This is my build thread.I have just ordered a NSC-800 and looking for a motherboard for it, how do you find the cooling in the case, is the Noctua NH-L9i up to the job? also how are you finding the 120mm case fans. I was thinking of switching these to Noctua NF-S12A, do you have a build thread?
I have two of these cases now. One is for a backup server, which uses the Biostar NM70i-847 motherboard and seven 5400 RPM drives connected to an IBM M1050 HBA. CPU and HDD temps are fine. I don't have exact numbers, but for my purposes, all drives stay under 40 degrees C, and I can't remember how hot I got the wimpy Celeron CPU, but I remember thinking it was perfectly fine. That's with the stock NSC-800 fans (which are surprisingly quiet). This system isn't terribly interesting though.
What I'm building now is a system based on the ASRock E3C224D2I motherboard and Xeon E3-1230 V3 CPU. CPU cooler is the Noctua NH-L9i.
Last night I mounted the board and CPU in the case. I replaced the stock case fans with a Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E, and a Scythe Gentle Typhoon (forget the exact model number). I already had these fans laying around, and at least according to their specs, should move more air than the stock fans. They are not as quiet, but this system will live in a closet.
That's the state of the system right now: it's booting from my backup server's USB thumb drive for basic initial testing. I've been running prime95 on it for about 20 minutes now and the max temperature for any core has been 77 degrees C. But note that the outer "clamshell" is not on the case. Depending on how the outer shell affects airflow patterns, it could help or hurt overall cooling. I will test more of course when this build gets further along. I am prepared for the possibility of having to disable Turbo Boost and/or disabling a core to ensure the CPU never cooks itself. It's ridiculously overpowered for my needs anyway.
Next steps are to add the IBM M1050 HBA, two SSDs (RAID-1 system drives), and finally the six (maybe seven) data drives. Be patient, I only get about 30 minutes/day to work on this. Hopefully I can finish up this weekend and take some pictures for everyone.