Corsair 7000D Airflow Review: New High-End Workstation King?

For thermal and acoustic testing, we are using the following software and settings:

Test Results 

The included 140mm fans have an operating range from about 250 to 1250 RPM, which is a very nice respectable range – low enough to produce very quiet idle results, but fast enough to produce good airflow when the system is operating under higher loads. 

Acoustic Results 

For our acoustic tests, we run three scenarios: CPU full load, CPU and GPU full load, and an optimized idle. The CPU Full Load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test we add the Nvidia RTX 2070 Super FE at 75% fan speed, because in practice it never runs at 100 percent and is far too loud when it does.

For the optimized idle, we run the GPU fan speed at 40 percent (the 2070 Super FE GPU does not have a Zero-RPM mode), and run the CPU and included case fans at the lowest speed that they will spin.

Acoustically, the 7000D presents a bit of a dilemma – it tests quite loud, pushing 43.8 dBA when ramping up the case fans, but I’m going to be tough to penalize it for this. Sure, it lands at the bottom of the charts, but it pushes a ton of air thanks to its 140mm fans, and keep in mind that 1250 RPM is high for 140mm fans – that’s what we normally want 120mm spinners to do, with 140mm units generally matching them for noise levels at about 1000 RPM. Plus, as you’ll see in a bit, they produce great thermals.   

Thermal Results 

For the thermal tests, all case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100 percent. The Core i9-9900K is pegged at a 4.6GHz clock at 1.1v on all cores to ensure consistent power consumption across test scenarios, and letting the GPU run at 75 percent fan speed enables it to maintain its power target while maintaining one set reasonable fan speed, so that the temperature is the only variable. 

Thermally, the 7000D is able to put down some of the best figures, almost matching the Lian Li Lancool II Mesh and Phanteks Eclipse P500A – but neither of those are full-tower cases. Clearly, there is a ton of thermal headroom to optimize for much quieter acoustics.

That, and keep in mind that nobody has to run this case with just a few fans. It has a ton of fan and radiator space, so it’s simple to populate the case with many spinners running very slowly, creating a much more pleasing result. 

Conclusion

If you’re building a high-end system – a very high-end system – then the Corsair Obsidian 7000D is certainly a chassis to consider. Personally, I’d lean towards this chassis over the RGB-stuffed 7000X, because any system that demands a chassis this big is likely of professional caliber, demanding the improved thermals of a mesh intake and professional appearance over RGB. In that sense, the 7000D is an excellent basis for a big mean business/workstation machine.

And it’s certainly a chassis you’ll want to place on the floor. Yes, I know it has a glass panel, but its tint is so dark, you won’t see much through it anyway, and it’s got IO at the top. Being as tall as it is, towering at nearly two feet, you’d have to get up to plug things into it if you choose to keep it on your desk. So, just don’t.

But having gone through my time with the  7000D, I’m hard-pressed to have any major complaints about its design. Other than the size and weight, it’s an incredibly well-thought-out chassis, offering tons of flexibility and very neatly laying out the red carpet for your hardware. This is a chassis that will grow with you through years to come. It’s easy to maintain, has excellent build quality, and will deal with system rebuilds quite well. Really, the 7000D is all the case you’ll ever need – and it better be, because there’s a lot of it. It’s also not exactly cheap at $260, but if you look at what you’re getting for it, the 7000D Airflow is well worth it for a proper high-end build.