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  • UltraWide - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    Still not using spring-loaded screws... FAIL
  • JimmaDaRustla - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    I see no spring-loaded screws???
  • Aikouka - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    As an owner of a 550D, 800D and 900D, the lack of a push-button side panel release on an Obsidian case is kind of odd to me. I'm guessing it's because of space given it requires a metal rail to handle the latching. Although, I have two questions about the 250D:

    1) Is there a "hidden" fan mount point on the top of the case? It looks very similar to the 550D's hidden panels that it uses on the top and side panel.

    2) What size fans mounts are those above the I/O area? They look a little small, but I'm not sure if they're just 80mm. It's kind of funny because I remember when 80mm used to be normal, but now those look small given the prevalence of 120mm and 140mm fans.

    Anyway, I'm curious about both of those because this case looks like it could be decent for an open-air GPU given the open vents on the side right by the GPU (I hope they include a magnetic filter), but you'd probably want some fans to help push out the heat from the GPU. Fans on the top or right by the I/O should help accomplish that.
  • Frozenlight - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    Sadly, the thing at the top is a window.
  • Aikouka - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    Ah... that's a bummer. It didn't look exactly like the 550D's fan covers, but it looked a little too opaque in the photos to be a window.
  • Dustin Sklavos - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    There are no fan mounts in the top; there are two 80mm fan mounts in the back. Where I think it gets interesting (disclaimer: totally biased, work at Corsair as my day job) is that it supports a 240mm radiator in the side.
  • extide - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    Note, under the H105 section, you mention the H110 as being a 240mm design, while it is actually a 280mm design.
  • Kevin G - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    What would be news is Corsair reducing the number of series in their power supply line up. There is AX, AXi, CS, CX, GS, HX, RM, and TX series. Killing off a line or two and simplifying their portfolio would do wonders.

    I also want to see more Carbide Air series cases. I really like the look of it and appreciate its design philosophy but there is so much more potential I've been holding off of a purchase. It is soooooooooooo close to exactly what I want it is frustrating.
  • Dustin Sklavos - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    What is it missing?
  • Aikouka - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    A few weeks back, I decided to drop water cooling and just go back to air cooling. I figured that I would give the Carbide Air 540 a shot since it has good reviews on its air cooling potential. However, after using the case, I simply cannot recommend it to anyone.

    1) The most egregious problem with the case is that it's way overpriced. The case feels cheap, which most likely stems from a lot of it being built out of molded plastic. What really got to me was that I also own an Obsidian 550D, which has the same MSRP, but it feels like it's leagues above the Air 540 in build quality and features. Also, I found that if you use some of the extra fan mount points on the 550D, the temperature differences are nearly negligible. You may say that the 550D also has a bit of plastic on it too, which is true. However, I think in this case, it's the plastic's shiny texture that's reminiscent of cheap $40 OEM cases and the flimsy side panel that make the Air 540 feel cheaper.

    2) There is a serious design flaw in the rear case fan mounting. Now, as much as I dislike the detachable grill, that's not what I'm talking about. The problem is that the area is designed in such a way that you cannot properly use many different aftermarket fans -- including fans from Corsair! I originally ran into this problem because my rear fan came with a bad bearing (quality control has never been a strong suit). So, I went to put an AF140 in its place, but I realized that any fan with something in the area between the mounting holes would never fit because of a lip near the back.

    I ended up purchasing a nice and quiet Enermax fan, but that wouldn't work for a completely different reason! It also turns out that you cannot use a fan with a square shape, because that blocks the side panel's top thumb screw from threading in all the way.

    3) The 2.5" drive carriage doesn't hold 7mm drives (e.g. Samsung SSDs) well. To be fair, I have other third-party items that hold 2.5" drives that also don't work well with 7mm drives.

    4) The placement of the hard drives is not terribly good for proper cooling. It's not much of a surprise that the 3.5" hard drive on the left ran 4-5C hotter than the one on the right.

    5) Consider a single male SATA power connector for the two 3.5" drives. Although, a user can simply purchase a Y-cable and do this themselves.

