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

[Epos7]

This is the first report I've read about such a noisy X570 chipset fan. I had seemed like the motherboard companies were choosing good quality fans. Let us know how the 40 mm Noctua does in both noise and cooling.

It's a little bit frustrating as I went with the Gigabyte over the ASRock board specifically because reviews found the Gigabyte board to have a quieter fan. Maybe I just got a bad one, but there do seem to be some other users out there suffering from the same problem.

Some good info here about the replacement process:

https://www.overclock.net/forum/246...yte-x570-i-aorus-pro-chipset-fan-upgrade.html

Noctua offers 40mm fans in both 10mm and 20mm thick models. I'm trying the 20mm model as it's quieter and there appears to be enough room to find a way to mount it.

 

[Skott]

Got my new x570 build up and running over the weekend.

The chipset fan (X570 I Aurus Pro WiFi) sounds like death. I set the PCH fan curve to silent, but it's still audible from 20 feet away. It's a high pitched whine that even has a death rattle at times. It's constantly switching between different speeds, which makes it even more annoying. It doesn't turn on at idle, but starts up under any sort of load.

The cooling around the PCH should be fairly good. I have a Noctua C14 on the CPU with two 140mm fans as intake, as well as a 92mm rear exhaust fan, and a NF-A12x25 PWM next to the C14 as an extra intake, plus two more under the GPU as exhaust.

I've ordered a NF-A4x20 PWM and a 4-pin VGA adapter (the PWM connector Gigabyte uses for the chipset fan header) to attempt to replace the stock fan. There's no way I could tolerate it.

Have you updated the mobo bios? Many of the manufacturers are adding new bios updates for the chipset fan issue.

 

[Epos7]

Have you updated the mobo bios? Many of the manufacturers are adding new bios updates for the chipset fan issue.

Yeah I'm on the latest BIOS. Gigabyte doesn't yet have the option to set a custom fan curve for the PCH fan, which could help. My Noctua fan gets here today, so hopefully I can figure out a way to attach that and just be done with it.

 

[Epos7]

My Accelero III is working pretty well, but has also posed a new challenge.

Now that I have two fans (I'm using Noctua NF-A12x25) as exhaust on the bottom of my case, I have a resonance problem. I'm thinking about installing the low noise adapter on one of the fans to see if that eliminates the resonance, but I'll lose a little bit of cooling as a result.

Anyone else had this problem?

 

[Epos7]

Well I put the LNA on one of the fans and resonance is gone, so I'm happy.

Also replaced the chipset fan with the 40mm Noctua. It's noticeably quieter, however it turns out it the chipset fan wasn't the main source of the high pitched noise. I have some pretty bad coil whine now that seems to crop up when the GPU exceeds 70C and that's what I was hearing. It's the same graphics card I've had for a year and the coil whine has just cropped up in this build. Annoying but I don't think there's much I can do about it. I reset the core and mem speeds to stock on my card and that helps a little bit as it takes longer before the coil whine kicks in.

 

[Qrash]

Well I put the LNA on one of the fans and resonance is gone, so I'm happy.

Also replaced the chipset fan with the 40mm Noctua. It's noticeably quieter, however it turns out it the chipset fan wasn't the main source of the high pitched noise. I have some pretty bad coil whine now that seems to crop up when the GPU exceeds 70C and that's what I was hearing. It's the same graphics card I've had for a year and the coil whine has just cropped up in this build. Annoying but I don't think there's much I can do about it. I reset the core and mem speeds to stock on my card and that helps a little bit as it takes longer before the coil whine kicks in.

Did you have any difficulty replacing the original 30 mm chipset fan with the 40 mm Noctua? I wouldn't have thought the mounting holes would line up for the larger fan.

 

[Epos7]

Did you have any difficulty replacing the original 30 mm chipset fan with the 40 mm Noctua? I wouldn't have thought the mounting holes would line up for the larger fan.

Removing the 30mm fan was easy. The mounting holes don't line up, so I just used some foam double sided tape to attach the 40mm Noctua on top of the heatsink. It feels pretty secure. It just barely fits under the bottom 140mm fan on my C14.

I'll post some pictures soon.

