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

Just got my Ncase today. Looks stellar. Just waiting on my rog strix board now to start the build.

The header cables seems a bit long. How do you route the usb cable the best way?

I have used a USB Extension cable on two builds. In the first photo the black USB header cable is connected to the USB Extension behind the motherboard. In the second photo the rainbow-cloured extension cable connects below the motherboard against the motherboard tray panel. This is better if you plan to use the rear M.2 socket on your motherboard.

07 - close-up USB and Front Panel extensions (Large).JPG Kamin_M1-cropped2 (Large).jpg
 
I have used a USB Extension cable on two builds. In the first photo the black USB header cable is connected to the USB Extension behind the motherboard. In the second photo the rainbow-cloured extension cable connects below the motherboard against the motherboard tray panel. This is better if you plan to use the rear M.2 socket on your motherboard.

View attachment 18069 View attachment 18070

Think I'm gonna try for the second option. How did you tackle the PSU-cables? Are they twisted or did you separate them?
 
The PS cables for the motherboard are twisted. This consumes their excess length, makes them a bit narrower (though thicker, if that makes sense), and makes them stiffer so that they don't sag down onto the graphics card. Here is closeup of the CPU power cable:

CPU Power Cable - closeup (Large).jpg

A tie-wrap that helps anchor the CPU power cable to the Internal AC power cable. The CPU power cable is twisted with the 24-pin motherboard cable and the two of them descend beside the power supply. They are NOT pressed into the gap between the RAM and the power supply. Doing that would apply pressure to the RAM.

BTW, here is a black low profile USB 3.0 extension cable that I recently ordered. ModDIY.com also sells these cables.
 
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Wanted to share my NCASE with tempered glass window build:

Album: http://imgur.com/a/6WLJs

Reddit post:
Happy to answer questions!

Nice photos! I read your post on Reddit and it seems the temperatures are decent (81°C running Heaven).

I also noticed that you got a USB extension cable like I did. It looked to me like it was not possible to have the USB connection behind the motherboard because the rear M.2 socket was underneath the connection. My son's motherboard has a rear M.2 socket too so I put the USB cable connection against the motherboard mounting panel below the graphics card (see my photo a few posts above). Is this what you did too?
 
Builds looks great, how are CPU temps with the glass panel?

Thanks! Not the best, I just exported a 4k video and it hit 80 degrees under load. I'm going to delid and do a light overclock. The bottom fans are the only intakes so it's pretty choked for air.

Nice photos! I read your post on Reddit and it seems the temperatures are decent (81°C running Heaven).

I also noticed that you got a USB extension cable like I did. It looked to me like it was not possible to have the USB connection behind the motherboard because the rear M.2 socket was underneath the connection. My son's motherboard has a rear M.2 socket too so I put the USB cable connection against the motherboard mounting panel below the graphics card (see my photo a few posts above). Is this what you did too?

Thanks! I saw your picture, I like what you did. Didn't think of that. Yes, the rear m.2 slot got in the way. Mine lays flat on the case floor and the extension kind of makes a right angle up to the header.
 
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Thanks! Not the best, I just exported a 4k video and it hit 80 degrees under load. I'm going to delid and do a light overclock. The bottom fans are the only intakes so it's pretty chocked for air.

Good idea on the delid, apparently it makes a big difference with Kaby Lake.
 
I've popped the pics of my build onto PCPP: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/b/tyfH99

It's pretty standard fair with the exclusion of a cablemod RGB strip clipped pointing downwards, behind the front panel connected to the AURA header on the Strix 270i.

It casts a nice light in front of the case whilst on that's synched to the light bleed through the panels from the RGB on the motherboard. Not seen it done before but it's a nice effect.
 
Just wanted to post a quick pic with my custom cables before I disassemble the build and move. Unfortunately I have to go to a full size for the new Ryzen content. Sadly I only had this up for a few days.

I know a lot of you are looking for a Noctua NH-C14, and since I'm parting out the build I'll have mine for sale soon, along with my case, and this lovely ID Cooling 92mm fan - so I'll probably post it at a later time.

Final build:
DRttRSE8L.jpg
 
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Just wanted to post a quick pic with my custom cables before I disassemble the build and move. Unfortunately I have to go to a full size for the new Ryzen content. Sadly I only had this up for a few days.

I know a lot of you are looking for a Noctua NH-C14, and since I'm parting out the build I'll have mine for sale soon, along with my case, and this lovely ID Cooling 92mm fan - so I'll probably post it at a later time.

