Prototype The world most flexible SFF case? LOUQE Ghost S1

gkl

Minimal Tinkerer
New User
Apr 5, 2019
3
1
Hey, maybe someone has experience with this. I'm trying to remove the RGB strip from Evga 1080ti FTW3 so it would fit without a tophat, but honestly I'm kinda stumped how should i proceed. Is it held on by the three tabs? I'm just concerned not to snap either the strip or the shroud...
Adding my findings in case anyone else stumbles on this with same question as I had.
I ended up just brute-forcing the strip open and it essentially consists of a top shell and a bottom base. Top is attached to bottom with clips, but the base is screwed to the shroud with 4 screws on the inside. You can see photos here:

With the RGB strip removed, the card is low enough to fit... if we disregard the PCIE connectors. :D I had these but unfortunately they are ~3 mm too high. Seems like only something like ultra low profile cables from https://kareonkables.com/ would work. Or just get a top hat.
 

rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,586
2,700
Adding my findings in case anyone else stumbles on this with same question as I had.
I ended up just brute-forcing the strip open and it essentially consists of a top shell and a bottom base. Top is attached to bottom with clips, but the base is screwed to the shroud with 4 screws on the inside. You can see photos here:

With the RGB strip removed, the card is low enough to fit... if we disregard the PCIE connectors. :D I had these but unfortunately they are ~3 mm too high. Seems like only something like ultra low profile cables from https://kareonkables.com/ would work. Or just get a top hat.

Have you seen these 180 degree U turn adapters from ModDiy?
 

JcAa

Minimal Tinkerer
Feb 6, 2018
4
6
The bracket did not fit the mounting holes for the new gpu. I am replacing the gpu tomorrow and will give you an update when installed

I ended up bending the kraken g12 a bit to make it fit.

Pictures




 
Last edited:

SFFanatic

Chassis Packer
Jun 4, 2019
18
2
Is there any Ghost owners here who previously owned a Ncase M1 and regret downsizing to the Ghost? I want to be sure the Ghost is the right case for me before I spend a lot of money on one. I don't intend to custom water cool and if the Ghost is a more preferable size. Basically I'm torn between the two lol.
 

jeffsff

Case Bender
New User
Jun 5, 2019
2
0
Is there any Ghost owners here who previously owned a Ncase M1 and regret downsizing to the Ghost? I want to be sure the Ghost is the right case for me before I spend a lot of money on one. I don't intend to custom water cool and if the Ghost is a more preferable size. Basically I'm torn between the two lol.

I recently sold my Ghost S1 and purchased a Cerberus instead (would have considered the M1, but didn't want to wait for the next restock). I found the Ghost to just be a little louder and warmer than I would prefer while gaming (9600k cooled with an NH-L12 was fine, but my 2080 seemed to get pretty load and toasty). I definitely think it's a personal preference thing - the sound and temps weren't outrageous, just more than I like. The Cerberus is overkill (and I'm wasting liters for that privilege), but I appreciate the quiet and future flexibility.
 

Engr62

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jun 7, 2018
127
77
Is there any Ghost owners here who previously owned a Ncase M1 and regret downsizing to the Ghost? I want to be sure the Ghost is the right case for me before I spend a lot of money on one. I don't intend to custom water cool and if the Ghost is a more preferable size. Basically I'm torn between the two lol.
Actually, I went from the NCASE M1 to the Ghost S1, then back to the NCASE M1. I prefer air-cooling my CPU, so the Ghost S1 just didn't work for me. I really like the look of the Ghost S1--it's a fabulous case. But, it's just really difficult to air-cool CPUs that have a TDP higher than 65 W in these sandwich-style cases. Others seem to have fared better than I have in that regard.
 

yoyo55

Trash Compacter
Aug 15, 2015
45
27
Is there any Ghost owners here who previously owned a Ncase M1 and regret downsizing to the Ghost? I want to be sure the Ghost is the right case for me before I spend a lot of money on one. I don't intend to custom water cool and if the Ghost is a more preferable size. Basically I'm torn between the two lol.