 

[GnomeCop]

Longshot, but did anyone here buy a V6 ncase m1 and are not planning to use the blank/power button only front i/o thing?
If so I'll buy it!
I'm looking for one since I never use my front i/o and I managed to break some of the USB 3 pins on my Mobo because the USB 3 front header cable that came with my v1 was so thick and hard to plug in accurately in a crowded build...

 

[Qrash]

Longshot, but did anyone here buy a V6 ncase m1 and are not planning to use the blank/power button only front i/o thing?
If so I'll buy it!
I'm looking for one since I never use my front i/o and I managed to break some of the USB 3 pins on my Mobo because the USB 3 front header cable that came with my v1 was so thick and hard to plug in accurately in a crowded build...

So sorry to read about your broken pins. All USB 3 front header cables are, in my opinion, ridiculously stiff and difficult to manage. This is not unique to the M1.

For anyone else facing similar routing difficulty I recommend buying a Low Profile USB 3.0 Header Extender Cable. These have a ribbon-like cable between a low profile male connector (for the motherboard USB 3 socket) and a female connector for the front panel USB 3 cable. This is much more flexible and allows you to route the front panel cable along the back or bottom panels of the M1 or even behind the motherboard. In fact, I sometimes add extension cables to my fans so that I can route those wires along the edges of the M1 frame instead of across the middle of the case. Sometimes a longer route is a tidier route.

 

[GnomeCop]

cool, I wish I knew about those beforehand.
Looks like the power button only front io faceplate is only compatible with the new front i/o setup of the v6.
I hope they end up selling those individually....

Luckily the rest of the build came together really nicely

 

[GnomeCop]

Finally built a new high end system after almost 9 years away from the hobby. I used a NOS (new-old-stock) Silver NCASE M1 v1, First Edition I had in storage that I got after backing the original Indiegogo campaign in 2013.
Back then I bought one of each color offered thinking I was going to upgrade more frequently. The black NCASE M1 is still running an old Ivy Bridge Core i5 system I migrated into the case back in the day.

Even with all this high end stuff crammed in, the layout is surprisingly roomy and no bunched up cables between the radiator fans and the components. Lots of unblocked/line-of-sight airflow between the radiator and the cpu/mem/mobo/psu. I just used the cables that came with the Corsair PSU, the platinum series PSUs come with extremely high quality cables, I was very impressed. Just took some work routing everything.

The only snag I ran into was that I messed up plugging in the front USB 3 header and messed up a pin on the motherboard. The front USB 3 cable and plug are so thick and more difficult than I remember to plug into a densely packed motherboard.
I realized don't need or use front I/O anyways so I just removed the cables and ports from the front of the case, so now I have USB A and mini-jack shaped ventilation holes .

I seriously hope that the new front I/O setup for the V6 will be eventually be sold separately so I can get that clean, power-button-only look on the front. If I didn't have this first-edition M1 sitting around, I would have totally purchased the v6. Great case, thanks wahaha360 and Necere for all the work that went into it.



Specs:
NCASE M1 First Edition (Silver)
Core i9 9900K
G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 32GB CL 14-14-14-34
ASUS ROG STRIX Z390i
NZXT KRAKEN X52
CORSAIR SF750 750 Watt PSU
CORSAIR MP510 1920GB NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 SSD
NVIDIA GeForce 2080 Ti FE
2 x Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Fans

 

[Qrash]

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Finally built a new high end system after almost 9 years away from the hobby. I used a NOS (new-old-stock) Silver NCASE M1 v1, First Edition I had in storage that I got after backing the original Indiegogo campaign in 2013.
Back then I bought one of each color offered thinking I was going to upgrade more frequently. The black NCASE M1 is still running an old Ivy Bridge Core i5 system I migrated into the case back in the day.

Even with all this high end stuff crammed in, the layout is surprisingly roomy and no bunched up cables between the radiator fans and the components. Lots of unblocked/line-of-sight airflow between the radiator and the cpu/mem/mobo/psu. I just used the cables that came with the Corsair PSU, the platinum series PSUs come with extremely high quality cables, I was very impressed. Just took some work routing everything.

