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

Thx for the quick reply! Has their been alot of hiccups in customs in the past? if so what kind of delay is to be expected taking into account the past delays?
W360 handles orders, not me, so I don't know about every situation that arises. Having said that, I haven't heard of any problems with customs for US orders.
 
That's a brilliant solution!

Thanks! Credit goes to CyberShot for testing it in the M1 first. I just happen to mount my riser to the case, and take some pics of the process.

If anyone is interested in mounting it the same, you'll need 8mm standoffs. I chose these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AQTWYUY since there isn't much space on the between the back of the motherboard tray and side panel, and you'll need low profile M3 screws for that side.
 
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That's a brilliant solution!
Just a suggestion, but if you are going to quote 3 pages worth of scrolling without referencing to the images, please don't quote the images or use spoiler tags:
[?spoiler="images"] image 1, image 2, whatnot [?/spoiler]
(without the ?-sign)

It makes it much more confusing to read.
 
Just a suggestion, but if you are going to quote 3 pages worth of scrolling without referencing to the images, please don't quote the images or use spoiler tags:
[?spoiler="images"] image 1, image 2, whatnot [?/spoiler]
(without the ?-sign)

It makes it much more confusing to read.

So sorry about that- Will keep that in mind. Thanks!
 
I just completed a mod to my M1 last night. I added one of the PCIe extenders (listed somewhere in this forum.. I forget where I saw it :p). It fit perfectly, with just enough room to mount it to the motherboard tray.
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Now I have more clearance for cpu air coolers :) I ditched my H220, because it leaked on my Titan :mad:, and don't want it taking out my new Titan X. Currently have a Thermalright AXP140 on it, with Thermalright Venomous-X bolt thru mounting kit :cool:
That is a brilliant solution. :)
How did you connect the standoffs? Did you just drill some holes and stuck some small screws in?

How much room is there? Because this makes me lust after a SFX-L or fullsize ATX PSU. :p
 
I just completed a mod to my M1 last night. I added one of the PCIe extenders (listed somewhere in this forum.. I forget where I saw it :p). It fit perfectly, with just enough room to mount it to the motherboard tray.
Does it really have to be an 11cm long ribbon though? It does seem like a 5cm or 7cm long ribbon should be just long enough.
I'm thinking of getting one myself, just not sure that length is necessary, and they have more length options. What do you think?

P.S. - BTW you can order from Ameri-Rack directly, they're quite nice and ship worldwide. I did before, wasn't disappointed. Probably cheaper than ebay resellers, too.
 
Anyone installed a 295x2 in their M1?

I don't think so... I explored the possibility for quite some time, but it's pretty iffy. You'd need a 140 mm ATX PSU like the Silverstone S12-G 750w, which leaves you just the space above the CPU/HSF to mount the radiator. Plus you'll be dealing with non-modular PSU cables, not to mention dissipating a LOT of heat in a very small space.

I still think about it now and then, but it just seems more difficult than it's probably worth. The Titan Z would be a better solution, if it wasn't ludicrously overpriced.
 
I don't think so... I explored the possibility for quite some time, but it's pretty iffy. You'd need a 140 mm ATX PSU like the Silverstone S12-G 750w, which leaves you just the space above the CPU/HSF to mount the radiator. Plus you'll be dealing with non-modular PSU cables, not to mention dissipating a LOT of heat in a very small space.

I still think about it now and then, but it just seems more difficult than it's probably worth. The Titan Z would be a better solution, if it wasn't ludicrously overpriced.

Funny, because I have that exact PSU in another build...

Someone has offered me a nearly new 295X2 at a good price, I'm willing to modify the PSU cables to help with the cable management if need be.

I think it's worth a go, at the very worst it doesn't work and I can just put it in the other bigger case where the S12-G already resides.
 
I have a question about how to set up the air flow in my NCase M1 V3.

I have a H100i cooler for my CPU and have set both of these as intake. I also have a MSI R9 290 GPU which is recording ~85 degrees when gaming.

