NCASE M1: a crowdfunded Mini-ITX case (updates in first post)

[RickOchet]

I ordered my ncase last week and after I placed my order, I got an error message but the payment still went through. I got a paypal payment confirmation, but nothing from ncase. I emailed them about it but I still haven't heard back. I just want to make sure my order went through. Anyone else have this problem?

Same thing happened to me the other day..Payment went though also but I did get a confirmation from the Ncase rep..I wouldn't panic yet

 

[shinjinian]

Has anyone used the M1 purely as a DIY NAS with 4 drives on the side bracket (provided that you buy an extra HDD cage)? If so, any opinions on how that worked out (any imbalances, noise, space problems, etc)? I imagine it would be a very fine NAS case with 4 HDDs in there and 2 fans at the bottom blowing upwards.

I have two 4tb nas drives in mine. You'll have no problem using a second bracket and if you don't have a dedicated gpu in the case airflow will be fine, especially if you put fans in the bottom.

I wouldn't recommend completely blocking the side intake with 4 nas hard drive if you plan on using any kind of pci card as the airflow will be nonexistent.

 

[{NG}Fidel]

snipes23

Looks badass!!.....I've been asking for something like this from the very beginning. Looks much cleaner in my opinion.

Great Job!!

Great for an htpc Che

It seems it does fit:



NCASE M1: a crowdfunded Mini-ITX case (updates in first post)
NCASE M1: a crowdfunded Mini-ITX case (updates in first post)

awesome excellent, thank you!

 

[RickOchet]

My old computer running XP is going to be redundant. Ive ordered some new stuff to do my first ever computer build. Parts I have coming are
NCase M1 V5
Asus ROG Maximus VIII Impact Z170
Intel Core i7 -4.0GHz Quad LGA 1151
EVGA GeForce GTX 980Ti Hydro Copper Video card
Silverstone SFX 600W 80Plus GOLD
Samsung 840 EVO SSD 1TB and a 250GB

Going to water cool it with hard pipes and will get these parts when I see what may fit......... Thought that I might start out small...

 

[snipes23]

My old computer running XP is going to be redundant. Ive ordered some new stuff to do my first ever computer build. Parts I have coming are
NCase M1 V5
Asus ROG Maximus VIII Impact Z170
Intel Core i7 -4.0GHz Quad LGA 1151
EVGA GeForce GTX 980Ti Hydro Copper Video card
Silverstone SFX 600W 80Plus GOLD
Samsung 840 EVO SSD 1TB and a 250GB

Going to water cool it with hard pipes and will get these parts when I see what may fit......... Thought that I might start out small...

If your on Facebook search aurum radius. He has a parts list of everything he has and nice pics. I've decided I'm gonna water cool myself and looking to mimic his setup

 

[Melvaig]

I ordered my ncase last week and after I placed my order, I got an error message but the payment still went through. I got a paypal payment confirmation, but nothing from ncase. I emailed them about it but I still haven't heard back. I just want to make sure my order went through. Anyone else have this problem?

No, my order had passed w/o incident.

 

[rfarmer]

If your on Facebook search aurum radius. He has a parts list of everything he has and nice pics. I've decided I'm gonna water cool myself and looking to mimic his setup

Yeah that rig is in the picture gallery, stunning build.

 

[darxider]

Well, it maybe random but I found out why my PC doesn't turn on. After stripping everything and rebuilding I forgot the little metal plate that covers the hole where the GPU comes out. Everything worked but as soon as I screw the little plate on again my PC doesn't turn on.

//edit

It's not the plate. This damn problem drives me crazy

i have that problem, which happens intermittently. i have built my M1 two years ago, and since then i've changed one motherboard (ASRock Z97E-ITX to Gigabyte B85N Phoenix WiFi) and even though it helped reduce the frequency of the system not turning on, it never took care of the problem. i am guessing mine is related to a faulty Silverstone 450W PSU (computer randomly rebooting/crashing while in sleep mode) which i plan to change next.

