Log My Humble NCase M1 (Dual 240mm Custom Loop)

[HottestVapes]

thanks for the feedback, ill just stick with the super slim xspc on the bottom and grab a nemesis 30mm on the side. was that fitting guide you gave that last guy who asked accurate? im getting ready to put a order in, happy you mentioned the drain idea. so i should just get a EK-AF T-Splitter 3f? they have the four female and the 3 version . i kinda wish they had a two also but oh well. do i just put a cap on the other one that i don't use? and would you just get a super small male-male adapter to attach the ball valve? or would you put a short amount of tubing? i was thinking if i do this maybe get a rotary extender just in case i need to spin the valve if i don't attach it with bit of tubing. let me know if im not making sense. lol

i still haven't heard back about the NEXT gpu water block dimensions yet but i'm hopeful about it. i feel like i'm pretty limited on choices by the way you put it which surprises me. if you have any ideas of full cover blocks that you think would work let me know.

so with the pwm pump, do i just plug it into the pwm fan header on the mobo? im pretty sure we are going to be using the same motherboard. you have the asrock z390 phantom gaming right? ill totally look into that program, 19 bucks for 3 years isnt bad for something that allows me to control everything without being in the bios. and you mentioned grabbing a temperature sensor? where do you plug that into?

Yeah the fitting list was exact IIRC. For the drain valve, I'd use a M-M rotary to a 3/4-way splitter fitting. Off the spiltter, I would connect another M-M rotary to a ball valve with a plug on the end of it. Then from there, I'd use whatever fitting you need to make your tube routing doable, and another plug on the 4th hole if you using a 4-way fitting.
Keep the valve closed, then when it comes to draining the loop all you should need to do is remove the plug and replace it with a standard G1/4 soft tube fitting with some tubing on it. Tilt the entire case on it's front and hang the tube in a bucket, open the valve fitting and drain. Should be much more effective than draining from the reservoir like my loop is set up, requires a lot of "creative thinking".


PWM pump straight into the pump header on the motherboard, yeah. I run the two side fans on the CPU header with a Y-splitter, and the bottom two fans on the the other fan header also via Y-splitter. That allows me to configure their speeds in Argus Monitor in pairs, so both side rad fans can be at 50% while both slim fans on the bottom can stay at 25%, for example.
The temp probe, I'm actually not sure where I'd put it. I didn't get that far into looking into one to decide where would be the best part of the loop to put it in. I'd probably go with the quick and easy route and just plug it in the bottom of the reservoir since I've alreadyt got cables going from that into the case.

 

[KronDestroyer13]

Perfect man, sounds good to me. do you think the two 240s could hadle a 3950x when it comes out plus a 2080ti? and yeah thats where i was thinking too. i feel there it would be the most accurate spot for temps anyways.

 

[HottestVapes]

Perfect man, sounds good to me. do you think the two 240s could hadle a 3950x when it comes out plus a 2080ti? and yeah thats where i was thinking too. i feel there it would be the most accurate spot for temps anyways.

Hard to say about the 3950X to be honest. From what I've read, it has a higher thermal density than a 9900K, and I think that may very well be the hardest challenge when it comes to cooling it, and not necesarily due to a lack of radiators to cope with the power/heat.
The 2080Ti shouldn't be a problem, runs a tad warmer than I thought it would but I can't complain with 60c @ stock and 50-55c @ 900mv.

I've been measuring my ambient temps in my room lately, and to my surprise I'm usually in a 24-25c room, so the higher than expecting temps actually make a bit more sense to me now.

 

[KronDestroyer13]

Does heat density just mean the heat is more localized and doesn't spread as well? And good to know. As much as I want to do this build I'm almost leaning towards a PC-o11 dynamic build now just so I have more options for water cooling. And its k I'll fling me trying to decide on either the 9900ks or the new amd chip coming out. I'll most likely just wait and see how it runs in games and other applications before I decide. I seriously want to go AMD but I'll litterally mostly be just gaming on this thing, I'd like to say I want to get into streaming and potentially doing other stuff where I could make use of the extra cores but Its hard to say. Those temps are pretty damn nice considering man. Did you put a custom pcb card?

