Greetings! This page is about my latest mini-ITX computer setup, this time based on the NCASE M2.
(sorry for the desk reflection, that glass panel is a nightmare when it’s time to take a picture)
I had enough time to think and plan my build thoroughly and even though it appears that I’m defying the trend by using an Intel 265K processor instead of an AMD 9800X3D, I wanted to share my ideas and experiences with the NCASE M2 in case it could inspire a few of you.
- AIR COOLING
- CLASSIC LAYOUT
- OPTIMIZED AIRFLOW PATH
I enjoy reading others discussing builds as I may learn from them, even if I occasionally come across unusual choices that makes me think twice but sometimes all it takes is one fresh idea to get things moving and thinking outside the box can lead to new opportunities!
That said, no need to agree with anything I say. Take what you like, it’s free 😉
As soon as I got the case, I assembled the frame to have a quick look at it until I got the missing parts.
MY OPINION ON THE NCASE M2
The M2 is a great case but seems a bit unpolished, in the sense that there are parts of different colors on the back if you don’t get the black one, same for side panels, so that’s the reason I went with black, or I would have preferred silver otherwise, just like my M1. Also, there was no little plate to cover the second hole for the power plug not in use, and nothing was included to cover the 2 round holes on the back, something that was included with the M1.
COMPONENTS
Let’s go quickly with the parts I wanted:
CASE: NCASE M2
The M2 is a slightly larger case than the M1. I was looking to use the M1 again, but 2 things convinced me to get the M2. Top exhaust and front panel I/O with USBC.
CPU: Intel Ultra 7 Processor 265K
Like I previously said above, I know many gamers reading this will find it strange I chose Intel, but the fact is even if I game almost daily, I mostly do it in 4K since November 2024, and at this resolution the GPU is the bottleneck. In 1080P the 9800X3D is maybe the king for gaming, BUT all I can tell you is getting 188fps instead of 211fps doesn’t matter much to me, so I much preferred a 265K, which does better in many productive apps, and it’s also cheaper.
CPU cooler: Peerless Assassin 120 MINI
There are 3 options here: the PA120 MINI and the SilverSoul 135, also from Peerless, and there is the Noctua NH-D12L. The latter is not only close to 3x the price, but performance is very similar with maybe a 1°C or 2°C difference at best. I usually don’t mind to pay more when required but there is no good reason here and be warned that the tips may also touch the mesh/glass panel. Finally, I find it also ugly (even in Chromax black), and since this build uses a glass panel, I preferred the clean top look of the PA120 MINI.
Motherboard: ASRock Z890I Nova WiFi
First time with ASRock which had 5Gbps LAN I was looking for, and I heard they have a solid reputation. I usually look at ASUS, but this time the ROG was much more expensive, had an undesired extra daughter board, and the external Hive I didn’t really need and 2.5Gbps LAN.
GPU: NVIDIA 4070 FE
Bought this one last year to update the M1, so I simply moved it to this M2 build.
PSU: Corsair SF750
The SF600 would have been totally fine, but I wanted to keep it for the M1 and SF650 being discontinued I bought a Platinum SF750.
SSD: Crucial T700 2TB M.2 NVMe
Same here, kept the Gen 4 Samsung 980 PRO for the M1 and bought this Gen 5 SSD.
CONFIGURATION / INSTALLATION
Just so you know, I’ve never been a fan of AIO, as I said when I built my prior M1 case (which you can read about here). So for this build, I’ll again use a conventional air heatsink.
This case supports 3 different configurations.
The only one that really makes sense to me with selected parts is the Classic layout. What matters most to me when I start thinking about how I’m going to build the whole thing is to make sure that the air source(s) will be air drawn from outside the box. Under normal conditions, the room temperature will always be lower than the temperature inside the case. Few people seem to give much thought to the source of the air, or at least it’s rarely referred to. Instead, some like to think that more fans are better and often install more than are really needed. Fluid dynamics is quite complex, and I won’t pretend to be an expert at all, but if you think about it, it’s not hard to imagine that several fans placed without much thought can quickly lead to an invisible chaos when it comes to air circulation in a case, so I try to avoid that. On the other hand, it’s pretty clear a well-positioned fan at one side as intake and another one at the opposite side as exhaust will produce a better airflow thanks to the tunnel effect.
With that in mind, VGPU was a no-go because of the glass panel. Flipped could kind of work, but it’s not logical, nor the best, forcing exhaust at the bottom.
COOLING CPU HEATSINK
Making sure the CPU heatsink would be fed with 100% air from outside is somewhat easy. The PA120 MINI comes with a single 120mm fan. My first idea was to make a duct with large black tape from the back of the case and over the first tower up to the PA120 MINI in the middle to create a forced path for the fan to suck air from outside the case and not use recycled air inside the case.
It looked like this:
For testing this I used the HeavyLoad program utility. On any CPU there is always a core that gets hotter than others. P-core #8 it was on my CPU with a 2°C higher than the few next hot ones, so I was monitoring this particular one. After 5 minutes of HeavyLoad, P-core #8 reached 88°C. That wasn’t bad, but at the same time, I knew replacing this homemade duct with a 92mm fan would prolly do better, mostly because of the static pressure the fan will provide on the first tower, so I decided to order a Noctua NF-A9 chromax.
