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

Nathan Spears said:
Very impressive!

Do you have any recommendations for a small reservoir like the Alphacool one? If not, how did you manage to get rid of the air bubbles in the mini water tank? I'm looking to watercool my HPTC. Just finished with my Ncase, although still waiting on my windowed side panel from a SFF modder so I can do its glamour shots.

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The small bubbles should disappear on their own after a few days. I have found that just running it ( I normally bench the computer after each rebuild just for fun ) helps to get rid of lingering bubbles. When I remember I give it a a quick run at 100% pump speed and you can usually hear the lingering pockets disappear under the increase flow. I'd say it takes 3 days for mine to be totally clear of bubbles...

Alternatively you can connect a truncated t-line to the end of your reservoir and top it up from there also...
 
Smitty2k1 said:
I see the PWM version in stock at Amazon.com right now??
https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Quality-Cooling-NF-A15-PWM/dp/B00AED7XFI

(In fact, you got me excited so I just bought one for my 4770k and C12P cooler)
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A12x15 PWM is what I was talking about, already have the A15. I was looking for the slim because I thought the A15 would encroach the right side fan bracket, so I'd need a slim fan over there.

But, I just checked clearance and I can actually fit regular 120mm fan on the side bracket, the cooler fan is far enough to the left. Looks like I'll be getting an NF-S12A to use as a case fan :).
 
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Nathan Spears said:
Very impressive!

Just finished with my Ncase, although still waiting on my windowed side panel from a SFF modder so I can do its glamour shots.
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Thanx, your NCase build is not bad either, well done! Looking forward for more pics!

Nathan Spears said:
Do you have any recommendations for a small reservoir like the Alphacool one?
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Small res are not that common unfortunately.
The Swiftech Micro one is your best bet I guess: http://www.swiftech.com/mcresmicrorev2reservoir.aspx

Nathan Spears said:
If not, how did you manage to get rid of the air bubbles in the mini water tank? I'm looking to watercool my HPTC.
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It was indeed a bit tricky with the mini water tank upside down (I flipped it over in order to have the fill port downward, making it the outlet port. With the right port as inlet, they are no more aligned, which lets the bubbles go up in the reservoir).
So I had to flip the case to let the bubbles go to the left port and out of the loop: https://imgur.com/a/mP3Ma#LL1Suss
Flipping the case is anyway a good thing to displace bubbles trapped in some places of the loop.
 
ptirmal said:
A12x15 PWM is what I was talking about, already have the A15. I was looking for the slim because I thought the A15 would encroach the right side fan bracket, so I'd need a slim fan over there.

But, I just checked clearance and I can actually fit regular 120mm fan on the side bracket, the cooler fan is far enough to the left. Looks like I'll be getting an NF-S12A to use as a case fan :).
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Had the same problem in germany. Ordered at 2 distributors, delivery date changed from october to early december. Got lucky and got 2x fans from ebay (I think from the official noctua shop on ebay).
 
I ordered mine from the Noctua Ebay shop too. Bit more money spent on shipping, but they arrived quickly.
 
ptirmal said:
A12x15 PWM is what I was talking about, already have the A15. I was looking for the slim because I thought the A15 would encroach the right side fan bracket, so I'd need a slim fan over there.

But, I just checked clearance and I can actually fit regular 120mm fan on the side bracket, the cooler fan is far enough to the left. Looks like I'll be getting an NF-S12A to use as a case fan :).
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Ah... I thought a few pages back you were looking to replace your old 140mm fan on your C12P heatsink with the newer A15. My confusion
 
Got my Arctic Accelero installed with 2 X NF-F12 exhausting. I think I have to take it apart and redo the thermal paste because it's not being cooled well enough under load even when the fans are at 100%.

Is there anything specific that I need to be on the lookout for? Lining up the backing plate with the screws and spacers is a pain. I'm using an Asus turbo 1070 and I just used the thermal paste on the already applied to the heatsink after cleaning off the old stuff from the die.

Edit: Had the spacers installed incorrectly leaving no contact with the GPU die, fixed it and wow. Fans don't even come on for the first bit of gaming, so far I've seen 65c max with the fans much quieter. What's even more awesome is the CPU temp, I'm probably down another 10c with this setup! It's not a fair comparison because it's not closed up completely but it didn't even break 50c during the Intel stress test. I need to clean up the wires and put the filters in place but I'm super happy with this upgrade. Next up, upgrade the PSU to the SF600 and custom length cables, it's very packed with the stiff Silverstone cables at stock length.
 
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The Accelero really is an awesome piece of kit, and seems custom made for the M1. I haven't seen a bad report yet, once it's installed and working.
 
keshley said:
The Accelero really is an awesome piece of kit, and seems custom made for the M1. I haven't seen a bad report yet, once it's installed and working.
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Yea, if you can fit it! It's a pain without custom cables or at least flexible cables. The ones that come with the Silverstone SFX are too stiff. I think my next project is doing the cabling myself.
 
