Corsair Air 540 - H80i installing in the front or in the back

[rstoledo]

While I wait for the case to become available here in Brazil (only seller had only 3 and those were sold on the pre-sales), I got some questions about it:

 

I have seen on OCN a guy who installed the H80i on the front, using one of the 120's space for it, therefore the questions would be:

 

1 - What would be better overall ? to use the H80i on the front in-taking colder air , or on the back, as it is usually installed, exhausting the case's air

 

2 - With the H80i on the front, will the remaining 2x 120mm spaces be usable ?

 

3 - Back to that, using the AF140mm as exhaust (2x on the top and 1x at the back), provide a good air flow with the intakes being the H80i + 2x 1000~2200 RPM 120mm case coolers (SP120's or AF120's, which ever is the best for it)

 

4 - The cases that are being sent to re-sellers in Brazil are the ones with the longer IO cables ?

[sipchen]

It depends on alot of factors.

 

Taking cold air in through the front(top or rear) would help cool your CPU better. but you are feeding hot air in to other components. This would be bad for components such as your graphic card. but if you put it on the top slot of the front intake and have an immediate exhaust on the top, the effects of feeding hot air to graphic card maybe less.

 

Having it exhaust may depend on your graphic card cooler style. if its the blower style (reference cards), then the air that goes through your h80i would be more or less same as what you take in from outside.

If its the after market type graphic card cooler where the hot air is dispersed within the case environment, your h80i may take in the hot air from your graphic card. Then again, this may not be as bad if your card is not a beast such as the classified, or have 2 card in sli/xfire. or if you don't overclock your cpu then all this wouldn't really matter.

 

Best of all try both configuration and monitor the temp changes on load and idle to see which works best for what you do(gaming/cpu intensive overclocking etc.)

[rstoledo]

Well... the idea was to use the AF140R that are bundled within the Air 540 as exhaust, and therefore would remove the hotter air that passed through the radiator. In order for this to work, I would use with the H80i more 2x 120mm on the front.

 

So I would use 2 fans for intake on the front, + the intake from the h80i, and 3 x 140mm for the exhaust.

 

Thanks,

[rstoledo]

Well, I bought the Air 540, and must say that I am loving it. After 4 months of waiting, and settling money aside to buy it, it is finally here at home.

 

I took yesterday night to make the "transplant" from my older case to it, and here are some shots of it :

 

During the Change:

 

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/4/4owy.jpg

 

After it:

 

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/703/xsaq.jpg

 

With the Leds light up:

 

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/819/f85z.jpg

 

With an intruder to the shot (gf's idea, and a way to please her a bit, that's what you get when you get a cartoon/video games character lover into your life - I must say I really enjoy this side of her :p:):

 

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/834/skq4.jpg

 

Obs:

 

I was able to use the H80i on the front, plus 2x 120mm along with it, in order to do so, the tubes are entering on the side (hope this doesnt compromise the performance of it), the 140's that came from it and are being used as exhaust.