Corsair Crystal 280X RGB mATX Chassis Review

Complete System

Components Used

• Motherboard – Gigabyte Z97 Gaming 5 mATX – $150 / £100
• CPU – Intel Core i5-4690K – $199 / £200
• RAM – Crucial Ballistix 3000 MHz 16GB – $220 / £164
• CPU Cooler – Noctua NH-L12S $49 / £52
• Graphics Card – AMD VEGA 56 $500 / £450
• Power Supply – be quiet! Straight Power 11 650W $120 / £113

 The Build

With everything installed, the compact Crystal 280X shows just how well it has been configured. There’s loads of room in here thanks to that dual chamber design, and moving the PSU and hard drives out of sight keeps it looking clean, as well as keeping the height and length of the chassis as low as possible.

I’m more impressed with how much room is left over. However, I am disappointed that my Noctua NH12 didn’t fit, so I switched to a low-profile design. Fortunately, for those water cooling their system, space isn’t an issue, and with radiators fitting up top and in the front, you’ve certainly got some options here.

The stock fans look pretty glorious in here, although I personally would move both of them to the front panel, that’s just me. Of course, it’s begging for more fans too, so throw a 240mm Corsair AIO in the front,

Overall though, the fans, the dual chamber design, the exquisite cable routing, it all adds up.

Without a doubt, this is a fantastic looking, if not one of the best looking, mATX chassis. Now, let’s get that glass back on and see the lighting from the outside!

With the Corsair software, you can customise the lighting like crazy. You can customise zones on each fan, effects, and even have lighting that runs through your Corsair peripherals, into your chassis and back. The customisation is pretty endless. However, even at their default settings, they’ll cycle through colours with plenty of style.