540 vs 600c

mbonadio · March 5, 2016

I am looking to replace my case with a new corsair to give my build room and to grow. These two cases are at the top of my list.

Planning to put in an rmi series 1000w. I have 2 gtx970's in SLI and for now an h60 120mm radiator for my i7. One ssd and one 3.5" Sata drive. I don't plan to add any more gpu's but a larger radiator, and additional ssd drive and Sata drive always possible.

Both seems to give me he ability to really add good airflow and cooling paths. I like the chambers on he 540 but really like the extra USB ports on the 600. I plan 3 120 fans (front for 540 or bottom for 600 and put the 140's in as well to get slightly negative air. H60 on back of both to expel.

Only other thing. I have is a wireless card which right now has to sit between my two gpu's and not in slot 1 because of clearance in my old case - hoping to solve that. One day I will run Ethernet and kill wireless! Not yet though!

Just curious from owners of either or anyone that has some input. Thanks.

mbonadio · March 5, 2016

Let me throw another idea out. The 750D. Has room for 3 120's top side for exhaust, can put my radiator on bottom, still have unrestricted rear 140 and front 140's. Won't run out of space in it ever based on how many 3.5 and ssd's it will hold.... Not much more money. Hmmm.. Decisions! Always appreciate others insight who are more experienced with these models.

c-attack · March 6, 2016

I am running a 540 with two 970 in SLI. H110 top for CPU. 3x120 front. GPU temperatures are trivial. I run mine about 1404 Mhz, which is as high as I am willing to take the Asus Strix models. In a very heavy AAA game, the top card's temps are steady between 61-64C with low to moderate fan speed (usually sits on 40% at 60C). My overall internal case temperatures are extremely good. I have been up and running for hours with load and my motherboard sensors are still at 22C in 18C room. I really like the SLI on in the 540. Nice airflow straight through and out the back and the double cards fill the gap where you would normally expect to see the power supply. The 970's are a nice length with the shorter, boxier case shape. It looks very well balanced.

I was looking at the 600 C/Q the other day and took some time to work out whether I might make use of it with this build. I am coming to terms with the inversion, but the one fatal flaw for me is the PS will sit directly above the GPUs. There is going to be a natural hot pocket in that area. The GPUs will move some of the heat out, and in fact your power supply will aid in removing some of that heat as well (it will have to run fan down drawing in air from the case). However, my power supply like many others these days, is the "fanless" or ECO mode type that is passive until you hit a certain temperature. In that configuration, I am likely to keep my power supply in the 40-50C range at all times, even when at lower loads. 10 year warranty or not, I don't like the idea of keeping my power supply 10C hotter than needed during operation.

The 600 Q/C is an interesting idea and I am glad someone is trying it. However, I don't like it for an SLI build, unless you are going full water and I haven't taken the time to figure out the logistics of that either.

mbonadio · March 7, 2016

Good info c-attack. Spent the weekend watching some thermal test videos on the 3 cases. Surprisingly even as you pointed out with the GPU's so close to the PSU on the 600 q/c the results aren't bad at all. 540 seems to do a bit better. 750d is kinda overkill for me (at least as far as drives are concerned.

I keep going back to the 600 q/c. Something about it I like. But you make a good point about GPU heat being absorbed by the PSU. I run an RMI 1000, and probably never more than 50-60% so a little heat won't kill it. I also plan to have 3 more 120 fans at bottom to pull out heat and move my radiator down there to allow the 140 in the rear to push cool air from the 2 front 140's fairly unobstructed.

For some reason the 540 just doesn't get me excited. It is a good design - I love the chamber concept, but there is just so much space on the back side wasted and I really would love to have the extra usb ports (not a deal breaker). But I also don't have a lot of floor space - and a standard tower fits better. I'm also left handed, so maybe that reversed motherboard door thing just clicks in my crazy head! haha.

c-attack · March 7, 2016

I think if you have a strong feeling one way or another, go with it. That is always worth far more than some pithy 3 degrees of anything. The right-side window is rare and if I wanted that I would be willing to accommodate or change quite a bit. I also agree the 600 Q/C is a much better "floor" model than the 540. The Air 540 begs to be put up on a large desk/table, although perhaps I feel that way because mine is standing high up on a pedestal. The solution for the power supply is not to get one of the ECO fan models where you have no control. Even a low, quiet fan speed would be enough to eliminate most of the adverse affects. If the case really ticked all the boxes for me, I would be willing to shop power supplies to find the right one. Besides, even in an ideal setting, I don't feel these no-run fan power supplies really offer the best performance, if you have no control over the fan.

mbonadio · March 7, 2016

Well said. I do like the 600 - something unique there over standard layout. Good job for putting your build on a pedestal - literally - haha!

I think I can setup my Corsair RM1000i to ensure the fan runs always even if lower speed under 50%. I think it has an eco mode too but it's configurable with the link.

