# Corsair Carbide MbK



## kier (Aug 26, 2013)

Hi my fellow casemodders...it's Kier again

It's time for a new build with the beautiful Corsair Carbide Air 540.

Saw this case for the first time at some pictures from Computex 2013. And think it has a lot of potential

A good looking case with numerous possibilities for air cooling and watercooling ofcourse.

Time to think of some nice ideas and cut it in pieces.

Still have some hardware laying around for this build, which of course may change in the future of the build.

Hardware:

Mobo: Z68X-UD4-B3
CPU: i7 2600K
GPU: GTX680 x2
PSU: CM silent pro Platinum 1000w
Fans: xigmatek xof-f1251 6x
SSD: OCZ Vertex2 120GB
HDD: WD Green power 1TB
RAM: Corsair Dominators 8GB1600C7

Watercooling:

Radiators: EK-CoolStream RAD XT (240) + EK-CoolStream RAD XT (360)
GPU blocks: EK-FC680 GTX+ - Acetal+Nickel 2x
CPU blosk: EK-Supremacy (old style)
Pump: Laing DDC-1Plus MCP355 + EKWB top
Tubes: Acrylic tubes 12/10mm
And a lot of BP and EKWB fittings

First of al some pics and a small review of the case.... The Corsair Carbide Air 540.









And here it is.













Dimension: 415mm x 332mm x 458mm
Material:  Steel and plastic

Beautiful full side panel window













Front I/O:
(x2) USB 3.0
(x1) Headphone
(x1) Mic









Removable front dust filter.

















Top









There is space for 2 x 140mm or 2 x 120mm fans or ofcourse a radiator





Filter





With magnets









Front space for 2 x 140mm, 3 x 120mm fan or also a radiator
3x AF140L 140mm fans included





Inside

The two AF140L 140mm fans









CPU cutout









And the 3e included AF140L 140mm fan













8  expansion Slots









Dual 3.5” hot swap bays

















4x 2.5” tool-free SSD drive cages

















5.25" drive bay









Cable routing cutouts with rubber grommets









All necessary cables present





Maximum PSU length 200mm





Accessory kit





Time to place some hardware and see how it looks





Maximum GPU Length 320mm









If your going for air...Maximum CPU Cooler Height 170mm





More to come!!!


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## d1nky (Aug 26, 2013)

im intrigued by this case, be good to see what a pro modder does with it


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## kier (Aug 26, 2013)

Thanks mate, was a little bit love at first sight with this case


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## kier (Aug 26, 2013)

First post wasn't much about modding, so time for a little modding UPDATE!!!
This time i'm gonna cut the case in half 

First job...place some nice Xigmatek xof-f1251 fans. Btw. The color combination will be black/ grey and white.





First, see how it looks





A bit "normal". So other idea then, but first disassembling the case .





Once stripped, this is whats left.





Marked the size of 3 Xigmatek fans on top





Time to do the first cut.





Cut 2 strips to the right size and cut/ file some fan shapes





Mounted and tried to get the same height as the original plastic covers





Placed a 240 rad beneath it. 1 fan is for the show, much better looking then 2 on top and three in the front





Both rads placed like this





Again same heights as the plastic covers





And front





Cut a acrylic plate and made 3 fanholes in it





And again for the front





Cut 5mm on both sides to get a nice opening between the acrylic and plastic

Glued a angled piece between (with ACRIFIX 192)





And here it is...the new cover





First pasted white vinyl on it to get a better light distribution from some LED strips









Placed some white LED strips and a line of frosted acrylic on both sides.









After this pasted another layer of vinyl, but this time black and put some power on the strips

























Hmm, stupid me...have a lot of RGB strips and controllers laying around.
So removed the white strips and placed RGB.

Dont think i'm gonna use the different colors a lot, but it's funny so why not?













Dim the white lights





And full power





finally... a nice movie


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## McSteel (Aug 26, 2013)

Damn.


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## kier (Aug 27, 2013)

Thanks


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## adulaamin (Aug 27, 2013)

subbed!

Another awesome job!


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## erocker (Aug 27, 2013)

You took the one part that I don't like about the case and made it awesome!


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## ne6togadno (Aug 29, 2013)

at what direction front fans blow
and sub


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## kier (Aug 29, 2013)

Push and thanks


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## HammerON (Aug 29, 2013)

Sub'd for another awesome build
I am really looking forward to seeing what you do with this case!


