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

makar1 said:
If you're on a quad core Intel or lower, the C12P will be more than sufficient. I wouldn't put a HDD under the GPU as it will either get hot, or restrict airflow to the GPU itself.
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Thanks for the input! Looks like I'll stick to the C12P and dual 120mm's beneath the GPU.

Now to play the waiting game...

EDIT: Actually, another thought... what do you guys think is a more effective option for cooling: to have a larger CPU cooler such as the C12P or C14, or a low-profile cooler like the NH-L9x65 but also include a 120mm fan on the side bracket?
 
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whataboutmii said:
Thanks for the input! Looks like I'll stick to the C12P and dual 120mm's beneath the GPU.

Now to play the waiting game...

EDIT: Actually, another thought... what do you guys think is a more effective option for cooling: to have a larger CPU cooler such as the C12P or C14, or a low-profile cooler like the NH-L9x65 but also include a 120mm fan on the side bracket?
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The larger the heatsink, the better. Always. As long as there is room. More heat dissipation area mean more heat transferred. Larger fans = more quiet. You caan basically cut out the small fan and increas both thermal and acooustic preformance.
 
Urelure said:
The larger the heatsink, the better. Always. As long as there is room. More heat dissipation area mean more heat transferred. Larger fans = more quiet. You caan basically cut out the small fan and increas both thermal and acooustic preformance.
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Makes sense, thank you! I keep shopping around and trying to look at all air-cooling options but the road keeps pointing back to the NH-C12P for my needs so looks like I'm settled.
 
makar1 said:
I wouldn't buy any cooler now and expect it to work with the 1000 series. HBM is going to change the heatsink layout quite a bit.


I haven't bothered to test the Accelero IV with fans as intake since the GPU simply produces so much more heat than the rest of the system. (250-300W compared to 100W from the CPU). In previous configs e.g. the EVGA Hybrid as intake, my SSDs were getting close to maximum rated operating temperature.

For heatsinks I bought some generic aluminium ones for the VRAM from Ebay and used some VRM heatsinks from a smaller Arctic cooler.

The Noctua C12P has been working great for me so far with an A15 fan. Dust collects on the side panel above it, so it's clearly pulling in some fresh air.
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Thanks for all the help! I am just hesitant on sticking with my 970 and getting a cooler for it since these new gpus will be such a big jump, otherwise it wouldnt bother me. If only I could know an estimated release time.

It sounds like there is no reason to get the the accelero 4 if i wont be using the backplate and just get the 3 so i dont have to buy extra heatsink, correct?

And I am thinking that I will go with the Kabuto II instead of the C12P for price ($47 vs $78) and I will be changing the fans anyways, thoughts?

http://www.amazon.com/Scythe-Kabuto-Cooler-Socket-SCKBT-2000/dp/B00G9YBQG8
 
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For what it's worth, with an i5-6600K (although at stock clocks), running four threads of Prime95 and FurMark, this is what I get (with the stock Kabuto II 1300 RPM fan running at a bit over 1000 RPM, unmounted from the heatsink, and mounted to the chassis fan bracket (which takes it 2 mm away from the heatsink, but reduces the weight hanging off the board)):

minenwerfertemps.png


(It's worth noting that HWMonitor is giving some wrong numbers in places, though, so I'm not sure how much I'd trust that. The graphics clock is half of what FurMark is reporting, and the fan speed that it was listing for the motherboard was double what Gigabyte's OSD was reporting, while it listed more PWM headers than the board actually has (and all at 0%).)
 
lyang238 said:
Anyone else still waiting from their Jan shipment? Seems it landed on the 7th in Cali but still hasn't been updated since Sunday the 7th lol. I am getting REALLY antsy.

February 7, 2016 , 5:11 pm
Arrived at USPS Facility
RICHMOND, CA 94804
Your item arrived at our USPS facility in RICHMOND, CA 94804 on February 7, 2016 at 5:11 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination.
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I'm on the east coast, and it took me a week to get from Richmond, CA to Philadelphia Suburbs. People in NY/NJ with the same Richmond arrival time got there's a day earlier than me.
 
bhtooefr said:
For what it's worth, with an i5-6600K (although at stock clocks), running four threads of Prime95 and FurMark, this is what I get (with the stock Kabuto II 1300 RPM fan running at a bit over 1000 RPM, unmounted from the heatsink, and mounted to the chassis fan bracket (which takes it 2 mm away from the heatsink, but reduces the weight hanging off the board)):

minenwerfertemps.png


(It's worth noting that HWMonitor is giving some wrong numbers in places, though, so I'm not sure how much I'd trust that. The graphics clock is half of what FurMark is reporting, and the fan speed that it was listing for the motherboard was double what Gigabyte's OSD was reporting, while it listed more PWM headers than the board actually has (and all at 0%).)
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Those seem like good temps to me! I was planning on not having a fan on it either and having a corsair sp120 with a duct to the heatsink. Any complaints with it? And why is your gpu temp so high?
 
