Disappointed with 800D quality

I received my Corsair 800D from UPS today. I've been looking forward to getting this beauty since I first saw it a few months ago. I'm VERY picky when it comes to enclosures and this case finally hit the nail on the head for me as far as aesthetics go. It's a work of art.

 

Anyway, UPS managed to get the case to me without damaging it. The hdd covers did come loose but they were still fully functional. I considered myself very lucky (used UPS ground) and started to get excited about installing all my hardware into this case.

 

My excitement really started turning to disappointment though when I removed the side panel to inspect the interior. Immediately I noticed the black paint flaking off as I took the door off (window side). My heart sank when I saw this. For this kind of money, the paint should not chip off so easily. I then removed the panel on the other side and it was the same story. The paint chipped off the top edge of the panel right in front of my eyes.

 

Later on, I removed the front bezel to get to the lower hdd cover as it came loose during shipping. This also caused the paint to flake off on the bottom of the frame. Sad..... I feel like I could take my fingernail and just scrape this paint right off now.... I'm afraid to even open the case now.

 

Besides this major problem with the paint, the air cooling in this case seems convoluted. I don't see how it's going to actually work now that I'm really inspecting the set-up. To my dismay, every review I read only bolsters this belief of mine. Does Corsair actually expect EVERYONE who buys this case to use LC? Even their GPU's? My 2 GTX 280's are going to be like volcano's in this thing without more intake. I'm hoping that installing exhaust fans on the top will help, but this shouldn't be a problem in the first place. I'm afraid I've made a costly mistake by purchasing this case. Any advice? Give me some good news about the cooling at least.... I can't afford a LC set up right now.

the air flow is bad but you can fix it, turn the back fan to inlet air and you colud buy a hd rack from lian-li and (use 3 5 1/4 bays) and they come with a fan so you will have one in the bottom, one in the back an one in the front, now just put 3 on top and there you go problem solved

Slamscaper: I've only read one review, where they point out temp problems. This one: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cases_cooling/corsair_obsidian_800d/6 I would love links for more reviews, so if you have'em, please throw'em in here:-)

 

Normally i wouldn't judge anything based on one review, but in this case i think it's pretty safe to do so. Most hw sites, that normally test for temps, aren't mentioning the temps when reviewing the 800D. One would believe they would have, if they had been good right?

 

Says a lot about the testsites that doesn't release this information. They must be more conserned about angrying Corsair, than giving us the readers the correct information. Therefore i will stop reading reviews from the sites that usually release temps, and didn't in this case. They can't be trusted imo.

 

 

The chipping part: To bad. I would return the case, and ask for a new one. This sort of thing seems to happen from time to time with powdercoating.

 

Aitflow: I'm with Chills on that one. Corsair didn't think this one through when designing it. Or rather; they probably did, but the end resoult shure isn't good enough for air cooling out of the box. But it doesn't seem to bad. Reverse the back fan, and that alone will give you a nice drop in temps i reackon. In a case like this, that's so clearly not getting enough air, you think of another case manufactorer. I know we aren't allowed to write the names of these in this forum, but it's something with some silver, and a stone. They use positive airflow, and it seems to work.

 

Atm i have a little case from another manufactorer. One that's meant to be silent. Out of the box this one didn't perform to well either. The back fan (only one mounted) has three speed, but is to noisy in all but the lowest. I threw that one out of the case, and installed one from a company whose name makes you think of arctic landscapes, and therefore rly good cooling. In front i threw in 2 92mm from the same company.

 

In summer, where it gets pretty hot in my living room,the pc ran a little hot. But nothing to conserned about. Way lower than any max temps on my hw. But now the outside temps are going down a bit, and my temps are lovely. I have a 955 x4, and right now it idles at 33C, and reaches 44-45C when gaming.

 

This story only to tell you, that silent cases can be made to work in the real world as well. It seems the fans in the 800D aren't much good, but they can be changed. To bad Corsair wont release the full specs on these, so we would have a chance in hell of knowing were to look for improvements. The direction of the back one can easily be changed too.

 

 

Best advice given the situation: Try installing your hw before returning it (becaquse of the paint chipping). Try messing a bit around with the airflow. If it works, rma the sucker.

