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

exzacklyright said:
SO what GPU are you guys getting? Anyone opting for a non-reference 1080?
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I am going to wait for shortly after release. Probably till late next week to see what comes out. I may just pick up a reference and eventually pick up one of those aftermarket AIO coolers for it. It should still OC to around 2.1 with the aftermarket AIO which isn't too bad.
 
I wouldn't give up on the FD version just yet. Give it a week or two and see what the consumer is experiencing before making a final decision. There is too much confusion right now. Also wait and see what the manufacturers release. Evga for example usually does a rear blower style model.

Edit: JayzTwoCents put up a YT video explaining what is happening and how you can work around the thermal throttling.

 
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AWartman said:
I am going to wait for shortly after release. Probably till late next week to see what comes out. I may just pick up a reference and eventually pick up one of those aftermarket AIO coolers for it. It should still OC to around 2.1 with the aftermarket AIO which isn't too bad.
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so spend an extra $100 so you can rip it apart and stick another $80-10 aio on it?! that makes no sense other than being an e-pen extension.
 
Mannymal said:
I'm conflicted. On the one hand, the Founders Edition 1080 seems to have issues. On the other hand, I am wary of having an open air cooler dumping a lot of heat into the small case...
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Can you not have 2 fans exhausting the GPU heat under the case? Or does that just not work?
 
exzacklyright said:
Can you not have 2 fans exhausting the GPU heat under the case? Or does that just not work?
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Those fans are intakes and push air onto the heatsink. You'd need to remove the fan shroud and flip the fans for it to work and that'd void the warranty for those that care about it.
 
pendragon1 said:
so spend an extra $100 so you can rip it apart and stick another $80-10 aio on it?! that makes no sense other than being an e-pen extension.
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The FE is an extra 100 but I think the aftermarket AIO's are usually made for the reference model. Maybe a cheaper reference card will come out later which is one of the reasons I am waiting. And it does makes sense, as you can get a higher overclock with the AIO while keeping the card cooler. The regular FE can overclock a bit but you have to have the fan speed pretty high to get that overclock stable, and it still runs pretty hot (around 80 degrees). I just recently watched a review where they had the FE at stock, and with the fan set to 80% it would be around 80 degrees without an overclock (Just the stock boost). The AIO would help with this I would think. EVGA may release a hybrid version too I just don't want to be waiting for more than a few weeks after the release, getting anxious for my M1 build :)
 
spending an extra $100 DOES NOT make sense. all of the low end cards will be the FE/reference pcb and the AIO will work on all of them. once custom pcb start showing then it will be different. get that ugly ass Galax card for $599USD to rip apart and use the $100 to get the aio. shit, i'd even green-mod it until a bracket is available but I would NOT throw away $100USD for the FE.
 
shinjinian said:
Those fans are intakes and push air onto the heatsink. You'd need to remove the fan shroud and flip the fans for it to work and that'd void the warranty for those that care about it.
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I think he means two case fans exhausting hot air down the bottom. It's not a terrible idea, the problem is that hot air is still gonna get sucked right back into the case.
 
Mannymal said:
I think he means two case fans exhausting hot air down the bottom. It's not a terrible idea, the problem is that hot air is still gonna get sucked right back into the case.
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In fact, that is exactly what some owners have done after replacing the GPU cooler with the Arctic Xtreme III heatsink and gotten good results.
 
Qrash said:
In fact, that is exactly what some owners have done after replacing the GPU cooler with the Arctic Xtreme III heatsink and gotten good results.
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It might be what I end up doing. Waiting for a third party card with better power delivery and cooling, and dumping all that hot air down the bottom like a fart.
 
Skott said:
I wouldn't give up on the FD version just yet. Give it a week or two and see what the consumer is experiencing before making a final decision. There is too much confusion right now. Also wait and see what the manufacturers release. Evga for example usually does a rear blower style model.