Overclocking, a duct may be called for, but at stock clocks, I don't have one.

As far as the GPU being so hot... it's a blower-cooled reference-based 960, that PNY slightly overclocked. (Even then, it's hitting the TDP limit at the same time as the thermal limit...) A duct may be helpful there, actually, but it's not actually hitting 100% fan speed. I might tweak that a bit higher just to keep it cooler, though. The actual reference 970 has a much better cooler, but I didn't want to pay what Best Buy wanted for it, so I decided to go lower-end and wait for another generation.
 
bhtooefr said:
Overclocking, a duct may be called for, but at stock clocks, I don't have one.

As far as the GPU being so hot... it's a blower-cooled reference-based 960, that PNY slightly overclocked. (Even then, it's hitting the TDP limit at the same time as the thermal limit...) A duct may be helpful there, actually, but it's not actually hitting 100% fan speed. I might tweak that a bit higher just to keep it cooler, though. The actual reference 970 has a much better cooler, but I didn't want to pay what Best Buy wanted for it, so I decided to go lower-end and wait for another generation.
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I had them price match an MSI 970 at bestbuy and got it for about $325 when they were new. I was just asking because I thought you had the accelero on there and I was concerned at how high they would have been for that cooler haha.

But thanks for the info on the kabuto. It seems like its my only choice, $30 cheaper,,, maybe ill jump for the darkrock tf? You have the side panels as intake to the cpu right? I was really wanting the dark rock tf but its the same situation as the c12, expensive and could have some fitting issues depending on my motherboard.

Now to decide if I keep my ref 970 and wait for new 1000 series and get an accelero for that when it is ready, or just get one know and stick with my 970 until its worthless... hmmmmmm

CyberShot said:
http://imgur.com/a/yI3TA
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man i really wish i could get this for a decent price, but its hard to find anywhere so it looks like i will be going with the kabuto 2

edit:found it for $80... i wish i could guarantee it would fit with my p8z77-i and a HDD next to it, I would get it then.
 
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Yes, I'm using one fan, side panel, intake to the CPU. No exhaust fans anywhere in the case, the only fans are the PSU (intake from right side, so it's not interacting with the case at all), CPU intake, and GPU blower.
 
thanks for the m.2 picture.
what about temp?
people are afraid of high ssd temp in this config and throttle.Do you experience this?
AFAIK it s more a benchmark issue than a real life use issue.
 
Quick question, a simple one I am sure. Most ITX motherboard I am looking at only have two fan headers, what is the best method of connecting all the case fans I am planning on having? I plan on having two side intake and two bottom intake fans. Should I get a PWM splitter like the swiftech 8-way fan splitter? Thanks!
 
mithrandir33 said:
Quick question, a simple one I am sure. Most ITX motherboard I am looking at only have two fan headers, what is the best method of connecting all the case fans I am planning on having? I plan on having two side intake and two bottom intake fans. Should I get a PWM splitter like the swiftech 8-way fan splitter? Thanks!
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I would just get two 2-3 fan splitter cables like silverstone offers. Side panels on the cpu header and the bottom on the chassis?
 
mithrandir33 said:
Quick question, a simple one I am sure. Most ITX motherboard I am looking at only have two fan headers, what is the best method of connecting all the case fans I am planning on having? I plan on having two side intake and two bottom intake fans. Should I get a PWM splitter like the swiftech 8-way fan splitter? Thanks!
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FWIW, the Asus Pro Gaming board has 1 CPU and 2 chassis fan headers (one of the reasons I bought it).
 
Urelure said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do think all newer asus m-itx boards (Z97/Z170) have at least 3 fan headers.
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That may well be the case - I didn't consider the Fatality specs as I was trying to keep the motherboard price down (but the Pro Gaming still seems to offer a good opportunity to overclock my 6600K). It would make sense that the more expensive asus boards also have at least 3 headers :)
 
Can anyone verify this is the noctua c12p? It seems like this will be the best air cooler that allows the 3.5 hdd cage next to it since its 2-3c difference from the c14.

I thinking about removing the kabuto 2 from my list of choices because of the intel style mounting clips? It is the cheapest and easiest option though for nearly identical cooling as the more expensive larger options.

So C12P or Dark Rock TF or Kabuto 2

I will most likely have to remove the top fan from them all and mount 2 120mm instead. thoughts?

