Corsair Air 540 Water Cooling Loop -- Suggestions Welcomed

[parkHiLL]

So I'm planning out my first water cooling loop for my system that I just recently migrated into a Corsair Air 540 from my Corsair 700D. I have a pretty good idea of how the layout of everything will be but I am more than open to critiques and suggestions. As it stands right now the only thing in my loop will be my CPU... possibly the RAM but I'm still out on that one.

Unfortunately as it stands right now there is no full-cover water block for my Gigabyte GTX 770 Windforce 3 OC since it is a non-reference pcb but hopefully someone will make one soon and it will be added into the loop as soon as I can.

So my current idea for my loop would be to go from the 1) Reservoir, 2) Pump, 3) 360mm Radiator (intake), 4) CPU, 5) 240/280 Radiator(exhaust) and then returning to the reservoir to complete the loop. The fittings for the 360mm radiator would be at the bottom more than likely to allow the best possible clearance of the top radiator. Then the 240/280mm radiator would have its fittings at the back of the case for the same reason pretty much. I'm still deciding on whether to do rigid acrylic or rubber tubing, but leaning more towards rigid acrylic to allow for the look I am envisioning in my head. Also the 2x 3.5" base in the bottom of the case are going to be removed, holes covered, and the two 3.5" storage drives currently occupying that space are going to be replaced by a single 2.5" 1Tb SSHD so it can be installed in the second compartment of the case.

The image below lists the components I have for sure decided on plus a rough layout of the major components. Also any suggestions are welcome especially regarding the radiators as I am still completely undecided on those at the moment.

 

[bassnut]

I have a new build on the go now with this case. Something's I have found so far ......

1. Setting up a push pull in this case is not easy on the front. I have used the Black Ice GT Extreme which is 54mm thick and although I can set up a push pull here as you can put fans out under the front cover you run into a bit of a problem with the fit of your top rad.

2. Getting a push pull on the top rad will be very difficult as there is no room for a fun under the rad grill. Again I have a GT Extreme 240 rad, 54mm thick. If you plan on using a 280 rad up top there is a good chance it will not fit even with just a push fan setup out front depending on how long the rad is ...... my GT Extreme 280 which is just 25mm thick will not fit.

3. When using a 360 rad out front along with a 240 up top you will run into issues with clearance for your fittings. Mine would not fit up top ..... and I had to be creative to get them to fit at the bottom. Plan ahead ..... I needed 2 BP 45* and 2 BP 90* rotary fittings to get my hoses turned. Using a thinner rad might help but keep this in mind when you are ordering parts.



In the pic you can see how tight things can be ..... the front rad is in push pull and I did a small mod uptop to allow for more room to allow me to fit the top fan which is not in the case yet ...... I need more screws for the fan.

4. The way it is now my Rigid tubing will just fit on the chipset block up top. I am not sure what all you will be adding to your loop but if you are going to try and cool your VRM's like I am then the size and type of tubing as well as fittings will need some thought as well.

 

[m0r7if3r]

Have you looked at reviews on radiators? What interested you?

Which direction were you planning on having the barbs on that rad up front?

Don't WC the ram, it's a lot of extra restriction for no tangible gains.

Also, not to burst your bubble or anything, but there's probably not going to be a FC block for your GPU. If you want it in the loop, start looking at universal blocks.

 

[parkHiLL]

I have a new build on the go now with this case. Something's I have found so far ......

1. Setting up a push pull in this case is not easy on the front. I have used the Black Ice GT Extreme which is 54mm thick and although I can set up a push pull here as you can put fans out under the front cover you run into a bit of a problem with the fit of your top rad.

2. Getting a push pull on the top rad will be very difficult as there is no room for a fun under the rad grill. Again I have a GT Extreme 240 rad, 54mm thick. If you plan on using a 280 rad up top there is a good chance it will not fit even with just a push fan setup out front depending on how long the rad is ...... my GT Extreme 280 which is just 25mm thick will not fit.

3. When using a 360 rad out front along with a 240 up top you will run into issues with clearance for your fittings. Mine would not fit up top ..... and I had to be creative to get them to fit at the bottom. Plan ahead ..... I needed 2 BP 45* and 2 BP 90* rotary fittings to get my hoses turned. Using a thinner rad might help but keep this in mind when you are ordering parts.

View attachment 138084

In the pic you can see how tight things can be ..... the front rad is in push pull and I did a small mod uptop to allow for more room to allow me to fit the top fan which is not in the case yet ...... I need more screws for the fan.