I also went from an Ncase M1 to a Ghost S1 and I'm loving it. Running an 8700k at 4.8 using a Big Shuriken 2 with a slim Noctua fan along with a RTX 2080ti with no issues. Loved my Ncase M1 but the clean look of Ghost S1 (Pangea) looks absolutely amazing. You can't go wrong with either one honestly. The size of the Ghost S1 is why I bought one.
 

promaty

Caliper Novice
Jun 15, 2019
30
36
In Ncase you can jam a big NH-U9S Noctua air cooler and 2.5 slot GPU for silence. Sound and temp wise this is roughly equivalent of 2x 120mm AIOs in Ghost S1 with a top hat (or a custom loop with GPU and CPU sharing a 240mm rad). If you want air cooling in Ghost you are limited to low profile cooler and 2 slot GPU so your system will be louder under load.
 

Questors

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 28, 2018
122
82
I don't have my Ghost build done yet. What I can say thus far, using the tophats to create a custom water cooled system is a fun project. Using two Hardware Labs radiators there is still room to make a custom reservoir. Yes, my Ghost will be taller than just the basic chassis, but that is what I wanted. I enjoy making water cooled builds. It is still going to fit in the SFF genre and is going to immensely smaller that my CaseLabs (a sad sad day when they closed - :( ) Merlin ST10 sitting atop two pedestals filled with radiators.
 
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Brude27

Master of Cramming
Jun 21, 2018
384
878
Is there any Ghost owners here who previously owned a Ncase M1 and regret downsizing to the Ghost? I want to be sure the Ghost is the right case for me before I spend a lot of money on one. I don't intend to custom water cool and if the Ghost is a more preferable size. Basically I'm torn between the two lol.

I moved from an Ncase M1 v5 into my Ghost S1, and both cases have their benefits. I had a dual 120mm AIO setup in my M1, and loved it except for the pump noise at idle. It performed really well, and looked great while doing it.

That said, it was my first time using AIOs, and I found that I much prefer air cooling due to the constant pump noise (I couldn’t adjust the RPMs with my H60, so it could be different using a better AIO).

I also wanted to go a little bit smaller than the M1... hence the move to the Ghost S1. I don’t like the way top hats look, as the base Ghost is truly a work of art, so it runs louder at load than the M1 did since I keep it top hat-less. I always wear headphones while gaming, so I don’t notice the extra noise at load. The benefit is a dead silent system while just browsing the internet, and not feeling the need to wear headphones while doing so like I had to while using the AIOs.

I think both cases look great, and feel like working in both cases is equally enjoyable, as both are incredibly well optimized, and very well engineered. I think the Ghost feels more premium due to thicker metals, but the Ncase still feels premium, and I actually prefer the finish on the M1 better than Louqe’s cheaper anodization. Basically, you can’t really go wrong with either, and need to base your choice off of what kind of system you want to build.
 
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SFFanatic

Chassis Packer
Jun 4, 2019
18
2
I recently sold my Ghost S1 and purchased a Cerberus instead (would have considered the M1, but didn't want to wait for the next restock). I found the Ghost to just be a little louder and warmer than I would prefer while gaming (9600k cooled with an NH-L12 was fine, but my 2080 seemed to get pretty load and toasty). I definitely think it's a personal preference thing - the sound and temps weren't outrageous, just more than I like. The Cerberus is overkill (and I'm wasting liters for that privilege), but I appreciate the quiet and future flexibility.

No offence but that's really messed up. The Ghost is the most premium case that exists and people are dying to get their hands on one and you sell it for an inferior Cerberus that looks like poop in comparison and is almost so big it's not even a real SFF. What the hell man...

Actually, I went from the NCASE M1 to the Ghost S1, then back to the NCASE M1. I prefer air-cooling my CPU, so the Ghost S1 just didn't work for me. I really like the look of the Ghost S1--it's a fabulous case. But, it's just really difficult to air-cool CPUs that have a TDP higher than 65 W in these sandwich-style cases. Others seem to have fared better than I have in that regard.

Unless wanting a custom loop I can't understand this at all. The Ghost S1 is fine for air cooling. Did you not see this video?
My planned build is a 2080 and 3700x in a Ghost.

