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

Received my case Monday. Opened the box and noticed a scratch on the front panel of the case. Sent an email to support on the website where Dan asked for pictures of the box and scratches the same day but haven't heard anything since. Thought I would post here to see if I could get some more help since I remember reading that he might be tied up with tax stuff. Forgot when I read it though. Was wondering if there was a way to get a new front panel without forking over the money for the full set. I also don't want to ship the whole thing back.

Here is a gallery of my pictures.

http://imgur.com/a/6IyGB

If you can't see the scratch let me know. Bad QC? The box looks fine
 
I've been tinkering with my newly purchased NH-L9i with fan configurations for the Ncase M1 and my future Dan A4.

In the Ncase M1, with no fans except heatsink fan, gpu fan, psu fan the temps rise to the 90s very fast and all my components get hot. I've found the best configuration for the Ncase M1 to have the NH-L9i fan to be in exhaust and the 2 side case fans in exhaust as well. This keeps my temps very nice. My cpu is the 4790K at 4.4Ghz with 1.09 volt. CPU temps never go above 80C. If anyone has other experiences please let me know!
 
I think that cooler is seriously stretched on that CPU and clocks. Personally I wouldn't touch it for anything over a stock i3 or something but if it's all you can fit in then I guess that's that.
 
Telecaster said:
I think that cooler is seriously stretched on that CPU and clocks. Personally I wouldn't touch it for anything over a stock i3 or something but if it's all you can fit in then I guess that's that.
Click to expand...
Only reason i'm using this is because I'm planning on moving this PC into the A4 case later. I have the NH-C14, which I think is the perfect heatsink for the Ncase. The NH-L9i is definitely making the CPU hotter, but if I can keep the heats lower then 80C then I don't think i'll run into any issues or degradation
 
dgio21 said:
If you can't see the scratch let me know. Bad QC? The box looks fine
Click to expand...
I can see it pretty clearly, maybe it's one of the cases affected by the unhappy employee on Lian Li side that were discussed some pages earlier? Don't know. Just give wahaha some time to answer, he'll surely reply soon!
 
Yeah it's a pretty good CPU. This is my 4th Haswell that i've owned and I think it's the best yet. Haven't tried over 4.6 but it doesn't require much voltage at 4.6.


Btw has anyone considered using the EVGA USB header extender or is it even compatible with the Ncase? Cheaper then the moddiy when you consider the shipping, and it's all black which looks better IMO.
W002-00-000028_MD_1.jpg

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=W002-00-000028
 
Well I'm about ready to make final purchases and wanted some critiquing to make sure it's all going to fit:

i7-4790k
ASUS H97i-Plus
MSI Twin Frozr R9 290x 8gb
G.Skill Ares 2133mhz 16GB
Silverstone SX500-LG
Samsung 850 Evo
Corsair H105 with Noctuas

My only worry is the power supply and GPU setup, will it be possible to get two fans under the GPU on the bottom with the SX500-LG or will I need a short card/SX600-G for that? I mostly ask because I plan on putting an Artctic Acellero (with Noctuas of course) on the GPU if I'm unhappy with noise.

If I do have to get the SX600 I definitely plan on modding the fan, in which case the H105 won't fit and I'll need something thinner like the H100i, correct? Thanks! :D
 
Dartulius said:
Well I'm about ready to make final purchases and wanted some critiquing to make sure it's all going to fit:

i7-4790k
ASUS H97i-Plus
MSI Twin Frozr R9 290x 8gb
G.Skill Ares 2133mhz 16GB
Silverstone SX500-LG
Samsung 850 Evo
Corsair H105 with Noctuas

My only worry is the power supply and GPU setup, will it be possible to get two fans under the GPU on the bottom with the SX500-LG or will I need a short card/SX600-G for that? I mostly ask because I plan on putting an Artctic Acellero (with Noctuas of course) on the GPU if I'm unhappy with noise.

If I do have to get the SX600 I definitely plan on modding the fan, in which case the H105 won't fit and I'll need something thinner like the H100i, correct? Thanks! :D
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone's been able to fit the SX500-LG and a long graphics card without some serious pressure on the card, as well as squashed power cables. There are plenty of pictures (in this thread, in the build thread, and in the psu thread). So far it doesn't look great, but some people are running it, so as with all things if you're okay with it then no one's going to stop you (likewise with modding the SX600-G's fan).

The H105 is the thicker of the 240mm radiators, and I'm not sure how many people have chosen to use that over the H100i and the H110 (both are under 30mm, whereas the H105 is nearly 40mm I think). 10mm might not sound like a lot... but there really isn't that much space in the case - and I'm sure you wouldn't want to find out the hard way!

