Well-Built Mini-ITX Case: Cooler Master NCORE 100 MAX Review & Benchmarks Leave a comment
The following function (beneath the detachable high panel) is a pre-installed 38mm thick radiator. The case is actually fascinating, and we’re going to be reviewing thermals, acoustics, and naturally the construct high quality and precise constructing course of for it.
The value – $400 – appears increased than perhaps it’s in actuality as a result of it comes with a cooler and an influence provide, making it the most costly ITX “case” we’ve reviewed. Nevertheless, as soon as you’re taking out the price of the facility provide and the cooler it comes down just a little bit.
Specs Overview and Stroll Round
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I/O Ports at backside of case -
Included 120mm radiator (again, 38mm) vs normal thickness CLC (entrance, 28mm) -
Included SFX 850W PSU -
Case with PSU/Motherboard tray on left, GPU on proper, 120mm radiator on high.
The NCore 100 MAX has a comparatively small footprint simply when it comes to precise sq. space, however it’s tall – principally a mini-ITX tower. It’s extra related in some methods to the NZXT H1 for structure and for the final type issue, though Cooler Grasp’s is taller and hopefully doesn’t catch on fireplace just like the NZXT did initially.
What Cooler Grasp did for structure was principally a vertical sandwich, so that they’ve acquired the motherboard on one aspect, the GPU on the opposite, and the facility provide above the motherboard and GPU, which exhausts out the highest by means of the shared radiator. This manner the I/O finally ends up at successfully the identical again of the case as you’d usually have, in order that it stays accessible. Nevertheless, the GPU finally ends up with its show out on the backside, in order that’s routed beneath through a channel.
The MAX a part of the identify right here is as a result of it comes with different elements, so there may be not a non-MAX model of this case proper now. Cooler Grasp had the NR200P MAX beforehand which additionally got here with further elements. The NCORE 100 MAX features a 120mm liquid cooler, which might usually be regarding as a result of it is simply not that highly effective. We’d sometimes advocate that you just as an alternative use an air cooler as a result of nearly all air coolers we might advocate within the $30 plus vary will outperform a 120mm CLC as of late.
The explanation why this one will get by is as a result of they’ve a thicker radiator on the 38mm thickness we talked about earlier — the additional floor space permits the cooler to cope with the warmth. This creates a huge impact for cooling efficiency – it’s really the identical method Arctic took with the Liquid Freezer 2 as nicely, and is a part of the explanation that collection was so aggressive when it got here out.
The included energy provide is rated at 850W, with a local 12VHPWR cable. We are going to focus on this extra beneath, however one of many issues that we actually didn’t like was simply how bent the cable finally ends up being to get the GPU put in. This creates just a little extra threat of pulling the cable out, and we already understand how delicate 12VHPWR connectors are, which have to be socketed in addition to doable. Cable high quality can also be the next concern resulting from how shut it’s to the spec.
The included CLC and PSU drive the worth as much as $400 (or $380 on sale on the time of writing). Eradicating the everyday value of a cooler and PSU from the overall value, the worth of the case itself is extra like $170-180 to the patron. That’s on par with the Fractal Terra and simply above the Lian Li DAN A4-H2O, and cheaper than boutique circumstances just like the NCASE M1EVO or FormD T1. The apparent draw back is that you just’re compelled into utilizing the 2 elements they supply, so if for some cause they’re not fascinating, there’s no nice compromise, otherwise you simply find yourself losing cash on elements that won’t be used.
The case additionally comes with a single 120mm exhaust fan excessive on the rear panel to get some scorching air from the GPU out earlier than it makes it to the radiator up high. It theoretically helps on the motherboard aspect too, nevertheless it’s closely blocked by the PSU.
The NCORE 100 MAX additionally has a concentrate on toolless mechanisms, solely requiring use of a screwdriver for the motherboard and GPU in normal configuration. The “expanded configuration” makes the case wider to permit for additional thick GPUs just like the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 7900 XTX, and even the large Gigabyte AORUS MASTER RTX 4080 with just a little extra tweaking. We examined every of those GPUs and so they do technically match, though you’ll grow to be more and more thermally constrained because the area within the enclosure continues to get crammed by bigger playing cards.
Case Dimension
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NCORE 100 MAX normal and expanded mode -
NCORE 100 MAX normal dimensions -
NCORE 100 MAX normal quantity -
NCORE 100MAX vs. competitors
The NCORE 100 MAX is the sort of case that makes proponents of the “footprint” metric actually excited. As in comparison with extra historically oriented circumstances just like the Fractal Terra, the NCORE 100 MAX doesn’t take up very a lot desk floor space in any respect — however it’s a comparatively imposing monolith. It measures 212mm lengthy by 155mm large in regular mode.
