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

Thank you. I guess I'll just throw a cover over the top when not in use. Seems easy for dust to get inside through the top otherwise.

I've been thinking the same. Might be possible to custom fit a filter to the underside of the top panel to catch debris when the PC is turned off.. maybe held in place by hot glue tacks, or by being sandwiched between the panel and chassis. If so, it would need to be a very loose filter (less filtration than Demci filters, and enough to catch falling dust, but free-flowing enough to keep positive pressure and let heat escape).

If anybody tries something like this, I'd love to know how fitment is and how it effects temps.
 
another Dutchie here
seen so many pics, but my jaw still dropped when i opened the box :D

OlUvAhs.jpg

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oIxmUe5.jpg


a toast (no pun intended) to whahaha and necere for this great project
 
ST45SF-G V1.0 did not have caps on the stock cables. V1.1 and V2.0 do have caps to smooth ripple. These are added in subsequent versions to improve performance without having to redesign new circuitry inside the PSU.

Just an FYI, my v2.0 does not have a cap on the ATX cable. So they may have redone the PCB.
 
How is everybody else running their H220 pump?

It seems like it only runs when running at full RPM. At least on my motherboard, when using the headers, I have to run it at full RPM. Otherwise, the pump will stop and start. I guess the Z87I-Deluxe adjusts the RPM through voltage.

I have the pump connected to one of the chassis fan headers and my rad fans connected to the CPU fan header.

Reason why I ask is that at full tilt the pump is a little loud.

Edit: Just received a response from Swiftech saying that if I connect the PWM splitter that comes with the H220 to the power supply and then use the header connection from the splitter to the motherboard that will adjust the RPM of the pump and not adjust the voltage. I'll be giving that a try to see how that goes and report back.

So, there's a couple things to consider.

At least on my motherboard (Asus Z87I-Deluxe), and I imagine for most others, the CPU fan header can do either PWM or voltage adjustments.
The other fan headers are strictly voltage adjustments, even though they are 4-pin. The fan speed pin is there to report back, but there is no actual PWM adjustments.

I moved the pump to the CPU header and the Noctua fans to a chassis fan header via a 4-pin Y-cable. I let the AI Suite detect and tune the pump and fans. I set the pump to operate on a curve, but set the low for 45% of rated RPM up to 50 degrees. It then ramps up to 70% at 65 degrees and finally 100% at 75 degrees. The fans won't go below 51% due to the tuning process, but they are set up for 51% up to 40 degrees, 60% at 60 degrees, 100% at 75 degrees. Everything seems to be working just fine now.

One thing I might go back and try though is to put the fans on their own separate header and see if that makes any kind of difference in the tuning and curves. I wouldn't think the Y-cable would make too much difference but it is essentially paralleling two fans on one header.
 
Hey everyone, I built my rig a few weeks ago (M6I, 4770k cooled with H220, GTX TITAN on stock air) and I've been noticing that my hard drive (directly under the TITAN) has been getting incredibly hot, too hot to touch. This is pretty bad for the hard drive's longevity, right? Is there anything I can do to cool it down? I'm assuming this has to do with it being right next to the video card but I expected that the enclosure of the video card would keep heat along the path of the air, from the intake to the exhaust out back. I don't want to destroy my hard drive.
 
Hey everyone, I built my rig a few weeks ago (M6I, 4770k cooled with H220, GTX TITAN on stock air) and I've been noticing that my hard drive (directly under the TITAN) has been getting incredibly hot, too hot to touch. This is pretty bad for the hard drive's longevity, right? Is there anything I can do to cool it down? I'm assuming this has to do with it being right next to the video card but I expected that the enclosure of the video card would keep heat along the path of the air, from the intake to the exhaust out back. I don't want to destroy my hard drive.

Yes, very bad for the hard drive. You need to either move it to another location where it get airflow, or install a small fan or something to get air moving over it. It doesn't take much, but you need to be careful.
 
@rajeeves
Maybe, get one of those $10-$15 (USD) HDD cooler assy's that bolt to the bottom of the HDD?
I have about 10 HDD's "out in the field", last I heard they're still running & cool to the touch. Make sure the fans have clearance to draw in air to circulate on the bottom of the drive. Even the internal system-warmed air is better. You are correct that the HDD as you described is being destroyed.
I also put voltage reducers on them because they're so noisy and function quite well at much lower rpm's. Even the body of the fan assy. acts as a direct-contact heat-sink. It can cause HDD mounting problems that I never found insurmountable, just bothersome. But the HDD's live!
 
