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

Little recommendation for everyone that has a Asus STRI X 1080, if you have fans installed in the bottom of the case, plug them in the fan controller on the GPU, this will allow you to configure the bottom fans to be dependant on the gpu temperature, I have two fan curves setup, which delays the gpu from spinning allowing for a much quieter case overall. 1467219058261.jpg
 
Don't know how others here feel about AMD's upcoming offerings in both CPU and GPU, but i'm looking forward to the next couple of months. Intel deserves a challenge, especially with the boring i7700 refresh. Luckily, my build won't get underway for at least a month, maybe more, so parts changes might be in order.
 
Chimaera43 said:
Don't know how others here feel about AMD's upcoming offerings in both CPU and GPU, but i'm looking forward to the next couple of months. Intel deserves a challenge, especially with the boring i7700 refresh. Luckily, my build won't get underway for at least a month, maybe more, so parts changes might be in order.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The Kaby Lake gen might be a window of opportunity for AMD. They need one.
 
Chimaera43 said:
Don't know how others here feel about AMD's upcoming offerings in both CPU and GPU, but i'm looking forward to the next couple of months. Intel deserves a challenge, especially with the boring i7700 refresh. Luckily, my build won't get underway for at least a month, maybe more, so parts changes might be in order.
Click to expand...

Not the gpu so much but I am real curious to see how Zen will perform. Hoping it won't be the let down that Bulldozer was. I was thinking about a 7700k upgrade and am really disappointed with Intel for the minimal improvements. We also have to hope that some decent AM4 itx motherboards are released.
 
gsilver said:
Which is likely to be quieter:

GTX 1070 (reference PCB) with an Arctic Accelero Hybrid III
or
MSI GTX 1070 Sea Hawk X
Click to expand...

I would imagine the Sea Hawk to be noisier due to pump noise. I have an Accelero III on my 1070 with two NF-F12's which are controlled to be at 30% when the GPU hits 60 degrees. It hasn't even gotten that hot during gaming, only stress tests. It's very quiet!
 
pslate said:
I would imagine the Sea Hawk to be noisier due to pump noise. I have an Accelero III on my 1070 with two NF-F12's which are controlled to be at 30% when the GPU hits 60 degrees. It hasn't even gotten that hot during gaming, only stress tests. It's very quiet!
Click to expand...

From what I have seen in this thread the Accelero III with good fans seems to be the best air cooling solution for this case, good temps and quite operation.

As far as the Sea Hawk goes not only do you have pump noise most AIOs have poor fans so unless you replace them you will have that fan noise. Plus the card still has the reference fan. I think the Accelero III is going to be quieter.
 
Anyone ever have to get support from Gigabyte or ASRock? How long has it taken to get a response?

Similarly, anyone who has a Gigabyte G1 Gaming with the LEDs - is the red LED supposed to be always on?
Even if I change the color with the 'Gaming Engine' program, the 'Fan Stop' color is correct, but the 'Gigabyte' color is always mixed with the red. So configuring Yellow means Gigabyte is in Orange; configuring Blue makes the logo purple. Just curious if that's a fault or what...
 
Qrash said:
They look nice and the specs are good. I wonder what controller it uses, what type of memory is used, and who the OEM is?
Click to expand...
Unless Corsair sells them at a steep discount the Samsung 960 Evo will crush it in the marketplace.
 
rfarmer said:
Not the gpu so much but I am real curious to see how Zen will perform. Hoping it won't be the let down that Bulldozer was. I was thinking about a 7700k upgrade and am really disappointed with Intel for the minimal improvements. We also have to hope that some decent AM4 itx motherboards are released.
Click to expand...
True that.
 
Morgon said:
Anyone ever have to get support from Gigabyte or ASRock? How long has it taken to get a response?

Similarly, anyone who has a Gigabyte G1 Gaming with the LEDs - is the red LED supposed to be always on?
Even if I change the color with the 'Gaming Engine' program, the 'Fan Stop' color is correct, but the 'Gigabyte' color is always mixed with the red. So configuring Yellow means Gigabyte is in Orange; configuring Blue makes the logo purple. Just curious if that's a fault or what...
Click to expand...
I used ASROCK support to RMA a mobo and they were reasonably responsive (next day usually) thru email.
 
