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

I will be away this weekend, but when I return I will start testing various airflow and cooling options in my M1 with the new Window Side Panel installed. Changes I will try include:

  • keeping the NH-C14 CPU cooler, but replacing the single 140 mm fan on top with slim Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM fans (top and bottom)
    • with and without a slim 92 mm rear fan as intake (currently as exhaust)
  • keeping the dual slim 140 mm fans at the bottom of the case underneath my Alpenfohn Peter II GPU cooler, initially staying as exhausts, but also trying them as intakes
  • replacing the GPU cooler with an Arctic Accelero Xtreme III with dual fans underneath (NF-A12x25 PWM or NF-A12x15 PWM) in both intake and exhaust orientations
  • keeping the Silverstone SX600-G power supply that has its fan replaced by a NF-B9 fan (facing inwards), and later replacing this with a Corsair SF600 with its intake fan facing outwards to separate its airflow from the rest of the components
  • trying 2 tower CPU coolers, the Alpenfohn Atlas and the Noctua NH-U9S, in both intake and exhaust orientations.
There are a lot of combinations and I will not try them all. I will progress through the various cooler and fan options in what I hope is a sensible order.

If you're interested in this, the answer may already have been posted on YouTube. Yesterday Optimum Tech posted "Ultimate NCASE M1 Cooling Setup?" and found that having the NH-U9S with dual NF-A9 PWM fans, set to draw air in from the rear and the Xtreme III with dual 25 mm exhaust fans (NF-B9 ?) underneath gave the coolest temperatures with his homemade full tempered glass replacement for the side panel. I expect my results will be similar, but you never know.
 
I will be away this weekend, but when I return I will start testing various airflow and cooling options in my M1 with the new Window Side Panel installed. Changes I will try include:

  • keeping the NH-C14 CPU cooler, but replacing the single 140 mm fan on top with slim Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM fans (top and bottom)
    • with and without a slim 92 mm rear fan as intake (currently as exhaust)
  • keeping the dual slim 140 mm fans at the bottom of the case underneath my Alpenfohn Peter II GPU cooler, initially staying as exhausts, but also trying them as intakes
  • replacing the GPU cooler with an Arctic Accelero Xtreme III with dual fans underneath (NF-A12x25 PWM or NF-A12x15 PWM) in both intake and exhaust orientations
  • keeping the Silverstone SX600-G power supply that has its fan replaced by a NF-B9 fan (facing inwards), and later replacing this with a Corsair SF600 with its intake fan facing outwards to separate its airflow from the rest of the components
  • trying 2 tower CPU coolers, the Alpenfohn Atlas and the Noctua NH-U9S, in both intake and exhaust orientations.
There are a lot of combinations and I will not try them all. I will progress through the various cooler and fan options in what I hope is a sensible order.

If you're interested in this, the answer may already have been posted on YouTube. Yesterday Optimum Tech posted "Ultimate NCASE M1 Cooling Setup?" and found that having the NH-U9S with dual NF-A9 PWM fans, set to draw air in from the rear and the Xtreme III with dual 25 mm exhaust fans (NF-B9 ?) underneath gave the coolest temperatures with his homemade full tempered glass replacement for the side panel. I expect my results will be similar, but you never know.

I'm interested to see the results you get with the window and C14, mainly because I'm way too lazy to test it myself =P
 
Oh no. I posted earlier about being happier with the noise level of my build post new psu. Assumed the remaining noise was the u9s that I could hear now that my old psu was replaced. Tried lowering the rpms from 450 all the way down to 300 to get rid of that last bit of noise. No difference. Unplugged the nf-a15 to see if it was the source of the noise. Nope. Unplugged both it and the u9s’ fans for a bit, same noise level.
I think it’s my new sf-450. The fan isn’t running but I think that’s where the noise is coming from. Coil whine maybe? It’s not as loud as my old psu but I can still hear it across the room. Zut. Guess I might be making a return.
Edit: wait, I think the noise I was hearing was my hard drive?! Psu isn’t completely silent but I have to hold my ear up to it to hear some clicking. Hardrive seems to be running at full speed? Tried it with a spare 2.5” drive and my 3.5”, same thing. All unmounted, all still spinning full speed and making quite the racket all the same.
Plugged in the old Silverstone psu and the same thing happens along with it’s own fan noise.