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## micropage7 (Aug 31, 2013)

kier said:


> First post wasn't much about modding, so time for a little modding UPDATE!!!
> This time i'm gonna cut the case in half
> 
> First job...place some nice Xigmatek xof-f1251 fans. Btw. The color combination will be black/ grey and white.
> ...



i have to say you match it nicely
 rock man


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## kier (Sep 2, 2013)

Update!!!

External is almost finished.... So let's go inside
What I did:

Cut a acrylic midplate, and a acrylic mobo tray cut out with the dimensions of what remains after placing the mobo.
Cut/ placed 2x angled aluminum strips which are bent. Placed at the side from the vertical radiator and front midplate.





I also placed an acrylic pipe at each radiator which later become linked.





Height midplate is sufficient to do some installation work beneath it.





Attempt number 1 in terms of the tube routing (off course straight forward)





















Nice ... but not quite the thing i'm looking for. So change of plans:

GPUs in-and outlets all down and later.... in-and outlet CPU up





With C47 adapters





Made all covers and midplate black again





Only need to think/ make a nice cover for the horizontal rad





Connect the GPUs

























Underneath the case I have some space to connect everything (needs to be nicely finished) Rads (right) connected and has a drain port.
Furthermore GPU1 GPU2 coupled and the other in-and outlet with high flow fittings / flex tubes going to the right side of the case.





And screwed an acrylic plate against it.

CPU / outlet goes up and used some 90 degrees Rotery's to let it go to the right compartment





Looks quite clean allready

















The CPU connection comes out here and using fillports





As for the reservoir.... I have found a old EK Bayres. Made a new frontplate, this time without EK logo





And placed a MCP355 pump at the back









Fillports from both rads









And two pics of the beautiful fans and nostalgic bayreservoir









To be continued!!!


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## d1nky (Sep 2, 2013)

kier said:


> External is almost finished.... So let's go inside



im using this quote in real life! sorry I couldnt resist!

love the work, you've made that case 10 times better looking!


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## kier (Sep 2, 2013)

lol, telling this to my wife on a daily basis


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## d1nky (Sep 2, 2013)

glad you noticed that the pipes going horizontal were ugly.

the vertical keeps it symmetrical and unique! 

you have a true flare for this!


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## bogmali (Sep 2, 2013)

I really liked the case un-modded but I like it 10 times now!

Damn you Sneeky


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## Modcat (Oct 9, 2013)

*Question*

Hi Kier!

First of all i wanna admit your casemod so far is a 10+/10 - great work, its amazing.

Got a question about the vinyl you use for your acryl.

Where did you buy such a true and similar color as Corsairs own case color?

Im doing some modding atm aswell. And just got 4-5 test-colors from a company. But nothing looks similar to mine.

Thanks!

Gonna follow this thread! Keep it up.


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## kier (Oct 19, 2013)

Thank you so much my modding friends  and sorry for the late reply Modcat  The vinyl is coming from a Dutch shop Ultimate tuning








Update!!!

Also this build continues it's been a while since I've updated because of other little projects
But ...... here it is.

Been busy with the other side. For this I placed the in/ outlet from the GPUs like this... going up!!
Fits nicely along the PSU.





And after some pushing and measuring with the adapters: Right goes to the CPU and comes back to the Res, and placed a nice little fill port. Left goes from pump outlet to the GPUs





My new little fillport.





The whole thing.





Then it was time for the sleeving part. I have used black and 4 different types gray.





























Connected.

























And adapted the internal fan a bit.





Time to fill   





























Tomorrow there will be pictures of the "good" side and a nice filling movie

Before going to sleep 2 nice teasers:









Good night my friends !!!


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## SaiZo (Oct 19, 2013)

Awesome mod!
I like the black/white theme 10/10 from me.


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## McSteel (Oct 19, 2013)

This just has to be illegal, somehow...

Fantastic work man, you were born to do this


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## kier (Oct 19, 2013)

The white is liquid mate  not powder. So not illegal... I think

Thanks


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## Modcat (Oct 19, 2013)

*Vinyl*

Hi again 

Thanks for the link, is it the Mat Zwarts folie ? im not so strong in deutch.

Awesome update. And nice sleeving! can't wait to see more of your project(s).

Modcat


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## kier (Oct 20, 2013)

Yes...mat zwart








Update!!!