How long should custom PSU cables be for a Asus Z170I Pro Gaming and Corsair SF600?
Looks like the 24-pin and 8-pin are swapped on the Asus Z170I compared to the Asrock X99 ITX motherboard.
Yyv_146 mentioned the following lengths for the Asrock X99 ITX and Corsair SF600.
  • (1) x 400mm 24-pin,
  • (1) x 150mm 8-pin,
  • (1) x 200mm 6/8-pin PCIE
Thus can I fairly assume I can swap the lengths as follows?
  • (1) x 400mm 8-pin,
  • (1) x 150mm 24-pin,
  • (1) x 200mm 6/8-pin PCIE
I'm sure someone here has custom PSU cables with an Asus Z170I Pro Gaming and Corsair SF600.
 
Bender248 said:
Little recommendation for everyone that has a Asus STRI X 1080, if you have fans installed in the bottom of the case, plug them in the fan controller on the GPU, this will allow you to configure the bottom fans to be dependant on the gpu temperature, I have two fan curves setup, which delays the gpu from spinning allowing for a much quieter case overall. View attachment 12492
Click to expand...

Any advice for getting the "STRIX" to fit?
 
F41LTR41N said:
How long should custom PSU cables be for a Asus Z170I Pro Gaming and Corsair SF600?
Looks like the 24-pin and 8-pin are swapped on the Asus Z170I compared to the Asrock X99 ITX motherboard.
Yyv_146 mentioned the following lengths for the Asrock X99 ITX and Corsair SF600.
  • (1) x 400mm 24-pin,
  • (1) x 150mm 8-pin,
  • (1) x 200mm 6/8-pin PCIE
Thus can I fairly assume I can swap the lengths as follows?
  • (1) x 400mm 8-pin,
  • (1) x 150mm 24-pin,
  • (1) x 200mm 6/8-pin PCIE
I'm sure someone here has custom PSU cables with an Asus Z170I Pro Gaming and Corsair SF600.
Click to expand...

I have a Gigabyte Z170 but the 24 pin and 8 pin are in the same location. You can go as short as 300mm for the 8 pin unless you want to route it around the motherboard. If you use 200mm for the pci power cables you have to route them over the top of the card, if you want to route underneath go 300mm. As far as the 24 pin goes I recommend at least 250mm. You have 18+10pin coming out of the PSU that have to combine into 24pin, if you make it too short you will have a tangled mess. I went with 300mm, it is a bit long, but not terrible.
 
F41LTR41N said:
How long should custom PSU cables be for a Asus Z170I Pro Gaming and Corsair SF600?
Looks like the 24-pin and 8-pin are swapped on the Asus Z170I compared to the Asrock X99 ITX motherboard.
Yyv_146 mentioned the following lengths for the Asrock X99 ITX and Corsair SF600.
  • (1) x 400mm 24-pin,
  • (1) x 150mm 8-pin,
  • (1) x 200mm 6/8-pin PCIE
Thus can I fairly assume I can swap the lengths as follows?
  • (1) x 400mm 8-pin,
  • (1) x 150mm 24-pin,
  • (1) x 200mm 6/8-pin PCIE
I'm sure someone here has custom PSU cables with an Asus Z170I Pro Gaming and Corsair SF600.
Click to expand...

I have the exact same board and power supply and I don't recall my exact lengths. If memory serves me I went with the same length as what Corsair provides but went shorter on the 24-pin and a little longer on the 8-pin just to make sure not to have a ton of excess.
 
F41LTR41N said:
How long should custom PSU cables be for a Asus Z170I Pro Gaming and Corsair SF600?
Looks like the 24-pin and 8-pin are swapped on the Asus Z170I compared to the Asrock X99 ITX motherboard.
Yyv_146 mentioned the following lengths for the Asrock X99 ITX and Corsair SF600.
  • (1) x 400mm 24-pin,
  • (1) x 150mm 8-pin,
  • (1) x 200mm 6/8-pin PCIE
Thus can I fairly assume I can swap the lengths as follows?
  • (1) x 400mm 8-pin,
  • (1) x 150mm 24-pin,
  • (1) x 200mm 6/8-pin PCIE
I'm sure someone here has custom PSU cables with an Asus Z170I Pro Gaming and Corsair SF600.
Click to expand...

