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

[j5m]

19c idle and 62c after an hour of gaming. (HWMonitor, coolest and hottest from min and max core.)

Video card is getting up to 77c though. I'm going to toss a single 120mm Noctura intake down at the bottom of the case and see what that does for me.

 

[j5m]

Or guess I should ask, if I'm going to put a single 120mm case fan in, where should I put it?

 

[Speed-Driven]

Can someone tell me if the M1's cage is rivetted together? Or is it welded? Or is it held together with screws? I don't have one yet, but i'm thinking of ordering one and maybe anodizing the inner case but if it's riveted, then i'll have to drill it all out to disassemble before anodizing.

 

[Qrash]

Or guess I should ask, if I'm going to put a single 120mm case fan in, where should I put it?

Many pages ago someone found that adding ducts to the bottom of the case to make sure the GPU cooler only draws in external air was a good and quieter alternative to adding bottom fans. He made the ducts from large pop bottles or maybe it was boxboard. Heck empty fan frames might be work.

 

[Necere]

Pushing this question, because i really want those !

We're not offering the black USB ports from the V5 for sale separately at this point, but possibly with the next production run we will. They should be compatible with versions all the way back to V1, as well.

Can someone tell me if the M1's cage is rivetted together? Or is it welded? Or is it held together with screws? I don't have one yet, but i'm thinking of ordering one and maybe anodizing the inner case but if it's riveted, then i'll have to drill it all out to disassemble before anodizing.

Yes, the chassis is riveted.

 

[shinjinian]

Well I've hit a max of 56 degrees on the 6700k putting it through stress tests. The GPU maxed out at 94 degrees before going into thermal throttling but it's a reference 290 so that's to be expected in any case.I've installed the Noctua industrial fans as intakes in the bottom, only one (the one above the gpu blower) is connected until I order a pwm splitter cable. Overall it looks like there's a lot of overclocking potential on air using the dark rock tf. So air cooling has plenty of potential in this case, if you have the money I'd go for a water loop as it'd be less work to install/fit together as long as you plan out the tubing correctly.

 

[Sebbie]

Damn mine is still stuck in customs i want to build my new PC, only part im missng

 

[{NG}Fidel]

Damn mine is still stuck in customs i want to build my new PC, only part im missng

I'm in the opposite boat. Just waiting on a psu and a aio wc. But the case has all the rest waiting inside.

 

[Nox]

did both the silver and black v5 models get the black USB ports?

Nox

 

[Sebbie]

I'm in the opposite boat. Just waiting on a psu and a aio wc. But the case has all the rest waiting inside.

So frustratet seeing all the build logs of the new v5
srsl hate my country is always the custom clearance which takes more time than the actual shipment

 

[{NG}Fidel]

So frustratet seeing all the build logs of the new v5
srsl hate my country is always the custom clearance which takes more time than the actual shipment

I lived in Europe for a year and had that experience. I feel your pain but know that this case is 100% worth every penny. Really proud of our [H]ard forum brethren for making it happen.

 

[keshley]

you really should insulate the pipes. I could see the vibration from the fan causing the pipes to wear into the back of the card.

It's only rubbing on one of the screws for the heatsink, so not worried about that. I'll still put something in between when I open the case next anyways.

By the way, what kind of cpu temps are you guys getting with the tf? Thank you.

I don't have any load temperatures, but my 6600k is sitting around 26-27C idle.`

 

[photonray]

Well I've hit a max of 56 degrees on the 6700k putting it through stress tests. The GPU maxed out at 94 degrees before going into thermal throttling but it's a reference 290 so that's to be expected in any case.I've installed the Noctua industrial fans as intakes in the bottom, only one (the one above the gpu blower) is connected until I order a pwm splitter cable. Overall it looks like there's a lot of overclocking potential on air using the dark rock tf. So air cooling has plenty of potential in this case, if you have the money I'd go for a water loop as it'd be less work to install/fit together as long as you plan out the tubing correctly.

Great temps!

With the dark rock tf, you think it's possible to squeeze in a 92mm fan to the rear as additional exhaust?

 

[pendragon1]

It's only rubbing on one of the screws for the heatsink, so not worried about that. I'll still put something in between when I open the case next anyways.

good call. even just a little e-tape.

 

[shinjinian]

There's definitely not enough space for a 92mm fan. There's no need for one though, the fins on the cooler are vertical so they'll direct the air towards the top vents anyway.

 

[rfarmer]

I'm in the opposite boat. Just waiting on a psu and a aio wc. But the case has all the rest waiting inside.

Yeah I have all my parts except for some wc gear. Already have a 240mm radiator and a gpu block on my 970, had to order a Swiftech Apogee Drive II and some tubing from Performance PC which will be here Monday. I am a bit peed with FrozenQ atm, ordered a reservoir a week ago and it is still listed as awaiting shipping. No telling how long I will have to wait for that. Installed a GTX 760 I have from an old build and stock Intel heatsink on my 6600k, good thing I had one from my Devils Canyon since they aren't included anymore. Wanted to make sure everything booted up and was working, so far so good. I have to say the ncase is amazing, build quality is incredible.

