9000D RGB AIRLOW Build Log by KingBean

We asked one of our Insiders, KingBean, to write up a build log to chronicle his experience with the CORSAIR 9000D RGB AIRFLOW Super Full-Tower Case. The following build log is entirely his own words. Enjoy.

Being a Corsair insider has given me the opportunity to build the 9000D, so props to CORSAIR, and thank you for the privilege of documenting a build in this mammoth case. Being a CORSAIR 1000D owner, I eagerly anticipated the launch of the 9000D. As soon as I laid my eyes on it, I thought I had to have one. While my daily driver, the 1000D, sat covered in dust from being used daily for the past three years as my main PC for anything from work to games to videos, the 1000D kept me company throughout it all, but it was time to upgrade and shift my current build into a newer, more modern chassis.

This is what I was going to transfer over to the 9000D RGB AIRFLOW

In case you are wondering, the specifications and full parts list are at the end of this build log.

• Cpu: Intel core i7 13700k
• Motherboard: Asus Hero Z690
• Ram: Corsair titanium/dominator DDR5
• Power supply: Corsair HX1500i
• GPU: Asus Strix 3080
• Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 1Tb/2tB Nvme

Let's do a little unboxing to get this ball rolling

I’d like to introduce you to the CORSAIR 9000D RGB AIRFLOW, a mammoth computer super tower case. It comes well-packed and protected, with lots of packing to support this heavy beast.

The first thing to note is that the updated motherboard tray now supports reverse connection motherboards, including the BTF motherboard line and lines of motherboard manufacturers that will eventually support this idea. The tray also includes added graphics card support and revamped cable grommets.

Above the French doors, you'll find that the original dead space has now been converted to support a 360mm radiator or AIO. Although it has its limitations, such as you can use the back radiator mount, you'll not be able to get two radiators in the InfiniRail system, so it's a trade-off. Although how you design your system build is completely up to you, if you were to modify maybe the rear metal back panel, you could potentially fit the 360mm radiator on the top but with it sticking out the back with the ports facing away. However, some modification to the inner paneling would allow the tubing to run through it; it's just an idea if you want to go that way.

Around the back, behind the French-style doors, you'll find an iCUE link hub and 3-pin pass-through that allows you to connect the 3-pin RGB connection to control the case lighting. The newly designed front panel cable selection utilizes the new single USB C cable to power your I/O. As many of you 1000D owners will know, the pain of the 1000D I/O cabling makes cable management much easier. You're still left with the power button block connection, which is now joined together rather than split into multiple pins for you to install, making it a breeze to plug in. Tucked away in the 3.5" drive trays is the accessory box, which contains the relevant pieces you could need during your installation process, such as quick-turn screws, cable ties, and the necessary motherboard/ HDD screws.

Accessories are a must!

On the underside of the 3-pin pass-through is an iCUE LINK connection for you to use, so you don't miss out on a port for connecting issue devices such as fans and AIOs. Another useful thing to add that I think should be common knowledge is that you can split the motherboard 2.0 connection with this thinner, flatter USB header, so you'll be able to run two devices from 1 port on your motherboard if you're tight on ports.

The iCUE LINK hub requires a 6-pin PCIe cable to power it and a 5-pin USB 2.0 to control the lighting via the iCUE software; it is noted not to use the pigtail connection on the PCIe connection, as this can cause issues with voltage supply/demand further down the line.

Here's a photo of a cooler master ITX case that easily fits inside the 9000D, just to show that you have ample room for whatever you’re planning on building in this beast of a case.

So, let's get into it and stop stalling. Let's start the teardown of my 1000D build,

The Initial teardown is the easy part; it's putting it back together that's the most time-consuming part, as many of you know. However, it is key to note that the distro and radiators are bolted together using a metal 90-degree plate, so they come out as one unit.

With the 1000D completely disassembled, it was time to start the next process, which was building in the 9000D.

The motherboard is screwed in place, as many of you would know, with 9 screws, although the 9000D uses a peg standoff that takes the place of a normal standoff to help position the motherboard and help with installation.

The next stage in the process is to remove the power supply shroud, which is easily done by undoing the rear thumb screw and the other thumb screw behind the French doors at the rear of the case. Thus revealing the mounting point for the PSU.

Now that's out the way, you can install the power supply. I went with a fully modular PSU, so I was able to put in what cables I would need to complete my build. However, I ended up using all of the available PSU ports and had to purchase more cables.

It's all secured in place and ready to connect the Mod Pro cables, which are compatible with the CORSAIR HX1500i.

One look at these wires, and I knew I was in for a task. Nearly every port was used in my 1000D build, so I began with installing them on the 9000D. Some might prefer to install them on the PSU while the PSU is outside of the case. On the 1000D, there were two spaces where you could run the cables, but they were divided. The 9000D now has this division removed completely, allowing extra space and incorporating the use of their shift line of PSUs.

With all the wiring in place, it was time to move on to the next part of the build. In this part, I installed various components, such as the Corsair 4-way 9-pin hub and the majority of the wiring to the fans and lighting. Although I’m not the best at cable management, it looks alright to me.

As you can see in this setup, there is an iCUE hub, and the other CORSAIR LINK System hub is slightly above it. The 9000D also comes with an iCUE LINK 4-way splitter. This gives you the option to power fans through the secondary port and older legacy 3-pin iCUE products.

