Help with first ever SFF Build, NCase M1 V6 Air-cooled

[lawtsai]

Hi all,

Long time lurker who finally decided to pull the trigger on ordering one of the new V6 M1s.
I've done a fair amount of research but wanted to see if there were any discrepancies or issues that any of the veteran Ncase builders may notice with my components.

The initial goal of this build was to create a small 4k gaming machine that will be hooked up to 4K TVs. I used the excuse of my son being born to convince my wife to allow me to build a new pc in his name . Absolute silence is not necessary with the build but having cool-enough temperatures is a priority.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor - Unsure if I'm planning to OC yet, but having the option is nice.
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9S 46.44 CFM CPU Cooler - I've been bouncing back and forth between air cooling and attempting to do a full custom water cooling loop. The latter seemed like too much of a hassle for a beginner like me (having to both learn to build in a SFF AND learn water cooling for the first time). From research it seems like the U9S is the most friendly cooler out there.
Motherboard: Any X570 board for future proofing. Between the Gigabyte or ASRock
Memory: Team Dark Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory - extra RAM given to me by my brother
Storage: Any 1 or 2 TB M.2 SSD, I figured for just gaming purposes there was no need for a SATA SSD if I could get away with just a M.2
Video Card: RTX 2080 ti - I've searched and saw that someone was able to fit a 3 slot EVGA 2080ti XC card ( ). My question here is that do you guys think it is worth I cough up the additional $$ for a 2080 ti vs. just purchasing a 2070, 2080 super, etc? My biggest concern would be getting rid of the heat generated by a card as beastly as the 2080ti.
Power Supply: Corsair SF 600 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply


With regards to fans, I am thinking of placing:
- an additional 92 mm Noctua fan on the rear of the case for exhaust
- 1x A12x25 on the front-side panel as intake
- 2x Slim A12x15 fans on the bottom of the case as intake, blowing against the GPU

Any input you guys may have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[CudB]

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor - Unsure if I'm planning to OC yet, but having the option is nice.

3000 series hasn't been overclocking too well just so you know. It might be worth considering the 3600 instead since 4k gaming performance differences between the two are negligible.

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9S 46.44 CFM CPU Cooler - I've been bouncing back and forth between air cooling and attempting to do a full custom water cooling loop. The latter seemed like too much of a hassle for a beginner like me (having to both learn to build in a SFF AND learn water cooling for the first time). From research it seems like the U9S is the most friendly cooler out there.

U9S is the least fussy to install, but it's cooling performance is significantly less than a C14S or 240mm AIO cooler. A 240mm AIO is by far the best when comparing these three.

My question here is that do you guys think it is worth I cough up the additional $$ for a 2080 ti vs. just purchasing a 2070, 2080 super, etc? My biggest concern would be getting rid of the heat generated by a card as beastly as the 2080ti.

4K gaming is where you would definitely see the benefit of more GPU power. A 2080ti would never fit in my budget, but it's up to you. Cooling it effectively is usually done with a third party heatsink (Accelero III is popular) and two 120mm Noctua A12x25 fans. Alternatively, you can just remove the stock shroud and fans and just get the Noctua fans.

You will greatly benefit from a custom fan curve and undervolting the GPU since the 2080ti runs hot.

With regards to fans, I am thinking of placing:
- 2x Slim A12x15 fans on the bottom of the case as intake, blowing against the GPU

The two bottom fans can cause turbulence if you're keeping the stock fans on your GPU.
EDIT: Tried this myself with two Noctua fans as intake and no issues with turbulence with a 2 slot GPU. Perhaps the issue stems from having them face the intake instead?

 

[lawtsai]

Thanks for your quick reply! I read that there are some compatibility issues with the 2080TI and the accelero III. My initial plan was to do what you suggested but the fear of taking apart and modifying a 1K+ GPU and possibly ruining it was too frightening. I looked at the EVGA XC / Ultra since it seemed to get better thermals than other cards.

 

[titan253]

CudB pretty much nailed it, save some money on the CPU as a 3600 will not be a bottleneck at 4k and put the savings into the ti, especially if you're only running at 60hz (even at 144hz a 3600 shouldn't slow you down).

Can't comment on the U9S but I put on the C14S on my 3600 and in an open air setup i'm seeing ~50C under gaming loads running the fan at 900 RPM (60%). Running Prime95 SmallFFT for an hour averaged temps 75/76C @ 1200 RPM (80% ) and avg. 3.9 GHZ but did hit 4.19 GHz (SMT & PBO enabled) vs. the stock cooler avg. 95C @ 2500 RPM (100%) throttling to 3.7/3.8 GHz. The stock cooler held similar gaming temps but had to do so at 80-100% fan speed so it was pretty audible but otherwise kept the CPU from throttling. There's not much to learn with an AIO since it saves you from running any tubes, if you can install and air cooler you can install an AIO no problem. Since noise isn't as much of an concern in your situation the Kraken X52 240m AIO fits well on the side mount in the v6 and it'll keep the CPU real cool.

