A Closer Look - Outside

Out of the box, it quickly becomes apparent why the 2500D Airflow is unusually heavy. Corsair has done an excellent job with the material mix, with thick steel panels and clean glass. Due to these material choices, the case doesn't try to push the design envelope to its plastic focused predecessors from years ago which had a bit more style details. That said, the resulting understated look of the 2500D Airflow makes sense in the current market, where most enclosures are clearly shifting their looks towards clean, straight lines anyway.


Looking at the front, you can clearly see that the 2500D Airflow mesh panels is hugged by two metal strips - a wider one on the right with a slim one on the left. A simple Corsair logo can be found in the front, this is a thin foil sticker. While a sticker is fine, silk-screening would have been a better, longer lasting option. Taking a quick peek at the rear, it quickly becomes apparent that the interior is laid out pretty traditionally for a dual-chamber chassis. Corsair has translated all the features we saw on the 6500X to this much smaller case as well.


The main side continues the glass aesthetic and is held in place by a pair of thumb screws. A tab on the back allows for easy removal of the panel once the screws are detached. On the opposite side, we see a full mesh panel, which is quite an uncommon sight. Most stay away from this setup, as metal mesh is easy to bend and ding. While the implementation on the 2500D Airflow certainly is not as rigid as a steel or glass panel, it doesn't feel overly fragile either. That said, if you want to, you will surely be able to bend it with your bare hands.


At the top right, there is a hefty vent above the 120 mm fan or similar sized AIO mounting area. This means that you will have no issues using thick radiators or a push/pull configuration in the ceiling of the Corsair 2500D Airflow. Below that, there are four expansion slots. If you look closely, you will notice that the whole cover with the slots may be removed by detaching two thumb screws. This is to accommodate the vertical GPU mounting kit that Corsair sells separately. At the very bottom, there is a single Velcro strip, so you can do some basic cable management. However, if you look closely at the back as a whole, there are hooks for zip ties as well, so you could go the extra mile and keep the exterior cables clean as well.


In the rear, at the top left, you will find two plastic HDD trays behind a vented metal cover. The practical upside of plastic use is the fact that these trays are tool-less when installing 3.5" drives. Below that, there is the full-size ATX PSU bay, which can hold a unit of up to 225 mm in length. It comes with an SFX frame adapter pre-mounted, which is a nice touch. Underneath the PSU bay, there is a square cutout which allows you to install an iCUE LINK plug so that you can properly interface external RGB elements like Corsair's LINK-enabled LED strips to the system. That is certainly a nice touch and something we will see more of with Corsair's future enclosures.


In the top, sandwiched between two solid metal pieces there is another mesh cover, which you may pull off with a firm tug. Underneath, you will find mounting possibilities for three 120 or two 140 mm fans. Alternatively, this part of the case can hold a radiator of up to 360 mm in size. On the larger steel top panel, you will find two yellow USB-A 3.0 ports as well as a single USB-C connector in the same color. This has become a bit of a design signature from Corsair and can be found on all of their recent enclosures. Besides the audio combo port, there is a small reset button and an LED equipped, larger square power switch as well.


On the underside of the Corsair 2500D Airflow, there is a full-length, fine mesh dust filter. If you look closely, you will also find a drain port here as it is the lowest point of the case, which could come in handy for custom liquid cooling loops. You may conveniently pull the dust filter out the front instead of the back for extremely easy access even while everything is neatly placed on your desk and running.