Corsair 3500X iCUE LINK Case Review

What I find interesting about the Corsair 3500X is that while it has a modern appeal, it is also extremely simple.  To provide a sense of scale we have installed the popular Z790 Aorus Elite X Wifi 7 from Gigabyte.  This is a standard ATX motherboard and fits quite nicely inside the Corsair 3500X with plenty of room for cable routing and extra fans and radiators.

For wider motherboards they will extend slightly over the cooling fans but, should still have plenty of room even when using the larger 30mm thick versions from Corsair.

Across the top you will find a similar opening for a single radiator and fan combo along with several cable tie down locations to help keep things nice and neat.

Early in this review I talked about cost cutting in chassis design and how many case makers are so focused on providing the most amount of features that they often forget that a good majority of builders never use any of it. 

A good example is the 3.5” hard drive rack.  There is no doubt that 3.5” rotational hard drives are still a key part of our lives, they provide an affordable mass storage option and tend to last quite a long time.  However, SSDs and NVMe storage is what most system integrators are using these days making it pretty easy to simply remove the drive rack completely. 

On the Corsair 3500X you can still install up to 2x 3.5” rotational drives, you’ll just have to surface mount them, which is perfectly acceptable.

I would also like to mention that while the Corsair 3500X is a rather boring rectangular cube so is every other case from Corsair.  This dedication to being plain has a side effect that could help lower manufacturing costs when it comes to the expensive tooling required.  Combine that with fewer metal parts and you have a good recipe for savings across the board.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the 3500X, this was a case shown during Computex and while the display model looked extremely busy and filled out that was because, it was.  The chassis supports up to 10 fans that when combined with the iCUE controller can transform a boring case full of fans into an amazing light show that could give even your cat a seizure.

The simple construction is also prime for modifications.  Sadly, if you start breaking out the Dremel I’m certain the chassis will completely fall apart but, individual panels could be painted and the dual tempered glass panels are just screaming for something like stickers, and laser etched graphics.

 Cost is something we rarely talk about in reviews but, it goes without saying that this chassis can be picked up at a good price and depending on your ultimate goals it can be purchased as a bare case or as part of a combo with fans and a cooler.  Check out the Corsair website for more information.

Modern Design
Corner Office Tempered Glass
Easy Access Panels
RGB Fan Option

Case is basically a skeleton
Only three USB ports