I need to redo my cables, my next project. I had one come apart, le sigh. Going to crimp and solder this time, instead of just crimp.
 
How it stands now:
zXA3CZP_d.jpg


Going to have to do a little more work to get the side 120mm fan on with that bunch of cables taking up a lot of room.
 
keshley said:
I need to redo my cables, my next project. I had one come apart, le sigh. Going to crimp and solder this time, instead of just crimp.
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You shouldn't need to crimp AND solder if your crimps are correct. A little old, but Lutro0 customs has some good videos on Youtube if you need help.
 
rfarmer said:
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http://www.gigabyte.us/Motherboard/Z370N-WIFI-rev-10#kf New Gigabyte Z370 itx motherboard. Have to say pretty impressive, HDMI 2.0, USB C, dual Intel LAN and dual M.2 SSD. About $30 less than the Asus Strix too.

Bonus as far as I am concerned is black with no RGB. :D
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Now, if they made an x370 like this, matx, and fix the bios, they'd have like a million happier customers. Of course, it's not all their fault, but they can't put it all on amd...just a lot of it. :/
 
Is there any way to get a magnetic filter with steel fan bracket? I have a v1 Ncase and have been checking the site for ages and it is always shown as out of stock. I have decimex filters but they don't work very well on the side brackets, and I'm not not a huge fan of the original fan brackets (though I may have to default to using them).
 
They come into stock from time to time, but perhaps one of the Ncase guys can advise when there's likely to be stock available.
 
Nanook said:
Don’t give me another reason to move to Coffee Lake from Skylake :p
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Well let's say I had no intention of upgrading to Coffee Lake, then this showed up on Craigslist for $250.

O5bzH0h.jpg


Needless to say I now own it. Brand new unopened box.

Might need to look into delidding and pull my WC gear back out.
 
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ptirmal said:
How it stands now:
zXA3CZP_d.jpg


Going to have to do a little more work to get the side 120mm fan on with that bunch of cables taking up a lot of room.
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How are your temps? I just replaced my P14 with the A15 and ran Prime95 for 30 minutes... almost hitting 90deg on m 4770K! That's crazy, swapped back to the P14 and also hitting those really high temps.
 
Smitty2k1 said:
How are your temps? I just replaced my P14 with the A15 and ran Prime95 for 30 minutes... almost hitting 90deg on m 4770K! That's crazy, swapped back to the P14 and also hitting those really high temps.
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I got my last fan (NF-S12A on the side bracket) installed. Right now I'm at 1.25vcore and 4.5GHz hitting high 70s max during stress tests and mid 60s during gaming. Going to leave it there for now since the weather is a bit cooler than it was a month ago and don't want to change overclocks later.

Started GPU overclocking, where before I wasn't able to get get anything on the core clock or memory clock I am now able to get +180MHz on the core and +500MHz on the memory without issues. With the blower I believe the issue was thermals though I don't remember looking too far into it. Right now it looks like what's holding me back is power limit, so it looks like I've done as much as I can without flashing the bios of the GPU, which I won't be doing. The most the GPU hits during gaming or stress tests is ~61c, and it's still pretty quiet (fans ~1000rpm).

Your temps are pretty much what I was getting when I ran stress tests (adding stress FPU) at stock clocks before delidding...
 
Hello All,

I need some advice with CPU cooler/ case fan setup for my build.

Specs:
CPU: Intel i7-8700k
MB: ASUS z370i
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200Mhz 16GB (2x8GB)
Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 1TB M.2
PSU: Corsair SF600

I might buy the Volta successor to either 1070 or 1080, but no video card for now. Other than that future GPU, I don't think I'll be adding anything else to this system. No HDDs or SSDs in scope. Going for a really clean look and good airflow.

The case will be next to the monitor or behind it. So, noise reduction is the primary goal. After some research in this thread, it seems the Noctua-U9S is a good choice for the CPU cooler. I'm thinking I might add another NF-A9 PWM in a push-pull config on the cooler.

Am I overlooking any other cooler?
 
rfarmer said:
Well let's say I had no intention of upgrading to Coffee Lake, then this showed up on Craigslist for $250.

O5bzH0h.jpg


Needless to say I now own it. Brand new unopened box.

Might need to look into delidding and pull my WC gear back out.
Click to expand...
What?!?! You lucky dog :)
Keep us posted!
 
sciwizam said:
Hello All,

I need some advice with CPU cooler/ case fan setup for my build.

Specs:
CPU: Intel i7-8700k
MB: ASUS z370i
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200Mhz 16GB (2x8GB)
Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 1TB M.2
PSU: Corsair SF600

I might buy the Volta successor to either 1070 or 1080, but no video card for now. Other than that future GPU, I don't think I'll be adding anything else to this system. No HDDs or SSDs in scope. Going for a really clean look and good airflow.

