Corsair 6500X PC Case Review

The 6500X case is a re-entry into the dual-chamber space for Corsair, that launches alongside 2 other ‘6500’ cases and a smaller set of variants known as the ‘2500’ range. The Corsair 6500X increases component space versus the 2500X case, while maintaining a sleek and sophisticated aesthetic that can be configured to match the style and colour of your home gaming setup.

The 6500X is a mid-tower case that fully embraces DIY PC building by offering a highly customisable and functional design. This gorgeous case raises the bar in terms of aesthetics, offering mesh, glass, metal, and wooden panels that change the style and functionality of your PC build. The 6500X also prioritises a cable-free layout with support for ASUS BTF and MSI PROJECT ZERO motherboards, ensuring the case maintains a clean and tidy look.

But does the Corsair 6500X stand out in this highly competitive market? We’ve put the Corsair 6500X through the wringer, assessing the design, strong feature set, and component support, to see what kind of value-proposition this case offers.

Buy the Corsair 6500X on:

Specifications

The Corsairs 6500X case comes with a highly impressive list of specs, with support for 360mm radiators across the side, top, and bottom panels, along with space for E-ATX motherboards, and 400mm of clearance for graphics cards. The 6500X also offers a strong set of front IO, with 4 USB 3.2 Type-A ports, a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, and a 3.5mm combo jack.

This particular variant of the ‘6500’ range doesn’t come with any fans unfortunately. The only model to offer pre-installed fans straight out of the box is the 6500X RGB, of which there are 3 RX iCUE LINK 120mm RGB fans. However, the 6500X supports a number of different fan and radiator configurations making any future fan installations relatively simple.

Corsair 6500X Design

The 6500X builds upon the success of previous Corsair case designs such as the 680X and the Air 540, alongside the 2500X. This chassis acts as a re-entry into the highly popular dual-chamber space for Corsair. The Corsair 6500X comes in both black and white colourways as standard, whilst offering a number of additional wood and metal finished panelling options for further customisation.

The dual-chamber design philosophy has a distinct number of advantages, such as improved cooling across both chambers, and the option of hiding cables behind the motherboard tray. Allowing for a more refined and cleaner look across your PC build.

This is further assisted by the 6500X’s support for both ASUS and MSI reverse connector motherboards, where all of the major power connectors are kept out of sight and are hidden at the rear of the case.

I do feel that the Corsair 6500X veers away from the traditional ‘fish tank’ style, thanks to the optional wood panelling accessories. These panels provide different finishes for the case, allowing you to match up the look with the rest of your setup.

Despite being quite enclosed due to the seamless glass design, the 6500X offers a huge amount of ventilation around the rear, side, top, and bottom panels. This ensures air can flow freely throughout the case, keeping a lid on thermals. The 6500X supports a diverse range of fan and radiator configurations, with room for up to 10 120mm fans, and 360mm radiators across the side, top, and bottom of the case.

The Corsair 6500X is equipped with dust filters on the bottom and side panels. This will minimise any debris entering the case over a prolonged amount of time. The top panel doesn’t have a dedicated filter, but the metal mesh design covering the top of the chassis should also assist with dust filtering.

My biggest concern on the design front, is the lack of any preinstalled fans on the 6500X. While you can spend around $60 more for the 6500X RGB (which does come with fans), the price of this particular variant could be a contentious point.

I don’t think the price point of the 6500X is wholly unreasonable on its own. But I do feel this case would be a more competitive offering with 2 or 3 included fans, instead of limiting this to the RGB variant.

Aesthetically, the Corsair 6500X is one of the best dual-chamber cases on the market, rivalling the likes of the Lian Li O11 Vision, and Montech’s King 95 Pro. The seamless glass panelling at the front and the side of the case provides an unhindered view of your PC build.

The 6500X is a signature Corsair case through and through, offering exquisite build quality across the entire chassis. Corsair have significantly improved upon the seamless glass case design, prioritising airflow, while maintaining a unique and sophisticated aesthetic that will appeal to a mass of PC builders.

Building in the Corsair 6500X

The Corsair 6500X is a highly accommodating mid-tower option, and much like Corsair’s other cases, building in this chassis is a breeze. We’ve done a deep dive on all of the major building qualities and specifications that the 6500X has to offer.

Internal Space

The Corsair 6500X is a mid-tower chassis that offers a huge amount of internal space, despite not being the biggest case on the market. In terms of component support, the Corsair 6500X can house Mini-ITX motherboards, all the way up to E-ATX options. This case is also fully compatible with reverse connection motherboards such as ASUS BTF or MSI PROJECT ZERO.

The reverse connection motherboard standard is saturating the market, with more manufacturers providing cases that support this cable configuration. The benefit of picking up one of these boards versus a standard motherboard is easier cable management. All of the major headers and power connectors can be plugged in from the rear, and because this is a dual-chamber case, they’ll be fully hidden.

The Corsair 6500X is a very clean case, so this chassis will be perfect for those who are looking to keep the party in the front, and business in the back. The durable and flexible cable grommets, along with all of the additional cable cutouts make cable management hassle free.

On the clearance front, the 6500X supports coolers up to 190mm in height, and graphics cards up to 400mm in length. It must be noted that the 400mm is only available if you aren’t front mounting a radiator. This drops down to 370mm if a front mounted radiator has been installed. The Corsair 6500X also comes with 8 PCI-E covers, so there’s ample space for a dual graphics card setup.