 

[snipes23]

Need someone to do me a huge favor. If you have a rad can you measure from the bottom of block to top of graphics card for me. Need to know the length so I can order a Bitspower extender. Thank you

 

[Daniel Minzi]

Hey guys,

Quick question. So I am thinking about getting the MSI Gaming Z170 MiTx motherboard for my build and using a corsair H75 with a MSI GTX 1070 Sea Hawk. I was wondering what I should do about the fan situation. One of the 2 headers on the motherboard will have to be used for the H75 pump so that leaves only one fan header for the 2 radiator fans. Is it ok to have these two fans connected to a splitter and then plugged in. I am not sure if having a 'CPU' and 'GPU' fan connected to the same header is a good or bad idea. Please let me know what you think!

 

[Necere]

I ordered my ncase last week and after I placed my order, I got an error message but the payment still went through. I got a paypal payment confirmation, but nothing from ncase. I emailed them about it but I still haven't heard back. I just want to make sure my order went through. Anyone else have this problem?

Same thing happened to me the other day..Payment went though also but I did get a confirmation from the Ncase rep..I wouldn't panic yet

The error page is a result of our site not dealing properly with a delay that sometimes happens on Paypal's end. We also don't have a "proper" order management system set up, which is why there's no automated order confirmation email from us. The whole site needs to be updated, honestly - it's just not something we've gotten around to.

To address your concerns though, if you get the Paypal payment confirmation, then the order has gone through.

Necere, do you think you can publish technical drawings for the M1? Nothing that would compromise your intellectual property. It only needs to tell if some assembly might work. Your GPU sizes sketch [1] is good already, it just needs to cover all major measurements.

This would immensely ease my planning efforts for such a confined space.

[1]

Spoiler

I have to make those drawings, so tell me specifically what you're looking for, and I'll see what I can do.

 

[Boil]

Hey guys,

Quick question. So I am thinking about getting the MSI Gaming Z170 MiTx motherboard for my build and using a corsair H75 with a MSI GTX 1070 Sea Hawk. I was wondering what I should do about the fan situation. One of the 2 headers on the motherboard will have to be used for the H75 pump so that leaves only one fan header for the 2 radiator fans. Is it ok to have these two fans connected to a splitter and then plugged in. I am not sure if having a 'CPU' and 'GPU' fan connected to the same header is a good or bad idea. Please let me know what you think!

You should be hooking the CPU pump AND the two fans to the CPU Header on the MB, as the H75 in its entirety IS your CPU cooler…

As for the Sea Hawk, this is from the MSI website:

Wide diameter fan with variable speeds based on GPU temperature ensures silent operation

I have looked for a manual on the MSI website, but none yet; I do believe the fan for the GPU radiator does connect to the GPU itself, so you would have a discrete cooling system for each unit (being CPU & GPU)…

Sounds a lot like my (possible) build, excepting that you are going for the Z170 MB, as opposed to my going for the H170 MB (no plans to overclock for me)…

Post pics once you build it up…!

 

[Daniel Minzi]

You should be hooking the CPU pump AND the two fans to the CPU Header on the MB, as the H75 in its entirety IS your CPU cooler…

As for the Sea Hawk, this is from the MSI website:

Wide diameter fan with variable speeds based on GPU temperature ensures silent operation

I have looked for a manual on the MSI website, but none yet; I do believe the fan for the GPU radiator does connect to the GPU itself, so you would have a discrete cooling system for each unit (being CPU & GPU)…

Sounds a lot like my (possible) build, excepting that you are going for the Z170 MB, as opposed to my going for the H170 MB (no plans to overclock for me)…

Post pics once you build it up…!

I think you still need a fan header for the GPU's radiator fan though I think.

 

[Qrash]

I think you still need a fan header for the GPU's radiator fan though I think.

Confirmed in the review at www.guru3d.com .

The fan on the radiator you connect on to a FAN header on your motherboard (it would have been nicer to have it feed from the graphics card though),​

 

[Nanook]

Confirmed in the review at www.guru3d.com .

The fan on the radiator you connect on to a FAN header on your motherboard (it would have been nicer to have it feed from the graphics card though),​

I use a mini 4-pin GPU to 4-pin pwm adapter. My use case is for a 92mm fan to cool the vrm though.

 

[BaK2BaK]

Finally got the vandal installed. Looks much better painting the bracket for it, pretty happy with the way it came out

Really neat, great mod!
I am hesitating to do the same or to also add a reset switch, could be useful sometimes.
Any idea what else to put on this front side panel? Finger prints reader?

