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

Just finished testing my rig using both my old PSU and the Corsair SF600, but with a 6870 since my 290X is dead for sure :( Everything went fine. Voltages and benchmark results are very close. Took a video showing that everything works. 290X definitely has more power draw than 6870, but at least I will have evidence just in case my future video card breaks with the SF600. Perhaps it was really just my 290X's time to go *tears*

Going to be a 2 month wait until Vega. Will get a GTX 1080 or Vega price equivalent. Would allow me to save up a few more or I can just settle now with 1070 and then upgrade everything around when Ryzen gen 2 comes out. 1080 seems like a better long-term investment for just $90 more than the 1070. Need to double check if my 2600K will bottleneck a 1080 or 1070.

In the meantime, I'll be a console peasant. Persona 5 and Zelda should keep me busy.


ReaperX22 said:
I have a 1070 Asus Strix. Stays under 75 degrees but the fan ramps up a fair amount. I have NO bottom intake fans, however. I'd assume something is wrong with your 6870. Consider a remount of the cooler and replace the TIM. I did that with a 6850 and dropped temps 10 degrees for me.
Click to expand...

I realized the 6870 was just super dusty since my bro never cleans his desktop. Using a duster dropped it by 10C... though still running 90+C
 
noobzilla said:
Just finished testing my rig using both my old PSU and the Corsair SF600, but with a 6870 since my 290X is dead for sure :( Everything went fine. Voltages and benchmark results are very close. Took a video showing that everything works. 290X definitely has more power draw than 6870, but at least I will have evidence just in case my future video card breaks with the SF600. Perhaps it was really just my 290X's time to go *tears*

Going to be a 2 month wait until Vega. Will get a GTX 1080 or Vega price equivalent. Would allow me to save up a few more or I can just settle now with 1070 and then upgrade everything around when Ryzen gen 2 comes out. 1080 seems like a better long-term investment for just $90 more than the 1070. Need to double check if my 2600K will bottleneck a 1080 or 1070.

In the meantime, I'll be a console peasant. Persona 5 and Zelda should keep me busy.




I realized the 6870 was just super dusty since my bro never cleans his desktop. Using a duster dropped it by 10C... though still running 90+C
Click to expand...
I'm considering grabbing Persona 5.. But I still have so many games to complete :(. No time! I just keep piling my games, and not the hours playing them!

It's not a super hot running card. Should definitely be less than that. I'd do the remount next.
 
First post, please don't be harsh on me if the answer is obvious :D

I have a v5 on the desk beside me and in general I'm a very happy customer. While I was worried it would be a tad loud, with no sound isolation and standing on the desk beside me, I find that most of the time it's inaudible. There is, however, one nagging bit, the fans on the GPU spin up even when performing mundane tasks like reloading a webpage (maybe running a 4k monitor is to blame?). While they quickly return to idle, I find the resulting noise fluctuations very annoying and would like to do something to mitigate them.

The GPU in question is an Asus Strix RX 480, which I bought after reading that it would be one of the more silent options on the market. If this is silent, however, I don't want to experience the louder options. As you may or may not realise from this, the computer currently on my desk is the first one I've built in a very long time. The last build I did had a Core2Duo and a 8800 GTX in it, and using Apple stuff since then, I must've forgotten how loud PC hardware is. Still, I would rather want it to be as silent as my iMac during general day to day tasks than sound like a distant hair dryer ever so often.

I did try to put some fans in the bottom of the case, but that didn't really seem to help. Well, maybe the GPU fans spun for shorter, but it didn't stop them from spinning outright, which, considering they seem incapable of running slowly, is what I'm after. Considering the options I've got an aftermarket GPU cooler might be the best bet, and it seems the Arctic Accelero Xtreme III/IV is the best option (with the IV being the only one available here). Looking at it posts a couple of questions, however:
1) From my understanding the IV leaves the VRM area without a heatsink and the Strix cooler's VRM cooling solution is not removable and reusable. VRMs get hot, they need cooling, is it possible to fit small ebay heatsinks on the VRMs?
2) Superficially, the difference between the Xtreme and the Strix cooler isn't that large. The Xtreme is fatter and has some solid piece of aluminium over the GPU area, but at a glance, that's about everything I can see, which makes me wonder if I could just remove the fans and the shroud on the Strix and put in some 120mm exhaust fans on the bottom (it seems this is the best orientation for the Xtreme, so maybe valid here as well), build some sort of a duct to overcome the imperfect spacing (or maybe find 38mm thick fans, if they would fit) and call it a day? Has anyone tried that?