Nevertheless, the case is 481mm tall, which means it’s taller than the size of the opposite ITX circumstances we’ve reviewed are lengthy, and brings the amount to fifteen.7L in normal mode. We measured the case ourselves, as we all the time do, and acquired the very same numbers as marketed. That holds true when the case is ready up in expanded mode as nicely, the place the width will increase to 172mm and the amount goes to 17.5L.
Cooler Grasp earns the excellence of being the primary ITX case we’ve taken a have a look at that doesn’t fiddle with excluding protrusions or case toes from its dimensions. That could be due partly to the truth that it doesn’t actually have any protrusions, however delicate congratulations are nonetheless so as. Nice job Cooler Grasp, you didn’t lie on the spec sheet.
Constructing within the NCORE & Cable Administration
General the NCORE 100 MAX is simple to construct in, and the guide is fairly good. The outside panels are eliminated simply by pulling and are hooked up to the case with pushpins that give a secure maintain. They’re made from 2mm thick aluminum that’s perforated with holes and bent into form. Metallic mesh is hooked up to the inside aspect of the panels with plastic items that simply pull off to permit for the effective mesh to be eliminated for cleansing.
The highest panel is made from plastic and is roofed in a extra inflexible steel mesh, so it seems like a kind of effective mesh panels you’d get on the entrance of a Phanteks ATX case the place they use that actually effective mesh materials. This works nice as a result of it eliminates the necessity for a mud filter however is tremendous breathable – the panel itself is inflexible and supplies good structural help. The draw back is that it’s extra restrictive on airflow than a finer mesh resolution that’s not structural.
It comes off in a similar way to the aspect panels, and positively shouldn’t be used as a deal with or to carry the case. That mesh high needs to be eliminated previous to eradicating the locking entrance pillar, as there’s a nub of plastic on the highest panel that interfaces with the pillar.
And that very same pillar has two toolless latches that lock it in place, that are sturdy and straightforward to make use of. It then swings out of the best way and comes off totally to provide higher entry to the motherboard aspect of the case and cable administration alongside the entrance. This pillar provides one of many exterior panels a spot to connect and lends some further rigidity to the case total.
The motherboard drops into place beneath the facility provide fairly simply, and leaves loads of room to attach the varied cables required across the motherboard. The pre-installed energy cables are versatile and the CPU 8-pin is extraordinarily quick, which is generally a superb factor right here. They know roughly the place the EPS12V connector will land and may cut back slack cabling.
Shifting to cable administration: the NCORE 100 MAX provides the builder a number of areas to tuck cables out of the best way and has tie-down factors all over the place. We admire these options, given the small area, and Cooler Grasp did a superb job with cable routing choices.
CPU cooler set up is normal for a CLC and features a tube of thermal paste that appears fairly beneficiant, however solely has a tiny quantity really in it when you peel the misleading sticker again. It’s not prefer it’s lower than what you get within the small 1g tubes, nevertheless it positively feels worse given the deceptive measurement of the syringe.
GPU Fitment & Expanded Mode
Putting in GPUs as much as 337mm lengthy, 180mm tall, and 62mm (about 3 slots) thick is supported out of the field. The case provides a great deal of entry to the GPU aspect and we don’t have any actual complaints in regards to the course of. Nevertheless, bear in mind that the extra you fill the precise GPU area, the more difficult it will likely be from a thermal standpoint. As the amount within the chamber is stuffed with GPU and the fan strikes nearer to the aspect panel of the case it will increase the stress wanted to beat the panel.
Moreover, for GPUs which have a flow-through Founders Version design, air will merely be blown by means of the cooler and into the wall behind the cardboard, which makes the case unable to leverage the advantages of the trendy flow-through design in video playing cards. Nearly all of the exhaust from the GPU shall be pulled out by the case’s rear fan.
The rear fan on the case is especially essential as a result of though the pump and the block for the CLC is mounted to the CPU, it’s sharing the overall cooling capability with the facility provide and GPU as a result of the radiator is mounted to the highest of the case. The CPU and energy provide are exhausting up and out, together with the GPU, for no matter isn’t taken away by the rear fan.
