A Masterpiece - Cooler Master NCORE 100 Max Review

Summary

The video reviews the Cooler Master NC100 Max, a vertical ITX PC case with an integrated SFX power supply and 120mm AIO cooler. It highlights the case's compact footprint, impressive GPU clearance to fit large modern cards, and excellent cooling performance. The build process is timed and found to be quick thanks to the pre-routed cables. Some issues like cable management and I/O placement are noted. Overall it's praised as an easy entrance into ITX systems with longevity from the high quality components.

Takeaways

• 😮 The video reviews the Cooler Master NC100H MAX mini-ITX computer case
• 👍 It has an integrated 850W SFX power supply and 120mm all-in-one liquid cooler
• 😃 The case has a small footprint but is quite tall to accommodate large graphics cards
• 🔧 The case is modular and can be reconfigured to fit different sized components
• ⚙️ It took 21 minutes to build a complete system in the case
• 😥 There were some cable management and labeling issues during the build process
• 🤔 The rear IO placement and overall stability of the case could be improved
• 😀 CPU and GPU temperatures were very good thanks to the AIO cooler and case airflow
• 💲 The case is a bit expensive but has better quality and features than competitors
• 👍 It makes getting into mini-ITX systems less intimidating by integrating cooling and PSU

Q & A

What case is being reviewed in the video?

The Cooler Master NC100 MAX, a mini-ITX case with integrated cooling and power supply.

What are some key features of the NC100 MAX?

Key features include the integrated 120mm AIO cooler, 850W SFX power supply, tool-less design, configurable GPU chamber, and small footprint.

How long did it take to build in the case?

It took around 21 minutes to fully assemble the system in the NC100 MAX case.

What GPUs can the case accommodate?

The configurable GPU chamber allows fitting large triple-slot and up to 340mm long GPUs like the RTX 4080.

How are the thermals in the case?

The CPU temps are equivalent to a 240mm AIO cooler thanks to the radiator thickness. The GPU also runs very cool thanks to the dedicated chamber and exhaust fans.

What are some downsides of the case?

The tall and unstable design, lack of HDMI/DP clearance in max config, and some cable management annoyances.

What is the build quality like?

Overall very good - steel construction with nice paint job. Some minor quirks around fit and finish.

How accessible are the components?

Everything is tool-less and easily accessible. Individual parts like the PSU, AIO, and GPU are completely exposed.

What is the price of the case?

Around $300, cheaper than competing models like the NZXT H1 V2.

Would this case be recommended?

Yes, for its cooling performance, GPU support, and ease of building. Some tradeoffs for size but overall an impressive and innovative case.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Opening the Encore 100 Max ITX Case and Initial Impressions

The first paragraph describes the process of unboxing and opening the Encore 100 Max ITX case. It highlights the compact and minimal footprint of the case, quality build and finish, reconfigurable GPU chamber to accommodate large graphics cards, and integrated power supply and cooling system.

05:00

🤔 Assembling Components in the Encore 100 Max

The second paragraph details the process of assembling components in the Encore 100 Max case. It covers installing the graphics card, reconfiguring the GPU mount, routing cables, challenges with side panel clearance, and overall ease of building in this case.

10:02

😕 Discovering Issues with Packaging and Stability

The third paragraph discusses issues encountered with packaging the expanded case configuration, lack of instructions, and case stability. It also describes an additional motherboard adjustment option to potentially improve CPU cooler clearance.

15:03

👍 Testing Thermals and Acoustics in the Encore 100 Max

The fourth paragraph covers testing the thermals and acoustics in the Encore 100 Max case. It highlights the quiet and effective cooling for both CPU and GPU under load, comparing favorably to other ITX cases. Some critiques are provided on IO placement and branding.

Keywords

💡ITX

ITX stands for 'Mini ITX' which is a small form factor for computer cases and motherboards. The video focuses on building a gaming PC in the Cooler Master NC100 ITX case, so the small size is a key theme. ITX cases provide a minimal footprint but can still accommodate high-end components like GPUs.