Final build:
DRttRSE8L.jpg
where are you from?
 
Hi everyone,

Been a long time lurker when I first stumbled upon the Ncase M1. Thank you everyone for bringing in so many resources and knowledge to the NCASE community. You guys have hlped me plan my build out. I've been gathering parts for the past 6 months or so and just yesterday I was able to post and install the OS. Nothing really spectacular with my build, rather standard now for this case I feel like. Will have pictures and benchmarks soon.

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C14 CPU Cooler
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z270i GAMING Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage: Samsung 960 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
Power Supply: Corsair SF 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Full 32/64-bit
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12-1300 54.4 CFM 120mm Fan
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12-1300 54.4 CFM 120mm Fan
Other: Ncase M1

Parts pending...
GPU - FE/Turbo GTX 1070
Cabling - Ensourced cables
Misc - USB 3.0 Header extension

- I must say building in this case took a lot longer than I expected and I was pretty worried I might've got some bent pins when the CPU locking lever popped free, though I did use the CPU install tool. It looks like the CPU and Mobo are okay for now. Will need to do a benchmark tonight. Make sure your cpu is securely locked and coffee filters are great for cleaning up thermal paste.

- Can also confirm that the heatpipes of the C14 do touch/rest on the heatsink towards to IO shield side of the Asus 270i mobo, however, I don't see much deflection in the heatsink. Not going to worry about this.

- Cable mgmt for me is a pita since the ATX cable is pretty stiff and leans against the C14 without tying it down. Will definitely get some shortened sleeved cables to tidy this thing up.

- Running two NF-P12s to pull air from the outside into the case; No bottom fan on the C14. Idle seems to be at around 30C running on a standard profile on Asus' BIOS and with the fans set to standard as well.
 
Why go ATX? Ryzen ITX mobos are out in the summer - you can't wait until then?

xcharlesy: Indeed why? You can actually use and enjoy your M1 while waiting for X300 boards to come along... (and spare yourself the hassle of replacing your mobo, psu, cpu-cooler and the case for the second time).

But I get it, you just like building pc's too much... :-p
 
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Just wanted to post a quick pic with my custom cables before I disassemble the build and move. Unfortunately I have to go to a full size for the new Ryzen content. Sadly I only had this up for a few days.

I know a lot of you are looking for a Noctua NH-C14, and since I'm parting out the build I'll have mine for sale soon, along with my case, and this lovely ID Cooling 92mm fan - so I'll probably post it at a later time.

Final build:
DRttRSE8L.jpg

So sorry to see you leave us. Good luck with your Ryzen build!
 
I've popped the pics of my build onto PCPP: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/b/tyfH99

It's pretty standard fair with the exclusion of a cablemod RGB strip clipped pointing downwards, behind the front panel connected to the AURA header on the Strix 270i.

It casts a nice light in front of the case whilst on that's synched to the light bleed through the panels from the RGB on the motherboard. Not seen it done before but it's a nice effect.

Looks great, really nice job on the cable sleeving. The Yellow and Black really stands out. How are the Akasa fans noise wise?
 
Why go ATX? Ryzen ITX mobos are out in the summer - you can't wait until then?

xcharlesy: Indeed why? You can actually use and enjoy your M1 while waiting for X300 boards to come along... (and spare yourself the hassle of replacing your mobo, psu, cpu-cooler and the case for the second time).

But I get it, you just like building pc's too much... :-p

Looks great, really nice job on the cable sleeving. The Yellow and Black really stands out. How are the Akasa fans noise wise?

I love the ncase, and ultimately will end up back in it! When Intel X processors release late summer or fall I will migrate the Ryzen build into the ncase and switch my main rig to the ATX. When I made my big move to the ncase I sold my 5960X build to a friend and since I have had some business pick up recently I need the extra core power for the time being! Can't wait to see what boards come available for Ryzen though!
 
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Just wanted to post a quick pic with my custom cables before I disassemble the build and move. Unfortunately I have to go to a full size for the new Ryzen content. Sadly I only had this up for a few days.

There will be mini-itx boards for Ryzen, just not now at launch I think. But they will surely come. If the TDP is as moderate as AMD claims (65-95W), I look forward to have an 8-core CPU in my Ncase. Well, I will read reviews first to ensure there is nothing shady about Ryzen, but it seems like a hit.
 
