Corsair Obsidian Series 550D Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: I am very impressed with this case. I read earlier reviews that this was the best case they’ve ever owned and I am going to +1 on that opinion. The case is very well built. The quality is inside and out. I do believe this case makes a difference in noise reduction.

The front door opens from both sides. The USB3, headset, and mic ports are easily accessible and that panel is made of quality parts.

The flexible magnetic dust screens for the top and side vents are such a great idea and they work very well. There is a slide out dust screen for the PSU and bottom vent too. The soundproofing material inside the case is great quality and installed firmly. There are even rubber posts in key places for the motherboard and PSU to prevent vibrations. If you intend on installing fans on the top or side, the covers come off with a simple push until click style release.

I took advantage of the removable 3.5” internal bays feature to allow direct airflow from the top front fan directly to my video card. I built a gaming rig using a i7-4770K continuously running at 3.9Ghz with this case and there are no heat concerns. All of the fans are controlled by my motherboard and they’re very quiet being actively managed.

The cable routing behind the motherboard tray is an excellent feature. I love that I can route all of the cables out and back in through convenient holes. It took a little more time routing the cables than I expected, but it was worth it.

Other great features: push buttons to open both sides of the case, the thumb screws for the expansion slots, and power supply goes on the bottom allowing better airflow on top for the CPU and RAM.

A very important consideration is the airflow for heat dissipation and I don’t have any issues with high temperatures. I have a pretty rocking build and it stays cool.

Cons: The clips that allow you to open the front door from either direction are a little tight so that I have to tug a little more than I first expected. It would have been nice to have the push until click style, but I’m not sure they could have achieved the ability to open from both sides using that type of mechanism. They do provide extra front door clips if something were to happen, but I don’t foresee me having to use them.

Overall Review: I have a 240mm radiator with dual fans connected to the top vent, so I have that vent open. The escaping noise isn’t bad. I do believe the fans would sound louder in any other case. I want to emphasis that my i7-4770K continuously running at 3.9Ghz has no heat issues using this case.

The case is a little wider and taller that my last mid-tower case which was average 5 years ago, but the larger size seems to be the trend all around for mid-towers today. You wouldn’t be able to have the cable routing behind the motherboard tray without it being a little wider.

There are rubber pads to prevent vibrations from the power supply to reach the case. I had to push down with one hand on the PSU and screw it in the back with the other hand. It was a little awkward, but it makes sense that it would need to be a tight fit on the rubber pads to prevent vibration. It did take a little more effort than I expected, but overall I don’t feel like its a con, but as necessary.

I think you’ll be very impressed and happy with this case. It’s not flashy, it's not see-thru, and it doesn’t look like an army ammo canister (which I do think looks cool), but it is a very sleek design that does not look cheap.

Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz LGA 1150 Quad-Core CPU
Corsair Hydro Series H100i CPU Water Cooler
Asus Maximus VI Hero Motherboard
G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2400 Memory
MSI Gaming GeForce GTX 770 TF 2GD5/OC Video Card
Samsung 840 EVO 500GB SSD
Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold Series 1000W Power Supply
Corsair Obsidian Series 550D Black Case

Pros: Having had experience with a lot of cases over the years (mostly Antec), I have to say that this is a nice case. Not as well built and sturdy as a my old Antecs, but definitely better than Thermaltakes and some other companies. There is tons of room in the case and being able to route the cables behind the motherboard tray really cleans up the inside which helps with air flow. The black metal is also a nice touch. I completely removed the hard drive racks from my case (they're held in by 3 thumb screws) so I have way more room than any case I've ever had.

Cons: Like others, my new Seasonic PSU had one screw hole that wouldn't line up. That's very odd.
While the screwless design is convenient for installing stuff, I found that the 5.25" bays would wiggle around so I ended up putting screws in anyway. Also, the 5.25" devices end up off center leaving a gap on the left side (the side with the screwless feature). As for the 3.5" trays, I can't say much since I'm not using them, but I had a few grommets come loose when I removed the box holding the screws...
The Corsair fans installed in the case are ok, but in comparison to many other fans, they aren't as efficient for their noise level. I stole the ones I had for my P180 and they're quieter and move more air. Another unfortunate part of the fans is the filter covers. They are WAY too easy to accidentally bump and have them come off when you handling the case. When I was putting the case together I just had to put them to the side...
My biggest beef with the case is the front door (one of the main reasons I bought the case). It's very nice looking and well built. However, it shuts too close to front of the external bays. My 4-in-3 hot swap device has latches on the front to open the doors. These latches stick out maybe 3-5 mm and it makes it so the door can't close. I ended up having to push the hot swap bay back past the screwless latch in the case. As a result my bays are not secured in the case. Other hot swap bays have different handles, but it's something to keep in mind.
Another problem with the door is the cheap latching mechanism. It has 4 cheap little plastic clips on corner. Every time I open the front I'm afraid I'm going to break it.

Overall Review: This is a very quiet case. It is on par with my old P180 The panels on the P180 don't flex like the side panels on this do, but this case also has more cooling. The most annoying feature of the P180 was the weird 3.5" external bay and fan in the bottom chamber. This case has neither of those problems.

I don't know who thought that mounting the hard drives sideways was a good idea, but it needs to stop. Yes, it makes installation easier, but it destroys your cooling. The front fans blow right into the hard drive rack. That's something Antec figured out a long time ago. They have removable hard drive racks with rails and/or silicon grommets. By rotating the hard drives, there's much more open space for the air to pass.

Don't get me wrong I really like this case. I plan to utilize the 240 water cooling capability very soon. It's just not as much of an upgrade from the P180 as I thought it would be. It's more of a lateral move.