A Closer Look - Inside

To gain access to the main chamber of the Corsair 6500X, simply swing the door open. The interior of the case sports a motherboard section which has a lot of cutouts to accommodate all sizes of boards and setups. Even with these openings, the whole frame feels extremely sturdy. In the rear, the general layout is exactly what we have come to expect from modern dual-chamber enclosures. That said, Corsair is clearly focusing on the less intricate, yet functional aesthetic. There are no cable channels, pre-installed Velcro strips or center cover plate in order to provide as much storage as possible. Instead, you get lots of room and lots of classic hooks to secure zip ties to.


As this is the 6500X variant, with the front being a glass panel, there is only the functional area to the side to speak of. This is a deep recess for three 120 mm fans or a radiator of up to 360 mm size. Again, thanks to the depth, you are able to install a thick radiator or a setup with push/pull configuration easily. Corsair has placed rubber grommets on the side of this nook so that you can cleanly route any cables. This is important as the glass front will give you a clear view of this section. Interestingly enough, these grommets aren't the usual black, but a lighter, dual-tone gray which surprisingly doesn't look out of place at all. That is purely a subjective opinion though, so purists may be disappointed. By removing two small screws you may remove the front glass panel. If you happen to have the Airflow variant, Corsair sells the glass on their website, allowing you to convert it to a 6500X. That said, Corsair does not seem to sell a mesh front, so there is no way for you to it the other way around. In addition to this, You can exchange the front and top steel panels on the left of the case with 6500 Series ELITE Panel Kits. You have a choice of silver or black aluminium, bamboo, walnut or teak.


In the rear, at the top, there is that aforementioned fan/AIO placement possibility. Thanks to the elongated mounting holes, you have some flexibility in terms of placement height as well. Below that, you can find the eight expansion slots. While not immediately apparent, but clearly visible from within, to the side of the horizontal expansion slots, Corsair has placed more elongated mounting holes, so that you can mount parts such as reservoirs or pumps.


Both the floor and ceiling of the 6500 series are dedicated to cooling. These allow for three 120 or 140 mm fans, or radiators of up to 360 mm in size. In the top, as previously mentioned, you will have enough room for extreme setups, while the distance to the motherboard on the bottom is slightly less, yet still much more than we see with other cases of this type. Also, thanks to the upward facing cable routing holes, even if you fill the floor with fans or a radiator, routing will not be a problem at all.


Before you can dive into the chamber behind the motherboard, you will have to remove the mesh panel by unscrewing two captive thumb screws and popping the panel off. As you can see, Corsair has lined the whole thing with fine mesh, but also added an air frame that lines up with the side fan/AIO mounting location. This closes the gap and means that air intake for those components is cleanly channelled from the outside.


There are two SSD brackets on the side of the HDD cage. These are held in place by captive thumb screws and actually lean forward a bit at the bottom intentionally. This is likely to allow for easier access to the fragile SATA connections of any installed drive. Below that, there is the PSU bay, which is quite simple, using metal lips bent from the back and the cutout of the motherboard tray to hold it in place. There are no foam pads or the likes, but while that may sound like a negative, it just shows that a robust, well-designed chassis doesn't really need them anyway.


On the floor in this chamber, there are cutouts in the metal to allow you to easily align a pump or reservoir, which is a nice touch. Looking at the grommets from this side, you can see that there are hooks for zip ties in-between each of these, which are quite welcome as they allow you to spread out your cables. This results in more modularity, cleaner looks and easier upgrades down the line without having to redo all of your cable management, just to access a single cable. The mounting bracket of for the side cooling capabilities of the 6500X is yet again simple but functional. Where other brands offer engineering that allows for flipping it or to slide it up and down to adjust its depth, this is clearly simple but still just as functional in the end.


As the Corsair 6500X ships with four USB-A 3.0 ports, you will find two leads for these inside the case. On top of that, there are the usual USB-C and audio ports. Last but not least, a unified front panel plug takes out all the complexity in connecting LED, reset and power.