Ncase M1 v5 build - Max on air...

[MultiDoc]

In the first pic, I think there is a temp sensor right on top of the mid board SSD cover. Right?
You have 2 SSDs. Right? What sort of temp do you have for them, now that it is getting summer time?

It is indeed a temp sensor on the NVMe, using the motherboard's temp monitor input (which by the way has only a 1C difference between the reported temperature by the temp sensor and the ssd temp sensor itself). I have a Samsung 960 Pro 1TB M2 and a 860 Evo 2TB. When I first built the system, the 960 would be quite warm (not throttling though) and since removing the 1080 shroud and making the bottom fans exhaust, the temps came down nicely. Now it sits at 45-46C in normal operation and when transferring files or read/writes it goes up to 52C.
Ambient temps where the Ncase is are always between 21C and 24C since summer is something we only dream about here in Wales

Are you using the rear as intake with the new side panel? Seems like probably the best way to feed cool air to the cooler.

That's a good idea ! I didn't think of that ! The CPU cooler fans are still mounted as to exhaust towards the rear and intake from top. I have a dust filter installed on the top panel and one on the PSU, to minimize as best as possible the dust coming in (I do clean the case often anyway though).

Now that I think of it I might give it a try and turn the fans on the cooler around and see how it will affect the temps. I'll let you know what the result is.
Thanks.

 

[Kenosis]

Is there a diff. Of temp in m.2 front and back?
Cause im having a problem with the front m.2 the screws on its heatsink is stuck. And i cant take it out. Im planning to use the back as main with OS installed on it. Does temp differ?

 

[tinyitx]

Is there a diff. Of temp in m.2 front and back?
Cause im having a problem with the front m.2 the screws on its heatsink is stuck. And i cant take it out. Im planning to use the back as main with OS installed on it. Does temp differ?

I think he only installed on the front position.
I strongly suspect the temp would be slightly or moderately higher in the back position, where little airflow is available.

 

[MultiDoc]

As tinyitx said, i have only used the front M2 slot (planning to save for a second M2 in the near future). As for temps, the rear one is definitely hotter by quite a few degrees. The best solution I've seen for that (since the custom/aftermarket M2 heatsinks won't fit in the Ncase) is from a guy (don't remember who, it was on HardForum though) that stacked 2 or 3 Thermal Grizzly heatpads on the NVMe disk so that when the side panel goes on, it makes contact with the pads so that it acts as a huge passive heatsink, transferring heat from the disk through the pads to the side panel.
When i populate the rear M2 slot I plan on doing the same.

 

[rfarmer]

I had this M.2 heatsink mounted to the rear M.2 in my Ncase and didn't have any problem with clearance. With a bottom intake fan on the motherboard side I lowered the M.2 temps by 12C.

 

[tinyitx]

I had this M.2 heatsink mounted to the rear M.2 in my Ncase and didn't have any problem with clearance. With a bottom intake fan on the motherboard side I lowered the M.2 temps by 12C.

The link to that M.2 heatsink shows a 403 Forbidden error, not allowing access.

 

[tinyitx]

....that stacked 2 or 3 Thermal Grizzly heatpads on the NVMe disk so that when the side panel goes on, it makes contact with the pads so that it acts as a huge passive heatsink, transferring heat from the disk through the pads to the side panel....

Not a very elegant solution but I suppose this might be the 'only' (?) way.
If the two bottom case fans are 'intake' (not 'exhaust'), I think I would diy a wind funnel to channel some fresh air through the motherboard tray into the rear of the motherboard to cool off the whole area. Air would then exhaust out thru the right side panel vent openings.

I have not used Thermal Grizzly heat pads before. How sticky are they? Once your method is used, would it pose any danger of damaging the SSD if you need to remove the right side panel?

 

[rfarmer]

The link to that M.2 heatsink shows a 403 Forbidden error, not allowing access.

Sorry about that, go to Moddiy and search M.2 cooling. I am using the "Premium SM951 SM961 950PRO XP9410 M.2 SSD Cooling Heatsink (Black)."

 

[Kenosis]

my ssd m.2 is sagging , i just follow your thermal pad and how you put it, but why does mine sag? i cant screw it cause it sag. what might be the problem?
is it okay to leave the m.2 unscrew? the heatsink and thermal pads are holding him securely

 

[Solo]

my ssd m.2 is sagging , i just follow your thermal pad and how you put it, but why does mine sag? i cant screw it cause it sag. what might be the problem?
is it okay to leave the m.2 unscrew? the heatsink and thermal pads are holding him securely

Did you push it in all the way? It shouldn't be crooked if it's in all the way. You'll hear a click.