    If I had to rate the Corsair cases that I've owned, I would rate them: 550D > 900D > 800D > Air 540. I also think that the first two are leagues better than the latter two.
  • Kevin G - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    I'm a fan of hot swap bays and this case has the entire left side that could be put towards this. Instead there are only two 5.25" bays. Sure, I can get adapter kits and put eight 2.5" drive in there but there is just so much wasted space. I found myself purchasing a rack mount box to get the hot swap capabilities I wanted with 3.5" drives. This would be a great starting point for a DIY NAS.

    I'm not fond of the two 3.5" hard drive bays in the main chamber. It isn't a bad use of space, just odd with removable trays and there only being two of them, it just seems odd. By default there isn't a better place to mount a 3.5" driver.

    It'd also be nice to put in two PSU's into the left chamber. This basic design could be pretty much ideal for multiple GPU cooling as the front in take fans are very close to where the GPU's actually are. Bonus if Corsair actually sold a kit where two standard, high power ATX PSU's could be setup in a redundant fashion. They wouldn't be hot swap but it'd be nice to have for the DIY NAS idea or for those who have a 4 way GPU rig inside.

    A bit more vertical space to mount a tall server motherboard. I've seen a few dual socket motherboard that'll go several cm above the standard port area. he top radiator space might be enough space to suffice but I wouldn't mind a bit more room up there. Though I figure the extra space there would be more appreciated for those with thick radiators.

    I wouldn't say that this case is over priced, though I do wish it had less plastic and more metal. I'm personally not a fan of the mixed white/black trim cases but opinions will of course vary by person. I totally dig the flat black though.
  • zero2dash - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    Corsair reps are saying TX is EOL which means the RM is replacing them - and that's a bloody shame. (source: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1040375135&...

    IMHO they should merge some of the lines.
    Take CS and GS and implement into CX
    Keep TX
    Trash RM since they review so poorly
    Keep HX
    Combine AX & AXi (though I'd call it AX to stay consistent with the other lines ending in X)

    Used to be so simple. 3 lines - VX, TX, HX. Cheap, enthusiast wired, enthusiast modular.

    I think they've overcomplicated it for really no reason whatsoever.

    Meanwhile I'm waiting for my TX V2 to get here from RMA out nearly 3 weeks now. Corsair support has fallen off quite a bit from what I experienced with the few VX and HX issues I've had in the past.
  • Aikouka - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    I was rather surprised at your comment on the RM series. I've used Corsair PSUs from the HX, AX and RM series, and in my research prior to purchasing, I saw the most negative comments about the AX series and the proposed coil whine. I've owned two HX750s, one AX860 and one RM750, and I haven't had an issue with any of them.
  • ZeDestructor - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    The AX has been completely replaced by the AXi. Down here in Australia where the stocks go fairly fast at least.

    As for the RM, where do you read bad reviews? Jonnyguru.com seems quite happy with it...
  • Kevin G - Thursday, January 9, 2014 - link

    I read a bad review here:
    http://hardocp.com/article/2013/11/13/corsair_rm75...

    Essentially the algorithm to turn on the fan was flawed and the system could trip its break before the fan would kick in. If the load jumped quickly, got the fan running, it worked otherwise as expected according to the review.
  • garadante - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    Is there any word on when Corsair will release an H110i? I'm surprise to see this H105 not be an H105i. I'd really like the ability the throttle the pump and fans attached to the pump easily! Waiting for Corsair to announce them so I can throw money at 'em.
  • Jambe - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    Since that mITX case is 28 liters, why wouldn't one just get an mATX chassis instead and have more space and slots and such?

    That also confounded me with the Prodigy, which is 26 liters; if I'm building a SFF computer I kind of need the dimensions to be, y'know... small.
  • Gadgety - Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - link

    I wish that AX1500i had been out last year when I got the Silverstone Strider 1500.
  • HisDivineOrder - Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - link

    Corsair! No cube-shaped Obsidian? Instead, you go with yet ANOTHER oversized ITX case that makes ITX irrelevant?

    Fail, Corsair. Fail.

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