A Closer Look - Inside

To gain access to the interior, you may pull off both side panels and the front glass pane. The interior of the Corsair 3500X ARGB really focuses on the modern layout for mid-tower cases of this design. The motherboard has all the additional openings to support Asus or MSI based BTF motherboards for the cleanest possible look. On the floor, the shroud is intended to hide the PSU only, with the front section dedicated to allowing for a fan to be placed here. Corsair could have also added holes to mount a reservoir or pump here to make better use of the space.


As this is the ARGB variant of the 3500X, you will find three such fans on the side of the enclosure. These are unfortunately not reverse fans, so the hub and spines of these fans are facing inward. On top of that the wiring on these is very short, so out of the box, there is quite the mess. To make matters worse, Corsair has decided to skip any grommets in this part of the case. In comparison, the 6500X has such an element as it is quite important for "fish tank" style enclosures. So, it makes no sense for Corsair to omit these. Behind the motherboard tray, there is a mounting plate which can hold two 2.5" as well as two 3.5" drives at the same time for a solid total of four storage units.


The PSU bay, like all openings on the 3500X, sports the same unique grill design and has foam pads for the PSU to rest on. Above that, there are the seven expansion slots, which are bridge-less. These are reusable and come with classic screws. At the very top, there is that aforementioned fan mounting position with plenty of room above it, so you should have no issues with ceiling mounted liquid cooling units.


You may detach the expansion slot plate by removing three screws and then rotating it 90°. While it may look like you have seven slots, it really is just the four which are furthest away from the motherboard. Even so, this setup results in a nice and healthy gap between your vertically mounted GPU and the side glass for it to breath easy. In the ceiling there is that large opening for those three ceiling mounted fans or AIOs of up to 360 mm in size. Thanks to the offset mounting holes, it should still provide plenty of room for fairly easy cable management. Corsair has also included three simple hooks to hang any loose wiring onto, which is a nice touch even though these tend to bend and break off easily. Noteworthy is the fact that the IO is not simply an ugly PCB or plastic plate. Corsair has encased it completely to keep things neat and tidy.


All the wiring inside the Corsair 3500X ARGB is black with the USB-A connector using two flat-band cables for easier routing and bending. The motherboard connectors are unified, which we are finally seeing more and more of - something that we have been hoping to see for a long time.