Specifications, Availability and Pricing

The Obsidian 800D reflects its name and arrives completely black aside from the large window in the side panel. This chassis measures in at 24"square and 9" wide of all black goodness. The main body and internal pieces are all painted with a textured, flat black paint. The front panel, however, is a plastic structure with black, brushed aluminum panels to clean up the overall looks. Up to five external 5.25" can be placed in this chassis and a total of six 3.5" bays. Four of those 3.5" bays are in a rack that is accessed via a panel in the door and are backed with hot swappable connections preinstalled and hidden from site. The other two can be installed at the very bottom of the rack internally. The rear of the chassis features seven expansion slots with a vented area underneath.

Cooling inside this chassis is handled out of the box with three included, 140mm fans. One is in the rear as exhaust; one is on the side of the hot swappable bays blowing across the drives; the last one is in the floor panel between the motherboard area and the power supply area, blowing cold incoming air up to the main area of the 800D. There is room for up to four 120mm fans to be added to the Obsidian for added cooling. The top of the chassis has a layout for a triple 120mm radiator or just fans in that configuration and the fourth fan can attach to the side of the lower hard drive bay.

The Obsidian chassis isn't available until September 10th by the looks of things on the web. A few discussions lead me to believe that the projected pricing was to be in the sub $300 range. Doing a bit of Googling, it led me straight to Newegg, who is currently taking pre-orders for the Obsidian. As projected, the Obsidian is in fact selling below $300 U.S.D., as this $279.99 pre-order price at Newegg proves. That includes shipping! This price plays well with most other premium chassis on the market, so let's get down to how well the Corsair Obsidian 800D stacks up.