I will be getting two Noctua fans to replace the stock fans on the H100i. Would it be better for me to flip them and have them as exhaust? I'm also thinking of moving the stock H100i fans to the bottom of the case and having them set as intake, directly feeding the r9 290. The only problem with that is the stock fans can get pretty loud. Would it be ok if I set them at a fixed low RPM? Otherwise, I will probably just end up not using them.
 
I have a question about how to set up the air flow in my NCase M1 V3.

I have a H100i cooler for my CPU and have set both of these as intake. I also have a MSI R9 290 GPU which is recording ~85 degrees when gaming.

I will be getting two Noctua fans to replace the stock fans on the H100i. Would it be better for me to flip them and have them as exhaust? I'm also thinking of moving the stock H100i fans to the bottom of the case and having them set as intake, directly feeding the r9 290. The only problem with that is the stock fans can get pretty loud. Would it be ok if I set them at a fixed low RPM? Otherwise, I will probably just end up not using them.

Depends on your graphics card. Is it a reference card or does it have axial fans? If it's reference, it probably won't matter much.
If not, I dropped my temperatures 10 degrees by flipping my fans to exhaust. I also have an H100i.
It comes at the cost of higher CPU temperatures (I would avoid AVX stress testing altogether in an overclocked exhaust setup), but I run my fans at a calm 1100 RPM at load and GPU fans at 2500 RPM.

If you can fit the fans under the card (I personally can't because the GPU cooler makes contact), I would try it out. Use Speedfan or your preferred software to lower them to 1000 RPM.
With Speedfan, you can configure them to speed up at high GPU temperatures. It would probably be a lot better than no fans.
 
I think you're always going to be battling high temps with a 290 in a small case, no matter how you set it up.
 
Funny, because I have that exact PSU in another build...

Someone has offered me a nearly new 295X2 at a good price, I'm willing to modify the PSU cables to help with the cable management if need be.

I think it's worth a go, at the very worst it doesn't work and I can just put it in the other bigger case where the S12-G already resides.

Well then... I think you know what you have to do! I'm rooting for you. Would be great seeing a successful 295X2 build in the M1!
 
I'm thinking of buying some fans to place on the bottom of my NCase to blow air directly into my GPU's intake (MSI Radeon R9 290 TWIN FROZR IV) to help with temps. I currently have my h100i fans set as exhaust(I found that having them set as exhaust decreases my GPU temps by ~10 degrees). Now with the NCase being the first computer I've built, I have no idea which fans would best suited for this. I'm looking at the Noctua NF-F12 PWM fans based solely on reviews. Any insight on this would be appreciated.
 
I'm using Corsair SP120s (Quiet Edition) for my MSI 980, and they're completely silent when using the included low noise adapters.
 
Well then... I think you know what you have to do! I'm rooting for you. Would be great seeing a successful 295X2 build in the M1!

My only reservation is cooling both the GPU rad and the CPU heatsink, seeing as the radiator + fan requires approx 65mm of space, that doesn't leave much room for a CPU fan on a low profile cooler (I already have two to chose from).

The problem is that the 295x2 fan MUST be an exhaust because of the amount of heat it has to deal with, but that means I could have the GPU fan and CPU fan only mm apart and fighting for air, so it may be a case of setting the CPU fan to pull rather than push, which will require backing off the overclock and volts, and could increase the GPU temp also seeing as it will be fed warm air from the CPU fan.
 
I'm thinking of buying some fans to place on the bottom of my NCase to blow air directly into my GPU's intake (MSI Radeon R9 290 TWIN FROZR IV) to help with temps. I currently have my h100i fans set as exhaust(I found that having them set as exhaust decreases my GPU temps by ~10 degrees). Now with the NCase being the first computer I've built, I have no idea which fans would best suited for this. I'm looking at the Noctua NF-F12 PWM fans based solely on reviews. Any insight on this would be appreciated.

