Corsair's Obsidian 550D has pretty much all the traits of its successful predecessors, but is also carefully engineered for noise reduction and sound isolation thanks to the use sound dampening pads on the sides and front panel of the chassis to actively absorb the noise being produced by the internal fans. Hit our review to see how much of difference they will make, and if there are any resulting side effects elsewhere.

Corsair Obsidian 550D Case Review

I really like the case but I'd actually go with the 300R due to the price and almost similar features. Actually, I might go with the 300R for my next build. $110+ is too much for me. Even though I really love the look on it.

This case seems pretty large for a mid-tower. A whopper in my opinion! It's larger than my previous case, which I thought was quite large. The EATX cable from a Corsair power unit will only just reach!
The MB standoffs are copper (a most excellent conductor of electricity) - so why are they covered in black paint? Everything is covered in black paint, including the inner threads, and you can see it flaking off in the screw bags. The MB screws are ugly little things, and all black painted too. Call me old fashioned, but what about static?? ASUS puts blobs of metal around the MB screw holes just so that the motherboard gets a good earth connection. Not much hope with all that paint in the way. Also, there's no convenient bit of bare metal to clip your anti-static lead on to in case of needing to do work on the computer.
The standoffs are smaller than standard I think. This opinion is endorsed by noticing that the connections on my ASUS motherboard are jammed to one side of the I/O shield.
It could be that this case is a bit of a triumph of style over function. My system seems to be running well though. Cool. With sleek black case. There's no speaker in the case though - so you don't get MB start-up/error bleeps. I think my old Acousticase was quieter, better built, and much cheaper, but not so suitable for running a big rig.