Undervolting the 2080ti will keep temps in check and will be worth tweaking in order to have the extra horsepower since you are 4k gaming. However, unless you have a BFGD running high refresh rates, you'll likely be able to run 4k @ 60hz with a 2070 Super and put the savings into an AIO.

 

[CudB]

Thanks for your quick reply! I read that there are some compatibility issues with the 2080TI and the accelero III. My initial plan was to do what you suggested but the fear of taking apart and modifying a 1K+ GPU and possibly ruining it was too frightening. I looked at the EVGA XC / Ultra since it seemed to get better thermals than other cards.

Yeah you could certainly try running one stock especially since the V6 side panel is much more generous with ventilation.

 

[HyperActive]

3000 series hasn't been overclocking too well just so you know. It might be worth considering the 3600 instead since 4k gaming performance differences between the two are negligible.



U9S is the least fussy to install, but it's cooling performance is significantly less than a C14S or 240mm AIO cooler. A 240mm AIO is by far the best when comparing these three.



4K gaming is where you would definitely see the benefit of more GPU power. A 2080ti would never fit in my budget, but it's up to you. Cooling it effectively is usually done with a third party heatsink (Accelero III is popular) and two 120mm Noctua A12x25 fans. Alternatively, you can just remove the stock shroud and fans and just get the Noctua fans.

You will greatly benefit from a custom fan curve and undervolting the GPU since the 2080ti runs hot.



The two bottom fans can cause turbulence if you're keeping the stock fans on your GPU. Better solution above.

This comment nailed it all! Furthermore, optimumtech and 1 other guy have posted video's on the best fan set up.

Slim fans won't do much and with the new ventilation holes, maybe the 2080ti van handle it. Undervolting is the way to go, or go with a waterblock one.

 

[lawtsai]

Thank you guys for the input!

As an alternative to the u9s, a friend recommended I try to get ahold of the Thermalright Silver Arrow 130mm. I did some late night amazon perusing and actually noticed they had about 6-7 in stock so I went ahead and pulled the trigger on it.

I recall optimum tech or another youtuber having fans on the bottom set as intake to blow against gpu which resulted in a decrease of at least 5c in temps. Either way, I am hoping that between the EVGA XC Ultra shroud/fans, undervolting, and improved v6 ventilation holes, there wont be a need for me to stuff 15 mm slim fans underneath the card.

 

[HyperActive]

Thank you guys for the input!

As an alternative to the u9s, a friend recommended I try to get ahold of the Thermalright Silver Arrow 130mm. I did some late night amazon perusing and actually noticed they had about 6-7 in stock so I went ahead and pulled the trigger on it.

I recall optimum tech or another youtuber having fans on the bottom set as intake to blow against gpu which resulted in a decrease of at least 5c in temps. Either way, I am hoping that between the EVGA XC Ultra shroud/fans, undervolting, and improved v6 ventilation holes, there wont be a need for me to stuff 15 mm slim fans underneath the card.

Good luck! it's exhaust for the bottom fans though. But it's better you try for yourself, since the v6 changes a lot.

 

[titan253]

Good luck! it's exhaust for the bottom fans though. But it's better you try for yourself, since the v6 changes a lot.

It's very important to note that in that scenario Ali was running an Accelero heatsink that is fanless, if you keep the GPU stock you'd run the bottom fans as intake otherwise you'd be pulling against the GPU fans.

 

[HyperActive]

It's very important to note that in that scenario Ali was running an Accelero heatsink that is fanless, if you keep the GPU stock you'd run the bottom fans as intake otherwise you'd be pulling against the GPU fans.

Moofier tested with the rog strix heatsink without fans and best setup was u9s as intake and bottom fans as outtake. You can watch the video Here.

 

[EndEffeKt]

In my opinion the 2080ti are way to expensive. I got a used Asus 2080 Turbo for 480 bucks under warranty and will watercool it. Maybe a used 1080ti, 2080 or a 5700xt new are worth considering. Wont play 4k 60hz ultra though.

 

[lawtsai]

Hey guys,

I received the V6 today and am two components away from starting my build. The last two pieces are the cpu and gpu.

despite initially thinking about the 2080ti EVGA XC ultra (3 slot, large heatsink), I was thinking of scaling back to the 2080 Super. My goal is to be able to reputably game on 60hz on a 4k TV screen.

