[pirate d]

Hi Everyone, thought i would just post an update on my corsair carbide 540 now i have vertical GPU installed. I think it gives it a lot better look.

If any of you fancy some more awesome setups and room layouts as well, then head over to our facebook group. We have over 10000 members and some really awesome kit on show. https://www.facebook.com/groups/gamingroomsetuplayout/

 

[CptAsian]

Hi Everyone, thought i would just post an update on my corsair carbide 540 now i have vertical GPU installed. I think it gives it a lot better look.

If any of you fancy some more awesome setups and room layouts as well, then head over to our facebook group. We have over 10000 members and some really awesome kit on show. https://www.facebook.com/groups/gamingroomsetuplayout/

What vertical bracket did you use and did you have to do any case cutting? Your pictures are all sideways by the way.

 

[CptAsian]

Does anybody have a GPU with a 120mm AIO in addition to a CPU AIO? If so, how did you lay everything out? I'm currently running a 140mm in the back, a 280mm rad in P/P on top for the CPU, and 3x 120mm on the front. Not sure what the best plan of action is to mount an additional 120mm rad, but maybe I could get creative and try to design/3D print a bracket to float it somewhere. If anyone has a simpler suggestion I'd love to hear it.

 

[starjammer]

Does anybody have a GPU with a 120mm AIO in addition to a CPU AIO? If so, how did you lay everything out? I'm currently running a 140mm in the back, a 280mm rad in P/P on top for the CPU, and 3x 120mm on the front. Not sure what the best plan of action is to mount an additional 120mm rad, but maybe I could get creative and try to design/3D print a bracket to float it somewhere. If anyone has a simpler suggestion I'd love to hear it.

Do you only have fans up front? If so, you can mount the GPU AIO rad up there. It should fit, given that AIO rads are usually 30mm thick. If the GPU is exceptionally long you can mount the accompanying fans for the rad on outside front of the case.

 

[CptAsian]

Do you only have fans up front? If so, you can mount the GPU AIO rad up there. It should fit, given that AIO rads are usually 30mm thick. If the GPU is exceptionally long you can mount the accompanying fans for the rad on outside front of the case.

Ah yeah, I totally forgot front fans can be mounted between the frame and the front cover. That makes this much easier, thanks.

 

[WaXmAn]

 

[starjammer]

Ah yeah, I totally forgot front fans can be mounted between the frame and the front cover. That makes this much easier, thanks.

It's one of the reasons why I keep loving this case lol. You might want to make a different filtering mechanism for the front now that you won't have the front filter. Either get those 120mm fan filters and put it between the fan and case, or take out the metal mesh from the from panel and put a stocking around it. makes for a good filter.

 

[Sir Beregond]

I have officially retired my just about 6 year old Air 540. In recent weeks it has become a noisy mess. Not sure the ultimate cause, but I'd guess the hard drives mounted to the bottom of the case transferring vibrations through the chassis. It reached a point where the front panel was just so noisy with rattles and vibrations last week that I had had enough. I am planning to build a new rig next year with Zen 3 and Ampere/RDNA2, but for now have transplanted into a new case.

I was set on the Fractal Design Meshify S2 till I saw how big it actual was at Micro Center and then decided I really still liked the dual chamber philosophy, so ended up with a Lian Li O-11 Dynamic (not the XL). Really happy with the build quality here.

If I had a couple of final thoughts on the Air 540, it was overall a great case. Areas to improve would be the plastic materials of the panels as it seemed to get pretty noisy over time, I had slight warping on the top panel, and along the same lines, they could have dropped the two 5.25" bays and instead had a hard drive cage there with proper vibration dampening. Having the hard drive mounts on the floor of the chassis made it loud and over time cause incessant vibration transfer into the front panel that became unbearable for a silence freak like me. It also caused problems for me mounting a 360 radiator in front the way I wanted with inlet/outlet on the bottom so just overall felt like wasted space. Otherwise, good case that was great to build in.

I suppose these days, having mechanical hard drives is becoming less prevalent, but at the time, having a proper solution for mounting would have been appreciated over the afterthought of floor mounting.

 

[CptAsian]

I have officially retired my just about 6 year old Air 540. In recent weeks it has become a noisy mess. Not sure the ultimate cause, but I'd guess the hard drives mounted to the bottom of the case transferring vibrations through the chassis. It reached a point where the front panel was just so noisy with rattles and vibrations last week that I had had enough. I am planning to build a new rig next year with Zen 3 and Ampere/RDNA2, but for now have transplanted into a new case.

