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

Which motherboard are you using if I may ask ? Interested in the Dark Rock, thats why i'm asking (you have a build log somewhere i can read/see ?)
 
Wow that's a great fit on the cooler. What fan are you using with it?

Also, any reason why you have the PSU orientation setup to pull in air from inside the case instead of outside the case?
 
MultiDoc said:
Which motherboard are you using if I may ask ? Interested in the Dark Rock, thats why i'm asking (you have a build log somewhere i can read/see ?)
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GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 (rev. 1.0) https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170N-Gaming-5-rev-10#ov Cannot really recommend the Dark Rock if you want an easy time installing and removing. The mounting setup is wacky as heck on the first go around.

Mounting Experience:
Unlike the Noctua SecuFirm, this has backplate, four pins and four C-clips to mount the backplate. Next, you have to attach four nuts and coupling screws to the heatsink. You can bolt them down really tight and that would keep them in place. Finally, the cooler goes on, but the only real way to get it on is to screw the posts into the nuts from behind. The little wrench they provide for bolting down the coupling screws is really short and can't reach under the heatsink if you've installed it into the case. It would have to be out of the case on your desk. Placing it into the case after mounting the heatsink would require removing the PSU and its mount.

In the above picture, it sort of pushes against the GPU, making it hard to get the GPU in. Rotate it 90 degrees counter-clockwise, the little cooler underneath really presses against the RAM. 90 degrees again, doesn't work and once more, does not work. I originally ordered a Phanteks PH-TC14CS and the 3rd party at Newegg never did get it to me and it's no longer easy to acquire. Same goes for the Noctua C14.

Smitty2k1 said:
Wow that's a great fit on the cooler. What fan are you using with it?

Also, any reason why you have the PSU orientation setup to pull in air from inside the case instead of outside the case?
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Fans are NB e-Loops 120mm 1100RPM model pushing in. Reason for the PSU fan inside is so it can get filtered cool air from the NB blowing directly over it. Since I replaced the fan with the Noctua model that spins slower, I didn't want to encounter any overheating issues. So turning it this way takes care of that.
 
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MultiDoc said:
Which motherboard are you using if I may ask ? Interested in the Dark Rock, thats why i'm asking (you have a build log somewhere i can read/see ?)
Click to expand...

Like sonsonate said the Dark Rock TF is a PITA to install, but it is a really good cooler. I had mine mounted on the same Gigabyte motherboard but I chose the other orientation.

49cf529042.jpg


The heatpipes do push the ram over slightly, but I never had any problems. If you go to the Be Quiet site you can check if your motherboard is compatible.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I already have the Noctua NH-D9L, but I was still contemplating between the Dark Rock TF and the Noctua NH-C14S.

From what you said I'll be crossing off the Dark Rock TF. Now the question is: keep the D9L or get the C14S ???

P.S: any idea how long does it usually take for the Ncase to be delivered guys ? I have order 2 weeks ago with the faster of the two options in shipping and still havent even had a tracking number.... :( I got all the parts sitting on my desk for the build to start)
 
MultiDoc said:
Thanks for the replies guys. I already have the Noctua NH-D9L, but I was still contemplating between the Dark Rock TF and the Noctua NH-C14S.

From what you said I'll be crossing off the Dark Rock TF. Now the question is: keep the D9L or get the C14S ???

P.S: any idea how long does it usually take for the Ncase to be delivered guys ? I have order 2 weeks ago with the faster of the two options in shipping and still havent even had a tracking number.... :( I got all the parts sitting on my desk for the build to start)
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Right now on the website it states orders placed by Feb 11 will ship Feb 13. Were you given an earlier shipping date? I got mine on the west coast US 10 days after it was shipped.
 
Haven't been given a date when ordered, but I would have thought that it should have shipped by now. Anyway, no work around i guess so still patiently waiting for a tracking number and for it to get here. Parts are sitting eagerly on the desk waiting to get in it :)
 
wahaha360 said:
Look what came in the mail today.

