No worries mate, yeah I still find the layout weird as it is very different from the norm.
In the picture below I keep thinking where are the drive bays? then I remember how deep the case is and they are all tucked away behind it all.
Edit: and I don't know why they used an air cooler in it, as it could fit a hell of a water rad up top!
I personally don't like that case. It wastes a lot of space, has only two 5.25" bays (I'm using three now and wouldn't mind having a fourth one), and those are shifted vertically (I had a computer with the optical drive mounted vertically and what a PITA that was!), no dust filters, and two HDD mounts on one side with the other four on the other side which are also shifted vertically (as big as that case is, they couldn't find room to mount all six together?). The darned thing looks like it was designed by a Government committee on a bender. The only thing I like is large amount of space on top that should be plenty of room for a 360mm radiator with push/pull fans, which is a moot point for me since I don't want to deal with water cooling (more maintenance and a danger of leaks).
For fun I thought it would be cool to find my first ever post in the Show us your rig thread, I had to search quite a way back to show us your rig 2, and my first post was dated 29th June 2010.
I had bought a ready made PC and started changing things on it, I added a HD 5850, check out the size of this badboy and I fitted it in a Micro ATX case lol.
Things have come on quite a bit since but this is where my custom builds began.
I continued looking and found a shot of the next stage on, looks like the GPU, PSU and cooler survived.
Looked a lot tidier too.
No i can't see why most of the review's used air cooler's either, they just chucked in some random bits n bob's enit.
I did the same recently,well checked the old pics of my rigs progress and was shocked at the difference's. We had the same cooler which at the time i thought was really good but it didn't cool my 965be very well.
@lady Fitzgerald, You like that case a lot thenIt does have mounts for 2 x Hdd's and 4 or 5 ssd's plus it's rare that anyone use's optical drive's anymore but i do agree they are place oddly in that case.
One of the main reason's i like it is that the front intake fan's are a lot closer to the gpu's as the Hdd cage has been removed. I need as much air as possible going to my gpu's :)
There are certain things that I like a lot on the Air 540, the fact that the PSU is behind everything, well cable management will be a breeze and also the heat from the PSU will be kept away from the vital components.No i can't see why most of the review's used air cooler's either, they just chucked in some random bits n bob's enit.
I did the same recently,well checked the old pics of my rigs progress and was shocked at the difference's. We had the same cooler which at the time i thought was really good but it didn't cool my 965be very well.
@lady Fitzgerald, You like that case a lot then
One of the main reason's i like it is that the front intake fan's are a lot closer to the gpu's as the Hdd cage has been removed. I need as much air as possible going to my gpu's :)
I don't really see an issue with the drive bays, seeing as the PSU is behind, it's not going to be any trouble with cables to them, again if you are using HDD's the heat will be kept away from stuff.
It looks epic for rads, not just the top one, but it looks the same for the bottom, I wish a reviewer would show a decent custom water loop in that case.
Oh yes, I just adore that case (/sarcasm). All seriousness aside, 5.25" bays get used for more than optical drives. Besides the obvious optical drive, I also have a card reader and 3.5" HDD hot swap bay. Fortunately, my case has a 2.5" hot swap bay built in or I would also need a fourth 5.25" bay. Lots of other things get put in those bays, such as fan controllers, temperature monitors, overclocking monitors, etc. Heck, some people put hidden drawers in them.
More people still use optical drives than you may think. HTPCs depend on them. Not all movies can be downloaded. Not all music is downloadable. A lot of people have huge music and movie collections that need to be ripped. And, even if one uses an optical drive less than a handful of times a year, it's just more convenient to have the built-in drive than to have to horse around with storing and connecting up an external drive.
That is the only reason I still have an optical drive. The 2-3 times a year I use it, I want it to be right here for convenience.Oh yes, I just adore that case (/sarcasm). All seriousness aside, 5.25" bays get used for more than optical drives. Besides the obvious optical drive, I also have a card reader and 3.5" HDD hot swap bay. Fortunately, my case has a 2.5" hot swap bay built in or I would also need a fourth 5.25" bay. Lots of other things get put in those bays, such as fan controllers, temperature monitors, overclocking monitors, etc. Heck, some people put hidden drawers in them.
More people still use optical drives than you may think. HTPCs depend on them. Not all movies can be downloaded. Not all music is downloadable. A lot of people have huge music and movie collections that need to be ripped. And, even if one uses an optical drive less than a handful of times a year, it's just more convenient to have the built-in drive than to have to horse around with storing and connecting up an external drive.
Oh yes, I just adore that case (/sarcasm). All seriousness aside, 5.25" bays get used for more than optical drives. Besides the obvious optical drive, I also have a card reader and 3.5" HDD hot swap bay. Fortunately, my case has a 2.5" hot swap bay built in or I would also need a fourth 5.25" bay. Lots of other things get put in those bays, such as fan controllers, temperature monitors, overclocking monitors, etc. Heck, some people put hidden drawers in them.
More people still use optical drives than you may think. HTPCs depend on them. Not all movies can be downloaded. Not all music is downloadable. A lot of people have huge music and movie collections that need to be ripped. And, even if one uses an optical drive less than a handful of times a year, it's just more convenient to have the built-in drive than to have to horse around with storing and connecting up an external drive.
I guess the bottom line Lady F is we all use PC's differently, some need certain things, others don't so you look for a case that suits your needs. :)