💡Cooling

Cooling refers to the heat dissipation system within a PC case, like fans and radiators. Good cooling is essential for avoiding thermal throttling. The NC100 integrates both liquid cooling (AIO) and case fans to provide adequate cooling despite the compact size.

💡GPU

GPU stands for graphics processing unit. High-end GPUs are important for gaming PCs but can be difficult to fit in small ITX cases. A key feature of the NC100 case is the expandable GPU chamber that can accommodate large modern GPUs.

💡Cables

Cable management is challenging in small ITX builds. The NC100 simplifies this by including pre-routed cables of optimal length for the case layout.

💡Assembly

Putting together the components in the case is referred to as system assembly. The video highlights that the NC100 is designed for quick and easy assembly compared to traditional ITX building.

💡Temperatures

Keeping components like the CPU and GPU at safe operating temperatures is important for performance and longevity. The video tests the cooling capabilities of the NC100 under load.

💡Power Supply

The power supply provides electricity to all the PC components. The NC100 includes an integrated SFX power supply, saving space compared to regular ATX models.

💡Radiator

The radiator is part of the liquid cooling loop and releases heat from the liquid. The video examines the thickness of the NC100's radiator which impacts cooling performance.

💡Chamber

The NC100 divides interior space into separate chambers for the motherboard, GPU, etc. This allows specialized optimization and modularity for each component.

💡Footprint

The footprint refers to the amount of desk space the case takes up. The video emphasizes how the NC100 has a small footprint despite accommodating high-end hardware.