Even without the Arctic Accelero, the general consensus is that airflow in the lower part of the case is a good thing. There isn't a lot of room for it, but air in either direction is better than no fan at all.
 
i'd say that my sx500-lg and reference gtx 970 with backplate fit "perfectly"

the cables are bent obviously but there isn't really any pressure on the card

though i did mount the psu with the fan side facing inwards, so the cables are closer to the back edge of the graphics card, but even before when i didn't have it this way, it wasn't really ridiculously tight.
 
ghostwich said:
Even without the Arctic Accelero, the general consensus is that airflow in the lower part of the case is a good thing. There isn't a lot of room for it, but air in either direction is better than no fan at all.
Click to expand...
Extra fans beneath the GPU's own fans are not needed, proper ducting already improves the GPU's cooling performance. Without the fans "sealed off" on the case floor, they will recycle warm air from inside the case and thus have reduced cooling performance. I'm also pretty sure it will cause more noise than needed. Test this by placing two totally different fans in series and you'll notice "singing" most likely. Or at the very least see the fan that is force-fed air to perform erratically or out-of-spec (over max rpm).

An Arctic Accelero Xtreme in the Ncase M1 supports this because the fans are mounted on the case floor, leaving no gaps for warm air to be recycled. And the heatsink sits right on top of those fans, maximizing efficiency.

The biggest problem is getting rid of the heat that is exhausted from your GPU's heatsink, unless you have a blower-style cooler. I'm going to try to alleviate this by placing a second 120mm fan on the fan bracket (at the front) that exhausts. With pictures, when the fan arrives.
 
I have two SP120s below my MSI GTX 980 which greatly reduce GPU temps at idle and load, and remain completely silent. The "force-fed" GPU fans still behave normally.

The fans also have the benefit of providing airflow to the case while the GPU is not under load, which ducting would not do.
 
Phuncz said:
The biggest problem is getting rid of the heat that is exhausted from your GPU's heatsink, unless you have a blower-style cooler. I'm going to try to alleviate this by placing a second 120mm fan on the fan bracket (at the front) that exhausts. With pictures, when the fan arrives.
Click to expand...

I saw your setup in another post and it's almost exactly the same as mine: Accelero Xtreme IV and Kabuto II.
Just reverse the direction of the GPU fans such that it exhausts downwards and have two fan on the side that blow in. Even in-out air pressure is obtained and the top of the case where the motherboard is remains cool as the Arctic even at full load. This is the optimal full air-cooler set up imo. Of course you probably won't believe that bottom exhaust can cool the GPU and VRM sufficiently, but hypothesises can only be proved or disproved with experiments.
 
I agree with you, it was something I was willing to test if the plan I want to test wouldn't provide better results. Since you indeed have the same setup with good results, I might as well just do it like your setup.

Do you have the Kabuto's fan attached to the heatsink or the fan bracket ?
 
thefivetheory said:
YES! So stoked to see someone actually pull this off! Did you mod your PSU cables, or just cram everything in there? Have you had time to put it through its paces yet?
Click to expand...

Yes I modded the PSU cables, I just removed the ones I don't use, which is most of them.

TBH it doesn't work well at all, the 295x2 needs loads of space and extra case airflow to work properly, not to mention that with this set up like it is the CPU cooler effectiveness is reduced massively.

On the whole it's turned out to be a failure, but I haven't lost anything by trying so I'm not too upset about it.
 
Can anyone help me with an air filter problem?
I'm using the demcifilter and when placed next to a gentle typhoon that is pulling in air, the filter would rub against the fan making a very noticeable noise.
I tried to use the included filter that came with the M1 but it would not allow me to close the case when I use the long radiator screws.



 
Phuncz said:
I agree with you, it was something I was willing to test if the plan I want to test wouldn't provide better results. Since you indeed have the same setup with good results, I might as well just do it like your setup.

Do you have the Kabuto's fan attached to the heatsink or the fan bracket ?
Click to expand...