 

But please: Let the rest of us know what you're getting temp wise:-)

I added a higher speed fan at the bottom and 2 fans at the top and have a H50 blowing into the case. With these changes the case is running as cool as the case it replaced and it was a cool running case. The stock fans are around 900rpm and I changed to a 1200 rpm in the bottom. I think the main thing this case needs for air cooling is to mount some low noise fans in the top. My case too had some chipped paint in the corners where you describe. I took a file and filed the top edges of the side and touched the paint up with Rust-Oleum Textured black. The paint is a very good match and is a very durable paint when cured.

This sums up the problem:

 

 

Corsair, you should ship the case with a better fan on the bottom, make it very clear that you need an intake like the H50 on the back, and it should come with 3 120mm fans that we can install on the top if we are using air. I don't think most people LC their video cards, but the temps at stock are unacceptable IMHO.

This sums up the problem:

 

 

Corsair, you should ship the case with a better fan on the bottom, make it very clear that you need an intake like the H50 on the back, and it should come with 3 120mm fans that we can install on the top if we are using air. I don't think most people LC their video cards, but the temps at stock are unacceptable IMHO.

 

Just watched the video and I agree with most of what he said. The bottom intake fan is not adequate for most, it needs to be in the 1200-1500rpm range instead of 900. I think the case can be adequately cooled with out the noise being unacceptable with air with the right fans and fan configuration. Right now I have no complaints about the heat but I am running only 1 video card and it exhaust out the back. I plan to try some more fan arrangements today to improve on what I have. With a few minor exceptions this is the best case I have owned.

I still am going to buy the case and an H50, and then a couple fans. He says that by doing that you get air temps like the 922 which is totally acceptable. One day I will WC, and I honestly never want to buy a case again.

"The chipping part: To bad. I would return the case, and ask for a new one. This sort of thing seems to happen from time to time with powdercoating."

 

Is this case actually powder coated or just a regular paint job? I thought I read somewhere that the paint job was just spray on.

 

If it's chipping off the get go that tells me Corsair has a production issue. No way a "Quality case" should be chipping. That really sucks ! If it is chipping when brand new can you imagine what it will look like in a year?

I can deal with poor quality fans, but not the paint chipping and this thing is going to cost a mint to RMA :(

Johnmark: http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81527

 

Ram Guy's calling it powder coated. That's all i know, besides looking at the pics other buyers have taken of chipping, where it looks like PC as well.

My case had 2 small chips in the upper corners where the side fits against the case. In my situation it would have made no difference in what the finish was. The chip was caused my the side hitting the top when closing. It took me a few minutes with a file to fix the side and a little touch up painting with Rust-Oleum textured black. No, I am not pleased that the paint was chipped and if I had bought the case at a local retailer I would have taken it back, but I wasn't about to take a chance on UPS delivering the next one without damage. Now that I have it fixed and the case built with the system in it the few negatives are far outweighed by the pluses that the case has.

JohnnyNr5, I know what you mean about other review sites omitting the fact that this case has terrible air flow. I noticed this right off the bat when I started looking for general reviews on this case.

 

Here's one from Hexus.net that shows the 800D getting outclassed by a two mid-tower enclosures from other manufacturers. Yeah that's right, mid-towers.

 

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=19661&page=5

 

 

It's pretty bad when a full-tower case has higher overall temps than a mid-tower at stock. This should never happen do to general laws of thermodynamics, and had they compared the 800D to a few other popular full-tower cases it would have been much worse. It's easy to see here that there's just not enough cool air being taken in by the 800D.

 

I really don't want to have to RMA this thing. It's going to cost a bundle to ship it. I lucked out in getting free shipping when I ordered it. I knew if UPS damaged it I would be able to get another one without doing a thing. However, faulty paint and air-flow is Corsair's fault, so unless they are going to help me out here (and I'm sure they won't in this case) I have to grin and bear it or spend even more of my hard earned money to fix these issues.

 

This whole experience is teaching me a valuable lesson. Looks aren't everything and they can be deceiving. I'm preying that I can get this case to perform up to snuff as far as cooling goes. I'm also really hoping that the rest of the paint holds up, but as I said I witnessed it chipping in front of my eyes as I took the side panel off.