Is there a good pci slot fan controller that someone can recommend?

I'm looking for one that can control 3 fans, since the motherboard i'm using only has two and they are both being used by the h60 cooler.
 
@OverRated and others
Hi,
When a regular poster flamed me [ref: my posts #10047 (Jan 22) and #10051] at least he included a link, for which I'm grateful. Thought everyone would be interested, so I am including it below. I guess I should have checked the entire [H] site, or maybe the entire Internet, but my posts were made because of my discovery of the cap on the cable, and no knowledge of where data was available, and would have handled it myself without posting, but I thought that was the point of this forum, to try to inform others who might be in the same position.
Anyway, there's a great [H] thread at
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1707073&page=28 dedicated specifically to the ST45SF PSU! The cap is old news there. So shoot me, I guess. Lots of really good info there, including about the cap.:)
 
To those who have a 3.5" HDD on the bottom of the case: What temps are you getting on your hard drive? When my GPU gets hot the HDD almost hits 55C. I think Necere posted a link about Google's study on hard drive reliability in regards to temps, but I just want to make sure 55C isn't too bad for my hard drive's longevity.
 
To those who have a 3.5" HDD on the bottom of the case: What temps are you getting on your hard drive? When my GPU gets hot the HDD almost hits 55C. I think Necere posted a link about Google's study on hard drive reliability in regards to temps, but I just want to make sure 55C isn't too bad for my hard drive's longevity.

According to this study (dunno if this is the one you were referring to), though they only study up to 50C, their conclusion is that there is no massive increase in HDD failure due to temperature.
 
According to this study (dunno if this is the one you were referring to), though they only study up to 50C, their conclusion is that there is no massive increase in HDD failure due to temperature.

Yeah, that's the one. I mistakenly thought that the study was up to 60C. Hmm... I wonder if I should find a way to rig the HDD in another position (my NH-C14 doesn't allow me to use the HDD cage).
 
wouldn't this work?
@rajeeves
Maybe, get one of those $10-$15 (USD) HDD cooler assy's that bolt to the bottom of the HDD?
I have about 10 HDD's "out in the field", last I heard they're still running & cool to the touch. Make sure the fans have clearance to draw in air to circulate on the bottom of the drive. Even the internal system-warmed air is better. You are correct that the HDD as you described is being destroyed.
I also put voltage reducers on them because they're so noisy and function quite well at much lower rpm's. Even the body of the fan assy. acts as a direct-contact heat-sink. It can cause HDD mounting problems that I never found insurmountable, just bothersome. But the HDD's live!
 
I know this has been discussed but my searching skills are failing me.

I'm using an H100 and can't use the included fan filters because they're too thick for the Corsair screw length. What are my options? Is anyone aware of a longer screw? Thinner filter? Would an external filter like the DEMCiflex dual 120 work?
 
2 quick questions for Necere, Dstart & PLHHSB..

The DEMCiflex ST45SF PSU filter, as applied to an ST45SF-G.. due to the fan being partially covered by the chassis, does the adhesive strip and filter need to be applied to the PSU *before* installing it into the case?

And once applied, can the filter actually be removed for cleaning and replaced without actually removing the entire PSU from the case??

Finally got all my parts besides the damn Demci filters (still not up on their website), and don't want to assemble everything just to find out I need to tear everything back down for a single filter :confused:

4xGQT3P.jpg
 
Anyone using the Asus ROG mini-itx have problems their i/o panel shield not being a tick to high? I can still plug in a lan cable and a usb cables, just worried that the usb cables may touch the i/o shield.
 
Is everyone shortening their tubes on the H220? I'm not directly opposed to doing it, but if leaving it stock length how are people orientating the rad and looping the tubing? I've looked at pictures and couldn't find a stock H220 or a good picture that shows how its laid out.

I'm using a CM Glacer 240L (basically a Cooler Master-rebranded H220) and I've routed the tubes around the edge of the fan frames. I'll try to get some pictures this weekend.
 
Anyone using the Asus ROG mini-itx have problems their i/o panel shield not being a tick to high? I can still plug in a lan cable and a usb cables, just worried that the usb cables may touch the i/o shield.

It doesn't matter even if the USB plug touches the I/O shield, they're both grounded.
 
