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: First thing you'll notice is how great the case looks and how strong the aluminum body feels. I'm sure I could use it as a chair if I wanted to without fear of damaging it! Plenty of space for all the hardware you'll possibly buy now, or in the future! Cable management is well thought out and useful with only one minor hiccup (see cons) Very quiet (compared to other cases on the market). This isn't a sound proof case, but a sound dampening case, so there is still sound, but it drastically cuts down on noise from your components. Tool less design. Dust filters prevent most dust from getting into your case and are easy to clean.

Cons: This is a personal preference, but I wish Corsair would have made the entire case out of the brushed aluminium finish they used on the front. Even if it added to the price, it would of been worth it IMO. While there is plenty of space for any hardware you'll put in it today, or any upgrade you'll do in the many years to come, and the cable management is very useful and generous. I ran into a few problems with this case with other corsair products. First my Corsair PSU (Enthusiast Series TX850M) doesn't 100% align with the screws on the case, I had to do some small modifications to get it to screw into place. I've also had an issue with plugging the power supply into my SSD's and HDD's. I don't know if it's the case's fault, or the power supply, but I had a very hard time getting all the power cords plugged in, it's just a bit too tight between each drive and was hard/cords weren't sized up to match perfectly. I also plan on buying a Corsair H100i in the near future, but there are people having issues of not having enough space depending on the motherboard used. I would've thought a Corsair product would work perfectly with other Corsair products, and any sizing problems would've been caught and fixed during initial testing phases. While the case is mostly 100% tool less there are a few areas where you need a screw driver. One being to remove the HDD/SSD top cage. Other cases I've used you can just easily unscrew with your fingers. Now, you can technically remove the screws with your finger, but when you first get it out of the box, the screws are in too tight to budge without a screwdriver. Another personal preference, I'd prefer to be able to remove the bottom hard drive cage as well. The HDD/SSD trays are a bit too lose/flexible. While trying to get the power supply plugged into the drives, I had an issue with them coming loose. The sound dampening covers over the dust filters tends to easily come loose. You're suppose to press to pop them up, and then pull them off, but I find them already popped up half the time without me doing anything to the case.

Overall Review: Overall Corsair has a fantastical product here, sure there are a few compatibility issues with their other products, and a few minor "issues" against it. But nothing major to prevent me from recommending this case! There is no "perfect" case on the market, and the Corsair Obsidian Series 550D is no exception to this, and remains one of the better cases on the market!

Pros: Front aluminum brushed door is top quality. Plastic top is of good enough quality and finish that it blends in with the metal side panels, can't tell the difference unless you touch them. Panel access is superb; no slotting, grinding or slamming to get the panels off or on. Interior and cable management are good. Removable HDD cages are good. Designed with 240mm or 280mm radiator placement with one set of fans in pull intake or pull outtake at the top. Sound absorbing material inside is of good quality, not cheap. Air flow is outstanding if you use the top two fan slots. I prefer this one over the Fractal Design Define R4 but the Define R4 is $30 to $40 less so it takes the cake in it's price bracket.

Cons: Cannot fit a 240mm radiator in the front. Nothing else that stood out as a con in my view. If you want a Window, get a 650D.

Overall Review: H100i with a set of fans barely made it in due to the huge heatsink on the Z77A-GD65 Gaming motherboard. Made it with .5mm to spare. Like the look of the case. Synonymous with the name Obsidian. They just released an Obsidian 350D m-ATX version. Looks very nice and worth a look.

Pros: For functionality this case is a 5 star easily. Wire management even without a modular PSU (TX650) everything routed nicely, very clean. Side panel latch works perfectly. Nice power coated finish (i think) inside and out. Quiet, Quality power button, front lights are not annoying and work well. The top is plastic but looks quality and works. You can even get a long rad in the top.

Cons: Two complaints: The gauge of the steal is a little thin. I expected a little more rigidity in the side panels. Two ply would have worked. The other is the latch for the front panel. Its not too bad and maybe they will break in. But they are a little tight and hard to open

Overall Review: Overall I'm satisfied with the case. If you want to understand what im saying about the case side panels find a Antec P180 and take note of its side panels. The 183 and 280 are probably the same.