 

It definitely looks like a powder-coated finish to me. I don't think this is sprayed on.

 

Curlysir, did you add a high-speed fan at the very bottom or did you just replace the stock fan that's down there?

I look at it with the same train of thought I use when an auto manufacture comes out with a new model. You never really want to be the owner of the first year out.

Curlysir, did you add a high-speed fan at the very bottom or did you just replace the stock fan that's down there?

 

I replaced the stock fan with a Yate Loon D14SM-12 fan. It has a much better air flow then the stock fan, I think it is a 1400rpm. This was the only higher speed 140mm that I had. They are not bad fans especially when you consider the cost. Noise is not that bad.

PCCStudent: You may actually have a point there.

 

 

Slamscaper: I actually had seen that review. For some reason i'd just forgotten about it.

 

You know what? It's actually REALLY interesting.. Have another look at the Overclock3d review i linked to. They compared the 800D to the HAF 922 as well. Only thing is, their results are way worse than the ones Hexus got. In the Overclock3d review the 800D is miles behind the 922. That's not the case with the temps Hexus got.

 

The 922 may only be a midsized case, but it's pretty well ventilated. It has two 200mm fans, and the front and side panel are all mesh. That should amount to way better cooling actually. Not only is the Corsair bigger (more air to be moved), it has smaller fans, and no mesh. Let's say we hadn't seen the review done by Overclock3d. I would be more than satisfied with the temps Hexus got.

 

As i stands, i'm confused. One reviewer says it sucks, and the other gets the sort of results i was hoping for.

 

Further reseach:

 

http://www.hardware.no/artikler/corsair_obsidian_800d/71249/5

 

http://www.cowcotland.com/articles/452-6/boitier-corsair-obsidian-800d-premier-essai-transforme.html

 

Doesn't look to bad actually. I had never thought it would set any records. Silent cases never do. But overall i think it does the job rly well. Would have been nice to have more reviews, but at least the majority agree on the results.

 

The powder coating: **** happens. I remember watching OCC on Discovery. They had to correct to thick PC from time to time too. Still doesn't help you out i know. Luckily my dealer pays if you have to rma something. For me, if i get one with that problem, the only thing to worry about, it getting the huge box to the post office. I hope you'll be able to touch it up, and that nothing else goes wrong.

Yeah, the only way I don't have to pay to RMA this thing would be if it was damaged during shipping. That's not the case for me, so I'm going to try and make it work for me.

 

I'm just going to to have to be really careful with the finish. So far, the only way someone besides me would notice these nicks is if I told them where to look. Otherwise, the finish is beautiful. This is by far the best looking case I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of em. I'm very picky about cases as well, I'll admit.

 

As far as the temps go, this case should do okay if you're not running an SLI setup with some moderate overclocking. I on the other hand, have 2x GTX 280's in SLI with a i7 920 OC'ed to 3.8 Ghz so I need exceptional cooling.

 

Hopefully, by getting a few quality high-speed fans to replace the stock ones, adding some 120mm fans at the top, and using Corsairs own H50 cooler (I planned on reversing the back fan anyway) I will be able to keep the temps within reason. I will let everyone know how it turns out. I should have the H50 and the fans by the middle of next week. Can't wait to try it out as I'm really smitten with this case.

 

By the way, thanks for your concern JohnnyNr5. I too hope that the rest of my experiences with this case will be trouble free. I only wish someone from Corsair would chime in here and stand by their product. Maybe they could give me some advice on air-cooling solutions and such. It's really bizarre how they are being so quiet about the cooling performance in this case. I have been buying their products for years and expected more from them I guess.

I only wish someone from Corsair would chime in here and stand by their product.

Considering this thread was started on a weekend, you'll have to wait till Monday for Corsair to even know it exists :)

Makes sense. I guess since I'm always working over the weekend I expect everyone else will as well..... Force of habit I guess.

No need to thank me Slamscaper. The way i see it, we're all in the same boat here. Buying something completely new, from a manufactorer who hasn't made cases before. You're concerns are my concerns if you get my drift.

