Corsair Obsidian 550D Quiet Mid-Tower Case

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TESTING

System Configuration:

• AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition processor - 3.2 GHz, 45nm, 125W TDP
• ZEROtherm Zen FZ120 CPU cooler with Nexus 120mm fan
• Asus M4A78T-E motherboard - 790GX chipset
• Crucial memory - 2x2GB, DDR3-1333
• ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB graphics card, 150W TDP
• Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive - 1TB, 7200 RPM, 32MB cache
• Coolermaster Silent Pro M700W - modular ATX power supply
• Microsoft Windows 7 operating system - Ultimate, 64-bit
• ATI Catalyst 11.1 graphics driver

Measurement and Analysis Tools

• CPUBurn processor stress software.
• FurMark stability test to stress the integrated GPU.
• GPU-Z to monitor GPU temperatures and fan speed.
• SpeedFan to monitor system temperatures.
• Seasonic Power Angel AC power meter, used to measure the power consumption of the system.
• Custom-built, four-channel variable DC power supply, used to regulate fan speeds during the test.
• PC-based spectrum analyzer: SpectraPlus with ACO Pacific mic and M-Audio digital audio interfaces.
• Anechoic chamber with ambient level of 11 dBA or lower
• Various other tools for testing fans, as documented in our standard fan testing methodology.

System temperatures and noise levels were recorded with SpeedFan and GPU-Z at idle and on load using CPUBurn (K7 setting) and FurMark, an OpenGL benchmarking and stability testing utility.

Baseline Noise

Stock 12 cm fans.

The Obsidian 550D stock fans are quieter than most, each producing less than 20 dBA@1m. Rubber washers are also included on most of the placements to reduce vibration. We have no complaints about the fan acoustics — quite smooth, with only a hint of bearing chatter well-muffled by the case panels.

Stock Fan Noise Level
Fan	SPL @1m (dBA)
	9V	10V	11V	12V
Rear	12	14	16	17~18
Top (moved from Front)	15~16	18	18~19	19
Front	14	15	17	18
Combined		7V	9V	12V
		15	19	24
Measuring mic positioned 1m at diagonal angle left/front of case.

As the two intake fans produce the same amount of noise, we moved one of them to the top position to mix things up. The front position is typically the loudest, but in this case, the door shields it well, so it ends up sounding about the same as the fan in the rear. Putting a fan on top makes it slightly louder as the top panel lacks structural integrity; it hangs from a large, unsupported honeycomb grill making it susceptible to vibration. The combined noise level of the three fans is quite low, just 24 dBA@1m at full speed, 19 dBA@1m at 9V, and 15 dBA@1m at 7V.

At 9V, the stock fans generated a noise level of 19 dBA@1m with a generally smooth, broadband character.

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