Any thoughts of this? Or should I just stick with the 2080 ti?

 

[HyperActive]

Honestly, if you want 4k gaming with ultra settings, best option is the way to expensive i9 9900k. The 3700x is great, but 60 fps ultra on 4k is hard. Only gpu to handle is the 2080ti... But, if you watch hardware unboxed on youtube about the best settings without losing graphical quality, you can get fps boosts up to 30% (and on 4k you can drop even more settings since it's all so sharp). I got from max to ultra optimised settings due to hardware unboxed from 60-70fps to 90-100 on 1440p with rx 5700xt on shadow of the tomb raider.
Personally, i find 800 bucks a lot for a gpu but sustified. 1200 bucks for a gpu is firstly too much in my opinion, no matter the performance. We talking about 10 fps max on 4k.
You also have the option to scale done the resolution and use sharpening, which results in almost the same quality. On a tv, you won't notice the difference as much as in a monitor.

My thoughts: go 2080 super and 3700x. Most cost/performance and, with some tweaking, easy 60 fps (settings tweaking mostly 20-25% fps boost and resolution scaling also 20%?).

Edit: get a freesync/adaptive sync 4k tv (certain Samsungs and the new lg oleds). Everything is way smoother around the 60 fps with adaptive sync on. Especially when it drops below 60 fps.

 

[hshot_rooke]

CudB pretty much nailed it, save some money on the CPU as a 3600 will not be a bottleneck at 4k and put the savings into the ti, especially if you're only running at 60hz (even at 144hz a 3600 shouldn't slow you down).

Can't comment on the U9S but I put on the C14S on my 3600 and in an open air setup i'm seeing ~50C under gaming loads running the fan at 900 RPM (60%). Running Prime95 SmallFFT for an hour averaged temps 75/76C @ 1200 RPM (80% ) and avg. 3.9 GHZ but did hit 4.19 GHz (SMT & PBO enabled) vs. the stock cooler avg. 95C @ 2500 RPM (100%) throttling to 3.7/3.8 GHz. The stock cooler held similar gaming temps but had to do so at 80-100% fan speed so it was pretty audible but otherwise kept the CPU from throttling. There's not much to learn with an AIO since it saves you from running any tubes, if you can install and air cooler you can install an AIO no problem. Since noise isn't as much of an concern in your situation the Kraken X52 240m AIO fits well on the side mount in the v6 and it'll keep the CPU real cool.

Undervolting the 2080ti will keep temps in check and will be worth tweaking in order to have the extra horsepower since you are 4k gaming. However, unless you have a BFGD running high refresh rates, you'll likely be able to run 4k @ 60hz with a 2070 Super and put the savings into an AIO.

Hi @titan253
You were able to put a C14S in your NCase M1? I currently have a C12 in my M1 with a 4790k, but I'm upgrading to a 3800x and don't want to hassle pulling the cooler off and was debating between the U9S and a 240 AIO.

I heard you can't fit the C14S in the M1 without some light modification. Did you have to mod yours? And if so, what did you have to do and how difficult was it?

I was just going back to old posts and the C14 and C12 are the best air coolers for the M1 from way back when I bought my M1 v2 from when it was originating from HardForum.

 

[HyperActive]

Hi @titan253
You were able to put a C14S in your NCase M1? I currently have a C12 in my M1 with a 4790k, but I'm upgrading to a 3800x and don't want to hassle pulling the cooler off and was debating between the U9S and a 240 AIO.

I heard you can't fit the C14S in the M1 without some light modification. Did you have to mod yours? And if so, what did you have to do and how difficult was it?

I was just going back to old posts and the C14 and C12 are the best air coolers for the M1 from way back when I bought my M1 v2 from when it was originating from HardForum.

C14s is the best for air cooling. You have to look up if your mobo you want is compatible, but most x470/b450 itx work great. X570 itx have larger heatsinks but can fit too with some tweaks. Get some lower ram too. V6 has the sff psu bracket build in so you don't need some modding to fit the 140mm fan underneath the c14s. I have a c14s for my build too all ready for the v6 which is at customs.

 

[hshot_rooke]

C14s is the best for air cooling. You have to look up if your mobo you want is compatible, but most x470/b450 itx work great. X570 itx have larger heatsinks but can fit too with some tweaks. Get some lower ram too. V6 has the sff psu bracket build in so you don't need some modding to fit the 140mm fan underneath the c14s. I have a c14s for my build too all ready for the v6 which is at customs.

Thanks for the info @HyperActive
Would you be able to point me to the mods that need to be done to the C14S?

