Bought a new case, Corsair Carbide Air 540

[Bhavv]

I just got this case today, plus a couple of new 4 Tb seagate hard drives to put inside it:













And this is how all my stuff was in my previous case:

http://i.imgur.com/t2WRvwx.jpg - Not worthy of being embedded.

I think its much better now

[Kovoet]

Got mine a couple of days ago. Love these cases. Nice one mate

[ekamdeep]

+++++++++++++++++++++++

[IrishCallaghan]

I love the ghetto mounted SSDs covering those nasty labels on the HDDs also that case looks really nice on its side.

[Bhavv]

I simply blu takked them for now, but realized that might melt under the graphics cards, so ordered some double sided tape to use instead. I had loads of molex > 2 sata splitters from my old cage to enable me to power everything with just one modular molex cable that fit in behind both SSDs to connect them. The HDD bays have preinstalled plugs behind them, and cables for the drives coming out at the back.

A few thin cable ties are provided with the case, didnt really need to use them on anything in the back as that can be left messy, so I used them to hold the PCI-E extension cables together. I just used a bunch of cheapo Akasa black braided extension cables to make the front neater, 2 x 8 pin CPU (double CPU socket motherboard), 4 x PCI-E cables, and a motherboard cable, next I need to buy a USB 3.0 to 2.0 converter for the front sockets, but couldnt find any online for under a fiver delievered so will wait until I can since its not important.

Dragon demanded that they be covered up, they were no good for his new home:

http://forum.buildyourown.org.uk/top...TOPIC_ID=57683

I think the case would be fine to use on its side like in the first pic, it rests on its back with the window at the top, but it would reduce the effectiveness of the airflow.

The stock fans in the case are very noisy, and not the same quality as Corsairs AF140 fans which is a shame, so I removed them and added my silent high airflow Xigmatek red led fans:







Those crystal led fans have really tight screw holes though, and I could only install them loosely which left them vibrating. That was fixed with further ghetto modding and sticking some cellotape over every screw to hold them steady.

[pastymuncher]

Is all that mesh filtered? The only thing i don't like about this case is the pci-e cables can't be hidden.

[IrishCallaghan]

lol at the dragon pics with captions. They made my day thanks.

[nyoron]

Looks good. Not a fan of red leds though, psychologically it makes me feel like my components are running hot!

[PK71]

I prefer the old one... Nah not really, looks good, not a fan of all the lights tho personally.

[Bhavv]

It turns out that the stock fans werent noisy, it was my graphics cards running at 100% fan speed without drivers installed. I removed the top and rear led fans and put the corsair fans there, not as shiny now, but I just ordered a Nzxt hue and an extra phanteks fan to add to the CPU cooler. It probably wont make much difference but will look nicer through the window.

Im not too bothered about buying new case fans though, I'll just run a few tests after the extra fan for the cooler comes to see if theres any difference between using the corsair fans and red led fans.

Is all that mesh filtered? The only thing i don't like about this case is the pci-e cables can't be hidden.

The front is filtered with a big sturdy magnetic dust filter. Though the PCI-E cables cant be hidden, you can buy some nice extension cables. I just went with the cheapest plain black Akasa ones, but you can get different coloured ones like red + black which look really nice, but I was ok with just the plain black akasa ones for everything.

If you're worried about dust getting through the top, you can cover it with a cloth and put some objects on it. I have a levitating video game map on top of mine:

[pastymuncher]

Love the levitation going on there.

With all that ventilation i bet you have some excellent temps?

On a side note, there are loads of familiar names on here from another popular forum.

[Bhavv]

Temperatures are much improved over my old case, the following settings are just for temp testing and benching:



I used to hit 89 degrees with much less than that. Currently my 24/7 setting is 4.3 Ghz @ 1.3v, and that stays under 75 degrees on all cores.

I might even get a little less with the extra fan I ordered for the CPU cooler, but thats mostly for vanity, I doubt it will make much difference. I was also thinking of reseating the CPU cooler with MX4, but now I dont need to and its a really hard cooler to remove and install anyway.

[pastymuncher]

Very nice. I think Corsair has another winner on it's hands there.

[Bhavv]

Nzxt Hue installed:

[pastymuncher]

Love the blue theme. Don't like the pink. Whats that strip of mini piccies under the bottom gpu?

[Bhavv]

I have the leds set to one of the auto change settings so it blends and cycles through different colours.

The pics are these stuck to a strip of cardboard:

http://www.guildwars.com/events/skillpins.php

I made a video of the thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXg7bRggp7k

Best PC I ever made