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

Hey guys, I just ordered an M1 V3 for a build this summer to replace my full tower. It'll be traveling back and forth across the Atlantic with me, and I think it'll fit very well into a carry-on suitcase.

Before I begin to gradually finalize the component selection over time, I would very much appreciate some feedback. I'll be running a delidded 4670K on a Gigabyte Z97N Gaming 5 with Corsair Vengeance Pro memory, and possibly a Radeon R9 390X when it's available.

The CPU cooler selection was a tough one for me, but I've set my eyes on the Noctua NH-U9S with dual fans. It seems very formidable according to most reviews out there. I just want something that can keep my CPU under 70°C with a respectable overclock while staying out of my ears. The PSU will probably be a Silverstone SX500-LG, but I'm a little concerned about the cables pressing down on the GPU. I noticed that the cable connectors are a bit offset from the center, and I reckon installing the PSU with the fan facing inside could potentially give me a bit more cable clearance, has anyone tried this? Lastly, if I mount a 3.5" HDD on the floor under the GPU, the SATA connectors would stick out a few millimeters too far for me to mount a 120mm fan right next to it, but how close is it? Is it possible to drill a few mounting holes slightly closer to the front of the case and mount a 120mm that way?
 
EpicFruit said:
Hey guys, I just ordered an M1 V3 for a build this summer to replace my full tower. It'll be traveling back and forth across the Atlantic with me, and I think it'll fit very well into a carry-on suitcase.

Before I begin to gradually finalize the component selection over time, I would very much appreciate some feedback. I'll be running a delidded 4670K on a Gigabyte Z97N Gaming 5 with Corsair Vengeance Pro memory, and possibly a Radeon R9 390X when it's available.

The CPU cooler selection was a tough one for me, but I've set my eyes on the Noctua NH-U9S with dual fans. It seems very formidable according to most reviews out there. I just want something that can keep my CPU under 70°C with a respectable overclock while staying out of my ears. The PSU will probably be a Silverstone SX500-LG, but I'm a little concerned about the cables pressing down on the GPU. I noticed that the cable connectors are a bit offset from the center, and I reckon installing the PSU with the fan facing inside could potentially give me a bit more cable clearance, has anyone tried this? Lastly, if I mount a 3.5" HDD on the floor under the GPU, the SATA connectors would stick out a few millimeters too far for me to mount a 120mm fan right next to it, but how close is it? Is it possible to drill a few mounting holes slightly closer to the front of the case and mount a 120mm that way?
Click to expand...

Hi. Just a few comments:
You'll probably be better off with a top down cooler like the nh-c12 so you can get cold air from the outside. The airflow characteristics of the M1 isn't ideal with tower style coolers.
Secondly, rumors has it the 390x will come with a 120aio cooler from cooler master. While other manufacturers will probably make full air coolers, that choice made by amd indicates a very hot card that will dump a lot of heat into the case so you might be better off with a more efficient nvidia card or a lower end amd card.
Lastly you can't have a 3'5" hdd and a fan in the bottom, but a 2,5" hdd and a 92mm fan should work.
 
EpicFruit said:
H
The CPU cooler selection was a tough one for me, but I've set my eyes on the Noctua NH-U9S with dual fans. It seems very formidable according to most reviews out there.
Click to expand...

I'm currently using the NH-U9S in an M1 V3 and it's awesome. Super quiet and cool. I'm getting 27-30 degrees on idle and 50-60 on load. It's quiet, cool, and exhausts all the heat straight out of the case rather than dumping hot air everywhere like a top down cooler. That being said, I'm using a reference blower cooler so GPU heat is going straight out of the case as well. If you wanted to use a non-blower GPU then I think the top down cooler would be better since the hot air from the GPU would find it's way up to the CPU and the NH-U9S.
 
Urelure said:
Hi. Just a few comments:
You'll probably be better off with a top down cooler like the nh-c12 so you can get cold air from the outside. The airflow characteristics of the M1 isn't ideal with tower style coolers.
Secondly, rumors has it the 390x will come with a 120aio cooler from cooler master. While other manufacturers will probably make full air coolers, that choice made by amd indicates a very hot card that will dump a lot of heat into the case so you might be better off with a more efficient nvidia card or a lower end amd card.
Lastly you can't have a 3'5" hdd and a fan in the bottom, but a 2,5" hdd and a 92mm fan should work.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback! I've considered the NH-C12 and NH-C14 before, but didn't find them suitable because I don't like the idea of dumping CPU heat onto everything else on the motherboard when it's so tightly packed together. My plan is to mount the NH-U9S with the exhaust pointing up, and another 92mm intake on the rear panel to provide fresh air directly to the cooler, so that the CPU is essentially self-contained with its own direct intake and direct exhaust.

