Corsair Crystal Series 460X RGB Review

Corsair Crystal Series 460X RGB Review

Manufacturer: Corsair
UK price (as reviewed): £149.99 (inc VAT) (three RGB fans), £119.99 (inc VAT) (one red LED fan)
US price (as reviewed): $139.99 (ex Tax)

There's an allure that glass has that just can't be mimicked by acrylic. Plenty of case manufacturers have tried, but in reality if you want that glass appeal, you need to use glass. That, of course, means ramping up the price tag, and as we've seen with cases such as BitFenix's Aurora, it can be hit or miss as you inevitably end up making sacrifices elsewhere.

That said, Phanteks did manage to pull this off with its Enthoo Pro M Tempered Glass , which was a reasonably good looking case too, matched with Phanteks' usual finesse with features. For less than £100, it managed to combine premium aesthetic appeal and enthusiast features. Corsair has been quietly absent from the tempered glass game, but certain large cube cases aside, we do like the look of the 400C and 600C, which were a breath of fresh air in a fairly mundane and ageing lineup of ATX cases.

Thankfully, Corsair has been tweaking things again and as many of us probably thought, it's attempting to fill the hole in its lineup for a premium group of cases that feature tempered glass, amongst other things, to add some much needed visual pizazz. In this review we're looking at the the mid-range offering - the Crystal Series 460X RGB. Perhaps the key feature of the case is that it comes equipped with up to three of Corsair's great-looking SP120 RGB fans.


These are not cheap items so while the case retails for an unsuprisingly premium £150, there is a cheaper £120 model that just sports one red LED fan, with a standard fan at the rear. The idea, though, is that the LED fans get to shine through that luscious front glass panel and we have to say that Corsair has done a pretty good job here - it looks great.


Unlike some tempered glass-sporting cases, though, the 460X doesn't skimp on features or flexibility, and keeps Corsair's excellent cooling credentials that we saw with the 400C and 600C. In fact, the 460X is nearly identical to the 400C - just with a few subtle tweaks here and there. The front panel has been modified to fit a removable glass panel and the case is slightly taller and deeper too. There are more cable anchor points and of course there's the fans' RGB lighting controller. This comes in two parts - there's a front panel trio of buttons next to the usual ports and buttons, but you also get an internal controller which is the same as you get with its new RGB fans.


The roof has a large magnetic dust filter, hiding a large mesh dual fan mount. The dense mesh in the filter does a good job of making the top section look like it's solid when in fact it's adding some serious ventilation and water-cooling potential. The base of the case also sports a removable dust filter, along with rubber-lined feet, while there's the characteristic vents around the front panel - exactly the same as the 400C.


The fans aren't quite RGB in the way you might know it, in that you can't apply any static colour, like you would on many modern premium motherboards. They can cycle colours for sure, but only a handful are available in static mode. Still, it's possible to get most of them, including green, yellow, blue, red and white plus a few more shades. These plus the lighting effects will either be useful for colour-matching to your hardware's colour scheme or just for some funky lighting to show off at LAN parties and the like.

Specifications

• Dimensions (mm) 220 x 440 x 464 (W x D x H)
  
• Material Steel, plastic, glass
  
• Available colours Black
  
• Weight 7.97kg
  
• Front panel Power, reset, 2 x USB 3.0, stereo, microphone, lighting controls
  
• Drive bays 2 x 3.5in/2.5in, 3 x 2.5in
  
• Form factor(s) ATX, micro-ATX
  
• Cooling 2 x 140mm or 3 x 120mm front fan mounts (3 x 120mm fans included), 1 x 120mm rear fan mount, 2 x 140mm/120mm roof fan mounts (fans not included)
  
• CPU cooler clearance 170mm
  
• Maximum graphics card length 370mm
  
• Extras Removable dust filters, SP120 RGB fans and controller