Need some help with a NCASE M1 build

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hayer

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Feb 12, 2015
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Hi.

So I recently got the NCASE M1 v5 - which looks amazing. The problem I currently have is selecting components. I use the computer for some gaming and work. I mostly play things like CS:GO, WoW and Diablo 2&3. Sometimes I play never games like BF1, but I don't require top notch graphics at 120FPS. Currently I have a ASUS Strix 970GTX which works pretty good for my needs. The problem with that card is that it doesn't fit in the case, so here I am.

My top priority is noise, as low as possible but in balance with some power for gaming. My current component selection is;

Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core
ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151
G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200
2x Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Silverstone 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply

The only thing I have already is the SSDs.

Cooling--
Not sure whether to go air, aio, or custom loop - as I want to have as low noise as possible. I've built some custom loops earlier, but thats like 10 years ago - and back then noise wasn't a concern. Open to any suggestions here.

GPU--
I've not yet decided on what GPU to get, but I'm looking at the 1070 cards. I feel that the 1070 cards are a bit pricey but the 1080 is way over my budget and probably way overpowered compared to my needs?
I've looked at the "MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Ed" and "MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Aero OC". They both seem to have "back exhaust"(?) which is recommended for the M1 case, but if I look at the size of them they don't seem to fit?

PSU--
So silentpcreview recommended the Silverstone PSU, but that post is from 2014 so thats probably outdated. I see a lot of people going with the Corsair SF600. They are both 600w supplies -- but from summing up the max watt usage; is really 600w needed? Wouldn't 500w be closer to a 85-90% PSU load under "full load in-game"?

Storage--
As mentioned I already have two SSDs and don't feel that I need anymore room at the moment. The plan is to add a M.2 drive when storage becomes an issue.

Memory--
No clue on this part. My current setup has 16GB memory which kind gets full when I start to play with VMs. Most of the VMs are ideal, since I don't want to shutdown and boot them every time I change. Hence they mostly just stay on and use memory.

Gaming--
As mentioned I don't need "top notch" graphics, hence why I feel the 1070 is enough of an upgrade from my current 970. After all, the only reason I'm upgrading the GPU is since it doesn't fit.
 
I've looked at the "MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Ed" and "MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Aero OC". They both seem to have "back exhaust"(?) which is recommended for the M1 case, but if I look at the size of them they don't seem to fit?
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Can you show me how you're comparing the dimensions? Both blower cards you mentioned should fit easily. In fact I don't think there's a single blower card that doesn't fit the M1. I don't know if they're quiet enough for you but they should have absolutely no problem fitting.

600W isn't needed. 450W is more than enough to power what you got there with plenty of headroom to spare. I'd be amazed if your system used 350W at the plug.
 
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vipz said:
Can you show me how you're comparing the dimensions? Both blower cards you mentioned should fit easily. In fact I don't think there's a single blower card that doesn't fit the M1. I don't know if they're quiet enough for you but they should be absolutely have no problem fitting.

600W isn't needed. 450W is more than enough to power what you got there with plenty of headroom to spare. I'd be amazed if your system used 350W at the plug.
Click to expand...

Ah, okey - great news :) So then I can scale down the PSU. Any suggestions?

On the GPU front I'm still not sure. Wehn you say it like that it sounds like they are noisy? Would it be better to watercool the GPU and use something like be quiet! SHADOW ROCK LP for the CPU? When I silent I understand that I can't have "gaming performance" on the scale I'm asking for with all passive cooled components. But I want to be able to take of my headset and sit at my desk programming without getting disturbed by noises from the case. When I'm gaming I can tolerate that it makes more noise, since I'll have my headphones on anyway. As long as it isn't very noticeable.
 
If you want MSI 1070, get a seahawk, trust me... or just get a asus strix 1070. I believe it fits. If you get the seahawk, then use whatever 120mm AIO for CPU, just make sure the tubing are soft.
 
broddy said:
If you want MSI 1070, get a seahawk, trust me... or just get a asus strix 1070. I believe it fits. If you get the seahawk, then use whatever 120mm AIO for CPU, just make sure the tubing are soft.
Click to expand...

Was looking at the MSI cards since they are on sale currently. But then again Black Friday is here soon; any cards you recommend to look for then?
Noob question; Why soft tubing?
 
Typically blower GPUs are noisier, both under load and idle. Many non-blower GPUs are able to turn off their fans completely when idling. Your Strix 970 is one of those. I don't know just how sensitive you are to noise. I'd try a blower card (as long as you can return it) or go straight to one of the non-blower cards that are known to fit. The reason I'd start with a blower GPU is because non-blowers tend to run hotter in the M1 due to exhaust being recirculated inside the case unless special measures are being taken.

For the PSU I'd probably go with the SF450.
 
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hayer said:
Was looking at the MSI cards since they are on sale currently. But then again Black Friday is here soon; any cards you recommend to look for then?
Noob question; Why soft tubing?
Click to expand...

