Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air Desktop Assessment: Prebuilt Gaming PCs Aren’t At all times Particular

With the Vengeance A7500 Air, Corsair has assembled a particularly highly effective system, that includes an RTX 5090 and a liquid-cooled Ryzen 9 9950X3D. It is undeniably quick, constantly rating close to or on the high on a lot of our normal benchmark checks. It’s what you must count on for a $5,499 gaming PC. However, it nonetheless would not hit fairly like a winner as a result of the remainder of it simply feels mediocre. 

The case is bland and flimsy. The cooling design, whereas quiet, will possible hold you dusting usually. Add within the OK-but-limited improve choices and conveniences, in addition to Corsair’s tame selection in radiator setups, and all of it feels much more mid-tier than it ought to. 

The incontrovertible fact that it falls quick in design and options and nonetheless has a roughly $1,200 premium over a DIY configuration actually hurts the Vengeance A7500 Air. 

Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air

Price as reviewed	$5,499
Size	55.5 liter ATX (9.4 x 19 x 19 in/239 x 483 x 483 mm)
Motherboard	MSI Pro X870-P WIFI (MS-7E47)
CPU	4300MHz AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
Memory	64GB DDR5-4800
Graphics	Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5090 SOLID OC
Storage	2TB Corsair MP700 Elite (boot drive); 2TB Corsair MP600 Core XT
Networking	5GbE, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Connections	USB4 Type-C (x1 rear), USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C (x1 rear), USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (x1 entrance), USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (x2 entrance, x2 rear), USB 2.0 Type-A (x4 rear), USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (x2 rear) 3.5mm audio connector (x2 entrance, x3 rear), 5Gb Ethernet, HDMI 2.1 (x1 on GPU, x1 on motherboard), ShowPort 2.1b (x3 on GPU)
Operating system	Windows 11 Home

One take a look at the elements within the Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air would possibly lead you to assume it is a top-of-the-line system, however the configuration I tested is actually the mid-spec model. That’s to not say it is not a really high-end PC. Between its Ryzen 9 9950X3D, 64GB of reminiscence and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, it is constructed to be beastly, with a predictably excessive price ticket to match.   

One notable misalignment between Corsair’s listed specs and people above is that our system’s reminiscence ran at 4,800 megatransfers per second when it ought to have been at 6,400 megatransfers per second. Failure to correctly overclock reminiscence, even when it is so simple as enabling a BIOS profile setting, is not unprecedented from prebuilt methods. But it ought to be unprecedented for PCs that price over $5,000.

The Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air’s base configuration is $3,499 and is constructed round a Ryzen 7 9800X3D as an alternative of the 9950X3D in my take a look at system. It nonetheless has a 2TB boot drive, however skips the secondary drive. It additionally drops right down to 32GB of DDR5-6400. Perhaps most crucially, it lowers the graphics card to an RTX 5080. With the decrease necessities of this configuration, Corsair additionally included a lower-power 1,000-watt energy provide. 

There’s additionally a higher-spec configuration that upgrades the reminiscence to 192GB (4x48GB) of DDR5-5200 and consists of Windows 11 Pro, bringing the entire to $5,999.

I used to be capable of configure a similar build in PCPartPicker for $4,307, which provides the Corsair prebuilt a $1,200 markup for managing the configuration, meeting, cable routing and different elements. It’s price noting that the entrance USB header cables on my take a look at unit have been disconnected (probably resulting from an accident throughout transport), in addition to the aforementioned incorrectly clocked reminiscence. 

I would not advocate configuring a system as Corsair has performed right here. It opted for a small 240mm radiator for its liquid cooling setup, whereas a 360mm radiator would serve higher for a high-performance CPU like this. At the very least, a thicker 240mm than Corsair used would possible have been higher. 

Additionally, though the motherboard selection is mostly appropriate, when paired with the RTX 5090 as it’s right here, the 2 full-length PCIe x16 slots are fully coated by the graphics card, which looks like a waste. Opting for a motherboard that had a fourth M.2 slot as an alternative looks like it might have been extra useful.

Ample efficiency with the proper stage of demand

The Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air gives excessive efficiency, however that is reasonably predictable for a machine like this. 

With its AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Zotac GeForce RTX 5090 Solid OC (the primary 5090 I’ve examined), it put up efficiency ranges we’ve not seen from different gaming PCs. In phrases of pure CPU speeds, it carried out among the many quickest methods we have examined. While it lagged behind the M4 Max-powered Mac Studio in Geekbench, it turned the tide in Cinebench. The CPU additionally fell behind the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K as examined within the Alienware Area-51.

