NCASE M1: a crowdfunded Mini-ITX case (updates in first post)

Im looking to upgrade my old Haswell build (Rev1 M1) that used a Mini-DTX motherboard.
I would like to use something similar so that I still got access to a 1x16 and 1x1 Pci-E Slot.
It seems impossible to find such a size in a modern motherboard, anyone in here been able find one or even use one?

Ive found some Asrock B460M that is right at the height limit of 22.6cm but its probably way too wide with 18.8cm.

Is a current version of the M1 in any way wider inside, perhaps due to some rework?
Asus has a x570 mini-dtx 6.7” wide but its PRICEY
 
Im looking to upgrade my old Haswell build (Rev1 M1) that used a Mini-DTX motherboard.
I would like to use something similar so that I still got access to a 1x16 and 1x1 Pci-E Slot.
It seems impossible to find such a size in a modern motherboard, anyone in here been able find one or even use one?

Ive found some Asrock B460M that is right at the height limit of 22.6cm but its probably way too wide with 18.8cm.

Is a current version of the M1 in any way wider inside, perhaps due to some rework?
The PSU precludes any board over 172mm depth or so from fitting. In V6+ the SFX bracket can be mounted at the front, freeing up room for a board ~240mm deep.
 
Awsome thermals and on the NCASE M1 V6.1 with a 5950x on a Rog Crosshair Impact. All 5 fans are motherboard-controlled and dead silent after tunning. I have another M1 water cooled build and I am more impressed with the thermals on the air-cooled system.

Noctua NH-L12S - No fan on this CPU cooler
2 x 120 EX-Furious Varder EVO -- Side Mounted and controlled by the motherboard
2 x 140mm be quite! Silent wings 3 - Bottom mounted
1x 90mm Noctua NF-A9-14 HS-PWM - mounted on the outside of the case as an exhaust.

Idle to Normal daily workload
Motherboard 36c
CPU < 52c

CPU < 72c when stress-tested with AIDA64 for 30 minutes.
 
Awsome thermals and on the NCASE M1 V6.1 with a 5950x on a Rog Crosshair Impact. All 5 fans are motherboard-controlled and dead silent after tunning. I have another M1 water cooled build and I am more impressed with the thermals on the air-cooled system.

Noctua NH-L12S - No fan on this CPU cooler
2 x 120 EX-Furious Varder EVO -- Side Mounted and controlled by the motherboard
2 x 140mm be quite! Silent wings 3 - Bottom mounted
1x 90mm Noctua NF-A9-14 HS-PWM - mounted on the outside of the case as an exhaust.

Idle to Normal daily workload
Motherboard 36c
CPU < 52c

CPU < 72c when stress-tested with AIDA64 for 30 minutes.
Are you undervolted?

How fast and loud are those fans?
 
Are you undervolted?

How fast and loud are those fans?
No, I have not undervolted the CPU. However, I do plan to undervolt in order to give more headroom before these fans spin up above 2000. The Ex-Furious fans spin from 700~3000 PWM = 107 CFM @ 42 DBA. You can hear them when the processer is pushed and the fans spin above 1500 buts it's not overbearing for me at least, more of an air/wind sound and minor hum of the bearings. I can feel strong air coming from the top of the case when above 1300RPM. I think any fan with strong static pressure and high CFM will work in an air-cooled NCASE M1 due to the proximity of the side fans to the motherboard and power supply. I did slide the side-mounted Furies as far back to the rear of the case as possible. This reduced the temps a couple of degrees as the front-mounted fan clips the cooler and ram . For reference, the Noctua NF-A9-14 HS -PWM has more of an annoying whine when > 1800RPM (500~2200RPM @ < 20DBA). I may remove this rear fan, as it does not seem to affect temps at all when it's powered on.

What I like about this setup over my older NCASE 5.0 build with a Kraken X52 is the fact it is dumping cool air over the entire case vs the warm air from the radiator heating up my motherboard and NVME hard drives.
 
Awsome thermals and on the NCASE M1 V6.1 with a 5950x on a Rog Crosshair Impact. All 5 fans are motherboard-controlled and dead silent after tunning. I have another M1 water cooled build and I am more impressed with the thermals on the air-cooled system.