4. The way it is now my Rigid tubing will just fit on the chipset block up top. I am not sure what all you will be adding to your loop but if you are going to try and cool your VRM's like I am then the size and type of tubing as well as fittings will need some thought as well.

Ya I see what you mean with those rads having very little room together. One thing I had decided on was to have rads that were at most 40mm especially in the front to allow for the clearance up top for the other rad. As for the VRM from what I have seen there aren't any blocks for my current board so I was going to leave that as is.

So pretty much right now it will just be my CPU in the loop. I'm hoping for a full cover block for my GPU but I've come to the decision that if one doesn't come out in the next 6 or so months I'm going to sell it and purchase a card that I can get a block for.

Have you looked at reviews on radiators? What interested you?

Which direction were you planning on having the barbs on that rad up front?

Don't WC the ram, it's a lot of extra restriction for no tangible gains.

Also, not to burst your bubble or anything, but there's probably not going to be a FC block for your GPU. If you want it in the loop, start looking at universal blocks.

I seem to be looking more at XSPC, Alphacool, and Swiftech radiators at the moment just haven't been able to really decide. Reviews seem to be hit or miss from the ones I've read based on the test setups they've used As for the GPU as stated above if I cant get a FC block for it in the next 6 months to be able to add it to my loop it will be sold and a new one will be purchased that I can get a block for. When I purchased the GPU I had no plans on doing a loop with it at the time so I wasn't concerned about if I could get a block for it. As for universal blocks its pretty much out of the question as there would actually be a loss in cooling going from the WF3 cooler to a universal block and passive cooling on the other components.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Welcome to OCFs!

After a long search I finally found the radiators most are using for this case with ample room to play with. The Alphacool NexXxos ST30 240 (Top radiator) and the Alphacool NexXxos ST30 360 (Front radiator) are the perfect radiators for this case. They will also work with low to mid RPM fans thanks to their low fin density.

If you went with those radiators than all you have to do is match them up with great radiator fans. Also, that Photon pump/res combo which I think is a great choice can be hung between the motherboard and radiator center section if I recall correctly. I believe that will only leave you with an option of only push or pull for the front radiator.

Hope this helps.

 

[m0r7if3r]

Check out martin's liquid labs and skinneelabs (only available through the wayback machine) for rad reviews.

 

[parkHiLL]

Welcome to OCFs!

After a long search I finally found the radiators most are using for this case with ample room to play with. The Alphacool NexXxos ST30 240 (Top radiator) and the Alphacool NexXxos ST30 360 (Front radiator) are the perfect radiators for this case. They will also work with low to mid RPM fans thanks to their low fin density.

If you went with those radiators than all you have to do is match them up with great radiator fans. Also, that Photon pump/res combo which I think is a great choice can be hung between the motherboard and radiator center section if I recall correctly. I believe that will only leave you with an option of only push or pull for the front radiator.

Hope this helps.

Ya those radiators look like the choice for this case right now. as for the reservoir and pump since I can't currently get a full-cover block for my video card the factory Windforce 3 heatsink doesn't allow for room to mount right there. As for the pump I'm starting to think about putting it in the 2nd compartment underneat the 5.25 drive bay.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Ya those radiators look like the choice for this case right now. as for the reservoir and pump since I can't currently get a full-cover block for my video card the factory Windforce 3 heatsink doesn't allow for room to mount right there. As for the pump I'm starting to think about putting it in the 2nd compartment underneat the 5.25 drive bay.

I believe I've seen already a few examples of the Photon res/pump combo setup up while having a full length GPU (780/Titan) there on air or on water. I've also seen just a tube res and the pump sitting in the back section under the 5.25 bays just like you said. Just make sure you do measurements as there are two types of Photon lengths. Again, its all up to you how you want to configure it.

If you really want to watercool the GPU on a full block than I would advise you to starting selling your existing GPU. I know they don't make that many blocks for the 770 series, especially not being reference design.

 

[parkHiLL]

I believe I've seen already a few examples of the Photon res/pump combo setup up while having a full length GPU (780/Titan) there on air or on water. I've also seen just a tube res and the pump sitting in the back section under the 5.25 bays just like you said. Just make sure you do measurements as there are two types of Photon lengths. Again, its all up to you how you want to configure it.

If you really want to watercool the GPU on a full block than I would advise you to starting selling your existing GPU. I know they don't make that many blocks for the 770 series, especially not being reference design.

Ya I've looked at both of the Photon reservoirs and for where I want to put it the 170 is my choice as the 270 is just too big unless I decide to go without the 120/140 exhaust fan out the back of the case.