 

[Speed-Driven]

Another quick questions. Is this front USB/Audio port thing removable? Or is it replaceable?

 

[Loam]

Here's mah new v5 build. Pretty standard stuff. I had a question about my temps though. Playing Witcher 3 on an ultrawide at 1080 I'm getting high 50s to low 60s on the CPU and the GPU sits pretty consistently at 70 degrees. Are these temps acceptable? CPU is a 4590.

I think it's a little on the hot side so I ordered another 92mm for the CPU cooler and I plan on buying another NF-F12 for the GPU because one is an S12 which isn't really meant for heatsinks. Doubt that will make much of a difference but I'd feel better if the CPU stayed closer to 55.

Someone on the last page said adding ducts to the GPU would help with temps. Could someone explain this in more detail or tell me what page it's on? I don't get how the airflow is supposed to work.

 

[Necere]

Another quick questions. Is this front USB/Audio port thing removable? Or is it replaceable?

Yes, it's removable.

Here's mah new v5 build. Pretty standard stuff. I had a question about my temps though. Playing Witcher 3 on an ultrawide at 1080 I'm getting high 50s to low 60s on the CPU and the GPU sits pretty consistently at 70 degrees. Are these temps acceptable?

They're pretty normal.

Someone on the last page said adding ducts to the GPU would help with temps. Could someone explain this in more detail or tell me what page it's on? I don't get how the airflow is supposed to work.

Imagine your bottom two fans with the hub and blades removed. They will act like ducts, allowing the GPU's own fans to draw air directly up from the bottom vents, without recycling any/as much of the GPU's own exhaust.

The fans are already basically doing what ducts would do, but ducts may be less noisy since there wouldn't be two sets of fan blades spinning right against eachother causing turbulence.

 

[Loam]

Yes, it's removable.

They're pretty normal.

Imagine your bottom two fans with the hub and blades removed. They will act like ducts, allowing the GPU's own fans to draw air directly up from the bottom vents, without recycling any/as much of the GPU's own exhaust.

hey thanks for the quick response. so the hot air would exhaust from the sides of the heat sink and then rise upward?

 

[Necere]

hey thanks for the quick response. so the hot air would exhaust from the sides of the heat sink and then rise upward?

Yes.

 

[einmannbude]

Here is how far I came with my GPU vertical case mod, if anyone is interested.

Now I am at the point where I have to mount the GPU. And to have something to mount it to, I got some angled metal plates, wich I cut to length and wanted to drill some holes to mount them. And here is what happened in the process.

Being frustrated right now.

 

[{NG}Fidel]

I assume you are cutting out two extra expansion card slots for the GPU, care to show me where you plan on doing that. I just wanna see the end result (even if its just a conceptual drawing).

 

[einmannbude]

I assume you are cutting out two extra expansion card slots for the GPU, care to show me where you plan on doing that. I just wanna see the end result (even if its just a conceptual drawing).

No, I won't cut two slots, because the reservoir is on the outside of the rear of the case. I wanted to mount two angles on the inside and mount the GPU to them. I only need one display port, which will then be located near the top of the case, where there is alreade a cut out for the PSU cable. This might need to be enlarged to make the DP cable fit, but this should be the only modification I have to make to the rear.

 

[Qrash]

That is a beefy looking radiator. Which one is it and what fans are you using?

 

[einmannbude]

That is a beefy looking radiator. Which one is it and what fans are you using?

The radiator is a Magicool LC-RADI240S, 276 x 120 x 45mm, copper fins, 14 fpi
Beneath the radiator I use two 120mm Noise Blocker eLoop B12-PS at the moment. I used them before with a slim radiator on the side panel. Wanted to know how they perform with a thicker radiator on the bottom, but they could be replaced with something stronger, if they are not sufficient. On the upper right side I put a Cooler Master XtraFlo 120 slim fan to help moving the warm air through the case all the way up. I am thinking about adding another slim radiator to the top panel of the case, but another 120mm will not fit between the PSU cable and the side and I have no 92mm fan laying around.

 

[Hermit2001]

Here is how far I came with my GPU vertical case mod, if anyone is interested.

Now I am at the point where I have to mount the GPU. And to have something to mount it to, I got some angled metal plates, wich I cut to length and wanted to drill some holes to mount them. And here is what happened in the process.

Being frustrated right now.

Nice build, shame about the tap! What riser cable are you using?
I've seen one other build like it (Black Pyxis) so its great to see another interesting take on the 'vertical-gpu' thing.

 

[iFreilicht]

Nice build, shame about the tap! What riser cable are you using?

I second this question, never seen that riser before.

Great build by the way. Is there any build-log of any kind? Where are the video outputs supposed to go with the res at the back?

 

[bigyellocup]

Here's mah new v5 build. Pretty standard stuff. I had a question about my temps though. Playing Witcher 3 on an ultrawide at 1080 I'm getting high 50s to low 60s on the CPU and the GPU sits pretty consistently at 70 degrees. Are these temps acceptable? CPU is a 4590.