The only snag I ran into was that I messed up plugging in the front USB 3 header and messed up a pin on the motherboard. The front USB 3 cable and plug are so thick and more difficult than I remember to plug into a densely packed motherboard.
I realized don't need or use front I/O anyways so I just removed the cables and ports from the front of the case, so now I have USB A and mini-jack shaped ventilation holes .

I seriously hope that the new front I/O setup for the V6 will be eventually be sold separately so I can get that clean, power-button-only look on the front. If I didn't have this first-edition M1 sitting around, I would have totally purchased the v6. Great case, thanks wahaha360 and Necere for all the work that went into it.



Specs:
NCASE M1 First Edition (Silver)
Core i9 9900K
G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 32GB CL 14-14-14-34
ASUS ROG STRIX Z390i
NZXT KRAKEN X52
CORSAIR SF750 750 Watt PSU
CORSAIR MP510 1920GB NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 SSD
NVIDIA GeForce 2080 Ti FE
2 x Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Fans

Looks like a very clean build, which is even more impressive given that you used the power supply's original cables. Well done!

For the stiff USB 3 front panel cable, see the solution I recommended in a post earlier today. I hope this is helpful.

 

[harsaphes]

Just an

My Accelero III is working pretty well, but has also posed a new challenge.

Now that I have two fans (I'm using Noctua NF-A12x25) as exhaust on the bottom of my case, I have a resonance problem. I'm thinking about installing the low noise adapter on one of the fans to see if that eliminates the resonance, but I'll lose a little bit of cooling as a result.

Anyone else had this problem?

Just an FYI optimum tech... YouTube had better results with the bottom fans doing intake

 

[harsaphes]

Just an

My Accelero III is working pretty well, but has also posed a new challenge.

Now that I have two fans (I'm using Noctua NF-A12x25) as exhaust on the bottom of my case, I have a resonance problem. I'm thinking about installing the low noise adapter on one of the fans to see if that eliminates the resonance, but I'll lose a little bit of cooling as a result.

Anyone else had this problem?

Just an FYI optimum tech... YouTube had better results with the bottom fans doing intake

 

[Epos7]

Just an

Just an FYI optimum tech... YouTube had better results with the bottom fans doing intake

I'll have to consult YouTube. Someone over at the smallformfactor.net forums told me Optimum Tech found exhaust to be the best configuration

 

[Qrash]

I'll have to consult YouTube. Someone over at the smallformfactor.net forums told me Optimum Tech found exhaust to be the best configuration

With a window side panel, Optimum Tech found having the bottom fans as exhaust and the rear fan as intake (so rear to front airflow through his NH-U9S) was most effective.

Before the window side panel became available, others with hot running graphics cards found exhausting air out the bottom works best with the Accelero Xtreme III or IV heatsinks.

 

[Epos7]

With a window side panel, Optimum Tech found having the bottom fans as exhaust and the rear fan as intake (so rear to front airflow through his NH-U9S) was most effective.

Before the window side panel became available, others with hot running graphics cards found exhausting air out the bottom works best with the Accelero Xtreme III or IV heatsinks.

Interesting that the window affected the results so much. I have my rear fan as exhaust with my C14 as intake. CPU temps seem pretty good but now I'm curious to try the rear fan as intake.

 

[Qrash]

Interesting that the window affected the results so much. I have my rear fan as exhaust with my C14 as intake. CPU temps seem pretty good but now I'm curious to try the rear fan as intake.

With a window side panel it is not possible to intake air through that panel, of course. Intaking air through the bottom panel distributes heated air from the GPU throughout the rest of the case, increasing the CPU temperature. So, he tried using the rear fan as an intake and set the bottom fans as exhausts.

I am interested your results with the rear fan as an intake in the case of a non-window side panel and a top-down CPU cooler,

 

[GnomeCop]

Specs:
NCASE M1 First Edition (Silver)
Core i9 9900K
G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 32GB CL 14-14-14-34
ASUS ROG STRIX Z390i
NZXT KRAKEN X52
CORSAIR SF750 750 Watt PSU
CORSAIR MP510 1920GB NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 SSD
NVIDIA GeForce 2080 Ti FE
2 x Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Fans

Been doing some temperature testing and with an ambient temperature of about 26 C, my system idles at an average of 37 C.
Under a Prime 95 CPU stress test load, temps seem to top out at an average of 59 C. When I use the Intel extreme tuner software to stress the CPU, it will hit a 64 C average.

