NCASE M1 v2 Build Thread

AFD said:
Sounds good! :)
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Thanks :) Still kinda wanna go for the H105 despite thick radiators not being recommended. The temperatures one could get with it as opposed to using H100i or something else makes me giggly.
 
Personally I'd still advise a H105, but you just need to mind the placement. But make sure you put the radiator against the fan-bracket, not with the fans in between. Someone even put a Silverstone TD02 in an Ncase, which has a 45mm radiator, so if that could work...
 
Phuncz said:
Personally I'd still advise a H105, but you just need to mind the placement. But make sure you put the radiator against the fan-bracket, not with the fans in between. Someone even put a Silverstone TD02 in an Ncase, which has a 45mm radiator, so if that could work...
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Seems like the TD02 might be easier to fit though given it's choice of tubing. But yeah, I'll go for the H105. All that's left is to play the waiting game.
 
Hi everyone!

I now have my silver NCASE M1 and so i need to order parts. I have planned a gaming oriented build that i would like some input on.

CPU:
Intel Core i5 4690K

Motherboard:
Asus Z97I-PLUS (This, or the Asrock Z97E-ITX?)

Video Card:
PowerColor Radeon R9 290X LCS (Pre-installed EKWB)

RAM:
Kingston HyperX Fury Black 2x4GB 1600Mhz Memory

HDD (Main storage):
Western Digital WD Black 1TB

SSD (Boot drive):
Samsung EVO 840 Series 120GB

PSU:
SilverStone SST-SX600-G

CPU Cooler:
Fractal Design Kelvin S24 CLC

What are your opinions on this, compatibility, bottlenecks etc. Also i would like to know which watercooling parts like fittings and tubing you recommend? Any particular brands?

Thanks!
 
Axcell said:
Motherboard:
Asus Z97I-PLUS (This, or the Asrock Z97E-ITX?)
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I'm considering these two options as well. The ASRock has SATAe which is nice, but Anandtech has quite a few criticisms on the layout of the board. I'm not sure how important SATAe is going to be, so I'm currently leaning towards the ASUS. Also I've never had any experience with ASRock, while ASUS boards have always served me well.
 
I think it's a great build overall, I'm interested in seeying the Kelvin S24 in the Ncase.
Fittings and tubing aren't my specialty, someone else might fill that in :)
 
Yeah for me SATAe isn't the number one priority, i'd rather have a better layout for example. I'm also leaning more towards the Z97I-PLUS. As for MSI and Gigabyte boards i don't really know much but that they offer similar or less features than the Asus for about the same price tag. The Maximus VII Impact has everything but it exceeds my budget by too much.

Thanks for your reply!
 
Phuncz said:
I think it's a great build overall, I'm interested in seeying the Kelvin S24 in the Ncase.
Fittings and tubing aren't my specialty, someone else might fill that in :)
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Thanks man, i really admire your build too. Just need to know if the PowerColor video card exceeds the maximum width for the case? Seeing as you have the same EKWB and yours fits it shouldn't be a problem right?
 
Thanks but it's nothing special really.

That GPU seems to be just a reference card with the EKWB installed. And considering I have such a setup and it fits (easily), you shouldn't need to worry :)
 
Axcell said:
Yeah for me SATAe isn't the number one priority, i'd rather have a better layout for example. I'm also leaning more towards the Z97I-PLUS. As for MSI and Gigabyte boards i don't really know much but that they offer similar or less features than the Asus for about the same price tag. The Maximus VII Impact has everything but it exceeds my budget by too much.

Thanks for your reply!
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The Maximus VII Impact is more expensive, also lacks SATAe and I don't really care about onboard audio (am going with external AMP/DAC) so I might as well go with the Z97I-PLUS.

Sorry for the useless information, just brainstorming here. I haven't decided yet either so just looking at the different options and what fits best with my build. Good luck with your build bro :)
 
I myself don't see any future in SATA Express, it's especially ridiculous for SFF. It has bulky cables, the connectors are ridiculous and it's not better than M.2 which is a fraction of the size and hassle.
Also, most 297 motherboards have M.2 but a lot less have SATAe. Which makes me think, considering the difficult start M.2 has and SATAe has not even had a start, SATAe won't be having a future.
 
Phuncz said:
I myself don't see any future in SATA Express, it's especially ridiculous for SFF. It has bulky cables, the connectors are ridiculous and it's not better than M.2 which is a fraction of the size and hassle.
Also, most 297 motherboards have M.2 but a lot less have SATAe. Which makes me think, considering the difficult start M.2 has and SATAe has not even had a start, SATAe won't be having a future.
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I really appreciate M.2 but I don't like how it shares the lanes with the GPU.
 
It doesn't matter for a single GPU and SATA Express also uses PCIe lanes for PCIe SSD's. But for SATAe there are no SSD's (yet).
 
Phuncz said:
It doesn't matter for a single GPU and SATA Express also uses PCIe lanes for PCIe SSD's. But for SATAe there are no SSD's (yet).
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Perhaps. But there aren't any interesting M.2 SSDs yet (read: affordable yet better performance than conventional SSDs).
 
