Final Thoughts
Anytime I go into a mini-ITX case review I always wonder to myself, how easy is this going to build in? Well I was pleasantly surprised when installation in the NCORE 100 MAX was one of the easiest mini-ITX builds that I’ve done. One of the big contributing factors to this is that Cooler Master includes a power supply, all-in-one liquid CPU cooler, and PCI-Express 4.0 riser cable. Not only are these included with the case, but they are pre-installed and most of the cables are routed for you. This is going to save you so much time as all you have to once you get the case is install a 2.5-inch drive, your motherboard, mount the AiO, install your graphics card, and you’re good to go! On top of that it eliminates the headache of looking up certain parts and wondering if they will fit in or work with this case.
Small form factor systems typically limit what type of hardware you can install, especially when it comes to graphics cards. By default the case can support graphics cards as long as 337mm, which is quite large. We were able to easily get our GALAX RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer in this case as it is 336 mm long. The case can easily be expanded though to support graphics cards as long as 357mm, which means you can install a RTX 4090 in this tiny case!
With this type of hardware support it is quite impressive at how small this case really is. This can easily fit on smaller desk and it would be quite easy to take with you over to a friends house or LAN party. Especially if you keep the box, which has the handle on it!
The 38mm-thick radiator with the one exhaust fan actually does a pretty good job at cooling. That is another thing you worry about with smaller builds, but I am really glad Cooler Master thought this one out using a thicker than normal radiator and a custom Silencio fan. Our test system was pretty modest, but you could easily run a high-end processor here and not have to worry about overheating or anything like that.
If anything I would have liked Cooler Master to include a fan splitter. Our motherboard only had two fan headers (1 for the CPU, one for a fan), which was not enough for this case. You will need three available fan headers, which you may not find on all mini-ITX motherboards. So throwing in a fan splitter would have been nice.
If you are looking for a sleek and easy to build in mini-ITX case this is definitely it! Right now you can pick this case up at our favorite online retailer for $379.88. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Cooler Master NCORE 100 MAX Mini-ITX Case a 9 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Sleek design
– Power supply, AiO, and PCIe riser all included
– Easy to build in
– Supports long graphics cards
– Good overall cooling
Cons:
– 3 fan headers required, no fan splitter included