The system specs, in case anyone is interested, are:
Intel Core i7 6700K, stock speed, under volted using a V offset of something
Noctua NH-C14 with a NF-A15 on top and an NF-S12B on the bottom, configured as intake
Asus Z170I Pro Gaming
16 GB of RAM
Samsung SSD 960 EVO
Asus Strix RX 480
Corsair SF450
and an additional NF-S12B beside the A15 on the fan bracket, also configured as intake.

I think that one of the issues with my current setup is that heat builds up inside of the case, the GPU doesn't spin up very much at all when the computer has just been booted or after it's been idling for a while, but after half an hour or so, it does. As you can see above, all fans are intakes in the case currently and so were, for obvious reasons, the S12Bs (I also tried some Corsair ML120 Pros, but they were awful) I put below the GPU as well. Hence, I'm thinking having the GPU fans as exhaust (even though this is on the bottom of the case which should be suboptimal considering the temperature dependancy of air density) would help at least a little in preventing heat build up.

Now, adding insult ot injury, I'm on macOS Sierra and therefore any GPU/GPU fan tuning software, while possibly able to change clock speeds, temperature targets, fan curves and whatnot, are unavailable to me. I need a hardware solution... :eek:
 
Hi all!

So I bought a V1 on kickstarter. Then a V5 last summer. Then I decided on ordering some watercooling stuff. But now Im just gonna build a normal air cooled build. Things are cluttering up my basement and I realised I dont want the worries of watercooling like leaks etc...

So what is my best option when it comes to CPU cooling nowadays?

NH-L12
NH-U9S
NH-D9L

All of these seems to occur in other peoples builds. This is going to be a fairly loud gaming rig so adding a few extra case fans isnt a problem. I also need to mount one 3,5 drive in the front. Any tips? It seems like all of these perform fairly similar.
 
There's nothing really between the U9S and D9L, by all accounts. I'd imagine the L12 might be more effective, especially if you can fit a 120mm intake directly above it on the fan bracket.
 
Bejjan said:
Hi all!

So I bought a V1 on kickstarter. Then a V5 last summer. Then I decided on ordering some watercooling stuff. But now Im just gonna build a normal air cooled build. Things are cluttering up my basement and I realised I dont want the worries of watercooling like leaks etc...

So what is my best option when it comes to CPU cooling nowadays?

NH-L12
NH-U9S
NH-D9L

All of these seems to occur in other peoples builds. This is going to be a fairly loud gaming rig so adding a few extra case fans isnt a problem. I also need to mount one 3,5 drive in the front. Any tips? It seems like all of these perform fairly similar.[/QUOTc

Consider DARK ROCK TF
Click to expand...
 
Khers said:
2) Superficially, the difference between the Xtreme and the Strix cooler isn't that large. The Xtreme is fatter and has some solid piece of aluminium over the GPU area, but at a glance, that's about everything I can see, which makes me wonder if I could just remove the fans and the shroud on the Strix and put in some 120mm exhaust fans on the bottom (it seems this is the best orientation for the Xtreme, so maybe valid here as well), build some sort of a duct to overcome the imperfect spacing (or maybe find 38mm thick fans, if they would fit) and call it a day? Has anyone tried that?
Click to expand...
I nearly tried this with the xtreme, but when looking at it, I noticed that one of the screws on the shroud was not accessible unless I removed the entire heatsink. It also looked like there would be a sizable gap between the heatsink and the bottom of the case.
Still on the "maybe" project list.

Though the bearings of the Xtreme are rather annoying, so I might work on it later.
 
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I've switched my GPU (Morpheus II) fans to exhaust.. same GPU core temps. However rear side panel is now cool and VRM/Backplate GPU temps dropped 10C+ big win there (using infrared thermometer) bottom exhaust is best folks with side intakes.
 
Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum but I've been stalking it for a while :unsure:, I am also a owner of a Ncase M1 silver v5 and I am looking to min/max it.

Here is my part list

i7 7700k 4.8 ghz 1.21v(adaptative)
Cryorig m9i with 2x Noctua NF-B9 92mm Redux both facing the back
Using Cryorig Fan as exhaust
Asus z270i ROG Strix
G.skill Ripjaw V 2x8gb 3200 Cas 16
EVGA GTX 1080 TI Founder OCed +100 core clock and + 300 Memory
Corsair SFX 600
Samsung 500gb evo Sata 3
Crucial 1tb m.2
1x bottom fan Nidec Gentle Typhoon black edition 120mm 1850 RPM PWM as intake facing the GPU cover
Ncase M1 Silver


Temperature while playing Mass Effect Andromeda in 4k on ultra for over 2 hours.