The Plextor M6e is reasonably priced and performs better than SATA SSD's.
The Samsung XP941 is the non-affordable but insane performance SSD.

That's still two models of SSD's more than SATA Express has :)
 
You might want to read up on the implementation on the Z97I-Plus vs the Impact. I think the Z97I-Plus supports SATA M.2 SSD's only, whereas the Impact supports PCIe M.2 SSD's only.

I don't really understand the rational for supporting one but not the other. For a "future-proof" build, I'd rather go with a board that supported PCIe SSD's.

EDIT: According to the Asus website, the Z97I-Plus supports SATA AND PCIe M.2 SSD's, with the M Key.
 
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Yeah, SATA's days are numbered, PCIe is the way forward. Considering it's already connected straight to the CPU and with NVMe promising a lot of gains for the future, PCIe storage is the way to go. M.2 seems to be the platform that the industry has chosen to push over SATA Express (who needs a small PCB in a larger plastic case with 4 large cables ?), since it can be the universal standard storage platform for desktop, laptop and tablet (smaller M.2 specs are possible).
 
Phuncz said:
Thanks but it's nothing special really.

That GPU seems to be just a reference card with the EKWB installed. And considering I have such a setup and it fits (easily), you shouldn't need to worry :)
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Nice, that's good to know. I'm also going to have to figure out how to test the graphics card before mounting it in the case, we'll see about that though.

Malangyar said:
The Maximus VII Impact is more expensive, also lacks SATAe and I don't really care about onboard audio (am going with external AMP/DAC) so I might as well go with the Z97I-PLUS.

Sorry for the useless information, just brainstorming here. I haven't decided yet either so just looking at the different options and what fits best with my build. Good luck with your build bro :)
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Thanks! I probably wouldn't buy the Impact for SupremeFX audio, external solutions should give better sound for the money. The Impact is just tempting because it literally has everything the other boards have and more, but one can question the necessity of it all.
 
So... The new Swiftech H220X seems like a really tight fit, if it fits at all in a M1, so that got me wondering if there are alternatives to the H220 (without the X) in terms of 1) powerfull pump so you can expand and 2) adjustable tubes.

Are there AIO watercoolers like it, or should I start buying H220's in bulk ?
 
ThreeEyedFish said:
So... The new Swiftech H220X seems like a really tight fit, if it fits at all in a M1, so that got me wondering if there are alternatives to the H220 (without the X) in terms of 1) powerfull pump so you can expand and 2) adjustable tubes.

Are there AIO watercoolers like it, or should I start buying H220's in bulk ?
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I actually answered your question earlier in the other thread, right after you posted. You must have missed my edit :p
 
Hi!

I do live generative visuals performance to accompany music, for which I needed a strong portable computer (www.vimeo.com/channels/onar3d if you're curious, although the material there is old).

The Ncase seems perfect since laptops are just to weak for what I do! I just got an Ncase M1 v2 which is now waiting to be filled with components, but I'm not quite sure what will work.

My requirements may be a bit out of the ordinary:

* A potent NVIDIA GPU is important, but value for money is still a factor.

* I would love to have a motherboard that accomodates a second card, for a video input/output board: The one I was looking at is a PCI-Express x4 Blackmagic Design Decklink Duo. I know second slot MB's are not really supported for the Ncase, but I know there are motherboards with two slots that do fit (http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1812629), although I haven't found one with an x4 PCI-E.
- Edit: BUT, if the second card slot requirement makes for a weird/unfeasible build, I can live without it, assuming the MB has USB 3.0.

* Also, the motherboard should have a firewire port, or I'll need to replace my expensive external audio interface...

* If it can dual-boot into a hackintosh install that'd be a big plus!

* I will often fly with it as cabin baggage, so liquid cooling is not an option.

My budget for the components is 600-700 euros, more only if I really have to.
I'd rather skimp on parts that I could add later, than get mediocre parts that will need replacing too soon. So, maybe only one disk drive and one stick of ram for now.

I will not need case, monitor, mouse, or keyboard, and lastly, I am in Europe.

While I have built computers in the past the last one was ten years ago, so I'm likely rusty, bear with me :)

I post here because it seems the most appropriate place on the internet for this question, if it is not, sorry, if you can recommend where I should turn I'd be more than grateful!

Thank you!
 
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Onar3d said:
* Also, the motherboard should have a firewire port, or I'll need to replace my expensive external audio interface...
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This is going to be the most difficult requirement. Out of 500+ motherboards on Newegg, there are only 13 with Firewire, and those are all ATX. I think you'll pretty much have to use the expansion slot for a Firewire card if you can't live without it.

Onar3d said:
* If it can dual-boot into a hackintosh install that'd be a big plus!
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I don't know a lot about this, but it seems like there are only a handful of motherboards that support it, none (?) of which are mini-ITX.
 