Moving around to the opposing side panel, the 6500X supports power supplies up to 225mm in length, which will accommodate the vast majority of large PSUs. This case also has space for either 2 2.5 inch drives, or 2 3.5 inch drives. Both of the drive bays are located just above the motherboard tray, so the SATA data and power cables don’t need to travel too far.

Radiator and Fan Mounting

The Corsair 6500X unfortunately doesn’t have any pre-installed fans, but there is a gargantuan amount of space to house all of your cooling requirements. This case is able to support up to 10 120mm fans, or 7 140mm fans. The top, bottom, and side panels all offer space to accommodate 360mm radiators, which is pretty impressive.

The 6500X unfortunately doesn’t have any room for 420mm liquid coolers, which is a shame to see. While the vast majority of 360mm AIOs are perfectly fine to keep a lid on processor thermals, 420mm radiators have become more of a necessity for top-end CPUs like the Core i9-14900K. So it is somewhat disappointing that the 6500X doesn’t support these larger cooler designs.

Ease of Building

The dual-chamber layout of the 6500X makes the building process much easier. Not having to worry about cable management is a huge relief, especially if you’re building with a reverse connectors motherboard. The durable rubber grommets, and vast amount of cutouts provide an easy way to hide cables at the rear of the chassis.

Getting the main components installed was very simple. The side glass panel is secured with a couple of screws, which can be unfastened and the panel can then be easily lifted away. The front glass can also be popped out, providing full access to the inside of the chassis. The top metal mesh panel has a fabric pull tab, which exposes the radiator and fan mounting channels at the top of the case.

The side fan and radiator mounting is recessed into the case, which is a unique feature. Doing this prevents any GPU clearance problems, and also keeps any cable mess out of the way. Overall, the highly functional design of the Corsair 6500X makes building a PC inside this chassis an easy and simplified process.

Features We Like

Panelling Accessories

The 6500X comes with a range of optional accessories that offer alternative ways to style your system, or provide extra functionality. The main accessories worth highlighting are the ELITE panel kits. These panels provide a different finish to the 6500X with a range of 5 to choose from. 4 of these panels are wooden, varying from a darker ebony style of wood, to a lighter pine look.

While these panels are totally optional and need to be purchased separately, they provide a unique way of changing up the overall look of your case and setup without hindering the functionality of the 6500X. Corsair kindly sent us the darker brown panel which matches up very nicely with the Platform:6 desk!

Extremely Clean Design

The 6500X is one of the cleanest cases on the market. The dual-chamber design shifts all of the untidy mess to the back of the case, which means the main chamber of the chassis can fully embrace the ‘showpiece’ role of any PC build.

QuikTurn Screws

Corsair have included their patented QuikTurn screws in an accessory box with the 6500X. These screws have a unique thread design that allows you to easily install and remove the screws with minimal turns.

Modern IO Options

The front IO of the 6500X case is very strong, offering up five ports in total to choose from. You’ve got access to 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports, alongside a high speed USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C option, which offers 10Gbps transfer speeds. The 3.5mm audio combo jack also allows a headset or pair of headphones to be plugged in.

Features We Don’t Like

RapidRoute Cable Management Sold Separately

RapidRoute cable management has been a staple of Corsair cases for quite some time, providing an easy way to channel and clean up cable mess. However, this is not a feature that comes as standard with the 6500X, and needs to be purchased separately.

While I do think the cable management cutouts and channels are pretty strong across the 6500X, there aren’t any included Velcro ties or cable bars to keep all of your wiring in one spot. This is a bit disappointing considering the price of the 6500X, but if cable management isn’t a concern for you, then the additional accessory won’t be necessary.

No Pre-installed Fans

At an MSRP of $199.99 the lack of any pre-installed fans is somewhat disappointing. While this is understandable due to the premium nature of this case. It makes more sense for Corsair to include fans at this price point and provide a cheaper version of the 6500X that doesn’t offer any preinstalled fans out of the box.

It could be argued that this is the main reasoning for the creation of the 6500X RGB, but a $60 price jump is a considerable ask for what is already an expensive case.

Conclusion

Corsair 6500X

Product Name: 6500X

Brand: Corsair

• Features
• Design
• Versatility
• Value For Money

4.4

Summary

The Corsair 6500X is one of the strongest dual-chamber cases on the market. This chassis is a highly functional design, with a major focus on airflow, versatility, clean cable management, and component space. The 6500X is extremely clean and offers a sleek and sophisticated aesthetic that I feel single chamber cases will struggle to rival. We found that the 6500X was extremely easy to build in, and provides a mass of customisation options that allows for a bespoke and superb looking system.

The only factor of this case that feels a bit muddled, is the MSRP. At $199.99, the 6500X is expensive, considering there’s no fans, and all of the unique or useful accessories have to be purchased separately. I do feel it is fair to argue that you’re paying for a high quality case, hence the higher price. However, I feel the 6500X should be cheaper based on its lack of fans and overall feature set, which would bring a better value-proposition for those looking to build a PC inside a premium case.

Pros

✅ Exceptional build quality

✅ Clean aesthetic

✅ Airflow-focused design

Cons

❌ No included fans

❌ Expensive

❌ RapidRoute is a separate accessory