I don't know anything about the NF-F12's, but if you want the absolute best, you would technically want high airflow fans which usually means low static pressure. For a radiator like the H100i you want high static pressure, for case fans you want high airflow. That said, the difference will be so very minimal that I would go for the cheapest fan you like.
 
Pardon me if this is dumb idea, but would two 120MM AIO's fit on the fan/hdd bracket? The radiators don't appear to be wider than the fans.


And I'll toss in a picture of my build for tax:
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This isn't a new build for the most part. I migrated my previous build in a Fractal Node 605 into this case. I had to get a new mobo and PSU though.
i5 4670k cooled by a Scythe Big Shuriken Rev. B
16gb Kingston Savage 2400mhz DDR3
2 x Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD's in Raid 0
1 x old laptop 7200rpm 320gb HDD
Gigabyte GTX770 4GB GPUj
ASUS RoG Maximus VII Impact
Silverstone 600w SFX PSU
2 Corsair AF120 Performance Editions running @ 600RPM's until the heat kicks up.

I looped a twist tie through the GPU's shroud and through a mounting hole on the front of the case to provide support for the GPU because it was sagging without it. I tried to do some managing of the cables until it came time to run the 3 SATA cables running to the drives... I'll deal with that later.

That + two Corsair AF120 Performance Editions mounted as intakes on the fan/hdd bracket. I have them setup with Corsairs Fan XPert 2 to only run @ 600RPM until the heat kicks up. It's a super quiet until I start gaming.
 
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I've had fans in the bottom without any issues, except a bit of noise, I think being right up close to the bottom intake increases noise.

TBH I didn't see much improvement in any temps, so by all means experiment and see how it works out for you.
 
That is a brilliant solution. :)
How did you connect the standoffs? Did you just drill some holes and stuck some small screws in?

How much room is there? Because this makes me lust after a SFX-L or fullsize ATX PSU. :p

The standoffs I used have holes on both ends (I linked them in my previous post). Mount them to the PCIe extender board, plug in your videocard, mount everything in your case, and mark where you need to drill holes on the motherboard tray. Afterwards, using low profile screws, screw the bracket to the motherboard tray.

Not sure about how much room. My guess would be one PCIe slots worth of space :p

Does it really have to be an 11cm long ribbon though? It does seem like a 5cm or 7cm long ribbon should be just long enough.
I'm thinking of getting one myself, just not sure that length is necessary, and they have more length options. What do you think?

P.S. - BTW you can order from Ameri-Rack directly, they're quite nice and ship worldwide. I did before, wasn't disappointed. Probably cheaper than ebay resellers, too.

You can probably get by with a shorter ribbon cable length. How much? I'm not sure, but @$50 I didn't want to buy something too short, so I went with what was already tested. There's a decent amount of slack, as seen in the pictures. Having the slack near the motherboard slot makes it easy to remove/swap components though.
 
Has anyone experienced any significant improvements in their temps by adding bottoms fans while using a blower style gpu. I am using a GTX 970 and am wondering if it's worth adding two fans to the bottom as intakes. More fans = more noise, but if it will help keep my case cooler, I'll consider them.

I currently have an H100i in my system with both fans set to exhaust.
 
Has anyone experienced any significant improvements in their temps by adding bottoms fans while using a blower style gpu. I am using a GTX 970 and am wondering if it's worth adding two fans to the bottom as intakes. More fans = more noise, but if it will help keep my case cooler, I'll consider them.

I currently have an H100i in my system with both fans set to exhaust.

I've had fans in the bottom without any issues, except a bit of noise, I think being right up close to the bottom intake increases noise.

TBH I didn't see much improvement in any temps, so by all means experiment and see how it works out for you.

Made no difference to GPU temps.
 
Has anyone experienced any significant improvements in their temps by adding bottoms fans while using a blower style gpu. I am using a GTX 970 and am wondering if it's worth adding two fans to the bottom as intakes. More fans = more noise, but if it will help keep my case cooler, I'll consider them.