 

[Soulforger90]

Hello,
I'm currently putting my build together in the Ncase M1 v6 and I'm using the C14s. While the case was on order I purchased all the parts and tested both the Noctua C14s and Thermalright Silver Arrow 130 (Purchased from nan's gaming gear through amzon).

Both coolers are great and are within 1-2 degrees of each other. You'll be happy with either one of them. And they cost about the same.

I went with the C14s because I liked the way it looked in the case (even without the glass side panel) and I wanted the 140mm fan. Under Prime 95 testing both coolers worked well, but I liked the "hum" of the 140mm fan better, as it topped out at 1500rpm compared to the SA130 1800? I think it's 1800ish on the SA130. Granted this was under Prime 95 for 36 hours and both coolers were audible, but under normal load they were both quiet and cool.

I'm running an AMD 3700X at stock settings on an ASUS Rog Strix B450-i Gaming motherboard with 32gb of Crucial Ballistix 3000mhz ram. I've been able to OC the ram to 3600mhz with no issues at all.

As far as hiccups in the build process:
- I had to move / reroute the power extension cable outlet on the back to the other slot so it didn't press against the cooler fins and bend them.

- The PSU bracket needs to be turned so the PS sits against the front panel in order to use the 140mm fan on the C14s. If you leave the PSU in the default location, you will only be able to use a 120mm on the C14s. I believe you can contact Noctua and they will send you a set of fan clips for free.

- With the PSU in the front position (not stock) the power plug on the Corsair SF600 Platinum is close enough to the side of the frame that I had to plug in the power extension cable and then raise the PSU / PSU bracket into place and tighten the screws. This effectively bent the power cable down and allowed me to route it over the side of the C14s.

- My motherboard does not have a Type C USB plug, so I removed the entire front panel and replaced it with the included front panel face plate. I'm not using the front USB 3 ports / headphone jack either. Which I was ok with. This leaves me with just the power button cable as the only cable from the front panel.

I'm sure there's more little things, but that's all I can think of.

 

[toy_soljah]

Hello,
I'm currently putting my build together in the Ncase M1 v6 and I'm using the C14s. While the case was on order I purchased all the parts and tested both the Noctua C14s and Thermalright Silver Arrow 130 (Purchased from nan's gaming gear through amzon).

Both coolers are great and are within 1-2 degrees of each other. You'll be happy with either one of them. And they cost about the same.

I went with the C14s because I liked the way it looked in the case (even without the glass side panel) and I wanted the 140mm fan. Under Prime 95 testing both coolers worked well, but I liked the "hum" of the 140mm fan better, as it topped out at 1500rpm compared to the SA130 1800? I think it's 1800ish on the SA130. Granted this was under Prime 95 for 36 hours and both coolers were audible, but under normal load they were both quiet and cool.

I'm running an AMD 3700X at stock settings on an ASUS Rog Strix B450-i Gaming motherboard with 32gb of Crucial Ballistix 3000mhz ram. I've been able to OC the ram to 3600mhz with no issues at all.

As far as hiccups in the build process:
- I had to move / reroute the power extension cable outlet on the back to the other slot so it didn't press against the cooler fins and bend them.

- The PSU bracket needs to be turned so the PS sits against the front panel in order to use the 140mm fan on the C14s. If you leave the PSU in the default location, you will only be able to use a 120mm on the C14s. I believe you can contact Noctua and they will send you a set of fan clips for free.

- With the PSU in the front position (not stock) the power plug on the Corsair SF600 Platinum is close enough to the side of the frame that I had to plug in the power extension cable and then raise the PSU / PSU bracket into place and tighten the screws. This effectively bent the power cable down and allowed me to route it over the side of the C14s.

- My motherboard does not have a Type C USB plug, so I removed the entire front panel and replaced it with the included front panel face plate. I'm not using the front USB 3 ports / headphone jack either. Which I was ok with. This leaves me with just the power button cable as the only cable from the front panel.

I'm sure there's more little things, but that's all I can think of.

Hi Was wondering if its still possible to place a 120mm slim fan as intake over the side panel against the C14s?

 

[Soulforger90]

Hi Was wondering if its still possible to place a 120mm slim fan as intake over the side panel against the C14s?

I wanna say you "can". I've seen pics and read that a slim noctua will fit there. But I don't know for sure as I'm not using that in my setup. When the build is complete I will have the 140mm fan blowing through the heatsink and out the side panel.

 

[toy_soljah]

I wanna say you "can". I've seen pics and read that a slim noctua will fit there. But I don't know for sure as I'm not using that in my setup. When the build is complete I will have the 140mm fan blowing through the heatsink and out the side panel.

ah nice. do share some pics of your setup. I've received my M1, just still planning on parts of the build which is more in line with your setup.