I am a little brand snobby and want to keep my corsair products. A few other cases are nice too but from other makers. For the size and money I am still strongly on the 600 because it works. Just think the money I would spend on a much taller 750 wouldn't do anything more for me except keep the standard config. I keep my PC on left side of desk so window will be facing me! And I am not overly worried about upside writing. Haha!

Did I just make a decision! Haha!

mbonadio · March 8, 2016

And here we go... Initial build done... Lots of cleanup and fan management to do to get things running smoothly..

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag356/Martin_Bonadio/9309C72D-5B9F-4DC5-8A71-960EBD1F69EF_zpsoz8hsjat.jpg' alt='9309C72D-5B9F-4DC5-8A71-960EBD1F69EF_zpsoz8hsjat.jpg'>

c-attack · March 9, 2016

You know I hadn't even considered the effect of using LED fans on the 'bottom'. That is quite different and even more intriguing as a floor model. Well done.

mbonadio · March 9, 2016

Set up profile in corsair link for my rmi 1000 fan to run always to keep pulling heat out. Went push-pull on my radiator on bottom as well - hence the crazy pyramid of light and fans! Haha. Used SP120 on radiator and AF120 model on sides - cpu staying in mid 40's. Gpu is up in 60's in games - think I can do better with some fan speed adjustment. Finding a way to power and control 8 fans is fun. Case has a controller for 3 and mobo has 3 more for system and 2 for cpu - but bios is famous for slowing down fans and pumps on cpu..

Back of this thing is a rats nest right now! And my data cables with 90 degree aren't working so new ones coming..

So time to play some tomorrow.

You know I hadn't even considered the effect of using LED fans on the 'bottom'. That is quite different and even more intriguing as a floor model. Well done.

mbonadio · March 10, 2016

Moving the h60 cooler to the back in a pull configuration produced the best results... Was getting mid 40's on CPU in push pull at bottom.. Now in high 30's at idle and low 60's at full with most work in the 40-50 range. I can live with that...

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag356/Martin_Bonadio/2BBF0654-0263-4A8A-93FB-2D4F04C9C93B_zpsqicbnwgr.jpg

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag356/Martin_Bonadio/3A6FE8F7-E9A8-479D-BB33-44458325E3E4_zpsozvrtezv.jpg[/url][/img]

Penhall · March 11, 2016

Very nice looking rig.

I'm planning on building an airflow cooled system with this case and was wondering if you had any tips or suggestions about building with it. I'm also trying to decide what makes the most sense from an airflow perspective.

I'll be replacing all of the included fans with LED versions and was thinking about either 3x120's in the front and bottom or sticking with 2x140's in the front and 3x120's in the bottom.

Should I intake from the bottom and exhaust from the front and rear, intake from the front and exhaust from the bottom and rear, or some other combination? Also, does the dust cover on the bottom restrict airflow enough that I should use SP instead of AF fans?

Any advice you can provide would be much appreciated. Thanks.

mbonadio · March 11, 2016

I wouldn't intake from the bottom - seems like it would be too restrictive to me - the 2 140's in the front are setup for that - and blow air across the GPU and CPU nicely. I preferred 3 120's on the bottom as exhaust, but 2 140's would work there fine too - bottom is really set up as spot for radiator if you have one. If I had it to do again I would get a larger dual fan radiator - H115i, etc... My H60 works, but it would be nice to manage this in Corsair Link too. Oddly my radiator worked better as a pull from the back - and not a push/pull on the bottom. Not sure why - but it was a 5-7c difference at idle! Probably because the radiator was more in the line of air flow from the front hitting the radiator, and the fan pulled hot off it at the same time? Don't know or care about the science - I played around and found the config that worked for me. Obviously a dual fan 280mm radiator must go to the bottom. But has a lot more surface area to cool, so I am sure it would work nicely.

Make sure you get a PSU that has a fan you can control. Many have a no fan on option. Corsair link let me manually set my fan speed for my build. The PSU then provides you another output of air for hot air coming off the GPU fans. This will be important if you have 2 GPU's also.

Only complain I have about the 600C is that there isn't really any room in back for wire management or cabling in general. I went with upgraded Corsair cables and it's tight. Also before getting this case think about storage. You get room for 3 SSD and 2 3.5". That's fine for me - but some people might want a RAID setup or something which wouldn't work too well here. If your motherboard has an m.2 slot you can get a 4th SSD device to fit. That's about it though...

Penhall · March 15, 2016

Thanks for the info. Below is what I ended up going with. I should have everything delivered by Friday and will build it on Saturday. Hopefully everything will go smoothly.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($379.99 @ Newegg)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master V8 GTS 82.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($6.89 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Asus ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO ALPHA ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($282.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.89 @ OutletPC)

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($73.89 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($676.98 @ Newegg)

Case: Corsair Carbide Clear 600C ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.99 @ Micro Center)

Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($156.98 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($50.98 @ Newegg)