Specifications, Availability and Pricing

The chassis is built of steel and painted in a textured, matte finish. The front of the chassis, however, uses aluminum to give a sleek appealing look to the front. As with the previous release in the Obsidian series, overall the chassis is black, in and out. It only makes sense with the series name being literally volcanic black glass. Gone is the front access panel to utilize the hot swappable bays in favor of a tray system to suspend up to six 3.5" drives. The top half stays the same and offers the same five bay setup for the 5.25" drives and the matching covers. Overall the case is large, even for a full tower. It measures in at two foot square by nine inches wide allowing for mATX, ATX and EATX motherboard installation, with plenty of room to spare.

Cooling is handled slightly different this time as well. Still using the same three 140mm fans, just that the bay fan is redirected, they accomplish the same three zoned cooling system. One 140mm is placed in the floor of the chassis to the right of the motherboard and another in the rear for exhaust. These two fans control zone #1. Zone #2 is the drive area and instead of the 140mm fan blowing to the back of the motherboard tray, the 700D offers the fan blowing up under the drives, which eventually ends up behind the motherboard tray and exhausts out the rear. Zone #3 is under the motherboard and where the power supply sits. All work well to give sufficient air flow inside, but Corsair offers room for up to four 120mm fans if you find the need.

With most of the designing and features out of the way, we can get to the meat and potatoes. What is this case going to cost me and where can I buy it? Well, the first half isn't as easy to answer as there are various prices depending on where you buy, ranging from $240 to over $300. Where can you buy it? Well, you can get it pretty averagely priced at $259.99 at Newegg and also requires another $20 to get it shipped. I think the $240 end is a better price considering the 800D released at around the $300 mark. $270 -$300 USD is a bit of a stretch for me to make any comments on pricing this early. Believe me, with the bar Corsair set with the 800D being so high and the fact that I love the chassis, it's going to make for strong competition between the two. Let's get to the images and see just what Corsair changed and how the two stack up.