H440 Or AIR 540

[LiamApex]

Please feel free to recommend any other cases that are good and look simple but yet nice

[Oshino Shinobu]

They're designed for very different situations. Air 540 if you want very good cooling and airflow. H440 if you want silence and decent watercooling support. 

 

EDIT: Personally, I would go for the Air 540, building in dual compartment cases is so nice. 

[mosin40]

Mmmm...

Really tough decision

 

Air 540: If you don't care much about silence adn want more airflow 

 

H440: if you prefer silence over airflow

 

Another good cases: Phanteks Enthoo Pro, Fractal Design Define S, and the R5

[Senzelian]

Please feel free to recommend any other cases that are good and look simple but yet nice

I actually have an Air 540.

Overall the case is fairly nice. It looks unique and is really compact.

Something I didn't like is the cablemanagement, but that is simply the problem with this design. You really have to think abour where you put your cables. Not because there isn't enough space, but because you'll end up with a lot more bends in your cables because the case is much smaller.

But then again it's really easy to get to the CPU connector for example and it looks really nice  and clean from the other side

The best thing about the Air 540 is it's cooling performance. Put three 120mm fans in the front and let the air flow through it. Heat gets so easily dissipated. 

[Necrodead]

Really like the Phanteks Evolv series, very cool appearance. 

[Badger906]

air 540!!! i have one and love it! best case I've owned... and I'm normally one who changes all the time as i could never find one i liked!

 

 

my build with very little effort put into neatness. theres so much space at the back that you dont need cable management, and theres also a bay that holds around 6 ssds!

[Necrodead]

I actually have an Air 540.

Overall the case if fairly nice. It looks unique and is really compact.

 

I have one as well, and I would not call it 'compact', lol. I feel like its a pretty monster sized case unless you have room on the floor.

[Senzelian]

I have one as well, and I would not call it 'compact', lol. I feel like its a pretty monster sized case unless you have room on the floor.

I'd still say it's compact.

The Define S for example, which is a pretty small ATX case, is around 10cm shorter and a lot higher.

The Air 540 just uses a larger footprint.

It was in fact one of the only ATX cases that fit perfectly on my desk.

But I know what you mean. It's still a large case.

[e29gr8t]

I had a hard time fitting my EVGA 1600T2 To the AIR 540

[LRC350]

I would choose the H440. Gorgeous case and great build quality. I used to have a H440 I couldn't stand the really bad airflow after adding another GTX980. So recently I bought the Corsair 450D. Its about the same size as the H440, build quality is not as high and just about the same room behind the mobo for cable management. But the biggest differences is the 450D has amazing airflow and a nice tinted and scratch resistant window. The magnetic dust filters are ok, but a little to coarse for my liking so buying finer dust filters is a must. It maybe be cheaper or the same price also!

 

[othertomperson]

Something I didn't like is the cablemanagement, but that is simply the problem with this design. You really have to think abour where you put your cables. Not because there isn't enough space, but because you'll end up with a lot more bends in your cables because the case is much smaller.

 

It's got two massive chambers o.0 I haven't seen a case with more room for cable management

[Ogl]

Phanteks Evolv ATX

[Senzelian]

It's got two massive chambers o.0 I haven't seen a case with more room for cable management

 

Something I didn't like is the cablemanagement, but that is simply the problem with this design. You really have to think abour where you put your cables. Not because there isn't enough space, but because you'll end up with a lot more bends in your cables because the case is much smaller.

I hope you understand it now. 

[othertomperson]

I hope you understand it now. 

 

Oh right the text I read before that was nonsensical at the time just needed to be a little bolder, now it's clear as mud. Never mind that you have cited not enough space and having lots of space in the same sentence.

 

No I don't understand now, this is the easiest case to build in I've ever encountered.

[LosssLesss]

I would choose the H440. Gorgeous case and great build quality. I used to have a H440 I couldn't stand the really bad airflow after adding another GTX980. So recently I bought the Corsair 450D. Its about the same size as the H440, build quality is not as high and just about the same room behind the mobo for cable management. But the biggest differences is the 450D has amazing airflow and a nice tinted and scratch resistant window. The magnetic dust filters are ok, but a little to coarse for my liking so buying finer dust filters is a must. It maybe be cheaper or the same price also!

 

Hold up... I'm about to start a build with SLI Reference 980s in a H440. Here's the parts list. From your experience, should I be concerned?  :blink:

[LiamApex]

I would choose the H440. Gorgeous case and great build quality. I used to have a H440 I couldn't stand the really bad airflow after adding another GTX980. So recently I bought the Corsair 450D. Its about the same size as the H440, build quality is not as high and just about the same room behind the mobo for cable management. But the biggest differences is the 450D has amazing airflow and a nice tinted and scratch resistant window. The magnetic dust filters are ok, but a little to coarse for my liking so buying finer dust filters is a must. It maybe be cheaper or the same price also!

 

i have 2 GTX 980s

[LRC350]

Hold up... I'm about to start a build with SLI Reference 980s in a H440. Here's the parts list. From your experience, should I be concerned?  :blink:

 

hmm it depends. I like to keep my components nice and cool. From my experience my cards were reaching up to 89C! On my reference cards(blower) This is with 3 intakes upfront and 2 exhaust at top and 1 rear exhaust. Cpu was reaching around 74C with H100i.

 

Now with my Corsair case my cards are around 74C underload and my cpu around 55C. I can also run the fans a lot slower because the airflow is so much better.

[Senzelian]

Oh right the text I read before that was nonsensical at the time just needed to be a little bolder, now it's clear as mud. Never mind that you have cited not enough space and having lots of space in the same sentence.

 

No I don't understand now, this is the easiest case to build in I've ever encountered.

I didn't.

It is an easy case to build in, but that doesn't matter at all. I still don't like the cablemanagement options. It is almost impossible to have really clean cable management behind the motherboard tray with the amount of stuff that I have in my case.

I had to mount some cables to the 5.25'' drive bays and remove some of the SSD brackets to actually get to everything without ripping half of the cables apart.

[Agent181]

AIR 540 MASTER RACE

dats bae

[m_tieu]

I really like the industrial look of the air 540. There's plenty of ventilation for air flow and no drive cages in the main compartment to offer resistance. There's a big window to show off your hardware if you're into that kind of stuff. I recently changed cases from a Coolermaster 693 open air flow case to a define s which is similar to the h440. Temperatures have gone up from 80 degrees on the gpus to 95 on load and idle temperatures increased about 5-10 degrees due to the restricted air flow. So that's something to consider as well. My gpus are open air design.

[Nav1tech]

I love my 540. I wasnt completely sold on the cube form factor at first, but now I dont see my self going back.

[raultherabbit]

As an owner of both I'll say it's easier/more fun to build in a 540, but it rattles and creaks.

It was a little more annoying to build in the H440 but it's so much quieter and zero rattles squeaks or anything.  

 

Neither are bad really, but I feel like I paid more than what I got out of the 540.