Ncase M1 Custom Looped for Silence

[caboose]

What's up everyone, I just finished my latest build using the Ncase M1 v6 and some fresh AMD goodness. My previous system was in a Dan A4 and it was great for portability but it was loud as hell under gaming and firing anything up in handbrake immediately pegged the CPU at 95c.

Unfortunately nobody had the Heatkiller SB block in stock or I would have used that instead, I'll be keeping my eyes open for new stock and order one up when they are available.

I also ended up ordering a 2nd 1080 ti for this build, my previous MSI Armor 1080 ti was the same width as the case without the water block so there was no way that would work. All components are hooked up using Koolance QD3's so disassembly isn't bad at all, aside from the CPU to SB connection those two are hard-linked.

All things considered the performance is good, I was hoping for slightly better temps on the CPU but I prefer the system to be silent. In it's current config I can't hear the pump or fans at all while in game or when an HEVC encode is going on, which is great because the latter can take up to 10hrs per video.

Within 2 weeks of building this loop the EK tubing took on a very ugly color, some suggested it was copper oxidation, didn't really get definitive ideas and EK told me to open an RMA with my reseller. So I began Rev 3 below

New system consists of:

• 3900x
• ASRock X570 ITX Mobo
• MSI 1080 ti Aero
• 32GB Corsair LPX 3600 RAM
• 2TB Sabrent NVMe SSD
• Heatkiller CPU and GPU blocks
• Koolance CHC-122 Southbridge block
• 2x EK SE240 Rads
• 2x Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM fans for bottom rad
• 2x Noctua NF-F12 PWM fans for side rad
• Alphacool DDC310 pump
• IceMan Cooler Ncase res
• Corsair Commander Pro fan/temp controller
• AquaComputer MPS FlowMeter
• Koolance fittings and QD3's for 3/8 x 5/8 hose

It was a fun build for sure, not nearly as painful as trying to squeeze a 645LT into the Dan so that was a definite plus. Originally I had gone with an Apogee Drive II and the FrozenQ reservoir but due to shipping delays with the FrozenQ reservoir I cancelled that and went with the IceMan res. Before the res arrived I built and filled the system without it and holy hell that took forever and was a pain in the ass, I think it was up around an hour to get the system fully bled. With the res it took about 3 minutes -_-



Temps before/after:

645LT on CPU | MSI 1080 ti Armor stock | Chipset factory heatsink w/ Noctua 60mm fan

Idle	CPU Core	GPU Core	SB	SSD
Min	38.3	22	40	28
Max	75.9	39	66	51
Avg	50.2	35	64.5	40

In-Game	CPU Core	GPU Core	SB	SSD
Min	33.4	22	40	41
Max	78.3	91	80	53
Avg	55.6	67	71.5	58

Handbrake	CPU Core
Min	34.8
Max	103
Avg	86.6

Custom Loop:

Pre - SB Block and Reservoir

In-Game	CPU Core	GPU Core	SB
Min	34.3	23	40
Max	75.6	46	83
Avg	48.8	27	72

With SB Block and Reservoir

Idle	Water Temp	Flow Rate	Fan RPM	CPU Core	GPU Core	SB	SSD	Side Radiator Intake	Bottom Radiator Intake	Ambient Exhaust
Min	31.8	148 l/h	764	39.4	26	42	33	24.3	24.4	34.4
Max	33.1	189 l/h	764	69.5	29	44	48	26.6	25.1	35
Avg	32.8	170 l/h	764	47.3	27	43	43	25.45	24.75	34.7

In-Game ~15min	Water Temp	Flow Rate	Fan RPM	CPU Core	GPU Core	SB	SSD	Side Radiator Intake	Bottom Radiator Intake	Ambient Exhaust
Min	32.8	141.5 l/h	514	52.4	29	45	48	26.6	25.1	35.3
Max	44.1	197.2 l/h	Bad Reading	73.8	51	57	54	30	30	50.7
Avg	39.1	171.35 l/h	957	61.5	46	54	59	28.3	27.65	43

