Conclusion

...Corsair's Mini ITX voyage begins by targeting enthusiast users who seek to maintain extravagant performance in an enclosure that's considerably smaller than your traditional tower.

It has taken the best part of five years for Corsair to add a Mini ITX chassis to its burgeoning product line. This prolonged absence from a growing market opened the door for rivals, who were quick to fill the gap with high-performance solutions that have been eagerly endorsed by system builders.

The Obsidian Series 250D is designed to reclaim some of that lost ground, and Corsair's Mini ITX voyage begins by targeting enthusiast users who seek to maintain extravagant performance in an enclosure that's considerably smaller than your traditional tower.

Going for the jugular, Corsair has arranged the 250D with many of today's high-end components in mind. Instead of making miniaturisation the priority, the chassis serves the needs of performance aficionados who are looking to downsize while retaining full use of their existing arsenal. Got a 240mm radiator? A full-size PSU? An overclocked CPU? Or how about a 290mm-long graphics card? Not a problem, Corsair's 250D will take it all without breaking a sweat.

We believe that the future of the gaming PC is a desktop box that's compact, unobtrusive, quiet and yet powerful enough to drive today's latest games. Corsair hasn't ticked every box, and we're really hoping to see the manufacturer follow-up with additional models that are smaller still, yet while the 250D won't meet everyone's expectations of a Mini ITX case, it isn't lacking in performance potential.

The chassis' make-up is such that it has every chance of becoming a big hit with system integrators, who we suspect will be itching to launch a wave of SFF gaming PCs that take full advantage of the 250D's capabilities.

Ultimately, the Obsidian Series 250D has accomplished Corsair's goal of bringing high-end performance to a smaller form factor. The chassis can be recommended to enthusiast users for that reason alone, but if you do decide to use the 250D as the basis of your next machine, don't be surprised to find yourself looking to downsize again in the near future.

The Good

Solid build quality
Room for a high-end graphics card
Can house a 240mm radiator
Ample air-cooled potential
Tool-free storage bays
Multiple dust filters

The Bad

A bit big, for a SFF chassis
Does little to minimise noise

HEXUS.awards

Corsair Obsidian Series 250D

HEXUS.where2buy

The Corsair Obsidian Series 250D chassis is available to order from Scan Computers*.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.

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Actually doesn't look that oversized in the photos, and the fact it can have so much stuff in it is great, suits my needs for SFF quite well, may have to grab one when I get my own place and have need of an overpowered HTPC.

Darn! I've just build a full size machine because I couldn't find any ITX cases I liked and this comes out!

What I do not understand is why ITX carries the same price as full size for some manufacturers.
Would go for coolermaster Elite 130 myself.http://www.coolermaster.co.uk/product.php?category_id=3592&product_id=6923 Retails for around £40.00.

CountBartok
What I do not understand is why ITX carries the same price as full size for some manufacturers.

Apart from some steel, paint, and the saving from geting twice as many in a 40' box, there is little scope for cost saving with a smaller case.

Similar number of fans and windows and fittings, almost identical manufacturing and assembly operations, and possibly greater development costs as parts and tooling from the larger cases couldn't be reused.

I used to get the same comment about cost breakdowns (for greenhouses) and I would bet that the same is true in almost any “metal-bashing” industry, from tin cans to cars.

Brian224
Apart from some steel, paint, and the saving from geting twice as many in a 40' box, there is little scope for cost saving with a smaller case.

Similar number of fans and windows and fittings, almost identical manufacturing and assembly operations, and possibly greater development costs as parts and tooling from the larger cases couldn't be reused.

I used to get the same comment about cost breakdowns (for greenhouses) and I would bet that the same is true in almost any “metal-bashing” industry, from tin cans to cars.

Not to mention with a case this size there's a significant amount of engineering to be done to fit things in, they don't just follow a basic blueprint for this stuff they have to figure out how to maximise it's potential as a complete system whilst minimizing size.

Something I think Corsair have done well here.

Also the Cooler Master thing has the PSU jut out the back and thats worth the £40 right there for me.