I have just got both the tempered glass and acrylic version.
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Congrats !!! So jealous... I'm still waiting for mine, checked the tracking today and it's in customs. So hopefully here by weekend (fingers crossed).

May I ask how/where did you get the windowed side panels from ? I have a hard time finding someone that would cut me a piece of tempered glass less than 4mm thick
 
wahaha360 said:
Look what came in the mail today.


sbhKp6Wl.jpg
W9ku5d7l.jpg


I have just got both the tempered glass and acrylic version.
Click to expand...
This is a silly question as it defeats the aesthetics, but will the windowed side panel fit with the side mounted bracket for the HDD cage for example?
 
Ooo. Much want.. If I got it though I'd probably want to change my cooler to the 92mm asatek on the rear and have it intake from the back..
 
MultiDoc said:
Congrats !!! So jealous... I'm still waiting for mine, checked the tracking today and it's in customs. So hopefully here by weekend (fingers crossed).

May I ask how/where did you get the windowed side panels from ? I have a hard time finding someone that would cut me a piece of tempered glass less than 4mm thick
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It will be offered as the an upgrade kit via SFFLAB.
 
Neapolitan6th said:
This is a silly question as it defeats the aesthetics, but will the windowed side panel fit with the side mounted bracket for the HDD cage for example?
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The window kit is NOT compatible with side mounted fan bracket, therefore the 3.5" HDD case will NOT work either.

However, there are so many emails about the window kit despite the trade offs, I just gave up and decided to make it official.
 
wahaha360 said:
The window kit is NOT compatible with side mounted fan bracket, therefore the 3.5" HDD case will NOT work either.

However, there are so many emails about the window kit despite the trade offs, I just gave up and decided to make it official.
Click to expand...

Now all one needs is a pedestal base to mount the radiator UNDER the chassis (25mm thick fans inside the chassis, on the floor), and a revision to the inside front panel for mounting a pump / reservoir combo...

Maybe a revision to the floor as well, to allow swapping out the standard floor for one designed specifically for a pair of 120mm fans...?
 
wahaha360 said:
The window kit is NOT compatible with side mounted fan bracket, therefore the 3.5" HDD case will NOT work either.

However, there are so many emails about the window kit despite the trade offs, I just gave up and decided to make it official.
Click to expand...
I'm sure many will still love it. I can see some beautiful watercooled builds coming from it with a 240 radiator in the bottom, 92mm radiator in the back, and plenty of room, for the pump/res.

I thought I wouldn't miss a side window, but it really is quite nice to marvel at the internals from time to time.

Good to see!
 
Dammit wahaha, I'm trying to save money. Then you bust off with the window?

Sigh, how much money am I about to spend on this thing?
 
Shottie said:
Dammit wahaha, I'm trying to save money. Then you bust off with the window?

Sigh, how much money am I about to spend on this thing?
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Haha sometimes I feel the same way.

I've bought two air coolers to try and find the biggest one that would fit.. CNCed brackets.. 5 noctua fans to try and create airflow.. Pwm splitters.. Custom bifurcated riser to use all 3 expansion slots.. Fan filters.. PCIE riser cables..In the future I'll switch to a gpu under 6.5 inches so I can have the extra space to stuff more devices into this wonderfully capable case. Pretty sure I could have bought 2 more NCASE M1s with all the extra gadgets and extras I've bought for it. All worth it though, but I wish I could just make my mind up haha
 
Neapolitan6th said:
Haha sometimes I feel the same way.

