Obsidian 900D thoughts & suggestions

Just did a new build with the 900D and I'm thoroughly impressed with the case. It's hands down the best case I've built with. It's the first case I didn't skin my knuckles at least once while working on. The ease of installation is incredible - there's so much space I feel like I could build two PCs in it. However, there are a few minor quibbles and suggestions (feature requests) for the next version I'd like to address...

 

1. There was no quick start manual with the case, no paper at all. Not a biggie considering it's aimed at high end users, and of course it's downloadable. But on such an expensive case surely the cost of half a dozen printed pages wouldn't break the bank?

 

2. The bottom doors are a little annoying. I love the idea, but the magnets seem too flimsy and there is no actual locking mechanism. Every time I moved the case it flexed (slightly) and the doors popped open. I'm sure this isn't a problem once in place but it's a little annoying. Especially considering there are little catches on the doors, but they don't actually do anything... which seems kinda pointless.

 

3. Please add wheels! Or at least threaded holes in the feet where we can add wheels. This is such a huge case (which is obviously the appeal) that it's quite hard to move around once it's assembled. It'd be great if there were (optional) wheels that could be added to make life easier.

 

4. Secure storage. Could we get an (optional) storage box that could be placed inside the case - possibly allow us to swap out one of the HDD drive cages, or inside the empty 5&1/2" bays? It'd be great for putting all the odds and ends like extra screws, cables, cable ties, etc so we don't lose them.

 

5. Slightly longer Case fan cords (or extensions). I managed to hook up the case fans ok, but not to the preferred mobo sockets because the cables aren't quite long enough.

 

When I look at this post there seems to be a lot of wants, but none of them are big problems. Again, this case is amazing, it'd just be nice to make it 100% not 99% :D:

4. Secure storage. Could we get an (optional) storage box that could be placed inside the case - possibly allow us to swap out one of the HDD drive cages, or inside the empty 5&1/2" bays? It'd be great for putting all the odds and ends like extra screws, cables, cable ties, etc so we don't lose them.

 

5. Slightly longer Case fan cords (or extensions). I managed to hook up the case fans ok, but not to the preferred mobo sockets because the cables aren't quite long enough.

4: That's what the shoe box in my closet is for.

 

5: Us 250D owners also want shorter cords. It's pretty obvious Corsair just used the cords from one of their other cases. Better cord lengths all around please.

 

Edit: For the case cords I mean, not the fans.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Pixelmancer

Being up to my... 14th or 15th PC now I have far too many shoe boxes full of bits. A few years ago (before Corsair were really big into cases) I got a Gigabyte case that had a small internal storage box. It was a godsend because I could put the things like the fascia plates I removed for CD mounting, the little covers I removed to slot in video cards, sound cards etc plus all the other odds and ends like screws, tie downs, spare cables etc. It's the only case where it didn't take me hours to find the right bits and pieces when it came time to pass it on. And it was also great for LANs because I could pull out a spare USB cable or drive cable from the little internal box if I needed it. Though I can't imagine lugging the 900D to a LAN...

 

Considering the huge amount of space available in the 900D it'd be a great inclusion (or an optional extra we can buy). I've modded one for the time being - an old ice cream container :)

 

I'd rather have cords that are too long than too short, but I agree with you. Better length cords would be great, or modular cords we can easily unplug and replace, or extensions that we can plug in/remove to get better lengths.

 

I'll also add another point to my original list;

 

6. The front power LED is crazy bright. I can see the PC from my bedroom, it's in a different room more than 20 feet away and the LED is so bright I wound up sticking tape over it and using a black marker to "dull it".

most are doing online docs these days as its much cheaper and info changes and online info is much easier to keep current.

Just did a new build with the 900D and I'm thoroughly impressed with the case. It's hands down the best case I've built with. It's the first case I didn't skin my knuckles at least once while working on. The ease of installation is incredible - there's so much space I feel like I could build two PCs in it. However, there are a few minor quibbles and suggestions (feature requests) for the next version I'd like to address...

 

1. There was no quick start manual with the case, no paper at all. Not a biggie considering it's aimed at high end users, and of course it's downloadable. But on such an expensive case surely the cost of half a dozen printed pages wouldn't break the bank?

 

2. The bottom doors are a little annoying. I love the idea, but the magnets seem too flimsy and there is no actual locking mechanism. Every time I moved the case it flexed (slightly) and the doors popped open. I'm sure this isn't a problem once in place but it's a little annoying. Especially considering there are little catches on the doors, but they don't actually do anything... which seems kinda pointless.

 

3. Please add wheels! Or at least threaded holes in the feet where we can add wheels. This is such a huge case (which is obviously the appeal) that it's quite hard to move around once it's assembled. It'd be great if there were (optional) wheels that could be added to make life easier.

 

4. Secure storage. Could we get an (optional) storage box that could be placed inside the case - possibly allow us to swap out one of the HDD drive cages, or inside the empty 5&1/2" bays? It'd be great for putting all the odds and ends like extra screws, cables, cable ties, etc so we don't lose them.

 

5. Slightly longer Case fan cords (or extensions). I managed to hook up the case fans ok, but not to the preferred mobo sockets because the cables aren't quite long enough.

 

When I look at this post there seems to be a lot of wants, but none of them are big problems. Again, this case is amazing, it'd just be nice to make it 100% not 99% :D:

my thoughts is to make the case a bit stronger esspecally the bottom door inges and a better way of the panels to stop up the magnets are not very strong they should at lease put four magnets on each side and make the things stronger that my thought for the day.

My thoughts are that they should offer a front panel with ventelation.

