First Look: Corsair Obsidian 800D

Rounding up

On the plus side, there are plenty of holes in the base and it has a very easy to remove filter too. However with just an inch gap from the carpet, depending on how fluffy your shag is could limit the entire case's cooling potential.

Another thing about the base is that the PSU only has one orientation: the fan pointed downwards. This means it can't be stacked on its side so a large radiator cannot be squeezed down here. Again, Silverstone is safe in that it's no water-cooling competition to the TJ07, or even a few of the larger Lian Lis, and without removing the middle bar it's not tall enough to accommodate the mod either.

On the backside we can see the PSU cables are pushed through from the base up into wherever they are needed above, although there are no clips to tie cables in and Corsair has put a nice big bar between the PSU and motherboard area that will no doubt mean a fat ATX cable gets resists the side panel replacement. This is something we'll have to check.


We've also no idea why Corsair has put a plastic hinge behind the CPU socket either. Again, we simply assume aesthetics, because once the motherboard is in you'll not notice it's there. We're certainly not against the hole that allows ease of access to the back of the socket so large heatsinks can be installed without having to remove the motherboard and, interestingly, in the press documentation that was provided to us Corsair hints at making this hole a lot larger.


Finally, some attention to detail that sets Corsair apart from its competition. There are right angled SATA cables provided (again, in black) and also a hard drive SATA power cable that fits perfectly to the gaps in the hard drives. One thing that continually annoys us is that PSU companies put 10cm gaps between SATA power cables, but no case is built with more than a 3cm gap. At least Corsair corrects this, and we hope it provides this connector in future PSUs as well.

All in all, Corsair has made an excellent first foray into the chassis market that makes for impressive competition, but we don't think Silverstone, Lian Li, Antec and Cooler Master have too much to worry about, especially if we consider the estimated price of £225 (inc. VAT). Each has their niches but don't be too surprised if the competition take some some leaves out of the new book published by Corsair in future revisions.