I personally using 1070 aero..in the process of converting to watercooled with AIO. Aero /FE cards just throttling too much. I think you can look into asus strix or gigabyte G1 gaming if you want air cooled. MSI seahawk for AIO. Ncase is pretty tight, it's a lot easier to work with if the tubes are soft. I have corsair h75 for my 1070 aero and silverstone TD-03E for CPU, I will pick up my case this afternoon but I wont start my build till 2nd week of December after the finals. Good luck, bud.
 
On the air- vs. water cooling I just want quiet. At the moment my understanding is that quiet watercooling is a lot more expensive than quiet air cooling, but watercooling offers better temps, completly incorrect? But to be honest; I have been out of the PC-building bizznizz for so long that when I bought the 970gtx I upgraded from a 4 year old GPU and the reason was the the old one had died. So if someone tells me "Pick this with this because of {something that sounds good}" I'll probably do that.

So as I see it now I have a couple of options that sounds reasonable;
- get a 1070 with back exhaust, if its to noisy then return it and,.. get what?
- get a 1070 with a AIO - how much noise does these generate?


vipz: Thanks for the list! Haven't seen that before. Very handy :)


Edit: Can the ASUS Strix 970GTX fit if cooler is swapped with AIO cooler?

Edit2: Looked at a couple of the 1070 card and they list "Required PSU: 500w" and "TDP: 150w" - what? Can someone explain this?
 
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hayer said:
So as I see it now I have a couple of options that sounds reasonable;
- get a 1070 with back exhaust, if its to noisy then return it and,.. get what?
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Get a non-blower and start messing with intake ducting
Or mess with AIO.
Or get a Accelero Xtreme and do bottom exhaust.

Edit: Can the ASUS Strix 970GTX fit if cooler is swapped with AIO cooler?
Click to expand...
The PCB doesn't fit unless modded. According to the spreadsheet: "With modification of either the pin and socket, or GPU pcb, it will fit."

Edit2: Looked at a couple of the 1070 card and they list "Required PSU: 500w" and "TDP: 150w" - what? Can someone explain this?
Click to expand...

That assumes the rest of the system uses 350W, which is highly improbable with a 91W TDP CPU. The high wattage "requirements" typically assume terrible quality PSUs that can't actually match their rated output.
 
After reading through this thread I think I might get a MSI 1070 Gaming X, and use a AIO for the CPU. Then have 2 fans at bottom pushing and 2 fans at the top pulling. Does this seem like a reasonable setup?

Edit: Okey, so I looked around -- I can get the EVGA 1070 Hybrid for the same price as a MSI 1070 Gaming. The EVGA Hybrid is about $120 cheaper than the MSI Gaming.

Fans: completly forgot about fans. As far as I can see Noctua non-industrial fans seems to be the best at low noise?
 
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broddy said:
I personally using 1070 aero..in the process of converting to watercooled with AIO. Aero /FE cards just throttling too much. I think you can look into asus strix or gigabyte G1 gaming if you want air cooled. MSI seahawk for AIO. Ncase is pretty tight, it's a lot easier to work with if the tubes are soft. I have corsair h75 for my 1070 aero and silverstone TD-03E for CPU, I will pick up my case this afternoon but I wont start my build till 2nd week of December after the finals. Good luck, bud.
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Sorry I forgot to reply.

Okey, last time I watercooled something I liked using hard tubes as they "stayed the same" after you bent them. Just heat them up, bend them and dip in water?

When you say "throttling" is it like going from 1400mhz to 400mhz or more like 10% loss in performance? Like goes from; running CSGO smooth at 120FPS to lagging with FPS spiking up and down?
 
when my 1070 throttles, it just goes from 1800 down to 1600 MHz ish. There are some card with aftermarket cooler like asus and gigabyte holds much better than FE type blower. With AIO cooler, you can probably keep it like 2000 MHz I believe. I dont know if you can heat up the tubes with AIO cooler. I wouldnt do it. MSI gaming doesnt fit the case by the way. This is such a small case, you dont need that many fans. I dont know what you mean by 2 fans at the top pulling, the top vents are just vents. I dont think you can mount fans without modification.
 
broddy said:
when my 1070 throttles, it just goes from 1800 down to 1600 MHz ish. There are some card with aftermarket cooler like asus and gigabyte holds much better than FE type blower. With AIO cooler, you can probably keep it like 2000 MHz I believe. I dont know if you can heat up the tubes with AIO cooler. I wouldnt do it. MSI gaming doesnt fit the case by the way. This is such a small case, you dont need that many fans. I dont know what you mean by 2 fans at the top pulling, the top vents are just vents. I dont think you can mount fans without modification.
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Okey, so seeing how the EVGA Hybrid is quieter than the normal cards and I get can it at nearly the same price that seems like the go to card?