 

I've been thinking. At first i was a bit dissapointed about this not being a high end case, air cooled i mean. But after all.. At one point i believe we had to make the change anyway. Graficcards are getting bigger , cpu's are heading into 6 cores in the near future. Yes you can cool all this via air, but i suspect it would take a lot of airflow. Noone has build a silent case with good airflow, and i don't think anyone's going to. It defies the laws of physics.

 

I have always been an air man. Never thought i was gonna spend a ****load of money buying some sort of LC setup. Air seemed to do the job just fine for my needs. A good friend of mine had the 955 x4 as well, and his experience taught me a lesson. His cpu was oc'ed to 3,8, and idled somewhere around roomtemp. On load he sometimes hit 35C. That's the idle temp of my non-oc'ed cpu, with a okay aircooler!? He has sold his setup, and i bought his radiator and the cpu head. It's going into the 800D, when i get the rest of the system put together. About time to get some low temps and a quiter pc.

 

Eventhough Wired has a point about it being the end of the week, your concerns aren't the only ones raised in this forum. The only response i've seen, was sometning like "the 800D wont get hot enough to damage your hardware". That's almost the same as saying "it sucks, but it wont toast you hardware" to a concerned buyer imo.

 

I fully understand if the ppl behind this case are getting a little tired of the many semi negative threads in here. I would've been, had i constructed it. But something like this is easily dealt with. Links to the few hw sites that have done a proper job of testing it, would go a long way. Ibet they have experimented with it themselves. Results from such experiments would help too.

 

It may not be as good as we hoped. But at least ppl would be informed, and a lot of the guesswork and expressed fears would have an end.

I fully understand if the ppl behind this case are getting a little tired of the many semi negative threads in here. I would've been, had i constructed it. But something like this is easily dealt with. Links to the few hw sites that have done a proper job of testing it, would go a long way. Ibet they have experimented with it themselves. Results from such experiments would help too.

FYI:

http://www.hardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1443789&page=31

For those of you saying that this is a $300 case and it shouldn't have any problems - you're right. Our QC is improving as we speak. This is our first case, and QC involves stuff we've never dealt with before so I do appreciate your patience.

 

Every single complaint, whine, moan, and criticism has been heard by me, and I'm the guy who designs the cases. I've already got stuff in the works for the next generation of cases, and today at IDF I spoke to some reviewers, all of which had their own opinions on where the case market is headed. Some of them wanting mini-ITX cases, some of them wanting very plain, flat OEM looking cases with good cooling, some of them wanting cases that make julienne french fries or can blend an ipod or whatever.

 

Anybody here who buys an 800D and has a problem that needs to be fixed, I'll fix it. I should be getting replacement parts next month, for those of you with scratched side panels or busted front drive bay covers. Right now I've been cannibalizing our T3 samples in the lab to send out parts. You should see the skeletons of the fallen.

 

But I want this to be successful for the right reasons - I still believe that if I ask you what you want in a case, you'll tell me, and while I may not be smart enough to nail it 100% the first time, I hope to get pretty close, and then to refine that over time.

 

A year or two, and it'll be seamless. You say "We want A" and I say "Go build A" and engineering says "We've built you X!" and then I punch a guy and he goes and builds A.

 

To those of you who were brave enough to buy first cases, site unseen, based just on this thread and reviews: I thank you, and I'm glad that most of you are happy. For those of you who aren't, redbeard@corsair.com and I'll help you out however I can.

Wired: That's all very nice. But it wasn't posted here. We can't be expected to go through every forum out there, to find the info we need. To bad Redbeard isn't posting in the forum created by the company he works for. It would make sence to me at least.

 

Besides that: He's making all the usual (and great) Corsair noises. If something's wrong, they'll do what they can to fix it. Noone can ask for much more than that.

 

It still doesn't say anything about the subject i was addressing; temps though. Perhaps i should go check the thread for that too;-)

 

Sidenote: I still love the entusiasme this guy puts into what he does. If he gets to carry on his mission, in time i'm pretty sure he will create the best cases out there. If i hasn't already. With a little luck, and no more delayes from Corsair, i should get my case at the end of the week/early next week. I will form my own opinion then.

