[Build Log] Upgrade to Corsair 540 Air

[QwasJ]

Hi guys,

I build myself my first Pc ever maybe 9 - 10 months ago and made some mistakes back then when buying the components. So I decided to slowly upgrade my Pc, first starting off with the case..

 

My current rig:

Cpu: Intel i7 3770k

Mb: Asus P8B75-M

Ram: G.Skill Ripjaws 16Gb @1600Mhz

Psu: 530 Watt Thermaltake

HDD: Some random I found laying around

Fans: Same here

SSD: Adata Premiere Pro S900 128Gb

Gpu: Zotac Gtx 670 Overclocked

Case: Aerocool XPredator X1

 

The performance of this rig ain't bad, but i don't like the little details, for example the horrible cabel management in the X1, also I will prepare for SLI: I need a new Psu, Mb and a second gtx, even though i will buy that one in the end, hoping for some more price drop. Further, I will add a 1Tb HDD and another SSD for Raid0, as some better fans. 

 

To buy list:

Mb: Gigabyte Z77X-DH3

Psu: Corsair HX850

HDD: WD Blue 1Tb

SSD: Adata Premiere Pro S900 128Gb

Gpu: Zotac Gtx 670

Fans: 3x AF120

Case: Corsair 540 Air

RAM: G.Skill Ares 16Gb 1600Mhz

 

Update 1:

Today I bought myself the 540 Air, it's kinda strange to get it here in Germay..

My trusted retailers won't start shipping until October, so I was looking for some sites. It will be shipped in 6 Days, so i hope to get it in 10 days.

I will give you guys some pics of my current rig before putting everything in the new case

 

Update2:

 

I think the next I'm going to do is the sleeving:
I thought of going for black/blue Theme, since my case is black and the Mb i want to buy is main blue.

I'll order them this evening, hopefully they arrive in the next two days!

[CoolBeans]

Pics?

[QwasJ]

Coming soon

First I'll have to clean up my room, so i have some clear space here :p

Ill load some pics on monday of my current rig.

[TaiGeXGaming]

I look forward to the photos

[QwasJ]

First Planning Update:

 

I think I will have to change the RAM, since its red with a pretty noticeable heat-spreader. Doesn't really fit to the black case & the black/blue Mobo..

I'm thinking of some G.Skill Ares Series RAM in Blue. Nice Low Profile, some black accents, looks good..

[TheProfosist]

I want one baaaad but it cant hold enough drives.

[BenD]

googled your current case, seems like a downgrade if you ask me?
 

[QwasJ]

googled your current case, seems like a downgrade if you ask me?

 

 

 

Maybe it's just me, but there are a lot of little things I don't like about this case. I will show you the next days on some photos

 

I want one baaaad but it cant hold enough drives.

 

Do you use internal DVD reader? If not, you could use 5 1/4" to 3 1/2" adapters, so you would have space for four 3 1/2" drives and four 2 1/2" drivers.

[BenD]

Maybe it's just me, but there are a lot of little things I don't like about this case. I will show you the next days on some photos

 

i'm guessing there is no such thing as a perfect case :D

it's just the combination of components that does the trick, a good psu that at least semi-modulair does do a lot for cable management, have some few issues myself

you can check my build log out and see for yourself that a cheap psu leads to bad to very bad cable management :p but if you don't have a windowed case, doesn't really matter that much, more a pride thing :p

[QwasJ]

Had the same issue :D

Non modular psu + bad case = Worst.

 

Ill chech your build log

[TheProfosist]

edit wrong thread 

 

[TheProfosist]

Maybe it's just me, but there are a lot of little things I don't like about this case. I will show you the next days on some photos

 

 

Do you use internal DVD reader? If not, you could use 5 1/4" to 3 1/2" adapters, so you would have space for four 3 1/2" drives and four 2 1/2" drivers.

 

well I need a minimum of 4 which you said it would take and it can but defiantly not idealy especially when you want to run RAID and know your going to have to swap in a new drive every now and then.

[QwasJ]

Yeah, true.

Im sorry dude

[TheProfosist]

Yeah, true.

Im sorry dude

 

O think they really could have done more with the other side truthfully.

