Clearance issue with Corsair 350D + H105 and optical drive.

[Joey Martin]

Hello everyone,

So I currently have a bit of a space issue.

I have the Corsair 350D micro atx case. I also have the H105 installed in the top. I currently have it orientated so that the tubes come down by the optical drives. This is because I will be getting a 980ti hybrid and will be mounting it in the rear 120mm fan position. If orientated the other way, the H105s tubes would not allow me to mount the hybrid's rad at the back and I do not wish to mount it in the front. I did have an optical drive installed that I had to remove when changing the H105's orientation. It is from this drive that I have observed that for a device to fit in either optical drive bay currently, it has to be = < 5 3/4 inches long. I spent a while looking into a bunch of optical drives (and even slim ones with adapters) but they all seem to be at least 6 inches long.

Being completely stumped I turn to you guys to see if you have any ideas on how to get this to work/what drive would fit. I really would like to keep everything compact and in my case so that I don't have the extra bulk of an external device.

If any optical drives do exist that would fit I would like them to be DVDRW or bluray.

I have linked a couple pictures of my computer so you can get an idea of the situation.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7igrsMuc2UVZVl5QTNiZGdxLVE/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7igrsMuc2UVNEpENkJsaGRWM1k/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7igrsMuc2UVZnE4NkF3WnMzT0k/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7igrsMuc2UVejlhTkNmMkR1dWc/view?usp=sharing

Thanks!

 

[ajhockey3]

Could you possibly put the optical drive in the second slot? Other then that you might have to buy an external one. Or to save a couple bucks a sata to USB adaptor and use your current optical drive

 

[Joey Martin]

Sadly no. The second bay bends the tubes a fairly sharp angle that I'm not entirely comfortable with. Also, the drive will not go in all the way due to the tubes. I just find it odd that CDs are only 4 5/8 inches in diameter but it seems like all optical drives are like 6 inches. I know they need room for all the moving parts inside but I thought there might be some model out there that managed to make them shorter...

 

[ajhockey3]

Yeah, I have looked for that. The thing is there isn't any breakthroughs in DVD/Blueray technologys anymore so companys don't give two ****s about the drives and investing in research and development of them.

 

[jimmysmitty]

The problem is that a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray disc is 4.7 inched long so that alone takes the majority of free space. Then you have the components around the disc that add up the extra 1.3-2 inches.

The best solution is an external drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135253

Or as said a external adapter for your current drive.

 

[Joey Martin]

Yeahhh that's the truth ha. I think I'll just have to find a way to live without one when I don't feel like pulling out a usb one.. Not too big of a deal since they're not used much anymore. Thank you though

 

[jimmysmitty]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

Just in case you could get one of these and use it on yours. I use them for work. Are great if you ever need to use one or access a regular HDD but don;t have room in a case for one.