Corsair built the Vengeance a5100 to be absolutely massive in footprint, but not all that tall. Its MicroATX case measures a whopping 14.8 by 12 by 18.4 inches (HWD) and weighs more than 20 pounds. At this size, this rig looks to define your work (or play) space, and its relentless RGB lighting will immediately grab the attention of anyone who walks in.
Turned off, the system looks like a futuristic monolith. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The Corsair Vengeance a5100 is an intimidating machine; just its presence on your desk demands that you take it seriously. Although its size is a challenge to mere mortal desks, I do rather like the system’s look. The split glass and metal panel on the front gives it a neat sci-fi appearance, like a computer NASA would use 10 years from now.
When turned on, however, the Vengeance looks ready to launch a rocket. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The side glass panel gives you a complete look at the RGB lighting on the system’s RAM sticks, CPU cooler, and almost countless fans. Weirdly enough, though, when you crack open the right panel, you won’t find any mounting spots in the case for 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives, so you’ll have to resort to external drives for more storage. The chassis lacks its usual drive cage behind the right side panel. (It’s a stock Corsair 2500X case, but the company left out the hard drive cage, which is removable, to accommodate the PSU and cabling.)
In addition, this PC’s motherboard has only two M.2 slots (MicroATX can’t take much more), which in our configuration is each home to a 2TB SSD. You’ll find an unoccupied PCI Express slot on the board, but it can’t be accessed with the GPU installed.
Ignore the reflection in the front glass, and you can almost forget it’s there. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The internal expansion may be very limited, but the Vengeance a5100 has no shortage of ports, including two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A connections, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, and two USB Type-C connections. The PC’s “front panel” I/O is actually on top of the case, serving up two USB Type-A ports, a single USB Type-C connection, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Networking support for the system includes a 2.5Gbps Ethernet jack, a Wi-Fi 6E radio, and a Bluetooth 5.3 module.
The case’s stark angles are a treat to look at. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Unfortunately, the system is as loud as it is large in footprint. Even minor tasks will have you reaching for your headphones to drown out the intense hums of this rig’s bank of cooling fans. Loud systems come with the territory, when dealing with this sort of hardware, but I’ve overheard the smaller Velocity Micro Raptor Z55a finding a way to deal with the noise better.
The area around the I/O shield is highly perforated to maximize airflow. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