I've been doing some research regarding the power LED blinking, Asus latest BIOS on Z170 mobos (3016) seems to be the cause.

For anyone having the blinking power LED issue, I can confirm it was due to the Asus Z170i Pro under BIOS 3016. I flashed to the latest version (3020), and I finally have a steady non-blinking power LED when the PC is turned on :)
Stability-wise, it seems fine with the same settings I had previously (I7 6700K 4.5ghz / 1.25v / LLC level 5) but I'm gonna have to run longer stress tests to fully confirm.
 
Has anyone looked into replacing the power switch/LED assembly? I could use some help identifying the switch. Looks to be 2P1T. No markings on the sides and I wil probably desolder it next if needed.

I want to keep stock appearance so anti-vandal switches are out.

.eJwFwcENwyAMAMBdGADbgA3KAlUfmSFCBJFUSUFAX1V3791XffqlFnXM2cYCsJ8j1b7rMWuPJetSa7lybOfQqd4Q54zpuPN7DjCGA1tHiChsDaGACSJixUtw3rEYFniuj80gebRIGwl7Jv1qRf3-lBskKA.CAr4ROgRDjNuGMAzy-neEEpo_iQ
 
Is it better to have 2 thin 120mm, 140mm or no fans underneath the GPU? If so which are the best? Also which fan controller do you guys use?
 
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Is it better to have 2 thin 120mm, 140mm or no fans underneath the GPU? If so which are the best? Also which fan controller do you guys use?

I have two M1 builds and they are different in this regard.

One has a Gigabyte GTX 1070 G1 Gaming graphics card. This is card has a large heatsink with 3 fans . There are no fans on the case floor and so far temperatures have been fine. I removed the third slot cover and the rectangular metal plate above the slots to make the escape of warm air easier, though I haven't done any tests to prove this has any effect.

Interior -case bottom - closeup (Large).jpg

My older build has a short Zotac 970 which I stripped bare and attached the large Alpenföhn Peter 2 heatsink. This European heatsink is thicker than I expected so it was not possible to have two 25 mm thick 120 mm fans underneath it. So instead, I used two slim 140 mm Prolimatech Ultra Vortex fans that are plugged into the graphics card's fan controller via a splitter/adapter that came with the heatsink. So far the 970 stays cool and the fans, which are set to exhaust, are not loud.

14 - GPU and cooler (Large).JPG

Note that 140 mm fans have to be the round type with the same mounting holes as 120 mm fans. I had to drill some mounting holes in the bottom of the case and the two fans barely fit beside each other. I also drilled some larger holes to help open up the case bottom a bit.

M1 with dual 140mm Prolimatech fans on Bottom (Large).jpg

I hope this helps.
 
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I want to have D9L with extra 92mm fan (so 2) plus a slim 92mm, 120mm and 2 slim 120mm on bottom. Which would be the best way to hook them up so I can control. I have 2 4 pin on my motherboard. I want to control the speeds but they aren't all the fan type of fans. So connect 2 of the 92mm with a splitter to one 4 pin, the other 92mm to the second 4pin, and the 120mm fans to molex?
 
Hello,

I am in search of replacement of default NH-C14 P14 coolers to be able to place PSU in factory default place + get even better cooling for my 4790k. So, new coolers have to be as more efficient as it possible. Silence matters too. Can you give me a hint with my question?

1. At the moment I think to replace top P14 with P14r (thanks to icc0rz for info about this fan) - same round form, 1500RPM vs. 1200RPM, more m³/h and mmH2O then P14 has. Seems to be a good choice but A14PWM is even better but it's square (does this matters in the end?). So, which one would give the best temperatures?
2. To use PSU in factory default position, 2nd (bottom) fan has to be replaced wih 120mm fan. F12PWM is the best candidate? Or P12PWM would be enough here? Or you will offer another one?:)

As always, thanks for your replies guys ;).
 
Phew -- just finished reading the entire thread (took way too long) to find all the fine points of building in this case. I'm finally getting around to doing a build in this case for someone else (and also a trial run to see if I like it). I ended up going with the NH-U9S even though I debated on the NH-D9L. Too many different reviews all showed the same. I ended up with the U9S and for the specific mounting options it could provide. I see several builds using both the vertical orientation and the horizontal one, but no one seems to have tested them to compare. The current fan config I'm planning is 2x NF-A9's on the heatsink, an NF-A15 on the side bracket for intake and to cool the 2.5" hard driver, Corasir SF600 facing outwards to manage it's own supply, and another NF-A9 on the back bracket.

