Gadgetory

hey guys this is Dimitri and welcome back to another Hard Knocks review the Obsidian line from corsair sure is a popular one without elegant design and the high quality we've come to expect with every obsidian the new addition to the lineup is really meant to close the gap between the 900 D and the chassis that really started off a Corsair the 800 d so you're looking at the 750 d with a pretty reasonable price of $160 here is next to the monster 900 d for size reference and it does appear to be quite a bit smaller but don't forget this is a full tower and anything standing next to 900 d will look miniature there are differences in built quality tools starting with the front element of the case that is actually heavy duty plastic and not steel while maintaining a very familiar exterior design with a huge window panel and a brushed aluminum finish on the front removing the front panel it is plastic with just tiny sheet of aluminum as the front plate and we do get access to the removable dust filter very convenient for the case the 750 d also comes equipped with two 140 millimeter fans with an open style frame for appropriate airflow penetration I am however concerned of the limiting spacing between the fans and the front panel as it is quite small and it will definitely choke the fans also another disappointing find was that our model arrived with a broken hinge that secures the front panel it just wouldn't hold the panel on one side and while the mechanism have proven to be sturdy and very convenient it does showcase its potential downfall and the front of the case no longer looks uniform all the connections are located at the very top with four USB ports audio jacks and your PR buttons given the chassis is quite wide many have expressed their concerns with optical drives and how it disturbs the front look of the case and I have to agree the top of the case features a large magnetic dust filter very simple just peel it off and we do get a lot of fan mounting options exactly the things we'd like to expect from a full tower so a 360 million rad support here is possible there are also rubber inserts for the fans that will help means audible vibrations at the rear of the chassis we get that extra venting area for the top plus an exhaust fan nine PCI slots and the power supply dust filter at the bottom taking a look at the very bottom of the case aside from the dust filter we also get optional bottom fan mounts but notice there's no dust filter which is rather disappointing but you'll see later that this is not the only flaw for the bottom intake and finally let's get inside the case and first thing you notice are the two Drive cages that are installed at the bottom that allow resistance free front intake these use standard flexible drive caddies with SSD support as well and the cage system is flexible with mounting for example you can stack them and install insert of the conventional spot that clears up room at the very bottom this allows users to get access to the bottom intake slots with lots of clearance until the bottom hard drive cage both platforms are easily removable but aside from not having dust filters included I don't think coarser design this wall has the closest fan mount is practically touching the frame you can see this with our 120mm fan meaning there is no clearance for a 240mm radiator as lengthwise it just wouldn't fit this is questionable considering this spot would have been ideal for a 240mm radiator without sacrificing on storage as if you wish the Mount Rainier to the front you do lose out on one of the drive cages and turn the case around there is a pleasant sight to see a lot of cutouts especially for the bottom mounted drive cage plus a whole array of tools SSD brackets and I'm happy to finally see these integrated more and more into the chassis so a really big thumbs up for Corsair for this type of implementation these are easily removable you simply insert this as the end plus you can secure the drives with screws for extra reassurance the whole mounting system seems robust then you can further secure the bracket to the frame with a single screw plus the drive caddies are designed with cable management in mind with appropriate cutout to route your SATA cables plus the drive cage is appropriately spaced to allow SSD brackets to be installed without any clearance issues there is an inch of room in the back for all your cables we can tuck them at the very bottom so I really was not expecting anything less from Corsair and starting with the assembly I notice that the one on the bottom rubber grommets was almost completely blocked by the power supply this isn't a big deal but it wouldn't have hurt to have them slightly more forward and mounting in our ATX motherboard you can see the chassis is designed with larger boards in mind and it does support a ATX and XL ATX motherboards of course with water cooling in mind we get almost ten centimeters of clearance at the top until the memory modules so fitting in the top Brad certainly won't be an issue especially since the top portion of the internals is slightly wider to provide better compatibility starting with cable management the 750d feels very roomy and certainly fits any GPU in the market as there's over thirteen inches of clearance until the drive cage and flipping the case around cables are well spaced and secured properly and every time I've worked with the coarser chassis it's always been without hassle they've sure got the formula right and they're sticking to it however there are a few instances where you might run into trouble one of them if you're using larger boards like EI TX or XL ATX is rubber grommets only extend to a certain spot and might be fully covered by the motherboard also this case is equipped with nine PCI slots meaning four-way SLI or crossfire as possible but you will have to reposition the drive cage as it does prevent clearance for the two bottom PCI brackets and closing the panel you get a very simple and clean looking chassis with your Hardware just peeking through the window so it certainly has potential for awesome lighting for you to show off and I'm going to conclude by stating the newly added obsidian is a very spacious chassis with module drive cages innovative SSD brackets and that elegant yet simple look that many people desire but I feel these 750d lacks flexibility when it comes to water cooling especially for the limited room at the bottom plus there's no dust filter we also have a kind of a destructive look if you need to install any optical drives or anything else in there then the broken front panel hinge is certainly not leaving a good taste $160 price of course the broken hinge is coincidental but also shows that coarser needs to step up their game with quality control overall I think the 750d has a place within the Obsidian lineup it's basically an enlarged 350d and people have been asking for an ATX version of that chassis but I was hoping for better integration of water cooling in the bottom so I cannot give the 750 d and award just yet because of its pitfalls but let us know what you think of this new obsidian in the comments below and as always thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next review