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

@tblake

If you're able to fit a fan in the back, that'd be even better because then you'd only need 1 fan filter, it'd be best if you can somehow create positive pressure, not sure if you'd be able to with two 120mm exhaust. However if the intake was strong enough it might. It'd be interesting to see if I can fit a 120mm intake on the bottom next to the hard drive and an 90/92mm or 80mm intake on the back as well and see If I can pull off positive pressure with that. I'll see if it fits and take pictures if it does and post it.

Also believe it or not, a non-slim will easily fit (25mm - 30mm), I have a 90mm fan and it fits (width wise) in there. You'd have to fit the small fan in first before you do so however.
I happen to find a random 90mm fan laying around and popped it in for size so you can see, it's not plugged in, but I could easily use a splitter and share a fan slot on the mobo

Link to pictures: https://drive.google.com/folderview...dDSkNFeXp4TjRBZExRc0F5RTRmLXlFbXM&usp=sharing

@grazina

Yes, you can control the pump in the mobo with pwm.

Just so you know, I have 3 motherboard fan controls. 1 is the CPU pump, the 2nd is the CPU fan, and the last is the GPU fan. The GPU pump is getting power from where the blower style fan normally gets power.

I also took some pictures of the 3 pin being plugged into a 4 pin, not sure if you were asking so i posted them anyway.

Check it out here: https://drive.google.com/folderview...d2VVVxZlY0bG5GR3lGUklZU1VQdWFXRjg&usp=sharing
 
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I'm new here. I want to build a new computer soon, and the M1 is an appealing case. The reviews of the Hybrid 980 seem very positive, and it's the GPU I'd like to go with. I still haven't decided between the 4690k and the 4790k.

I'm looking for a quiet cooler than can handle the 4790k at 4.5 GHz that could fit inside the M1. If the forward 120mm position is occupied with the GPU cooler, what's the quietest CPU cooler that can be used?

I don't mind the CPU being on air if that's the quieter solution. I hear that basically all the 120 mm liquid solutions are noisy...
 
@tblake: @12V the Vantec Tornado pushes about 9mmH2O and 85 CFM (assuming I'm reading the graph correctly...it's a bit convoluted), but it's a bit loud. Their stealth fan is a bit quieter, but only pushes about 1mmH2O. Of course, that's just going by their specs, but should be about right.

Might be good if paired with low airflow high static-pressure fans in exhaust? Dunno, haven't studied fluid dynamics. :/
 
@Lt Broccoli

I'll tell you, I have the h55, and the hybrid in that M1 ncase, and the loudest thing under full load is the HDD western digital black idle. If that gives you an idea I would hope. The h55 and hybrid have their fans set to around 1000 rpm and it's still quiet and never goes above 55c under full load.

@Nobu

That'd be interesting, If It could be possible to create positive pressure with a little fan in the back without being louder than everything else, that'd be amazing. Otherwise the only way that'd be possible is to start utilizing real estate under the video card which ain't going to happen. (Trust me I tried to fit a 120mm down there with the full size HDD installed). I mean I'd like to be proven wrong that you can fit a 120mm fan at the bottom as well as a full size HDD as well, but I doubt it.
 
So this arrived you know that it means!

ODkWGue.jpg


Asrock X99E-ITX/ac arrives tomorrow.

Gonna be maaaaaaaad in the NCASE
 
@Greasy Bacon

Thanks again for the information! Your pictures are really helpful - I truly appreciate them :) I am kind of shocked that a 25mm deep fan fits in the rear, but that is awesome. From the angle on your new pics it looks like 2 stacked SSDs would fit at the interior front panel position. True? If so I can also get a fan on the bottom of the case under the intake fan for the GPU. I would likely use a Noctua NF-A9 PWM for the rear and an NF-12 SA PWM for the bottom. With those two for intakes hopefully that would be enough to create positive pressure. Then I would only need filters for the top and side (behind MB) of the case. I am going to use an Impact VII mobo which has 4 fan headers, so I would only need to split one of them (5 connections needed including H55 pump). I just need to mount 2 SSD's inside the case so that frees up some options on the bottom. I have mechanical drives but they can all be external to the case. Looking forward to giving it a try!

@Nobu

Thanks for the info on the Vantec fan. It looks interesting but at 38mm deep there's no way it will fit at the rear position of the M1 with this dual rad build. Since I have always had good luck with Noctua fans and I already have them to use for the radiator exhausts I think I'll just stick with that brand.
 
@tblake

Ah, sorry, mis-read his post, thought there was more space than that. Oh well, probably would have been too loud anyway, even with 5v or 7v, or would have been too little air flow. They do have smaller fans, but they don't list the static pressure for them, and you might as well go with a brand you're comfortable with.
 
tblake said:
Then I would only need filters for the top and side (behind MB) of the case.
Click to expand...
FYI there's no room for a filter on the inside of the right side panel - the SFX bracket is right up against it. Even excluding the bracket, there's only ~1.5mm between the motherboard tray and side panel, while the Demciflex filters are 2.5-2.8mm thick.

The only Demciflex filters I endorse for the M1 are the square 120mm design with the corners notched out, and those are meant for the fan bracket and bottom of the case. The larger rectangular filters were designed by other people, and may not fit well with things like bottom-mounted drives or non-low profile screw heads on the fans.
 
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@DfknG be sure to post pics!

@tblake

Yeah no problem, I really wished there was some info when I was looking up on how to do the build I currently have, so i'm glad to help someone else out that's interested!

Also Necere makes a good point, however, I bet if you really wanted to. You can custom order them to the specific dimensions and have them ordered and not have to deal with those said issues and it'd take into account those little mounts hanging out the bottom of the case with drive mounts and fan mounts etc.

In my opinion, if you're not going to have any full size mechanical drives, you can fit a 120mm on the bottom right side of the case in under the blower fan intake as well as that back 92mm fan, and with filters covering those and the top (top because dust falls and all that, unless your computer is on 24/7) then you should be good!

You have a couple options for SSD mounting, you could definitely fit 2 SSD's on either the bottom under the video card, or behind the front panel with the doubling bracket that came with the ncase. I found this image that perfectly represents what the bracket can do.

It's pretty clever, this guy has one SSD facing down, and the other facing up. I imagine it won't fit unless you do that because of how close they are. Unless you just mount the SSD's in two separate locations.
GANd1DR.jpg
 
Greasy Bacon said:
I found this image that perfectly represents what the bracket can do.
It's pretty clever, this guy has one SSD facing down, and the other facing up.
Click to expand...
That's a pic from the prototype testing I did :p It's in the first post of this thread.
 
@Greasy Bacon & @Necere

Thanks again for all the help guys! I look forward to the puzzle of making it all work. Will post pics when done. It will be a while though as I am in the latest M1 shipping batch.
 
Greasy Bacon said:
@grazina

Yes, you can control the pump in the mobo with pwm.

Just so you know, I have 3 motherboard fan controls. 1 is the CPU pump, the 2nd is the CPU fan, and the last is the GPU fan. The GPU pump is getting power from where the blower style fan normally gets power.

I also took some pictures of the 3 pin being plugged into a 4 pin, not sure if you were asking so i posted them anyway.

Check it out here: https://drive.google.com/folderview...d2VVVxZlY0bG5GR3lGUklZU1VQdWFXRjg&usp=sharing
Click to expand...

Sorry I wasn't clear enough. What I meant was, The noctua fans you're using have 4 pin connectors right? And the fan connector on the 980 hybrid is 3 pin. How did you connect the 4 pin fan on the 3 pin connector? Or are you connecting both fans to the mobo?

P.S - Thank you for the pictures.
 
grazina said:
Sorry I wasn't clear enough. What I meant was, The noctua fans you're using have 4 pin connectors right? And the fan connector on the 980 hybrid is 3 pin. How did you connect the 4 pin fan on the 3 pin connector? Or are you connecting both fans to the mobo?

P.S - Thank you for the pictures.
Click to expand...

Oh okay. Yeah i just plugged it into the motherboard, even though you can do a jank mod and just cut the little piece in the way of plugging it in. The only reason I didn't do that is because I saw that you can't control the fan speed through that because it's only 2 pin. However even at around 1000rpm under load, it never got above 55c so I don't think i'm going to mess around with it until i start overclocking
 
Greasy Bacon said:
@DfknG be sure to post pics!
It's pretty clever, this guy has one SSD facing down, and the other facing up. I imagine it won't fit unless you do that because of how close they are. Unless you just mount the SSD's in two separate locations.
Click to expand...

It will. Just make sure to use the last power connector on the cable for one of them. The power cable is actually an issue with the proposed one down, one up solution; the standard SATA power cable on the SX600 isn't long enough.
EDIT: It has come to my attention that perhaps it could work, but you would have to use the first two connectors since those have 20 cm of cable between them whereas there's only 10 cm between each of the last three.

ZWSSncUl.jpg
 
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Here's the dimensions and two reviews of the Dark Rock TF, for those who are interested.

It seems like, unfortunately, the mounting system is really awful, but the cooler itself it pretty great, on par with the NH-D15.

tpSNhLJ.png
 
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Curiositie said:
Here's the dimensions and two reviews of the Dark Rock TF, for those who are interested.
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According to the drawing there's 49mm of clearance between board and cooler, while the M1 needs only 46mm to clear the SFX bracket. That's with the bottom fan mounted, which you couldn't do with the the NH-C14. So this cooler is potentially even better than the NH-C14 for the M1 :)
 
Every review I read of a Be Quiet! cooler always indicates how horrible the experience of mounting it is. Blah. I was hoping this cooler would have been improved in that regard. I've been spoiled with Noctua.
 
mark7993 said:
I'm hoping so badly that it'll fit on Asus Impacts without any issues...
Click to expand...

I'm hoping it'll work on my P8Z77I-Deluxe, if it fits on one it should fit on the other.

Worried about the bolt in the corner by the I/O and VRMs though.



This Cooler + the 700W platinum SFX-L would be amazing. Do want.
 
One could suggest that the current size of the silverstone SFX-L will be maintained, as it would make sense from a production point of view.
 
Necere said:
According to the drawing there's 49mm of clearance between board and cooler, while the M1 needs only 46mm to clear the SFX bracket. That's with the bottom fan mounted, which you couldn't do with the the NH-C14. So this cooler is potentially even better than the NH-C14 for the M1 :)
Click to expand...

What's the problem with the SFX-bracket? I've never heard of that before.
 
Necere said:
So this cooler [Dark Rock TF] is potentially even better than the NH-C14 for the M1 :)
Click to expand...

So.. any thoughts if this one might clear the HDD cage? :p

It appears to be a few mm narrower than the C14, but over 10mm wider than the C12.. so I'm guessing no. And it seems to be 0.8mm too tall for the M1 with its stock upper fan.


And whoa, why didn't anyone show me this build before..

aVvhPZjl.jpg


Beautiful. Hmm.. make room for bigger cooler, or cram 4x 3.5" HDD for a 20TB+ M1? :eek:
 
iFreilicht said:
What's the problem with the SFX-bracket? I've never heard of that before.
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With the (now discontinued) NH-C14, the cooler overhangs the front of the motherboard and the SFX bracket, which prevents the second 140mm fan from being installed on the bottom of the cooler:

RMgfA99.jpg


I say bracket, but technically it might just be the PSU itself that interferes. The Dark Rock TF has enough clearance that both fans can be used without interference.

AFD said:
So.. any thoughts if this one might clear the HDD cage? :p

It appears to be a few mm narrower than the C14, but over 10mm wider than the C12.. so I'm guessing no. And it seems to be 0.8mm too tall for the M1 with its stock upper fan.
Click to expand...
Looking at the drawing of the Dark Rock again, it might actually be possible to orient it so the heatpipe ends are pointed towards the rear of the case, which would allow the HDD cage to fit. It seems very tight though, and a few mm one way or the other on the socket location could make or break it.

Also, it should fit height-wise. I know the specs say 130mm max height in the M1 for the CPU cooler, but there's actually 1-2mm of leeway in that measurement. Keep in mind that's with the fan bracket installed as well, which when removed frees up another ~5mm.

AFD said:
And whoa, why didn't anyone show me this build before..

...

Beautiful. Hmm.. make room for bigger cooler, or cram 4x 3.5" HDD for a 20TB+ M1? :eek:
Click to expand...
He must be using some very low profile connectors on those hard drives, because early on in the M1's design I discovered that orienting the drives that way wasn't going to fit in the width of the case with standard right-angle SATA connectors. I'm actually kind of surprised the cage fits that way, though he did have to remove the front USB ports to get it in.
 
Could very well be the Silverstone CP11 cables.

I've stopped using the few I had as they don't seem to transmit data properly (possibly too easily damaged).
 
Greasy Bacon said:
It's pretty clever, this guy has one SSD facing down, and the other facing up. I imagine it won't fit unless you do that because of how close they are. Unless you just mount the SSD's in two separate locations.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind cannibalizing power cables, you can do what this guy did and make a custom cable to specifically fit 2 drives and (possibly) a slim ODD.
12015260785_b3a123043a_n.jpg


I've done essentially the same thing (sorry, no pics at the moment), but instead of terminating in a traditional sata power connector for the ODD, I terminated it in a slimline power connector, so I won't have to use an adapter.
 
Thats nice and neat. Do those power connectors simply press together, meaning one could simply add it to the existing flat power cables. I love how neat that is.
 
You have to push the wire into connector and it has a sharp bit of metal that cuts the insulation and bites into the metal.

Then you snap the back part on to cover it.
 
Yeah, there are slots that the wires slip into that automagically cut into the insulation to make contact. I'm not going to say all sata power connectors are like that, but all of them that I've ever seen on my modular PSUs are like that.
 
BeQuiet DarkRock Top Flow
it might just perfectly fit on the Asus Impact Z87 in the M1.
... or maybe not ?!

OW29T0S.png


edit: it might interfere with the top panel, though there is some space between the border of the motherboard and the top panel.
also the cooler might fit turned 180ºC
 
grazina said:
I have the Noctua NH-C12PSE14 with their 3000rpm industrial fan and even than the temps go really high.
Click to expand...

I have the same cooler but it is 4670K running at 4.4GHz and with heavy load it stays below 75oC.
Are you doing a huge o/c?
Btw: with low load I set this fan to run at 300 rpm. (very low noise)

uxFbbppm.jpg
 
Greasy Bacon said:
Oh okay. Yeah i just plugged it into the motherboard, even though you can do a jank mod and just cut the little piece in the way of plugging it in. The only reason I didn't do that is because I saw that you can't control the fan speed through that because it's only 2 pin. However even at around 1000rpm under load, it never got above 55c so I don't think i'm going to mess around with it until i start overclocking
Click to expand...

Can I assume that if you replace the evga fan for another one since it's only two pins it will always run at max when connected to the gpu pump?

And I wanted to thank you for your pictures. Because I have a corsair full atx psu in my case I never tough about using a liquid cooler. But now that I see that it fits i've ordered one. I'll be getting the Seidon 120V rev2.0 next week. It was cheaper than the corsair you have and since the asrock itx99/ac includes the bracket for it I'm future proffing myself. Another thing I like is that the cpu block is squared and larger than the round ones in the corsair models.
Curious thing from a reviewer where I bought it. He plugged the pump to sys fan 1 so it would run at full speed and left the fan on the cpu connector. I like this since the fan speed will still be controlled automaticaly by the board.

A couple of questions?

Do you have your pump at full speed?

Have you tried the fans in pull configuration with them in the same position but pulling air trought the radiator from the outside?
 
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Proglin said:
I have the same cooler but it is 4670K running at 4.4GHz and with heavy load it stays below 75oC.
Are you doing a huge o/c?
Btw: with low load I set this fan to run at 300 rpm. (very low noise)

uxFbbppm.jpg
Click to expand...

Not doing any overclock. I have my M1 inside a drawer so it might have somthing to do with that. I've ordered a Seidon 120V and next week will replace my noctua for good I hope. I will be keeping the noctua 3000 fan tough since it moves a lot of air.

Our configs look a lot like the same. Only have a gtx 750 ti since a longer card will not fit the that psu and the sfx so far have been to noisy. Really hopping someone brings that in beetween lenght Dirac Tesla 650w model to europ.
 
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Yeah, if it's in a drawer and the exhaust of your case isn't effectively vented out of the drawer, you might just be circulating hot air in the drawer. It's like putting a computer case inside of a larger computer case which has no case fans--the air inside the larger case will tend to want to remain inside the larger case, except for the air going into and out of the smaller case.

If that's what's happening, then the Seidon may not help at all. It'd be a good idea to test your system outside of the drawer before replacing the cooler.
 
I tried searching but it is not working well, so sorry if this has already been answered (I'm sure it has). Is there any chance that the v3 SFX bracket be restocked prior to a future case production run?
 
thefivetheory said:
I tried searching but it is not working well, so sorry if this has already been answered (I'm sure it has). Is there any chance that the v3 SFX bracket be restocked prior to a future case production run?
Click to expand...

Unlikely, the minimum order quantity is 1000 IIRC.
 
thefivetheory said:
I tried searching but it is not working well, so sorry if this has already been answered (I'm sure it has). Is there any chance that the v3 SFX bracket be restocked prior to a future case production run?
Click to expand...
No. But the 4th production run is imminent, and we'll be opening pre-orders next week for the first batch that will ship from Taiwan around July 20th.
 
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