Mine were as follows:
24 pin - 250mm ( Could potentially be slightly shorter, but this is as short as you can order from Cablemod + any shorter and you'll need to do staggered lengths for your flat bends)
4+4 EPS - 400mm ( perfect length )
6+2 PCI-E - 250mm ( Your cable orientation will affect length here)
Sata power - 150mm

My build here...
 
Has anyone tried mounting an SFX psu in the ATX psu spot using and ATX to SFX bracket?
I know it's a weird question, but I have to do this to make room for the nh-c14s's fan.
I've already bought the corsair bracket, but it's going to be a week before I get it.
 
StrawKite said:
Has anyone tried mounting an SFX psu in the ATX psu spot using and ATX to SFX bracket?
I know it's a weird question, but I have to do this to make room for the nh-c14s's fan.
I've already bought the corsair bracket, but it's going to be a week before I get it.
Click to expand...

Yes, I took some photos comparing the SFX to ATX adapter that came with my Silverstone SX600-G PS with Silverstone's PP08 adapter which puts the SFX power supply off center. Here is my post from July with photos:

https://hardforum.com/threads/ncase...n-first-post.1717132/page-514#post-1042436051

BTW, I hadn't heard of anyone having to do this with a NH-C14 and an SFX power supply before. What motherboard are you using that is putting the C14 so much towards power supply? Or are you doing this in order to use a 140 mm fan on the underside of the C14 fin array?
 
StrawKite said:
Has anyone tried mounting an SFX psu in the ATX psu spot using and ATX to SFX bracket?
I know it's a weird question, but I have to do this to make room for the nh-c14s's fan.
I've already bought the corsair bracket, but it's going to be a week before I get it.
Click to expand...

Just don't use the bottom fan. I haven't seen many that do use the bottom fan. Great temps without and easier assembly / changing headers / cable management without the bottom fan.
 
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pslate said:
I would imagine the Sea Hawk to be noisier due to pump noise. I have an Accelero III on my 1070 with two NF-F12's which are controlled to be at 30% when the GPU hits 60 degrees. It hasn't even gotten that hot during gaming, only stress tests. It's very quiet!
Click to expand...
Well, I tried the Sea Hawk. I got it for close to the reference PCB cost. Note that this is in my old case, not the NCASE.

The built-in radiator fan was very noisy, but the pump is fairly quiet. I replaced the radiator fan with a Silent Wings 3. So far, so good. Temps after half an hour of gaming are around 45 degrees.
The fan on the card itself isn't too loud, but it makes somewhat of a buzzing noise (I believe that the SW3 is *louder* but has a less intrusive sound profile)

My NCASE should have shipped this week, so I'll be dropping everything in soon.
 
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-H1N1- said:
Finished my build last weekend ;). After doing some benchmarks and playing Fallout 4 in 4k, temps reached 39°C CPU and 58°C GPU, all very silent :ninja:!
Click to expand...

This is a really cool build, I like that the pump is on the GPU block. Would you mind listing all the water cooling parts you got?
 
Qrash said:
Yes, I took some photos comparing the SFX to ATX adapter that came with my Silverstone SX600-G PS with Silverstone's PP08 adapter which puts the SFX power supply off center. Here is my post from July with photos:

https://hardforum.com/threads/ncase...n-first-post.1717132/page-514#post-1042436051

BTW, I hadn't heard of anyone having to do this with a NH-C14 and an SFX power supply before. What motherboard are you using that is putting the C14 so much towards power supply? Or are you doing this in order to use a 140 mm fan on the underside of the C14 fin array?
Click to expand...
Im doing this to use the 140mm fan on the underside. And its the Nh-c14S not the nh-c14 :) im using a 15mm slim fan on top of it too. Ty for linking your post, very helpful. I guess the Silverstone bracket would have been better.