Highlights

Integrating power supply and cooling all-in-one for compact ITX cases

Case has surprisingly thin footprint but takes up vertical space

Vertical space allows for excellent GPU compatibility

Accessories include mesh, sleeves cables, and AO mounting

Tool-less design but specific pulling pattern to open case

Cables pre-routed for clean cable management

PSU is 850W gold rated with ATX 3.0 standard

Clever expandable GPU chamber design to fit large cards

Case can fit massive 4080 GPU in expanded mode

Entire frame is modular for easy reconfiguration

Cooling adequate with equivalent of 240mm AIO performance

GPU cooling performance competes with top ITX cases

Gorgeous design and easy to work in

More affordable than competitors with good components

Makes ITX build process smooth and less intimidating

Transcripts

coming up we got hot temperatures and I

know why the Box does not want to close

just completely opens by itself we refer

to a user manual bags are not labeled

time to look at the manual and of course

use some keyboard boxes for an airlift

all right I'm very excited about this

really I feel like more ITX cases should

follow the max approach integrating

power supply and cooling allinone the N

Core 100 H Min maxing your build I love

that and wow this this thing is

surprisingly thin of course it does take

up some vertical real estate but the

footprint on your desk is absolutely

minimal perhaps the biggest hilarious

challenge would be the stability of this

thing on your desk but just to give you

an idea of how truly compact this thing

is I mean look at this it's uh just

barely bigger than the PS5 controller

absolutely insane I mean come on however

it is fairly tall so about two cars

worth of Technic if that means anything

to you here's a STX 380 for size

reference although it might appear a

little tall right next to a 27 in

display I do love this ventilation

pattern that mimics cooler Master's HQ

in Taiwan but man this thing is very

vertical the biggest advantage of this

whole vertical space is the GPU

compatibility because we have all that

height and here it is next to the

Corsair one or the Terra just for size

comparison it is much bigger I do have

both colors available I think it's the

bronze that I'm going to be building

with wow this is absolutely gorgeous wow

especially when the light hits it it is

a gorgeous color the accessories for the

encor 100 Max are a little different we

have the additional mesh because we can

extend the frame we have some

individually sleeved uh cables for the

power supply of course the power cable

and a bunch of AO mounting for different

motherboards definitely recommend you

memorize this sticker because getting

inside is tooless but it does require

certain pooling

pattern all right this one is off top

just pops off as well very nice and

simple oh okay this wasn't actually that

difficult at all I would say the

built-in filters on the side panels

could be slightly better I mean like

they're coarse enough to let air through

but the issue might become when the fans

are too close to the side panel it might

introduce noise and turbulence but it

looks like you can remove this filter

with these little plastic pegs and it

simply comes out looks like there's some

careful packaging over here to protect

the motherboard area and the AO pump I'm

very excited for the fact that

everything is already pre-routed for

your cables you know specific length and

stuff so we shouldn't encounter the

traditional ITX issues that we normally

deal with when it comes to Cable

Management this is cool an unlock latch

one in the bottom one in the top just

have to not forget how to put it back

together okay here we go okay that's

easy lock and lock nice my main thing is

that I'm really interested to see

exactly how thick this radiator is it

seems like removing that side bracket

gives us access to the radiator bracket

just two screws let's see does this just

pop off

somehow oh yes it

does all right so let's see can we get

to

it so it looks like I can remove the

radiator and we can finally take a look

at this

AO all right so yeah it is a bit thicker

the radiator is around 37 to 38 mm

definitely will help with cooling

especially because it's only a 120 mil

interestingly it is actually the AI that

adds the main bulk in the vertical space

because adding the bracket in the top

you can see how much taller the case

becomes because without it and let's say

minus uh a few centimeters at the bottom

for the AO to exit it's practically the

same size as the Tera but in a vertical

format and not horizontal I do have some

reservations for this top area for

exhaust partially because half of it is

blocked by the PSU that will also

contribute with its own heat because

that's the exhaust side so we have some

cutouts but placing a fan over here you

can see how restrictive I mean half of

it is going to be working properly and

half of it not so much this 120m exhaust

fan will definitely help with GPU

Cooling and also additional ambient

temperatures for the motherboard area

the power supply is 850 WS gold rated

ATX 3.0 it is a sfx unit as well but the

hero feature for me are these absolutely

two length cables for ITX machines I

love that it's a single screw away so

nothing is hiding behind panels

everything is totally accessible if you

were to swap anything out for rmas or

modding purposes that's how it should be

this will definitely avoid some

headaches but you can see the power

supply comes with the on position by

default although I do find it strange

that all the cables are pre-routed with

these reusable cable ties and not zip

ties I'm guessing it's good like in case

you want to open it and put something

else in there but I do not like working

with these whatsoever so many in this

Riser cable area let me just take this

off so I can clean this up later and

speaking of cables we have a 450 W 12vt

high power cable for the GPU it's at 90°

and it's fairly short to accommodate for

you know this ITX system but if you have

older cards we have three eight pins

included for the the power supply now

storage is limited to a single SSD right

underneath the motherboard chamber which

is uh very easy to access and to Route

plenty of space over here and the SAT