CPU 80-81 MAX
GPU 73-75


Do you think I should delid my i7?

How could I improve those temps, considering that I am buying a tempered glass side panel so those 2 fan slots won't be usable.
 
Bejjan said:
Hi all!

So I bought a V1 on kickstarter. Then a V5 last summer. Then I decided on ordering some watercooling stuff. But now Im just gonna build a normal air cooled build. Things are cluttering up my basement and I realised I dont want the worries of watercooling like leaks etc...

So what is my best option when it comes to CPU cooling nowadays?

NH-L12
NH-U9S
NH-D9L

All of these seems to occur in other peoples builds. This is going to be a fairly loud gaming rig so adding a few extra case fans isnt a problem. I also need to mount one 3,5 drive in the front. Any tips? It seems like all of these perform fairly similar.
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly the U9S is the better performer. Its more popular than the L12 these days because of that. Not sure about the D9L. Mobo choice is also a factor in which HSF to use.
 
Khers said:
First post, please don't be harsh on me if the answer is obvious :D

I have a v5 on the desk beside me and in general I'm a very happy customer. While I was worried it would be a tad loud, with no sound isolation and standing on the desk beside me, I find that most of the time it's inaudible. There is, however, one nagging bit, the fans on the GPU spin up even when performing mundane tasks like reloading a webpage (maybe running a 4k monitor is to blame?). While they quickly return to idle, I find the resulting noise fluctuations very annoying and would like to do something to mitigate them.

The GPU in question is an Asus Strix RX 480, which I bought after reading that it would be one of the more silent options on the market. If this is silent, however, I don't want to experience the louder options. As you may or may not realise from this, the computer currently on my desk is the first one I've built in a very long time. The last build I did had a Core2Duo and a 8800 GTX in it, and using Apple stuff since then, I must've forgotten how loud PC hardware is. Still, I would rather want it to be as silent as my iMac during general day to day tasks than sound like a distant hair dryer ever so often.

I did try to put some fans in the bottom of the case, but that didn't really seem to help. Well, maybe the GPU fans spun for shorter, but it didn't stop them from spinning outright, which, considering they seem incapable of running slowly, is what I'm after. Considering the options I've got an aftermarket GPU cooler might be the best bet, and it seems the Arctic Accelero Xtreme III/IV is the best option (with the IV being the only one available here). Looking at it posts a couple of questions, however:
1) From my understanding the IV leaves the VRM area without a heatsink and the Strix cooler's VRM cooling solution is not removable and reusable. VRMs get hot, they need cooling, is it possible to fit small ebay heatsinks on the VRMs?
2) Superficially, the difference between the Xtreme and the Strix cooler isn't that large. The Xtreme is fatter and has some solid piece of aluminium over the GPU area, but at a glance, that's about everything I can see, which makes me wonder if I could just remove the fans and the shroud on the Strix and put in some 120mm exhaust fans on the bottom (it seems this is the best orientation for the Xtreme, so maybe valid here as well), build some sort of a duct to overcome the imperfect spacing (or maybe find 38mm thick fans, if they would fit) and call it a day? Has anyone tried that?

The system specs, in case anyone is interested, are:
Intel Core i7 6700K, stock speed, under volted using a V offset of something
Noctua NH-C14 with a NF-A15 on top and an NF-S12B on the bottom, configured as intake
Asus Z170I Pro Gaming
16 GB of RAM
Samsung SSD 960 EVO
Asus Strix RX 480
Corsair SF450
and an additional NF-S12B beside the A15 on the fan bracket, also configured as intake.

I think that one of the issues with my current setup is that heat builds up inside of the case, the GPU doesn't spin up very much at all when the computer has just been booted or after it's been idling for a while, but after half an hour or so, it does. As you can see above, all fans are intakes in the case currently and so were, for obvious reasons, the S12Bs (I also tried some Corsair ML120 Pros, but they were awful) I put below the GPU as well. Hence, I'm thinking having the GPU fans as exhaust (even though this is on the bottom of the case which should be suboptimal considering the temperature dependancy of air density) would help at least a little in preventing heat build up.

Now, adding insult ot injury, I'm on macOS Sierra and therefore any GPU/GPU fan tuning software, while possibly able to change clock speeds, temperature targets, fan curves and whatnot, are unavailable to me. I need a hardware solution... :eek:
Click to expand...

The AMD cards tend to use more power than the nvidia cards and so for me I am planning to go with an nvidia card for the first time ever in my build as more power use equals higher temps. I would have suggested the same for you, a 1060 maybe.
 
