Corsair Air 5400 LX-R RGB iCUE LINK Mid-Tower Chassis Review

TweakTown Rating: 94%

Our Verdict

Corsair's Air 5400 has just one-upped the rest of the market with its triple-chamber design, which delivers great temperatures and visual aesthetics. Just be prepared to open up your wallet.

Pros

• Unique design
• Top-notch quality
• Includes three 120mm iCUE LINK fans and iCUE LINK System Hub

Cons

• A bit expensive at $309.99
• No vertical GPU support

Should you buy it?

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Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

Today, we are going to look at a new ATX mid-tower, triple-chamber case from our good friends at Corsair. The case, which is the Air 5400, specifically the Air 5400 LX-R RGB iCUE LINK model, which comes in at a staggering $309.99, which is a touch expensive, however Corsair has also included three of their reverse blades iCUE Link 120mm ARGB fans that are pre-installed in the bottom, Corsair has also included a single iCUE Link controller as well to aid in overall value.

If $309.99 is a bit out of your budget, Corsair also has a lower-priced model, the Air 5400 RS-R ARGB, priced at $229.99 sans iCUE LINK integration. So why don't we slap a build in the Air 5400 and see how well this triple-chamber design cools?

Best Deals: CORSAIR LX120-R RGB 120mm PWM Reverse Fans (Triple Fan Kit)

	Today	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$124.99 USD	$124.99 USD	-	Buy
	$179.99 CAD	$179.99 CAD	-	Buy
	£109.99	£104.49	-	Buy
	$124.99 USD	$124.99 USD	-	Buy
	$159 AUD	$159 AUD	-	Buy
* Prices last scanned 11/7/2025 at 12:06 am CST - prices may be inaccurate. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We earn affiliate commission from any Newegg or PCCG sales.

Packaging

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Corsair has packaged the Air 5400 the same way as the rest of their cases lately, with a relatively minimalist approach: a plain cardboard shipping box with only "Air 5400 Series" on the outside.

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The only other writing on the box is this in smaller print, along with a sticker showing the Air 5400 with said included ARGB fans.

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The internal packaging of the Air 5400 appears pretty good, with two open-cell foam end pieces that protect it well from any damage during transit. The accessory box in front also adds some protection to the front tempered glass panel.

Outside the Corsair Air 5400 ATX Mid-Tower Case

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With the Corsair Air 5400 removed from all the packaging, we can see just how big, or should I say how wide, it really is. The dimensions of the Air 5400 are 467mm x 470mm x 340mm. Complete with two tempered glass panels that seem to have a slight tint.

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Corsair has placed its "Sails" logo on the front tempered glass with much tact. I like this quite a lot, very tastefully done.

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The rear side panel shows the unique design Corsair was aiming for: a separate chamber for the CPU radiator, intended to isolate temperatures. So, will this design help with cooling? Or will it be a detriment to cooling and or performance?

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The rear of the Air 5400 features a typical fishtank-style layout. The side panels are held in place with hinges; simply remove the single screw from each hinge.

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The top of the Air 5400 has ventilation on one side and is removable via POGO pins. The front I/O is also located near the front/top, and consists of:

• 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C
• 1x Power Button
• 1x Combo Mic / Headphone

Having no USB Type-A ports is a pretty ballsy move, but I don't really mind it; all my devices are Type-C already.

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The bottom of the Air 5400 features a fully removable dust filter, accessible from the side for easier cleaning. Four feet are located in each corner with small rubber dampeners.

Inside the Corsair Air 5400 ATX Mid-Tower Case

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Now, looking inside the Air 5400, the motherboards it supports are E-ATX, ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX, and reverse-ATX. The Air 5400 radiator support is available in the front, top, and bottom, supporting up to a 360mm radiator/AIO and requiring only 120mm fans. The rear fan location, which doesn't look like much, actually allows a 120mm fan to be installed with the aid of the included bracket to help cool the motherboard VRMs.

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Corsair has developed fan shrouds on both the bottom and the top to help direct airflow towards the GPU and out the roof. The three LX120-R fans are pre-installed at the bottom and pre-wired to the included iCUE LINK system hub located in the rear chamber.

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The top shroud is also slightly different from the bottom. A design shift improves VRM heatsink clearance on the motherboard.