Pros: – Attractive, minimal, matte black design that looks and feels premium (look elsewhere if you want a windowed case that glows in the dark). – Solid construction without weighing a million pounds. The door feels substantial and the side panels are easy to remove with the push of a button. – Lots of space inside to work, including plenty of space for hard drives and great cabling potential (the grommets work well and don't feel cheap). – Tool-less 5.25" bay is easy to use; it took me more time to pop out the slot cover! Thumbscrews for the removable hard drive cages and expansion slots are useful if you don't have a screwdriver handy. – Great small touches like raised soft mounts for the PSU (and a soft frame where it meets the back of the case), as well as soft mounts for the fans. – Temperatures dropped several degrees for my GPU and the system is legitimately quiet (see Other Thoughts below). – USB 3.0 to 2.0 adapter included for those who don't have any internal 3.0

Cons: – One of the side panels (motherboard side) rattles slightly when you push on it. I was worried this might transmit vibrations when the system was on, but my fear was unfounded. – The very bottom hard drive slot is packed tightly against the bottom of the case and it's difficult to fit power + SATA cables into that corner. This is only an issue if you need all six drive slots OR you remove the upper drive cage to give one of the front fans clean airflow to your GPU.

Overall Review: – I'm super picky about noise (my non-techie girlfriend described my old case as "practically silent"), so I was doubtful the 550D would improve my build's noise profile, but it successfully dampens more noise and all I hear is the soft whoosh of air. Really nice. – This is a brand new case and the first version is bound to have small issues. It sucks that some people have had panels damaged in shipping or one of their door hinges snapped (extras are included in the box), but Corsair has been incredibly responsive to feedback in the last few days and they have a reputation for great customer service. I'm extremely happy with the case I received and any revisions they make in response to early adopters is bound to improve something that's already solid.

Pros: Very, very nice case. Solid construction. Here's the stuff you're looking at with this case: - Excellent, and easy drive mounting. - Improved tool-less 5.25" bay mounts. - VERY quiet. Especially with the right fans. - This case WILL fit a Corsair H100 and two 120mm fans. (Will not do push/pull configuration inside the case. If you're wondering about other radiators, H100 is 25mm thick.) - The sound dampening material feels almost like a gel. It's very interesting. But effective, cool-to-touch, and gets it's job done right. - The power LED is white, but not overly bright like say a 600T's. - The front USB ports have a 3.0 header, instead of rear-out USB 3.0 line. - Case can fit many fans. Two top 120/140mm mounts. Two from 120mm mounts. One rear 120/140mm mount. You can mount a 120mm on each drive cage. 120/140mm bottom mount. - The locking side panels will come unlocked and stay at a 50 degreeish angle until pulled up and off the case. - I'm "running out of characters", but

Cons: Only a few small gripes: - The cable management is a bit hard. But I expected it to be so. Corsair doesn't give much room between cable managing area and the "right" side panel. If they gave it an extra 0.5" or 1", it would help A LOT. - If you are using an H100 or 25mm thick radiator, mount it and your fans before your motherboard. You'll save yourself some time. - If you look in the picture, the tray the motherboard sits in is curved at the bottom left. It pushed my motherboard up a few milimeters because the board touches the angle, but nothing that will be damaging for a normal ATX board. - Runs a bit hot, but it's to be expected for a silent case.

Overall Review: Definitely a great case, especially for a debut into the quiet-case realm. Corsair went all out on the 550D, as they do with all their products. This definitely isn't the case to get if you want maximum cooling/air flow, but if you want a good looking, cheap, SILENT case, grab it. My ceiling fan set on it's lowest speed has more noise coming from it than this case when I'm right next to it. I just changed from a 600T to this 550D, and no regrets at all. I'll be very interested to see Corsair's later-generation quiet-computing cases. Possibly with features like integrated fan controllers, or more cable routing space. Over all, I'm way impressed with the case. The magnetic, flexible dust covers are (simply put) pretty freak'n awesome. Not only do you just slap them on/off, but you can put them into something like a sink with no worries. The panels that cover the fans are probably better left off. They don't really dim out that much more noise. As I said 200 other times, get the case.

