550D has a 120mm rear exhaust fan positioned above the PCI expansion slot covers. There are no cooling fans located at the top of the chassis but there are mounting holes for attaching dual 120/140mm fans. Due to the depth of the chamber at the top – there is sufficient space to mount water-cooling. (This subject will be dealt with in the clearance section of the review).
120mm rear exhaust fan an optional slots for dual 120/140mm fans at top
Over on the other side of the chassis is the area for installing optical drives. There are a total of 4x 5.25” drive bays, each with the tool-less design mechanism we have seen many times on other Corsair designed cases (push and slide to install).
Optical drive bays have tool-less design for installing
Beneath the optical drive bays are the HDD storage cages. There are two cages, each contains 3x HDD storage trays for attaching your 2.5” or 3.5” drive. Both cages are removable by simple removing a series of thumbscrews. Removing the upper HDD cage creates additional clearance for longer graphics cards and allows for a 2.5” SSD to be installed on the roof of the low cage.
Behind the HDD cages are dual 120mm intake cooling fans. These fans will carry air across the system – having the upper cage removed will obviously aid airflow and remove any obstruction.
Lots of HDD storage options
HDD cages are removable – dual 120mm fans behind
In the next section we will install our test system within 550D and find out how this case handles components.
