Welcome to Just Commodores, a site specifically designed for all people who share the same passion as yourself.

New Posts Contact us

Just Commodores Forum Community

It takes just a moment to join our fantastic community

Register

Corsair Air 540, yellow/black gamer

savage1987

Donating Member
Joined
May 8, 2005
Messages
3,660
Reaction score
31
Points
48
Location
Townsville
Website
www.facebook.com
Members Ride
LS1 VN + WK Grange 0010 + HPW VX SS
Hey guys :) Not so much a build log as a few finished product pics to kick off with. This was my first shot at making a custom water loop, so I'm keen to hear people's ideas on what could have been done better, etc.

I had free rein with this build. No preferences, just build a gamer however I wanted, within budget. I had a lot of fun with it and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's a solid system designed purely for gaming, with plenty of headroom for overclocking and/or SLI down the track.

edit: Raijintek's cooler failed and leaked due to a combination of the radiator manufacture process and the type of tubing used (possibly a DEHP plasticiser issue). The pastel coolant broke down over a period of around three weeks and pressurised the system to the point that water forced its way out past the CPU block seal. Thankfully the system was powered off when this happened and no other damage resulted. It's worth noting that Raijintek support has not impressed me one bit during this process.










Specs:
Corsair Carbide Air 540
i5 4690K
Raijintek Triton, with Mayhem's Pastel Sunset Yellow coolant dye
--edit: this cooler failed and leaked. Replaced and rebuilt bigger and better:
---Phobya DC12-260 PWM pump
---XSPC EX240 radiator
---Phobya Balancer 150 black nickel reservoir
---EK Supremacy MX CPU block
---PrimoChill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT clear tubing, 1/2" x 3/4"
---XSPC black chrome compression fittings
Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H
8GB (2x4GB) Avexir Yellow Blitz, 2400MHz
Gainward GTX 970 Phantom 4GB
EVGA SuperNova 750 G2 Gold
Crucial MX200 250GB M.2 SSD
3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300 7200RPM HDD

OCD moments:
Swapped the intake fans out for a pair of Corsair AF140 Quiet editions. They have a really nice gentle shimmer to them that looks awesome in low light, especially at low fan speeds.
Wasn't happy with the first dye I used so I drained the system, flushed it and refilled with Mayhem's pastel yellow.
--edit: once the original cooler failed I chose the locally available EK pastel yellow as a replacement.
Stripped and painted motherboard heatsinks, RAM top covers, GPU bracket, radiator fan dress rings and case mesh.



A friend convinced me to send a photo of the build to Corsair's Facebook page to see if they'd share the album for me. Later that day I received an email from Corsair's Aust/NZ regional manager, offering me some sponsored freebies for my own personal system. This frankly surprised the hell out of me and I'm going to try to do something special with the new bits when they arrive. I have to say I'm very grateful to Corsair for this gesture because it's something I had never even considered possible.

Let me know your thoughts! I'm always interested in suggestions for improvement :)
Sam
 

uniacidz

Harden the Frak Up
Joined
Dec 13, 2011
Messages
2,267
Reaction score
181
Points
63
Location
Sideneee
Members Ride
VE Berlina
Puuurrty

Love a good comp build

Impressive but I have never had the guts for water cooled
 

Hoska91

Formerly 75HJPREM
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
244
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
Perth
Members Ride
Getz Lyfe & E34 Project
Looks like a good rig! why'd you go with an i5 though ?
 

Hoska91

Formerly 75HJPREM
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
244
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
Perth
Members Ride
Getz Lyfe & E34 Project
i7 are still a waste of time in a 1080p gamer :) Better off spending the difference on cooling and turn up the clocks on an i5!

can you explain that ? so am i better off going with an i5 rather than getting a 5000 series i7 ?
 

Hoska91

Formerly 75HJPREM
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
244
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
Perth
Members Ride
Getz Lyfe & E34 Project
Most new games arent CPU driven, theyre VGA driven. So having a massive CPU if youre a basic 1080p gamer isnt going to make huge leaps and bounds in the performance of your game.

I see, so in that case i'm much better off going with a better gfx card and more ramm than getting a huge i7 ?
 

savage1987

Donating Member
Joined
May 8, 2005
Messages
3,660
Reaction score
31
Points
48
Location
Townsville
Website
www.facebook.com
Members Ride
LS1 VN + WK Grange 0010 + HPW VX SS
Grennan's pretty much spot on. i7 are more geared toward rendering / video editing / streamers / youtubers. Basic gaming you're more than fine with an i5 in the current market.
 

Hoska91

Formerly 75HJPREM
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
244
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
Perth
Members Ride
Getz Lyfe & E34 Project
Cool thanks for the Info guys :)
 
Top