Interesting, is that the 'standard' configuration or with a top/bottom hat? I can see the standard spine being stiffened up nicely when completed with the 2 panels, my concern was with the stability with it on the move with an extension hat in place. Not sure how securely the screw down. For some reason the Ghost just doesn't appeal to me; partly the way it's been handled has been off putting. I really would like to see the C4 SFX get completed, the discussions and development are getting a bit heated there and bogged down too - a bit like 'you know what' that's not happening this Friday...
If anything the 'hat' stiffens the whole thing up, as it means you have a double plate at both the top (and/or the bottom) rather than just a single plate. The Dan A4 and Ncase M1 went through night identical rounds of 'delays' during design (i.e. just the normal design process. See the enormous amount of effort that goes into getting a one-off 'joke' case made to production standards). That all are near-production items now (barring the need to stick to minimum batches) is a function of time after the original kickstarters. The same will likely happen with the S1 Ghost.
Temps in the Ghost seem a bit meh - given that I really quite enjoy having a quiet computer, I think the M1 has it (even if it doesn't look quite as slick). Also allows for some some aftermarket GPU cooling, to which I am a huge convert after trying an AIO.
The reason I went for a Ghost in the first place was for dual 240mm rad support (one for GPU, one for CPU) using two 'hats'. There are dual-rad layouts for the M1, but those either mean the lower rad is almost entirely obstructed by the GPU (and needs to be a slim rad with slim fans) or you need to mod it for a vertical GPU layout.
Aye, the M1 isn't perhaps ideally suited to big watercooling builds. That's where the "hats" come into their own on the Ghost, I guess.
That does indeed sound cool - but once you add on so many of the Tophats, it seems like you lose a lot of the svelteness that the Ghost offers. I'm also more of an air person, but to each their own. If your criteria are for 2x240mm radiators, you're probably managing it in the smallest possible space! I'd also be keen to see some pictures
So im planning a ryzen based rebuild. Scored a deal on a refurb Asus X470-I. But I am a little stuck on the case. Out of my collection of ITX cases (dont ask you guys will judge me!), ive narrowed it down to a Dan case or an Ncase. I have both sat here and I really cant decide, what would you chose? Rough spec is (which I have all the parts for now): X470-I 32GB RAM 512GB Evo 970 Nvme boot and os drive Crucial 1GB m2 sata for data Ryzen 5 2600 Noctua L9i cooler (with the amd converter) Silverstone 450W SFX modular PSU Nvidia GTX 1070 blower style. Pros Dan case: Its a dan case! Small Pros for Ncase Better airflow Options to add fans if required 2x front usbs and audio connectors at the front What would you do?
I had a Ryzen rig based on the Asus ROG Strix X470-i Gaming, it was unstable AF when using two m.2 drives - it'd crash or refuse to boot and then cold boot with the RAM dialed back to 2133. I tried my R5 1600 and R7 1700, bog standard 2400 RAM and 3200 Samsung B die RAM, three different M.2 drives, two PSUs and even three different GPUs for good measure. Nothing worked, so I RMA'd the board and the replacement was just the same. It was absolutely fine running a single m.2 but it REALLY didn't like running two of them. I won't lie, after the sh!t with the 300 series boards and faffing about waiting for AGESA updates, this one kinda put me off Ryzen for a while. I'm not trying to put down Ryzen, but I'm definitely not a fan of that board. Bear in mind, I might've just been unlucky. I love my Ncase M1, but the DAN A4 looks pretty nifty too.
Thanks for the heads up, hopefully I won't encounter that, worst case I can pickup a 2.5 SSD for the data drive. Moving up from a 6400t so the Ryzen adds some decent grunt for me. Specifically got a blower as I read somewhere the Dan case has a slight preference towards them. So, so far +2 to the Dan case!
Nims, there's help out there for you there fella - I started a thread about it on SFFN! Nice dilemma to have! I am pleased with the M1 I bought from Goatee, and did consider David's X470i, but the RAM killed it for me; the prices are better now. Looks like I could have been disappointed, as dual M.2 is what I'm looking for in my next setup. I haven't seen a Dan A4, but they seem amazingly capable for the size, and can keep all sorts of serious kit cool. Interesting to hear, sounds like a dodged a bullet there! I was seriously considering your i5 8400, but it's been sold thankfully... I'm finding it hard to justify a CPU upgrade as the i5 4670K still stands up pretty well on single threaded gaming and intensive work. Photoshop scales well to 4 cores, but doesn't seem to use 6 much better. Even the i5 8400 does well against the new Ryzen hex cores, apart from the extra threading, which seems not to greatly benefit my use case. The only real reason for me to upgrade would be dual M.2 action. I have a 500GB MVMe and 500GB 2.5" SSD plus a 1TB 2.5" spinner in the M1 at he moment, but would like to reduce the spaghetti with 2 on board M.2s. One less PSU cable and (currently) 2 less SATA cables. USB 3.1 Gen 2 (what a mouthful...) would be another gain as would temperature sensitive RGB on ROG Strix boards. So, 2 extra cores could be nice, but the actual potential benefits are as much in new motherboard features. My dichotomy on choice is down to an intangible requirement - case cramming - I'll leave that to another day
@Arboreal that thread is dangerous to me, I'll get all sorts of ideas what to buy instead. I've purposely been avoiding ghost and Cerberus threads!
Seems to me like you have a relatively simple choice between a quieter case with more storage capacity, and 5L of space. I break towards quiet, personally.
I'm still all-ITX. I just thought I ought to check in to reconfirm my credentials. My desktop rig is a 6700T thin ITX. It's silent. I am considering moving to a NUC to make it even smaller. That would mean I fall out of ITX anonymous though, so perhaps I won't.
My head says Ncase, by heart says Dan Case! Other thing is my impatience bug is kicking in. CPU and mem get here today. So I would have everything I need except I am still waiting on the Cooler adapter for AM4 from Noctua. Amazon dont have the L9A version in stock for a prime delivery, I could grab the next cooler up which will fit the ncase but not the dan case. So Ncase gives me a little more flexibility and I will be able to get building this weekend. Also the open nature of the motherboard mounting frame means the rear M2 drive will get some kinda airflow. I can also mount dust filters, which is a good thing in my house. Dan case, again its a Dan case. However I'll have to wait longer for parts to come in, lack of dust filters and potential for the system to throttle the back M2 drive.
My main ITX rig doesn't feel like in belongs here because it's in a Phanteks Evolve ITX, which is quite a large ITX case. Living room rig is in a Fractal Node 202, which feels more appropriate.
Just to note that you can't actually buy a new Ncase until June (they plan), when they are introducing the v6 spec with various benefits (e.g. more floor ventilation)
