Fan of 650D looking for its true smaller siblings

[a5cent]

Hello all

 

I own an Obsidian 650D case and I love it! Easy to build in, easy to route and hide cables, and best of all, it neatly fits my custom dual-block water-cooling loop. Last but not least, it looks awesome! The monolithic and clean front panel exudes quality. I'm now looking to build a second system. Preferably mini-ITX, possibly micro-ATX. Naturally, the first place I came looking for a case was Corsair, but unfortunately I wasn't able to find what I'm looking for. These are my problems:

 

1) micro-ATX

 

The Obsidian 350D would seem like the natural choice, but I just can't pull the trigger. I find the front panel hideous. The ventilation intakes that span the front's circumference and the IO panel ruin it for me. If the IO (USB+Audio) had been moved to the top panel, I think the 350D could have carried forward the same front panel aesthetics of its larger sibling.

 

I don't have much hope, but I'm desperate enough to ask if something can be done about this. Is it possible to get the front panel from the 650D onto the 350D? By case moding? Maybe get something custom built?

 

2) mini-ITX

 

It seems the Obsidian series is missing a mini-ITX variant. Does anybody know if we can expect something of that sort in the near future?

 

A mini-ITX case with enough room to mount a dual radiator at the top and a full sized ATX PSU at the bottom would be awesome. Hopefully with a return to the 650D's aesthetics ;-)

 

Any chance of that happening soon?

[RAM GUY]

I don't know for sure but I personally don't think the design of 650D will carry on to next release. We'll see I guess?

[a5cent]

I don't know for sure but I personally don't think the design of 650D will carry on to next release. We'll see I guess?

 

I have no reason to doubt you, but I hope you are mistaken ;-)

 

Finding a high quality ITX or uATX case is hard enough. Add to that the requirement for an internal dual-radiator mount and you are left with very few choices indeed. A Corsair case is one of the only options that remain, which is why it's so frustrating when the aesthetics don't match your taste, particularly as Corsair has cases in the Obsidian line that are amongst the best looking out there.

 

This custom case is close to being my favourite. Unfortunately, there are too many spots that are poorly ventilated, particularly when a dual-radiator is mounted on one side.

 

A design similar to the ncase, that was slightly taller and moved the dual-radiator to the top, so as to leave enough room for ventilation, would have been almost perfect. Add a 140mm fan to the front, behind the ODD, with air intakes on the side panels (like many of Lian Li's cases) and this would have been my dream case.