Corsair Case Showdown:760T vs Air 540 vs 750D

[z1ggy]

Unfortunately this is NOT a review of these cases or a comparison. I am actually looking for if any of you have experience with these cases. I have been scouring through overclock.net and using google, but it's tough to find all three of these cases ranked directly against one another. All three are built very differently and I've really only found two of the three ranked against one another at a time.

It seems like I really couldn't go wrong with any of my choices, it's more up to taste. However, I would be inclined to think one must be slightly better for certain setups than any of the other two.

What I am currently looking for in a case is good air cooling, but the ability to easily go custom water. I probably won't go custom water right away just due to money issues, but the plan is to OC eventually.

Quick run down of what would be going in this case:
4670k
gtx780
z97 mobo
8gb ram
600w+ PSU
2 HDDs
1 SDD
1 optical drive

As far as water cooling goes, I'd plan on at the very least have 2x 240 rads, but more than likely 1x360 & 1x240 in case I add another GPU later on. Additionally, I really haven't decided on if I'd want a drive bay mounted res, or a tube. I don't know if there's any thermal advantages to either, I assumed it was just personal taste.

I'm currently leaning either 760t or 750D due to their larger size and better clearances for radiators. The 760t is newer, but the 750D just looks classy as hell.

I'm guessing the little details of these cases is what will help me choose. Things like tool-less design, ease of removal of HD cage, etc are pretty important to me.

Can anybody offer up their opinion?

 

[krnmastersgt]

I've owned both the 540 and currently own the 750D and while I have some 760Ts at work haven't had a chance to play with one yet.

As far as ease of use the Air is pretty simple to build in and you can be really messy about the cabling and such, a lot of it is plastic and if you use a bay reservoir good luck, but the case is very easy to work in. That being said the case doesn't exactly feel all that sturdy and feels quite cheap at times due to the amount of plastic that they use for the case.

As far as aesthetics I'm with you on how the 750D looks, and it's fairly easy to work in as well. However it personally looks a bit empty unless you run 140mm fans in the case to me (which is why I have a 420 and 280 rad on stand by) and it has a few annoying points too. The biggest fault for me is unfortunately one of it's best assets, the brushed aluminum front panels, specifically the large one at the bottom just completely choke the airflow to the fans you place behind it. I'm currently trying to figure out if I want to cut a section out and put in a mesh grill to alleviate this or try and drill/sand out some gaps for the fans to pull air through.

As for the 760T, the internal design layout is quite similar to the 750D (I believe they're based on the same layout/chassis actually) but has a different external layout. The side panels are awesome with the hinged access, and it doesn't have the choked airflow issue the 750D has at the front. What it does have is a front appearance that looks very plasticy and a design I'm not fond of, also draws some of its aesthetic design from the 600T which I don't like much either.

If you have any questions on the 750D I'm typing this up right now from a machine in one so feel free.

 

[z1ggy]

I've owned both the 540 and currently own the 750D and while I have some 760Ts at work haven't had a chance to play with one yet.

As far as ease of use the Air is pretty simple to build in and you can be really messy about the cabling and such, a lot of it is plastic and if you use a bay reservoir good luck, but the case is very easy to work in. That being said the case doesn't exactly feel all that sturdy and feels quite cheap at times due to the amount of plastic that they use for the case.

As far as aesthetics I'm with you on how the 750D looks, and it's fairly easy to work in as well. However it personally looks a bit empty unless you run 140mm fans in the case to me (which is why I have a 420 and 280 rad on stand by) and it has a few annoying points too. The biggest fault for me is unfortunately one of it's best assets, the brushed aluminum front panels, specifically the large one at the bottom just completely choke the airflow to the fans you place behind it. I'm currently trying to figure out if I want to cut a section out and put in a mesh grill to alleviate this or try and drill/sand out some gaps for the fans to pull air through.

As for the 760T, the internal design layout is quite similar to the 750D (I believe they're based on the same layout/chassis actually) but has a different external layout. The side panels are awesome with the hinged access, and it doesn't have the choked airflow issue the 750D has at the front. What it does have is a front appearance that looks very plasticy and a design I'm not fond of, also draws some of its aesthetic design from the 600T which I don't like much either.

If you have any questions on the 750D I'm typing this up right now from a machine in one so feel free.

I did indeed worry about the 750D as far as airflow goes. How does air get into/get out of the case in the front? Is there venting or something? Just kind of based on that alone I'm leaning 760T.