The build will have the Asus Z270i board with the m.2 under the heatsink, so I'm leaning toward the vertical orientation so it can pull heat off of that heatsink as well (another reason to use the U9S, as the D9L's extra fan would overhang the heatsink and not pull as well). The real question would be which orientation to mount the rear NF-A9 fan then. Most people use it as exhaust, but I think that would leave the case in negative pressure in my setup. I'm more leaning toward intake, since then it can provide more airflow to the CPU heatsink, and in the vertical orientation, the top fan on the heatsink would already be acting as an exhaust. My only concern would be any turbulence created in the heatsink from the orthogonal flows. Anyone have any thoughts on that (or tried that config?)

I'm excited to finally build in this case.
 
hey guys recently i saw a build that used a thermalright cpu cooler with the ncase and no I can't seem to find it - i swear it was linked around here or I stumbled upon it in some way... i want to say they were using a sf600 with it but I was intrigued as it was a way around the c14 while still retaining a monster heat sync, any assistance would be greatly appreciated in finding this build!!
 
hey guys recently i saw a build that used a thermalright cpu cooler with the ncase and no I can't seem to find it - i swear it was linked around here or I stumbled upon it in some way... i want to say they were using a sf600 with it but I was intrigued as it was a way around the c14 while still retaining a monster heat sync, any assistance would be greatly appreciated in finding this build!!

[URL="https://hardforum.com/threads/ncase-m1-a-crowdfunded-mini-itx-case-updates-in-first-post.1717132/page-583#post-1042839816"]NCASE M1: a crowdfunded Mini-ITX case (updates in first post)[/URL]

Couple pages back, I remember seeing it too and wondering why more people haven't used this cooler.
 
According to vipz's signature the cooler is a Thermalright AXP-140. ! can't find a product page for it on the Thermalright website so I suspect it's been discontinued. All I could find was a FAQ page for it.

Thanks brother, the curse of browsing this site on mobile is I can't read sigs. lol. I told my body I was done with the ncase, but I might be crawling back.

I am and have been a C14 user with the ncase. Now that I am using the Z270i I want to know if this Thermalright AXP-140 is a possibility. Here we are confronted again by the concern of the Z270i shield that covers the rear:

See this pic from earlier in the thread of the way the C14 makes contact with the shield:

IMG_086971_zpszdkltwkk.jpg


And then see here how the Thermalright AXP-140 goes over to the side (below). The space is obviously concerning, but would the AXP-140 mount in a different orientation yielding success? or would it bother the shield? What do you guys think?

eZWIaZ5l.jpg
 
Phew -- just finished reading the entire thread (took way too long) to find all the fine points of building in this case. I'm finally getting around to doing a build in this case for someone else (and also a trial run to see if I like it). I ended up going with the NH-U9S even though I debated on the NH-D9L. Too many different reviews all showed the same. I ended up with the U9S and for the specific mounting options it could provide. I see several builds using both the vertical orientation and the horizontal one, but no one seems to have tested them to compare. The current fan config I'm planning is 2x NF-A9's on the heatsink, an NF-A15 on the side bracket for intake and to cool the 2.5" hard driver, Corasir SF600 facing outwards to manage it's own supply, and another NF-A9 on the back bracket.

The build will have the Asus Z270i board with the m.2 under the heatsink, so I'm leaning toward the vertical orientation so it can pull heat off of that heatsink as well (another reason to use the U9S, as the D9L's extra fan would overhang the heatsink and not pull as well). The real question would be which orientation to mount the rear NF-A9 fan then. Most people use it as exhaust, but I think that would leave the case in negative pressure in my setup. I'm more leaning toward intake, since then it can provide more airflow to the CPU heatsink, and in the vertical orientation, the top fan on the heatsink would already be acting as an exhaust. My only concern would be any turbulence created in the heatsink from the orthogonal flows. Anyone have any thoughts on that (or tried that config?)

I'm excited to finally build in this case.

That is very similar to my build, except I went with the D9L. I agree with you that I don't think there is a significat difference.

Out of curiosity, why are you putting the m.2 under the heatsink and not on the back of the board? I know with other boards (See here) the heatsink actually trapped heat instead of dissipating it). I really should test my m.2 on the back and under the heatsink to see what resultst I get.

I think most people actually have all fans, including the rear NF-A9, acting as intake (at least that's how I have mine).
 
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