Corsair Obsidian 500D PC Case Review - Introduction

Corsair Obsidian 500D PC Chassis
A Mid Tower Case With Tempered Glass Doors and Aluminum Finish

In this article we peek at the all-new Corsair Obsidian 500D chassis, the Obsidian 500D was designed to offer some exquisite aesthetics and has been fitted with two tempered glass side-panel doors. Corsair has fired off premium tempered glass and aluminum at this chassis. Some design elements remind me of the Corsair Crystal 570X, however, the new Obsidian 500D seems catered to a more high-end audience, with dark looks and an aluminum bezel and topside finish.

Of course, the Obsidian series has been nothing other than a success story for Corsair, take the Obsidian 800D and, later, that amazing 900D. To date, people can still remember the chassis series just by their short names as they tickled your fantasy and senses with the, at that time, innovative designs. I even dare to say that many of you still own one of these aforementioned puppies. At a later stage, we spotted that with the Graphite series they pursued a somewhat more mainstream approach to the gamer level of PC cases. And then came the Carbide series where Corsair pursued a lower segment of the mainstream market. The design of the Crystal series (570X) was synonymous with tempered glass. And yeah, we are back to the original series, Obsidian, perhaps it offers the best of all worlds?

Material	Metal ABS / Aluminum 3mm Tempered Glass
Internal Drive Bay	3.5" x2 / 2.5" x 23
M/B Form Factor	ATX / Micro-ATX /Mini-ITX  (Max: 12” x 10.5”)
Power Supply	ATX 12V, PSII Size and EPS up to 225 mm
I/O Port	USB 3.0 x 2, 1x USB 3.1 Gen-2 Type-C HD Audio
Expansion Slot	PCI-E Slot x 7 High-End Graphic Card up to 370 mm
Dimension (HxWxD)	508mm x 233mm x 502mm

Corsair went pretty bezerk with this one, as you will notice tempered glass to the left and right; by itself not a biggy, however, they transformed them into side panel doors that can be opened up from the front side. They are hinged and magnet based, so you just pull them open, access whatever you want to access and close that door again, a truly terrific feature which we'll show you in more detail in this review of course. The Corsair Obsidian 500D is all about that quality build and feel with aluminum elements (brushed) and visuals with all that glass. There also has been a strong focus on cable management, with a see-through panel that is a challenge, but as you are about to find out they solved that in a simple and effective manner. With the 500D, Corsair also hides the HDD and SSD mounts at that rear side, behind the motherboard. Your power supply is nicely covered up in its own compartment, they created a big compartment as, there as well, you can tuck away and thus hide cabling. Obviously, you will run into properly grommeted holes with rubber inserts and an all-black interior including dark cables and connectors. Airflow was another aspect that Corsair really thought through well, there are two fans at the front and backside, yet throughout the chassis there are vents in-between the glass and base chassis. Holding my hand at the rear exit of the chassis, for example, resulted in feel-able airflow. This mid-tower sized chassis can house mini-ITX, micro ATX or ATX motherboards and offers plenty of space to do your thing. You can mount three SSDs at the backside and two HDDs (or alternatively two SSDs) in the slide-in tray located at the motherboard side of the chassis. At the front, you will spot USB 3.0 (2x) as well as 1x USB 3.1 Gen-2 Type-C and 3.5 mm HD audio jacks.

The Obsidian 500D comes pre-fitted with 2x SP120 (1200 rpm) fans. Extensive air and water cooling options are included, with support for 360mm radiators in the front, a 120 mm radiator at the rear and a top mounted 240/280mm radiator, it has room for mounting liquid cooling. Also funny to see are magnetic dust filters on all airflow intake positions, which allows for easy building and maintenance.  With two 120mm fans, additional fans can also be mounted in the rear and top for additional cooling, air-cooled CPUs with tower heatsinks have a spacious 170 mm height to spare. Anyway, have a peek at the chassis, and yes, with reflective tempered glass, photos in this review are a bit of challenge, but we're sure you'll get the idea. Have a look and behold the new Obsidian 500D and then head onwards to the next page, please.