As mentioned previously, 550D’s side panels have been furnished with soft rubber foam that dampens noise cause by operating noise from the system within. This foam isn’t like the material we have seen used on other computer cases which tends to be Styrofoam - but is in fact thicker, dense and appears to be much better quality. I like it.



With the side panels removed, 550D has an all-black internal design with tool-less design mechanisms for installing components and has a large CPU cooler backplate cut-out on the motherboard tray with cable management grommets to suit.

Behind the motherboard tray Corsair have structured the platform here in such a way that the rubber grommets sit on a section that is further concaved for additional cable management clearance.

Overall, a very nice internal layout with some interesting features. It will be intriguing to see how the test system installs within 550D in the next section.





Inside 550D, at the bottom of the chassis is an area marked out for mounting the PSU. This region has 4x rubber pads to prevent scratching and vibration. Next to the PSU is an area for attaching an optional 120/140mm cooling fan – both these two devices have an air filter on the underside of the chassis that is removable.



Above the PSU seating area are 8x PCI expansion slot covers, each with ventilation holes for better airflow and thumbscrews for easy removal. To the side are the 4x rubber grommets for feeding tubing or cables through.



Over the page we will continue our tour of the internal elements of 550D.