 

[HottestVapes]

Does heat density just mean the heat is more localized and doesn't spread as well? And good to know. As much as I want to do this build I'm almost leaning towards a PC-o11 dynamic build now just so I have more options for water cooling. And its k I'll fling me trying to decide on either the 9900ks or the new amd chip coming out. I'll most likely just wait and see how it runs in games and other applications before I decide. I seriously want to go AMD but I'll litterally mostly be just gaming on this thing, I'd like to say I want to get into streaming and potentially doing other stuff where I could make use of the extra cores but Its hard to say. Those temps are pretty damn nice considering man. Did you put a custom pcb card?

The thermal density from my limited understanding is how much power is used by the size of the die. The smaller the die and the higher the power draw, the higher the thermal density. The higher the thermal density is, the more potentially challenging it is to cool.
From what I've seen now though? I really don't think the 3950X is going to a huge challenge to overcome with cooling. At least not at stock settings. It seems like a really well binned chip with identical power draw to the 3900X.

My 2080Ti is a bog standard reference PCB, it was a Gigabyte Windforce OC model. I should note as well, partly my temps are good with it because the power limit on the card is pretty aggressive compared to other models. It taps out at 280w or 290w, whereas other models allow up to 330w or higher. I keep it at 250w though, I'm happy with 1900mhz, and pushing higher than that sees an exponential rise in temps.

 

[Nedznicy]

How did you know the phanteks gpu cooler would be the appropriate size to fit? I'm in the process of getting a M1 and ordering a 2080ti but unsure of what cooler I want to get. Where did you get your info?

 

[HottestVapes]

How did you know the phanteks gpu cooler would be the appropriate size to fit? I'm in the process of getting a M1 and ordering a 2080ti but unsure of what cooler I want to get. Where did you get your info?

I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. I wasn't even sure if it would definitely fit my card or the case when buying them.

I did a lot of reading, combing over the specs for different blocks, as well as user experience on forums/reddit. I knew from some threads that the EK blocks would only fit if I removed a plastic piece that goes over the G1/4 ports. I didn't want to chance mucking anything up since it was my first time dealing with waterblocks, so I went off the listed height of 127.6mm from the EK website, and I knew a block that height or taller wouldn't fit. Then I looked into the Phanteks block since it was readily availible and that was listed as 124mm.

By eyeballing the clearance from the side panel to the G1/4 ports on the block, I'd say a 125mm block will definitely fit. A 126mm block may fit but would likely touch the side panel

 

[paulesko]

everything is very close... for example in my ncase, with a 5700 xt the ek waterblock literally touches de side panel, so with a 2080 ti should be similar.

Also theres little room for clearance between the gpu and the side rad for the fittings... I had to try three differnt ones hahaha

 

[HottestVapes]

everything is very close... for example in my ncase, with a 5700 xt the ek waterblock literally touches de side panel, so with a 2080 ti should be similar.

Also theres little room for clearance between the gpu and the side rad for the fittings... I had to try three differnt ones hahaha

Did you swap the power cable/case badge position at the back of the case to move the side rad all the way to the top?

 

[paulesko]

Yes I did that, but my radiator is HWlabs and it´s wider than usual, so it´s still very very tight

 

[HottestVapes]

Yes I did that, but my radiator is HWlabs and it´s wider than usual, so it´s still very very tight

Ahh, good to know. I was looking into swapping my Alphacool rad for a HWLabs, but never considered that.

 

[HottestVapes]

I've been putting a lot of thought into changing my loop up lately. I want to switch out the clear tubing for ZMT or TPV, I'm leaning heavily towards the Alphacool TPV since with fittings, it'll be much cheaper than going with EK's. I'm also looking to finally switch out the radiator with something a little better, along with switching to an D5.


What's set me off on this path is kinda silly really, but bare with me. I got a 3D printed top hat for the case. Just by switching the side radiator to the top position, my temps dropped drastically on the whole. To the point that I don't even need to run the bottom fans at idle loads anymore. The result is that now, the DDC at 20% (minimum) is the loudest part of my build and it's starting to irritate me. It's not even loud, it's just loud enough to be a small annoyance and that's all it takes to set me off.


