Final Thoughts
With the iCUE 465X RGB case Corsair has another solid case in their mid-tower lineup. You are getting two 4mm-thick tempered glass panels (front and side), three included LL120 RGB fans, the iCUE Lighting Node Core RGB controller, room for up to six hard drives and long graphics cards, easy installation, and plenty of room to route all of your cables.
So starting with the tempered glass panels I really like that Corsair went with a thicker panel. It gives so weight to the case and I have to say these panels are great. I am still not the biggest fan of thumbscrews on the panel. This leads to accidentally dropping the panel and likely scratching up your desk. We have seen Corsair go with hinged doors for their side panels, but that is on their higher-end models. I really like that Corsair has actually provided room for airflow as the front tempered glass panel sits off the case about an inch and a half. So many cases we saw last year with a front tempered glass panel had absolutely no airflow. I also like how the glass is actually affixed to the front bezel, so you take it all off as a single piece.
The three LL120 RGB fans from Corsair are great. Each fan has 16 individually controllable RGB LEDs in them and Corsair includes their iCUE Lighting Node Core RGB controller so you can install the iCUE software and control the fans easily. Corsair has connected everything for you RGB-wise so all you really have to do is plug the controller in to power and a USB header on your motherboard. There is no fan controller included for power and fan speed so you’ll need at least three open fan headers on your motherboard or a separate fan controller. One last thing about these fans, they will only work with a Corsair controller, the connections they use are proprietary so you cannot sync them with your motherboard or add them to another system without the controller. I can see why Corsair does this as purchasing a case like this keeps you in their ecosystem. Want to add more RGB fans to this case? They need to be Corsair to work with the controller and sync up with the other fans. Talking about that the controller supports three more fans for RGB control so if you wanted to add more fans you would be set there. The three LL120 RGB fans are the only fans included with the case so you’ll likely want to get at least an exhaust fan.
The overall layout of the case is pretty standard. You have a two compartment design with a full-length power supply cover separating the two compartments. There is ample room inside for components, but this case is more on the smaller end of mid towers. Inside you have support for graphics cards up to 370mm long, CPU coolers up to 160mm tall and power supplies up to 180 mm long. One nice upgrade that we saw were the metal SSD mounts on the backside of the motherboard tray. On both the Crystal Series 680X and the Carbide Series 678C we saw plastic mounts, which just seemed cheap. Overall you have room inside for 6 hard drives (4 SSDs, 2 HDDs), which should be more than enough for most people. The layout of the case made installation quite easy and we really did not run into any issues. The only thing that bothered me a little bit was the single cable routing hole on the power supply cover. You have to route all of your headers and connection for the bottom of your motherboard, plus your PCI-Express connection through there. It does get a bit tight.
Corsair is selling this case for $149.99 at our favorite online retailer. Now you might be thinking that is quite expensive for a smaller mid-tower, but you have to consider the three LL120 RGB fans and iCUE Lighting Node Core RGB controller. A 3-pack of the fans is selling on Amazon for around $100, so you are actually getting a pretty good value in this case. All in all I think that Corsair has put together a great case for anyone building a new system and they have the RGB covered for you. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Corsair iCUE 465X RGB Case a 9 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Two 4mm-thick tempered glass panels
– Actual room for air to come into the case
– Three LL120 RGB fans and iCUE Lighting Node Core RGB controller included
– Easy installation
– Room inside for up to six hard drives
– RGB fans already connected to the controller
– Software control with iCUE
Cons:
– No exhaust fan
– RGB fans and controller are proprietary
– Still need to power the 3 fans yourself
