Introduction
My Corsair Air 540 has been great in the time I've had it but it was always my second choice. It's a fantastic case in many regards but I find myself wanting more flexibility, more space and more maximised airflow potential design. For some background, I am an air builder and I probably will be for some time based on the constant results I get in all of my builds so this build will be air based but may have a revision down the track on water. This is another reason I have bit the bullet and gone with the CL Mercury S8 over 540. Whilst I like to modify anything I can I was starting to find push against the limitations of the 540 and adding a rear twin fan mod, whilst it would work for better flow to the bottom graphics card would start to cramp up the case and mean compromising storage options.
Why isn't this a watercooled build?
This is a work PC probably more than it is a gaming PC so reliability is key and a fan failure is far less damaging than a pump or flow failure, as well as the downtime to set up a full water cooled rig and iron out bubbles or other issues - the things we don't always think about when we read build logs. If a fan fails, you still have heatsinks and other fans working if you don't or aren't around to catch it straight away.
Why the S8?
The key is the horizontal motherboard placement and the advantages are numerous for an air build in this case:
- CPU cooling from two directions (front and top)
- Graphics cards cooling from two directions (front and top) and more importantly one of those directions is into the side of the cards meaning that in SLi air can still get into the gaps vs the fan below method that could have been implemented in the 540 but would likely only benefit one card
- Large HDD capacity without compromise and with good to great cooling options for them depending on placement and accessory options
- 5.25 drive bay in horizontal x 3 - nice for a fan controller, bay reservoir and even an optical drive if you want (I still use them lol though I have an external as well)
- This one is specific to me but I can use my Thermaltake Max 5 Duo SATA HDD Rack which is a great quick option for my HDD archive that I don't always need installed in my case
- The option to go water in a big way without any modifications and with an optimal layout - I mean, 3 x 360 radiators can easily fit in this and that's enough to cool the most beastly system!
- Finally, it's CaseLabs construction and quality
Case: CaseLabs Mercury S8 **Acquired** [Building]
Case Color: Black
Form Factor: SSI EEB
Top Chassis Mount: Drop-in 120.3 x 2 mount
Top Cover: Ventilated
Left Door: Standard Window with Ventilation
Right Door : Standard Window with Ventilation
Front Cover: Ventilated
Flex-Bay Configuration: 120.2 Mount with Solid Bay Covers
Power and Reset Switch: Standard Power/Reset Switches with Sleeved Cables
I/O Panel: USB 3.0/HD Audio
Add a Second HDD cage?: No thanks
Add Tech Station Conversion Kit?: No thanks
Add the S8 120.3 side mount?: No thanks
Extra: 120.3 (360) Drop-in Radiator Side Mount - S8
Form Factor: SSI EEB
Top Chassis Mount: Drop-in 120.3 x 2 mount
Top Cover: Ventilated
Left Door: Standard Window with Ventilation
Right Door : Standard Window with Ventilation
Front Cover: Ventilated
Flex-Bay Configuration: 120.2 Mount with Solid Bay Covers
Power and Reset Switch: Standard Power/Reset Switches with Sleeved Cables
I/O Panel: USB 3.0/HD Audio
Add a Second HDD cage?: No thanks
Add Tech Station Conversion Kit?: No thanks
Add the S8 120.3 side mount?: No thanks
Extra: 120.3 (360) Drop-in Radiator Side Mount - S8
Motherboard: Asus Z97 Deluxe **Acquired** [Photos]
Memory: 32GB GSkill Trident X 2400MHz **Acquired** [Goldeneye Edition]
Graphics Card: Asus 980 Strix **Acquired** [Photos] [Goldeneye Edition]
SSD Boot: Samsung 840 Pro 120GB **Acquired**
SSD Gaming: Samsung 850 Pro 256GB **Acquired**
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1200 P2 **Acquired** [Photos] [Rubber Support]
Cooling:
Just a little note here, I am a Noctua man and have been for some time but the market has become a bit more competitive these days and I am going to try to achieve what might be a slight compromise to get a better aesthetic from this build - I feel this case deserves it and that it can be done with enough research.
CPU Cooler: Cryorig R1 Universal **Acquired** [Origami Test] [Photos] [Goldeneye Edition Part 1] [Goldeneye Edition Part 2]
Case Fans 120mm: 13 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition **Acquired** [Colour Match] [Painted] [Installed]
Case Fans 140mm: 1 x Corsair AF140 Quiet Edition **Acquired**
Fan Splitters: Phobya Various **Acquired**
Fan Controller: Lamptron FC5 V3 **Acquired** [Photos]
Cables + Management:
Ensourced PSU Cables (Black and Tan) **Acquired** [Design] [Pre-shipment] [Installed]
Moddiy USB 3.0 Adapters (Low Profile) **Acquired** [Photos]
Techflex Velcro Cable Manager **Acquired** [Photos]
Misc:
Custom Fan Paint [Colour Match] [Painted]
4 x Thermaltake Lumi LED Strips (White) **Acquired** [Photos] [LED Control Cable]
DEMCi Filters **Acquired** [Modded]
- 4 x 140.3 (Top + Sides)
- 1 x 140.2 (Front Left)
- 1 x 120.2 (Front Flexbay)
- 1 x 140.1 (PSU Slot)
Thermaltake Max 5 Duo SATA HDD Rack **Acquired**
LG Bluray Player **Acquired**
Testing
To Sidemount or not to Sidemount (on Air) [Results]
For anyone interested here's my
I'll do my best on the photos, the highest MP camera I own is a video camera (Sony HDR-XR500) so it will have to suffice for the photos. Maybe on the final shots I'll be able to borrow a DSLR and learn how to work it