So I bought the Ncase M1 partially because of how loud my FT-03 mini build was. Assumed it was the cpu cooler and wanted a case which could fit a better cooler. Wasn’t the cpu cooler. Thought is was the psu. Bought a new psu. And it turns out the problem was my hardrive all along? V happy with the Ncase but still kinda frustrated and a bit embarrassed rn.
 
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I will be away this weekend, but when I return I will start testing various airflow and cooling options in my M1 with the new Window Side Panel installed. Changes I will try include:

  • keeping the NH-C14 CPU cooler, but replacing the single 140 mm fan on top with slim Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM fans (top and bottom)
    • with and without a slim 92 mm rear fan as intake (currently as exhaust)
  • keeping the dual slim 140 mm fans at the bottom of the case underneath my Alpenfohn Peter II GPU cooler, initially staying as exhausts, but also trying them as intakes
  • replacing the GPU cooler with an Arctic Accelero Xtreme III with dual fans underneath (NF-A12x25 PWM or NF-A12x15 PWM) in both intake and exhaust orientations
  • keeping the Silverstone SX600-G power supply that has its fan replaced by a NF-B9 fan (facing inwards), and later replacing this with a Corsair SF600 with its intake fan facing outwards to separate its airflow from the rest of the components
  • trying 2 tower CPU coolers, the Alpenfohn Atlas and the Noctua NH-U9S, in both intake and exhaust orientations.
There are a lot of combinations and I will not try them all. I will progress through the various cooler and fan options in what I hope is a sensible order.

If you're interested in this, the answer may already have been posted on YouTube. Yesterday Optimum Tech posted "Ultimate NCASE M1 Cooling Setup?" and found that having the NH-U9S with dual NF-A9 PWM fans, set to draw air in from the rear and the Xtreme III with dual 25 mm exhaust fans (NF-B9 ?) underneath gave the coolest temperatures with his homemade full tempered glass replacement for the side panel. I expect my results will be similar, but you never know.

Curious as to your testing results too.
 
One of my side panel windows came in. Apparently Silver gets delivered before Black. Fits very nicely. The glass is thicker than I expected, and the tape job was obviously hand done, but overall I think it looks and feels great. There's some good heft to it.

U9S is on the way and I look forward to doing temperature testing. C14 has to be benched for now in order to actually get some airflow going. No more holes there for it to breathe. Can anyone recommend a decent set of white case LED's?




View attachment 77406


is there anyway to run AIO gpu with the window?
 
Not strictly M1 related, but I just got my /u/90n1ne keyboard cable. Can't rate him highly enough! Not only was he cheaper than the others, but turnaround was blazing fast. It's just a cable but damn do I love it...
20180531_133531.jpg
 
is there anyway to run AIO gpu with the window?

You could try the 545LC on the rear part of the frame - I actually think you'd get decent results despite its small size.

edit: Oops! I misread your post. AIO CPU would be easy as above. GPU AIO would be fairly difficult. Without a side panel to mount the radiator you're limited to either the 92mm on the rear, or crazy modding to mount it on the roof so to speak. In short - Not really possible.
 
im coming from a tempered glass "htpc" style case so would prefer the window.



would a 1080ti (evga or msi gaming x) work ok with the window and 2 bottom intake fans?
 
Still chasing silence. Deleted some games I can’t play without a gpu, moved my music to my ssd and removed my last hard drive.
Last remaining noise is a whirring noise from the sf-450 that I can now hear without the hard drive drowning it out. It’s not too loud but it is kind of annoying. Not sure if it’s normal or something they’d cover under warranty.

Edit:it’s not actually that bad if I don’t specifically listen for it. Might call this good.