Edit: JayzTwoCents put up a YT video explaining what is happening and how you can work around the thermal throttling.
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Thanks for that video, gives you a good idea on exactly what is happening with the 1080 and with a different fan profile how to work around it. What I want to know is who do you have to know to get EK's first 1080 water block? Jayz must have some great connections.
 
rfarmer said:
Thanks for that video, gives you a good idea on exactly what is happening with the 1080 and with a different fan profile how to work around it. What I want to know is who do you have to know to get EK's first 1080 water block? Jayz must have some great connections.
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While fiddling with the fan profile might help the issue, we'll only know the true story once we see reviews of aftermarket cards with robust coolers and PCB's with better power delivery. I have a feeling these cards are easily gonna go beyond 2Ghz of constant boost with enough juice and cooling. The question is whether these open cooler cards are gonna perform as well inside the NCASE M1, without resorting to fancy watercooling mods or creative ducting of airflow that might create negative air pressure.

In other news, tonight I received my tracking # from NCASE. Yay!
 
Why's everybody so worried about the psu fan? I seriously have never even heard my psu even during a full load. I'd be more worried about noise from whatever graphics card you buy and possibly from the cpu cooler if you go for one of those 92mm noctua tower coolers.
 
shinjinian said:
Why's everybody so worried about the psu fan? I seriously have never even heard my psu even during a full load. I'd be more worried about noise from whatever graphics card you buy and possibly from the cpu cooler if you go for one of those 92mm noctua tower coolers.
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Some of us are sensitive to the noise, especially from the SFX power supplies. Personally, the fan on my SX600-G produced a rattling/chattering noise as it engaged and disengaged, and at certain RPM.

Yes, the other fans in the system would overwhelm the sheer fan noise, but some other sounds produced by the fan were not at all mitigated simply by other sounds being louder.
 
shinjinian said:
Why's everybody so worried about the psu fan? I seriously have never even heard my psu even during a full load. I'd be more worried about noise from whatever graphics card you buy and possibly from the cpu cooler if you go for one of those 92mm noctua tower coolers.
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My CPU and GPU fans are quieter than the PSU fan at both idle and load.
 
I was hoping to purchase the new MSI GEFORCE GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G GPU to install in my new M1: GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G | MSI Global | Graphics card - The world leader in display performance

But looking at the specs and the new design it doesn't look like there will be enough room for the PCIe power connectors without fouling the side panel, even with 90 degree slim adaptors.

In the previous MSI 980 Twin Frozr designs the heatpipes extended out beyond the PCB which allowed room for the PCIe connectors but it looks like they've increased the width of the PCB this time round. Same issue for their less expensive 1080 ARMOUR cards too.

What are your thoughts?

M1 GPU Max length: 12.5" (317mm)
M1 GPU Max height (or width): For cards up to 12.5" (317mm) or cards in the third slot: 4.4" (111mm) For cards up to 11.5" (292mm) in the first or second slot: 5.5" (140mm) (4.7"/120mm at the PCIe power connectors)
 
Looking at getting a GTX1070, also waiting to see what the board partners do. I was originally planning to just pony up for the FE, but getting a cheaper model and buying a water-block for my H220 might be the best solution.
 
iaTa said:
I was hoping to purchase the new MSI GEFORCE GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G GPU to install in my new M1: GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G | MSI Global | Graphics card - The world leader in display performance

But looking at the specs and the new design it doesn't look like there will be enough room for the PCIe power connectors without fouling the side panel, even with 90 degree slim adaptors.

In the previous MSI 980 Twin Frozr designs the heatpipes extended out beyond the PCB which allowed room for the PCIe connectors but it looks like they've increased the width of the PCB this time round. Same issue for their less expensive 1080 ARMOUR cards too.

What are your thoughts?

