Test System

Assembly

Installing the motherboard is done by traditional means, with the use of pre-applied spacers and included black screws. The compact nature of the Crystal 280X forces you to use a compact air cooler or go straight for liquid cooling. In our case, we were easily able to go with a 90 mm-fan-based tower cooler, but you will also be able opt for a top down unit if you like as 150 mm is more than enough for those as well.


The same assembly principle applies to the 2.5" drive bay, so you won't need any screws or tools to fill these trays. Once done, simply drop the tray back into its original position.


You also do not need any tools or screws to install a 3.5'' drive. Simply use the plastic tray of your choice and drop the drive into it. Pins will hold it in place, while rubber rings make sure no vibrations get to the chassis itself. Once filled, slide the drive back into one of three slots via the opening in the rear. Back in 2014, with the Air 240, I also mentioned that it would be really cool if Corsair could offer hot-swap brackets for these drives, at least as an optional accessory, so that you could technically hot-swap these bays, which content creators could be interested in. This still holds true today.


Last, but not least, installing the power supply is also done by employing traditional methods. You may even put longer unit into the bay as there is loads of space for such variants. As you can see, I chose to have the fan of the Antec unit face the air vent on the side.


With everything in place, the main motherboard compartment looks extremely clean, allowing for the two fans to create an upward airflow across the motherboard without running into any major obstructions. All the cable mess has been tucked away and out of sight as it is inside the other half of the chassis. I used a few zip ties but then left the PSU cables just bunched up, which won't make a difference at all as it is all nicely hidden away anyways.

Finished Looks

Once the panels are put back in place and the whole system is turned on, the Corsair Crystal 280X RGB really shines as one of the more beautiful enclosures of this summer. The RGB fans in the front and top shine through nicely due to the elaborate metal mesh shapes and solid glass panels. A white LED inside the power button lets you know that the system is running properly as well.


In front, you can clearly see the ring of light from the fan, as well as the system components behind it if no cooling unit is present. However, the beauty can clearly be seen when viewing the system through the big side window. Thanks to excellent cable-routing possibilities, everything looks roomy and tidy. In the rear, everything is where you would expect it to be with the PSU on the bottom left and the GPU on the right of it.