A Masterpiece - Cooler Master NCORE 100 Max Review
Summary
TLDRThe 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
😀 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.
🤔 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.
😕 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.
👍 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡ITX
💡Cooling
💡GPU
💡Cables
💡Assembly
💡Temperatures
💡Power Supply
💡Radiator
💡Chamber
💡Footprint
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
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