500x1000px-LL-6fa37d55_IMG_4246.jpeg
500x1000px-LL-8cae2987_IMG_4245.jpeg
 
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No Hands 55 said:
Can anyone verify this is the noctua c12p? It seems like this will be the best air cooler that allows the 3.5 hdd cage next to it since its 2-3c difference from the c14.
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That is the C12P. C14 doesn't have that section of fins along the edge inset.
 
Well, shit. It happened. My NCase arrived and it is absolutely gorgeous in person. The rest of my parts will get here by Friday.

EXCEPT the power supply because of Corsair's delay. Now I have to decide if I want to just order the silverstone and suck it up if there is noise or again, suck it up, and wait for the SF600 to arrive.

I suppose it isn't a huge hardship to wait considering I am delaying buying a new GPU until the next gen cards come out. It is just hard to see that wonderful pile of boxes and not be able to assemble it due to a PSU..
 
darrpara said:
Well, shit. It happened. Now I have to decide if I want to just order the silverstone and suck it up if there is noise or again, suck it up, and wait for the SF600 to arrive..
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I pulled an ATX PSU out of a spare system, and it looks like I'm performing surgery on my Ncase with cables everywhere and the PSU sitting on my desk next to the panel-less case. I'm going to run it that way until the SF600 is avail. My Noctua NH-C12P SE14 seems pretty quiet so I'm super happy about that.
 
I was in the same situation and broke down and bought the Silverstone sfx 600w. I just wanted to finish building the system. I'll probably still get the corsair psu when it finally comes out...

My excuse is I get to compare both units :p
 
Has anyone other than Malik used the Phanteks PH-TC14CS cooler? It looks like would work just as well as the c14
 
No Hands 55 said:
Has anyone other than Malik used the Phanteks PH-TC14CS cooler? It looks like would work just as well as the c14
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For reference, when I write about top/bottom fans, I mean on the CPU heatsink, but when I write about side fans, I mean the case side.

It's a very situational heatsink. Just like the C14, a 140 mm fan on the bottom is impossible with an SFX PSU, because the Phanteks only has 32 mm of clearance with a bottom fan (in fact 6 mm less than the C14). The lower clearance means that you need to be even more careful with your choice of RAM or not use a 120x25 mm bottom fan. Unlike the C14, the heatsink doesn't really overhang the PSU and shouldn't block the HDD cage if you want that on the side bracket, but having the side bracket at all precludes a top 25 mm fan because the Phanteks is taller.

Malik's build is beautiful, but he probably only chose the Phanteks because he modded the ATX PSU position and the extra 2 cm on the C14 would interfere with the PSU in the position he has it in. Additionally, he got the worst of all worlds, i.e. no side HDD, no second side fan, no bottom fan. Unless you need side-mounted HDDs, I think the NH-C14 is better.

If you want the side bracket for HDDs, which doesn't fit with the C14 BTW, the best you can do is top 120x15 mm, bottom 120x25 mm with low profile RAM.
If you don't want the side bracket, you can do low profile RAM and dual 120x25 mm or even 140x25/120x25 mm, but you'll have to be creative to mount a second side fan and as I'll show in a second, it's not the best heatsink in this case because a third option remains... the NH-C14S.

The PH-TC14CS and the NH-C14S are the same height with/without a top fan. The NH-C14S won't fit with side HDDs unlike the PH-TC14CS, but it has much better RAM clearance. For a system with no side bracket, the NH-C14S is the better choice, both because of the RAM clearance and because the longer heatsink actually has the length for a 140 mm fan unlike the PH-TC14CS which wastes part of a 140 mm fans airflow.

EDIT: Since you are looking for a CPU cooler to use with the HDD cage, you obviously can't use the Noctua 140 mm heatsinks, but you have to consider how you would setup the fans on the Phanteks. Do you want a 25 mm thick bottom fan? Can you even fit one? I'd do dual 120x15 mm fans as intakes if I were you, it ensures good RAM compatibility and proper CPU cooling.
 
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ranix said:
thanks for the m.2 picture.
what about temp?
people are afraid of high ssd temp in this config and throttle.Do you experience this?
AFAIK it s more a benchmark issue than a real life use issue.
Click to expand...

Right now ad idle it's at 42C. I've seen it around high 30s at idle. I think at load it may hit around mid 50s.
 
jpm804 said:
I was in the same situation and broke down and bought the Silverstone sfx 600w. I just wanted to finish building the system. I'll probably still get the corsair psu when it finally comes out...

My excuse is I get to compare both units :p
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I got a v1.1 Silverstone and I haven't experienced the noise issues that others have spoken of with this power supply. At idle with low temps, the fan doesn't even spin on the power supply. When the fan kicks in, I barely hear it at all as the hum of the system fans are much louder.
 
kndonlee said:
I got a v1.1 Silverstone and I haven't experienced the noise issues that others have spoken of with this power supply. At idle with low temps, the fan doesn't even spin on the power supply. When the fan kicks in, I barely hear it at all as the hum of the system fans are much louder.
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Thanks for the info , good too hear they are not all bad.