A few days later, I proceeded to remove this duct tape, and it was important to me to install the 92mm fan right on the heatsink and not on the back of the case with some space in between because what really matters is the fan air pressure must be applied at the heatsink level for the best airflow through the fins and thus get the best efficiency. This is somewhat easy to achieve with the help of the Noctua NA-FD1 kit inserted between the back of the case and the fan; no clips and no screws was required to hold the fan in place. I did the same HeavyLoad test, and this time 82°C was the max. Indeed a nice 6°C improvement.
COOLING VIDEO CARD
The 4070 FE fits perfectly for this build with one exhaust on the back, and the second fan exhaust is aligned straight with the top exhaust while at the same time pushing the CPU heatsink exhaust flow upward. A duct is really important here and is the best option. Without a duct, both fans would suck slightly heated air from inside the case and would mess up internal airflow. We often see users adding 2 fans at the bottom because it probably looks logical for them, but those 2 extra fans, when too close to GPU fans, have a high chance of disturbing the airflow. While it’s not dramatic with many opting for this anyway, it’s simply not the best. I also understand that it’s much easier and quick to spend money on 2 fans than working on a duct.
In the last years I kept a few foams from different packaging, knowing it may one day be useful for a next project. Look what I’ve found!
That was a perfect fit once I removed the bottom layer and painted it black. The 2 cups aligned almost perfectly with the fans on the 4070 FE. That’s what you see below the video card in case you were wondering since you saw the first picture on this page. Another benefit of this duct is that it fills the big hole on the back of the case. By the way, case feet are not a problem unless the case is over a carpet. I understand the space to breathe looks small, but I assure you the video card never reaches critical levels.
BUILD COMPLETED
OPTIMIZED AIRFLOW RESULTS
Some buyers get the M2 and appreciate the mesh panels for a better ventilation. For my build it’s the opposite and one of the reason why the Grater model wasn’t for me. Remember that big 140mm exhaust on top? Remember that I use a glass panel? A fan will always seek the less restrictive air source path so to avoid that huge fan sucking from the mesh panel next to it, I decided to completely cover it with black tape.
Both panels now act as a barrier/tunnel and creates an airflow path where the source is now the bottom of the case as you’ll see in the next picture. And like I just said above, original case feet are fine.
Here is a visual representation of how airflow behaves with arrows and heatmap.
Now that have the best possible sources of air, I can concentrate on keeping the CPU temperature under load acceptable, which is where it varies for many people. Let’s take the concrete example of my CPU, which has a TJMax of 105°C. Some people will do everything they can for a load temperature in the 70°C range, whereas I have no problem myself if it goes beyond 90°C because the manufacturer specifies that the processor can operate up to 105°C before its performance is diminished by automated protection measures. Obviously, I don’t want it to reach 105°C at all and want to keep a safe distance. With proper fan curves, I’m going to make sure it will never exceed 100°C. This extra play between the 70°C range people usually look for and the close to 100°C I’m looking for allows me to define a softer, less aggressive curve for the fans, delaying their acceleration and noise, unlike if I tried to have it never exceed 80°C, for example. You also have to take into account the computer’s usage; a CPU is rarely continuously at 100% load for several minutes at a time unless crunching numbers or rendering a video montage, but rarely when gaming, where usually it’s the video card that quickly becomes saturated.
FanControl is a great utility to manage all the fans and their interactions.
Thanks to the Mix/Average curve which combine both the CPU and GPU intakes, the top exhaust fan will ramp up to accomodate to the increased airflow from both fans. Also interesting to note that the fans on the 4070 FE have a 0 RPM mode when not under load, and for this to work, you need to disable the automatic control.
A FEW PRACTICAL RESULTS
Here are some results after gaming for 20 minutes in 4K with DLSS. Gaming is not where we see the highest temperatures since the GPU is the one who usually suffers.
All tests done at room temperature of 21°C.
P.S. 4070 FE have a an extra 110 MHz applied to GPU and extra 200 MHz on VRAM. I almost forgot I had turned on the auto-OC in the Nvidia panel and those are the values that were set by itself.
| Apex Legends | Diablo IV | S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 | CoD Warzone |
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| GPU max: 74°C | GPU max: 70°C | GPU max: 70°C | GPU max: 71°C |
And here some CPU intensive workloads and applications which brings the highest CPU temperatures.
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 (shaders comp.) |
HandBrake (encoding h.265) |
HeavyLoad (5 mins CPU only) |
Cinebench2024 (CPU Multi Core) |
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Sure in Handbrake there is P-core #8 that sometimes peak at 94°C but still far from TJMax and overall package is around 84°C so I see some room for an OC. Those are not tasks running 100% 24/7 so all is good.
OVERCLOCKING
I did some quick tests and surprisingly ended up with the highest 265K score among CPU-Z submissions for Multi-Threads! And I beat the 285K for Single-Thread.
That will be a WIP as I have no need to squeeze out every drop of performance NOW. I have a feeling there will be more AMD visitors to this page because of the 9800X3D popularity but if you happen to have a 265K then please say hello so we can have a discussion on our overclocking results.
I’ll update here eventually.