As promised the sequel:

First a filling vid:









 
And the pictures of the filled Corsair Carbide













































After letting it run for a while, it seems to appears to have no leakage 

My good CNC mate Pascal (thanks man) had a nice RGB controller which can dim the RGB LEDs very nicely. This gives a very cool effect when spinning the fans. Also placed another RGB strip internally.





Lights out!!!

















All colors of the rainbow available again:

















And cold white again





Or a bit warmer





Like I said, the dim function is quite fun to see

full power:









Dimmed:









Also a movie of this nice effect 









 
Until the next update again my modding friends


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## Jetster (Oct 20, 2013)

Awesome build


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## Modcat (Oct 20, 2013)

*Amazed*

Thanks Kier! 

Saw your video about the RGB light got pretty much hypnotized even with the music you have added. 

Insanity mod!


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## kier (Nov 24, 2013)

Update!!!
The story continues  This time with a upgrade with beautiful products from Corsair
Last week I received a great package with the products:



First 4 pieces of RAMs, the great Dominator Platinum 



- 16GB Kit (4 x 4GB)
- Speed Rating PC3-15000 (1866MHz)
- SPD Speed 1333MHz
- Tested Speed 1866Mhz
- Tested Latency 9-10-9-27
- SPD Latency 9-9-9-24









Also with two sets of Light Bars



Dominator Platinum Light Bar Upgrade kit









The bars in two colors. will use the white ones in this build



And all necessary parts



Placed them...



And tested them.












Looks so much better then the previous RAMs.
Also I've received some fast Corsair Neutron GTX SSDs  (120GB SATA 3 6Gb/s)









Max Random 4k Write - 84k IOPS
Interface SATA - 6Gb/s
DRAM Cache Memory - 128 MB
Power Consumption (active) 4.6W Max
Power Consumption (idle/standby/sleep) 0.6W Max
S.M.A.R.T. Support
Shock 1500 G
MTBF 2,000,000 hours






Also modded these by placing a window






After some sawing and filing...






The 3 windowed SSDs



To place this I've cut a piece of aluminum and bent



Made slots in it for SSD power and Sata + a hole for a fan controller



Will be placed like this



Made it black and installed everything












Everything still visible with the windows side panel



Because I had a different brand of PSU in it, Corsair had some questions about this and they decided to send me this nice Corsair PSU 
The Corsair AX860i






Enough cables.



Unboxing



Always nice to get a PSU in a velvet pouch



The PSU



Fully Modular 
Power - 860 Watts
80 Plus Platinum
ATX Connector - 1
EPS Connector - 2
PCI-E Connector - 6
4 Pin Peripheral Connector - 8
SATA Connector - 12
Floppy Connector - 2
MTBF 100,000 hours












Connections enough






Also in a bag, just unfortunately not velvet ... The cables:


















And the Corsair Digital Link






Placed it



Cables "formed" a bit allready. This time I did not apply sleeve because the black wires looks very good as it is now.



Expanded the cover of the SSDs slightly to get a better appearance, so created a window for the part with the pump.









Placed 1 RGB strip above the SSDs



And the other side with the black cables






Tried to place everything as "clean" as possible and think it worked 
Now testing, and ... the final photo shoot.


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## d1nky (Nov 24, 2013)

wow!


when I grow up I want to be a pro modder.... look at this wowow!


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## rougal (Nov 24, 2013)

Nice Mod. Beautifully done. I want one...


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## erocker (Nov 24, 2013)

Love it. The windowed SSD's turned out very nicely


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## kier (Dec 3, 2013)

Thanks you guys 

Just a little update regarding some changes

Changed the fan controller: The Aquaero 5 Pro instead of the Lamptron controller









And now am working on a cover to hide some cables, but more on this later.





Changed the motherboard for a ASUS Sabertooth Z77

















And put some liquid in again but first some close up pics from the Sabertooth









































More to come!!!


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## HammerON (Dec 4, 2013)

Awesome as always


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## Loosenut (Dec 4, 2013)




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## kier (Dec 31, 2013)

Final Update!!!

To close this year with style I have made a final photo shoot of the Corsair Carbide made today.

Enjoy!!!

















Small change is that I have used the space that was left for a custom HDD bracket and covered all cables which were in sight. Used the original top cover, cut through the middle and adjusted it.





























Windowed side panel.









And shot a few pictures inside.













































Special thanks goes to:









Best wishes and a Happy New Year my modding friends!!!


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