Corsair iCUE 5000X RGB Review – Glass palace for your hardware

By Faryad On Jan 22, 2021

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The Corsair iCUE 5000X RGB brings the showcase concept of a housing with glass on four sides up to date. The cabinet has all the features you can expect from a luxury cabinet in 2021, such as USB-C and pre-mounted RGB and fan hubs. The options for installing water cooling are extensive – the 5000X RGB is also a bit prepared for that, because the air cooling suffers under all the glass. However, for those who want to optimally display their hard-earned hardware, the Corsair iCUE 5000X RGB is an excellent choice.

Pros

Unique possibilities for displaying hardware
Completely up to date with USB-C and a-rgb, among other things
Plenty of room for water cooling
Despite all the glass, hardly any cables can be seen

Negatives

Case fans behind glass are less effective
Not an outtake fan by default

Normally Corsair is well represented at computer fairs and announces the necessary new products. The latter is no different this year, but where we would have probably only seen the new iCUE 5000X RGB cabinet for the first time at a trade fair stand, this housing now arrived in our test lab well in advance.

The iCUE 5000X RGB is the second housing in the updated iCUE series from the American manufacturer. These products are named after the software package of the same name, which is best known for its extensive RGB options. A few months ago, the cheaper and smaller iCUE 4000X appeared in this series .

Like the 4000X, the newly introduced case comes in three flavors. The iCUE 5000X we tested will cost 189.90 euros and is equipped with no less than four glass panels (in addition to the sides, also the front and top), while the 5000D combines one glass side panel with a covered front. Finally, there is also the 5000D Airflow, where the steel front is largely open. Corsair will soon make the front panels available separately , so that you can switch if you change your mind afterwards. Unlike in the US, Corsair does not sell such parts directly to consumers in Europe, but your favorite webshop will undoubtedly order them for you on request.

Exterior

The Corsair iCUE 5000X RGB is a relatively large mid-tower with room for motherboards up to e-ATX format. The dimensions of 52x52x24.5cm result in a volume of more than 66 liters, making it about the same size as, for example, the Fractal Design Define 7 and the Phanteks Enthoo Pro. Because it is exactly square in length and depth, it is somewhat higher than the Define 7.

Except for some gray accents at the front panel, the white variant of the 5000X we received is completely white, from the steel construction to the pre-installed case fans. Thanks to the glass on four sides, this is of course extra visible. Usually, glass on the right side means that you see numerous cables, but Corsair has solved that by not having the transparent part cover the entire side panel. About a third of the panel is instead used as an air intake with a mesh grille. In addition, a cover plate has been placed behind the glass, which you can open as a kind of door after removing the side panel.

At the front at the top, Corsair has housed the front connections. In addition to two regular USB ports and a combined headset jack, we also find a modern USB-C connector. The back of the case is fairly standard. The only things worth mentioning are the dark gray PCIe brackets and the fact that two of them are mounted vertically, if you want to install your video card in that orientation.

Inside

On the inside, Corsair follows the now standard concept of as much empty space as possible. To the right of the motherboard tray, a plate with a raised edge serves to hide the cables. A processor cooler may be a maximum of 17 cm high, there is no sensible limit to the length of the video card. The power supply and the cage for two 3.5″ hard disks are hidden from view by a psu shroud, in which a recess has been made to accommodate a 360mm radiator at the front.

By default, however, the fan positions at the front are occupied by three SP120 RGB Elite fans of their own making, which are of course placed as intake. Those fans are not yet for sale separately, but together they would probably cost about 80 euros. This given the specifications, including eight addressable RGB LEDs per fan.

In addition to the traditional mounting positions at the front and top, which always fit a maximum of a 360mm radiator, or three 120mm fans, you can also place such cooling directly on the motherboard tray. The recesses for this have been made at the place where the hard disk cage was usually located in the past. The cooler then draws in its fresh air through the aforementioned mesh grille in the right side panel. However, this conflicts with the regular front position. So you can’t use them both for water cooling. A 120mm fan fits in the back, but it is not included. All four mounting locations that you could logically use for intake – the front, side, top and bottom of the cabinet – are equipped with easily removable dust filters.

If you remove the right side panel and open the door, you can access the mounting locations for the two hard disks, the three 2.5″ SSD brackets and the power supply (max. 22 cm deep). A mounting plate has been placed over the cut-out behind the motherboard on which you can place a fourth ssd with some creativity and on which the supplied rgb controller is attached. This controller uses a USB 2.0 header and a SATA power connection. To the left of this is a simple pwm fan hub. Both hubs have six connections, of which three are used by default.

