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Corsair Obsidian 550D Mid-tower Case

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Installation

Installing a system in this case was simple and fast. The standoffs for an ATX motherboard were already in place, the intake and exhaust fans were already installed where I wanted them, installing the drives was a snap, even cable routing was easy.

case-open-left-2 system-installed

The one real snag I ran into was with the drive installation. I wanted to install my SSD in the bottom-most slot, where it would be out of the way, but the right-angle SATA data cables I had to hand made that infeasible. That bottom slot bumps up against the bottom lip of the case, so if you want to put a drive there you’ll need to use a short, straight SATA plug.
Literally everything else about this case was trouble-free, including the parts I thought would be difficult. My 3.5″ SATA drive dock, which normally causes tool-less retention systems in most cases to fail or even break, slotted in without complaint in this case. The front-panel header cables for power switch, reset, &c., which are normally a twisted mass of fiddly mess, were in this case a neat bonded ribbon that I could pull apart as needed to fit my motherboard’s particular layout.

case-front-profile

Worth a special mention are the front panel audio ports. In literally every other case I’ve tried, these have ended up being unusable due to electrical noise, most often due to sharing a circuit board with the front USB ports et al. In this case, they work flawlessly, eliminating the need for extension cables or awkward reaching around to the back of the case. Kudos to Corsair for getting this right where so many fail.

Conclusion

In operation, this case was incredibly quiet—so much so, I had to double-check that the computer was even on. The only notable noises from this case are the optical drive spinning up and the video card fan when the system is under load, and even those are dampened by the case’s excellent acoustic properties.
The Corsair Obsidian 550D is an absolutely superb case, built with a level of care and attention to detail not often seen even in much pricier offerings. Where others in its price range ($159 MSRP) focus on flash and ostentation, the Obsidian 550D is all about solid, quiet performance. If you’re looking for a quiet compact mid-tower case that doesn’t compromise on performance, this is the one to beat.silver_cube

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