Great Case, Corsair 540 Air

I kind of considered the stock fans as an extra tbh and binned em at the first chance for some akasa apaches.

I have very mixed feelings about the case in some ways its great but in other ways its like some features were almost an after-thought. The mechanism for securing optical, drives, etc. is pretty useless and I ended up removing the 2nd one anyway to fit a fan controller and I'd have happily paid a good bit extra if the SSD cage was both higher quality construction, accomodated both 7.5 and 9.5mm SSDs better and had built in connectors in atleast some of the slots similiar to the 2x 3.5" HDD bays at the bottom of the case.
 
Quite like the case, will be swapping the fans out for scythes or similar. Also the motherboard connections for the power switch etc are too short!

Otherwise it's a very nice case!
 
Love the look of it myself, but still undecided to go with the black or gunmetal grey version. Going for a colour scheme to match my maximus VI formula board. Alpenfohn red clover fans throughout, though theese are pretty slow and im running a pretty hot 4770k. Ill be putting two on a k2 cooler that currently holds 2x 1900 rpm akasa piranhas. Im hoping that with x3 120mm clovers as intakes will make up the difference. My current shinobi xl has very poor front air intake.
 
hakank68 said:
Cable management with this case is absolutely easy :), also if anyone is considering watercooling, although its designed for air cooling, life become so much easier thanks to that huge back part of the case.
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I have the exact opposite opinion in those regards.
I think cable management is very tricky (it doesn't help that I have a non-modular PSU). In the end I just stuff all the cables in the back, but didn't cable tie them to the cable tie points as they were so far inside the back section and with all the cables and stuff in it's hard to get to those points.

As for watercooling, I find the split section bit annoying as you have to feed the tubing between to the 2 sections and the 5½" drive bays block off a number of the gromits in that area. I also found it tricky to mount the pump due to lack of floor space. The rotated drive bays also may bay reservoirs more awkward.
Then there's the consideration that if you use a 240mm and 360mm radiator you have to make sure they don't clash in the top-front corner.

I'd say the 750D would be better for water cooling (and can probably do a fair job with air cooling) while the 540 does a better job of air cooling and a fair job of watercooling.

I';m also disappointed at the 'difficulty' of accessing the front air filter to clean it (since my case is o nthe floor it needs cleaning quite often).
 
750 is much better looking, but due to it's closed front design it would be a poor case for air cooling. Youd need to take the front panel and modify it to get a bit of airflow into it. Bit like my shinobi, but it's hard to mod it due to the rubberised soft touch material on the front panel.
 
setter said:
Love the look of it myself, but still undecided to go with the black or gunmetal grey version. Going for a colour scheme to match my maximus VI formula board. Alpenfohn red clover fans throughout, though theese are pretty slow and im running a pretty hot 4770k. Ill be putting two on a k2 cooler that currently holds 2x 1900 rpm akasa piranhas. Im hoping that with x3 120mm clovers as intakes will make up the difference. My current shinobi xl has very poor front air intake.
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the build i showed you my mate had done with his 4770k and 780 wc he has just added a 3rd rad in now idles at 20c :p hes adding another 780 soon.
 
the reason the top doesn't have or need a dust filter is most people would use the top fans in exhaust or risk fighting the natural flow of air.
 
~>Dg<~ said:
the build i showed you my mate had done with his 4770k and 780 wc he has just added a 3rd rad in now idles at 20c :p hes adding another 780 soon.
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very nice, want to get another 780 myself soon. Got my new fans in today and custom cables ordered. Just need to save a bit more for the case now.
 
I love this case and its functionality, but airflow wise, how well does it stack up against the Coolermaster Haf X? Which I know is a fantastic case, providing plenty of air to my kit.

Mine has the 230mm front, 200mm Side as intakes, with a 140mm on the rear and one 200mm on the top as exhausts.
 
~>Dg<~ said:
grey beard hasnt corsair looked at making a black hd cover yet out of plastic ? either with case or singular they would be a great addition ;)

all you need is a plastic cover same as a mechinical drive or ssd would cost pound max out of cheap plastic for each but make such a difference.
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Interesting.. Are you referring to a single cover each drive or the whole bottom part of the case being covered?
 
Greybeard, does the 540 have the same raised standoff issue that effects some versions of the 750d when using the z87 Maximus VI formula board? Curious as the 540 is looking very likely to be my next case
 
Not with the 540 case. That particular raised standoff issue is only known between the 750D case and Maximus VI formula boards.. any other boards are fine.
 
Hi, sorry haven't been posting my thought's on this case.

I have been using it for a while now, and now I think I am ready to post some reviews!

1. Dust.

The front of the case does come with a large magnetic fan filter, but gets magnificently dusty, must be my room! Stops the dust getting into the PC though!
The top of the case does not come with one, which is disappointing. I am guessing this is because when the case comes new, the top two fans are exhaust fans, makes sense as of course heat rises up. However, I felt that the best place to have my cooling radiator was on the top, therefore only one is still an exhaust fan. Whilst the dust doesn't get into the system from the top because of the radiator in the way, the fan either side of the radiator and the radiator itself get incredibly dusty.

The PSU positioning is great, out of the way and easy to access, but... didn't come with a dust filter! However, I used one from my previous case and managed to stick it on the grill, works a treat.

2. Space

Awesome in every single way. 'Nuff said.

3 Size

Well, a little difficult. Imagine a huge massive plastic/metal/glass cube sitting on your desk. However the easyness of cabling makes up for it.

4. Looks

Wonderful, I use 2x 10cm RGB LEDs along with some blue fan LEDs. It look brilliant.

5. Price

Bargain, I'd recommend it!
 
Anyone think modding the floor where the HDD caddy's are and mounting a couple of fans is worthwhile?

If I can raise the case using some feet it would be a decent opening to get more airflow in, just need to measure what size fans would fit best.
 
Greybeard said:
Interesting.. Are you referring to a single cover each drive or the whole bottom part of the case being covered?
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which ever way looks best .a small black piece of plastic moulded to fit on top cover mechanical drives or ssds. would give the case a lot cleaner look and many would like them.id personally maybe just make singular moulded plastic covers that people can just drop on top of each hd.

maybe a option of a bottom panel could be done aswell.

look at all the great builds on here then look at most of the hard drives ;) if they were covered it would look a lot better. a cheap fix and would be a easy fix.
 
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