Need someone to do me a huge favor. If you have a rad can you measure from the bottom of block to top of graphics card for me. Need to know the length so I can order a Bitspower extender. Thank you

Not sure to understand what measurement you want to know?

 

[snipes23]

Need measurement from rad that's placed on the bottom of case where barb goes into to the top of the gpu backplate. Just wondering what kind of extender I need to clear that graphics card

 

[Fleat]

The Sea Hawk X is a hybrid air / water cooled GPU; the AIO takes care of the GPU itself, but the rAM & VRM sections are still air-cooled by the shroud fan…

So, the question still stands, will fans mounted on the bottom of the chassis help with that air-cooling; and will fans also help with forcing air up & out of the chassis…?

IMO you wont really gain much by adding fans at the bottom. The fans at the bottom will push air up and eventually out of the top vents, that is why they are recommended for non blower GPUs. As pendragon1 said, the Vram will be cooled well enough by the blower cooler on the card.

I am running 6700k + Noctua NH-U9S (exhaust out the rear) with two fans and an EVGA 980 Ti Hybrid with a Noctua NF-F12 (exhaust out the side) on the radiator.

In my own personal experience, adding two intake NF-F12 fans at the bottom did improve my build in the following ways

1. My motherboard temps went down a lot (around 10-15C)
2. My 950 Pro NVME SSD mounted to the back of the motherboard also decreased in temp a small amount
3. GPU & CPU are both running a 3-4 C cooler under load (not a huge change here)
4. Most importantly, my Corsair SF-600 no longer spins up into jet engine mode while under heavy load

Let me explain #4 a bit. The biggest problem I was having with my build in the Ncase M1 was that the Corsair SF-600 fan speed is dependent on both load and ambient temperature. When the ambient temp in the case was high, that Corsair fan would spin up and become extremely loud.

I could hear it through closed cans while playing games (the case sits 2-3ft from me on the desk). I knew the power supply itself was fine because I had it in the BitFenix Prodigy before the Ncase and never even heard the thing. Adding the two fans at the bottom of the case resolved this issue. Now I can leave all of the fans in the case at 40% all the time, and it performs great all around with minimal noise. As someone who is very particular about noise, I appreciate only hearing a slight hum at all times from such a small/powerful build.

As a side note, the best temps that I actually managed to get for the cpu/gpu was with the cpu hs/f and hybrid radiator both as intake with no other fans. Unfortunately with this setup, the motherboard temps suffered greatly and the Corsair SF-600 turned into a jet engine again. I have read a lot of posts from people claiming that fans in the bottom don't help at all, but that isn't my experience so I figured I would throw my 2 cents in.

 

[BaK2BaK]

Need measurement from rad that's placed on the bottom of case where barb goes into to the top of the gpu backplate. Just wondering what kind of extender I need to clear that graphics card

Don't have a GPU with backplate installed, hopefully these numbers could help you.
From bottom of the case and with a MagiCool rad:

 

[snipes23]

Don't have a GPU with backplate installed, hopefully these numbers could help you.
From bottom of the case and with a MagiCool rad:

Thank you. That should help me out so I know what extender to buy I appreciate it.

 

[Daniel Minzi]

I am running 6700k + Noctua NH-U9S (exhaust out the rear) with two fans and an EVGA 980 Ti Hybrid with a Noctua NF-F12 (exhaust out the side) on the radiator.

In my own personal experience, adding two intake NF-F12 fans at the bottom did improve my build in the following ways

1. My motherboard temps went down a lot (around 10-15C)
2. My 950 Pro NVME SSD mounted to the back of the motherboard also decreased in temp a small amount
3. GPU & CPU are both running a 3-4 C cooler under load (not a huge change here)
4. Most importantly, my Corsair SF-600 no longer spins up into jet engine mode while under heavy load

Let me explain #4 a bit. The biggest problem I was having with my build in the Ncase M1 was that the Corsair SF-600 fan speed is dependent on both load and ambient temperature. When the ambient temp in the case was high, that Corsair fan would spin up and become extremely loud.