I currently have an H100i in my system with both fans set to exhaust.

Didn't make a difference w/ my reference 980. When I tried a dual fan 980 in a friend's M1, it did make a difference.
 
Didn't make a difference w/ my reference 980. When I tried a dual fan 980 in a friend's M1, it did make a difference.

Can you tell me how you and your friend had the rest of the air flow set up in your cases? Do you have the side panels set as intake or exhaust?
 
Finally after months of procrastination and IRL issues, I finally got the custom loop all done in my M1.

Pics: http://imgur.com/a/r8MGb

Core i7 3770K
Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe
8GB G.Skill DDR3-1600
Silverstone ST45SF-G
Gainward ref. GTX 970
2x240GB Intel 520 Series SSD
1TB WD Caviar Black

Loop:
NCase FrozenQ reservoir
Swiftech H220 rad
EK DDC pump with added top
EK GTX 970 block
3/8" 5/8" tubing and mixed Bitspower/Swiftech fittings
2xScythe GT

Cabling isn't that great but I'm not gonna complain, first WC build ever for me after all. Maybe I'll sort it out later...

BTW, for those using DDC pumps, any recommendations for how to reduce noise? Mine constantly sounds like the pump in this video: https://youtu.be/777JcqPVgLU?t=6m55s
 
There is a guy(B-M) on ebay selling dirac units, nice guy, replys fast and refunded me without hesitation.
But he seems to have some issues getting the units, I waited for 3½weeks before I asked for a refund (it hadn't been shipped), he's says "ships in 3-5 days" and that was far off, at least in my case. Just a heads up..
 
BTW, for those using DDC pumps, any recommendations for how to reduce noise?

It's the PWM version of the pump right? Connect it to your CPU fan header on your motherboard. The GTs can't be controlled by your motherboard because the P8Z77-I only does PWM control, not voltage control.
 
It's the PWM version of the pump right? Connect it to your CPU fan header on your motherboard. The GTs can't be controlled by your motherboard because the P8Z77-I only does PWM control, not voltage control.
I'll try that out if there's no other alternative I can think of. The fan headers on the mobo are at the other end of the case from where the pump is, and my cabling is messy enough rushing this build as it is.

How much RPM is needed for that pump to go up to that noise levels, anyway?
 
Holy shit dude, that's awesome!

How're the temps?

Well it's hard to to tell at such short notice, I literally don't have the time to do any proper testing at the minute, all I did was fire it up to check it all worked and installed the AMD drivers, but during all that temps looked ok.

How do you cool the cpu? Is that PSU enough?

CPU cooler is a Prolimatech Samuel 17 with another GT1850 fitted. PSU should be fine yes, 62A on the 12v rail with seperate 8 pin supplies, it's rated at 750W but it's been tested up to 844w, most 295x2 systems I've seen have drawn about 600-650w from the wall with both CPU and GU stress tests running.

Wow! Any more pics? Great job getting it all in there

Yes it was a struggle to fit, I didn't take any more pics, when I get back home I'll see what I can do.

To be honest guys I don't think it's a long term realistic build, cooling isn't ideal and there's a ton of sag on the GPU that I don't like the look of. But it was interesting to see if it would all fit and work.
 
Unsure if this has been posted or not, but this is something that I'll definitely be looking to buy before long. The placement of the USB3.0 header on the Asus Impact VI is in an already poor position (right next to the PSU), but combined with the stupidhuge default USB3.0 header, it's atrocious.
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slim usb 3.0 header adapter
 
I'm looking for a short power cord similar to the angled one used in the M1, but with a "straight" connector at the PSU.
 
How much RPM is needed for that pump to go up to that noise levels, anyway?

A DDC pump at 100% is enough to drive several waterblocks and radiators, so when you have only a radiator and two blocks, it's like driving a manual car in first gear.

I usually run DDC pumps at 20% and it's enough to get turbulent flow within the loop, while staying relatively silent.
 
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