NCASE M1 - thoughts on build

[teamet]

Hi guys,

So I purchased an M1 and I have been looking a bit into parts and such. My aim is a fast computer with minimal noise, which i expect will be hard with and almost open-air case like the M1. I am looking for any inputs and guidance, and I have a few questions as well. My ideas of the setup:

CPU: i8700 (non-K), 65W - delidded
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U9S tower (removed: Noctua NH-L9x65 (blow-down cooler))
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-I GAMING (5x PWM fan connectors)
RAM: g-skill 3200 MhZ CAS 14 (F4-3200C14D-16GTZ)
PSU: Corsair SF600, possible fan mod with 92mm Noctua slim (removed Be Quiet 500 MhZ SFX-L OR Corsair SF450)
GFX: GTX 1070 mini
Hdds: 1 or 2 3.5" disks - installed in cage on bottom towards the back, 2.5" SSD, Samsung 960 pro 512gb M2 NVMe card incl Far Cry 5 (samsung promotion)
Fans: - outtake, on the back: Noctua NF-B9 Redux-1600 PWM 92mm (25mm thick)
- intake, side (front): Noctua NF-B12 Redux-1600 PWM 120mm (25mm thick)
- intake, bottom (front): Noctua NF-B12 Redux-1600 PWM 120mm (25mm thick)

So I have several questions on mind:

a) Will the CPU cooler suffice and is blow-down a good idea? I could also go with the tower Noctua, but I like the idea of blown-down cooler as they are easier to clean in between the years.

b) I would really, really like a PSU with a semi-fan less mode, but it seems that I need to go SFX sized power supply. Does anyone have experience with the 92mm corsair SFX vs the 120mm Be Quiet ?

c) HDDs - will it fit 2x 3.5" with fairly ease?

d) Fans: I am very uncertain on my fan setup. Is it really not possible to get air in from the front? Also, is there any issues with the fans being 2.5 cm thick?

e) De-lidding. Is this really necessary? I mean, they say it will give you 15-20 degrees less on CPU and in my mind that translate directly to less noise. It is a bit pricey at around 100 €/$ but it sure is tempting for that kind of temperature reduction.

Anyways, if anyone can help it would be nice :-)

 

[rfarmer]

Hi guys,

So I purchased an M1 and I have been looking a bit into parts and such. My aim is a fast computer with minimal noise, which i expect will be hard with and almost open-air case like the M1. I am looking for any inputs and guidance, and I have a few questions as well. My ideas of the setup:

CPU: i8700 (non-K), 65W
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-L9x65 (blow-down cooler)
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-I GAMING (5x PWM fan connectors)
RAM: g-skill 3200 MhZ CAS 14 (F4-3200C14D-16GTZ)
PSU: Be Quiet 500 MhZ SFX-L OR Corsair SF450 OR Corsair SF600
GFX: GTX 1070 mini
Hdds: 1 or 2 3.5" disks, 2.5" SSD, Samsung 960 pro 512gb M2 NVMe card incl Far Cry 5 (samsung promotion)
Fans: - outtake, on the back: Noctua NF-B9 Redux-1600 PWM 92mm (25mm thick)
- intake, side: Noctua NF-B12 Redux-1600 PWM 120mm (25mm thick)
- intake, top: Noctua NF-B12 Redux-1600 PWM 120mm (25mm thick)

So I have several questions on mind:

a) Will the CPU cooler suffice and is blow-down a good idea? I could also go with the tower Noctua, but I like the idea of blown-down cooler as they are easier to clean in between the years.

b) I would really, really like a PSU with a semi-fan less mode, but it seems that I need to go SFX sized power supply. Does anyone have experience with the 92mm corsair SFX vs the 120mm Be Quiet ?

c) HDDs - will it fit 2x 3.5" with fairly ease?

d) Fans: I am very uncertain on my fan setup. Is it really not possible to get air in from the front? Also, is there any issues with the fans being 2.5 cm thick?

e) De-lidding. Is this really necessary? I mean, they say it will give you 15-20 degrees less on CPU and in my mind that translate directly to less noise. It is a bit pricey at around 100 €/$ but it sure is tempting for that kind of temperature reduction.

Anyways, if anyone can help it would be nice :-)

I would go with a 92mm Noctua tower cooler, either the NH-D9L or the NH-U9S. Those are both proven to cool well in the M1. As far as dust goes just make sure and have a positive pressure case and use the included filters. These keep my M1 very dust free.