Will have to figure out how to get a gpu working and what is up with my hard drives at a later date.
Buying that micron 2tb ssd would solve/negate the hard drive problem but I should probably find a solution that doesn’t cost $300.

Edit: Problem kinda solved. Used hdparm to make the drive sleep after 50 seconds of idle. Still means a noisy boot or if I ever access the drive but it’s better. Not sure why it’s so loud but oh well I guess.
 
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would a 1080ti (evga or msi gaming x) work ok with the window and 2 bottom intake fans?

Please check Necere's Geforce GTX 1080 Compatibility post. It provides technical illustrations and dimension guidelines for graphics cards in the M1. There is also a list of cards that will, might, and won't fit. For example, some MSI Geforce cards will fit, but others will not.

A couple of additional points:
  • 25 mm tall fans will only fit underneath a graphics card that is 2 slots thick (41 mm). Thin cards will fit underneath cards that are 2.5 slots thick.
  • The maximum height of the card is 111 mm or 140 mm (5.5 inches), depending on the length of the card.
    • Also, room must exist for the PCI-E power connectors and cables. On some graphics cards these are recessed, but on many they are at the same level as the top of the PCB. For some cards it may be possible to connect special low-profile 90 degree PCI-E adapters. (Or you can cut a hole in the side panel, as one owner did!)
Another excellent resource is the user-contributed Google Docs spreadsheet, as listed in this thread's very first post.

Good luck with your build!
 
Still chasing silence. Deleted some games I can’t play without a gpu, moved my music to my ssd and removed my last hard drive.
Last remaining noise is a whirring noise from the sf-450 that I can now hear without the hard drive drowning it out. It’s not too loud but it is kind of annoying. Not sure if it’s normal or something they’d cover under warranty.

Edit:it’s not actually that bad if I don’t specifically listen for it. Might call this good.

Will have to figure out how to get a gpu working and what is up with my hard drives at a later date.
Just for you bud: (link)
nj450-sxl-34right-top.jpg

Passively cooled SFX-L 450 watt PSU (to be released)

It would probably interfere with a full length GPU though.

You can currently buy a passively cooled gpu up to a 1050ti. I hope more passive varients come out as the next batch of Nvidia gpus release.
 
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im coming from a tempered glass "htpc" style case so would prefer the window.


would a 1080ti (evga or msi gaming x) work ok with the window and 2 bottom intake fans?

I'm pretty sure the MSI GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X won't fit. I couldn't get my MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X to fit. I had to go with an ASUS GTX 1070 dual fan.
 
according to the list the msi Gamimg X wont work, pretty much the most silent 1080 ti on air you could get. that leaves the EVGA 1080 ti SC

the funny thing is that the much smaller Silverstone Raven RVZ02 i built in last was able to fit my 1080 gaming x even tho its a much more compact mitx case. (regret parting it out, should have kept the sf600 lol)

trying to reuse the expensive Slim BR drive i have, and supposedly its incompatible with the case
Silverstones: they come with both 9.5mm and 12.7mm bezels, but the drives themselves are 9.5mm thick, so they won't work
from this post
Not without extreme modifications.



Yes. This is my current setup and it is fine.


is that the FTW3? and what are your temps on it?

seems like i'd go with the 1080ti SC2 elite gaming (trying to find the white version) if the gaming x wont fit
 
according to the list the msi Gamimg X wont work, pretty much the most silent 1080 ti on air you could get. that leaves the EVGA 1080 ti SC

the funny thing is that the much smaller Silverstone Raven RVZ02 i built in last was able to fit my 1080 gaming x even tho its a much more compact mitx case. (regret parting it out, should have kept the sf600 lol)

trying to reuse the expensive Slim BR drive i have, and supposedly its incompatible with the case from this post



is that the FTW3? and what are your temps on it?

seems like i'd go with the 1080ti SC2 elite gaming (trying to find the white version) if the gaming x wont fit

FTW3 won't fit. I use the SC Black and it fits just fine.
 
