Buildlog - Corsair Carbide 540 Air - The Box

[Roalith]

Getting this one in before the slew of Carbide 540 builds, wanted to ask a question or two of this awesomely knowledgeable community as well

Build is a re-build of my current bodge-box using an el-cheapo case from a competitor. I say bodge-box because it didn't quite go according to plan...

Build will be:

- Corsair Carbide 540r (From OCUK next week)
- Gigabyte 990FX-UD3
- AMD FX 8350
- Corsair H100 (From the reconditioned batch coming in to Overclockers next week)
- 2 x MSI R7850s in Crossfire
- 16 GB Corsair Vengeance (4x4) 1600mhz
- Samsung 840 Evo 500gb
- XFX Pro 850W Black Edition
- Mechanical storage is supplied by my HTPC over the network.
- Will be using the 2 supplied fans with the H100 along with 2 x 120 Corsair SP120s in push-pull.

Not the most cutting edge of boxes I know, but Intel v AMD arguments aside it's plenty fast for what I want/need.

Now for the question... I also have in hand 3 x Akasa Vegas White LEDs strips and a Bitfenix Hydra Pro. Hydra will be managing the 3 internal Corsair 140AFs which come with the case, along with the 4 fans on the H100.

The Bitfenix Hydra has 5x 2-pin cables connected to the LED on/off switch, and the Akasa Vegas strips use what looks like some sort of proprietary 4 pin connector to daisy chain off each other, with one end going into a piggy-back standard 4 pin molex (using 2 pins).

What I want to know is, without a significant investment in electrical equipment and minimal knowledge, will there be any way to get the Vegas strips to run off the Hydra's LED controller? The Vegas strips are 12v but I have no idea what voltage the Hydra provides to the LED cable outs.

Edit: Problem (most likely) solved - picked up a molex power switch from ebay

 

[Roalith]

Case turning up tomorrow (30/07/2013), typically when I won't be at work. Going to wait for the refurbished H100s to be delivered before I actually do the full system transplant, but I can at least get some pics of the case itself up here on Wednesday (probably 24 hours after everyone else with a Corsair 540 has had theirs delivered, built, and up and running )

First things first though - self-sleeved SATA cables.

Well, the case turned up as expected - very well packaged, huge black dust sleeve bag to cover the thing as well. Will chuck some pics up later. Won't actually be building the thing till my H100 turns up... should hopefully be in the next couple of weeks!

 

[Roalith]

Not had time to do much with it, now it's turned up - unboxed and a couple of quick pics:

 

[Roalith]

Bitfenix Hydra looks like it's going to be a bit of a bugger to fit, requiring the removal of the external drive bay to fit the internal bits, the removal of the Hydra's front panel to enable the Air's front panel to fit back on, and then some fiddly re-screwing of the Hydra's plate to get it back together.

Aside from that though, it looks like a very nice case to work with. Most stuff is tool-less, and although it feels a bit plasticy it's well put together and robust.

 

[Roalith]

A few more case porn pics

Akasa Vegas LED strips x 3, as others have observed the bezel around the window is large enough to hide a few sins.

Have also sorted out the Bitfenix Hydra panel around the front, and done a little cable tidying.

Interesting to note that the AF-140L fans Corsair ship with the case actually have a small hole in the sides of the frame - presumably for LEDs should you feel creative?

 

[Roalith]

Will try and post up a couple of pics later Andy - not sure if it's just the way I've fitted the Hydra or if it's the design, but it doesn't quite fit flush to the front of the case.

Forgot to mention - in the top of the most recent 3 pics, bottom left you can just about see where I've put u-bend edge trim around the hole in the motherboard tray that has no rubber cable insert. I've slotted a molex power switch in here for (relative) ease turning the Akasa Vegas strips on and off.

 

[Roalith]

Old box and the Corsair 540 side by side. The new case is almost identical in height and depth as my old one (some shonky cheap pile of crap from a certain competitor), just the width makes the difference.