 

[MultiDoc]

I had this M.2 heatsink mounted to the rear M.2 in my Ncase and didn't have any problem with clearance. With a bottom intake fan on the motherboard side I lowered the M.2 temps by 12C.

Oh that's nice, wasn't aware of this heatsink that only sticks on the SSD, so if this clears the sidepanel then that would be great for when I do get the second SSD in the back.

Not a very elegant solution but I suppose this might be the 'only' (?) way.
If the two bottom case fans are 'intake' (not 'exhaust'), I think I would diy a wind funnel to channel some fresh air through the motherboard tray into the rear of the motherboard to cool off the whole area. Air would then exhaust out thru the right side panel vent openings.

The problem in that is my bottom fans are exhaust and I don't want to reverse them, since when I initially tried them as intake the whole system was much hotter.

I have not used Thermal Grizzly heat pads before. How sticky are they? Once your method is used, would it pose any danger of damaging the SSD if you need to remove the right side panel?

They actually are not sticky themselves per se, but they do stay put since they are indeed "sticky" but don't have any glue etc, so i'd expect them to stay put when opening/closing the side panel, without fear of damaging the ssd.

my ssd m.2 is sagging , i just follow your thermal pad and how you put it, but why does mine sag? i cant screw it cause it sag. what might be the problem?
is it okay to leave the m.2 unscrew? the heatsink and thermal pads are holding him securely

As Solo said, it shouldn't sag, make sure it "clicks" in place

 

[Cop-Osiris]

The link to that M.2 heatsink shows a 403 Forbidden error, not allowing access.

I have the ek refrigerator (ekwb-ek-m2-nvme-heatsink)
I have connected the ssd m2 on the back of the plate and the right panel is attached to it, so I take this to my advantage by putting a thermal pad on the refrigerator outside
In this way the entire panel makes me a sink for the m2 ssd
In this way I have more than perfect temp, + - 35 in desktop and + - 45 in full load

 

[Kenosis]

Did you push it in all the way? It shouldn't be crooked if it's in all the way. You'll hear a click.

Did you change the thermal pads in the pch chip? Under the pch heatsink? Cause i change it with thermal grizzly. Cause if you didnt . Maybe thats the reason why my m.2 is sagging.

 

[MultiDoc]

So today I went ahead and did the swap of the Strix's stock cooler (which is very good by the way, and wouldn't have donme this mod if I didn't already had the Accelero) with the Accelero Extreme III.

I had already previously removed the Strix's fan shroud and was using the card with only it's heatsink and 2xNF-A12x25 fans as exhaust with very very good results.

The only thing I was wondering is what I could do to keep the RAM and VRMs cooled too since the stock cooler uses a separate heatsink for them that has the PCB sandwiched in-between the backplate and the heatsink.

After taking off the stock heatsink, I spend an hour measuring and trying out the fit of heatsinks etc and I found out that I could retain the Strix's VRM & RAM heatsink if I installed the Accelero without using the backplate it came with and instead bolt it directly on the PCM the same way the Strix heatsink was (I also didnt' have to use the back spacers either.

So i went ahead and installed as much heatsinks I could on any and all of exposed vrm's, ram modules and also covered with extra heatsinks the top of the Strix's vrm/ram sink that was just flat on top. The way it used to transfer heat with it's own top sink was via a huge (relatively) thermal pad.
Instead I used the thinnest possible thermal adhesive tape to stick my tiny heatsinks on it and on everything else.
Except for the heatsinks that came with the Accelero, I also used a couple kits that are desinged for the Raspberry Pi (all the black sinks in the pics).

See below for pics:

And the end result with some additional rerouting of the 6+2 power cables:

Now the end result is both nice aesthetically but also better performance wise. Not enough to make it a worthwhile mod, unless you don't mind the cost of the Accelero (which imho is very reasonable) or if you're after the absolute best possible cooling and silence for your build. In my case I am happy to report that both goals have been achieved !

Previosuly tenmps would max out while benching at 79C (with a fan profile via Asus Fan Expert: 40% rpm @ 50C - 60% rpm @ 70C - 100% @ 80C), while now it maxes out at 73C with the same exact fan profile and also maintains a lot better idle temps at 31-32C !

Hope you like the mod and let me know if you any questions.

Cheers.

P.S 1: the results I got verify that the strix cooler is indeed very good especially coupled with Noctua's NF-A12x25.

P.S 2: I might fiddle a bit with fan profiles so I can maintain silence and get as low as possible my max temps.