Just for you bud: (link)
View attachment 77840
Passively cooled SFX-L 450 watt PSU (to be released)

It would probably interfere with a full length GPU though.

You can currently buy a passively cooled gpu up to a 1050ti. I hope more passive varients come out as the next batch of Nvidia gpus release.
Yes, I’ve been looking forward to that PSU. I decided the Corsair would be good enough for likely a $100 less though. I think I don’t regret that decision.
That passive 1050ti looks great! I was thinking of an 1160 with the artic accelero as I’m more concerned with silence at idle than load but yes for more passive variants next generation.
 
I have the tempered glass, and I can confirm it is very clear. I can't comment on the plexi version.


On a much more sad note, my Asrock X299e ITX board died on me. Waiting to hear back from Asrock has been a slow and painful process. They have not been helpful at all! I'm likely going to have to go through newegg to get a new one at this point.

In the meantime, I tore the entire build down in prep for my new M1 that will be shipping out with the June 6th batch. I plan on filming a video tutorial on how to do the power switch mod for anyone interested. I also installed the Accellero III, kinda. I didn't follow the instructions. I didn't like the individual heatsinks for the chips and I didn't like the retention plate because it was fuggo. So all I did basically was install the heatsink onto the gpu and left the stock cold plate on the PCB. This method allowed me to use and attach the backplate completely since the screws mount into the cold plate and that should sufficiently cool the other components. I'll have no way of knowing if it works until Assrock sends me a new freaking board though reeee!

20180601_165713.jpg
 
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I have the tempered glass, and I can confirm it is very clear. I can't comment on the plexi version.


On a much more sad note, my Asrock X299e ITX board died on me. Waiting to hear back from Asrock has been a slow and painful process. They have not been helpful at all! I'm likely going to have to go through newegg to get a new one at this point.

In the meantime, I tore the entire build down in prep for my new M1 that will be shipping out with the June 6th batch. I plan on filming a video tutorial on how to do the power switch mod for anyone interested. I also installed the Accellero III, kinda. I didn't follow the instructions. I didn't like the individual heatsinks for the chips and I didn't like the retention plate because it was fuggo. So all I did basically was install the heatsink onto the gpu and left the stock cold plate on the PCB. This method allowed me to use and attach the backplate completely since the screws mount into the cold plate and that should sufficiently cool the other components. I'll have no way of knowing if it works until Assrock sends me a new freaking board though reeee!

View attachment 78077

You might like to take a look at Optimum Tech's video on the accelero cooler. He tried the same thing, but the extra tabs on the EVGA baseplate prevented it from contacting the GPU die enough to cool.

 
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You might like to take a look at Optimum Tech's video on the accelero cooler. He tried the same thing, but the extra tabs on the EVGA baseplate prevented it from contacting the GPU die enough to cool.



Can confirm - bad contact. All four of the screw holes are in the way. I'll cut them off and try again.

Edit: Cutting them off was easy. Filing them down now. Also snipped one of the vertical pipes in half since it was making contact with a heat pipe. In theory it should work fine after this.

Edit 2: It's an absolute perfect fit now. The vertical heat pipes on the cold plate touch the GPU heatsink, which means it should help dissipate some of that heat. Good, solid contact throughout using the "how far will the thermal paste spread" testing method. Answer, complete coverage of the die.

20180601_210225.jpg 20180601_210423.jpg
 
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I will be away this weekend, but when I return I will start testing various airflow and cooling options in my M1 with the new Window Side Panel installed. Changes I will try include:

  • keeping the NH-C14 CPU cooler, but replacing the single 140 mm fan on top with slim Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM fans (top and bottom)
    • with and without a slim 92 mm rear fan as intake (currently as exhaust)
  • keeping the dual slim 140 mm fans at the bottom of the case underneath my Alpenfohn Peter II GPU cooler, initially staying as exhausts, but also trying them as intakes
  • replacing the GPU cooler with an Arctic Accelero Xtreme III with dual fans underneath (NF-A12x25 PWM or NF-A12x15 PWM) in both intake and exhaust orientations
  • keeping the Silverstone SX600-G power supply that has its fan replaced by a NF-B9 fan (facing inwards), and later replacing this with a Corsair SF600 with its intake fan facing outwards to separate its airflow from the rest of the components
  • trying 2 tower CPU coolers, the Alpenfohn Atlas and the Noctua NH-U9S, in both intake and exhaust orientations.
There are a lot of combinations and I will not try them all. I will progress through the various cooler and fan options in what I hope is a sensible order.

