My Ncase M1 Change Log

Wyd4

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Oct 21, 2018
196
218
Hey Ya'll,

This is less of a build log and more of a change log as I was never one to take pictures along the way, not really realizing it was a thing that people did.

I have always liked smaller PC's. My last build prior to this was a Silverstone Fortress mATX build with an at the time brand new i5 2500k and GTX560ti and subsequently a GTX760.

For those interested:
i5 2500k w/ Noctua U9SE cooler (I cant remember the overclock I was running now, but it was solid for many many years.
16gb DDR3 1600mhz
2x 120gb OCZ SSD's in raid 0
GTX560ti/GTX760

I was happily ignorant, having not played many PC games since getting married until my friend introduced me to Farcry 5.... You know who you are!

This resulted in me purchasing a GTX1080 mini from zotac and all of a sudden my frame rates were acceptable, but I now had the bug.

Next I purchased an NZXT H200i but ultimately, while it looked ok, it was way too big.

So I did some research and an ncase M1 found its self my way.

The initial build was:
i5 8600k
NZXT Kraken x52
16gb DDR4 2400mhz
240gb m.2
2tb HDD
GTX1080 mini.

I found this to be quite adequate but I still had the bug and truth be told (as funny as this will seem by the end of this post, I didn't like how cramped everything was from the AIO, so I looked into both water cooling and air.





After realizing there were no GPU blocks available for the GTX1080 mini, I did what any sane person would do and purchased a 1080ti Founders card.

From here it was a swag of different air cooling setups:







I must say I was pretty stoked with both of the above setup's, which netted similar results in the ncase.
But now I wanted to try something new, so I went out and purchased the EK Fluid Gaming kit AND an 8700k i7 processor.



This worked out great and was a really good way to get a feel for watercooling but to be honest the thermal results were disappointing. Given I had never watercooled before I was pretty stoked with how it looked for a soft tube kit, but honestly disappointed that it was louder and hotter than on air.

So naturally, I went and dropped about $700 on watercooling parts and started again.


Or if you prefer:




Adding the 92mm radiator definitely helped, along with the more powerful DDC3.2 pump and I now had a much more quiet machine, though temps were still average at best.

So I delidded the i7 and added an external 480mm radiator under the desk.

The results were AMAZING really. I was able to run the CPU at 5.2ghz with no real concerns on thermals and still an almost completely SILENT machine. As you would expect with 240+480+92MM of radiator on a single GPU setup.

BUT the 480 bothered me and it was a disaster when I had to move the PC etc etc.

And so here we are, the current setup.

Forgive the messy desk, I need to sort out cable management on the desk, however due to working on a corporate laptop and constantly switching peripherals I need to put some extra thought into it.















The results are great, but if I would change and probably will change is I will swap in my DDC3.2 pump into the predator, as the current pump can be a bit noisy at the required RPM to keep things moving.

Current setup:

i7 8700k @ 5GHZ
GTX1080ti @ 2025mhz
16gb DDR4 @ 2400mhz
240gb m.2
500gb SSD
2tb external drive
EK Slim 240 Radiator in bottom
2x 120x15 slim noctua fans
EK Predator 240 side mounted
2x Noctua NF-A12x25 on Predator

I think I am going to sit on this setup for a while. I was tempted to go with a ghost, however with 2 radiators in the Ghost it would actually be taller than the n1 anyway.

ciao!

 

Wyd4

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Oct 21, 2018
196
218
I was considering upgrading to the Cerberus but the $130usd postage is a little cost prohibitive on an already premium case.
 

BaK

King of Cable Management
Bronze Supporter
May 17, 2016
930
931
Well done cramming two 240mm rads into the M1!

Hey Ya'll,
Forgive the messy desk, I need to sort out cable management on the desk, however due to working on a corporate laptop and constantly switching peripherals I need to put some extra thought into it.

Haha, I though exactly the opposite when I saw the picture!
You better not see my desk then, even if cleaned it's already a mess the day after!

First time I see a Kogan monitor btw, found out it's an aussie brand right?
Too bad they are not available here in EU as the prices seem very competitive!