The GPU efficiency took issues to a different stage, with nice pace throughout 3DMark’s graphics benchmarks. It solely narrowly led the pack in Time Spy, suggesting the CPU bottlenecks the GPU on this take a look at. In that take a look at, it led Nvidia RTX 5080-powered methods by just a few share factors, whereas in 3DMark’s Steel Nomad, Fire Strike Ultra and Port Royal checks, it mustered over 50% extra efficiency.

That hints at a key facet of the Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air: It’s wasted on 1080p. For occasion, working Shadow of the Tomb Raider with the very best graphics settings at 1080p, the Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air solely delivered a couple of 10% improve in efficiency over the Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A, which ran on an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Nvidia RTX 5080. Dialed as much as 4K, the hole turns into a lot wider, with the A7500 Air hitting a median of 240fps and the Velocity Micro managing simply 157fps. With Guardians of the Galaxy at 4K, it managed a powerful 263fps. The Velocity Micro may “only” put out 187fps whereas the Alienware Area-51 did 177.  

Despite its appreciable efficiency potential, it nonetheless has room for enchancment. The Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air manages its warmth effectively sufficient to keep away from overheating points, but it surely’s not spectacular. In sustained stress checks, the CPU and GPU typically would settle in at barely above 70 levels Celsius. That’s not a harmful stage of warmth, however cooler temps would offer some further room for minor overclocking. 

The storage Corsair included proved to be quick, with the first SSD providing sequential learn speeds over 10,000MBps in CrystalDiskMark. That confirms the drive is using the PCIe 5.0 x4 slot out there to it. The secondary drive is a extra humble PCIe 4.0 x4 mannequin. With sequential learn speeds of 6,031 MBps and write speeds of 5,706 MBps, it is not even taking full benefit of the bandwidth out there to it. Since Corsair would not specify precisely what drives might be included within the system, it is doable the retail items may have totally different SSDs with various efficiency. 

RGB lighting is all it has going for it

Beyond having RGB lighting on the followers, graphics card and RAM, the Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air is a bit of mundane. It’s constructed utilizing the pretty easy Corsair Vengeance Frame 4000D case, which seems to be attention-grabbing sufficient from the entrance due to an uncommon 3D grille sample, however falls aside at virtually another angle. It options a regular glass panel on the facet, pretty plain venting on high, and modest, unlabeled I/O ports close to the underside of the entrance edge. It additionally sits on 4 stumpy little legs. 

The craftsmanship of the case additionally disappoints. The proper panel seems too massive and lacks reinforcement (probably resulting from extreme venting that does not considerably improve airflow), and it grew to become bent throughout transport. The high panel, with its venting, additionally feels flimsy and rattles when tapped. Despite having toolless, captive screws holding many panels on, they proved tough to take away. While the entrance legs are built-in into the corners of the body, the again legs are small screw-on attachments that seem misplaced and really feel delicate.

The airflow of the Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air is first rate with little restriction. The entrance grille is extremely open and has a steel mesh to assist catch mud. Three 120mm followers pull in loads of air by way of this opening. One immediately feeds the GPU whereas the opposite two ship air over the motherboard. One extra 120mm fan exhausts out of the again of the pc, successfully expelling the warmth generated by the graphics card. 

Meanwhile, the 240mm radiator and its two 120mm followers expel air out the highest. While it is not a negative-pressure setup that is doomed to suck in mud, it is not very positively pressured both. There are loads of open, unfiltered areas that might enable mud to slowly seep in. It’s merely not as well-designed as one thing just like the Alienware Area-51. The followers aren’t noisy, a minimum of, as they function at whisper-quiet ranges, other than the graphics card followers. Those let loose a horrible racket when working at full load, and the cardboard included in our take a look at unit had an unlucky error that induced considered one of its followers to run at most pace constantly.   

There is a good quantity of flexibility with the system, nevertheless. The motherboard has further slots for extra reminiscence. There’s a spare M.2 slot and PCIe 4.0 x16 slot (albeit with simply 4x lanes). Two extra PCIe x16 slots are on the motherboard, however as talked about, they’re fully coated by the graphics card. Unfortunately, Corsair did not do a lot to encourage upgrades. Despite having room for added storage and anchor factors for a few 2.5-inch drives (or a single 3.5-inch), Corsair did not preroute any cables for this. 

Having seen different manufacturers not solely preroute energy and knowledge cables for added storage but in addition present sliding drive bays for these further drives in more cost effective computer systems, the dearth of those right here is all of the extra disappointing. All of this might nonetheless be higher. The incontrovertible fact that it is a 55-liter ATX system and there is solely room for 2 or three further SATA drives is sort of astounding. My private rig is a smaller 43-liter ATX system with extra M.2 slots and a pair of.5-inch drive bays than this.