So currently I'm looking at that TPV tubing, along with the black metal HF fittings, along with a Alphacool Nexxos V2 radiator, possibly two as I'm trying way up whether to go with 25mm fans on the TX240 or keep the slim fans and use a 30mm rad. The extra ports on the Nexxos could make for a really convenient drain port if I had that rad at the bottom, and there'd still be the option to run the bottom rad in a push/pull configuration, there's some potential there to maximize the airflow to make up for the lack of clearance around the that area of the case.
For the pump, I'm planning to mount it internally and do away with the external DDC reservoir. I'm not sure yet whether to go with a small D5 reservoir, or just a pump top on it and fill it via the top rad. Still doing research on that aspect.
Likely to do away with the QDCs too, as I plan to make the tophat a permanent fixture. Overall I'm so infatuated by the potential performance of this layout that I'm really tempted to make my own case around the idea, not that I have the expertise to do it but it could make for my next project after I'm done with this one.

 

[Wyd4]

Awesome mate!!!!!
I know what you are saying about the pump noise. I used to run a 480mm external rad with mine for a while and the fans used to be idle under full load. So quiet but for me it was the pump and coil whine that I didn’t know I had then hha.
Do you have any images of the top hat? I was thinking about printing one a while back but everyone over here wanted $100+ to print it for me.

 

[HottestVapes]

Awesome mate!!!!!
I know what you are saying about the pump noise. I used to run a 480mm external rad with mine for a while and the fans used to be idle under full load. So quiet but for me it was the pump and coil whine that I didn’t know I had then hha.
Do you have any images of the top hat? I was thinking about printing one a while back but everyone over here wanted $100+ to print it for me.

Only one potato pic for now, been holding off posting too much until I commit to redoing the tubing and cleaning up some rookie mistakes with the initial loop (like an actual drain port!)

I've got a friend in Slovakia that prints parts for me, he only charged me 20 Euro for the top hat. He also printed the feet I'm using, and some modmic clips for my headphones a while ago.
It's quite flush with the front panel, and the printer wasn't big enough to print in a whole piece, but I'm planning to eventually glue it together, fill the seam between the two halves and vinyl wrap it.

 

[Wyd4]

Wow nice.
It’s what I wanted to do but could never justify at half the cost of the case again for a top hat.
Funnily enough I was after new feet, mod mic clips and a top hat HahahHa.
Thankfully I can so it’s the feet and clips daily easily

 

[HottestVapes]

Wow nice.
It’s what I wanted to do but could never justify at half the cost of the case again for a top hat.
Funnily enough I was after new feet, mod mic clips and a top hat HahahHa.
Thankfully I can so it’s the feet and clips daily easily

I got all the files via Google, but to save you time if you want the same parts as me.

AKG Modmic https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2725334
NCase feet https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3312127, alternative feet https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2637254
Large tophat https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3219088 also see the thread by the guy that made it https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/ncase-m1-tophat-mod.9371/


The Modmic clip was a life saver for me. I have a pair of K712's that I adore, but when I got a wireless modmic, I couldn't place it anywhere on the earcups to permanently secure it. Doesn't look too out of place either

 

[Wyd4]

thanks for the links.
I am currently using a wired mod mic but was considering the wireless one. How does it perform?

 

[HottestVapes]

thanks for the links.
I am currently using a wired mod mic but was considering the wireless one. How does it perform?

A hell of a lot better than the headset mic I used to use (G533). Decent battery life, lasts well over a day and really good sound quality. If I already had a wired modmic, I wouldn't upgrade to it unless the cable was annoying me though.

 

[Raptor5150]

Beautiful build dude I like the fan placement.

This is making me a jelly DAN owner. I need something to cool my 3900x because a 92mm AIO is just barely scraping by.

 

[HottestVapes]

Beautiful build dude I like the fan placement.

This is making me a jelly DAN owner. I need something to cool my 3900x because a 92mm AIO is just barely scraping by.

I had a DAN V2 before this NCase V5. Could never get happy with it though. Tried an L9a and 545LC with a a Ryzen 1600. Tried the 545LC and Silverstone AR11 on a 9600K. I could get good temps with those CPUs on the AIO, but the pump noise just irritated me. The AR11 was good for temps and noise, but when I got a cheap 9900K I knew I wouldn't be able to run full out in that case.
Didn't help that the cooler on my GPU was arse. Loud and hot is not a good combination when it's only a couple feet away.


The options availible for cooling in the NCase just makes it such a great choice. Air, AIOs, full custom loop, whatever you fancy you can make it work in in the case. Completely worth it in my opinion to accept the larger size for a quieter and cooler PC.