The case will be next to the monitor or behind it. So, noise reduction is the primary goal. After some research in this thread, it seems the Noctua-U9S is a good choice for the CPU cooler. I'm thinking I might add another NF-A9 PWM in a push-pull config on the cooler.

Am I overlooking any other cooler?
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The Noctua is a good choice for the Ncase, one of the best 92mm tower coolers. I would recommend a 120mm intake fan on the right side of the far bracket. This will feed the CPU cooler fresh air, keep your motherboard cool and feed cool air to the PSU. I don't think I have seen anyone with a 8700k and this cooler yet so I am not sure how well it will handle it especially if you plan on an overclock.
 
Nanook said:
What?!?! You lucky dog :)
Keep us posted!
Click to expand...

Still going to need a new mother board, glad that Gigabyte just released since that is probably what I will get. Then the question will be can my Dark Rock TF keep it cool, I think it should it is rated for 220W TPD. I will have to OC though, Intel is almost guaranteeing 5.0 GHz for the 8700k and I will have to try it. After that probably end up around 4.7 GHz depending on voltage needed and temps. Delidding may be necessary given what I have seen so far for load temps, pretty hot CPU.
 
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z370 strix is tempting since it looks like the monoblock for the z270 is compatible. Waiting on confirmation of that before I make any decisions... Then my z270 strix would replace my wife's z170 itx board in the Caselabs. Trickle down upgrades!
 
keshley said:
z370 strix is tempting since it looks like the monoblock for the z270 is compatible. Waiting on confirmation of that before I make any decisions... Then my z270 strix would replace my wife's z170 itx board in the Caselabs. Trickle down upgrades!
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Doh. Yet another reason for me to upgrade to Coffee Lake. Although I have to redo the LED strip on my monoblock. It broke somehow.
 


How do people mount the 2 x HDD's without the front rack?
The video from 1:10-1:30 shows what he used but I've got no idea what it is and how it's mounted.

Anyone know I can get that exact same thing and how to mount it?
Will it require modification to the case of any kind to do this?

Maybe a SF600 PSU to HDD mounts exists?


Thanks.
 
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There are a few ways to do that... either fabricate / repurpose a bracket that would secure the HDD bracket to the inside of the front wall, or just tape. I’m thinking he used 3M VHB tape between the HDD bracket and his PSU.
 
Nanook said:
There are a few ways to do that... either fabricate / repurpose a bracket that would secure the HDD bracket to the inside of the front wall, or just tape. I’m thinking he used 3M VHB tape between the HDD bracket and his PSU.
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Maybe, yeah.
Although I think using that tape to connect it to the PSU would be heavy for 2 x hdd's and the anti-vibration wouldn't be great at all.

Maybe he screwed in the bracket to the front inside?
Doesn't seem like it though.
Hard to tell.
 
rasesh said:
Maybe, yeah.
Although I think using that tape to connect it to the PSU would be heavy for 2 x hdd's and the anti-vibration wouldn't be great at all.

Maybe he screwed in the bracket to the front inside?
Doesn't seem like it though.
Hard to tell.
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Have you seen his other builds? The vid you linked is one of the earlier iteration of his NCase M1 build. Check out Luka Devereaux on YouTube.
 
I see that the vast majority of M1 builds have the radiator(s) on the bracket and the fans behind them (pull config). Is there a reason for this? Has it been shown this is better for temperatures? I have my fan on the outside in push and the radiator behind it. I thought it would somehow be better for airflow, but I don't really have any data on this. Thoughts? What is your rationale for going radiator first?
 
QuantumBraced said:
I see that the vast majority of M1 builds have the radiator(s) on the bracket and the fans behind them (pull config). Is there a reason for this? Has it been shown this is better for temperatures? I have my fan on the outside in push and the radiator behind it. I thought it would somehow be better for airflow, but I don't really have any data on this. Thoughts? What is your rationale for going radiator first?
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From what I can tell, it gives more room for the fittings if they are to the front of the chassis...?
 
QuantumBraced said:
I see that the vast majority of M1 builds have the radiator(s) on the bracket and the fans behind them (pull config). Is there a reason for this? Has it been shown this is better for temperatures? I have my fan on the outside in push and the radiator behind it. I thought it would somehow be better for airflow, but I don't really have any data on this. Thoughts? What is your rationale for going radiator first?
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Dust will gather on the exterior of the rad with a pull config, which is easier to clean than dust on fans or dust in between fans and rad with push.
 
There is definitely a cleaning benefit to having the fans in a pull config.

I've seen a test or two where it showed push to be slightly beneficial especially at low fan speeds. However from memory, the difference so very very small. Certainly I wouldn't do it for "performance" reasons.
 
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