- Corsair 350D User Review - Matthew Murdoch, 22 August 2013
The Corsair 350D is part of the rich line of the Corsair Obsidian series and its looks are really pleasing to the eye on both models (windowed and standard)
You'll find room in this enclosure for only microATX and Mini-ITX motherboards—ATX mobos are persona non grata. In spite of that, the 350D is cut from the same cloth as the rest of Corsair's cases. Enthusiast-friendly fare like cable-routing holes, tool-less drive bays, and plentiful cooling abounds, and Corsair has sought to balance outer compactness with inner roominess. As a result, the case is compact, but its innards aren't so tight as to make the assembly process uncomfortable.
Corsair definitely hasn't skimped. The 350D has room for five fans, five internal storage drives, and graphics cards as long as 15 inches. Most tall, tower-style CPU coolers should be supported, and there's a substantial gap behind the motherboard tray for cable routing. A couple of front-panel USB 3.0 ports round out the package. What's not to like?
For that reason, the 350D makes microATX seem like a truly compelling alternative to ATX for a modern gaming PC. Going with the smaller form factor involves few to no sacrifices, and it leaves one with a more compact machine that's easier to fit into a workspace, less cumbersome to carry around, and just as pleasing to look at. There's room inside the 350D for much beefier hardware—and cooling—than what we used, including dual graphics cards and jumbo radiators. Unless you use your PC as a workstation or home-theater system, odds are that microATX will supply all the expansion slots you'll ever need.
The 350D isn't flawless. Ideally, it would have more room behind the motherboard tray for the extra cable slack from power cables.
I personally did not like the top opening of just plain mesh without dust covers - at this price point it should be included.
However, in spite of those imperfections, the 350D is pretty darn close to perfect—especially considering its mission and price tag.