Test results

We have quite a bit of comparison material, because in November we published an even larger round-up of housings in this segment. Then we tested the Seasonic Syncro , which also fits an e-atx motherboard, and we also added two slightly smaller models to the charts: the ‘normal’ Define 7 and the Corsair Crystal 570X, in a way the predecessor of this 5000X. Detailed details about our test method can also be found in the linked round-up.

Cooling

In the following graphs you will always find the temperatures of the air in the housing and the sensors of the installed components. For the first test, we only mount the processor and let it generate 50W of heat. The case fans run at 7 volts.

The temperature of the case rises to 25 degrees in this scenario, a fairly average result that is comparable to the temperature in the two other Corsair cases in this chart. The processor will be 48 degrees and that is also quite comparable with the older 570X and 678C.

In the following test, not only does the processor produce 50W of heat, but in this scenario the gpu also burns 50W. As in the previous test, all fans run at 7V. The results in these tests are not very good; the case temperature is slightly higher than with the 570X and the processor also gets relatively warm. On the other hand, the video card remains just as cool as in the Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2.

For the other tests, all fans are connected to 12V so that they run at their maximum speed. In the first scenario under these conditions, only the processor generates heat, and as much as 100 watts. Temperatures are on the high side.

With the fans still at 12V, we also turn on the GPU, so that a total of 200W of power is emitted in heat. The case temperature remains on the high side, but the video card is cooled very well. The video card only stays cooler in the Enthoo Pro 2 and the Seasonic Syncro (with Gentle Typhoon-like fans).

For this test, we plug our larger video card, which emits 200W of heat, into the test system. Thanks to the larger cooler, the temperatures are not higher, but of course more heat is brought into the cabinet. The processor remains at 100W power. Again the case temperature is a bit high and the processor also gets warm. For the video card, we note a temperature of 54 degrees, which is equal to the level in the Fractal Design Define 7.

sound production

The downside of the cooling performance is the noise production. We first test the damping capacity of the housing by running only one hard disk. Corsair has done that well, with almost the same damping as the NZXT H710, which only has to tolerate two other models.

To give an indication of the noise levels we record here: a very quiet room has a sound pressure of 20 to 30dB(A). A normal conversation is between 40 and 50dB(A). We measure from 17dB(A) in our soundproof box; that is a barely audible noise level.

For the following tests, we only turn on the fans in the case, with a supply voltage of 7V and 12V. With the fans at 7V we get to 31.5dB(A), which is about as loud as the older 570X. At 12V, the sound level meter measures up to 42.2dB(A). That is clearly louder, although the housing remains quieter than the Corsair Carbide 678C.

Finally, we tested the noise output with the test system switched on, driving both the case fans and the test system fans at 7V and 12V sequentially.

With all fans at 7V, the iCUE 5000X is a mid-range engine; slightly louder than the NZXT H710, but a bit quieter than its predecessor, the 570X. This is also the case at 12V, although the difference is only slightly more than half a decibel. However, the cabinets of Fractal Design in particular remain clearly quieter.

Conclusion

Where the Crystal 570X set a trend by covering no less than four sides with glass, the iCUE 5000X RGB brings that concept up to date. The former housing is already four years old. Improvements that we should see in that light are, for example, the addition of USB-C to the front connections, the extension of the psu shroud to the front and the upgrade of the fans to addressable rgb.

Placing case fans behind glass and omitting an outtake fan is never the best idea for cooling. The processor in particular is the victim of the latter, while the video card benefits from the direct airflow. In general, the iCUE 5000X is slightly quieter and therefore warmer than its predecessor. Fortunately, the options for water cooling are endless, especially with the addition of the option to mount a radiator flat against the motherboard tray. Moreover, you work the heat directly out of the cabinet.

So you don’t buy this housing primarily for cooling, but as a showcase for your hardware. The most important change in that respect is the cover door behind the right side panel. With the 570X you immediately looked down on all cables and any hard drives or SSDs. No matter how much effort you put into it, it won’t be really nice anytime soon. We therefore tend to regard this change as progress, although you can of course wonder what the point of glass is if there is little to see through it. Finally, we are satisfied with the level of finish, including the solid dust filters and pre-assembled hubs for both the PWM and RGB signal of the case fans.

For the showcase cabinet enthusiast, the Corsair iCUE 5000X RGB is an excellent choice and an improvement over its predecessor in almost every way. That makes Corsair’s youngest worth an Excellent award. However, consider carefully whether this type of cabinet is right for you; it does not necessarily excel in silence or cooling, and even if you still fanatically collect data on more than two hard disks, you better look further afield.