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Another shroud Corsair has implemented is on the back side panel, but more towards the front. This design creates the "third" chamber, which in turn helps direct hot AIO air out of the Air 5400 entirely. For storage support, the combination drive plate, located under the PSU mount, can accommodate either a single 3.5" HDD or two 2.5" SSDs or HDDs.

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Corsair has also included some accessories to help get you started:

• Front Radiator Chamber Filter
• iCUE Link Cable
• Rear Fan VRM Cooling Brackets
• Various Screws
• 12x Zip Ties
• Top Mounted Front I/O Adapter Cable
• Reverse Connector Magnetic Strip
• Safety, Compliance, and a Warranty Information Leaflet

Installation, Testing, Finished Product, and Final Thoughts

Ryan's Test System Specifications

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Here is the test system all installed in the Air 5400. Now, it's really not advised to use an air cooler; however, as you will read, it did reasonably well in terms of temperatures.

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For testing, I used Intel's Core i5 12600K CPU on a Z790 Project Zero motherboard from MSI to test Corsair's Air 5400 ATX mid-tower case. Two sticks of Patriot Viper 32GB DDR5-5600M/T, however, were run at DDR5-4800M/T for memory stability. Zotac's NVIDIA RTX 3090 Trinity GPU was run at its stock power and clock limits via the NVIDIA App.

The Intel Core i5 12600K CPU is now cooled by the Pure Rock Pro 3 heatsink from be quiet!, which features two 120mm fans in a dual-tower configuration for optimal cooling performance. For the fan configuration, the Corsair Air 5400's fans are set up by default with three LX ARGB 120mm fans mounted at the bottom as cool-air intake. This fan configuration creates a positive case pressure scenario with no fans in the rear or on the roof for exhaust.

Temperatures for the Intel Core i5 12600K reached a maximum of 81 °C, averaging 72 °C, while maintaining a boost clock of around 4.5 GHz. Zotac's NVIDIA RTX 3090 Trinity reached a maximum temperature of 78.3 °C, but only lowered the average temperature to 77.1 °C. Overall, the temperatures were quite suitable for the CPU and GPU, thanks to sufficient airflow from the bottom intake fans.

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Corsair was even kind enough to send out the iCUE LINK Titan 360 RX RGB as well as a triple pack of their LX120-R RGB 120mm fans. So I will install them in the Air 5400 and see if the third chamber of the AIO actually makes a difference in terms of temperatures and/or performance.

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Now removing the bequiet! Pure Rock Pro 3 from the top of the Intel Core i5 12600K, replacing it with the iCUE LINK Titan 360 RX RGB AIO in the third chamber. This chamber totally separates the AIO from the rest of the case, thus reducing temperatures because the CPU is not affected by the GPU, and vice versa. Moving onto CPU temperatures, averaging just 52 °C with a maximum temperature of 65 °C, making for a 16 °C drop in the maximum temperature and a 20 °C drop in the average temperature.

Of course, going to a 360mm AIO does help quite a bit, not to mention the three additional 120mm fans in the roof, though it didn't matter for the CPU. The RTX 3090's max temp actually went up to 80.1 °C, with an average of 77.1 °C, showing no improvement.

All testing was completed using Aida64 Engineer's System Stability Test version v8.00.8000 for over 30 minutes; the ambient temperature was 18 °C. Other monitoring software used was HWiNFO64 v8.32.5840, TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.68.0, and CPU-Z 2.17.0.x64.

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So, concluding the Air 5400, and I can honestly say that this is by far my favorite Corsair case to date. Of course, the magic really lies in the triple-chamber design: moving the CPU AIO to its own chamber helps a ton. Including three iCUE LINK LX 120mm RGB fans pre-installed, along with a system hub, gives it a more complete feel. Although I am a little disappointed that Corsair didn't support any vertical GPU mounts, I think with a bit of engineering, this could be very possible.

With pricing in mind, coming in at $309.99 for the top model shown here, it's a lot to chew on, but you are getting quite a bit in the entire package, something in the neighborhood of over $200 in Corsair gear, and adding in the Air 5400, making it well worth the additional $110. I would like to see Corsair release a barebones version of the Air 5400 for around $150 for those that do not want to jump into Corsair's iCUE LINK ecosystem.