Corsair Obsidian Series 650D Mid Tower Case Review

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Testing the Included Fans

Fan Test Equipment

Today we’ll be testing 3 Aspects of the included fans:

  • Sound Pressure Level (recorded in dBA)
  • Airflow (recorded in CFM)
  • Heat Tolerance (testing done at 30*C)

The Testing Equipment that I will be using was purchased by myself. It includes:

  • General Tools DCFM8906 Digital Air Flow Meter
  • Tenma Digital Sound Level Meter
  • Kintrex IRT0421 Non-Contact Infrared Thermometer
  • Universal Enterprises DM383B Digital Multimeter

For the testing, I will be using one fan at a time, then I will
test both fans together. I will be using my Tenma sound meter sitting
inside the case then convert the measurement to a 1 meter distance. For
the 200mm fan I will use a duct to help measure airflow as my normal
setup is designed for 80, 120, & 140mm fans.
Temperature used
for testing is an artificially created one, designed to simulate a
system at load, which would increase the internal case temp beyond that
of the ambient room temp.

Let’s see how these fans do now:

Corsair Obsidian Series 650D Mid-Tower Case

First off, I would like to say that I’m impressed, even before I get to the sound pressure readings; these fans were seriously pushing some air on full blast. With larger fans it’s hard to tell sometimes as you’ve got a much more distributed area, but these fans were seriously kicking out some air.This was probably one of the best examples of just how Corsair is paying attention to what enthusiasts want and need. They know these fans need to cycle air through the case quickly and effectively so they spared no expense getting some massive airflow moving through it.

Corsair Obsidian Series 650D Mid-Tower Case

Moving on, our Sound Pressure testing was another great shocker to me. With the 200mm fans hitting almost a 3:1 Airflow to Noise ratio on full blast it is astonishing to say the least. While I have no indication of bearing used in these fans, it is still a mighty impressive feat, none the less.I can say that the Medium setting of the Case’s fan controller is most likely where everyone is going to want to leave this case as it is roughly what my 7v readings came out to be. This setting has massive airflow and minimum noise.

With all of that being said, I’m still pretty impressed by these offerings. Previously, the fans of the Rosewill Thor impressed me, and the Antec 600 v2‘s fans were also rather impressive, but Corsair has shown some of the best results I have seen yet with 200mm fans.

Let’s wrap this review up and get to the conclusion.

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