It's attached to the fan bracket but as you might have noticed, the piece of metal that was supposed to prevent the Kabuto II from bending in pulled the heatsink too far towards the socket. So I pulled it out:

KJw8LFFh.jpg


Then I added a 20mm thick fan I had from my NT06-Pro in-between and did a push-pull. This is likely a placebo but it feels good to know my motherboard is ventilated.
Anyway, the point is that the securer can be pulled out and you can pull the heatsink outwards so that there is no gap between side panel <->fan <->heatsink.
 
cambrian said:
Can anyone help me with an air filter problem?
I'm using the demcifilter and when placed next to a gentle typhoon that is pulling in air, the filter would rub against the fan making a very noticeable noise.
Click to expand...
Install the fan grilles that came with the case between the fans and the bracket.
 
cowsgomoo said:
It's attached to the fan bracket but as you might have noticed, the piece of metal that was supposed to prevent the Kabuto II from bending in pulled the heatsink too far towards the socket. So I pulled it out:

Then I added a 20mm thick fan I had from my NT06-Pro in-between and did a push-pull. This is likely a placebo but it feels good to know my motherboard is ventilated.
Anyway, the point is that the securer can be pulled out and you can pull the heatsink outwards so that there is no gap between side panel <->fan <->heatsink.
Click to expand...
Pro tips, thx ! I'll soon be replacing the PSU, add a fan and add a heatsink to the GPU's VRM's so I'll get that done in one go.
 
Hey all, I did a search through all the forums but couldn't find anything.
Has anyone else had a problem with optical drive in Windows?

I inherited a Mac slot drive DVDRW model: LG HT-DL-ST GS31N.
Fits fine in my M1 and it is RECOGNIZED in my bios but for some reason I can't see the drive in Windows 7 x64.

Anyone have the same issue or know how to solve it? Do I need a driver? Couldn't find it on the net.
I read somewhere that others are having issues not being detected under AHCI.

I have:
Mobo: ASUS z97i PLUS
CPU: 4770-k CPU
RAM: Patriot Viper 3 16GB
 
I know the general rule now is that the Swiftech H220 is not the best solution for the Ncase M1 (first hand experienced it myself). I have been playing it safe and put it back on a H60 and Reference Nvidia Cooler for the the GTX 780 Ti. Now my GF and I share the same workstation together. We have been playing ESO a lot lately and the NCase is loud because of the reference cooler. I want to put the NCase back into a water cooling setup again.

So quick question regarding how I should do this. I have the water block for the GPU, but I was thinking of going through the Apogee Driver II route. But I do have the old H220 Radiator that also acts as a res. Should I just replace that Radiator/Res with a slim Radiator with fittings? Would a separate reservoir be required?
 
A separate reservoir (frozenq res possibly) is not absolutely required, but does make filling/priming the loop much easier and gives you a buffer to account for evaporation/diffusion of coolant through the tubing over time (this probably takes multiple years to have a noticeable effect, though).
 
You don't need watercooling to solve the noise problem, a good aftermarket cooler will do the same for a fraction of the cost. I started with an H220 for an Intel Core i5-4670K and an EK R9 290X fullcover block. I never got it to work silently in the end, especially when playing games for longer periods of time.

But it did cost $300, while I now only paid around $150 for proper air cooling that can't leak. It is completely silent idle and very quiet with moderate tasks (browsing, watching Netflix) and about as loud as my watercooling setup used to be. I never got my watercooling completely silent. It was somewhat quiet, but nowhere near silent thanks to the pump.

Also something many people "forget" is that limiting your game to your screen's refresh rate (FPS limiter or V-Sync) will also sometimes fix this. Some games just render at a much higher framerate than your screen can show, this is in the end wasted and produces unneeded heat. This is especially true in some games' menus. With Battlefield 4 and a reference R9 290X cooler, people outside of the room could hear when I was in the menu or at the loading screen because it was rendering at hundreds of fps and the GPU's load and power consumption would skyrocket.
 
Phuncz said:
You don't need watercooling to solve the noise problem, a good aftermarket cooler will do the same for a fraction of the cost. I started with an H220 for an Intel Core i5-4670K and an EK R9 290X fullcover block. I never got it to work silently in the end, especially when playing games for longer periods of time.

But it did cost $300, while I now only paid around $150 for proper air cooling that can't leak. It is completely silent idle and very quiet with moderate tasks (browsing, watching Netflix) and about as loud as my watercooling setup used to be. I never got my watercooling completely silent. It was somewhat quiet, but nowhere near silent thanks to the pump.
Click to expand...

I want to echo this sentiment, as this has been my experience as well
 
Depends on what components you add to the loop, and what temperatures you're shooting for.

I would say in general yes it is louder, because the pump will not be the only thing running in your loop - you'll still need a fan or two running at speed, the pump won't be the only thing making noise.