M1 GPU Max length: 12.5" (317mm)
M1 GPU Max height (or width): For cards up to 12.5" (317mm) or cards in the third slot: 4.4" (111mm) For cards up to 11.5" (292mm) in the first or second slot: 5.5" (140mm) (4.7"/120mm at the PCIe power connectors)
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MSI is listing the GTX 1080 Seahawk which is only 111 mm tall and has their hyprid air/liquid cooling (120 mm fan radiator).
 
The Seahawk only has 1x 8-pin power unfortunately so it will be under powered. Plus I'm sticking with air as I'll be taking my M1 as carry on occasionally.
 
iaTa said:
The Seahawk only has 1x 8-pin power unfortunately so it will be under powered. Plus I'm sticking with air as I'll be taking my M1 as carry on occasionally.
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Only if the power limit is lower than normal or your PSU's OCP triggers. I haven't heard anything about lower power limits on ref cards although some non-ref cards will definitely be unlocked.
 
iaTa said:
There's been a lot of info about ref cards power throttling (as well as temp).
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And it's not directly caused by 8-pin power connections. In fact the entire throttling debate relates to temperatures, an issue that the Seahawk should completely circumvent on account of the cooler.

Power phases and 2x 8-pin won't affect stock performance. Factory overclocks and larger coolers will.
 


According to this video the ref card is on the limit of power and temps so with a better cooler you will probably hit those power limits if you want to maximise your OC.

The Asus GeForce GTX 1080 DirectCU III Strix might just fit although it's 6mm too long for a wider card: 298 x 134 x 40mm. Would it be possible to squeeze this in?
 
iaTa said:
According to this video the ref card is on the limit of power and temps.
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And if you watched it, you would've seen that increasing the power limit and improving the cooling is a perfect fix. In fact, cooling alone might do it, since resistance gets higher with temperature. I'm not saying that there won't be better non-ref cards for overclocking, but it's bordering on fear mongering.

A lot of modern NVIDIA cards can hit their power limits even at stock. They're designed to do so, it's why there's a power limit.
 
He said it's a fine balancing act and that's with the stock cooler. Stick a decent cooler on there and you will hit the power limits.

Anyway this is off topic. I'm trying to figure out which of the non reference 1x 8-pin + 1x 6/8-pin cards will fit in the M1.
 
iaTa said:
He said it's a fine balancing act and that's with the stock cooler. Stick a decent cooler on there and you will hit the power limits.
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Your original post is still bullshit. 8-pin power is completely irrelevant to the discussion. 2x 6-pin will hit the same power limit.
 
iaTa said:
He said it's a fine balancing act and that's with the stock cooler. Stick a decent cooler on there and you will hit the power limits.

Anyway this is off topic. I'm trying to figure out which of the non reference 1x 8-pin + 1x 6/8-pin cards will fit in the M1.
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So far I only see Founders Edition cards at the Asus and Gigabyte websites. Zotac lists two non-standard 1080 cards, but all dimensions on those brochures are marked "TBD". Still, I counted pixels and compared the pixel dimensions of the AMP Edition (not the Extreme model - that thing is more than 2 slots wide) to the mounting bracket and got a card height of 136 mm. Unfortunately the PCI power connectors on the back are not recessed much, just like the MSI models mentioned earlier.
 
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Dimensions I have so far for the custom PCB cards:
  • MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G: 279 x 140 x 42mm
  • MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Armor 8G (OC): 279 x 140 x 37mm
  • Asus GeForce GTX 1080 DirectCU III Strix: 298 x 134 x 40mm
  • EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW ACX 3.0: 267 x 151 x ?mm (width seems incorrect)
  • Galax/KFA2 GeForce GTX 1080 EX OC: TBC
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 AMP Edition: TBC
NCASE M1 Max GPU sizes:
  • Max length: 12.5" (317mm) (slots 1 & 2), 11" (292mm) (slot 3)
  • Max width:
    - For cards up to 11.5" (292mm) in the first or second slot: 5.5" (140mm) (4.7" (120mm) at the PCIe power connectors)
    - For cards up to 12.5" (317mm) or cards in the third slot: 4.4" (111mm)
 
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I don't think that 151mm can be the correct figure even though it's quoted on multiple sites.