The air 540 I think is the most interesting, but it seems like you can only fit in 240 rads on top/front..? Could maybe squeeze in 280s, but I haven't looked into it.

Also, is there any reason to go with dual bay res over a tube top? I kind of like tube due to the fact you can make them asthetically part of the case from the side view, but the bay res's seem like they'd be easier to fill up.

 

[nitromullet]

Since you plan on putting in an optical drive, I'd suggest looking for pics of the 750D with one installed. It pretty much kills any aesthetics the case has IMO.

 

[z1ggy]

Hmm I suppose you are right. My current optical drive face is black. Looks like the 750D is more of that dark brushed aluminum look. Doesn't look bad in pics though when the drive matches the case.

I might be selling my current rig and building from scratch, and if so, I could pic a drive which would match the case best.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Actually if you look on the OCN 750D owner's thread there's quite a few people that are able to either cut the 5.25" bay cover so that the optical drive doesn't look that out of place or even better are the ones where they have the 5.25" cover act as the front of the drive actually so the entire thing comes out with the drive tray.

As for the rad mounting in the 540, I believe the best you can do with the original case mounting positions is 240 on top and 360 in the front. Don't remember if a 280 fits on the top or not, I think most of the fan mounts were only meant for 120s.

I have a cylinder res personally but that's because a bay res looks terrible in the 750D in my opinion lol. If you get something like the 760T I don't think it'd look that bad, I actually have a dual bay res on the side for a side project in a Carbide Spec-03.

And finally how does air get in the front? I have no clue, there's virtually almost no gap between the front plate and the case itself so the air is severely choked, I run it without the plat on currently since I'm just using a single fan there to cool my mechanical drive. Today and tomorrow I'm working on the water though so going to have to figure something out.

 

[cbrunny]

If it helps, the 540 can hold 2x140mm fans on the top and 3x120mm fans on the front. I know nothing about water cooling, but I have a 540 and that is how I have it currently set up. Friggin sweet case - really easy to build in. The size of the window just screams for led lighting though, so hopefully you have that as an option. Mine doesn't and I wish I did, but I'm cheap and don't want to pay for it.

 

[z1ggy]

Actually if you look on the OCN 750D owner's thread there's quite a few people that are able to either cut the 5.25" bay cover so that the optical drive doesn't look that out of place or even better are the ones where they have the 5.25" cover act as the front of the drive actually so the entire thing comes out with the drive tray.

As for the rad mounting in the 540, I believe the best you can do with the original case mounting positions is 240 on top and 360 in the front. Don't remember if a 280 fits on the top or not, I think most of the fan mounts were only meant for 120s.

I have a cylinder res personally but that's because a bay res looks terrible in the 750D in my opinion lol. If you get something like the 760T I don't think it'd look that bad, I actually have a dual bay res on the side for a side project in a Carbide Spec-03.

And finally how does air get in the front? I have no clue, there's virtually almost no gap between the front plate and the case itself so the air is severely choked, I run it without the plat on currently since I'm just using a single fan there to cool my mechanical drive. Today and tomorrow I'm working on the water though so going to have to figure something out.

Yeah I am leaning the 760t just because I dont really want to alter stuff just to make it look "right". The internals of the 760t were built of the 750D, so I'd assume the 760t is overall a better case.

If it helps, the 540 can hold 2x140mm fans on the top and 3x120mm fans on the front. I know nothing about water cooling, but I have a 540 and that is how I have it currently set up. Friggin sweet case - really easy to build in. The size of the window just screams for led lighting though, so hopefully you have that as an option. Mine doesn't and I wish I did, but I'm cheap and don't want to pay for it.

That means I could fit a 280mm rad on top, and a 360mm rad in front. Thanks!!

I do think the 540 is extremely clean and cool looking. My worry would be if I were to ever go acrylic tubing, it would be mighty hard to work in there.

As far as lighting goes, I actually plan to use this inverterless cathode with UV tubing/UV coolant. Not sure if I'd go clear tubing with UV liquid, or clear coolant with UV tubing... I have yet to really be able to see comparisons side by side.

I'm not a huge fan of having massive amounts of LEDs all over the place. IMO they tend to drown out the hardware that's inside if you don't use them subtly enough.

 

[ctk1981]

I've seen a few 540 cases done with rad on top and the front, but depending on what you go with you may need to modify the case to make it work.