I get mine tomorrow and hope to finish my build this weekend. I'm putting in the h105 with the two fans and two additional fans for cooling so I probably won't hear the psu anyways.

Anyone looking for one, directron had them on sale and also 5% off from their new site on your first order ... Do have to pay shipping but it was the cheapest I could find it new
 
jpm804 said:
Thanks for the info , good too hear they are not all bad.

I get mine tomorrow and hope to finish my build this weekend. I'm putting in the h105 with the two fans and two additional fans for cooling so I probably won't hear the psu anyways.

Anyone looking for one, directron had them on sale and also 5% off from their new site on your first order ... Do have to pay shipping but it was the cheapest I could find it new
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I also got my silverstone from directron and it was the v1.1 ;)
 
XelNika said:
For reference, when I write about top/bottom fans, I mean on the CPU heatsink, but when I write about side fans, I mean the case side.

It's a very situational heatsink. Just like the C14, a 140 mm fan on the bottom is impossible with an SFX PSU, because the Phanteks only has 32 mm of clearance with a bottom fan (in fact 6 mm less than the C14). The lower clearance means that you need to be even more careful with your choice of RAM or not use a 120x25 mm bottom fan. Unlike the C14, the heatsink doesn't really overhang the PSU and shouldn't block the HDD cage if you want that on the side bracket, but having the side bracket at all precludes a top 25 mm fan because the Phanteks is taller.

Malik's build is beautiful, but he probably only chose the Phanteks because he modded the ATX PSU position and the extra 2 cm on the C14 would interfere with the PSU in the position he has it in. Additionally, he got the worst of all worlds, i.e. no side HDD, no second side fan, no bottom fan. Unless you need side-mounted HDDs, I think the NH-C14 is better.

If you want the side bracket for HDDs, which doesn't fit with the C14 BTW, the best you can do is top 120x15 mm, bottom 120x25 mm with low profile RAM.
If you don't want the side bracket, you can do low profile RAM and dual 120x25 mm or even 140x25/120x25 mm, but you'll have to be creative to mount a second side fan and as I'll show in a second, it's not the best heatsink in this case because a third option remains... the NH-C14S.

The PH-TC14CS and the NH-C14S are the same height with/without a top fan. The NH-C14S won't fit with side HDDs unlike the PH-TC14CS, but it has much better RAM clearance. For a system with no side bracket, the NH-C14S is the better choice, both because of the RAM clearance and because the longer heatsink actually has the length for a 140 mm fan unlike the PH-TC14CS which wastes part of a 140 mm fans airflow.

EDIT: Since you are looking for a CPU cooler to use with the HDD cage, you obviously can't use the Noctua 140 mm heatsinks, but you have to consider how you would setup the fans on the Phanteks. Do you want a 25 mm thick bottom fan? Can you even fit one? I'd do dual 120x15 mm fans as intakes if I were you, it ensures good RAM compatibility and proper CPU cooling.
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Thanks for the info. I am just having a really tough time deciding on the cpu cooler.

I just want the best cpu air cooling that will still allow the hdd cage. I was planning on having two 120mm on the side so its ok if the top fan needs to be replaced. Obviously cheaper is better but I don't want to sacrifice cooling. the c14 seems like the best and I wish it could be rotated to fit with the pipes up or down but i guess thats not possible? or even if i could mod the cage a bit to scoot it over so it fits with the c14.

Someone just please decide for me lol
 
You might be able to get the C14 in there facing down if you use a PCIe extender, but the Phanteks dual 120x15 mm seems like a more sensible choice. Again, cooling is absolutely a non-issue with the Phanteks if it's just for a regular i5. AFAIK there's no way to mod the cage to work with the C14.
 
XelNika said:
You might be able to get the C14 in there facing down if you use a PCIe extender, but the Phanteks dual 120x15 mm seems like a more sensible choice. Again, cooling is absolutely a non-issue with the Phanteks if it's just for a regular i5. AFAIK there's no way to mod the cage to work with the C14.
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What i was thinking is some sort of simple metal plate that would have screw holes 1/4"-1/2" or however much you need apart. So the plate would screw into the side panel or fan on the side, then there would be 4 more holes 1/2" towards the front on the plate and thats what the cage would screw into. Something like the little ssd stacking plates that just have 8 holes in them, except big enough for 120mm.

but right now its looking like the phanteks or the scythe kabuto since they are cheaper than noctua and bequiet, both with a 120mm on the side panel, and a fan under if possible.
 
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