Noctua NH-L12S - No fan on this CPU cooler
2 x 120 EX-Furious Varder EVO -- Side Mounted and controlled by the motherboard
2 x 140mm be quite! Silent wings 3 - Bottom mounted
1x 90mm Noctua NF-A9-14 HS-PWM - mounted on the outside of the case as an exhaust.

Idle to Normal daily workload
Motherboard 36c
CPU < 52c

CPU < 72c when stress-tested with AIDA64 for 30 minutes.
How'd you pull that off? I've tested 5950X and 5900X and in cine or gaming both will hit 75C+. I have to temp limit there to keep under 83C using C14S with Noctua top fan with direct contact. You are using NO fan on your cooler? What GPU are you using?
 
How'd you pull that off? I've tested 5950X and 5900X and in cine or gaming both will hit 75C+. I have to temp limit there to keep under 83C using C14S with Noctua top fan with direct contact. You are using NO fan on your cooler? What GPU are you using?
I am not using a fan on this CPU Cooler as I wanted to see if the side-mounted case fans could provide enough airflow. I am using the motherboard to control the side fans that blow on the cooler. I have not tried to overclock, so everything is at stock settings. I do not believe this setup could handle any type of overclocking anyway.

When my CPU temps go up, so do the side fans. These fans push 107 CFM and keep the temps in check for my daily usage. I hear a minor hum and a bunch of air pushing thru the case when the system is pushed. My PC sits about 4 feet away and below my desk. I did tweak the fan profile on this Asus motherboard as follows
0 to 60c Spin @ 50% approx 1500RPM
60c to 72c ramp up to 80%
> 72c Max

Unfortunately, I had to raid the parts bin for this build. I am currently using a 1080TI. When a 3080TI hits BestBuy I will grab one and retest temps or maybe try a custom water loop, but definitely not going the AIO water cooling solution for this build.
 
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I am not using a fan on this CPU Cooler as I wanted to see if the side-mounted case fans could provide enough airflow. I am using the motherboard to control the side fans that blow on the cooler. I have not tried to overclock, so everything is at stock settings. I do not believe this setup could handle any type of overclocking anyway.

When my CPU temps go up, so do the side fans. These fans push 107 CFM and keep the temps in check for my daily usage. I hear a minor hum and a bunch of air pushing thru the case when the system is pushed. My PC sits about 4 feet away and below my desk. I did tweak the fan profile on this Asus motherboard as follows
0 to 60c Spin @ 50% approx 1500RPM
60c to 72c ramp up to 80%
> 72c Max

Unfortunately, I had to raid the parts bin for this build. I am currently using a 1080TI. When a 3080TI hits BestBuy I will grab one and retest temps or maybe try a custom water loop, but definitely not going the AIO water cooling solution for this build.

I don't even know how this is possible. Maybe your load is different. I run a pretty aggressive fan profile to keep mine in check and that's with a C14S. I'm also doing rear intake. What temps you get in cinebench?
 
I don't even know how this is possible. Maybe your load is different. I run a pretty aggressive fan profile to keep mine in check and that's with a C14S. I'm also doing rear intake. What temps you get in cinebench?

I have started to play around with settings in this Asus utility, so here is a fresh run of Cinebench. During this run, I had about 20 apps open and around 30 web pages open on my desktop using about 38 gigs of ram prior to running this Cinebench utility and I still have full control of my mouse and keyboard. Processor is a beast. The picture below is the last run and post-run of Cinebebch. Also, slightly shifted the side fans to the back of the case. Next up reduce the psu/fan cable clutter




5950xCinebench.png


TopViewOf5950x.PNG
 

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Someone end my indecisiveness and pick which aftermarket feet I should replace the stock rubbers with.

Preferably if everyone would agree on the same ones that would be great, heh.
 
Someone end my indecisiveness and pick which aftermarket feet I should replace the stock rubbers with.

Preferably if everyone would agree on the same ones that would be great, heh.
Which version NCASE?

I don't have an answer for but but curious what you decide on :D
 
Which version NCASE?

I don't have an answer for but but curious what you decide on :D
Version 6.1 Kudos to all who worked on making this case better over time. I only needed to make a slight dimple mod on the back of the rubber feet to be able to flush mount them after installing 140mm fans at the bottom.
 