Do you think i can fit a slim 15mm fan between the psu and the side panel when mounted this way?

Also if you got a photo of the psu mounted id love to see it.
 
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I have created an album on Imgur with several photos I took when I was looking into this: SFX Power Supply in ATX Bracket

I have found a discrepancy in two of the photos: the distance from the SFX power supply to the drive mounting plate on the inside surface of the chasis' front. In one photo the distance is labelled to be 22 mm and in another photo it is labelled as 25 mm. I don't know which is correct.

I measured the gap from the side of the SFX power supply to the chasis frame (ie the side bracket) and found it to be 16 mm:



In the photo above, I used the SFX-ATX adapter plate that came with my SX600-G PS. I think this side gap would be the same with any other plate so long as the SFX is centered on the adapter plate, but I can't guarantee that this is the case with the PP08 adapter.

This next image compares the two adapters. Note that two of the holes for attaching the SFX power supply in the PP08 adapter are partially obstructed by the M1 ATX bracket (orange circles). You would have to file a bit of metal away from the bracket for at least one of those holes. Also note that I could only get the PP08 attached to the M1 ATX bracket in one orientation: the one with the SFX closest to the front of the case.

 
Last edited:
God fucking damn it.

I've just received my Gigabyte GTX 1070 Xtreme gaming and I've gotten one that I need to RMA. They've completely fucked up or something with placing the cooler on my one. As you can see on the following image, the case of the cooler overlaps the actual PCI-E slow of the gpu, which makes it impossible to install.

Image:
q47L27Tl.jpg

qlBpa9Gl.jpg


Here are some images where you can see how the cooler should actually fit on the GPU. Can't believe it how far off mine is....

http://arabhardware.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Gigabyte-GTX-1070-Xtreme-Gaming-13.jpg
https://www.tomshw.it/data/images/7/0/5/1/gigabyte-gtx-1070-08-2dd8fd514f8eaea28007dd13cf9a50b74.jpg

It's extra annoying because I'm almost 100% sure the card would fit without a problem if they'd just sent me a proper one.

This one is going back to amazon.de I guess, such a shame.
 
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DrunkenMercenary said:
God fucking damn it.

I've just received my Gigabyte GTX 1070 Xtreme gaming and I've gotten one that I need to RMA. They've completely fucked up or something with placing the cooler on my one. As you can see on the following image, the case of the cooler overlaps the actual PCI-E slow of the gpu, which makes it impossible to install.

Image:
q47L27Tl.jpg

qlBpa9Gl.jpg


Here are some images where you can see how the cooler should actually fit on the GPU. Can't believe it how far off mine is....

It's extra annoying because I'm almost 100% sure the card would fit without a problem if they'd just sent me a proper one.

This one is going back to amazon.de I guess, such a shame.
Click to expand...

How is that even possible? Is the entire heatsink mounted wrong or is it just the plastic cover? The metal portion (heatpipes, fins, etc.) should be mounted on the PCB through standardized holes.
 
Qrash said:
How is that even possible? Is the entire heatsink mounted wrong or is it just the plastic cover? The metal portion (heatpipes, fins, etc.) should be mounted on the PCB through standardized holes.
Click to expand...

pendragon1 said:
is it not possible to just realign it? or is it bent/broken?
Click to expand...

I really have no idea how its even possible... also the pcb part where the case of the cooler (its metal btw, not plastic so its not possible to bent) is touching the pcie slot, is forcing the pcb to bent downwards. Great quality control from Gigabyte.

Anyway, asked a replacement from Amazon. I will make that damn gpu fit.

The more I look online for other Xtreme Gaming GPU's the more I'm flabbergasted how broken mine is...
 
yeah but is it clipped on and just shifted or are the screw posts bent or something? it may be a simple fix and no return/rma needed.
edit: it looks like the fan shround is hung up on the pci slot bracket. undo the screws and bolts and let it pop into place. should be fine.
 
pendragon1 said:
yeah but is it clipped on and just shifted or are the screw posts bent or something? it may be a simple fix and no return/rma needed.
edit: it looks like the fan shround is hung up on the pci slot bracket. undo the screws and bolts and let it pop into place. should be fine.
Click to expand...