The “backside” GPU fan (on this orientation) does not blow all over the cardboard – it unfold air in a form of spiral across the within the case. We have proven that in a few of our Schlieren pictures up to now. A few of that air will discover its means out of the panels, some will get correctly exhausted, and a few of it’s going to merely flow into round.
The air from the flow-through portion of the GPU is most certainly going to separate by means of the highest and the again. This can contribute just a little bit to processor temperature, simply because the precise radiator temperature and liquid temperature shall be elevated by the truth that they’re sharing a cooling resolution not directly.
GPUs thicker than 62mm require changing the case to expanded mode. That’s executed by first eradicating the rear nook pillar by taking out two screws – there are not any latches on this one.
Then one set of case toes are repositioned to a wider stance earlier than reattaching the rear pillar into an outer place. After that, the highest panel is changed with the broader various included within the accent field. This can be a intelligent design as a result of it largely depends on reconfiguration relatively than additional elements, and it doesn’t disturb the aesthetics of the case.
To accommodate graphics playing cards longer than 337mm, the PCIe bracket and riser need to be relocated to a decrease place. We assume the one cause this isn’t normal confirguration is that it reduces the area out there for show cables beneath the case. Having the case arrange in expanded mode plus the decrease bracket place permits for GPUs 357mm lengthy, 180mm tall, and 79mm thick, which Cooler Grasp calls “3.9 slots.” The big Gigabyte AORUS MASTER RTX 4080 is barely in a position to squeeze inside, inadvertently turning into a structural beam within the course of.
The NCORE 100 MAX comes with a 90-degree 12VHPWR cable preinstalled, which is marked as solely being able to 450W, which means no elevating the facility restrict on a 4090 or utilizing one with a vBIOS that reinforces it increased than default. The 450W spec is regarding relating to cable high quality and we additionally don’t like that it presses in opposition to the central backbone when utilized in our 4070 Founders Version card, plus the bend and contortion that we get when routing it. For GPUs that don’t use 12VHPWR, Cooler Grasp consists of 3 PCIe 8-pin cables within the accent field.
Hidden Function and non-MAX
After ending our construct and testing, we noticed an undocumented hidden function. There’s a skinny detachable panel to the left of the motherboard I/O. The guide doesn’t point out this panel in any respect, however after eradicating it and having a look across the case, we questioned if it’s there to facilitate shifting the motherboard tray (the case’s “backbone”) over just a few millimeters.
We emailed Cooler Grasp with the query, and the corporate confirmed this:
“Sure, the detachable plate close to motherboard I/O is for making it adjustable. At first, [we wanted] to maintain air-cooling mode for non-MAX model. Since it will possibly prolong 17mm for 3.9slots GPU, [shifting] the M/B tray 1 slot could make Ncore100 [support] as much as 67.3mm air-cooling top with 2.9slots GPU help.”
– Cooler Grasp to GamersNexus
The explanation Cooler Grasp doesn’t name out that functionality is as a result of there’s at the moment no plan for a non-MAX model of the case with out the PSU and CLC. So, in different phrases the backbone might be adjusted, however there’s probably not a degree to doing that with the built-in cooler.
Thermal Testing
We examined the NCORE 100 MAX in opposition to itself in numerous configurations, and particularly because it consists of its personal cooling resolution we largely tweaked the panels on the case and the configuration of the video card for testing.
We’ve locked the 13600K to mounted frequencies and energy ranges for all these exams, and set the fan on the RTX 4070 Founders Version to a static 44%. As traditional, these temperatures are represented as delta T over ambient.
Do not forget that all of that is comparative. The element temperature will change based mostly in your fan velocity and elements, the voltage of these elements, what’s set to auto versus managed, and so forth. Our testing is very managed – it’s designed to judge how numerous layouts of the case and its panels have an effect on airflow.
CPU Thermals – Full Torture
CPU thermals are first. The GPU fan velocity is unchanged in all exams, so references to fan velocity are for the included followers with the case and the cooler. With the followers at 100% velocity and within the inventory, smaller configuration, the P cores averaged 50 levels Celsius delta T over ambient at regular state, or 45 for all cores averaged. Eradicating the highest panel was an experiment to look into how a lot impedance the panel was inflicting, just like our entrance panel elimination exams on ATX circumstances. That dropped the temperature to about 47 levels over ambient, illustrating that the panel does get in the best way, however not sufficient to wreck efficiency.