Then once more, perhaps it is a combined blessing as a result of Corsair’s cable routing is not spectacular. It’s clear sufficient, however that is as a result of there’s basically simply an open area behind the motherboard. Even with all that room, the ability cables going to the graphics card barely attain. The I/O connections on the entrance of the case require cables to exit the underside of the case and re-enter on the entrance panel, so there’s a sheathe of cable truly protruding the underside of the system. Corsair opted for a completely modular energy provide, a minimum of, so you do not find yourself with a bunch of extraneous cables. 

The brilliant facet is the rear I/O, which incorporates loads of USB-A ports, 20 and even 40Gbps USB-C ports, a 5Gb Ethernet port, Wi-Fi 7 antennas and a number of video outputs between the 4 on the graphics card and the spare HDMI port on the motherboard. 

Is the Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air price shopping for?

If your main considerations are highly effective gaming efficiency in a midsize desktop tower and never having to assemble it your self, and also you’re prepared to pay a premium for it, then sure, the Vengeance A7500 Air is price contemplating. 

What’s extra, Corsair has larger and smaller case designs in its Vengeance series, so you could have choices aside from the A7500 Air’s case. Plus, all of them include a two-year guarantee. That stated, the Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A and Alienware Area-51 are higher total packages. 

Geekbench 6 (single core)

Minisforum AtomMan G7 Ti 2,833Dell XPS 8960 2,948Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 34IRZ8 3,062Alienware Area-51 3,149Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A 3,303Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air 3,382

Geekbench 6 (multicore)

Minisforum AtomMan G7 Ti 16,959Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A 18,338Dell XPS 8960 18,699Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 34IRZ8 18,735Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air 20,998Alienware Area-51 21,929

Cinebench 2024 CPU (multicore)

Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A 1,321Minisforum AtomMan G7 Ti 1,431Dell XPS 8960 1,554Alienware Aurora R16 1,806Alienware Area-51 2,313Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air 2,256

Shadow of the Tomb Raider gaming take a look at (1080p)

HP Omen 35L 174Alienware Aurora R16 226Alienware Area-51 248Dell XPS 8960 250Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A 362Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air 397

Guardians of the Galaxy gaming take a look at (4K)

HP Omen 35L 139Alienware Area-51 177Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A 187Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air 263

3DMark Fire Strike Ultra

HP Omen 35L 16,426Dell XPS 8960 17,525Alienware Area-51 21,463Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A 21,665Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air 33,075

3DMark Speed Way (DX12 Ultimate)

Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 34IRZ8 7,425Dell XPS 8960 7,520Alienware Area-51 8,717Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A 9,009Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air 14,536

The Rift Breaker CPU (1080p)

Alienware Aurora R16 163Alienware Area-51 166Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 34IRZ8 184Dell XPS 8960 202Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air 254Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A 268

Procyon Stable Diffusion XL

Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 34IRZ8 3,444HP Omen 35L 3,656Alienware Area-51 3,814Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A 4,257Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air 7,144

Configurations

Alienware Area-51	Microsoft Windows 11 Pro; 3.7GHz Intel Core Ultra 9 285K; 64GB DDR5-6400; 16GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 graphics; 2TB SSD
Alienware Aurora R16	Microsoft Windows Pro; 3.2GHz; 3.2GHz Intel Core i9-14900KF; 32GB DDR5 5,600MHz RAM; 12GB Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics; 1TB SSD
Dell XPS 8960	Microsoft Windows 11 Home;3.4GHz Intel Core i714700K; 21GB DDR5 RAM; 16GB Nvidia RTX 4080 Super graphics; 1TB SSD
Corsair Vengeance A7500 Air	Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 4.4Ghz AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D; 64GB DDR5-4800 RAM; Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics; 2TB Corsair MP700 Elite (boot drive); 2TB Corsair MP600 Core XT
HP Omen 35L	Microsoft Windows 11 Pro; 4.2GHz AMD Ryzen 7 8700G; 64GB DDR5 3,600MHz; 16GB Nvidia RTX 4080 Super graphics; 2TB SSD + 1TB SSD
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i 26IRB8 (90UT001AUS)	Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-144400F; 16GB DDR5 5,600MHz RAM; 8GB Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics; 1TB SSD
Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 34IRZ8	Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 3.2GHz Intel Core i9-14900KF; 32GB DDR5 4,400MHz RAM; 16GB Nvidia RTX 4080 Super graphics; 1TB SSD
Lenovo LOQ Tower 17IRR9 (90WY0000US)	Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-144400F; 16GB DDR5 RAM; 8GB Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics; 1TB SSD
Minisforum AtomMan G7 Ti	Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.2GHz Intel Core i9-14900HX; 32GB DDR5 5,600MHz RAM; 8GB Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics; 1TB SSD
Velocity Micro Raptor Z95A	Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.5GHz AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D; 64GB DDR5 RAM; 16GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 graphics; 2TB SSD