If you're interested in this, the answer may already have been posted on YouTube. Yesterday Optimum Tech posted "Ultimate NCASE M1 Cooling Setup?" and found that having the NH-U9S with dual NF-A9 PWM fans, set to draw air in from the rear and the Xtreme III with dual 25 mm exhaust fans (NF-B9 ?) underneath gave the coolest temperatures with his homemade full tempered glass replacement for the side panel. I expect my results will be similar, but you never know.

Also interested to see the results of this but would love to see some top down coolers, but know that's just not practical.

Most of the mega top down coolers have less than one inch to the side of the case which will cause re-circulation, noise and higher temps with the side window. I looked at the be quiet Shadow Rock TF 2 before realizing there was only 18mm clearance to the side panel, so I settled with the Shadow Rock LP to give the VRM some airflow as well as the Ryzen 2700(non-X). I've also thought about mounting the 92mm fan on the outside of the case to work as an intake or exhaust.

My case arrived last week but I haven't had much time to progress my build, here is as far as I have got:
X470-I.jpg
 
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Can confirm - bad contact. All four of the screw holes are in the way. I'll cut them off and try again.

Edit: Cutting them off was easy. Filing them down now. Also snipped one of the vertical pipes in half since it was making contact with a heat pipe. In theory it should work fine after this.

Edit 2: It's an absolute perfect fit now. The vertical heat pipes on the cold plate touch the GPU heatsink, which means it should help dissipate some of that heat. Good, solid contact throughout using the "how far will the thermal paste spread" testing method. Answer, complete coverage of the die.

View attachment 78149 View attachment 78150

Great! Please report back with how this does in cooling the ram and vrm. It may not be entirely accurate to compare to Optimum's numbers due to differing ambient temps and other variables, but it would be within the ballpark.
 
Tried some stress tests to see how loud my system is under load. Fans don’t seem to change speed until cpu temp reaches the high 60s. Peaked at 70c after doing a few tests in a row. The fans spun up to 824rpm for the nf-a15 and 987 for the u9s fans. I could just hear the fans but still pretty darn quiet.

Wanted to test my psu but an ssd and a 95w tdp cpu is not enough to get the sf-450’s fans to spin. How’s everyone’s SF-450/600 under a good load, noise wise? Still kinda tempted to return it and get Silverstone’s upcoming passive psu but really not sure if it’s worth it.
 
Tried some stress tests to see how loud my system is under load. Fans don’t seem to change speed until cpu temp reaches the high 60s. Peaked at 70c after doing a few tests in a row. The fans spun up to 824rpm for the nf-a15 and 987 for the u9s fans. I could just hear the fans but still pretty darn quiet.

Wanted to test my psu but an ssd and a 95w tdp cpu is not enough to get the sf-450’s fans to spin. How’s everyone’s SF-450/600 under a good load, noise wise? Still kinda tempted to return it and get Silverstone’s upcoming passive psu but really not sure if it’s worth it.

Keep the Corsair, I have both a 450 and a 600 and I never hear either one.
 
One of my side panel windows came in. Apparently Silver gets delivered before Black. Fits very nicely. The glass is thicker than I expected, and the tape job was obviously hand done, but overall I think it looks and feels great. There's some good heft to it.

U9S is on the way and I look forward to doing temperature testing. C14 has to be benched for now in order to actually get some airflow going. No more holes there for it to breathe. Can anyone recommend a decent set of white case LED's?