The GPU will idle at 45 C and top out at about 74 C when running benchmarks like Superposition and Heaven.

These temps are way better than I ever expected from an ITX build, but the 240 AIO mounted in the NCase seems to be working perfectly, the left side of the case is actually cold while the right side gets very hot. Thinking of fitting some exhaust fans somewhere.

If I do a basic 50 multiplier overclock to the 9900K, temps will shoot up to about 85 C for the CPU under load, GPU temps go up about 2 C across the board, most likely due to the temperature in the case being warmer.

Never undervolted before but I think that will definitely be necessary to tweak things further. I see a lot of overclocking guides out there but I cant seem to find anything in depth on undervolting, so taking my time with this. At stock the system seems fast enough for work, and more than enough for games.

 

[Octopuss]

Is the case still available? The website doesn't work. https://www.sfflab.com/products/ncase_m1

 

[Qrash]

Is the case still available? The website doesn't work. https://www.sfflab.com/products/ncase_m1

SFFLAB is reorganizing and it is covered in this post on the site: https://www.sfflab.com/blogs/news/sfflab-2-0-is-arriving

I think Necere posted somewhere (I can't find it) that the Ncase store on SFFLAB should be available before the end of November.

 

[harsaphes]

Optimum Tech just did a new build with the NCase. If you guys dont watch this guy yet he is pretty amazing. And once again he has all the fans positioned to INTAKE the air into the case. Bottom and side.

 

[Skott]

Yeah and now I'm thinking I should have put my new 3900x into a M1.

 

[m0po]

Has someone broken the user contribution spreadsheet? I can no longer see compatible hardware.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Has someone broken the user contribution spreadsheet? I can no longer see compatible hardware.

I think someone scoured it near the end of V5.

 

[gibbypoo]

Thanks! After rebuilding my v5 dozens of times over the past year, I feel like I was well prepared for my v6 rebuild, haha. PSU cables are unsleeved custom lengths. Main specs are 9900k + 2080 Ti.

Yo do you still have that sf750 for sale, by chance? Sorry for the squirrel.

 

[Urelure]

Hi

Does anyone have any experience with the internal power cable failing? Just had my SX-600-G Fail on me. Shoehorned in an old AX850 i had lying around, but i can’t use the internal power cable that comes with the case. If i try it it trips the cirquit breaker. I had to remove the top cover and connect the PSU to the wall with directly with one cable. When i do this, everything works fine. Don’t know if these two issues are connected.

 

[exzacklyright]

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E168351...0i pro&cm_re=h100i_pro-_-35-181-141-_-Product

It's on sale... is anything better than this for the ncase m1 + i9-9900K?

 

[Qrash]

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16835181141?Description=h100i pro&cm_re=h100i_pro-_-35-181-141-_-Product

It's on sale... is anything better than this for the ncase m1 + i9-9900K?

I have no direct experience with this, but I have read many positive posts about the Kraken X52. It has barbs that can swivel which makes routing the tubes easier.

 

[Skott]

The H100i has been used in builds around here. Not sure about the 'Pro' model though. Guessing the size is all the same but with added features?

 

[Grendell]

i use the H100i pro one on my 9900k it fits and it works quite well , around 30 C on idle and gaming 55C +- , will post some pictures later

 

[Grendell]

story time ;D

a few pages befor i showed some pictures from my update v3tov6 , now i made some more changes

-2080ti blower -> 2080ti custom (msi ventus oc)
-bottom intake fans 120x25 noctua 2X -> 120X15 noctua 2X ( because graka slitly taller)
-changed the airflow on the aio from push (inside / outside) to pull autside / inside , fan at the rear from intake to exhaust
- 2x 2,5 ssd , 2x m.2 ssd
-it looks somewhat crowded but its not , there is alot of space betweet the parts only the graka and bottom coolers are tight but they dont touch each other , graka hight is 50mm says msi homepage

 

[ThatOtherGuy314]

The website says the M1 restocks on 1/1/2020, but you still can't order one. Is there another place to buy one or put in a pre-order?

