Planning ahead for Mini-ITX build

[ikachu]

I'm planning on building a new PC this winter, and I'm heavily leaning toward Mini-ITX. The general idea in my head right now is:

Kabylake i7
Mobo with built in WiFi
The best GPU I can afford at the time (assume something like 1070 class)
A single M.2 NVMe SSD (if I need more storage I'll just use an external drive attached to my router)
Air cooled
Mild overclocking at most
Doesn't have to be silent, but quiet would be nice.
Optical drive would be nice but not required

I've been looking at the NCASE M1 and I really like the aesthetic, but some of the things I've been reading make it seem like it's a little more oriented toward water cooling. Does anyone have experience using it with an entirely air cooled setup? Are there any other cases worth looking at? I took a look at the DAN A4 but I don't think they'll be available for public consumption by the time I do my build.

I guess the reason I'm asking so far ahead of the build is that if I do want an M1, it looks like I'll need to order it several months in advance.

Thanks!

 

[ikachu]

I guess another option would be something like the Lian Li PC-Q10

 

[Stuka87]

Is gaming the intended purpose of the machine? The smaller the case, the harder it is to keep cool (typically). I went the slightly larger 380T because of its better cooling, well and its cool looks.

 

[piasabird]

They are making a few cases like this. Similar to fractal design Nano S

 

[ikachu]

The main use is gaming although probably nothing too cutting edge. Right now I play a lot of FFXIV. That being said, I average a build every 5 years or so, so I'd like to have some decent parts in it. My wife also does some photoshop and random stuff.

I'm aware of a lot of the issues of MiniITX, including heat, but I'm kind of looking forward to the challenge and doing something different for a change.

I'd also like to keep my PC on my desk (to keep away from my kids and dog mostly)...

 

[YBS1]

My guess is the M1 would work well for air cooling as long as you aren't going for an all you can get overclock, because you would have to use something like a Noctua NH-C14S or Thermalright AXP-100, most towers probably won't fit. You could probably have decent airflow, there are two 120mm mounts at the bottom you could use for intake and the two 120mm mounts on the side you could use for exhaust. You might even want to give it a try with all of them as intake, the two fans at the bottom should force all the air up through the well ventilated top. You'd also be able to use an optical, I have some kind of Pioneer?? BD-R slot loader in mine, it was pricey and hard to find though.

 

[SithSolo1]

I have an M1 v1 that is completely air cooled. I run two fans on the side as intake and a blower style card. One of the side intake fans is over-sized (32mm thick) and also acts as the CPU fan. This setup is far from optimal but its been working well for 2.5 years. If you decide to run a blower style card be weary of fan placement in the bottom of the case. Its a tight fit and you don't want the card fan sitting in the dead-zone behind the hub of a case fan.

The specs in my signature are current. The two loudest(so loud) components are the GPU fan and the CPU/intake fan. I'm looking to swap this build to a different case soon and move the M1 to media duties in the living room.