Well, i have some very strange problems with my hardware >inside< the ncase. Everything fits well and is not overheating (checked every temperature sensor) - but i get ongoing system reboots after a uncertain anmount of time (sometimes after minutes, then hours), also when the system is completely idle. It's like someone is pulling the power plug and then put it back in. I even don't get bluescreens (the automatic reboot in windows is disabled, the event log is empty). All cables are perfectly on their places, i've checked it multiple times.

Here a short overview of my components:

CPU: i7 4770K with a Noctua C12P-SE14 Cooler
MB: Asus Maximus VI Impact
GPU: (Gigabyte) NVIDIA 780Ti (Reference)
RAM: 2x G.Skill 1600MHz 8GB DDR3
PSU: Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W
HDD: Seagate ST4000DX001 4TB
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
OS: Windows 8.1

I thought the issue might be the psu, but the surprising thing is, if i take the complete hardware out and install it on a benchtable - everything is working without any problems :confused:.

I will further investigate this, but i can't figure it out yet. Maybe anyone here have an idea what the problem might be?
 
@OverRated and others
Hi,
When a regular poster flamed me [ref: my posts #10047 (Jan 22) and #10051] at least he included a link, for which I'm grateful. Thought everyone would be interested, so I am including it below. I guess I should have checked the entire [H] site, or maybe the entire Internet, but my posts were made because of my discovery of the cap on the cable, and no knowledge of where data was available, and would have handled it myself without posting, but I thought that was the point of this forum, to try to inform others who might be in the same position.
Anyway, there's a great [H] thread at
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1707073&page=28 dedicated specifically to the ST45SF PSU! The cap is old news there. So shoot me, I guess. Lots of really good info there, including about the cap.:)

They flamed you because you created a huge excited post that read like you thought that you were wronged by SS because they included a cap that you weren't expecting. You didn't need to scour the forum or the internet. Only look at the thread that's almost always within a few threads of this one that clearly states the name of that PSU. One would think that A. If this info had been brought up you could find it in there and B. That if it wasn't people interested in that PSU in that thread would find that issue more important.

Only a very small portion of the group in this thread a interested in re cabling. Everyone else is using retail or buy SS kits specifically. But the amount of people as a hole wanting to do that for all the other itx systems available is so much higher.
 
Well, i have some very strange problems with my hardware >inside< the ncase. Everything fits well and is not overheating (checked every temperature sensor) - but i get ongoing system reboots after a uncertain anmount of time (sometimes after minutes, then hours), also when the system is completely idle. It's like someone is pulling the power plug and then put it back in. I even don't get bluescreens (the automatic reboot in windows is disabled, the event log is empty). All cables are perfectly on their places, i've checked it multiple times.

Here a short overview of my components:

CPU: i7 4770K with a Noctua C12P-SE14 Cooler
MB: Asus Maximus VI Impact
GPU: (Gigabyte) NVIDIA 780Ti (Reference)
RAM: 2x G.Skill 1600MHz 8GB DDR3
PSU: Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W
HDD: Seagate ST4000DX001 4TB
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
OS: Windows 8.1

I thought the issue might be the psu, but the surprising thing is, if i take the complete hardware out and install it on a benchtable - everything is working without any problems :confused:.

I will further investigate this, but i can't figure it out yet. Maybe anyone here have an idea what the problem might be?

Make sure nothing is touching the case from the bottom of the board. Also check IO panel and cover most boards should come with the shielded soft panel but if not make sure one of the braces didn't get into a port.

Assuming install is fine, it would probably be Memory or PSU. Last time I saw this it was the PSU when I really thought it was memory. When I did have a memory problem that acted like this it seemed even more sporadic where the restarts might have been days apart.
 
So every think in and im leak testing but there a load of bubbles in the loop and i can hear the pump cutting them up.
















 
They flamed you because you created a huge excited post that read like you thought t... You didn't need to scour the forum or the internet. Only look at the thread that's almost always within a few threads of this one that clearly states the name of that PSU. ... ...
Only a very small portion of the group in this thread ... ... ... ....

Thank you for the insight. Points taken.:)
 
The cases in The Netherlands finally get delivered!

I can pick up the case tomorrow, got a receipt in my mailbox to pay 26,65 euro at a postoffice of choice.
For who wants yo know: delivered by postnl (yeey!)

sCa3ZFm.png

Hmm I'd expect the NL-shipped cases to all arrive in the same batch. Mine has the same departure information, same "despatch" number, yet arrived later and didn't go through customs yet :( .

n3cwRFS.png


Should be soon though! I hope the added costs will be consistent for all NL recipients.
 
So every think in and im leak testing but there a load of bubbles in the loop and i can hear the pump cutting them up.


