Review on 🖥️ CORSAIR CRYSTAL 280X RGB Micro-ATX Case, 2 RGB Fans, Lighting Node PRO - Black (CC-9011135-WW) with Tempered Glass by Benjamin Glasper

Fair warning: my high-ass sucks for RGB. After carefully reading the reviews on the Internet, I decided on a Mini-ITX motherboard (ASUS ROG Strix B450-I). Luckily I did. If you look closely at the pictures, you will see that the Mini-ITX mobile board has just enough space for the bottom fans and the cable openings in the case are clearly designed for Mini-ITX. The mATX board would be too narrow in this case. My build consisted of an H110i Platinum RGB water block, an ML140 fan, two LL140 fans, and two LL120 fans (one of which is on the other side of the case, not pictured). With two fans on the bottom and two more on the top, the 240mm radiator doesn't have enough space for the front as there is no room for pipes there. If you can get it to work, chances are you'll be worried about leaks due to the tight fit. Anyway, I've decided to place one ML140 fan and one LL120 fan on the bottom for intake, one H110i on top for the exhaust, two LL140 fans on the front for intake and one LL120 fan on the back for exhaust, to keep this going . areas from overheating. With this setting, my CPU (2700x @ 4.2 GHz) maxed out at 35.5 °C and my GPU at 65 °C with GTA V at maximum settings for 2 hours - with tempered glass panels. This was in California with an ambient temperature of around 72 F. Air cooling or using the 8700K can be an issue as the fans have to work harder to move the air with the panels. Wiring can also be a problem. depending on your setup. The holes provided were great, but I ended up routing all CPU-related cables through the top left corner, and the GPU cables were difficult to route over the GPU instead of under it so the cables didn't touch the bottom fan. However, some of the clutter you see on the GPU is due to the mobo's design, as the HD audio outputs extended to the bottom left corner of the GPU. I also think it has to do with how small the case is. On the back you have a 2.5 inch SSD bay in the top corner facing forward and a 3.5 inch hard drive bay in the other top corner. The hard drive bay is accessible from the back (see homepage pictures) and can also be removed for more space. The SSD bay can probably be detached as well, but I haven't tried it. One issue to note is that while you can install a fan up to 140mm in size on the rear, you have to remember that this common area needs to be free of cables if space is already pretty tight. I would recommend a semi or fully modular power supply. since you want to have as few wires on the back as possible. In this case you will not play Tetris at all. The GPU and other possible PCI/-E components are held in place by a smaller hinged bezel on the back, held in place by two screws. This plate has a small edge where the screw on the components would normally be. You must hold heavier components (e.g. the GPU) while screwing this cover back on, otherwise the component can easily jam. The case also requires a USB3 port on the mobile phone. A mobile device with a USB3 port shouldn't generally be very difficult to find, but if you want to build a serious budget you can find several mobile devices without this port. I also often wanted to get the H115i water cooler as a replacement for the H100i cooler, since it has a diameter of 280mm (top plate compatible), but I'm worried whether it will be too narrow with the built-in front fan and affect the airflow. The case is designed to allow air to enter from the front and exit at the top, so a larger fan set means the intake air rises much sooner/with more force. In my normal human mind, I believe this will make it difficult to replace the rear air with fresher, cooler air, or even create a small low-pressure pocket for outside air to enter. It may be too much [mis]thought, but it's still food for thought. The length of the case only allows smaller GPUs (<300mm), so cards like the 2070 Duke or similar won't fit in the case. And the last thing to remember. Before buying: The bottom is very small margin. So don't put the cover on the carpet and maybe buy a monitor stand to attach this cover. I received a Rolodex 82411 wireframe monitor stand that fits snugly in the case. This has helped me cool my GPU much better and I find it lets more air in from the bottom even if I were to put this case on a wooden floor or similar. Other than that, this is a great case. I highly recommend this case if you consider all the above points. -1 star for marketing this case as a mATX, although in this case the mATX build is not very good. ================ Specifications: Ryzen 7 2700x @ 4.2 GHz Asus ROG Strix B450-IMSI RTX 2080 Ventus OCG.Skill TridentZ RGB RAM 2x8GBH100i RGB Platinum CPU Water cooling Seasonic Focus Gold 650W