I think it's a little on the hot side so I ordered another 92mm for the CPU cooler and I plan on buying another NF-F12 for the GPU because one is an S12 which isn't really meant for heatsinks. Doubt that will make much of a difference but I'd feel better if the CPU stayed closer to 55.

Someone on the last page said adding ducts to the GPU would help with temps. Could someone explain this in more detail or tell me what page it's on? I don't get how the airflow is supposed to work.

Those temps are fine. I'd worry if you were 80+ on cpu and gpu.

 

[einmannbude]

What riser cable are you using?

I second this question, never seen that riser before.

I just created a build log. WIP and by that I mean not only the build log but the project itself. You find the answer there
NCase M1 mod for vertigal GPU - build log

But I don't want to make people mad: Lian Li PW-PCI-E-1 Gen. 3.

 

[Speed-Driven]

NCase needs to go on SHARKTANK and get more funding so they can increase their production volume, get more exposure, drive down the price, and dominate the small form factor field.

 

[Hermit2001]

I just created a build log. WIP and by that I mean not only the build log but the project itself. You find the answer there
NCase M1 mod for vertigal GPU - build log

But I don't want to make people mad: Lian Li PW-PCI-E-1 Gen. 3.

Thanks, and love the build log!

 

[mawakazi]

Hey, I've finally received my Ncase m1 ater all those months looking at it.
Assembling all the parts was easy ish.
I orginally was going to use a H80i GT but I could'nt make it fit with the HDD cage. The tubing are really not flexible. I even broke a piece of a noctua fan while trying to make it fit
So instead I went with the Nepton 120XL.

I plan on adding a 92mm slim noctua fan at the rear of the case and upgrading to a GTX 1060 mini / 1060ti mini / 1070 mini depending on the price. The goal is to get a cleaner look inside and more airflow, and since I only play in 1920 x 1200, my guess is that a 1060 will be enought.

Ultimately I plan on having the same layout as this one with a AIO WC for the CPU, and my Silverstone SFX-L 500W for more silence.



Radiator : Cooler Master Nepton 120 XL
Pump noise : Little but audible. Same noise while iddling and at full load.
CPU Fan: x1 Noctua NF-F12 PWM
Ventillation: Pull - Extracting hot air.
CPU : Intel core i7 3770k OC @ 4.1Ghz @ 1.048V
GPU : EVGA GTX 770 Superclocked ACX 2.0
Temp max CPU : 76°C
Temp max GPU : 80°C / 69% FAN RPM. Throttle?
Benchmark: 20 minutes of Prime95 + Furmak at the same time to heat up everything.
Notes : Room temp ~20°C

Notes: CPU FAN: Pump speed, SYS FAN: Rad fan speed

 

[Lazer1337]

NCase needs to go on SHARKTANK and get more funding so they can increase their production volume, get more exposure, drive down the price, and dominate the small form factor field.

It wouldn't work. They want to get money back on their investment. They are looking for things that everyone would buy (cleaning sponge or a super strong fix tape).

 

[Speed-Driven]

one more quick question. Is the inner chassis/frame still painted black? Or have they switch to anodized black now?

 

[{NG}Fidel]

Built mine yesterday and while it works flawlessly I know I need to re-cable her. Honestly that thought kills me as we all know how annoying it is dismounting all the working hardware in your system. Still it's great knowing everything I've bought in the FS/T section has worked without issue.

I'm using a Asrock-X99-itx with an i7 5930k, H75, Silverstone 600w SFX, XFX 390X DD and I've mounted two corsair 120 on the bottom as intake with the H75 running as intake with a single corsair 120.

The big issue really is that my side panel is popping out a bit where the h75 is mounted but it's weird because I don't really see why. I figured something was popping out but I don't really see it. Any advice on cabling?



The old and the new.

 

[mawakazi]

The big issue really is that my side panel is popping out a bit where the h75 is mounted but it's weird because I don't really see why. I figured something was popping out but I don't really see it. Any advice on cabling?
.

Did you use the screws that came with the H75? The screws Corsair gives with their AIOs are not as flat as the screws that maintain the side bracket on the Ncase. I'm guessing this is it.

 

[{NG}Fidel]

Thank you! I will try that because I did use H75 screws. Those long ones with the washers attached.

 

[rfarmer]

Well now I have everything I need except for the FrozenQ ncase reservoir, which finally shipped today 9 days after I ordered it. If I had known these guys were so slow I would have ordered it earlier. I just hope it gets here by the weekend.

I hate seeing that stock heatsink on it, but wanted to boot it up and get everything running. The case itself I love. Such a clean, simple design. So well built and designed.

 

[Shartmachine]

I understand that the case supports a slot loading optical drive. Does it support a 9.5 mm, 12.7 mm, or both sizes? Does anyone have any personal recommendations on drives? I'm open to a dvd or blu ray.