I don't want it to seem like I am just whining or anything, so if that's how I'm coming off here I apologize. Clearly, I love most of the features of this case or I wouldn't have dropped the cash on it ($300 USD is a LOT to me).

 

The problem is that now I'm going to have to spend even more money, which mind you I didn't plan on, to get the cooling up to snuff for my system. Add to that the fact that a quality high-speed non-LED 140mm replacement fan seems hard to find and you can see my dilemma here. I really want to install my hardware into this thing, but after I inspected the cooling setup first hand my instincts are telling me not to until I purchase some high-speed fans.

 

Everything Redbeard said over at [H] is music to my ears, but like JohnnyNr5 said he's not in this forum setting the record strait for any of the end-users experiencing issues with the 800d. That makes me a little skeptical, but hopeful at the same time.

 

I'm going to give it my all to make this case work utilizing air cooling (although I will be using the H50 for my CPU) so at the very least it would be nice to have someone from Corsair post the actual specs of the stock fans or even recommend configurations that would help to achieve excellent results. Surely, they have tested a plethora of configurations, so their input would be very useful to me and a few other people as well. I read a few posts where Ram Guy recommended installing a few exhaust fans at the top of the case to improve temps, however this is kind of obvious and vague.

 

All that said, I would like to commend the design team at Corsair for making a beautiful case on their first attempt. It's a work of art that has very well thought out features that I'm sure will be copied many times over by other manufacturers. Great job guys.

To expect a top of the line case for $300.00 is just pure folly no matter what a manufacture says it can do. $300.00 is not anywhere close to the price top of the line hardware brings,its just slightly more than the plain jane and very dated "big boxes" out there from companys we can't mention.

 

You want good looking,modern featured, tested hardware with specs you can duplicate,better double that $300.00. Or you could mod those plain jane "big boxes" on your own to get what you want,gets expensive though and they dont look so good as the 800D which does have good looks going for it,cant take that away.

 

OCing on air,I won't put one dollar in that project,not a good chance of the results I want.

Not sure what cases you're talking about, but the only cases I see that cost more than $300 are of the modded variety. Usually, these modded cases are just high-quality cases from known manufacturers. Most of these cases are around the same price or even cheaper than the 800D before being modded. Some distributors will take it upon themselves to add a custom paint job, side window, or a custom LC system and this is what ends up driving up the price to astronomical levels.

 

There are a scant few exceptions, but the 800D is one of the most expensive enclosures available that doesn't include ANY extras at all (like PSU's or LC). If you surf around to all the popular PC based hardware forums you'll see that the high cost of the 800D is a common complaint.

 

Are you saying that it's nearly impossible to achieve a high OC on air? I know a lot of people that would disagree with that, me included. I see people hitting very high clocks all the time on air. One tech for a certain company I won't mention got an i7 920 stable at 4.5 Ghz using air. Yeah, it would be even cooler and quieter to use LC but some people do not want to shell out the extra $ and deal with the maintenance involved with this kind of setup. There are of course inherit risks involved when using LC as well.

To expect a top of the line case for $300.00 is just pure folly no matter what a manufacture says it can do. $300.00 is not anywhere close to the price top of the line hardware brings,its just slightly more than the plain jane and very dated "big boxes" out there from companys we can't mention.

 

You want good looking,modern featured, tested hardware with specs you can duplicate,better double that $300.00. Or you could mod those plain jane "big boxes" on your own to get what you want,gets expensive though and they dont look so good as the 800D which does have good looks going for it,cant take that away.

 

OCing on air,I won't put one dollar in that project,not a good chance of the results I want.

 

please provide a link to this six hundred dollar case we have all obviosly missed.

 

Air is 90% of the market Or more. Corsair will make us happy, otherwise they will not sell many of these. It's just a couple thi gs from what I've seen. A better fan and. Cou

You guys know we can't mention or state by name a competitors product that you feel is better than Corsairs,this is a Corsair Forum and there are rules against this. I guess if you have problems keeping simple low pressure systems from leaking or can't configure your loop so that a leak is not directed to a dangerous area WC is not for you. IBM has been doing it for over 30years on much more expensive equipment than desktop PC hardware.