[QwasJ]

Yeah, it's pretty empty on the back side. But it gives some space to mod

[TheProfosist]

Yeah, it's pretty empty on the back side. But it gives some space to mod

 

They should have widened the otherside and made it all hot swap 3.5in bays  that would have been cool. or made them 5.25 so you can do what you want. I know either option would have made it considerably wider but I think in the end more use full.

[QwasJ]

Yeah. And in the end of the day it's a Cube Case, and Cubes are wide. So I don't think it would really bother anyone.

[QwasJ]

Alright, Case is shipping and should arrive tomorrow!

[QwasJ]

UPDATE:

 

So I finished building my rig in the new Case and made some Pics of my old rig as well as then new one

 

 

 

This is my old Case, i planned to mod the 5.25" bay to stealth my DVD-Drive, but since i was going to buy a new case anyway i never finished it.

 

 

Old Case from the other side with open side panel. Since it had no window I decided to take the panel off, so you guys could see anything :P

 

 

There was almost no space to manage your cabels, it don't know why they did it this way..

And as you can imagine, it was almost impossible to close the side panel, since all the cabels were just to thick.

 

 

 

 

Random Pic of my gpu

 

 

 

Since the holes were too small and this plastic thing didn't let enough air pass, the upper fans were almost useless, they only did a lot of noise >.<

 

 

 

The way you had to mount the Fans in the front was pretty annoying. Screw them on the adapter, try to get the adapter in the front (not very easy) and screw them in..

 

 

 

 

 

 

The front dust filters were there, but not removable. It was just some mesh built in the chassis. So it was horrible to clean them, you had to disassemble almost the entire pc to clean up..

 

 

 

So thats my old rig and why I wanted to change the case :P

The disassemble & new rig is coming later

[QwasJ]

UPDATE:

 

So i disassembled my old rig and build everything in the new case:

 

 

New Case arrived the morning, I was pretty excited ^^

 

it was packed pretty good, there was so much stuff around it o.O

 

removed all the HDDs, DVD-Drives and my SSD

 

I took out the GPU and the RAM, disconnected everything and took the mobo..

wait, what? How?

 

Put the mobo in the new case, it's too small xD Looks pretty ridiculous, CPU cutout of the case is wider then the mobo, some work to do here

 

Put the GPU & RAM back in, like I said in one of the previous posts, im gonna change the RAM, the red doesn't fit in there.

 

Connecting front panel, some SATA things and so on

 

Some cabel-managment, easy in this case :D

 

At first she didn't want to boot :O

Klicked the RAM-Ok button und *poof* there she is.

 

Random Pic of the fans in the front, but im gonna change them..

They are damn loud >.<

 

My desk at the moment xD

 

Some random pics, cause I think they look good :p

 

So that's how my rig looks at the moment. There are gonna be some changes, gonna buy some sleeving the next day, the unsleeved psu is just so ugly >.<

After that I'll try to get a new mobo, this one does just not fit in this case..

[QwasJ]

UPDATE:

 

I think the next I'm going to do is the sleeving:
I thought of going for black/blue Theme, since my case is black and the Mb i want to buy is main blue.

I'll order them this evening, hopefully they arrive in the next two days!

[IBIubbleTea]

Planning on getting the Air 540!! looking good.

[CJPowell27]

If you really want Blue ram just take the heat spreaders off and Spray-Paint them it's a lot cheaper and you should just buy sleeved extensions because of the fact that you don't see the whole PSU cables. LOL I had to buy a new case because of my case couldn't even fit a fan cable behind it. I upgraded to a Survivor because it has a whole inch of room

[QwasJ]

Planning on getting the Air 540!! looking good.

Thank you very much! I love mine :D

 

 

 

 

If you really want Blue ram just take the heat spreaders off and Spray-Paint them it's a lot cheaper and you should just buy sleeved extensions because of the fact that you don't see the whole PSU cables. LOL I had to buy a new case because of my case couldn't even fit a fan cable behind it. I upgraded to a Survivor because it has a whole inch of room

I didn't thought of spraying them, thank you. but I think I want to go for some "real" sleeving, even it's only more work. But thank you