I also went from an Ncase M1 to a Ghost S1 and I'm loving it. Running an 8700k at 4.8 using a Big Shuriken 2 with a slim Noctua fan along with a RTX 2080ti with no issues. Loved my Ncase M1 but the clean look of Ghost S1 (Pangea) looks absolutely amazing. You can't go wrong with either one honestly. The size of the Ghost S1 is why I bought one.

Got any pictures of your build? I'm a fan of the Pangea style too and think that it's the one I may go with. Have you tried to fit a Big Shuriken 3 with a slim fan?
 

Engr62

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jun 7, 2018
127
77
Unless wanting a custom loop I can't understand this at all. The Ghost S1 is fine for air cooling. Did you not see this video?
My planned build is a 2080 and 3700x in a Ghost.

Optimum Tech runs a delidded i7-8700K in his builds, so his temperatures are going to be 10 C or so lower than one gets with an i7-8700K that hasn't been delidded. I don't delid. Also, he has a Noctua NH-L12 in his build--good luck finding one of those for under $150--in fact, that's the reason I sold my Ghost S1. I just couldn't justify spending another $150 on the build. I tried using the Black Ridge CPU cooler, and my Ryzen 7 1800X (95 W TDP) would throttle (3.3 to 3.4 GHz at full load). As I said, you can air-cool a 65 W TDP CPU that hasn't been delidded in a sandwich style case--I had a Ryzen 7 1700 (65 W TDP) in a Dan Case A4-SFX with a Noctua NH-L9a that remained below 67 C at full load. Since you are getting the 3700X (65 W TDP), you should be fine.

My Ryzen 7 1800X is running in the NCASE M1 with a Noctua NH-D9L and never breaks 69 C while staying at 3.7 GHz under full load.

Since I do things (finite element analysis) other than gaming on my systems that will load the CPU to 100% for hours on end, I need it to run without throttling. And, since I travel with the computer by airplane, I need it to be air-cooled rather than water-cooled.
 
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promaty

Caliper Novice
Jun 15, 2019
30
36
Optimum Tech runs a delidded i7-8700K in his builds, so his temperatures are going to be 10 C or so lower than one gets with an i7-8700K that hasn't been delidded. I don't delid. Also, he has a Noctua NH-L12 in his build--good luck finding one of those for under $150--in fact, that's the reason I sold my Ghost S1. I just couldn't justify spending another $150 on the build. I tried using the Black Ridge CPU cooler, and my Ryzen 7 1800X (95 W TDP) would throttle (3.3 to 3.4 GHz at full load). As I said, you can air-cool a 65 W TDP CPU that hasn't been delidded in a sandwich style case--I had a Ryzen 7 1700 (65 W TDP) in a Dan Case A4-SFX with a Noctua NH-L9a that remained below 67 C at full load. Since you are getting the 3700X (65 W TDP), you should be fine.

My Ryzen 7 1800X is running in the NCASE M1 with a Noctua NH-D9L and never breaks 69 C while staying at 3.7 GHz under full load.

Since I do things (finite element analysis) other than gaming on my systems that will load the CPU to 100% for hours on end, I need it to run without throttling. And, since I travel with the computer by airplane, I need it to be air-cooled rather than water-cooled.
Take a look at these tests by LOUQE themselves, there are plenty of coolers which can cool 8700K without issues: https://www.louqe.com/files/heatsink_test_ghost_s1_MkII.pdf
L12 is not the only cooler in existence. Also no delid required. Also you can buy 9th gen K CPUs which are soldered and have better thermals.
 

rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,586
2,700
If you are using Intel the Scythe Big Shuriken 2 works very well, Louge's own tests show it slightly better than the Noctua. Stock fan is loud at load but you could use a slim Noctua or like I did and use a Prolimatech 140mm slim fan. I used it previously on my delidded 8700k in a MI-6 (similar cooler restrictions) and kept it under 75C at load.

I am currently using a Ghost S1 and previously had a Ncase M1 and there are pros and cons to both. I think the Ghost, without tophats, is one of the best looking cases made. I have mine watercooled and using a large tophat and still looks good, just not as good. I think the Ncase has a timeless ,minimalist design. Air cooling is better in the Ncase but GPU cooling has been challenging in previous versions. The v6 is getting additional ventilation for the GPU and should be better.


You might want to take a look at this video from @optimumtech, he compares several itx cases including the Ghost and Ncase.
 
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