View attachment 77406

what kind of temps were you getting on the setup? with the big fan.
im going to install my panel today and we have the same cooler except i have it on a 1060. and running im running a u9s cooler on a 8400

even with teh stock panel my gpus temps were hitting 80c that with a 60% ran speed too. im gonna try to added a top exhaust fan see if that helps
 
Anyone received their side-panel pre order?? I live in Australia so I expect a delay, but I haven't had any updates since the 24th of May on the tracking... Is it coming by boat!? lol
 
Anyone received their side-panel pre order?? I live in Australia so I expect a delay, but I haven't had any updates since the 24th of May on the tracking... Is it coming by boat!? lol

I received my silver and black Window panels last Tuesday. I live in the Ottawa, Ontario region in Canada.
 
Both of my panels came in (TX). Silver arrived like four days before black so that was interesting. Time to get them tinted!
 
Anything new on the subject of 3-slots mATX motherboards? My GA-H110M-S2HP is starting to die on me (some i/o ports no longer seem to work). I'm especially looking for something with M.2 and USB-C, and potentially allowing me to overclock my 6600K. And I still don't want to give up on my Pexhdcap card.
 
Is anyone here using an EVGA GTX 1080 SC as well?
Under load it's veeeeery loud since the fans go around 1800 rpm and I can still hear it with closed headphones on. It somehow feels that something isn't right there. Temps are around 65-70 °C which is fine, but the noise isn't.
My CPU fans are really quite even at around 1400 rpm (Noctua NF-B9 redux) and so are my bottom exhaust fans (Noctua NF-P12 redux) at around 900 rpm. But even at 800 rpm the GPU fans are quite loud, let alone any rpm above that.
I got a tempered glass side panel, but I doubt that this is the problem. Maybe someone can help me out :)
 
Is anyone here using an EVGA GTX 1080 SC as well?
Under load it's veeeeery loud since the fans go around 1800 rpm and I can still hear it with closed headphones on. It somehow feels that something isn't right there. Temps are around 65-70 °C which is fine, but the noise isn't.
My CPU fans are really quite even at around 1400 rpm (Noctua NF-B9 redux) and so are my bottom exhaust fans (Noctua NF-P12 redux) at around 900 rpm. But even at 800 rpm the GPU fans are quite loud, let alone any rpm above that.
I got a tempered glass side panel, but I doubt that this is the problem. Maybe someone can help me out :)
you are most likely at those temps since your fans are full throttle if not you would be seeing temps in the 80s. specially with the glass panel . more hot air is trapped specially with the design of that cooler on the gpu
 
been trying how to better vent the case. added a 80mm fan to see if this helps push the hot air out. see if this helps any when gaming
 

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been trying how to better vent the case. added a 80mm fan to see if this helps push the hot air out. see if this helps any when gaming
If it's blowing out the top, it may be pulling fresh air away from the front of the cpu cooler, and may also be pulling air from the other side of the case top and recycling it out the top of the case (especially if it's already negatively pressurized). Flipped the other way, it may still be recycling air from the top, but should still provide a decent amount of fresh air. Try it both ways at various fan speeds, and let us know how it goes. ;)
 
you are most likely at those temps since your fans are full throttle if not you would be seeing temps in the 80s. specially with the glass panel . more hot air is trapped specially with the design of that cooler on the gpu

was looking at the same card. so what type of cooler is better with the glass then, blower?
 
Would be interesting to know if it actually helps. How did you mount it btw? :)
zip ties lol
was looking at the same card. so what type of cooler is better with the glass then, blower?
i would think so..since blower is removing the out air out the back of the card/outsidde of the pc

If it's blowing out the top, it may be pulling fresh air away from the front of the cpu cooler, and may also be pulling air from the other side of the case top and recycling it out the top of the case (especially if it's already negatively pressurized). Flipped the other way, it may still be recycling air from the top, but should still provide a decent amount of fresh air. Try it both ways at various fan speeds, and let us know how it goes. ;)
i have it blowing out the top. my thought is that the gpu is blow hot air into circulating with the cpu why not try to suck it out. ill mess with it and report back
 
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