Corsair Obsidian 250D review - Article

Going small with the Corsair Obsidian 250D chassis

Building a high-performance PC these days doesn't require you to have have a massive big-tower. I mean sure, taste differs, but the trend ever since last year seems to be "smaller". This is the reason why mITX form factor PCs have become so much more important. I mean you can build a simple HTPC, but within that same small form factor you can also house a Z87 mini ITX motherboard with Core i7 4770K processor, liquid cool that processor and then even add a GeForce GTX 780 Ti or Radeon HD 290X in there.

The trick is clever housing and that's what Corsair has been pursuing with the new Obsidian 250D. By compartmentalizing chambers inside this small chassis they can house the aforementioned PC components. Next to that it's Corsair .. that means a tool free design, a stylish design, heck even a see through panel is present. Then there's room for two 3.5" HDDs, two 2.5" SSDs and even a 5.25" Optical drive.

The end product is a small boxy chassis with a total size of 13.8 x 10.9 x 11.4 inches, which has been molded mainly out of black steel and has an anodized black aluminum front fascia. The 250D is equipped with a nice acrylic top window. The chassis packs room for two 2.5" drives, two 3.5" drives, and one  5.25" drive. You can house a a full-length GPU, a 240mm radiator, and even a full-size ATX power supply. Cooling will be a key factor as well and the chassis includes a single 120 mm fan on the side  and a single 140 mm fan located in the front. There's room for liquid cooling as well, and that's despite its smaller size. You can mount two fans with a 240 mm water cooling radiator at the right side of the chassis.

But I'm sure you guys want photos. So we'll show a dozen or two of today! Have a quick peek first... meet the Obsidian 250D Chassis, a chassis that I like to refer to as "compact performance" and yeah head on over to the next page.