This is a build I did end of last year, it has been running well for the last 6 months. The goal was to have a quiet small form factor system, primarily for gaming. Also I'm not a particular fan on RGB, so this build has none. Well the mainboard has, but it can be, and is turned off in the UEFI.

I have some experience with SFF, my previous build was in a Sentry. While the Sentry is a fantastic case, the thermal performance is limited. I would not be comfortable running a RTX 3080 in there. So I decided I gave the Ncase M1 a try.

For the Ncase M1 I ordered the black edition and an additional silver panel kit. I ended up using a mix of black (side, frame) and silver panels (top, front). It would be possible to use USB-C or USB-A on the front panel, there is enough room (you have to remove the front panel connectors to insert the GPU though) and the necessary connectors would be available on the board. However I like the very clean appearance without front connecters the best.

In order to minimise cabling clutter, the build uses custom sff cables from cablemod. First time I worked with those, I can recommend them without hesitation!

The build uses some slight modding to improve cooling. The PSU bracked has been moved by ~1cm by drilling new holes in the front panel. This allows to mount a 15mm fan on the side of the PSU. The fan sits pretty much flush on the PSU, therefore only allows ~800 rpm before turbulance starts to become audible.

Additionally the RTX 3080 has been deshrouded and two NF-A12x25 fans are attached to the FAN headers on the MSI Ventus and run as exhaust. To have the Ventus heatsink sit flush on the fans, small 3D printed spacers (~2mm) have been added between the case and the fans.

The fan on the CPU heatsink has been replaced by a chromax one.

The system focus more on silence than absolute performance, max RPM on case fans ~800, CPU ~1200, GPU ~1300. To achieve this the MSI ventus was slightly undervolted and downclocked. Temperatures under benchmark load on both the CPU and the GPU ~70° C.