A large, more than adequate air cooler with a quiet fan at stock clocks or slightly overclocked and undervolted will almost certainly be quieter than a water cooling loop.
 
well maybe i'm crazy but i don't actually care about temperature as long there's no throttling

right now i have a 4770k at 4.6ghz,1.27v cooled by a noctua nh-c14, and a reference blower-style gtx970.

the only sources of noise in my system are:
two gentle typhoon ap-14s on the radiator bracket
gtx 970's blower
(i removed the fan from my sx500-lg and cool it with the fan from the radiator bracket)

ap-14s run at 900rpm when idle and the current system is effectively silent when idle/web browsing/whatever

cpu gets up to high 80s when running x264 and 100 (throttles) for other prime and others. the ap-14s are acceptably quiet at full speed for me.
when gaming the gpu blower gets quite loud and that's the main thing i'm not completely satisfied with.

for watercooling i'd consider a single 240 rad on the side, with the same ap-14 fans. so for my case whether air or water would be quieter is down to whether a pump or a gpu's blower is quieter. i'm pretty sure at load the blower would be louder, but what i don't know is how loud a pump at min speed is.
 
flod said:
well maybe i'm crazy but i don't actually care about temperature as long there's no throttling

right now i have a 4770k at 4.6ghz,1.27v cooled by a noctua nh-c14, and a reference blower-style gtx970.

the only sources of noise in my system are:
two gentle typhoon ap-14s on the radiator bracket
gtx 970's blower
(i removed the fan from my sx500-lg and cool it with the fan from the radiator bracket)

ap-14s run at 900rpm when idle and the current system is effectively silent when idle/web browsing/whatever

cpu gets up to high 80s when running x264 and 100 (throttles) for other prime and others. the ap-14s are acceptably quiet at full speed for me.
when gaming the gpu blower gets quite loud and that's the main thing i'm not completely satisfied with.

for watercooling i'd consider a single 240 rad on the side, with the same ap-14 fans. so for my case whether air or water would be quieter is down to whether a pump or a gpu's blower is quieter. i'm pretty sure at load the blower would be louder, but what i don't know is how loud a pump at min speed is.
Click to expand...

It all depends on the pump. I have a H100 atm and the lowest speed the pump runs at is full speed 4700~rpm and is most definitely the loudest part of the system at idle. There are a few people who have the apogee drive as a pump for a custom loop but I don't think anyone has commented on the noise output before that I can recall.
 
Anagog said:
It all depends on the pump. I have a H100 atm and the lowest speed the pump runs at is full speed 4700~rpm and is most definitely the loudest part of the system at idle. There are a few people who have the apogee drive as a pump for a custom loop but I don't think anyone has commented on the noise output before that I can recall.
Click to expand...

In my previous case, I had an H80i and I was pretty sure that the pump was able to be throttled down (I used a PWM fan header to do so, Corsair software should also do something) - 4700rpm as the "lowest" speed would definitely make it the loudest component for sure. :eek:

The Apogee Drive ii is basically the MCP35X upside down on top of a custom block; so it's really about as loud as the MCP35X is. However, and I might be weird, I found that I have enough turbulence at about 1700rpm (inaudible) and at full tilt I have it going at about 2500rpm (very slight audible whine). Nowhere near the max of 4500rpm.
 
I am sorry to ask, but I was wondering if anyone has recently ordered an M1 with TW Air shipping, and if so, what was the actual time frame for your delivery? Was it 1-2 weeks from the date that they said they ship out (the 25th and the 10th) or was it 1-2 weeks from the date it was actually shipped?

Thanks for any info.
 
flod said:
would you guys say a pump at minimal speed is louder than a fan at 1000rpm?
Click to expand...

The H100i pump is quieter than an Arctic F12 at 1000 RPM. I'd say it makes the same amount of noise as those fans at 600 RPM.

flod said:
well maybe i'm crazy but i don't actually care about temperature as long there's no throttling

right now i have a 4770k at 4.6ghz,1.27v cooled by a noctua nh-c14, and a reference blower-style gtx970.

ap-14s run at 900rpm when idle and the current system is effectively silent when idle/web browsing/whatever

cpu gets up to high 80s when running x264 and 100 (throttles) for other prime and others. the ap-14s are acceptably quiet at full speed for me.
when gaming the gpu blower gets quite loud and that's the main thing i'm not completely satisfied with.
Click to expand...

As I said above, at 600 RPM I can only just hear my Arctic F12s over the pump of my H100i. I do the same as you, my fans run at really low speed at idle and only speed up at high temperatures. The CPU fans only speed up at moderate loads and I usually average 70 C in games. 80 C isn't unusual for non-AVX stress tests. I imagine my CPU would throttle if I tried the current version of Prime95. My GPU fan speed also does not increase at all until it hits 70 C. I've also set my "fan curve" to not be a curve, but a staircase so it's always a constant speed during gaming, no varying noise level.
R7TSpdo.png
I've yet to hit critical temperatures on either CPU or GPU.
 
The NCASE M1 is no longer in stock (the one without the optical drive slot-in).
Does anyone know when it will be in stock/be produced again?
 
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