Rumor has it that the 390X will indeed come with a 120mm AIO, and I believe it. I intend to mount the radiator on the front 120mm slot of the side bracket, and configure it as exhaust. In order to maintain positive air pressure in the case, or to be as neutral as possible, I will also need another intake fan on the floor under the GPU. I have seen configurations with a 3.5" HDD and a 92mm fan without any problems, and I was hoping that a 3.5" HDD + 120mm fan would also be possible with a slight modification.

jb1 said:
I'm currently using the NH-U9S in an M1 V3 and it's awesome. Super quiet and cool. I'm getting 27-30 degrees on idle and 50-60 on load. It's quiet, cool, and exhausts all the heat straight out of the case rather than dumping hot air everywhere like a top down cooler. That being said, I'm using a reference blower cooler so GPU heat is going straight out of the case as well. If you wanted to use a non-blower GPU then I think the top down cooler would be better since the hot air from the GPU would find it's way up to the CPU and the NH-U9S.
Click to expand...

Good to hear, I was a bit skeptical about the results some reviewers were getting, I still can't quite believe that a cooler its size can do so well, but I'm coming around! In terms of GPU, if I don't get the 390X with AIO, I'll go with a blower for sure. Definitely can't afford to have the GPU throwing hot air inside the case, especially when it's at the bottom.
 
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EpicFruit said:
Good to hear, I was a bit skeptical about the results some reviewers were getting, I still can't quite believe that a cooler its size can do so well, but I'm coming around! In terms of GPU, if I don't get the 390X with AIO, I'll go with a blower for sure. Definitely can't afford to have the GPU throwing hot air inside the case, especially when it's at the bottom.
Click to expand...

Seems like you've got a good plan! I have the NH-U9S pointing up as well, and I think that works well, the hot air does really seem to be coming all out the top and not lingering around in the case.

Definitely excited to see what AMD has up its sleeve for the 390X, hopefully with an AIO cooler! I think a liquid cooled GPU combined with the NH-U9S will be extremely quiet and cool. As for the fans below, I think it will be very difficult to get a 120mm fan on the bottom instead of a 92 mm fan with a 3.5 inch HD
 
A continuation of these posts:
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041433915&postcount=15633
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041433917&postcount=15634
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041433921&postcount=15635
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041433924&postcount=15636
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041434025&postcount=15637
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041434031&postcount=15638


Okay, so I was wrong. I managed to screw the board to the standoffs, but this entire time the I/O shield has been bugging me. It's super off center with the ports, unreasonably so, despite it ABSOLUTELY being in correctly on all sides. It even scratched the paint off the inside of the M1. Here's an Imgur gallery I made of pictures I took of my I/O and motherboard that shows what I mean:
https://imgur.com/a/V32I0#0

That Soundstage and Keybot button doesn't center inside the I/O shield without me pushing down on the daughter board (which is soldered on), and if I don't do that, the border of the I/O shield is so tightly pressed against those buttons that if I plug anything in to the ports nearby, it presses down on the I/O shield just ever so slightly, and actuates those buttons.

You can see how the board is warped slightly on the left, and way worse on the right side, and I know that board warping due to the soldered components is totally normal, but the warping seems to be causing the I/O shield to not fit. And remember, this is all while the board is screwed in. Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions as to what I should do next?
 
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Hi guys, new to the scene here, but just ordered myself this case. Just trying to pick out the best motherboard...it seems all mini-ITX boards will fit as well as the occasional micro-ATX?
The M1 has 3 slots but no mini-ITX motherboards have 3 expansion slots (correct me if I'm wrong?).
I've had a quick look and it seems the Asus B85M-E, Asus H81M-C, Gigabyte GA-B85M, GA-H81M are all relatively small microATX cases which may fit in the M1. And also the Gigabyte HD3 line (H87M, H97M, Z87M) all fit under the 175mm width cutoff.

Can anyone shed some light on what's the best LGA1150 3 slot motherboard for the M1?

I have had a look at the spread sheet under the '3 slot mATX' section', but there are very few 'confirmed' fits. Is there a specific length/width cutoff that will guarantee compatibility?
Also, boards like the GA-H97M-HD3 are probably small enough to fit in the M1 (244mm x 174mm) but I just realised actually have 4 PCI slots. Is that an instant no no?

Thanks heaps in advance for any light you can shed/bring me up to speed.
 
