It has been a full two years since the original Corsair 5000D Airflow received our recommendation at $165 MSRP. The fact that Corsair is doing a bit of a refresh of the case may make you take notice that Corsairs once sprawling case line-up with always changing models has come to a pretty abrupt halt in the last two years (Editor's note: we only reviewed a single Corsair case in the last 18 months as of the time of this review). So to bridge the gap, it may make sense to take something which worked well and refresh it.

While that encore revolves around the fact that Corsair is actually launching their new AF120 Elite RGB fans today, it does give us a bit of a unique opportunity to revisit the 5000D Airflow and judge how it holds up today. With that in mind, the chassis is not 100% the exact same as we had reviewed before. Corsair did tweak the glass panel to be more in line with what users want these days by ditching the heavy tint. On top of that there are a few little tooling tweaks - some ever so subtle around the case as well as small omissions and visual improvements. None of that really should move the needle much in terms of cost and as such MSRP though. At $220, at a time where everything feels like haven gotten more expensive due to the economic state of the world. the Corsair iCUE 5000D Airflow AF120 Elite actually doesn't seem to follow that trend. Considering the cost of the individual fans at an - albeit steep $35 each, the updated iCUE 5000D Airflow manages to offer plenty for what is essentially a roughly $120 enclosure.

The implementation of the AF120 Elite fans integration with the two-piece hub & controller combo does allow for a cheap upgrade path to a total of twelve Corsair fans or RGB elements, but also means that as soon as you buy a 3-pack of the new fans with the 6-port RGB hub, you will most likely pry off both elements and just keep the 6-port PWM hub. Similarly, if you opt for a Corsair AIO, you will receive a single PCB to do it all as well. As such, you always loose, either by paying for something you won't need or by having to pay the higher per fan cost from buying the AF120 Elite RGB units individually.

Just like the original, you still get plenty of AIO capabilities, the ability to install a vertical dual-slot GPU and loads of functional USPs, even if some of them feel a little dated compared to what the rest of the market has been cooking up in the two years since the enclosures first appearance. While the RGB ecosystem has come a long way with plenty of brands offering their own take on software control without the walled Corsair garden, the iCUE 5000D RGB Airflow still manages to stand its ground. In other words, if you are a fan of the iCUE software and ecosystem, then the iCUE 5000D Airflow is a solid choice for a chassis - especially if you crave the new AF120 Elite RGB fans as well.