cables included for the power supply but

what's really cool with the encor 100 is

it's very clever designed to expand the

GPU chamber without expanding too much

on the footprint of the enclosure but

allowing you to fit really thick cards

and really long cards at the same time

here's the first stock GPU fitment the

STX 30 fits without any issues it's

almost triple slot uh and the side panel

will go just outside of the frame giving

you tiny bit of clearance between the

fence and the side panel I mean putting

the side panel in place we have about a

centimeter between the GPU and the dust

filter I mean this new fan is something

else with regular and reverse models

available to create that clean look

without compromising the air flow

Direction like these bottom fans are

said to intake but look like the rest of

the fans on the enclosure it's brilliant

they cleverly da a chain with Snap-On

Bridges and all these bits cover up the

the ugliest so you never have to worry

about the looks or the cable management

as it's just one cable this is what the

premium durge 30 mm performance fan

should look like the new fan xd30 and

now it's time to figure out how to get

to the other orientations with the

case the second orientation allows us to

install a longer graphics card by moving

this whole GPU Mount down

slightly so these extensions at the

bottom are removed so this can go back

in without any issues but now I have to

also relocate two little poles holding

our Riser card the good thing is that

the screws for everything are pretty

much identical except for the very

bottom BCI bracket mounts can I remove

something here to get access maybe let's

take off the

feet now we have access the feet are out

let's see how much length we gain with

this configuration my only concern now

isn't really additional length is this

minimal Gap here at the bottom so you

would need like a really short 90°

display port or HDMI for this

configuration to work properly and

nothing is included in the package too

so this is on you with the chamber

extended you gain 20 cm at the back here

so if you have really long graphics

cards this is a really good option but

actually the fun in the GPU chamber does

not stop there because you can make it

wider to support 79 mm thick gpus

otherwise in this configuration you can

only only do up to 62 you can see there

are two positions for the bottom foot

allowing you to install it in the second

position making the case slightly wider

one two then we also have to move this

corner spine but that's easy it has two

positions by default two screws here you

can see that second position and I

really start to appreciate how modular

this whole frame

is and now the moment of truth to see if

it will mount my biggest graphics card

on hand this is the 4080 arrow for slot

so length lengthwise o It just fits with

that first extension and the second

extension is also necessary for the four

slots to fit but my goodness I think

this is going to slide in without any

issues oh my God I even have a

centimeter to spare at the back there

wow this is really impressive no

freaking way and that 90° connector is

it facing the right way oh my God it's

facing the right way wow now that is a

very clean cable routing job beautiful

honestly this is really impressive that

it can fit my arrow 4080 without any

issues and this whole reconfigurable GPU

chamber is super super clever being able

to both both extend it lengthwise

without affecting the width but then

also giving us that width factor to

accommodate exactly graphics cards like

this just to give you an idea how much

clearance we have with our 340 mm length

GPU so this is where the AIO would sit

and you need some clearance underneath

for the fan to not be completely choked

both by the graphics card and the power

supply so it seems like you still have

just under 2 cm there for that fan to

breathe cool master definitely made the

right decision to include this 12vt high

power cable that is at 90° because most

of the time with ITX needing to deal

with the PCI cables is constantly a

challenge but this is kind of already

nicely built in all right which panel

goes

where and what's really cool is that the

case in the most expanded configuration

does grow a little bit but that's not an

issue for the side panels because of how

they're mount wanted and the total

footprint is just slightly bigger than

the original which is not really an

issue the issue is

packaging Kee going in in the expanded

mode in the original

box it's so cool master don't think of

this through so if you're trying to ship

this or this is from system integrators

this will not work unless you compress

it or you cut out some of that packaging

material on the interior to fit the

expanded enclosure it's such a lovely

box with a handle too but this isn't

this isn't the solution

just completely opens by itself there's

absolutely nothing in the manual about

this but you can see you can remove this

additional piece beside the motherboard

IO that would allow you to what seems to

be to move the entire motherboard spine

towards the left side as well so if

you're in the expanded mode like amam

now you can utilize a little extra space

in the motherboard area which would give

you potentially more room for the CPU

Cooler which is not necessary because we

have a built-in AIO uh but it's it seems

like this might have been in the works

to give you more room for an air cooler

uh but there is no way for you to buy

the non-max version of The enor 100

anyway so I guess this is a nice feature

for the future or for any moders out

there it would go like this and the

motherboard spine has screws all over

you have to disassemble basically you

know take out the power supply take out

the cooler and move the whole thing over

and it will not affect the exterior

exhaust fan over here but uh it does

require a little bit more work now this

480 is absolutely massive it cools very

well with this Benchmark and my standard

gaming machine we are running at 51° C

which is super super quiet I'm curious

to see what the temperatures would be

like in the nend core 100 cool master

please do not disappoint since the whole

building assembly is supposed to be