Necere said:
I don't know a lot about this, but it seems like there are only a handful of motherboards that support it, none (?) of which are mini-ITX.
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Don't quote me on this one but I want to remember that Gigabyte has some form of support for this. But that is perhaps only for their ATX offerings?
 
alabrand1 said:
Don't quote me on this one but I want to remember that Gigabyte has some form of support for this. But that is perhaps only for their ATX offerings?
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I found this list of motherboards compatible with Kakewalk. It's almost all Gigabyte boards, none of which are mini-ITX (designated by an "N" at the end of the first half of the model number). There are a few mATX boards ("M"), but none of those are of the compact mATX variety that will fit in the M1 (max 226mm tall).
 
Necere said:
I found this list of motherboards compatible with Kakewalk. It's almost all Gigabyte boards, none of which are mini-ITX (designated by an "N" at the end of the first half of the model number). There are a few mATX boards ("M"), but none of those are of the compact mATX variety that will fit in the M1 (max 226mm tall).
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That's a shame.
 
Thanks! I've already learnt a lot from the replies this far, looks like it'll be a gigabyte motherboard then, http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4729#sp Ga-b85m-d2v seems to be the only one they do that fits. I didn't know abut kakewalk, thanks for that! Maybe they'll support this motherboard too in the future, they do seem to prefer gigabyte... If not, VMware will have to do...

I found cheap FireWire cards that seem fine, thanks for that tip!

Is the silverstone 450w power supply enough do you think or should I wait for the Silverstone Tek SX600-G to reach Europe?
 
Dang ! I did completely missed that. Thanks buddy :D

(For Necere, on another post. I'm fucking this up, need to sober up :p)
 
As per the title, I've now picked the parts, and wanted to get a last sanity check that this will work and that I haven't made any mistakes that'll result in an impossible build. Lastly, I was wondering what a good way to air cool this, if I want a quiet machine that I will not be overclocking for now.

Should I keep the stock CPU cooler? Or put a noctua nh12-l in there to cool the CPU like in phuncz's build?

Do I have to add case fans if I don't plan to overclock or is it fine with just stock/noctua CPU cooler?

Motherboard Gigabyte GA-B85M-D2V
Psu ST45SF-G v2
Ssd Samsung MZ-7TE250BW Serie 840 EVO 250gb
Ram Kingston hyperX fury 8gb ddr3 1600
Cpu intel core i5 4670k
Gpu EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SuperClocked ACX 2gb ram
Firewire Exsys Pci-e
Hdd Seagate 3.5" Barracuda 7200 3TB SATA3 64MB

Thank you!
 
As you can see from my build, I was able to keep a fully loaded stock-clocked i5-4670K below 60°C without resorting to 100% fan speed with just the single 120mm fan on the NH-L12 in there. But mind you, I didn't have a open-air cooled GPU which might raise your temps somewhat.

Since then, people have been able to mount more beefier coolers like the NH-C14 and the Scythe Kabuto 2. If it fits without exceeding the motherboard's perimeter, it will probably be a better choice.
 
Phuncz, great catch, thank you! I saw many people saying they would use that so I thought it to be safe, but probably they are liquid coolers so it didn't matter to them. I found a rear blower from evga that should be fine (http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-2762-KR), and will follow your advice on cooling.

I see that these evga's recommend a 500w power supply, but I also see many people saying a 450w silverstone sfx st-45sf-g v2 is fine since it is high quality... Is it as safe as they say or do I have to splurge for the 600w one? Thank you!
 
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Manufacturer's specs are just too general:

Total Power Draw : 170 Watts
Minimum of a 500 Watt power supply.
(Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 30 Amps.) --> 12V x 30A = 360 Watt

The card draws 170W, but they recommend more than double on the 12V rail. It's just to protect themselves from cheap and crappy PSU's that can't handle the specs they put on the sticker.
The ST45SF-G is one of the most efficient 80+Gold rated PSU's with a very stable and solid power delivery. No need to worry.

Do you already have the 450W PSU ? Because if you have time to wait, the 600W version is much more quiet according to the first experiences people have and it will probably be replacing the 450W in a few months.
 
Haha, that's always the story when PC-shopping, there's always a great piece of gear JUST about to be released, just hold a tiny bit longer :) I guess I can wait a few weeks, in the US they're out, how much longer can it be until we get them in the EU!

Thanks!
 
Onar3d said:
Haha, that's always the story when PC-shopping, there's always a great piece of gear JUST about to be released, just hold a tiny bit longer :) I guess I can wait a few weeks, in the US they're out, how much longer can it be until we get them in the EU!
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This one is really worth waiting for. Less than a month before they arrive in Europe. If you pre-order now, you should have yours on 19th September. (At least, that's the date I've been quoted.)
 
WiSK said:
This one is really worth waiting for. Less than a month before they arrive in Europe. If you pre-order now, you should have yours on 19th September. (At least, that's the date I've been quoted.)
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As I understood it they'll ship out the cases from US on 22nd and then it'll take some days to reach their destination. Or did I get it all wrong?
 
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