Asrock X299E-ITX/ac in a NCase M1

CodeMonkey

Case Bender
Original poster
Dec 4, 2017
2
5
I've just completed a build using the following:
My requirements for this build are:
  • Light
  • Powerful
  • Compact
  • Easily portable
I wasn't too focused on gaming, and I will potentially take this on aircraft's, so I went with an AIO cooler, as it's simpler and easier to swap out if I need to.

I created a full write up on my blog but thought I'd share it with the SFF community.

Here are a few photos:


What's an Ncase M1 without a coke can? They should ship one in the box I reckon.


Started taking everything off the M1, mistakenly put the Power Supply in first, ended up taking it back out a few times..


An unfortunate AIO failure, which I didn't end up using:


So I went with the ID Frostflow 240L



This was early in the build. Later I swapped the power supply and made if face inward.


The i7 7820X x299...

For storage:

This thing is super fast.

Put it on the back of the board:


Just at the top edge of where the vent is:


Some final shots:






In the end, the cables are longer than they need to be and quite rigid. One day I'll look to shorten and sleeve them, although I haven't done that before, sounds time consuming :).

The PC is fast, I did some benchmarks for anyone interested, even timed some real world project work with Visual Studio 2017.

This was a fun build and pretty much exactly what I wanted. I wrote a few improvements I would have like to have done such as the Zotac 1080 Mini, faster ram and as I mentioned better cable management.

All in all its an awesome small, portable and fast PC.
 
Last edited:

RobLambert

Case Bender
Jan 8, 2018
2
0
Wonderful.... One of the greatest compliments is to copy.... and I am copying you.
Any trouble with airport security?

The build is for a rig dedicated to running software from another Australian company (vMix) and running Logos software which uses a huge database.

Because vMix uses the GPU I need to find out a way to put a 1080 ti into this baby...your recommendation.....?????

...... and would you recommend the monoblock????? ....or a more robust x299 chip????

Thank you very VERY much. Rob
 

rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,588
2,702
Wonderful.... One of the greatest compliments is to copy.... and I am copying you.
Any trouble with airport security?

The build is for a rig dedicated to running software from another Australian company (vMix) and running Logos software which uses a huge database.

Because vMix uses the GPU I need to find out a way to put a 1080 ti into this baby...your recommendation.....?????

...... and would you recommend the monoblock????? ....or a more robust x299 chip????

Thank you very VERY much. Rob

Not a lot of 1080 Ti will fit in the Ncase. Too tall, too wide or too long. If you want one other than a reference design the EVGA GTX 1080 Ti SC2 is a good choice.
 

CodeMonkey

Case Bender
Original poster
Dec 4, 2017
2
5
Sorry for the late reply. rfarmer's right, you'd have trouble. The length you can get in is just under 30cm but the height is pretty tight. And if you get anything higher than my GTX970 mini, I'd recommend looking for right angle 8pin power connectors.
Hope your build goes well. I haven't tried taking it on a plane yet. I'm pretty sure I'd be alright as checked in luggage. Not sure if they'd not like the water cooler if I took it as carry on.

A couple of extra things I have done:
  • Ordered and installed a TPM to use bitlocker on the drive. (Although another option is the Samsung SSD, it has an encryption option as well which I didn't use)
  • Installed a Silent Wings 2 fan (on the power supply side) which doesn't push as much air but is quieter
  • Moved the SSD to the front and put a heat sink on it
Motherboard heat issue
One issue I had was the motherboard heats up a fair bit on high load and gaming. A lot of heat seemed to accumulate at back plate on the back of the board and the SSD (being in the vicinity) got really hot (although it was not doing a lot of work). At one point the PC shutdown which I'm sure was related to the board getting too hot. I was actually monitoring the temps, which didn't seem to match the actual heat behind the board.

Cause
As far as I can tell it happened because I had reduced the fan speed on the fan directly over the motherboard.

Resolution
I've updated the fan profile in the UEFI, so that the fan directly over the motherboard is monitoring the motherboard temp, and keeps a higher rpm. The other fan is monitoring the CPU and generally runs a lot slower. Having the SSD on the front with the fan at faster speeds, and a heat sink has worked well. The back of the board doesn't heat up anymore either. It's still quiet and keeps cool even under high load. Probably some room to overclock, but I'm not planning on that.

What I'd do differently / change
There isn't too much.
  1. I'd buy a DCMI filter for the power supply intake and turn it round so that its pulling cooler external air in
  2. I'd add a 2 TB Samgsung Evo (2.5") drive for some additional storage
That's about it.