simplified I'm going to time it starting

now that was a surprising amount of work

for the io Shield come on not going to

lie it's a little

tight bags are not labeled time to look

at the

manual all right the motherboard's going

in wait no these are the wrong screws

why is nothing

labeled all right block should be good

to go and which way do the tubes exit

when you mount them they are exiting

towards the ram block is mounted Ram

clearance is up to 48

mm still have to screw the motherboard

in let's open this

guy the motherboard side is

complete I need a single eight pin I do

like that the cables are labeled so you

know which end goes to the power supply

and that my friends is a system complete

I just have to close this panel

lock oh man the chunky USB 3 cable is

just on the way of the side

panel oh I put in the wrong panel here

whoops wow I didn't know that I guess

they are the same panel one just has the

cut out for the motherboard

AO the last thing would be this top

panel let's see how long this took me 21

minutes to complete the ncore 100 all in

all a very seamless process and I can

definitely spend more time cleaning up

some of the cables which is probably

what I should do but the moment of truth

let's see if this thing actually boots

although man I really do not like how

unstable it is on the surface like this

is flat but it's still just wobbling all

over the

place the the fans are real quiet we

booted you can see the CPU just hit 100°

C and I know why this is

hilarious someone forgot to peel it's

okay even noobs make mistakes quick

clean on a CPU all right back you go all

right try numer I mean you can see the

case is tilting right is this pza or

what my bad display port was DSU now

interestingly the 480 and the encor 100

Max stays abs absolutely under control

and cool it is a bit hotter versus my

gaming machine but my gaming full tower

has seven fans like high performance

fans here there's only two one for the

AO one for the case it is a bit louder

of course but still totally doable for a

gaming machine as expected with a full

expanded mode there's no way you can fit

an HDMI or display port cable with a

proper 90° exit and here's a better view

of that exiting DP cable you clearly see

you need additional height for the case

feed in the fully expanded mode this is

going to be a problem for any of you for

sure some clearer solution will be to

include some sort of spacers for the

case feed that way if you're running the

case in the expanded mode and you need

additional you know room for your DP and

HDMI cables that be included without

needing to modify the entire chassis I

mean the feet are already removable you

probably would have to rethink this

power button but otherwise this is

clearly an oversight just for reference

here's what the GPU chamber looks like

with the 480 installed it is completely

open I love that so we have full access

to our cable management there's no

nothing poking the graphics card from

any angle the only thing is that you

have to remove the feet in order to

remove the graphics card because in

order to access the screw over there

that's holding it in place and we also

have easy access to uncp the PCI bracket

at the bottom over here so all in all

this a really well-designed chamber

here's what the motherboard area looks

like and I have not touched it since

doing my 21-minute assembly you do have

to compress the cables a little bit for

the side panels to close properly but

otherwise everything is nice and open

and accessible my only complaint is this

Cooler Master logo on the pump not a

huge fan of it and it uh sticks out a

little bit like a sore thumb right

through the ventilation pattern on the

side panel here the Dual cool master

logo is one the power button and one for

the AO pump you cannot disable it

because it's built into the four pin you

know AO pump header I will say though

I'm not a huge fan of the io placement

we do have USBC full speed Gen 2 and two

USB but it's kind of in this like

awkward lower position they are spaced

out nicely but still I prefer this to be

somewhere else and the power button at

the bottom here will be a constant

reminder not to tip the case over as for

temperatures Cooler Master I'm impressed

well done on the CPU side the

temperatures are equivalent to my

testing with a 240 mm all-in-one cooler

all thanks to that thickness and even

though we have so much blockage you know

with the power supply and additional

stuff with the frame the cooler here is

very adequate we drop a few degrees by

removing the side panels and the top

panel too but it's not significant but

the GPU temperatures good people are

really impressive especially because we

have that exhaust by by the AIO and that

additional exhaust cooler at the rear so

it removes whatever heat is circulating

in the GPU chamber and that means a

really cool running graphics card I mean

it's competing with the nr200 and the

mishes both of which cannot accommodate

such massive graphics cards like the

encor 100 can all in all I love what

Cooler Master has delivered here the

cooling on the CPU side is equivalent to

a standard 240 AIO which is really

impressive and that GPU chamber can

accommodate massive gpus for today

standards which is exactly what some of

the other ITX cases are missing because

of the compact no form factor but here

the footprint on the desk is absolutely

minimal you do have to accommodate for

the the height but that is absolutely

not a problem the case is gorgeous and

it's super easy to work in you don't

have to deal with cable management

because everything is pre- routed it is

a little bit expensive but it's much

cheaper versus the competition like the

NZXT H1 V2 and here you get a better

power supply which has 10year warranty

and you have have two years warranty on

the casee and the cooling product so you

can expect for some good longevity out

of the enor 100 Max I feel like it's

also cases like this that make entrance

into the ITX Market less intimidating

less complicated because of this whole

Cooling and power supply built in ready

to go just populate your motherboard

Mount the block install the GPU and

voila you know all right guys thanks so

much for watching I'm Dimitri I'll talk

to you in next

video