Corsair One i500 review: Priced to dominate

Corsair has launched a brand-new, stylish small-form-factor PC and we’ve gone hands-on with it to test if it’s worth the high-end price tag.

Corsair is a trusted name in PC gaming. They are particularly known for their PC peripherals, such as their high-quality keyboards and mice, but they have previously produced some powerful pre-built gaming PCs under the brand Corsair One.

Key Specs

• CPU: Intel Core i9-14900K
• Motherboard: MAG B760M MORTAR WIFI (MS-7E01) (U3E1)
• CPU Cooler: Liquid-cooled
• RAM: 64GB (2x32GB) CORSAIR DDR5-6000
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 24GB GDDR6X, Liquid cooled
• PSU: CORSAIR 1000W 80 PLUS GOLD
• Storage: 2TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe
• Case: Custom Corsair Case
• Operating System: Windows 11 Home
• Price: $4,699.99

Design

When you think ‘powerful gaming rig’ the first thing likely to come to mind is a massive tower with glass panels and lots of RGB blinky lights. The Corsair One i500 is a different class of PC. The first noticeable thing is how small it is. Despite the amazingly powerful spec list, it looks almost comically small next to my test bench PC. The advantage of this is that it’s much easier to fit into smaller workspaces or be tucked away under a desk.

The design is very sleek, sporting a wooden front panel that calls to mind classic design elements from the 70s and early 80s. Corsair has also taken a ‘less is more’ approach to RGB lighting. The Corsair One i500 has a subtle lighting strip that can be adjusted using touch controls. Using these, you can adjust the color and lighting pattern to suit your mood or your interior decorating.

The branding is fairly low-key. The Corsair logo is located on the power button in the middle of the front panel. It pulses gently when the PC goes into standby, which is quite a nice visual cue.

Build quality

The Corsair One i500 is very heavy despite its diminutive size. This is partially down to the substantial metal chassis, which provides a feeling of quality even before you peek inside. Removing the side panels reveals three very large case fans on one side, and the rear of the motherboard on the other. The cable management is extremely neat, tucked carefully into one corner and secured with Corsair-branded velcro straps.

Further access involves removing the case fans, though thankfully this is pretty easily done with a Phillips screwdriver.

From there, the internal arrangement is a beautiful feat of design and engineering. Despite how packed everything is, it is still amazingly use-serviceable, making it possible to upgrade to new technology when needed.

Gaming Performance

As this is a high-end pre-built PC sporting the fastest GPU currently on the market, it is not a particular surprise that it blazes through any modern AAA title with ease. The mighty specs mean it is possible to enjoy every modern title with the highest possible settings.

Testing performance at 4K and 1440p is very impressive. Cyberpunk 2077 managed a blistering 186 FPS at 1440p resolution and even hit 118 FPS at 4K. This, however, was with the benefit of Nvidia’s DLSS toolset, turning it off brought things down to a far more modest level.

1440p Performance Benchmarks

The Corsair One i500 really shows its capabilities at 1440p. The system had absolutely no problem with anything that could be thrown at it. Everything looked stunning, and it was silky smooth to play through. The uncapped framerate for Overwatch 2 was starting to get silly, and some other titles need to have framerates capped to prevent unexpected issues. That’s a nice sort of problem to have, though.

4K Performance Benchmarks

In Cyberpunk 2077 with DLSS engaged, it was honestly difficult to spot a visible difference between 1440p and 4K. The performance was just that smooth, even at 4K. Going back to a less powerful PC is going to be something of a culture shock at this point.

Synthetic Benchmarks

As expected, the Corsair One i500 crushes it on synthetic benchmarks, posting some extremely impressive figures. This is not surprising considering the specs, and it shows the pure power of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, even when pitted against the RTX 4070 Ti Super currently in our benchmark PC.

Benchmark PC Specs:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K
• CPU cooler: Cooler Master PL360 Flux
• GPU: MSI RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X
• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Z790 Maximus Extreme
• RAM: ADATA XPG Lancer RGB 32GB DDR5-6000
• Storage: Adata Legend 600 1TB
• Case: Hyte Y60
• PSU: EVGA Supernova GT 1300

Thermal Performance

One feature I was particularly pleased by was how quiet the Corsair One is. Doing normal productivity tasks or left on standby you can forget it is even turned on. Even under heavy load during benchmarking, it was remarkably quiet. At its absolute loudest running the Cyberpunk 2077 4K benchmarking test, it only sounded like an air conditioner at the other end of the room. Not a single squeak of a bearing or so much as a whisper of coil whine.

The liquid cooling does a lot of the heavy lifting to ensure both lack of noise and lack of heat. The CPU only reached a maximum of 68 degrees Celsius, with the GPU only hitting a high of 53 degrees Celsius. This not only shows off what liquid cooling can do but also makes the Corsair One’s ability to keep the noise down even more impressive.

Should you buy it?

The Corsair One i500 is an incredible piece of hardware. It is a remarkable feat to make something so powerful fit into such a small space whilst keeping temperatures low. It is also stylish and understated, which is something of a rarity in gaming PCs.

The main sticking point is the price. This PC is only for those with extremely deep pockets. Style and performance in a package like this one was never going to come cheap, but the cost is somewhat eye-watering. We specced out a similar small form-factor PC using the same core specs, and the price dropped to $3733.

The real value in the Corsair One i500 is for those who want a small form-factor PC but don’t want the hassle of having to build their own and dealing with cable management, parts compatibility, and more headaches that come with building in a smaller case.

Verdict: 4/5

The Corsair One i500 is amazing. Its performance, style, and build quality cannot be faulted. It is unobtrusive and can demolish almost any task it is given.

If you want one for yourself, you better start some serious saving, because it costs a pretty penny.

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