Handbrake HEVC Encode ~8hrs	Water Temp	Flow Rate	Fan RPM	CPU Core	SB	Side Radiator Intake	Bottom Radiator Intake	Ambient Exhaust
Min	34.9	157 l/h	855	48	45	27	25.8	36.4
Max	44	169 l/h	931	87	56	32	30.2	44.5
Avg	39.1	163 l/h	893	67.5	50.5	29.5	28	40.45

Revision 3:

Alright so per the suggestion from another user on Reddit for bottom radiators I tore my loop apart this weekend to replace the no longer clear tubing with some PrimoFlex LRT and swap out some rads. I grabbed a TX240 for the bottom and a HWLABS 240GTS for the side as it offered ~50w more dissipation over the EK I was running. Unfortunately the HWLABS is too wide to fit in the case and I didn't realize it until I had everything bolted up so that'll be going up here for sale as I can't return it. The TX on the other hand fit great, didn't give me a whole helluva lot more clearance between the bottom fans and video card but should help.

I also took this opportunity to clean up the connection run from bottom to side rad, it's now a straight QD from the bottom rad to side rad rather than a large loop. I played around with swapping the side rads ports to the other side but it would have been an immense pain to get the cpu connection setup. It's a bit of a bugger to connect/disconnect that bottom rad QD but it's not terrible. I also cleaned up as many of the other connections as I could, I had too many QD Compression fittings and not enough QD G1/4 threaded fittings initially so I had some sections of 2" tubing to make the QD jump. Now those have been replaced with hardline sections where possible.

Also, the funky connector setup on the bottom rad is required in order to be able to remove the gpu without tearing the entire system apart. In its current config, I can remove and service/swap any component without having to remove additional components, aside from the CPU and SB blocks.

The build quality on the XSPC rad is inferior to the EK. The fins don't even go all the way to the end tanks, they stop ~1/4" before the end tank on each row of fins. Also seems to be more restrictive than the EK rad as my flow rate is 20 l/h slower.

I spent the better part of today swapping parts around and running tests to see which bottom radiator helped the most. Well they're both extremely close, unfortunately the intake temps were ~6.2c higher when running the test with the XSPC rad but my water temp was only up 3c so I'm gonna say the XSPC wins out.

30min of gaming in Borderlands 3:

Bottom Radiator	Coolant Temp	Fan RPM	Bottom Rad Intake Temp	Side Rad Intake Temp
No bottom rad	51.9	1088	N/A	31.7
XSPC TX240	51.2	1046	36.2	N/A
EK SE240	48.2	960	30.6	N/A

 

[paulesko]

I have a similar setup, if you want to be able to use the HWlabs rad, try looking for low profile fittings, I use alphacool 90 degrees fittings, and they touch the radiator, but it´s possible to mount it without making too much pressure. edit: I´m thinking that my GPU waterblock is a EK one and it seems the place where you plug the fittings islower profile than the heatkiller you have, so dont know if even with lower profile fittings it would work.

How do you find that pump noise wise? I have a EK ddc 3.25 and even at 1300-1900 rpm it´s dificult to make it being silent. I guess the main problem is the vibration it makes. You can clearly hear the hum it makes over the fans at 900 rpm.

 

[caboose]

I have a similar setup, if you want to be able to use the HWlabs rad, try looking for low profile fittings, I use alphacool 90 degrees fittings, and they touch the radiator, but it´s possible to mount it without making too much pressure. edit: I´m thinking that my GPU waterblock is a EK one and it seems the place where you plug the fittings islower profile than the heatkiller you have, so dont know if even with lower profile fittings it would work.

How do you find that pump noise wise? I have a EK ddc 3.25 and even at 1300-1900 rpm it´s dificult to make it being silent. I guess the main problem is the vibration it makes. You can clearly hear the hum it makes over the fans at 900 rpm.

Thanks for the heads up on the low profile fittings, I think I would still run into issues with the QD there though. Honestly with the amount of time I've spent futzing with the build already and shuffling things around I think I'm just gonna call it good at this point.