Could try it but to be honest, I paid top dollars for this card. If amazon tells me its okay to exchange for a new one I'm going for it. Mine aso had scratches on the place the Gigabyte LED logo...
 
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DrunkenMercenary said:
Could try it but to be honest, I paid top dollars for this card. If amazon tells me its okay to exchange for a new one I'm going for it. Mine aso had scratches on the place the Gigabyte LED logo...
Click to expand...

I totally agree with your decision. I fix things when I have to, and I enjoy that, but there's no need to make work and possibly void a warranty.
 
s4dus said:
Looking at your picure https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5795/30792609866_cb0f47113d_b.jpg would it be possible to have smallest tube/res combo above the GPU and just in front of CPU? Just asking as it may get very hard to route tubing but would save PSU part for HDDs.
Click to expand...

This could work...

Honestly though, I think that if you're doing a bottom radiator build, then you HAVE to also have either a 120mm or thick 92mm radiator also. This would make your build basically impossible - the 92mm/120mm would take up too much space in front of the CPU.
The only other option is to use a GPU riser and mount the entire GPU higher to create space underneath for full thickness fans - this would potentially make a single bottom radiator viable.
 
DrunkenMercenary said:
God fucking damn it.

I've just received my Gigabyte GTX 1070 Xtreme gaming and I've gotten one that I need to RMA. They've completely fucked up or something with placing the cooler on my one. As you can see on the following image, the case of the cooler overlaps the actual PCI-E slow of the gpu, which makes it impossible to install.

Image:
q47L27Tl.jpg

qlBpa9Gl.jpg


Here are some images where you can see how the cooler should actually fit on the GPU. Can't believe it how far off mine is....

http://arabhardware.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Gigabyte-GTX-1070-Xtreme-Gaming-13.jpg
https://www.tomshw.it/data/images/7/0/5/1/gigabyte-gtx-1070-08-2dd8fd514f8eaea28007dd13cf9a50b74.jpg

It's extra annoying because I'm almost 100% sure the card would fit without a problem if they'd just sent me a proper one.

This one is going back to amazon.de I guess, such a shame.
Click to expand...

Wow... This is a first!

Is it an incorrectly stamped cover?
- Hope you get this sorted asap. I feel your pain...
 
Last edited:
DrunkenMercenary said:
Could try it but to be honest, I paid top dollars for this card. If amazon tells me its okay to exchange for a new one I'm going for it. Mine aso had scratches on the place the Gigabyte LED logo...
Click to expand...
yeah its totally your call. I'm was just saying that if its a quick easy fix like the shroud is just misaligned, fix instead of rma so no down time.
 
Chapeau said:
This could work, but it would be fairly tricky... I'm thinking of how you'd go about connecting everythi


Wow... This is a first!

Is it an incorrectly stamped cover?
- Hope you get this sorted asap. I feel your pain...
Click to expand...

Yeah I still have no idea how this could have happened.... bad quality control I guess...

pendragon1 said:
yeah its totally your call. I'm was just saying that if its a quick easy fix like the shroud is just misaligned, fix instead of rma so no down time.
Click to expand...

True that :) If I really needed the card asap, I could have taken a look into how to fix it. However, I think it was a bad assembled card in more ways than just the cooler shroud. Lots of scratches and stains over the place...
 
Chapeau said:
This could work...

Honestly though, I think that if you're doing a bottom radiator build, then you HAVE to also have either a 120mm or thick 92mm radiator also. This would make your build basically impossible - the 92mm/120mm would take up too much space in front of the CPU.
The only other option is to use a GPU riser and mount the entire GPU higher to create space underneath for full thickness fans - this would potentially make a single bottom radiator viable.
Click to expand...

Chapeau said:
This could work, but it would be fairly tricky... I'm thinking of how you'd go about connecting everythi


Wow... This is a first!

Is it an incorrectly stamped cover?
- Hope you get this sorted asap. I feel your pain...
Click to expand...