Pros: Flexible cooling options. Excellent cable management. Does a decent job of holding in noise without sacrificing too much cooling. Front door can open to either left or right, or be completely removed. Easily removable and washable fan filters everywhere other than the rear exhaust (why would you filter an exhaust fan anyway, right?). Mostly tool-less. I say mostly because you need a screwdriver for the PSU screws, and the expansion slot cover thumbscrews are torqued so tightly that you can't turn them with your fingers. Decent stock fans. Fan specs: 1100 RPM, 37.93 CFM, 21 dBA, 0.8 mmH2O There are better fans out there but these are by no means noisy and move a decent amount of air for the noise level. Bottom mount PSU with fan pointing down. Extra space between the PSU and the last motherboard expansion slot. Could help cooling with Crossfire/SLI. USB3->USB2 internal header adapter included. Plenty of others, but I'm running out of characters for the p

Cons: Metal parts are rather thin, other than the front door which is actually quite heavy. The front door is somewhat of a pain to open and close. Personally I barely ever even use an optical drive anymore so no big deal there for me. Absolute fingerprint magnet. Some may not like the look of the mix of metal and plastic panels or the look of the case with the vent panels removed. ***EXTENDED ATX MOTHERBOARDS WITH SIDE FACING SATA PORTS WILL NOT WORK IN THIS CASE! (Unless you don't mind some work with a Dremel)*** Top mount radiator clearance issues. You have about 53mm of space MAX before you are hitting your ram retention clips. Good luck using anything other than an H100. Even that may not fit with a newer Intel motherboard with the large heatsinks at the top of the board. Seems to be a lot of defective front USB ports recently. Corsair will ship a replacement panel to you if needed.

Overall Review: So long as you be sure that you won't have any problems with the above noted clearance issues, this is an awesome case. Lots of room to work in. Potential for good airflow for systems being pushed to the max, while still staying plenty cool with the vent panels closed if you are going for silence with maybe a moderate overclock (bottom mount intake fan will help here, I suggest something with good static pressure). Basically, do your research, as you always should when buying hardware. :) I've never paid this much for a case before so I wasn't sure it would be worth the cost. Let me tell you, coming from an Antec 900 (original version) dust box that I had to clean every other week to something with half the noise and next to no dust intake, it was absolutely 100% worth it.

Pros: Stylish - it's a simple but very good looking design. Whether the front aluminum door is on or off. Choose your own adventure in quiet/cooling - This is where the case really shines. Stock, with all panels installed, it's a very quiet case with adequate cooling for any typical setup. My i7-860 and GTX 670 never overheat and I can barely hear it. Should you need more cooling though, there are options. The front panel can be removed, allowing much more airflow from the front. In addition, there are removable panels on the top and rear, allowing two more fans each. It can be a cooling monster if you really need it to be, though there are probably better cases for that purpose. Room - the drives are mounted the right way (outward) and there's cable routing behind the motherboard tray. Nothing real fancy but everything you'd expect in a case of this class. The only downside is the 8-pin power cable may not reach around the back to to the motherboard. I had to route mine behind the video card. Not a big deal, but it was annoying given how cleanly I was able to do everything else. USB 3.0 - you expect it in a case in this price class, and it's there. Two USB 3.0 ports on the front alone, accessible even if the front door is installed and closed.

Cons: Front door - only an issue if you use optical media a lot, or if you plan to open the door frequently for the increased ventilation. it opens both ways, which means it comes off either hinge easily. It's easy to remove the door when you just want to swing it open. Bad on carpet - I say it has adequate ventilation with everything closed and this is true, but there is one caveat. It breathes from the bottom with the front door closed, and the power supply also breathes from the bottom, so you need something underneath the case if you plan to sit it on carpet. I have cardboard cut out to the right size, which has worked well, but it is something to keep in mind.

Overall Review: Overall I chose this case because it had everything I wanted. A very nice but understated aesthetic, quiet, but still with plenty of room and good cooling. I have no regrets.