Question for any Corsair Air 540 owners here...

[dmoney1980]

Are the side panels reversible? Meaning, can I put the windowed panel on the right-hand side of the case, therefore using the solid side panel on the component side?

 

[cbrunny]

Uhh... I'm not sure. I have this case but it has never come up that I've tried.

I do know that it is designed so the rear piece has ventilation for the PSU fan. If you were able to swap the pieces in theory, the windowed panel would choke the psu.

I would also guess that the thumb screw holes wouldn't line up to secure these in place - again a guess but I'm pretty sure they're offset.

Out of curiosity, why?

 

[dmoney1980]

Uhh... I'm not sure. I have this case but it has never come up that I've tried.

I do know that it is designed so the rear piece has ventilation for the PSU fan. If you were able to swap the pieces in theory, the windowed panel would choke the psu.

I would also guess that the thumb screw holes wouldn't line up to secure these in place - again a guess but I'm pretty sure they're offset.

Out of curiosity, why?

I hate side panel windows, but if I switch them then I won't have to look at it because of where it would be positioned in my desk.

 

[Ajay]

Don't know, but you should be able to spray paint the left sided windowed panel matte black (or whatever color you have). You'd have to make sure the spray paint doesn't 'eat' acrylic and you'd probably want to scuff up the window with something like ~1000 grit sand paper.

 

[Meghan54]

While I guess they're interchangeable (they do look like they are the exact same dimensions/rail placement/rear mount hole and "handle" placement), remember, the right hand panel, the one covering the power supply side, has vent holes for the power supply intake. Guess you can simply reverse the mount on the ps and have it get its cooling air from inside the case vs. the vent, but the vent would look worse than the window, imho.

 

[cbrunny]

Just because the screw holes are at the same level between the two panels does not necessarily mean that you can swap them. If you were to swap them remember you will have to flip them 180 degrees so that the upper portion is the new lower portion, in order to keep all the rails facing inwards. This will only work if the upper and lower screw holes are equidistant from their respective edges.

 

[Meghan54]

Just because the screw holes are at the same level between the two panels does not necessarily mean that you can swap them. If you were to swap them remember you will have to flip them 180 degrees so that the upper portion is the new lower portion, in order to keep all the rails facing inwards. This will only work if the upper and lower screw holes are equidistant from their respective edges.

Guess I forgot to mention I have one sitting 2' from me right now.

The sides are identical stampings, which makes a whole lot of sense from a production and economic standpoint. The panels are identical except for one having a window and one having venting for the power supply pressed into it. Otherwise, rails, holes, even the semi-circular cutout to clear the rear fan grille are identical side-to-side.

 

[cbrunny]

Guess I forgot to mention I have one sitting 2' from me right now.

The sides are identical stampings, which makes a whole lot of sense from a production and economic standpoint. The panels are identical except for one having a window and one having venting for the power supply pressed into it. Otherwise, rails, holes, even the semi-circular cutout to clear the rear fan grille are identical side-to-side.

That does not mean it will work, necessarily though. It will only work if the distance from the top thumbscrew to the top of the case is equal to the distance from bottom thumbscrew to the bottom of the case.

 

[Meghan54]

That does not mean it will work, necessarily though. It will only work if the distance from the top thumbscrew to the top of the case is equal to the distance from bottom thumbscrew to the bottom of the case.

Jesus f'n Christ, dude. I'VE GOT THE CASE RIGHT NEXT TO ME. THE PANELS ARE IDENTICAL EXCEPT FOR ONE HAVING A WINDOW AND ONE HAVING A VENT FOR THE POWER SUPPLY. THEY BOTH FIT EITHER SIDE--I'VE TRIED IT.

Plain enough for you? I'm not guessing. I OWN THE CASE.

Or would some pictures help?

Hope this helps. BTW.....the unpictured side does fit the other side.

 

[cbrunny]

I'm glad it works. I own the case too. This working does not make my statement false. If anything, it only proves that my statement was true.

I wasn't arguing with you, and your written tone is just shitty. At no point did I say it would not work. Without someone trying it for sure, I would not have wanted OP to buy this case with false expectations.

BTW putting a damn smiley at the end of a bitchy post does not make me think you're just kidding around.

 

[dmoney1980]

Thanks for checking into it for me meghan54! By the way, are you using the stock fans or did you swap them out? Thanks again!

 

[Meghan54]

I'm glad it works. I own the case too. This working does not make my statement false. If anything, it only proves that my statement was true.

I wasn't arguing with you, and your written tone is just shitty. At no point did I say it would not work. Without someone trying it for sure, I would not have wanted OP to buy this case with false expectations.

BTW putting a damn smiley at the end of a bitchy post does not make me think you're just kidding around.

No, it was a smarmy smile, you rectum wipe. No matter how I tried to spell it out to you that I had one next to me and had absolutely compared the two sides ( I even went as far as fitting the two panels together...), you still continued with the "it may not work" shit. Guess it took a picture to prove my point.


To the OP, I switched all the fans to Noctua. Pair of NF-A15-PWM's in the front as intakes, pair of NF-A14-PWM's mounted on an NZXT Kraken X60 as intakes, and an NF-14P as rear exhaust. As an aside, the rear fan mount does have one issue with some fans. I initially mounted one of the NF-A14-PWM fans as the rear exhaust and found the frame was larger than the Corsair I'd removed, which blocked off the upper screw hole for the side panel. Hold down bolt/screw wouldn't thread.

Here's what it looks like today...pardon the dust. The setup is an Asus Max. VII Gene, 4790k, 16GB DDR3-1866, 512GB Samsung 850 Pro, 2TB Seagate, GTX 780, Seasonic 860W Plat., Kraken X60.

No personal attacks and no profanity allowed on the tech side of the forums.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[dmoney1980]

Thanks for the info yet again Meghan54, and nice setup by the way! I ended up trading a motherboard I didn't plan to use for the Air 540 case, so I thank you again for confirming that the panels are interchangeable.

I'll hold off on buying aftermarket fans until I do some research, although I am tempted to get some of the Corsair SP series PWM fans. That, or the new black Noctua fans.

 

[chrisjames61]

I'm glad it works. I own the case too. This working does not make my statement false. If anything, it only proves that my statement was true.

I wasn't arguing with you, and your written tone is just shitty. At no point did I say it would not work. Without someone trying it for sure, I would not have wanted OP to buy this case with false expectations.

BTW putting a damn smiley at the end of a bitchy post does not make me think you're just kidding around.

He wasn't kidding around. You were wrong. Be a man and own up to it. This post only makes you sound like an idiot.

 

[g1zm0fr34k]

@Meghan54 can you please help wanted to ask on the right side of the airbide 540 there is a fan grill right above the ssd bracket. is there any type of fans that can be installed and what size....which would help heat flow and dissipating the temps .....

Jesus f'n Christ, dude. I'VE GOT THE CASE RIGHT NEXT TO ME. THE PANELS ARE IDENTICAL EXCEPT FOR ONE HAVING A WINDOW AND ONE HAVING A VENT FOR THE POWER SUPPLY. THEY BOTH FIT EITHER SIDE--I'VE TRIED IT.

Plain enough for you? I'm not guessing. I OWN THE CASE.

Or would some pictures help?

Hope this helps. BTW.....the unpictured side does fit the other side.

 

[EXCellR8]

that escalated quickly... I have this case in silver and I never thought to try swapping them, nor would I want to but my guess would have been that they were basically the same. It's cheaper and more economical to manufacture the same panel and cut a pattern out than produce a totally different one.