I have seen a single 240mm slim rad with 2 slim fans under GPU and temps were under 60 during gaming. If that would be possible I can mod side panel do have a window and mod inside of the case and make a desert theme and paint the case it self (order black or silver?).
 
s4dus said:
I have seen a single 240mm slim rad with 2 slim fans under GPU and temps were under 60 during gaming. If that would be possible I can mod side panel do have a window and mod inside of the case and make a desert theme and paint the case it self (order black or silver?).
Click to expand...

Your call...

I've been there before though and my experience tells me that it doesn't work great. Feel free to search my posts to see what I've done...
There are a few posts either on this forum or elsewhere that also suggest a single bottom doesn't really cut it. One issue is that it's possible to get a certain temperature but we're not bench marking in the same way.
I could probably post an insane temperature for my build with my fans screaming at 3000rpm and all of my overclocks removed, but it's not really how you would want to have the system.
Technically, it may be possible to get down to that temperature, especially if you use a low power CPU/GPU but I don't think you're going to find that is the case.

Fundamentally, the bottom radiator allows you to build a great looking system, but it's not realistic to expect amazing temperatures from it. There just sin't enough venting space and the thin fans don't have enough pressure. There are other systems here that have a single 240 side radiator and normal thickness fans that are running at 60 degrees, so you have to expect a little higher for bottom rad.
That said, a theme case would look amazing. I hope you have fun doing it. If you're painting your case, I'd buy silver because it's easier to cheat if you don't prime. Otherwise, either colour is the same as you should be stripping the case anyway.

TL;DR
- I've tried 2 different rads, 2 pumps, 2 different case feet, cut the bottom of my case open, 3 TIM's including phase change metal
- Conclusion: Single bottom rad is not enough.
 
Chapeau said:
Your call...

I've been there before though and my experience tells me that it doesn't work great. Feel free to search my posts to see what I've done...
There are a few posts either on this forum or elsewhere that also suggest a single bottom doesn't really cut it. One issue is that it's possible to get a certain temperature but we're not bench marking in the same way.
I could probably post an insane temperature for my build with my fans screaming at 3000rpm and all of my overclocks removed, but it's not really how you would want to have the system.
Technically, it may be possible to get down to that temperature, especially if you use a low power CPU/GPU but I don't think you're going to find that is the case.

Fundamentally, the bottom radiator allows you to build a great looking system, but it's not realistic to expect amazing temperatures from it. There just sin't enough venting space and the thin fans don't have enough pressure. There are other systems here that have a single 240 side radiator and normal thickness fans that are running at 60 degrees, so you have to expect a little higher for bottom rad.
That said, a theme case would look amazing. I hope you have fun doing it. If you're painting your case, I'd buy silver because it's easier to cheat if you don't prime. Otherwise, either colour is the same as you should be stripping the case anyway.

TL;DR
- I've tried 2 different rads, 2 pumps, 2 different case feet, cut the bottom of my case open, 3 TIM's including phase change metal
- Conclusion: Single bottom rad is not enough.
Click to expand...
My plan was i7 6700K (OC in future when system gets slow) + 1070. I also looked at 1060 mini as they would live some extra space but found some reviews saying that they are really 1050 or like 1050Ti.
I think people need to start uploading videos of their builds running at stress to see result as for someone it may be loud under load but others may find it fine.
 
I finally have my new rig up and running (listed below).

What should be my safe temperature range when I'm playing an intense game of Battlefield 1 online/multiplayer? And how/when do I check those temps, during the game, right after the game? I have CPUID/HWMonitor and CPUID/CPU_Z.
 
So I had my Ncase since the first batch and have played around with a few cooling configurations and have never found anything ideal. I did a full loop that didn't work because the pump toasted my MB fan controller. All air which made for very toasty internal temps and now an AIO on the GPU with a Noctua NH-U9B SE2 pointed out the rear of the case. I get 45-55C temps on the CPU while gaming at stock speeds (4770K) with 34C GPU temps which I am not very happy with. I am thinking of going the double AIO route or at least a Cryorig C1 to replace the Noctua and help keep air cycling through the case more quickly. I also am thinking about turning my PSU to face fan side in the help get hot air out. Any thoughts on this or are there examples of people running similar setups to what I have proposed with reasonable temps.
 
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