 

I was going to buy another one and mod it, but they're $50. I'll wait on that, and just run it with the front off (and filter in).

 

RodeoGeorge

I was happy with corsair 900d until I myself Accidentally broke the corsair 900d bottom fan mounting bracket. Now my technician said the case will look ugly with the psu on the front and 480rad on the back -_-. Open up a thread to ask help whether i can purchase the bracket. Corsair don't offer them and i tried their customer support so many times but usually no reply. I wonder why ?...So my suggestion is they offer spare part for the bracket on their site -_-.

The only thing i rate negative about the 900D Case is the access to the screws for fixing grafics cards or sound cards. you can not use a screw driver to screw and i had problem to screw the screws in with my big hands and it took me a while to find out how to open the top ;-)

The only thing i rate negative about the 900D Case is the access to the screws for fixing grafics cards or sound cards. you can not use a screw driver to screw and i had problem to screw the screws in with my big hands and it took me a while to find out how to open the top ;-)

 

It's funny, I came here to update a comment I made two years ago with the exact same problem you've mentioned.

 

When I first set up the case I didn't find the screws to mount video cards a problem but with the massive cooler on my new card (GTX 1070) it's almost impossible to get to the backplate and screw the card in place.

I moaned like hell about the same problem when I built mine, but the other day i had to remove my GPU to get at the SATA sockets that it covered. I had absolutely no problem at all, either getting the screws out or getting them back in. Strange that.

 

Mine came with a little quick start guide and my front fans (Noctua) came with extension cables so that wasn't a problem.

 

I was moving it on my desk the other day (probably easier to move the desk) and one of the feet came off. After I'd finished working on it, I moved it back into position I borrowed a small crane, lifted the front corner and replaced the foot. The sheer weight of the case will keep it in place until I need to move it again. I'm not sure that I want wheels (it's on my desk) but some sort of easy glide casters would be good.

 

I'm not sure about putting a box of bits inside the case, seems like something else to rattle and annoy the hell out of me.

 

When I had a 750D, I (like many others) wanted an airflow front on it, then I tried it with the front on and off and it didn't really make that much difference to the temps. When I bought the 900D I thought that the clean front was so beautiful that (for the first time ever) I built a computer without an optical drive and bought a USB one for the times when I need one. The way that I look at it is that Corsair know what they are doing (mostly, Link excepted) and if they think that the cooling is sufficient on the 900D, I'm prepared to accept that, especially if it saves me spoiling the front of my case.

Edited September 5, 2016 by snapper69

Access to the vid card screws is partly because of the case design and partly the cards. I had no problems with the old 7970 because it was relatively shallow. The 1070 is much taller (bigger cooler) so it's harder to get at the screws.

 

Ooh so they've added a little manual. That's cool.

 

I'm actually thinking I should buy a second one, then I could actually remove the legs from my desk and rest the desktop on top of the two cases. They're about the right height and they're certainly sturdy enough :)

I like your thinking. Drill some holes in the desk for top cooling.

 

My GPU is only an R9 390, but it's still quite big. I'm hoping to upgrade to a 1070 or 1080, although I'm not sure that the 1080 justifies the extra cost. Looks like the 1070 will play games at 4k and 1440, even my 390 will just about play Fallout 4 at 4k.

I was playing games at 4k on a 970 and it was ok most of the time, but there were tradeoffs like lesser shadow quality, reflections, no anti-aliasing (not that I think it's needed at 4k) and so on. After playing some of the new Doom though it was obvious it's not quite enough.

 

The 1070 gets around 50-70fps on Doom where the 970 was about 30-40. And the odd spike that dropped framerate to 10-15 doesn't happen. So yeah as long as you're not pushing maximum settings and anti-aliasing the 1070 is a good card for 4k.

 

Wish Vega was coming out sooner. I was going to wait to see what it brought to the table but when AMD said it was first half of 2017 that implies April or later, otherwise they'd have said first quarter. That's too long to wait :(

It's unlikely that I can afford one before January, so I may wait. Turned the settings down to 2560 x 1440 for Fallout 4 and Deus Ex and they run better and don't really look any worse.

Well, I bought a 1070 and I spent 45 minutes yesterday cursing whoever designed the 900D so that I couldn't get direct access to the 2 screws that fastened it in place. I finally managed it, but I had to remove the blanking plate from the slot below it to do so, and then I couldn't get it back in. At one stage I even considered gettin my drill out and drilling holes above the screws.

As trendy it could be, an upgrade for this i would like it to be a tempered glass edition and with no 5.25 optical drive bays at all, as this is already a very "old" case and needs updating... Just my thoughts.

It would be nice if it could have SSD mounts on the rear of the motherboard mounting plate, like the 750D. I like the idea of 4 magnets to hold the bottom panels closed too.

Nearly 7 years on and I'm still using the case but now that I'm looking at either an rtx3080 or an RX6800XT I'm dreading trying to unscrew the video cards again. I'm also wishing they would add a replaceable front plate with the latest generation of USB connectors too. I'd love to get a front facing USB 3 type C connector or two so I didn't have to climb behind this thing.

 

Otherwise it's going strong and looks like it's going to last me a lot longer still. Corsair may have the odd software problem but the hardware is rock solid.

Well what I was dreading came to pass. Bought an rx 6900 xt and it's even bigger than the gtx1070 was so getting it screwed in was a nightmare. By the time I'd finished I was literally bleeding in three places. And I had to move the card from the main PCIe slot to a second one because it was literally impossible to get access to the first.

 

Today I'm planning to completely disassemble the PC and drill holes in the case so I can access the screws with a proper screwdriver.