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Todd9 said:
Also, boards like the GA-H97M-HD3 are probably small enough to fit in the M1 (244mm x 174mm) but I just realised actually have 4 PCI slots. Is that an instant no no?

Thanks heaps in advance for any light you can shed/bring me up to speed.
Click to expand...

Anything with 4 slots will not fit.
We don't normally use 3-slot mATX because they're all budget boards with less features than mITX boards. There's only a handful of 3-slot users because they absolutely need the pci-e x1 for their sound cards.
 
Ah ok, thanks for that. Seems like ill be leaning towards the Asus Maximus II as the most feature-complete miniITX card (?). I'm not so interested in internal sound cards as popping in one of Asus's fancy ac1900 cards so I can make the most out of my fancy new router, but I may have to put that on the backburner. Not a big deal.

Two more questions: 1) Does the stock i5 cooler fit, or will I need a better solution from day 1? And 2) let me know what you think the ideal miniITX motherboard would be...

Cheers :)
 
Gnrl Kitty said:
You can see how the board is warped slightly...
Click to expand...

Wow. That is bad. Do you know if it was like that before you installed it the first time in the case. Might be worth checking out that the standoffs in the case are actually aligned properly. Haven't heard that this has been a problem but still. I would ask you if you had over tightened a cooler of some sort, but those green/blue/yellow wires are clearly stock intel cooler wires:cool: and thet can't be over tightened if I'm not mistaken. Seems like an RMA to me.
 
Todd9 said:
Ah ok, thanks for that. Seems like ill be leaning towards the Asus Maximus II as the most feature-complete miniITX card (?). I'm not so interested in internal sound cards as popping in one of Asus's fancy ac1900 cards so I can make the most out of my fancy new router, but I may have to put that on the backburner. Not a big deal.

Two more questions: 1) Does the stock i5 cooler fit, or will I need a better solution from day 1? And 2) let me know what you think the ideal miniITX motherboard would be...

Cheers :)
Click to expand...

Well if you absolutely need your ac1900 card I'm not stopping you. We all have our weird builds that nobody else agrees with.
But here's usually what happens if you use the budget mATX board.
-less USB ports
-no display port on integrated
-no integrated wifi/bluetooth
-no overclocking
-no fancy m.2 port
+you get an extra pci-e slot

Stock cooler fits and works fine if you're not overclocking. If you overclock then one of the bigger coolers on the spreadsheet is suggested.
Ideal boards are the boards with the CPU slot at the center, like Asus Maximus VII, Asus Z97i-Plus and MSI Z97I GAMING ACK.
 
Todd9 said:
Ah ok, thanks for that. Seems like ill be leaning towards the Asus Maximus II as the most feature-complete miniITX card (?). I'm not so interested in internal sound cards as popping in one of Asus's fancy ac1900 cards so I can make the most out of my fancy new router, but I may have to put that on the backburner. Not a big deal.

Two more questions: 1) Does the stock i5 cooler fit, or will I need a better solution from day 1? And 2) let me know what you think the ideal miniITX motherboard would be...

Cheers :)
Click to expand...

1. Yes it fits fine. As in any build you probably won't be able to overclock. It will be noisy on load, but as a starting point, go for it.
2. There is no such thing:) Depends on you're intended use. The mistake most people make is to buy a very expensive top of the line board even though they never use the extra fetures they have over the cheaper ones. I would say that socket placement is importatnt in regards to which cooler config you want in the end. If big air coolers, than go for something with a centered socket placement like the ASUS boards. If network features are very important to you then that would probably be what to look for. There aren't that many boards to choose from so wouldn't take too much time.
 
Urelure said:
Wow. That is bad. Do you know if it was like that before you installed it the first time in the case. Might be worth checking out that the standoffs in the case are actually aligned properly. Haven't heard that this has been a problem but still. I would ask you if you had over tightened a cooler of some sort, but those green/blue/yellow wires are clearly stock intel cooler wires:cool: and thet can't be over tightened if I'm not mistaken. Seems like an RMA to me.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it was, but there's no way I caused the amount of pressure it would take to warp it like that. The standoffs as far as I can see are fine. And yeah, that is an Intel stock cooler. I guess I'll try an RMA then.
 
Gnrl Kitty said:
I don't know if it was, but there's no way I caused the amount of pressure it would take to warp it like that. The standoffs as far as I can see are fine. And yeah, that is an Intel stock cooler. I guess I'll try an RMA then.
Click to expand...