I was set on the Fractal Design Meshify S2 till I saw how big it actual was at Micro Center and then decided I really still liked the dual chamber philosophy, so ended up with a Lian Li O-11 Dynamic (not the XL). Really happy with the build quality here.

If I had a couple of final thoughts on the Air 540, it was overall a great case. Areas to improve would be the plastic materials of the panels as it seemed to get pretty noisy over time, I had slight warping on the top panel, and along the same lines, they could have dropped the two 5.25" bays and instead had a hard drive cage there with proper vibration dampening. Having the hard drive mounts on the floor of the chassis made it loud and over time cause incessant vibration transfer into the front panel that became unbearable for a silence freak like me. It also caused problems for me mounting a 360 radiator in front the way I wanted to so just overall felt like wasted space. Otherwise, good case that was great to build in.

I suppose these days, having mechanical hard drives is becoming less prevalent, but at the time, having a proper solution for mounting would have been appreciated over the afterthought of floor mounting.

I can see myself doing the same thing by moving to an O-11 after I retire my 540 for whatever reason that may be. Considering I still have a PC in a HAF XB, I also really like the dual chamber design and would like to continue the trend.

 

[Sir Beregond]

I can see myself doing the same thing by moving to an O-11 after I retire my 540 for whatever reason that may be. Considering I still have a PC in a HAF XB, I also really like the dual chamber design and would like to continue the trend.

I'm waiting on a new fan controller since I lost the 5.25" bays with the new case so can't use my Lamptron controller, but preliminary testing just with manual PWM controlling in the BIOS, my noise levels are pretty good! Solved is the issue of the vibration/rattle noises I started getting which as a watercooler became a deal breaker for me with the Air 540. Overall very impressed with this case and the build quality is great. It does not have the same cheap plastics that I think just warped and wore out on the 540 after 6 years usage. I do wish the main chamber was slightly wider in the O-11, but everything fits luckily, my GPU with water block...barely. And...it has a proper hard drive cage with proper vibration dampening in the mounts in the back!

 

[Gidione]

 

[jaebear]

Any modern cases similar to this? Looking for a "compact" ATX build but it seems this style of case is not very prevalent

 

[Pepillo]

Any modern cases similar to this? Looking for a "compact" ATX build but it seems this style of case is not very prevalent

In my opinion its natural replacement is the Lian Li O11 Dynamic. Different, better quality, but similar concept. It's the change I made, from the Corsair to the Lian Li, I couldn't find anything that convinced me to replace my old 540 until I saw that O11. Very happy with the change.

 

[Somasonic]

In my opinion its natural replacement is the Lian Li O11 Dynamic. Different, better quality, but similar concept. It's the change I made, from the Corsair to the Lian Li, I couldn't find anything that convinced me to replace my old 540 until I saw that O11. Very happy with the change.

Agreed. Not sure it will happen in the current climate, but I plan for my next build to be in the XL version of the O11.

 

[Pepillo]

Old one

New one

 

[TeslaHUN]

You cant compare them. Air 540 is a Superb airflow case ,011 dynamic is a hotbox showcase.

 

[Pepillo]

Yes, I can compare, impartially, because I have assembled the same equipment in both cases.

 

[jaebear]

My problem with the lian li is that I don't like windows at all, but they have the right idea with the backside panel. I only care about performance and silence, I dislike windows and LEDs. I may tolerate a single side window but thats it. I'm essentially looking for something that is as small as possible while still supporting an ATX or maybe EATX board, and should support 840-960+ of rad because it will run an SLI + beefy cpu. I think this corsair has the right idea but it looks plasticy/cheap and it is quite outdated. I think a perfect case for me is the caselabs S8S/S8, but it is a pain to find one since they went bankrupt. I only have NVME so a lot of the extra space can be filled with rad. I'm also considering something like Cooler Master MasterBox Q500L + external rad although I would prefer to have at least some radiator inside the case. The plan is to add a Mora3 on top of whatever I end up with.

I may even try building my own out of aluminium extrusion. I might even be able to make something shorter or more compact than the S8S because I am using a custom watercooled power supply that is extremely small (only 1.5"/4cm thick and 8-12" long) so I can shave off even more from the height (or width/depth if I do a vertically oriented motherboard)

 

[starjammer]

Hey, guys! Need some aesthetic advice. Would you think having a 360 rad (3x120) up front and a 280 rad (2x140) up top will look weird, assuming both rads will have lian li sl120 and sl140 fans inside?

 

[mizifih]

Old one

Where did you find that fan support to fit in the HDD slider? I want that. Badly!