Necere said:
They're out of stock until the next production run is done. Currently we only have about 70 no-ODD silver cases left in stock.
Click to expand...

Ncase has been out for quite a while. I remember following it pre-V1. I wonder how many cases have been sold total or is that private info? :p
 
MightyBenihana said:
The AMD cards tend to use more power than the nvidia cards and so for me I am planning to go with an nvidia card for the first time ever in my build as more power use equals higher temps. I would have suggested the same for you, a 1060 maybe.
Click to expand...
Nvidia's current generation is off the charts for me as they lack support in macOS. Moreover, from my perspective it's not really the power consumption that's the concern but rather the fans on the GPU which would be the same had I chosen the Strix version of the 1060. While they may have spun less often, I would still have been annoyed by them.

Besides, considering Nvidia's market share, I'd rather support AMD to keep the competition alive so the GPU market doesn't end up the way the CPU market was between Bulldozer and Zen. ;)
 
Hey guys,

I'm active on OCN, but always come to this forum for info on this case as it seems a bit more active. Small story time:

Recently bought a 1080 Ti Aorus non-Xtreme and realized they changed dimensions since the previous models (1070 and 1080). So I ordered the card and realized it's not going to fit in here without some modification to the shroud and the LED plate.

However, while watching and looking at the Gaming X 1080 Ti closer, MSI made this card longer and recessed the power connections. I don't have the card of course, but it looks like with right-angle PCI-e power connectors, this card could fit in the NCASE as the card retains it's 140mm height.

Posting for a FYI, and possible to get some conversation going on this piece. I have the ability to return the Aorus card if I don't open it, so I'm thinking of doing that and waiting out on the next Gaming X availability.
 
noobzilla said:
Ncase has been out for quite a while. I remember following it pre-V1. I wonder how many cases have been sold total or is that private info? :p
Click to expand...

I have been wondering the same thing, not looking for exact figures just a ball park figure. I wonder if Necere would be willing to help us out?

Just glad to see that the case has been successful.
 
noobzilla said:
Ncase has been out for quite a while. I remember following it pre-V1. I wonder how many cases have been sold total or is that private info? :p
Click to expand...
'bout 350

But for real, each run we order about 1k cases, and we're on the 8th run (IIRC), so somewhere in the neighborhood of 8k since 2013.
 
Khers said:
Nvidia's current generation is off the charts for me as they lack support in macOS. Moreover, from my perspective it's not really the power consumption that's the concern but rather the fans on the GPU which would be the same had I chosen the Strix version of the 1060. While they may have spun less often, I would still have been annoyed by them.

Besides, considering Nvidia's market share, I'd rather support AMD to keep the competition alive so the GPU market doesn't end up the way the CPU market was between Bulldozer and Zen. ;)
Click to expand...
If you wish to pay 1200$ NVIDIA is supposedly supporting MacOS with their recently announced TitianXp. Not that I would ever reccomend buying it.
 
Necere said:
But for real, each run we order about 1k cases, and we're on the 8th run (IIRC), so somewhere in the neighborhood of 8k since 2013.
Click to expand...
Interesting. And when you order 1K, I guess someone have to pay right away so for the firsts few runs someone had to advance quite a lot of money but I guess now with the profit made on each run it's less a problem.

Which one is selling the most, black or silver? I bet black was more popular early on but now silver is catching up?
 
Rhialto said:
Interesting. And when you order 1K, I guess someone have to pay right away so for the firsts few runs someone had to advance quite a lot of money but I guess now with the profit made on each run it's less a problem.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the first one was entirely funded by the crowdfunding campaign, of course, but that's also one reason we still space out the runs and have a pre-order period. Maintaining positive cashflow has been a challenge at times - particularly thanks to Paypal, who put a hold on incoming payments for up to 90 days. W360 has had to take out personal loans on a couple of occasions to keep things running.

Rhialto said:
Which one is selling the most, black or silver? I bet black was more popular early on but now silver is catching up?
Click to expand...
Pretty much spot on. We're probably around 55/45 black/silver now.
 
Necere said:
Yeah, the first one was entirely funded by the crowdfunding campaign, of course, but that's also one reason we still space out the runs and have a pre-order period. Maintaining positive cashflow has been a challenge at times - particularly thanks to Paypal, who put a hold on incoming payments for up to 90 days. W360 has had to take out personal loans on a couple of occasions to keep things running.

Pretty much spot on. We're probably around 55/45 black/silver now.
Click to expand...

Care to comment on the ratio of ODD to no-ODD orders? (Not to restart that old argument again ...)
 