Have you had your system running? ..as in does the MB even work?
The only time I've seen PCBs that warped they have either been bent by over-tightening aftermarket coolers (not possible with the stock intel plastic clips) or excessive force added to one side/corner of the PCB. That's why i asked about the standoffs on the case. What if one of them is positioned a bit wrong? Don't even know if its technically possible, but if the distance between two or more of the 4 screws are just a fraction too short, that could possibly force the MB to bend.
I tried searching for the exact distances/positions on those screws, but came up short.
In any case. Good luck with the rma. At least it gives you time to specualte more on fittings for your WC loop:D
 
Todd9 said:
I'm not so interested in internal sound cards as popping in one of Asus's fancy ac1900 cards so I can make the most out of my fancy new router ...
Click to expand...

If you do not intend to use the Asus Maximus VII Impact's mPCIe socket for the included Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card, then you could buy an mPCIe-PCIe 1x adapter and mount it in the third expansion slot for your AC1900 card. This would work with any MB that has an mPCIe socket.
 
Gnrl Kitty said:
A continuation of these posts:
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041433915&postcount=15633
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041433917&postcount=15634
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041433921&postcount=15635
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041433924&postcount=15636
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041434025&postcount=15637
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041434031&postcount=15638


Okay, so I was wrong. I managed to screw the board to the standoffs, but this entire time the I/O shield has been bugging me. It's super off center with the ports, unreasonably so, despite it ABSOLUTELY being in correctly on all sides. It even scratched the paint off the inside of the M1. Here's an Imgur gallery I made of pictures I took of my I/O and motherboard that shows what I mean:
https://imgur.com/a/V32I0#0

That Soundstage and Keybot button doesn't center inside the I/O shield without me pushing down on the daughter board (which is soldered on), and if I don't do that, the border of the I/O shield is so tightly pressed against those buttons that if I plug anything in to the ports nearby, it presses down on the I/O shield just ever so slightly, and actuates those buttons.

You can see how the board is warped slightly on the left, and way worse on the right side, and I know that board warping due to the soldered components is totally normal, but the warping seems to be causing the I/O shield to not fit. And remember, this is all while the board is screwed in. Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions as to what I should do next?
Click to expand...

Did that motherboard previously have a heatsink mounted on the CPU? That amount of warping is pretty typical of a heatsink mounted without a backplate using a lot of screwdown force. It will also permanently dish the backplate that most motherboards have on them so even if removed the warping stays,
 
In all honesty Stevo_ that issue has been documented on other threads on other forums where the PCB came warped for most of the boards under the Maximus Impact moniker.

But what you've said can very well happen under the right circumstances.

BTW how've you been bud!? :) I'm a lurker and haven't found the courage to purchase an Ncase M1... yet :D
 
Lutfij said:
In all honesty Stevo_ that issue has been documented on other threads on other forums where the PCB came warped for most of the boards under the Maximus Impact moniker.

But what you've said can very well happen under the right circumstances.

BTW how've you been bud!? :) I'm a lurker and haven't found the courage to purchase an Ncase M1... yet :D
Click to expand...

Geez that's pretty bad from the factory. My P8Z77-I got warped pretty bad like that mounting the AXP100 without backplate due to component interference on back of mobo(got lazy didn't feel like drilling), didn't think I cranked on it bad but shit! Finally drilled it and put it on but board is still warped pretty good though it took some out, noticed it when I mounted it in my L2. May look for a backup mobo but supplies are getting thin, though that 3770K is still plenty capable.

Doing good, how about yourself? Got an email from James couple of weeks ago, there might be some movement on a new Lone box, nothing definitive but sounded like he was tossing some ideas around.
 
Qrash said:
The exact specifications for mini-ITX motherboards can be found in this document: http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/Mini_ITX_Spec_V2_0.pdf

Figure 3 "Mini-ITX Board Diagram" includes the spacing of the motherboard mounting holes:

Click to expand...

Cheers:D

Gnrl... If you could be bothered to, this can be used to rule out any defects in the case in regards to standoff spacing. Seems like it's a quality issue though, from what everyone else here is saying.
 
Stevo_ said:
Did that motherboard previously have a heatsink mounted on the CPU? That amount of warping is pretty typical of a heatsink mounted without a backplate using a lot of screwdown force. It will also permanently dish the backplate that most motherboards have on them so even if removed the warping stays,
Click to expand...
Nope, it's a brand new board right out the box.

Urelure said:
Cheers:D

Gnrl... If you could be bothered to, this can be used to rule out any defects in the case in regards to standoff spacing. Seems like it's a quality issue though, from what everyone else here is saying.
Click to expand...

