cockpit temperatures for the race driver.

 

For those of you guys concerned about the plastic pieces - we've used them for a reason.

1) The plastic piece over the hard drive fan is so it intakes air from the lower chamber and doesn't recirculate the ambient main chamber air.

2) The plastic pieces behind the CPU backplate, the SATA backplane, the lower hard drive bay, and all the rubber grommets assure that the warm air from the hard drive exhaust isn't allowed to infiltrate the main chamber.

It took a lot of work to get the airflow set up well - and though it's unorthodox I think when performance numbers are actually up you'll see it performs pretty well with the default config and even better with the top 3 fans installed.

 

I know what you mean, but I disagree.

For me I don't care with a big tower case if it's steel or aluminum, if it adds cost I don't want it. I don't move my case enough to care about lightness.

As for being a blank canvas, I quite like what they've done - the compartments, mobo tray hatch, HDD caddies, clever SATA cabling, decent WC space etc is all a nice addition, most of which LiLi have already implemented in their fancier cases.

Horses for courses tbh.

While that's a benefit I imagine the reason it has an aluminum roof is to lower the centre of gravity and keep the weight as low as possible to allow for better balancing.

Racing cars aren't designed for driver comfort.

 

That's the reason I made sure to include the clause: "One of" - to avoid implying that the heat benefit is the only benefit. Other factors are usually a combination of: cost; weight and how a material behaves under various types of stress depending on the location on the car and its application. Also, speaking of 'low centre of gravity', and low weight benefits, a DBR9 could have benefited from a carbon fibre roof like other parts of the car.

 

Let us hope that it does not finish in the same way as Silverstone Raven 1, which got only the First Look (and then somebody got the urge to test some cheap stuff). Anyway, Raven 1 was found to be amazing in cooling the graphic, now I wonder how it would do with the new Corsait Hydro H50, how it compares to this case and the new Raven 2.

Who knows if we will ever find out?

 

Just preordered mine at OCUK! So exesited cant wait!

 

There was a large disagreement over the Raven and Silverstone pulled the case before we had a chance to test it properly unfortunately, so, we will never know.

Of course we want a Raven 2 as well for review and hope it'll stay here long enough this time ^_^

 

On small, cheaper cases steel is fine. On a huge, £200+ super tower it doesn't make sense at all. If Silverstone, Lian Li and CoolerMaster can produce high end, sturdy fully aluminum cases for the same price why couldn't Corsair?

And yes the issue is weight, as someone who's owned a 20kg (EMPTY) Kandalf I can tell you right now EVERYTHING becomes a hassle, from changing a CPU heatsink to swapping out a dead fan (and i'm a dryliner who's used to slinging up 3m plasterboards all day).

If your the kind of person who builds a rig then doesn't touch it for months at a time then theres no issue, but personally i'm digging inside my case for some reason or another on practically a weekly basis.

 

Corsair picked a tough time to come to market. I hope the unconventional cooling is all its hyped up to be at that price, not that it wont sell on looks alone!

TBH while inovative, the Raven1 has some really bad oversights in my eyes, cost far too much and a very marmite 'gamer' styling. The Raven2 and Fortress FT02 however are both simply stunning and looking forwards to how they perform! The new Lian-Li offerings are looking fantastic too.

Quick question to Redbeard:- Will the hotswap caddies be available separately? Kind of defeats the point if they are not.

 

Rocket: yes, the hot-swap caddies will be sold as accessories on the Corsair.com webstore and possibly elsewhere.

 

How can people in the UK buy them if there on corsair.com?

 

Corsair.com ships products worldwide from multiple hubs in Asia, North America, and Europe.

 

This be true
As a HAF 932 owner and someone who swaps hardware in and out of (mostly SECC) chassis and is a LAN party regular, I've sworn that my next case/mod/WHATEVER is going to be aluminum or something lighter.

Plus, it's easier to mod, period

 

There is tons of space for a fat radiator + fans in the roof. We checked with a 2" thick thermochill.

 

Scan lists as Pre Order Item

 

So do OCUK

 

£210 doesn't seem too bad.