 

[tinyitx]

Hey, are those dust particles on the inside of the TG window?
(I refer to the your 2 pics posted in the Ncase M1 Window Kit thread)

If I recall your setup right, your NH-D9L is intaking air from the rear case opening. And, the two bottom NF-A12x25 fans are exhausting at the bottom. So, fresh air going into the M1 purely comes from the top and the right side panel. Am I correct?

For this setup, is it positive pressured? If so, just slightly or overly?
And, what is your dust management/filter used for top and right side intakes?


And, have you read the guy Shottie (over in the M1 thread in Hardforum) said his NH-C14S (with fan installed underneath and blowing to the Window panel) outperformed his NH-U9S (similar performance to your NH-D9L) by a massive 15C? Since you are 'max on air', this might be an interesting idea for you to follow. And, of course, I would be interested to follow as well.

 

[MultiDoc]

Hey, are those dust particles on the inside of the TG window?
(I refer to the your 2 pics posted in the Ncase M1 Window Kit thread)

Yes, those are indeed dust particles. But as you can imagine these are magnified in the photo, they are hardly visible in real life (but still present).

If I recall your setup right, your NH-D9L is intaking air from the rear case opening. And, the two bottom NF-A12x25 fans are exhausting at the bottom. So, fresh air going into the M1 purely comes from the top and the right side panel. Am I correct?

Nope, the NH-D9L fans are exhausting to the rear, bottom fans are indeed exhaust too. This way intake is only through the top and right side which are both filtered (demcifilters in place).

For this setup, is it positive pressured? If so, just slightly or overly?
And, what is your dust management/filter used for top and right side intakes?

As I said I have a small round demcifilter directly on the PSU fan and long rectangular ones on top and right side panel.
Dust still manages to sneak in the case, but nothing bad. It just takes 3 minutes to take of the window side and blow it off weekly

And, have you read the guy Shottie (over in the M1 thread in Hardforum) said his NH-C14S (with fan installed underneath and blowing to the Window panel) outperformed his NH-U9S (similar performance to your NH-D9L) by a massive 15C? Since you are 'max on air', this might be an interesting idea for you to follow. And, of course, I would be interested to follow as well.

Thanks for the heads up, wasn't aware but went over and read about his findings. It appears he's getting 8C difference with his setup, which is very nice indeed; however I'd consider the C14 for my build if the window wasn't an option (the looks of a humongous heatsink that takes half the case isn't so nice ) or if the NH-D9L wasn't performing as good as it does.

My next experiment will be to try and reverse the fans on the CPU cooler from exhaust to intake and see if it has (and what) an impact on temps for both the CPU and the whole system as it may well interfere with the GPU temps too.

Now I need someone that could make me a custom length 24pin cable and 2 x 6+2 pin cable so i can tidy up things more

 

[tinyitx]

Thanks for the heads up, wasn't aware but went over and read about his findings. It appears he's getting 8C difference with his setup, which is very nice indeed; however I'd consider the C14 for my build if the window wasn't an option (the looks of a humongous heatsink that takes half the case isn't so nice ) or if the NH-D9L wasn't performing as good as it does.

It is OK for your aesthetic reason not choosing C14. For me, the appearance of a humongous cooler is quite sexy though. But, I am still debating between a NH-U9S and a NH-C14S. Perhaps by the time I do the build, NH-C14S will have been discontinued and replaced by that prototype shown in Computex. If so, then NH-U9S will be my top choice as the prototype does not seem to allow a fan installed below the heatsink.

 

[Rinzler]

Did some rerouting of the cables and installed the window panel a few days ago, so here are a few pics:
(also my OCD made me cover all unused ports in the rear I/O , it's nicer anyway)

From this:

To this:

And this:

If I may ask, in the last photo where or brand are those antenna's & also those dust plug covers you have for the rear ports of the mother board? Awesome build, I'm currently waiting for my case. Pretty much close to the same setup. But I have a i7 7700k delided, noctua u9s & will be running be quiet fans on them as well as the buttom with the same gpu you have.

 

[xciter327]

If I may also ask, did You ever try running the SF 600 unit with the stock fan?

I am actually planning of getting the 2018 model, which is gold rated, so theoretically it should perform a bit better in the acoustic department. I am estimating total component usage at peak of around 400-450W with idle usages of less than 100w, which should stay well bellow the threshold for "0RPM fan mode".

P.S. - Great build. I'll be building something similar soon based on AM4 using the U9S with dual fans. Just waiting for the case to show up and DRAM prices to drop a bit more.