You are already planning a rear exhaust fan which will quickly get rid of the CPU heat if you are planning on 3.5 hard drives you won't be able to use the side fan brackets so I would suggest 2 X 120mm bottom mounted fans, you can't fit a fan in the top of the M1 there is no room.

2 X 3.5 hard drives will fit in the supplied hard drive bracket, they mount on the right side of the fan bracket.

I have both a SF450 and a SF600 and they are both very quiet and work very well, I have no experience with the Be Quiet PSU.

If you do decide to go with the NH-L9x65 you can mount a 120mm fan on the left side of the fan bracket and should be sufficient to cool a 8700. I did delid my 8700k and can tell you it is not that hard and does work very well.

Good luck with your M1.

 

[Damascus]

I don't really have much to add right now other than that I will be testing the nh-d9l and nh-u9l in the next few weeks to see which one is definitively better

 

[teamet]

Thanks for the feedback. I will go NH-U9S then; the fact that the 3.5" takes up the side fan directly in front of the CPU kinda disqualifies the NH-L9x65.

Air flow from the bottom just doesn't seem right to me, as it would suck in stuff from the floor - but I guess I'll try it out as I am quickly running out of options. Just hope those fan meshs are as good as people say.

De-lidding it is. It just seems stupid that Intel haven't done this upgrade themselves already..

I still hope someone will comment on the PSU choice - i fear this will be the primary source of noise.

 

[rfarmer]

The 3.5 drives attach to the right of the CPU, with the Noctua NH-U9S you won't have anything between it and the side of the case. There are 2 filters included with the case you can use with the bottom mounted fans.

And yeah it is stupid that Intel stopped soldering the IHS.

 

[Damascus]

I still hope someone will comment on the PSU choice - i fear this will be the primary source of noise.

Can't speak from experience but it's the one I plan on buying

 

[MultiDoc]

I just recently built a very similar rig (see on my sig below). I can tell you that under normal conditions it is dead silent with idle temps around 40C for both GPU and CPU. While under stress they both max out at 79C-80C while maintaining silence under normal playing audio. The result overall is better than I even expected. I had to configure custom fan/temp profiles to ghet this but the result is as i said excellent, could have gotten better temps under load but noise would be an issue. Also you might ask why the 3rd fan on my cooler -> less overall rpms with same temps is the answer. Costly build but the end result is exceptional.

In your case I suggest going for the Noctua tower style cooler, and for the PSU my Corsair is dead silent, especially after replacing the fan with a 92mm Noctua one (which is very easy to do). I am sure that if done right, your build's most noisy part will be the HDD's.

If you need specific advise just ask. Good luck with your build.

P.S: where are you located ? I have the Rockit Cool delid kit I could lend you for your delid so you save the expense of buying it (just send it back )

 

[teamet]

Good to hear - I will go for an SF600 then and possibly do the fan mod. I did it on my current PSU, so im guessing its pretty similar.

Im contemplating going for fan intake in the side and at the bottom (front) and then install the 2x 3.5" on the bottom (back). Any thoughts on this?

The PSU should draw air from the outside and blow out, so not be a part of the air flow in the cabinet. That is at least my idea, is it possible?

Im located in Denmark - is that far? It would be nice to borrow a delidder instead of buying one for one-time use :-)

 

[MultiDoc]

Good to hear - I will go for an SF600 then and possibly do the fan mod. I did it on my current PSU, so im guessing its pretty similar.

Im contemplating going for fan intake in the side and at the bottom (front) and then install the 2x 3.5" on the bottom (back). Any thoughts on this?

The PSU should draw air from the outside and blow out, so not be a part of the air flow in the cabinet. That is at least my idea, is it possible?

I'm not sure you'll need to have active intake fans, if you configure the rest of your fans (CPU & GPU) as exhausts then the intake will happen anyway, and having active intake fans just to promote intake will only add noise with minimal benefit i think.

As for the HDDs, at least in my case, the bottom rear part of the NcaseM1 is the warmest part of the case, so I'd suggest to put them either on the HDD cage that bolts onto the side panel or on the bottom but at the front.

Im located in Denmark - is that far? It would be nice to borrow a delidder instead of buying one for one-time use :-)

Send me your details in a PM and I'll send it in the mail this weekend, just return it please when you're done

 

[teamet]

There will be intake fans, I am aiming for a positive air pressure inside the case. And with intake bottom + side front, I hope the generate a pseudo ATX airflow in the system.

Sound is measured as air pressue in dB on a log scale, so if one fan emits 18 dB and another emits 18 dB, then the total noise would be something like 18.1 dB, so I am not too worried about that.

Will PM you!