So for the sake of discussion lets say I go with the EVGA Hybrid 1070 -- what CPU cooler should I get? As that is then the only part I'm missing for a complete build.
 
hayer said:
Sorry I forgot to reply.

Okey, last time I watercooled something I liked using hard tubes as they "stayed the same" after you bent them. Just heat them up, bend them and dip in water?

When you say "throttling" is it like going from 1400mhz to 400mhz or more like 10% loss in performance? Like goes from; running CSGO smooth at 120FPS to lagging with FPS spiking up and down?
Click to expand...
So what he is really saying is that it doesn't throttle, it just doesn't boost as high as possible :)
Check out video from jayztwocent where he talks about this.
 
Okey, so I've settled for the EVGA GTX 1070 Hybrid.

Now; what CPU cooler should I get that;
- fits in the ncase m1 with the EVGA card
- is capable of cooling a 6600K
- quiet

Any typical brands I should be looking at?
 
I'd look into a slim to medium thickness single 120mm AIO for the CPU.
 
The 1070 Hybrid may not work in the case because of the thickness of the braided tube. I tried fitting a 980ti hybrid and the best I could do was a H55 with a kraken G10 because of the clearance necessary for the tubes to get to the rad. Currently in my V3, I have a H80i with one fan for the CPU and a H55 for the GPU. I also wouldn't keep my hopes up about overclocking very well as the temperatures are pretty high due to the lack of space in the case and the need for high static pressure fans. I can provide detailed pictures of my build if you'd like to demonstrate the point.
 
akhilv1: yea, seems about right.

I can now inform the world that EVGA GTX 1070 Hybrid + Coolermaster Liquid Pro 120 does not fit in the NCase M1.. So at the moment it seems like I have two options;

a) get a CPU cooler that will work with the EVGA GTX 1070 Hybrid
b) Shorten the tubes on the Coolermaster Liquid Pro 120 as they are non-bendy and take up alot of space.

Would like to go for option B, as that is the cheapest one.. but I have no clue how.

So open to suggestions on both A and B.. what CPU cooler to get that I can guarantee fits with the hybrid or how to safely shorten the tubes of a AIO cooler ... ,__,
 
hayer said:
akhilv1: yea, seems about right.

I can now inform the world that EVGA GTX 1070 Hybrid + Coolermaster Liquid Pro 120 does not fit in the NCase M1.. So at the moment it seems like I have two options;

a) get a CPU cooler that will work with the EVGA GTX 1070 Hybrid
b) Shorten the tubes on the Coolermaster Liquid Pro 120 as they are non-bendy and take up alot of space.

Would like to go for option B, as that is the cheapest one.. but I have no clue how.

So open to suggestions on both A and B.. what CPU cooler to get that I can guarantee fits with the hybrid or how to safely shorten the tubes of a AIO cooler ... ,__,
Click to expand...

Can you post a picture of how the 1070 Hybrid mounts (especially the way that you're routing your tube around the GPU)? I really wouldn't suggest option B as the Liquid Pro 120 isn't an expandable AIO and the will cause many problems if you try to attempt a shortening.
 
Well, I moved it to another case for safe keeping -- small apartment, have to clean up after "each session". Can try to take a shot when I get a CPU cooler, but it seems to be able to be mounted next to the PSU (SFX).
 
I have my H55 from the GPU mounted next to the PSU and the H80i in front of the motherboard.
IMG_20161205_134913.jpg
 
So a H55 is for a i5-6600K (none overclocked) should be fine? Or should I grab the H75? Local shop got H55 and H75, the H80i I have to order :/ How long are the cables on the H55?
 
It's enough to keep the temps on my 980ti in check so it should be more than good enough for an overclocked 6600k as that puts out far less heat. I personally wish I could put the H55 on my 6700k and put the H80i on the GPU as the H80i is a little overkill for the cpu.
 
The only difference between the H75 and the H55 is that the H75 used a newer aesthetically design for the pump block and it comes with 2 fans, so you should go for whichever one is cheaper.
 
The difference is $10 - but I'll grab the H55 tomorrow then and try to mount it again.

9 days with only mobile -- no tv, no pc. need to get this up and running,.. for my mental health.
 
If the difference is so small, go for the H75 as it comes with 2 very good static pressure optimized fans. I basically took the two and put one on each rad, and they work really well at lower RPMs. The fan that comes with the H55 is frankly shit, and I think the same about the fan on the 1070 Hybrid.
 
Was gonna put a Noctua NF-S12A ULN on each of them since they are so quiet. Any resistance on that? Maybe they're too weak?
 
Those look like they'd be a little low on static pressure, maybe go for the NF-F12s?
 
Have you completed the build? I completed mine a couple days ago with 2 AIO....pending pictures..doing some hard drive recovery work..
 
broddy said:
Have you completed the build? I completed mine a couple days ago with 2 AIO....pending pictures..doing some hard drive recovery work..
Click to expand...
Which AIOs did you end up using? I'm just curious as to what's popular.
 
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