 

[Qrash]

In a SFF forum post today, Necere wrote the following:

The plan was for 12pm PST/8pm GMT, but there may be a bit of a delay as I need to confirm the shipping schedule with w360 and it's currently 3am where he is.​

 

[Grendell]

ncase.com says "Orders will open on Saturday, January 4th at 9am PST/5pm GMT."

I am a bit lazy what changed from 6 to 6.1

And I would also like to know will there ever be a restock on the top panel with odd support? Because right now I us the odd top panel from v3 it fits but it seems to be a bit smaller in thickness

 

[Qrash]

ncase.com says "Orders will open on Saturday, January 4th at 9am PST/5pm GMT."

I am a bit lazy what changed from 6 to 6.1

And I would also like to know will there ever be a restock on the top panel with odd support? Because right now I us the odd top panel from v3 it fits but it seems to be a bit smaller in thickness

This post at the SFF Forums contains the Change Log in the first post: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/ncase-m1-v6-info.10687/
Click on "M1 V6 changelog" to open the list.

The top panel thickness was increased from 1.5 mm to 2.0 mm for V6, but earlier ODD Top Panels should still fit. Note: the V6 ODD tray has been changed to permit 9.5 mm thick optical drives now, in addition to 12.7 mm thick drives.

 

[Grendell]

Hi thanks for the answer, I know the thickness had changed I had not the chance to buy my v6 with odd top panel and use mine from v3 for now , I just wunder if the odd top panel will be restocked some time soon

 

[xcharlesy]

Hello! I am looking to run a Gigabyte 2070 Super GAMING OC in my upcoming Ncase build. I have read that this card fits on the official GPU list, however I would like to confirm that it fits in multiple cooling scenarios. (FYI the "Gaming OC" version is thicker than the "Windforce OC" version).

1. [STOCK CARD] Will be able to fit 2 25mm fans underneath?
   
   
2. [DE-SHROUDED W/ 2 25MM FANS] Will I be able to de-shroud this card and not worry about metal tabs like the strix? In that link's post a user comments on the Gigabyte card not having tabs, but I haven't been able to confirm this.
   

Additionally, if anyone has links/mentions to builds in the Ncase that feature this card please feel free to share with with me. Or any suggestions otherwise. I think this card is one of the better options since I do not want to run an Accelero and would like to stay away from modding for the most part (unless it's simply removing a shroud). Another option might be the FE which isn't extremely easy to get in Canada, or the EVGA (however this shroud can't be removed either like the Asus).

 

[Shoganai]

Hmm ... I'm very tempted to use this case for my next build ... now that you can cram an AIO in there quite easily.

 

[Qrash]

Hello! I am looking to run a Gigabyte 2070 Super GAMING OC in my upcoming Ncase build. I have read that this card fits on the official GPU list, however I would like to confirm that it fits in multiple cooling scenarios. (FYI the "Gaming OC" version is thicker than the "Windforce OC" version).

1. [STOCK CARD] Will be able to fit 2 25mm fans underneath?
   
   
2. [DE-SHROUDED W/ 2 25MM FANS] Will I be able to de-shroud this card and not worry about metal tabs like the strix? In that link's post a user comments on the Gigabyte card not having tabs, but I haven't been able to confirm this.

Additionally, if anyone has links/mentions to builds in the Ncase that feature this card please feel free to share with with me. Or any suggestions otherwise. I think this card is one of the better options since I do not want to run an Accelero and would like to stay away from modding for the most part (unless it's simply removing a shroud). Another option might be the FE which isn't extremely easy to get in Canada, or the EVGA (however this shroud can't be removed either like the Asus).

The stock card is listed as 50.2 mm thick so that only leaves 16.8 mm underneath for bottom-mounted fans (total space for expansion cards and the space below them is 67 mm).

I read the reddit thread you linked to and it mentions a lack of tabs on the Gigabyte 2080, not the 2070. Gigabyte's website for the 2070 Super Gaming OC has an exploded view of the cooler and it appears to have no tabs, but the illustration may be simplified. Also, deshrouded, I don't know if there will be enough room under the bare heatsink for 25 mm fans. You need to gain 8.2 mm from deshrouding for 25 mm fans to fit and that appears to be a reasonable expectation, but then there's the possibility of tabs to deal with.