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

Phuncz said:
Yes and no. It's a quite unique project in the sense that it is a high-end product that Lian-Li could have made if it had talented mechanical engineers instead of graphic artists. But they haven't and the few other true SFF cases mainly come from Silverstone, who just aren't there in the build quality. So this is not another case with a hyped-up name, this is the real deal.

This is also not another $50 plastic + SECC case, this is an all-aluminium top notch design with flexibility even most mATX cases can't offer. I see many Lian-Li mITX cases, which offer comparable build quality but stupid flexibility and design, be sold for roughly the same prices (~$150). If one can choose to go with a very ineffient mITX case for $150 or have a case that gets the "Recommended" from reviewers all-around (1, 2, 3, 4, ...) for $180, I'd know where I'd like my money went to.
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Ehh, I have never payed MSRP for any of my Lian Li cases. The 28 is $120 and can usually be found on sale for $100 and often with free shipping or discounted shipping. So now you are looking at a $105 case compared to a $205 case. Don't get me wrong the M1 does things the 28 doesn't although so does the 28 i.e. great NAS case.

Please don't explain why Lian-Li can get away with lowere prices or why vendors can offer sales. I understand and was merely pointing out that it isn't a small $30 difference in his example.

Sorry had 25 and 28 mixed up. The 28 was actually less on newegg so my point still stands.
 
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Dartulius said:
Hmm understood, then again now that I think about it, I think I might end up throwing an Accelero on it, so I should probably go with the static fan anyways. Thank you!
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I can highly recommend that, as it is able to keep a toasty R9 290X cool without too much of a fuss, a GTX 970 will be easy. Just make sure that the fans are configured as exhaust and you have an equal or more amount of intake airflow on the fan-bracket. I'd also check for a VRM kit for your card if it needs it (and fits below the Accelero), mine had VRM1 go beyond 100°C without it.
 
Phuncz said:
I can highly recommend that, as it is able to keep a toasty R9 290X cool without too much of a fuss, a GTX 970 will be easy. Just make sure that the fans are configured as exhaust and you have an equal or more amount of intake airflow on the fan-bracket. I'd also check for a VRM kit for your card if it needs it (and fits below the Accelero), mine had VRM1 go beyond 100°C without it.
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Really? You recommend using exhaust on the bottom? I have the NH-C14 on mine and was planning on having two 120s on it (one attached to fan bracket, one underneath, both on intake) and another 120 on the other end of the fan bracket exhausting, while having two fans on the Accelero being intake (so four intake and one exhaust towards the top).

And most definitely, I was actually thinking about going with the Accelero III instead of the IV so I get the VRM heatsinks instead of that backplate.
 
Dartulius said:
Really? You recommend using exhaust on the bottom? I have the NH-C14 on mine and was planning on having two 120s on it (one attached to fan bracket, one underneath, both on intake) and another 120 on the other end of the fan bracket exhausting, while having two fans on the Accelero being intake (so four intake and one exhaust towards the top).

And most definitely, I was actually thinking about going with the Accelero III instead of the IV so I get the VRM heatsinks instead of that backplate.
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I got the tip from cowsgomoo and he got good results, I also got great results: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041593449&postcount=16214

It might indeed be wise to get an Accelero III as I had to find a VRM kit seperately (went with the Gelid 290 VRM kit) with my Accelero IV with the huge honking heatsink that ofcourse doesn't fit.
 
Dartulius said:
Really? You recommend using exhaust on the bottom? I have the NH-C14 on mine and was planning on having two 120s on it (one attached to fan bracket, one underneath, both on intake) and another 120 on the other end of the fan bracket exhausting, while having two fans on the Accelero being intake (so four intake and one exhaust towards the top).

And most definitely, I was actually thinking about going with the Accelero III instead of the IV so I get the VRM heatsinks instead of that backplate.
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Accelero III is better if you can find it because Accelero IV have four long pieces of metal sticking out the backside of the GPU that that may knock into larger top-down coolers or mess up your cabling. I'm using the Accelero IV because I found it for cheaper.

Another thing you might consider is connecting the front side intake fan and the bottom exhaust fans to the GPU fan pin and controlling the fan speed with MSI afterburner. That way you're able to control one intake and two exhaust with the GPU temperature.
I set mine to run at 800rpm at idle (almost silent), up to 1500rpm at the highest temp, but usually it max out at 1200rpm in normal games, which is really tolerable.
 
Just some additional info, I have my fans configured like this:
Fan bracket: 2x Noctua NF-F12 (intake) - PWM splitter to CPU_FAN - range (idle-max): 500-1300rpm
Bottom case: 2x Noctua NF-F12 (exhaust) - PWM splitter to GPU adapter cable - range: 500-1300rpm

Cowsgomoo's suggestion of using the second intake fan as another GPU fan might make more sense as the CPU isn't stressed equally in all games.
 
I've had one with an ODD slot, without a drive, for 2 years now. The only thing I might have regreted is NOT to get an Ncase when they were available.
 
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Dartulius said:
So I have the ASUS GTX 970 Mini and was wondering if it would be better to have an airflow or static pressure fan blowing into it from the bottom fan mount? I can only assume static pressure but thought it was worth asking either way before I buy the fan!
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For my Gigabyte 970 ITX, I have a Noctua F12 (higher static pressure) wired using the included low-noise adapter. Did that in an attempt to feed the 970 a stream of slower air, while still having enough force to pull the air in through a filter. Not sure if it's even necessary, but my 970 temps are always below 70C, and both the GPU fan and the F12 stay very quiet.. I'm happy with that.
 