I can't get on EVGA's website at the moment to double check as it's overloaded.
 
The EVGA site shows extended PCBs on the FTW and Classified only and the specs claim a height of 150.88 mm. The PCI bracket is 120 mm so 150 mm doesn't seem out of the question for those. The regular ACX and the SC look to be standard height (<130 mm with shroud), but their spec sheets are wrong.
 
Well, I have the NCASE m1 coming (shipped already) and just entered the queue system for the EVGA GTX1080 founders edition (yeah, its already backordered/OOS smh) so I'm crossing my fingers for low temps.

Is there an optimal air-flow setup for the NCASE m1 or is it totally dependent on the users setup? I will be using the aforementioned GPU with a ASRock x99e mITX board and the Noctua U9dx i4 (120mm tall air cooler with 92mm fans).

I'm a bit worried about the temps, not only about the gtx1080 but the 5820k + Noctua because I really wanted to overclock, and there aren't many cooling options for the Narrow ILM that the ASRock x99e has.

Is the NCASE m1 able to hold up air-flow/cooling wise to other mITX cases on the market currently? (what are even the good mITX cooled cases?)
 
I can get on their site and the spec sheet for the FTW edition does give the 151mm figure too. Just from eyeballing it, it looks like it would fit in the M1 though (Actually, just thought that with the power connectors it might not work). The greater concern I have is that the hybrid EVGA shows on their site seems to be based on that FTW motherboard design, so even if the board itself would fit in the M1 which isn't guaranteed, there's no way the hoses would fit meaning the 1080 Hybrid is a bust for M1 owners. I do see that the MSI Seahawk is based on a reference design though, so there's still that for liquid cooled 1080s at least.
 
That's weird. If you compare the MSI Gaming X at 140mm with the EVGA FTW it definitely looks quite a bit smaller:

YSuHyLw.jpg
 
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There's still the MSI Seahawk, and the Kraken G10 adapter to allow you to attach a CPU water block (though it may or may not work depending on where the GPU itself is on the board due to how tall the bracket is). I'm not intending to upgrade until a 1080ti or such so maybe by that time this initial chaos and confusion will have cleared up and there'll be some more good options for AIO GPUs that will work. I have to say that while I really do like my M1 since I built my PC last year, all the limitations do make thinking of upgrades a bit of a headache. Just how bad do axial GPU coolers really perform in this case? I know that it will hurt CPU temperatures and the GPU won't get as cool as in bigger cases with more airflow, but is it really that bad?

Ooh, just found the Corsair HG10. It's narrower than the Kraken G10 due to using a blower cooler making it essentially a DIY Hybrid, so if one's released for the 1080 then that seems like it could be a good option.
 
iaTa said:
I was hoping to purchase the new MSI GEFORCE GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G GPU to install in my new M1: GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G | MSI Global | Graphics card - The world leader in display performance

But looking at the specs and the new design it doesn't look like there will be enough room for the PCIe power connectors without fouling the side panel, even with 90 degree slim adaptors.

In the previous MSI 980 Twin Frozr designs the heatpipes extended out beyond the PCB which allowed room for the PCIe connectors but it looks like they've increased the width of the PCB this time round. Same issue for their less expensive 1080 ARMOUR cards too.

What are your thoughts?

M1 GPU Max length: 12.5" (317mm)
M1 GPU Max height (or width): For cards up to 12.5" (317mm) or cards in the third slot: 4.4" (111mm) For cards up to 11.5" (292mm) in the first or second slot: 5.5" (140mm) (4.7"/120mm at the PCIe power connectors)
Click to expand...
wow and this is one of the smaller 1080 cards

if this doesn't fit, which will? just the founder's edition?
 
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