Sure I'll give it a look when I get home from work tonight.
 
Has anyone else used the new MSI Z97I ACK? I'm put a new system together today but have not been able to get it to POST. Tried swapping different memory, different PSU, and still no luck. Power is plugged into both ports on the motherboard and the PC speaker is not beeping. I don't see any LEDs on the board itself. I don't have another 1150 CPU/motherboard to test with.

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041452488&postcount=40

MSI Z97I ACK
i7-4790k
Crucial Ballistix Tactical, 2x8gb
Silverstone SX-500-LG
Samsung 850 Evo
 
With the "case-rad-fans" setup having a filter is not nearly as important as the rad sort of acts like a filter already.
 
vipz said:
With the "case-rad-fans" setup having a filter is not nearly as important as the rad sort of acts like a filter already.
Click to expand...

yeah i get that but when i take the panels off i notice there is still a decent amount of dust. would like the dust filters on there but i guess i just have to find the appropriate screw size
 
Decent amount of dust on the rad, or elsewhere in the case? If it's the former, then the "filter" is doing its job ;) Otherwise, you should be looking for some 6/32 screws for the H105.
 
No Hands 55 said:
you noticed any benefit of the fan under the gpu? im debating on get a 92/80mm for mine.
Click to expand...
ya it's louder :p
didnt notice any big change in temps. my gtx 970 is still loud and hot. maybe i should just watercool the whole thing

though im using an ap-14 and the large hub covers a bit of the blower intake

one reason i added a fan there is so that the gpu intake is filtered
 
Letting you know my 2nd ncase came in today and it also is the wrong colour :'(
Already send a mail about it, thought this was something of the past.
 
flod said:
ya it's louder :p
didnt notice any big change in temps. my gtx 970 is still loud and hot. maybe i should just watercool the whole thing

though im using an ap-14 and the large hub covers a bit of the blower intake

one reason i added a fan there is so that the gpu intake is filtered
Click to expand...
Try ducting and just a dust filter, it might resolve all your issues.
 
Anxiously awaiting my M1, as I gather the parts for the build. I haven't been able to find the Swiftech H220 anywhere. Attempting to rad as much as I can I was bummed to see that it looks like the H220x won't fit. Amazon still has the Cooler Master Glacier 240L, it is the same exact setup right? I'm going to be cooling a 4790k and a reference nvidia 970 as I move from my enormous FT02. Thanks!
 
ytraMeeL said:
Anxiously awaiting my M1, as I gather the parts for the build. I haven't been able to find the Swiftech H220 anywhere. Attempting to rad as much as I can I was bummed to see that it looks like the H220x won't fit. Amazon still has the Cooler Master Glacier 240L, it is the same exact setup right? I'm going to be cooling a 4790k and a reference nvidia 970 as I move from my enormous FT02. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Yeah, the Glacer 240L is just a rebranded H220. The reason for it not being available (in the US, at least) has to do with Asetek's patent on the integrated pump/CPU block, which is why Swiftech designed the H220X the way they did. It's the same reason we likely won't see the Fractal Design Kelvin series here. Asetek is the OEM for most of the AIOs on the market (e.g., Corsair Hydro series), if you weren't aware.

The H220/Glacer 240L does unfortunately have a rather high pump defect rate, with a ticking noise after a few weeks/months that can eventually progress to total failure. If you do decide to go that way, my advice would be to make sure to run it off the included splitter, which should be powered directly from the PSU. Also, using a program like Speedfan to slow it down to 15-20% of its max speed should significantly prolong its life and keep it running quietly.
 
Necere said:
Yeah, the Glacer 240L is just a rebranded H220. The reason for it not being available (in the US, at least) has to do with Asetek's patent on the integrated pump/CPU block, which is why Swiftech designed the H220X the way they did. It's the same reason we likely won't see the Fractal Design Kelvin series here. Asetek is the OEM for most of the AIOs on the market (e.g., Corsair Hydro series), if you weren't aware.

The H220/Glacer 240L does unfortunately have a rather high pump defect rate, with a ticking noise after a few weeks/months that can eventually progress to total failure. If you do decide to go that way, my advice would be to make sure to run it off the included splitter, which should be powered directly from the PSU. Also, using a program like Speedfan to slow it down to 15-20% of its max speed should significantly prolong its life and keep it running quietly.
Click to expand...

Yup saw that Asetek patent sadly. Wasn't aware of the pump failure rate. Might just go full custom loop, I just liked how compact the h220 setup was considering it could do GPU as well since we are working with a rather small case.
 
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