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Just installed two Phanteks T30 fans in my NCASE. These are really good fans and worth every penny. You will not regret purchasing these fans for an air-cooled NCASE. Improved my temps and reduced the noise level when above 2000RPM. I can only knock them for the bulky power cable arrangement.
 
Hi, it's been a while since I've written on my Ncase but want to replace a water system with air cooled.
It's got an older 5820K CPU with the funny mounting pattern.

What's a good air cooler these days??
Thanks
 
Hi, it's been a while since I've written on my Ncase but want to replace a water system with air cooled.
It's got an older 5820K CPU with the funny mounting pattern.

What's a good air cooler these days??
Thanks
I have a Noctua NH-U9S which works pretty good. It's mounted on a different CPU, but Noctua also lists your LGA1156 socket in the compatibility list.
 
I have a Noctua NH-U9S which works pretty good. It's mounted on a different CPU, but Noctua also lists your LGA1156 socket in the compatibility list.
5820K is actually socket 2011 v3. The Noctua NH-C14S is compatible and probably the best cooler for the Ncase. There is also the Noctua NH-U9DXi4 which is a 90mm tower cooler and should be similar to the NH-U9S.
 
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5820K is actually socket 2011 v3. The Noctua NH-C14S is compatible and probably the best cooler for the Ncase. There is also the Noctua NH-U9DXi4 which is a 90mm tower cooler and should be similar to the NH-U9S.
Ive used this cooler and found it kinda meh on a 5820k. It fits well though but using an AIO was much better.
 
Ive used this cooler and found it kinda meh on a 5820k. It fits well though but using an AIO was much better.
AIO would be better. That said, my noctua DXi4 still would cool my 6950X adequately. Its in a different system now so I can't share themals unfortunately. A fine cooler though! Whatever cooler you buy, just make sure the brackets/blocks are compatible with narrow ILM before you buy!
 
Sad to see this project come to an end. I ended up with three of these cases. Now I just need to get parts for the two I have yet to build. Thank you Dan for all your work!
 
As someone who has followed the project since it was first posted here, very sad to see EOL: NCase End of Production
That is a real shame. The end of an era.

As an aside, I hate the stealth rebrand they are doing there: "M1 Classic"? Yuck. It's just the M1 to me :) If there's any other cases from Ncase (and hopefully there will be something) then surely that can have it's own name?
 
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That is a real shame. The end of an era.

As an aside, I hate the stealth rebrand they are doing there: "M1 Classic"? Yuck. It's just the M1 to me :) If there's any other cases from Ncase (and hopefully there will be something) then surely that can have it's own name?
Haha same. Just give new stuff, a new name ;)

I've had at least one of every version I just realized :shame:
 
Haven't been here in ages...haha

Farewell to M1 Classic, time for something new ;)

Sorry, I had no input on "M1 Classic." W360 changed the post while I was sleeping. It's still the M1 to me, too. And I agree - a new product should have a new name.
Both of you did a fantastic job with this case, its the only SFF I'll ever need. Until maybe you release something new :)
 
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Haven't been here in ages...haha

Farewell to M1 Classic, time for something new ;)

Sorry, I had no input on "M1 Classic." W360 changed the post while I was sleeping. It's still the M1 to me, too. And I agree - a new product should have a new name.

Time and tide wait for no man...

Thanks for your work on the project guys - I really think you redefined an entire segment with the thoughtful design and responsible management after launch. So many people have had a good time with it. Can't wait to see what you guys can come up with next. Hope you are able to work together again :)
 
Sorry, I had no input on "M1 Classic." W360 changed the post while I was sleeping. It's still the M1 to me, too. And I agree - a new product should have a new name.
Thanks for the great case, guys. Is there a chance you can tell me where I can find the plastic retention clips for the side panels? I'm a longtime NCASE M1 user and two of those little things broke. Otherwise the case is still working great. I'm glad I bought the new side panels and front USB-C before retirement.
 
I still have two black and silver 1st editions that I got from the initial indiegogo campaign still in service, one of which was upgraded with the new side panels and front i/o. Such great cases, I basically havent used anything else for the last 8 yrs. Really looking forward to what you guys do next.
 