I could hear it through closed cans while playing games (the case sits 2-3ft from me on the desk). I knew the power supply itself was fine because I had it in the BitFenix Prodigy before the Ncase and never even heard the thing. Adding the two fans at the bottom of the case resolved this issue. Now I can leave all of the fans in the case at 40% all the time, and it performs great all around with minimal noise. As someone who is very particular about noise, I appreciate only hearing a slight hum at all times from such a small/powerful build.

As a side note, the best temps that I actually managed to get for the cpu/gpu was with the cpu hs/f and hybrid radiator both as intake with no other fans. Unfortunately with this setup, the motherboard temps suffered greatly and the Corsair SF-600 turned into a jet engine again. I have read a lot of posts from people claiming that fans in the bottom don't help at all, but that isn't my experience so I figured I would throw my 2 cents in.

Thats interesting. How do you manage the 4-5 fans you are using? Most of the motherboards I have seen only have 2-3 headers.

 

[Fleat]

Thats interesting. How do you manage the 4-5 fans you are using? Most of the motherboards I have seen only have 2-3 headers.

My motherboard does indeed only have 3 fan headers (CPU, Chassis 1 & 2).

CPU Header -> Noctua Y Splitter -> Noctua NH-U9S
Chassis 1 Header -> SilverStone PWM Fan Hub -> 1 Noctua NF-F12 (Hybrid Radiator fan), 2 Noctua NF-F12's on the bottom
Chassis 2 Header -> Evercool Twister Fan Speed Controller -> 4-Pin PWM to 4-Pin Mini GPU -> EVGA Hybrid Pump

As I said, I am quite particular with noise so I like to have manual control of the EVGA Hybrid pump to reduce the buzzing.

 

[nebulight]

Well my CPU cooler and power supply have arrived, now the wait begins until mid-august for my case...

 

[rfarmer]

Well my CPU cooler and power supply have arrived, now the wait begins until mid-august for my case...

I had to wait 1 1/2 months for mine after pre ordering it, I know the feeling.

 

[Daniel Minzi]

Do you guys think the exhaust fan (right to left exhaust) on the Nh-u9s should be mounted on the case or on the cooler?

 

[Boil]

You should be hooking the CPU pump AND the two fans to the CPU Header on the MB, as the H75 in its entirety IS your CPU cooler…

As for the Sea Hawk, this is from the MSI website:

Wide diameter fan with variable speeds based on GPU temperature ensures silent operation

I have looked for a manual on the MSI website, but none yet; I do believe the fan for the GPU radiator does connect to the GPU itself, so you would have a discrete cooling system for each unit (being CPU & GPU)…

Sounds a lot like my (possible) build, excepting that you are going for the Z170 MB, as opposed to my going for the H170 MB (no plans to overclock for me)…

Post pics once you build it up…!

I think you still need a fan header for the GPU's radiator fan though I think.

Confirmed in the review at www.guru3d.com .

The fan on the radiator you connect on to a FAN header on your motherboard (it would have been nicer to have it feed from the graphics card though),​

So, that annoys me, MSI states on their website that the rad fan is controlled but the GPU temp, so one would think it is feeding off of a 4-pin PWM header on the GPU itself…

/shrug

 

[Powkid]

Hi guys,

I bought a GTX 1070 G1 Gaming 2 days ago and I was thinking to put 2 Noctua NF-P12 fans in the bottom of the Ncase m1 as intake fans. Should I remove the 3 graphics card's fans and use the Noctua ones or just put the two Noctua fans and let them work the 5 of them together?

 

[Phuncz]

Generally stacked fans don't work together because they're all limited by the lowest pressure/airflow of the bunch. You could certainly use the two Noctua fans "solo", I did with my card and it performs well when I changed them to exhaust (out the bottom) so heat doesn't go into the case. I used a mini-PWM to PWM cable from Gelid and a PWM splitter, but I believe I've seen a mini-PWM to two PWM fan headers too. This way you can still use your GPU's fan curve without extra software and with proper load/heat data from your GPU.

 

[Powkid]

If I return the GTX 1070 G1 Gaming and take the Founders Edition, will the fans have a purpose?

 

[ranix]

might be interesting instead of nocta fan to use this one :

Corsair Debuts Mag-Lev Case Fans

2 on the c14 of those should work. what do you think?

 

[nebulight]

Do you guys think the exhaust fan (right to left exhaust) on the Nh-u9s should be mounted on the case or on the cooler?