When installing the radiators and fans in the new InfiniRail system, you might notice that there is a difference between the 1000D fan tray, which was solid and could be used with three types of fan trays, and the 9000D, which allows anything from 120mm to a whopping 200mm fans. The adjustable fan supports can be slid up and down the rail, making it easy to install the fans of your choice.

The fan tray is removed by pushing up the little tabs that are accessible when the tray is fully extended.

As you can see here, this is the difference between the 9000D fan tray picture on the left and the 1000D picture on the right.

Installing the fans is an easy task by selecting the 35mm screws that come with the XR7 480mm radiators and positioning the plastic securing brackets in place. The reason for using the 35mms over the 30mm was that they weren't catching the threads of the radiator correctly.

To install the included extra clips you must remove the metal part of the fan tray, this is held in place with 5 screws that secure it to the plastic end pieces.

Image of InfiniRail end support removed from the main rail.

With the metal rail end removed, you're able to access the three little screws that, when removed, will allow you to remove the plastic stopper ends completely. They pull out, requiring some effort, but this, in turn, shows that they are secure even without being secured with the retaining screw, but I'd recommend you put that back in, naturally.

This is what you'll be left with once you've removed the retaining hardware, giving you an open end to the InfiniRail so you can slide in the extra fans/ radiator supporting clips. To rebuild the InfiniRail is just the reverse of the disassembly.

With all the fans secured in place, 16 x Corsair QX120mm in push-pull configuration, it was time to link them together using the provided 2 x 90-degree connectors to save running more than 2 issue link hubs.

The iCUE LINK System hubs support up to 24 iCUE LINK devices, and I planned on utilizing that feature.

This was achieved by having one end daisy-chained together, which allowed me to use the other ports to connect the included 600mm braided cables. These run straight through where the power switch cables run through, keeping them out of the way from the EPS cables.

Onto installing the rail back into the case,

Good. Now that the fans and radiators are all in, you will need to pull them back out to fit the softline or hard-line tubing and the correct fittings.

The fittings I chose are EK torque 45s, and the radiator ports are to sit at the rear of the case. This is because I planned on running clear CORSAIR tubing through the cable grommets located on the shelf part of the case; this is above the motherboard in the same place the EPS cable runs through.

The fittings gave me the correct angle to fit the CORSAIR fittings without causing any kinks in the tubing, as space was limited in the rear of the case. Without the 45s, the tubing came into contact with the case, causing a defined flow reduction, which needed rectifying immediately.

My choice of tubing was the CORSAIR XT Softline clear tubing to go through the rear of the case and the CORSAIR Softline XT braided black piping to give it a different look in the front of the case. My idea was to hide as much tubing as possible and make it look presentable.

I began to run the pipe work for the rear pipes through the back of the case to the distro. This distro came over from my 1000D, and I was hoping it would fit, and it did! Lucky me, no modification is required as the case is physically the same size as the 1000D. That being said, though, I did notice that the 90-degree bracket that I had would pull the front end of the fan tray down, so I had to remove this bracket in order for the fan trays to sit level.

The CORSAIR XT line braided piping was already installed in my previous build, and I didn't want to disturb anything or any liquid lying in it. The fittings just push on snuggly and are then secured with the locking ring to keep them in position.

Once the clear tubing was run through a cable grommet, I made sure that I had enough tubing behind the case to fully pull out both the radiators and the distro plate at the same time without the need to disconnect anything. Nice, right?!

Now, on to taming this mess of tubing. Unfortunately, I didn't snap any photos of how I managed it. All I did was use Velcro straps to secure them all together and hope for the best that the rear French doors would close. Bonk, bonk they did. Bye for now.

I also upgraded from the original CORSAIR XC7 water block to the CORSAIR iCUE LINK XC7 Elite, as my last cold plate didn't have a screen. I wanted to use all iCUE LINK devices as much as possible to try and attain a full CORSAIR LINK build.

It's time for the best bit: filling up the cooling system. It requires 3 x 1-litre bottles of CORSAIR XL5 coolant. I opted for clear as I have used colored coolants before, and they can be a pain to clean out and stain the internals of radiators.

Here are some images of this beast up and running.

Full specification list, including fitting hardware;

• Cpu: intel core i7 13700k and contact frame
• Motherboard: Asus Maximus Hero Z690
• PSU: Corsair HX1500I Atx 3.0 certified
• Dram: Corsair dominator 5200mhz/ Corsair titanium 6600Mhz plus light enhancement kit
• Cold plate: Corsair Hydro X XC7 Elite lcd
• Tubing: Corsair clear and braided black soft tubing x 4 boxes
• Lighting enhancement: Corsair Aurora lighting strips
• Corsair link hubs x 2
• Corsair 1 into 4-way splitter for 9-pin devices
• Corsair LC100 lighting triangles x 2
• Cable mod: Pro kit in ASUS colouring custom
• Fittings: ek torque 45s x 4, 90s x4, ek torque 10/13mm compression fittings, Corsair x 4 Softline fittings
• Ek vector 2 3080 water block
• Ek reflection 1000D distro plate

For those interested in building a similar computer, the total cost of building this system is currently £ 3600.

I want to say a big thank you to the CORSAIR team for making this possible and providing some of the parts I didn't have. These included 9 X QX120s, Icue link Aurora lighting strips, and the beast of a case, the 9000D. It's been an honor to build this flagship case, so thank you once again!