I haven't done water cooling in years but those should work themselves out after a few hours. Last time I had a custom setup, almost all of the bubbles had disappeared after 24 hours.
 
@finas: if you're still around here, I notice on your dropbox link to IMG_6899.JPG, the side mounted 15 blade fan (Scythe SY1212SL 12H-P). Is that for your H80i radiator? (Remember, I haven't opened the box my H80i is in). Don't the sharp bends in your cooling lines restrict coolant flow and increase wear on the pump? Does the setup allow you less restricted access to the mobo and internals than a big fin assembly?

- Yes, I'm running the H80i with two fans in push-pull configuration, one of the original 25mm fans that came with the H80i and a 12mm fan, the Scythe you refer.

This allows to run the H80i without any modification to it. There is space for two 25mm fans but this would require changing the tubes for something that can take tight bends without colapsing.

- The way I installed the H80i, there are no hard bends, and the tubing did not colapse.

- Access to mobo internals is in my opinion much improved over an air cooler, as when you remove the side bracket ( with the H80i radiator attached ) the only thing that is connected to the motherboard is the water block, and the H80i water block is really low profile. You have access to everything without problems.


I was going to wait for the GTX880 to come but using the 4770K GFX is just too painfull so I bought a GTX760 with blower type cooler while I wait for the 880 to come.

I did an airduct to make sure all the air that enters the GTX760 comes from the outside. A nice thing about this blower cooler is that it is well insulated ( from an airflow point of view ) and all the air that enters from the fan opening exits though the rear of the case. So not even a bit of hot air is dumped inside the case. There is still space for another 120mm fan at the bottom but the temperatures are great as they are so I will not add another fan. I'll just cover the hole with sound insulating foam.

I updated the folder with the new photos:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5irv3thtnad889p/upRTNVT_dQ

The airduct looks really amateur, I'll make a better version later. I used foam that usually comes inside cases to protect hardware stuff, cut a hole, and used part of a can of pringles to stabilize the hole.
 
2 quick questions for Necere, Dstart & PLHHSB..

The DEMCiflex ST45SF PSU filter, as applied to an ST45SF-G.. due to the fan being partially covered by the chassis, does the adhesive strip and filter need to be applied to the PSU *before* installing it into the case?
I specified the filter without the magnetic adhesive backing, since the PSU housing is steel and it doesn't need it.
 
Well seems the wait was for nothing how the F!@# are you meant to use this ? only really thin tubing with barbs fittings will fit.



That's an EK Coolstream PE rad, yeah? That's why. It's 130mm wide, which is 5 to 10mm wider than most 120mm rads. It's a very tight case - not everything is going to work with everything. Measure everything twice, but sometimes it's still just going to take trial and error.
 
Let's see how long it takes for it to arrive to me in the Netherlands..

Who's willing to bet that it'll take me at least another month?
My luck is so horrible that i'm waiting for it to have been squashed by a truck.
 
Let's see how long it takes for it to arrive to me in the Netherlands..

Who's willing to bet that it'll take me at least another month?
My luck is so horrible that i'm waiting for it to have been squashed by a truck.

Has yours not even reached customs yet? :(
 
Has yours not even reached customs yet? :(

Says it has, 21st of January at about 3 PM.

But as I said, i've had so much luck recently that i'm betting a truck or forklift will have squashed it.

Here's another example that happened to me yesterday.

I built a rig for my cousin in Serbia with an AMD Phenom II X3 720.
It's an outdated tech but it is still a decent mid-range performer for very cheap.

Spec list:

AMD Phenom II X3 720BE
ASRock 890GX Extreme4
8GB of Corsair Vengeance LP 1600MHz 1,5V
Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB SSD.
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Corsair Carbide 200R
Seasonic M12-II 520W Bronze

This all for sub 300 euros, which is still affordable.

But guess what, I built it, full cable management to the best of abilities, pre-installed it.
And it arrives at it's location, never even wanted to boot, and i'm here praying that it's just a dead BIOS battery.

If not shipping a computer over is not that cheap through customs.

Physically the case is fine, not even so much as a scratch..
What's the bet somehow the mobo died on me?

Any takers on that?
 
So every think in and im leak testing but there a load of bubbles in the loop and i can hear the pump cutting them up.

Getting the air out of the H220 was one of the most difficult things I have ever accomplished.

It did take me a few hours. Lots of power cycles because you can get the bubbles into the rad, but the res doesnt always refill them. Quite frustrating
 
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