I talked with Ruzeki over on pcpartspicker, and he seems to think that mounting the exhaust fan on the case is best. However as you can see with his pic here:

The distance is so close it might not make that much difference.

 

[Anshur]

Hi everyone,

So I finally received my gtx 1070 sc and completed my first Ncase build, however the cables of my sx500-LG make my GPU sag significantly :

Which also makes my port hard to reach :

Is that dangerous ? And does any of you have any advice on rectifying it ? Maybe better cable management (I'm really, really bad at it...) ?

 

[-H1N1-]

Hey, i´ve got the same card in the same case but mine dont´t hang around like yours, also no problems with the ports.

Nice one

 

[rfarmer]

Hey, i´ve got the same card in the same case but mine dont´t hang around like yours, also no problems with the ports.

Nice one

His issue is the SFX-L PSU, that is why it states in the ncase compatibility "Please note that due to the limited space available, SFX-L is a tight fit when used with long GPUs"

 

[Qrash]

Have you guys seen this post in the X99 on mITX: ASRock X99E-itx/ac thread?

No, I can confirm the 3.5 in drive cage works with the NH-C14 + X99e ITX + Ncase M1 V4. The cage doesn't even touch the cooler (tips of the heatpipes line up perfectly with drive cage's holes). There's about 2mm from the drive mounting thumbscrew to the fins.

But if you want to mount a second drive on the cage you'll only be able to use the cage's center screw slot on the side closes to the cooler.

Necere has stated that this isn't possible, but apparently it is. Thoughts?

 

[DeeEffSee]

Could someone confirm the gap between the PSU and a second HDD in the drive cage when using the Corsair SF-600? I wondering if I could mount a fan on the side bracket and push the drive cage into the case a bit while still using 2 HDDs. Might make cable management more of a pain, but I think I can deal with it.

 

[Necere]

Have you guys seen this post in the X99 on mITX: ASRock X99E-itx/ac thread?

​

Necere has stated that this isn't possible, but apparently it is. Thoughts?

It isn't possible [with most motherboards]. There's a lot of "it depends" with the way things fit in the M1, and in this case it depends where the CPU socket is located exactly. On the X99E-ITX, it's apparently a bit further back than most 1151 boards, which is what allows the HDD cage to fit with the NH-C14. I see he's also got a 140mm fan in the lower position, which isn't normally possible with SFX since it runs into the PSU.

Could someone confirm the gap between the PSU and a second HDD in the drive cage when using the Corsair SF-600? I wondering if I could mount a fan on the side bracket and push the drive cage into the case a bit while still using 2 HDDs. Might make cable management more of a pain, but I think I can deal with it.

It's about 20mm, so you can only do it if you use a slim fan (<=15mm). Though you might have to source some long M4 screws to make it work.

 

[snipes23]

For anyone who plans to get a vandal switch and plans to put rad on bottom there will be fitment issues. Make sure to look for a short body vandal switch. May have to order another

 

[Andrew Karczewski]

Hey, I currently have a 1080 founders edition in my NCase M1 and would like to change the cooler to an Arctic Accelero Xtreme IV to reduce noise and temps as a few people have done before.

I believe I have all the information I need and have watched a few tear down videos of the 1080 before, however a question I can't find the answer to is how many of the small RAM/VRM heatsinks do I need to purchase as the IV cooler comes standalone.

I'm hoping to take photos along the way and produce a small step-by-step procedure including any pitfalls I come across, and upload it here in hope better inform anyone of attempting this in the future!

As a little side question, as I currently have a Noctua NH-C14 so that means I can't have a 120mm AIO, ruling out EVGAs recently released 1080/1070 Hybrid Kit. Do you think that the Accelero IV and some heatsinks for £50~ is my best option, or would you recommend taking a ~£200ish leap for a hybrid kit and a new CPU cooler? (at the moment it seems that a custom loop is out of my price range)

TLDR: How many of the small heatsinks HERE would I need?

 

[Qrash]

The Arctic Accelero Xtreme III comes with a set of small heatsinks, costs ~ $60 (US) on NewEgg and Amazon, and doesn't come with the heatsink for the rear surface of the graphics card that you likely can't use in the M1.