Thanks for the great case, guys. Is there a chance you can tell me where I can find the plastic retention clips for the side panels? I'm a longtime NCASE M1 user and two of those little things broke. Otherwise the case is still working great. I'm glad I bought the new side panels and front USB-C before retirement.

I found a package of 10 clips for sale on eBay that claim to be compatible for the NCASE M1, as well as the Lian Li TU150 and PC-Q33 cases. The same search also revealed a free STL file for 3D printing the clips.
 
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I just read the news. I'm quite disappointed to be honest. I love my V5, I'll keep using it for as long as ITX motherboards exist, it's too bad I won't be able to get spare parts. Would have been nice to get a warning, so I could get a spare front I/O panel and some extra clips in case something in mine breaks, and so people who had been planning on getting a case could get one. One of the PCIe screwholes stripped on mine, now I have to take extra care of it knowing I can't replace any part.

Anyway, based on what read on The Verge, this was done because a new case is in the works that's going to be bigger in order to accommodate bigger graphics cards. I liked the M1 because it was as big as it needed to be to have no compromises, but no bigger. The vast majority of cards still fit. You make a 16L+ case, then you're just like the big manufacturers. It's no longer really SFF, and you lose your competitive edge. The other thing that concerns me is that none of the other NCase projects went anywhere, no offense. Some of W360's did clearly (under different brands), but I much prefer Necere's style, and out of the concepts he showed in his SFF forum idea thread, none went into production. So I'm a bit skeptical of potential future NCase projects or rather I'm skeptical that they will be true to the M1's design language and philosophy.

I think the NCase M1 is the best case ever designed (possibly second to the original IBM PC case). So... this is a little disappointing to see things moving in a more mainstream direction. I have a feeling the successor will be made of steel too, at least the internal chassis, so... yet another distinguishing feature of the M1 will be compromised. If they make it bigger and steel, I hope at least they give it mATX or even ATX support at that point, so at least we have a compelling alternative to Cerberus which I don't like at all. Anyway... RIP legendary M1, all good things must come to an end. As someone with severe OCD, this was the only SFF case I was ever able to find that was truly no compromise, the rest all have major downsides, I hope I get to see another case like this again someday. In the meantime, my V5 and I are in it for the long haul.
 
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I still have two black and silver 1st editions that I got from the initial indiegogo campaign still in service, one of which was upgraded with the new side panels and front i/o. Such great cases, I basically havent used anything else for the last 8 yrs. Really looking forward to what you guys do next.
I know flattery is the best form of imitation but you could have changed your user name at least a little more. I've been Genomecop for like 15 years on the web.
 
I know flattery is the best form of imitation but you could have changed your user name at least a little more. I've been Genomecop for like 15 years on the web.
Hah I think I've had this name around the web for closer to 19-20yrs. I hate it but got stuck with it because I lost a bet and it just stuck.
https://jackiechanadventures.fandom.com/wiki/Gnomekop
The origins of the screen name are dumb and I've had it spelled wrong this whole time.

also, dammit, I'm old.
 
Sorry, I had no input on "M1 Classic." W360 changed the post while I was sleeping. It's still the M1 to me, too. And I agree - a new product should have a new name.
Thanks, Necere. M1 Classic is just awful imho! And I especially dislike the idea of rebranding a case after it's been discontinued...

I appreciate that you probably won't be able to answer this, but is any new NCase product in the works going to be one of your designs? I only ask because I echo what QuantumBraced said above: I've kept an eye on your concept stuff that you've posted previously and it's just so much nicer than any of the designs that W360 has shown. I kind of feel that the M1 was a bit of a "lightning in a bottle" product and if it's going to be discontinued (which it is) then whatever comes after it will need to be as good if not better.

As an aside, I'm not sure I entirely understand why the M1 has been completely discontinued. I can understand wanting to focus on new products (and will keep a keen eye out for any news) and could see this meaning no further iterations on the M1 design, but surely it's possible to keep producing (or rather, ordering production from Lian Li) the M1 alongside any new products? Or is the fear that people will just continue to buy the M1 rather than whatever new design is released? Apologies if I'm being ignorant here.
 
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