I personally can't hear the pump whatsoever, but my computer is also on the bottom of my desk rather than at ear level. I'll try to snap a quick clip this evening but compared to the EK SPC 60 I was using previously, which was just hanging out the back of the case while I was waiting for my res, it's dead silent. I ran the EK pump at 20-30% duty cycle to quiet it down.

 

[tunginator]

Hey, I'm new to the site. I saw that you included a Corsair Commander Pro, but where did you put it?? I don't see it on your build and I honestly can't find anywhere on my M1 to put it. I wanted to put it where you can front mount a 2.5" SSD, but it's too thick even without the adhesive.

 

[caboose]

Hey, I'm new to the site. I saw that you included a Corsair Commander Pro, but where did you put it?? I don't see it on your build and I honestly can't find anywhere on my M1 to put it. I wanted to put it where you can front mount a 2.5" SSD, but it's too thick even without the adhesive.

I put mine behind the front panel where the SSD mount was. I used a simple double sided adhesive strip vs the velcro that's included with the commander and it barely fits. I'll snap a photo later this evening and add it to my post.

Did you remove the SSD mount?

 

[tunginator]

? no, I didn't lol. Honestly the M1 case instructions aren't as "all encompassing" as I'd like tbh

 

[caboose]

? no, I didn't lol. Honestly the M1 case instructions aren't as "all encompassing" as I'd like tbh

It came with instructions?... lol that's what I get for tossing the box. Oh well, ya I removed the SSD bracket and with that out of there the front panel clips back on like it was made to be there, minimal clearance.

 

[tunginator]

Lmao it most definitely didn't come with them. But if you go to their website and to the M1's product page, https://ncases.com/products/m1, near the bottom there's a resources tab and they have a user manual PDF you can print out. It's honestly pretty bad, and even though it has a complete 3d model, it only shows the install of the HDD/SSD/ODD/etc. Also, have you had any issues with your front IO aux port working?

 

[caboose]

Lmao it most definitely didn't come with them. But if you go to their website and to the M1's product page, https://ncases.com/products/m1, near the bottom there's a resources tab and they have a user manual PDF you can print out. It's honestly pretty bad, and even though it has a complete 3d model, it only shows the install of the HDD/SSD/ODD/etc. Also, have you had any issues with your front IO aux port working?

lol I managed to stumble my way through most of the build without too much hassle. As far as the front I/O, I don't have that installed as I didn't want to deal with trying to route that whole cable mess around everything else. Also the Corsair Commander and AquaComputer flow meter took all my internal USB headers xP

 

[Necere]

Honestly the M1 case instructions aren't as "all encompassing" as I'd like tbh

What do you need instructions for that isn't covered or self evident?

 

[HottestVapes]

What do you need instructions for that isn't covered or self evident?

Instructions unclear, motherboard stuck in sink.

 

[jcai33]

Same MB here and lmao when I saw that NFA4 for SB.
Just curious did you swap out the SB fan or just add it on with screws?

 

[caboose]

Same MB here and lmao when I saw that NFA4 for SB.
Just curious did you swap out the SB fan or just add it on with screws?

Sorry I didn't get a notification for this, but for anyone else who's curious I removed the stock fan as it came with a bad bearing and I used zip ties to secure the NFA4 to the SB fan grill. I took a small zip tie and fed it tail end through the fan then through the grill, then slid another zip tie over that tail end and just pulled them tight then clipped off the excess tags.

 

[caboose]

I'm now considering doing a new build, I like ITX for its size but lacks expandability and with only a single TB3 port I'm constantly swapping things around. Would anyone be interested in this as a completed system or should I just plan on parting it out?

The memory was upgraded to a 64gb kit and I'd likely keep the NVMe drive but going with mid range on parts values it's worth ~$2k not including the fittings. There's 10 QD3's in this system so quite a bit was eaten there so figure $2,100 would be a good number. I'm not opposed to parting it out but figured I'd see if anyone was currently in the market for a system ready to go.