Qrash said:
Care to comment on the ratio of ODD to no-ODD orders? (Not to restart that old argument again ...)
Click to expand...
It's around 1:2 I believe. It's a little surprising it's still that high, but it's possible some people just like having the option. Slim slot-loading optical drives have become somewhat rare now, with only a single Silverstone model readily available (at a somewhat inflated price).
 
Well I just pre ordered a silver one with no ODD, Says it will ship on the 12th. Fingers crossed. Just a quick question, what colour is the power LED?
 
Necere said:
Yeah, the first one was entirely funded by the crowdfunding campaign, of course, but that's also one reason we still space out the runs and have a pre-order period. Maintaining positive cashflow has been a challenge at times - particularly thanks to Paypal, who put a hold on incoming payments for up to 90 days. W360 has had to take out personal loans on a couple of occasions to keep things running.

Pretty much spot on. We're probably around 55/45 black/silver now.
Click to expand...

Paypal and group buys is a huge NO-NO.

We got fucked up pretty hard several years when doing a keyboard group-buy. Specially the organizer... he had his paypal account frozen (with our money in it!) for 6 months, for stupid non-sensical reasons. They are a BS company to avoid at all costs.

BTW, now that we are talking numbers. How many M1s have you sold, if you can disclose said figure?
 
He said it was about 8000 a few posts back. I dont know what the normal average case sells, I'm sure it's a lot more but I would have thought 8k units with such a limited retail presence and also such a high price would have piqued someones interest enough to licence the design and add it to their portfolio. Add to that the fact that most case manufacturers think iTX means just using a smaller motherboard in a normal sized case means there isn't much competion out there. I can think of maybe 10 half decent cases in this form factor but they just keep adding case upon same case to their ATX catalogues. I know ATX sells vastly sells more but I think this project shows there is a market available to those who do it right and do it early, especially if they have the funds to put a decent marketing campaign behind the effort /rant over.
 
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MightyBenihana said:
Well I just pre ordered a silver one with no ODD, Says it will ship on the 12th. Fingers crossed. Just a quick question, what colour is the power LED?
Click to expand...
Blue. But you can change it to red just by swapping the power and HDD cables (the power button has two LEDs inside).

prava said:
Paypal and group buys is a huge NO-NO.

We got fucked up pretty hard several years when doing a keyboard group-buy. Specially the organizer... he had his paypal account frozen (with our money in it!) for 6 months, for stupid non-sensical reasons. They are a BS company to avoid at all costs.
Click to expand...
Luckily they didn't hold the funds initially from the IGG campaign - it wasn't until the second and subsequent production runs that they instituted a hold. It has partly to do with the fact that we sometimes take pre-orders up to a month or two in advance, and so since we're not delivering the product immediately, they get nervous and put a hold on the funds.
 
Necere said:
Blue. But you can change it to red just by swapping the power and HDD cables (the power button has two LEDs inside).
Click to expand...
OH! I feature I didn't know! Anyone good enough in electronics to tell me if we can have it purple by having both blue and red light at the same time? I know color depends on current flow one way or the other but just in case... :D
 
Rhialto said:
OH! I feature I didn't know! Anyone good enough in electronics to tell me if we can have it purple by having both blue and red light at the same time? I know color depends on current flow one way or the other but just in case... :D
Click to expand...

Don't think so because they are separate lights instead of one. Having both on at the same time would just show up as a red and blue light in 2 places.
 
Rhialto said:
OH! I feature I didn't know! Anyone good enough in electronics to tell me if we can have it purple by having both blue and red light at the same time? I know color depends on current flow one way or the other but just in case... :D
Click to expand...

Nathan Spears said:
Don't think so because they are separate lights instead of one. Having both on at the same time would just show up as a red and blue light in 2 places.
Click to expand...
Actually both LEDs are inside the power button and shine through the I/O symbol, so the effect is that during HDD access it flickers purple, and that happens regardless of which one is connected to which color.

It's probably possible to combine them such that it's always purple when powered on (at the expense of flickering during HDD access). Not sure if you could get away with just wiring them up in serial or what, though.
 
Those with custom loops in the M1: what are your temps like? I'm wondering if temps are good enough to just run one 240mm radiator with slim fans at the bottom or if adding a 92mm rad in the back would have a noticeable improvement. Thanks!
 
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Necere said:
Actually both LEDs are inside the power button and shine through the I/O symbol, so the effect is that during HDD access it flickers purple, and that happens regardless of which one is connected to which color.
Click to expand...
Ok I missed that in previous your post, my fault. Anyway it was just for the fun. :) Thanks!
 
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