Shifting the GPU to the outer place had no significant affect on CPU thermals right here and was inside variance. We additionally ran a take a look at with the cooler nearer to 27 dBA for the overall configuration (as evaluated in our hemi-anechoic chamber with a noise flooring of about 13.6dBA throughout testing). That may have us within the 80s after factoring in ambient, so there’s nonetheless some room for quieter configurations if operating a mid-range CPU like an i5, however it could battle with a 14900k operating at 300w. This take a look at helps present there’s some scaling room within the cooler, regardless of being a 120mm resolution, however it’s nonetheless finally going to be restricted by measurement.
GPU Thermals – Full Torture
This chart is for GPU temperature in the identical take a look at. On this one, the inventory configuration had the GPU at 51 levels Celsius over ambient when examined with our mounted fan speeds. We didn’t change the GPU fan velocity when dropping the case and cooler fan speeds, however as they’re the one followers circulating externally, they affected GPU thermals and led to a 3 diploma improve.
Eradicating the highest panel posted marginal enchancment, whereas shifting the GPU to the outer place was essentially the most useful.
This isn’t practically as a lot change as we noticed on the A4-H2O, the place shifting the GPU shaved practically 7C off the core load temperature. What this tells us is that the NCORE 100 MAX is best at eradicating the nice and cozy exhaust air from behind the GPU by default than the A4-H2O with out shifting the cardboard. All that mentioned, this transfer is simply doable with GPUs skinny sufficient to sit down in that outer place, with or with out the case growth.
Conclusion
Wrapping it up — it’s totally straightforward to construct in, and ease of set up was a superb issue for the NCORE 100 MAX. The toolless focus exterior of the motherboard and GPU mounting was good and we thought a few of the options, just like the growth of the case into the bigger configuration have been nicely executed. They have been put collectively in a intelligent means that minimizes the quantity of further elements they put in an equipment field that you will inevitably placed on a shelf and by no means use once more after you first construct it. Having a decrease depend of ineffective equipment in certainly one of two configurations is nice. Cooler Grasp is ready to make use of the identical two aspect panels for the growth configuration with out actually creating any large gaps or holes within the case within the course of. We thought it was cleverly mechanically designed.
As for the seems, that is completely as much as you. It’s a small footprint bodily on the desk floor, nevertheless it’s fairly tall. GPU IO on the backside isn’t handy, however since you’re in all probability solely plugging in displays perhaps as soon as or everytime you improve, it appears effective so far as trade-offs go. It is positively higher than having the motherboard USB much less accessible.
As for the the CLC, 120 mm liquid cooler was in a position to sustain with a 13600k at our mounted clocks and voltages, however it isn’t one thing we might advocate for a 14900K or any related processor with the next energy draw. The CLC will battle to maintain up with that class of processor, particularly as you improve the GPU functionality and due to this fact the GPU warmth within the case. With a rise in CPU warmth the cooler will grow to be overwhelmed, so you will want to spec the CPU extra within the mid-range aspect of issues.
Notice that AMD CPUs devour quite a bit much less energy proper now for related gaming efficiency, so in the event you’re constructing a gaming PC and you utilize a 7800X3D, you are going to be effective. It is simply these hotter configurations which are going to be problematic, like a 7950X or something from Intel’s 14700K or 14900K.
The GPU compatibility we thought was nice because it matches just about something. We didn’t just like the 12VHPWR cable normally, based mostly on the way it bends and since it is one of many decrease rated cables (maxing out at 450w), and also you wouldn’t need to increase the facility restrict on a 4090, given the spec of the cable.
Pricing is just a little tough as a result of its $400, however you get two of the opposite elements (CLC and PSU). From one ITX perspective that is sort of taking away a part of the enjoyable – you aren’t getting to configure the facility provide or the cooler and you do not actually get to put in them in the identical means. Whether or not that issues to you depends on how a lot you benefit from the strategy of speccing out each single half and constructing your entire factor from scratch. From a pure pricing perspective, you might consider the case value as being extra equal to round $180 when you have a look at the worth of a comparable energy provide and cooler.
General we preferred working with the case; that is higher than the previous Phanteks Evolv Shift which had a tower case that will place liquid coolers in sub-optimal layouts. The NCORE 100 MAX locations the CLC pump beneath the radiator, which is a wholesome place for CLC longevity, so we don’t have any issues about CLC longevity. The largest issues are finally going to be CPU alternative and ensuring that it’s going to match inside the restricted cooling functionality, and maybe a non-MAX choice sooner or later (based mostly upon the small detachable panel) that might use air cooling as an alternative.
That is it for this evaluation, and we’ll see you subsequent time.