Corsair Carbide Air 540 Builds

benji182 · 18 Jul 2013 at 08:45

Very nice build.

Have you used an LED strip for the lighting ?

SimonMaltby · 18 Jul 2013 at 08:56

benji182 said:
Very nice build.

Have you used an LED strip for the lighting ?

Yes, I used a couple of the cheaper LED strips
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CM-034-AK

They seem to work really well and stick nicely.
There is plenty of room around the inside case edge and the way the window side attaches to the case means you can go close to the edge with the LED's so they can't be seen directly... you just get the effect.

The camera photo looks nothing like as good as it does in real life. The components are clear and well defined in the light.

benji182 · 18 Jul 2013 at 09:06

Its a nice big window so the affect looks good. My trouble is I've got an old TJ07 so very small window so not sure the lighting effect will look as good as yours.

I'll see nearer the time

Flanno · 19 Jul 2013 at 15:33

Fantastic build. Wish I could get into watercooling. Seriously thinking about this case for air cooling though.

How study are the sidepanels on this ? Hardwarecanucks said they were flimsy.

Also read some reviews that the case is pretty noisy even with the fans turned down to low rpm's which results in them clicking. Hardly surprising as my AF120/140's clicked also even with one of Tealcs pwm converters. In the end I went with Corsair SP120 PWM fans.

Still interested in this case though.

SimonMaltby · 21 Jul 2013 at 07:55

Flanno said:
How study are the sidepanels on this ? Hardwarecanucks said they were flimsy.

Yes they are quite thin. It's fair to say that the steel throughout the case is thinner than most recent cases I have owned, but it is well engineered and because everything fits smoothly together it feels strong and sturdy. I compare it to the Antec Lanboy cases for the thickness of the sides.

The big advantage of the thinner steel is weight, the case is quite light bearing in mind its overall size.

Hyburnate · 21 Jul 2013 at 18:58

That looks nice actually, I'm surprised

SimonMaltby · 24 Jul 2013 at 10:04

Finished doing the cables last night

SimonMaltby · 26 Jul 2013 at 23:52

Ok I think I'm all finished...

Got some proper black screws for the radiators and fans.
Put an AF140 in the rear.
Managed to get another SP120 on the inside of the 360 Rad
Put some nice fan guards over the rest of the rad.

Was playing some games earlier and the case is so quiet. The watercooled graphics probably helps most there. I did an hour of Crysis 3 and the CPU temps did not top 55c with the GPU's at 40c max.

I have it setup so that the fans at the front pull air through the 360 rad and into the case, then the rear fan and the 2 fans at the top pull air out. I could feel the top fans getting warm, but really was very good. I'm really happy.

Andybtsn · 27 Jul 2013 at 00:31

Simon, any chance you could measure round the case just so I know how long I'd need LED lighting length to be? Be appreciated

SimonMaltby · 27 Jul 2013 at 10:14

Andybtsn said:
Simon, any chance you could measure round the case just so I know how long I'd need LED lighting length to be? Be appreciated

The internals are about 37cm x 40cm.
I used 2 of these Akasa "Vegas" Red LED strip light - 60cm chained, starting top left (above the rear fan), going along the top down the front and along the bottom. I did not put any at the back, because thats the part of the inside I see most clearly when sat at the desk and did not want to look directly at the LED's - just want the glow effect.

Andybtsn · 27 Jul 2013 at 10:25

I think the LEDs I wanted come in 1m or 2. I only want a light glow really so the 1m would probably be ideal located at the bottom of the case. I hope they're not too bright.

RetrogamerX · 27 Jul 2013 at 10:33

I bought the NZXT hue controller. I'm holding their not too bright?

Roalith · 27 Jul 2013 at 10:33

Thanks Simon - I'll be doing something similar with white vegas strips. Not doing a custom loop though, yours looks excellent

Andybtsn · 27 Jul 2013 at 10:36

RetrogamerX said:
I bought the NZXT hue controller. I'm holding their not too bright?

One of the control knobs says brightness so presumably you can adjust anyway. Does the Hue come with led's? What colour?

SimonMaltby · 27 Jul 2013 at 10:46

The case side is a good clean fit, it does not grip to the sides of the case much which means you can get the LED strip close to the edge of the case and when the side is on it prevents seeing the actual LED's unless you actually look very hard. This means the effect is very good even without the ability to dim.

The photo does not do the lighting justice. I'm using a handheld camera with no flash so its not well focused and a bit shaky. In real life the inside components are crystal clear and well defined with a lovely red glow.... So if you think it looks good in the photo, prepare to be very impressed in real life

I may get the daughter's SLR and tripod out later and see if I can do the lighting justice.

Nickolp1974 · 27 Jul 2013 at 15:00

Whats the thickness of your 360????

SimonMaltby · 27 Jul 2013 at 15:10

Nickolp1974 said:
Whats the thickness of your 360????

Its one of these... http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-085-XS

so 35.5 deep. I did add a Rad gasket between the rad and case so add another few mm to that too.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-194-XS&groupid=962&catid=1523&subcat=1545

Nickolp1974 · 27 Jul 2013 at 15:34

Thx bud, one last thing, whats the distance between your cards and rad??

GoogalyMoogaly · 27 Jul 2013 at 16:25

Don't have the case yet, but trying to plan my build. The big problem I see is where to mount the pump and res. I'm not so keen on modding the case like you did, although that is a nice solution.

SimonMaltby · 27 Jul 2013 at 17:06

Nickolp1974 said:
Thx bud, one last thing, whats the distance between your cards and rad??

Loads of room. Will measure later, but I can get my hand between to get to the cables easily.

GoogalyMoogaly said:
Don't have the case yet, but trying to plan my build. The big problem I see is where to mount the pump and res. I'm not so keen on modding the case like you did, although that is a nice solution.

The only mod, was for a fill port... other than that I just put some thumb screws through the mesh at the back, did not need to cut or alter anything... The worst that it's done is scratch a tiny bit of the black.

I will say I was rather surprised by the lack of places for the pump, but then the D5 is quite big and so is my PSU as its the 1200W Corsair, so it does come into the case more than most. There are no really obvious mounting points for a res / pump though, it would have been good to have something set for common res / pump configs where the bolt holes were pre drilled etc. This is also a more major issue as bay mounted res / pump combos will not work mounted sideways. Some people I have seen mount the res/pump in the main compartment... the best looking of these, that I saw, put it in front of the PCI-E slots.