This is the Bitfenix Hydra. Matches well with the case. Missing the top slider, although I later found it under my desk. Those things pop off really easily.



Guts of the old case still in situ. Used to have the cables a little more tidy, but started to pull things apart ready for the transfer.



All the old bits ready to be moved into the Corsair 540.



And everything in place round the back. It's actually relatively difficult to keep things neat back there, but at least it's hidden away I guess.



All the bits inside the new box. Looks lovely



Bling bling! Just to the right (and below, although the perspective doesn't show it) of the lower 7850 you can see the rubber u-bend I've placed around the open cable hole, along with the molex on/off switch for the LEDs strips.



The window is fairly reflective in low light conditions.

 

[Roalith]

Am only actually using two channels of the 5-channel Bitfenix Hydra - the 3 case fans are on a 4-fan splitter, and the two Quiet edition 120SPs on the H100 are on a 2-fan splitter.

 

[Roalith]

Well enough for what I need

 

[Roalith]

Looks good how are the temps between the different cases?

Temps have improved massively, window used to get hot to the touch on the old case when running BF3 requiring fans to be cranked up to their loudest to get some decent airflow through. Haven't had to push the fans in the Corsair above 30% since I put it together

Any chance of a pic when the room is dark? You OC your 8350?

Will grab a couple tonight. 8350 has a modest o/c to 4.2, have pushed it quite a bit higher but don't feel really feel the need to be fair, is plenty fast as is

 

[Roalith]

Was fairly dark in my room at 7am this morning, so took a couple. Will get some proper night shots later though

 

[Roalith]

With the stock fans plugged in to the Bitfenix Hydra on the lowest setting I can barely hear them, sat next to the thing.

With the case pointed that way though I can feel the airflow pushing out the back, will keep me nice and cool in the summer

 

[Roalith]

What are those LED lights? Looks very nice btw! Not often you see White LEDs

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CM-032-AK x 3

 

[Roalith]

Night time shot. This is how it normally lives next to my desk

 

[Roalith]

It's possible, but then you've got the power cable issue - and depending on the rear fan you use, you might struggle to squeeze them in between a 140mm rear fan and the panel. Would work with a 120mm as the rear fan though.

 

[Roalith]

I've gone for plug in and play, LED strips with sticky backing, and am even using stock fans.

If I was comfortable and confident splicing electrical cable, do you think I might have thought of that?

 

[Roalith]

Yeah, been considering that... pricing it up just kinda makes me go though!

Being new to the watercooling circles though (looking in from the outside with a H100 ) I have reservations about moving it after the watercooling loop is set up - how well do watercooled boxes deal with being chucked in a car and taken to work/lan parties and the like?

 

[Roalith]

this is great , can you adjust the brightness of the LED's ?

Nope, it's a straight on or off. I did look at some form of adapter to add it to one of the Bitfenix Hydra channels, but never got round to it in the end. Should be possible though.

Holy! those Led's are bright looks good.

Yeah, quite chuffed with them - my room looks like Christmas with the lights off

I really love these 540 builds, really tempted to sell my Haf X and get one.

Do it! Dooooo iiiiiit!

 

[Roalith]

Tough choice, I bought my Haf X purely for cooling performance, which it does brilliantly.

But then again I imagine would be great as it would have less restrictions (IE Hard drive cage, cables) and would look amazing as you've shown with all your gear on show, lit up with the LEDs

Probably already been answered but what would be better 3x 120mm or 2x 140mm for the front of this case in terms of cooling and air flow?

I would say probably the 3 x 120mm for airflow. Might get a bit noisy unless you use a fan controller and/or quiet fans. Dead happy with my box now, don't think I'll be changing the setup much for quite some time.

I've been trying to decide between this case and a Switch 810, and I think you may just have tipped the scales in favour of the cube!

Really like the LED lighting, nice simple, clean build.

Cheers Can't recommend this case enough, bit on the pricey side considering the amount of plastic involved in it, but aside from that it's a nice piece of kit!

 

[Roalith]

Exactly what he said