I've bought two air coolers to try and find the biggest one that would fit.. CNCed brackets.. 5 noctua fans to try and create airflow.. Pwm splitters.. Custom bifurcated riser to use all 3 expansion slots.. Fan filters.. PCIE riser cables..In the future I'll switch to a gpu under 6.5 inches so I can have the extra space to stuff more devices into this wonderfully capable case. Pretty sure I could have bought 2 more NCASE M1s with all the extra gadgets and extras I've bought for it. All worth it though, but I wish I could just make my mind up haha
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Oh, I understand. Got a link to some pictures of your work?
 
hm i have a real good question (i think) and hope someone can answer this , right now i got a 1080ti founders edition from gigabyte running in my m1 and i am thinking to change it to a evga 1080ti sc black edition or similar , what will happen to the cpu temps ? do they change or will it be the same as bevor ?

the founders card is realy good but can be loud somethimes ;D but the good thing here is that blower style cooler takes the hot temps outside the back , right now i have also 2 120mm fans at the bottom blowing against the founders card ....... if i change to the evga can this fans stay as they are ?

i hope it is somewhat readable .......... i know my engl is not that good ;D
 
Grendell said:
the founders card is realy good but can be loud somethimes ;D
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Have you set a fan curve?

feFtv47.png


This currently works for me but I will have to see in the future how it will do. My problem now is that I had to limit the power to not hear the UPS beep all the time when having a load on the video card. I will later get a beefier UPS and then I will push the card back to 100% but as of today I don't play a game that requires it. The 1080 Ti is a bit overkill for now but I wanted for once get my hands on the best video card I could not afford previously. :D So it is totally possible I run into noise issues later when I will set power limit back to 100% but like I said as of today this totally works for me.

Also I've made sure to get the MSI blower card because vent holes on the back are large and this translate to less friction so less noise. The vent holes on your card are the same as the nvidia FE card, they are tiny triangles and there are a lot of those so much more friction = noisy. Test it yourself, just blow air from your mouth, then add a finger at 1 inch of your mouth while you still blow air, you'll hear what I mean.

BZTHH4a.png


And like you I also wanted a blower type to exhaust all hot air.
 
It is not so bad that I can’t play , the game Sound mostly overshadows the gpu noise and if I play with headphones it is no problem at all , but I still would like to know if there would be a difference on my cpu temps

By the way I haven’t payed with the fan curve , my load temp on my gpu is 84 degree Celsius what is normal on all founders had this on my titan , titan x and now 1080ti and the fans have always been loud i never cared :) than I bought for my other pc with a big tower case a gigabyte aorus 1080ti extrem edition and it is soooooo much quieter
 
From what I've read so far, the best option/setup regarding performance, temps and noise using a 1080Ti in the Ncase is by removing the oem shroud from the graphics card and having 2x120mm fans as exhaust on the bottom.
 
I went from a 1080ti founders to a 1080ti sc black because the FE was too loud. No issues with noise since switching to the dual fan version. CPU temps increased 5-8c.
 
Hi!
Want to mod my ncase m1 and replace his panel clips for a metal panel clips like the metal studs of the kimera industries.
Anyone know what i should buy? for the size balls of the panels.

Thanks!
 
I did the Rockit Cool Copper IHS mod today. Load temps dropped 5C on average. Not bad for $14.
 
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hi all, been watching this thread for a while now.

I have a 11y.o. pc that i need to upgrade from soon..
I settled down with pretty much all the components, the hardest part was finding the right case, the smaller the better, and after having found the m1, i simply love it, tiny, slick and seems to fit everything i need!

Now the biggest challenge will be to see how things would fit and make sure the air flow is proper, i will be using the drive cage for sure + the 3.5 under the video card. Can the Cryorig C1 fit with drivecage + fan at the back? and does adding a 3.5" drive limits my GPU choice or theres enough space for pretty much any recent gpu?

im wondering also if someone tried to add a fan on top of the case? there seem to be enough space for it.

thx for any insight
 
Naim said:
hi all, been watching this thread for a while now.

I have a 11y.o. pc that i need to upgrade from soon..
I settled down with pretty much all the components, the hardest part was finding the right case, the smaller the better, and after having found the m1, i simply love it, tiny, slick and seems to fit everything i need!

