Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 Review
Category : Cases
Published by Marc Büchel on 09.07.13
It's an open secret these days, that experiments with form factors are very welcome by customers. Especially since the trend with miniITX gaming PC's started to take off, more and more case manufacturers start showing new conpects. With their Carbide Series Air 540 Corsair is fueling the concept of cube cases with some more innovation and they present an enclosure which offers a lot of interior space as well as features, that make the heart of a modder beat faster.
Article in English |
Artikel in Deutsch |
Article en français |
Articolo in italiano |
On the following pages we will show you the strengths and weaknesses of the Corsair Carbide Series Air 540.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Preview
Specifications
| Model | Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 |
| Case Type | Cube Case |
| Dimensions | 415 x 332 x 458 mm |
| Material | Steel, Plastic |
| Color | Black |
| 5.25'' drive bay | 2 x external |
| 3.5'' drive bay | 2 x 3.5'' |
| 2.5'' drive bay | 4 x 2.5'' |
| Expansion slots | 8 |
| Form factors | E-ATX, ATX, mATX, Mini ITX |
| Weight | 7.2 kg |
| Cooling | 2 x 140 mm Front (AF140L) 1 x 140 mm Rear (AF140L) 2 x 120/140 mm Top (optional) |
| I/O ports | 2 x USB 3.0 Audio in / out |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Front
Overview |
 
 |
| Taking a closer look at the front of this rather unusually shaped case shows that Corsair is using high quality materials. The plastics for example have a velvety finish. The front has been split into two parts and on the right hand sider there is space for two 5.25 inch drives. Below the driver there is the power and the reset buttons. Next to these two buttons, you find two USB 3.0 ports, a headphone in as well as a headphone out. On the left side you find a dustfilter, behind which there are two Corsair AF140L 140 millimeter fans. The dust filter itself is being kept in place by mangnet in the corner of the filter piece, which makes it very hand to remove and wash. Behind the air filter there is space for either two 140 or three 120 millimeter fans. Later in this review we will show you what you can actually fit into this case, since it offers quite a lot interior space. But before that a short note about the Corsair fans. The AF140L are high-flow fans, which brings the consequence, that there actully quite noisy. Since, the interior is very well thought it's absolutely not necessary to equip this case with such noisy fans. We would have loved to see lower rpm fans that offer a lower noise level. |
Back
Overview |
 |
| Next to the usual slot bezels, of which there are nine in this case, there is space for another pre-installed AF140L 140 millimeter fan, which has been placed right behind the CPU cooler. |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Right side
Overview |
 |
| Business as usual, that's what you get when you have a look at the right hand side panel. It's looks are really unspectacular and only in the bottom right corner there are some vent holes. As soon as we remove the panel things start to look more interesting. It doens't take close look to see that this case offers a lot of space on the backside of the motherboard, which is a very good thing if you, like us, want your case to be wired neatly. When looking for the two 5.25 inch drive cages we find them in the top left corner and the drives are going to be place upright. Shifting focus to the edge on the right side makes you see the hard drive cage, which can carry up to four 2.5 inch drives. Right underneath the HDD cage, there is the spot where the PSU goes, which also stands on its side and the fan is facing towards the side panel. For the power supply there is an additional bracket to keep it in place, but to be honest we don't really get the point of this. Nevertheless this case can take power supplies which can be up to 200 millimeter long. In this case compatibility issues are foreign word when it comes to the case and PSU's. Another great addition are all the cable management holes, which ensures that you can route cables where you actually want/have to. Last but not least, there is a big hole where the CPU cooler goes, which lets you install a CPU cooler after you've put the motherboard in place. |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Left side
Overview |
 
|
| Looking
at the left side of the Air 540 you instantly notice, the big window.
Once removed, we get an even better overview on what's what on this side
of the motherboard tray. One of the very first things we noticed were
the three Corsair AF140L high-flow vents, which unfortunately are quite
noisy and they also don't feature a 4-pin connector. So the only way to
control fan speeds is by equipping this case with a fan controller. By
checking out the bottom area there are two carriages for 3.5 inch hard
drives with hot swap ports, which makes it convenient to exchange them.
Another very practical aspect of this case are the cable mangement
holes, which are virtually everywhere in this case, but they do not
intefere with the looks. Furthermore practical are the cable tie loops
to attach all the cables to. As you can see on the last two pictures, this case offers plenty of space for a triple radiator. Since there are quite big compression fittings on our EK radiator we had to apply some gentle force to put the thing in place. Obviously, the fact, that the fittings collide with the 3.5 inch HDD carriage this renders that very hot-swap cage useless. Apparently mounting the radiator this way doesn't really make a lot of sense, since having the fittings on top makes it possible to get rid of this compatibility issue. Next to a triple radiator in the front you can add another dual radiator in the top of the case. Overall the Air 540 allows you to put an excellent cooling system in place. |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Top
Overview |
|
| As we've already mentioned you find space to install either up to two 120 or 140 millimeter fans. Obviously it's also possible to install either a 240 rad or a 280 rad at this point. In any case, if you should decide to populate this spot with fans or with a radiator plus fans, we recommend to mount the fans in a way that the move hot air out of the case. |
Bottom
Overview |
| The bottom side of this case is really unspectacular. Basically the only thing you see are four solid feet with rubber, which give the case a very safe stand. Apart from that there are a few holes underneat the hard drive cages, that make sure, the hard drives get some fresh air. Next to that there is virtually nothing more that is interesting at this point. |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| With the Carbide Series Air 540, Corsair managed to build a cube case with a very well thought interior. In this regard Corsair was able to convince us but this case still offers room for improvement. For example: we disaggree with the fans Corsair has chosen and we would recommend to combine this case with lower rpm fans, which also feature 4-Pin PWM headers. On the other hand we very much liked the finish of this case and it's quite a good looking thing. | -
Design - Form factor |
- Fans | |
| Manufacturing quality / Ergonomics | + | - | |
| Build quality with this case is on a really good level. For example, Corsair didn't hopelessly save weight on the side panels. Combinend with the form factor of this case this results in a really stiff construcion. Furhtermore putting all the components in place, is very comfortable, since there is plenty of space everywhere. Very practical, that's what all the rubber covered cut outs are, since you can route cable exactly where you would like them to. And thanks to the unusual wide design there is more than enough space to nicely hide all cables. | - Build quality - Interior Space | ||
| Design | + | - | |
| Since this case has a cubic shape and it's quite wide, the Air 540 seems quite chunky. Additionally this case is everything but small and its footprint is quite substantial. What we like at this point is the front, which has been split into two halfs. On the left hand side there is mesh and the right hand side it is clean and it features a velvety surface. This line management goes on, when looking at the top of the case. Should you like to have clear side to the interior of your PC, then you'll also like the big side windows Corsair equipped this case with and since, it's very easy to route all the cables neatly and hide them a system in the Air 540 will always look clean. | - Design - Window | ||
| Recommendation | + | - | |
| Should you be looking for a rather special case, which allows you to present your precious hardware in a nice and clean way and which also offers plenty of space for a watercooling solution, then the Air 540 from Corsair is a great choice. But still, this thing won't be everybodies darling, since it's for example impossilbe to use this case as a file server without modding it. | - Gaming-PC - Enthusiast build |
- Desktop PC - File Server |
|
| Rating | |||
| The Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 gets good four out of five stars. The case comes at a price point of est. CHF 155.- (est EUR 129.-). | |||
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
Discuss this article in the forums
Redacted by: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch