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

Whew, just ordered my parts! This is what I ended up with:

NCASE M1
Silverstone SFX 600 watt PSU
Asrock X99-E/ITX
Intel Xeon E5-2676 12-core - eBay special
Noctua NH-C14 cooler
32GB Crucial DDR4-2133 ECC memory (2x16gb)
MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6G
Sandisk 960GB Extreme Pro SATA SSD (I'll go M2 PCIE later)


Now my only question has to do with powering the 980 Ti. I can't seem to find anyone talking about it, but the MSI 980 Ti needs two 8-pin power cables and it looks like the Silverstone 600w only has one. How are you guys powering the 980 Ti, and what do I need to order to make it happen? I have all my parts coming Monday and want to be able to get this thing together as soon as I can - this seems to be my only hangup.

Thanks guys.
 
Last edited:
Aibohphobia said:
The SX600-G has two 6+2 pin PCIe power connectors.
Click to expand...

Ah, looking super close at review images reveals this to be the case. Awesome. Just a last minute panic that I may have forgotten one crucial thing. Last computer I built was in 2005 - socket 939 AMD.

Thanks!
 
What temps are you getting with that setup? Looking at cooling about same wattage with a 240 radiator.

Guessing that's system in your sig?
 
To be honest I'm still confused by this:

Max height (or width):
For cards up to 12.5" (317mm) or cards in the third slot: 4.4" (111mm)
For cards up to 11.5" (292mm) in the first or second slot: 5.5" (140mm) (4.7"/120mm at the PCIe power connectors)

What does this mean?!?!
 
Last edited:
exzacklyright said:
To be honest I'm still confused by this:

Max height (or width):
For cards up to 12.5" (317mm) or cards in the third slot: 4.4" (111mm)
For cards up to 11.5" (292mm) in the first or second slot: 5.5" (140mm) (4.7"/120mm at the PCIe power connectors)

What does this mean?!?!
Click to expand...
Which part do you need help with?
 
exzacklyright said:
So if the card is 12 '' the max height is 4.4''?
Click to expand...
Yes. The GPU size restrictions in the M1 are admittedly not the easiest to understand, so I've just made this image to help visualize things:


(click for bigger)
 
Last edited:
Are there a lot of steel parts on this case? Every case I buy rusts after awhile due to my tropic climate, but aluminum doesn't rust. Things that usually rust:

  • steel fan screens
  • steel screws
  • the steel parts around ports
  • the I/O shield on the back of the case.

I'm loving the look of this case. I currently have a black BitFenix Prodigy but the entire front of the case is turning orange due to the fan screen rusting. Since it's painted black it takes it a little longer but it's inevitable.
 
The case is entirely aluminium apart from the side fan/rad bracket, which was switched to steel with the v.4 in order to allow magnetic fan filters to be used without needing extra adhesive.
 
EdZ said:
The case is entirely aluminium apart from the side fan/rad bracket, which was switched to steel with the v.4 in order to allow magnetic fan filters to be used without needing extra adhesive.
Click to expand...

Are you 100% positive about that? The push-pins in the side panel and the standoffs for the motherboard are press-fit hardware that is usually made from stainless steel.

The screws might be made of steel but those are replacable.
 
Nice! I will probably buy some corrosion resistant screws online - I think #6-32 and M3 screws should do the trick. Also I can get some motherboard standoffs. Thinking brass or maybe even titanium.

How about rivets - those are usually steel. Also in the Linus video when he shows the hardware he comments on the metal fan grilles - those appear to be zinc plated steel. Is using those a requirement?

What are the push pins you mentioned?
 
The fan grilles are only required if something would otherwise hit a fan.

For example if the tube from a water cooler or a cable presses against the fan, it could be blocked, but with the grilles, it can't. If you muck about while the PC is on, grilles will also save your fingers.
 
Traveling from LA to Boston with my boxed up NCASE filled with random accessories. Had to check it, so my retail box is going to take a beating, but I've got a shiny 980ti, Asrock X99 mobo and 32GB of ram waiting on the other side.

Hope it doesn't get pummeled too hard under there. And I hope the E5-2676 Xeon will be okay stuffed in my backpack wearing nothing but a static bag. Heh.
 
marvel said:
Nice! I will probably buy some corrosion resistant screws online - I think #6-32 and M3 screws should do the trick. Also I can get some motherboard standoffs. Thinking brass or maybe even titanium.

How about rivets - those are usually steel. Also in the Linus video when he shows the hardware he comments on the metal fan grilles - those appear to be zinc plated steel. Is using those a requirement?

What are the push pins you mentioned?
Click to expand...

Just a warning, you can't easily replace the standoffs in the M1, they are pressed into the motherboard mount, so permanently connected with it. Even if you were to drill them out, replacing them would require some creative modding.

You could of course replace the rivets without hurting the structural integrity of the case, but you'd have to drill out and replace every single one of them. Not sure whether the stock ones are corrosion resistant, maybe you're in luck.

The push pins I'm talking about are pictured here: http://www.pcper.com/files/review/2014-04-27/DSC_0035.JPG
 
fs454 said:
Traveling from LA to Boston with my boxed up NCASE filled with random accessories. Had to check it, so my retail box is going to take a beating, but I've got a shiny 980ti, Asrock X99 mobo and 32GB of ram waiting on the other side.

Hope it doesn't get pummeled too hard under there. And I hope the E5-2676 Xeon will be okay stuffed in my backpack wearing nothing but a static bag. Heh.
Click to expand...

Just the ncase M1 OEM box? CHECKED?!

You sir are a brave man.
 
Timing forced me to - it's got no components in it! Just the case. I filled it with a sweatshirt and some tools wrapped in the middle. I'm traveling with a lot of camera equipment so unfortunately that takes precedence over the empty NCASE.

I'm building it in MA and need to get it back to Los Angeles at the top of January. Definitely going to be looking into a better solution for that trip, but this is exactly why I couldn't go with water cooling!

Hoping for the best.
 
Been lurking this tread for quite a while now.

Decided to build a little workstation for home use.

This was my first pc build ever. Also my first non-Mac computer.

I'm an industrial designer and use alot of 3D Programs.
Adobe CC, Maya, Modo, Z-Brush, Rhino / Grasshopper, Magics, Art-CAM, etc. to name a few.

I jumped on the v4 when it was available for pre-order.

Went for an X99 xeon build, for a semi-future proof build.

Sorry for the crappy images. Still need to do some cable management.

Better pics coming soon.

uhkt1P8.jpg


2yaMnLk.jpg


Parts below:

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2680V3 12 Core LGA2011-3 2.50G 30M
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B
Mobo: Asrock X99E-ITX/ac
Case: NCASE m1 v4
GPU: Saphire AMD R9 Nano
Ram: Crucial 32GB Kit (16GBx2) DDR4-2133 MT/s ECC RDIMM
Boot Drive: Samsung SM951 512gb
Storage Dive: Samsung 850 Pro 1tb
PSU: SeaSonic SS-520FL2 520W Fanless ( Added Noctua NF-F12 PWM for quiet cooling )


The PSU was given to me for free, so I just went with it. Provides for a near silent PC.
No overheating at all.

Surprisingly the loudest thing in the PC is the R9 Nano's coil whine when in 3D programs.
Every time in navigate in Maya or Modo viewport it buzzes. In heavy OpenCL renders it basically screams. Not what I was expecting.

But performance-wise Im very satisfied with it. I have a FirePro w9100 at work, and I don't feel underpowered at home at all.

Might do some changes soon to the setup. The CPU temps do reach 75C when rendering,
and the case is a little cramped due to the ATX PSU.

Im already maxing out the ram in certain programs, so I might have to upgrade to two 32gb dimms. ( read somewhere that it is possible with the AsRock x99 ITX )

Also there might be a spare FirePro w9100 laying around at work...

Overall love the little case. Love the current build. Faster than my previous 2013 Mac Pro.

More to come.
 
Coil whine is usualy caused by a very high framerate. Maybe you could limit it in Maya or Modo to 60fps ? I have no idea how this would work with these apps though, games can be limited through Radeon Settings.
 
The_Maker said:
Been lurking this tread for quite a while now.

Decided to build a little workstation for home use.

This was my first pc build ever. Also my first non-Mac computer.

I'm an industrial designer and use alot of 3D Programs.
Adobe CC, Maya, Modo, Z-Brush, Rhino / Grasshopper, Magics, Art-CAM, etc. to name a few.

I jumped on the v4 when it was available for pre-order.

Went for an X99 xeon build, for a semi-future proof build.

Sorry for the crappy images. Still need to do some cable management.

Better pics coming soon.

uhkt1P8.jpg


2yaMnLk.jpg


Parts below:

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2680V3 12 Core LGA2011-3 2.50G 30M
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B
Mobo: Asrock X99E-ITX/ac
Case: NCASE m1 v4
GPU: Saphire AMD R9 Nano
Ram: Crucial 32GB Kit (16GBx2) DDR4-2133 MT/s ECC RDIMM
Boot Drive: Samsung SM951 512gb
Storage Dive: Samsung 850 Pro 1tb
PSU: SeaSonic SS-520FL2 520W Fanless ( Added Noctua NF-F12 PWM for quiet cooling )


The PSU was given to me for free, so I just went with it. Provides for a near silent PC.
No overheating at all.

Surprisingly the loudest thing in the PC is the R9 Nano's coil whine when in 3D programs.
Every time in navigate in Maya or Modo viewport it buzzes. In heavy OpenCL renders it basically screams. Not what I was expecting.

But performance-wise Im very satisfied with it. I have a FirePro w9100 at work, and I don't feel underpowered at home at all.

Might do some changes soon to the setup. The CPU temps do reach 75C when rendering,
and the case is a little cramped due to the ATX PSU.

Im already maxing out the ram in certain programs, so I might have to upgrade to two 32gb dimms. ( read somewhere that it is possible with the AsRock x99 ITX )

Also there might be a spare FirePro w9100 laying around at work...

Overall love the little case. Love the current build. Faster than my previous 2013 Mac Pro.

More to come.
Click to expand...

Looks great man! I have that same PSU for my NAS server. I'll probably use the Corsair SF400 when it comes out mid-jan though for my ncase build.

Did you have trouble installing that cooler? It looks huge.



Question: NH-L12 or NH-C14?
 
Last edited:
Hey exzacklyright,

It's a Noctua NH-U9B

Came with the narrow ILM mounts needed for the AsRock x99 ITX mobo.
 
The Ncase website mentions “Rear exhaust cards recommended, especially for cards with TDP greater than 150W”

After having nightmarish experience with the atx Asus z170 Deluxe, I’m rebuilding my computer with a mitx Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac. One of the parts I already own is a Gigabyte GTX980 G1 card which is not a reference design with a 165TDP.

How much of an issue is it to run a full size card that doesn’t exhaust to the rear?
 
This is the workstation I've been wanting to build for sometime. The only difference is instead of a 1 TB 850 Pro I'd do a 1 or 2 TB 850 EVO if I went with a solid state or just a 2TB Hybrid drive is available. I would love a M4000 or a W7100 because of their slim profiles and 8GB capacity.

The_Maker said:
Been lurking this tread for quite a while now.

Decided to build a little workstation for home use.

This was my first pc build ever. Also my first non-Mac computer.

I'm an industrial designer and use alot of 3D Programs.
Adobe CC, Maya, Modo, Z-Brush, Rhino / Grasshopper, Magics, Art-CAM, etc. to name a few.

Parts below:

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2680V3 12 Core LGA2011-3 2.50G 30M
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B
Mobo: Asrock X99E-ITX/ac
Case: NCASE m1 v4
GPU: Saphire AMD R9 Nano
Ram: Crucial 32GB Kit (16GBx2) DDR4-2133 MT/s ECC RDIMM
Boot Drive: Samsung SM951 512gb
Storage Dive: Samsung 850 Pro 1tb
PSU: SeaSonic SS-520FL2 520W Fanless ( Added Noctua NF-F12 PWM for quiet cooling )

Also there might be a spare FirePro w9100 laying around at work...

Overall love the little case. Love the current build. Faster than my previous 2013 Mac Pro.

More to come.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Furious Salesman said:
The Ncase website mentions “Rear exhaust cards recommended, especially for cards with TDP greater than 150W”

After having nightmarish experience with the atx Asus z170 Deluxe, I’m rebuilding my computer with a mitx Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac. One of the parts I already own is a Gigabyte GTX980 G1 card which is not a reference design with a 165TDP.

How much of an issue is it to run a full size card that doesn’t exhaust to the rear?
Click to expand...

I don't think it would be a huge issue for the GTX 980 since they tend to run so cool and dissipate a relatively small amount of heat.

I run a heavily overclocked GTX 980 Ti ACX (pulls >100W more than your card) and its temperatures within the Ncase are significantly better than they were in a 250D or SG08. At load it hits the mid 70s vs. low-mid 80s in the other two.
 
I believe someone in this forum had a Ncase m1 with the same Corsair H55 and a Fury-X ( factory water cooling) It is a tight fit. But should work.
 
If I had to choose either the CPU or GPU to get an AIO for which would you guys choose to water cool and which one would end up giving me a more quiet build
 
Another question. Has anyone had issues with motherboards that have the M.2 slot on the back of the board when using this case?

*deleted misinformation*
 
Last edited:
Furious Salesman said:
Another question. Has anyone had issues with motherboards that have the M.2 slot on the back of the board when using this case?

I was looking at the Dan case, but it seems like M.2 slots are an issue for that particular case.
Click to expand...
What issues came up for the Dan A4 and M.2? I was planning on buying one but I have an M.2 on the back.

Not with my ASRock Z170 ITX. But I did run into CPU cooler issues.
 
Hanakuso said:
What issues came up for the Dan A4 and M.2? I was planning on buying one but I have an M.2 on the back.

Not with my ASRock Z170 ITX. But I did run into CPU cooler issues.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I spread misinformation. It wasn't a case issue it was an issue where a heatsink backplate was interfering. Not the fault of the case.
 
There MAY be an issue if you use a GPU that runs rather hot. If you look at Necere's tests with the NCase steam machine project with the GTX770 (I think it was the GTX770. He tested two GPUs), just having a 2TB 2.5" HDD behind the GPU caused it to go to 50 degrees Celsius (usually they run 25 to 30 degrees). There's some issues with M.2 SSDs throttling when getting too hot (Samsungs at least from Anandtech's tests) so if you run a really hot GPU, the M.2 SSD will get pretty toasty and perform worse and might have a shorter lifespan.
 
Qrash said:
In their article "Quiet Mini-ITX Gaming Build Guide #2: NCASE M1 Edition" Silent PC Review chose to liquid cool the GPU instead of the CPU because it generates more heat.
Click to expand...

Having just built mine, I could agree with that for sure. My NH-C14 equipped Xeon E5-2676 runs near silent at high load with the fan at like 380RPM. The MSI GTX 980 Ti gets very loud and hot while gaming by comparison and is definitely the loudest thing in the case, with the SX-600 being a distant second.

Also since I haven't found any low profile GPU power cables, I'm stuck leaving the side panel off because the cables stick out too far off the GPU. The case gets pretty hot while under load, I'm hoping the added case wall in the future doesn't raise temps too too much.
 
Last edited:
Epos7 said:
Has anybody had trouble with interference from the front panel USB3 ports? I have my wireless mouse receiver plugged into one, and I've noticed that if I plug a thumb drive or SD card reader into the other, my mouse is unusable for a few seconds, then extremely jumpy for a while after that. I've also noticed poor wireless mouse performance in general.

I did some research, and found this:

http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/whitepapers/327216.pdf

According to that white paper, USB3 ports are capable of producing interference in the 2.4Ghz spectrum.

I'm not sure if the shielding on the front ports is the culprit, but I've been trying for a while to figure out why I have so many issues with my wireless mouse, as well as extremely poor Bluetooth performance. Just curious if anyone else has noticed similar behavior.
Click to expand...

Still curious if anyone else has run into similar problems.

Using the other front USB port renders my wireless mouse completely unusable. I'm considering trying to add some shielding somehow.
 
ronpaek100 said:
I have question guys would I be able to fit a h55 cpu cooler as well as a liquid cooled gpu from corsair and msi in the ncase m1? I'm also waiting for the new SFX corsair psu.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/hydro-series-h55-quiet-cpu-cooler

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/hydro-gfx-liquid-cooled-graphics-card
Click to expand...

Yes. I have a corsair h75 with one fan (basically a h55) on my cpu and a h75 with one fan on my 980ti.

It fits, but it's very tight. It took some creative routing of tubes.

It's also really noisy and i cant figure out why, since it was almost silent with just the h75 on the cpu.
 
Last edited:
Skhmt said:
It's also really noisy and i cant figure out why, since it was almost silent with just the h75 on the cpu.
Click to expand...
Air can get trapped in the pump unit of the H75 and make a lot of noise. Try rotating the case about (may need to do so with the pump active) to allow the air to escape out and into the top of the radiator.
 
A tip on that solution: you don't want to rotate your case around with any HDDs powered, they don't like that as it puts torsion on the bearings and could damage the heads. So be sure to disconnect them from the SATA power plugs before doing this or power just the pump.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top