Now the biggest challenge will be to see how things would fit and make sure the air flow is proper, i will be using the drive cage for sure + the 3.5 under the video card. Can the Cryorig C1 fit with drivecage + fan at the back? and does adding a 3.5" drive limits my GPU choice or theres enough space for pretty much any recent gpu?

im wondering also if someone tried to add a fan on top of the case? there seem to be enough space for it.

thx for any insight
Click to expand...

I can't say about the Cryorig, lot will depend on which orientation it is mounted in and how far to the front it sits.


This is what the M1 looks like with the top removed.

skrin_ncase_m1_08.jpg


As you can see there is not room for fans.

500x1000px-LL-8cae2987_IMG_4245.jpeg


The hard drive are close to the GPU, but you should be able to use any that work with the M1. Best thing to do is have the SATA connection at the top and use 90 degree cables.
 
oh is the the noctua c14s? i thought you couldnt use the drive cage with that heatsink, all the pic i saw with that heatsink never had drivecage... i might consider , idk, although it seems like the C1 takes much less space and and yet perform very similarly ! hmm
 
Naim said:
oh is the the noctua c14s? i thought you couldnt use the drive cage with that heatsink, all the pic i saw with that heatsink never had drivecage... i might consider , idk, although it seems like the C1 takes much less space and and yet perform very similarly ! hmm
Click to expand...

That might be the C14 since it has a 25mm thick fan, normally you can't mount the drive cage with it but I have seen some mod the cage to work. I just grabbed an image to show you the drive to GPU clearance.
 
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Naim said:
oh is the the noctua c14s? i thought you couldnt use the drive cage with that heatsink, all the pic i saw with that heatsink never had drivecage... i might consider , idk, although it seems like the C1 takes much less space and and yet perform very similarly ! hmm
Click to expand...

That picture that he posted is from my old build. The cooler is the Noctua C12P-SE14. I don't have those components anymore, but I'm still using the Noctua cooler on my i7 8700. I also swapped out the fan with the NF-A15 PWM. Here's another shot of that build from a different angle:

IMG_4246.JPG
 
Evangelion said:
That picture that he posted is from my old build. The cooler is the Noctua C12P-SE14. I don't have those components anymore, but I'm still using the Noctua cooler on my i7 8700. I also swapped out the fan with the NF-A15 PWM. Here's another shot of that build from a different angle:

View attachment 55087
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Thx, how were your temp though?
 
Question about bottom 240 radiator clearance:

So ends up I am getting ready to vertically mount my gpu above the normal 3 expansion slots.

That means I have the entire basement of the case to add a radiator if I wish.

This is a bit of a tricky question, but I was wondering what the maximum length of radiator that can fit in the bottom of the case.

I have been eyeballing EK's revised Phoenix 240 AIO and if it could just barely squeeze in, it would save me a lot of space trying to find room for a res and pump.

Note: The Phoenix 240 is 295mm long and since there is no GPU to get in the way, I don't think the radiator thickness will be an issue.

Thanks!
 
Neapolitan6th said:
Question about bottom 240 radiator clearance:

So ends up I am getting ready to vertically mount my gpu above the normal 3 expansion slots.

That means I have the entire basement of the case to add a radiator if I wish.

This is a bit of a tricky question, but I was wondering what the maximum length of radiator that can fit in the bottom of the case.

I have been eyeballing EK's revised Phoenix 240 AIO and if it could just barely squeeze in, it would save me a lot of space trying to find room for a res and pump.

Note: The Phoenix 240 is 295mm long and since there is no GPU to get in the way, I don't think the radiator thickness will be an issue.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Make a cardboard / foam core / whatever mock-up of the 240 Phoenix, try it in for size...

But keep in mind, according to EK's instructions for the Phoenix series, they do not recommend mounting the unit in that position...
 
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