Phuncz and cowsgomoo, I really appreciate the suggestions! I'm about to pull the trigger now on ordering an Accelero thanks to your input. Thanks again guys!
 
Will an Acclero even fit on the taller short ITX-style cards?

Accelero Xtreme IV is compatible only with the graphics card using a standard size PCB with a width of 98mm.

qEe3zoX.jpg
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EDIT: I'm not sure what possible conflict Arctic might be considering, just wanted to point out that the smaller ITX/Mini cards have a PCB that is taller than reference.
 
Sorry if this has been asked. Can this case fit two separate 120mm radiators? I was thinking of doing an AIO GPU and an AIO CPU unit. Obviously, the hoses / bulge in the radiator will have to face either up or down and not left or right like a normal 240mm radiator. Just wondering if there will be any clearance issues. Thanks.
 
Seyumi said:
Sorry if this has been asked. Can this case fit two separate 120mm radiators? I was thinking of doing an AIO GPU and an AIO CPU unit. Obviously, the hoses / bulge in the radiator will have to face either up or down and not left or right like a normal 240mm radiator. Just wondering if there will be any clearance issues. Thanks.
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Yes it can. See my set up here.
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041594635&postcount=16220
 
AFD said:
Will an Acclero even fit on the taller short ITX-style cards?

EDIT: I'm not sure what possible conflict Arctic might be considering, just wanted to point out that the smaller ITX/Mini cards have a PCB that is taller than reference.
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They may be talking about the clamp system with rear heatsink from the Accelero IV, which is meant for a reference design card, but with a short card you don't want that. The core's position and screwholes are the only points the main heatsink attaches to. It might become a problem if the core is positioned 10mm or more towards the top of the PCB.

Pic from startpost:
QvxuEFI.jpg


Mind the heatsink at the front of the case.
 
Hanakuso said:
Any plans for a rev 4 once the rev 3 sells out? Any improvements/changes?
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There is one possible change if we do a v4: changing the fan bracket to steel, which would allow for a magnetic attached filter to be included with the case instead of the plastic screw-in filters (though only on the bracket).
 
My PSU died, and i had a 400w Pico PSU laying around. So why not? In theory it could be mounted next to the internal SSD, and allow room for a internal res. the downside being the massive power bricks neded to power it.

T9ZCJSCl.jpg

(460 2win there for fullsize GPU placeholder, its deader than dead)
KzqTb6ml.jpg

J97JAOHl.jpg


So much room for activities!
jSNUbFvl.jpg
 
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Anyone here seen Linus's video with the Asrock X99E-ITX board in the Sugo SG13? X99, liquid-cooled 36-thread CPU, Titan X, 32 GB DDR4 all in mini-ITX: SICK. Could we pull off a similar build in the M1? I would not personally spring for that monster Xeon processor or a Titan X, but a 5820K plus a GTX 980 would be fun.

I had kind of written off that board before, as the narrow socket seemed to preclude the use of normal coolers, but in the video, they seem to get it to work with a regular ol' H80i. Boy, if we could get that board in the M1 with an H100i, and power everything with an SFX power supply... mwa ha ha ha ha.

Yes, on a certain level, X99 in mini-ITX is just ridiculous, but wow.
 
AFD said:
Noctua C14S is out, and is supposed to have a new offset different from the standard C14 (to better clear PCIe, though it doesn't state which orientation it's installed to do this).

Just wondering if anyone knows how this might change fitment in the M1 when mounted on a centrally located processor (ASUS), if at all?

http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=111&lng=en
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Unfortunately they made it 10mm taller than the old C14, which means it's not going to fit in the M1 with the fan on top. It might fit with the fan in the lower position, but the old C14 with a 140mm lower fan would run into the SFX bracket. The increased height and RAM clearance on the C14S might be enough to clear the bracket with the fan in the lower position, but it's hard to say without a complete drawing from Noctua.
 
AFD said:
Noctua C14S is out, and is supposed to have a new offset different from the standard C14 (to better clear PCIe, though it doesn't state which orientation it's installed to do this).

Just wondering if anyone knows how this might change fitment in the M1 when mounted on a centrally located processor (ASUS), if at all?

http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=111&lng=en
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It looks as though it's still going to block the HDD cage. Worse yet, the fan has to be put underneath and then it's too short to reach the side panel.
 
Bummer.. was hoping it was perhaps just a shift in direction enough to allow the 3.5" HDD cage (something similar to the fitment of the Scythe Kabuto II). Without room for a top fan, the new C14S is a non-starter imo.

Thanks guys, really appreciate it!
 
Wow, this thread got huge since the last time I been here.

I see there's so much interest they did a 2nd round of these cases. I've just been enjoying mine. :)

Are there any new AIR based CPU coolers I need to know about? Still rocking the NH-C12P from Noctua. I saw Silverstone finally came out with a 600W SFX PSU, I couldn't do the wait and settled for the 450 available at the time.

I think my ram sticks are going bad, BBOD and general crashing during gaming... it will be interesting to try and get them out and begin to test them 1 by 1 without disturbing that huge cooler.
 
Aftermath101 said:
Wow, this thread got huge since the last time I been here.

I see there's so much interest they did a 2nd round of these cases. I've just been enjoying mine. :)

Are there any new AIR based CPU coolers I need to know about? Still rocking the NH-C12P from Noctua. I saw Silverstone finally came out with a 600W SFX PSU, I couldn't do the wait and settled for the 450 available at the time.

I think my ram sticks are going bad, BBOD and general crashing during gaming... it will be interesting to try and get them out and begin to test them 1 by 1 without disturbing that huge cooler.
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They did a 3rd round too :)
 
I sent BeQuiet! an email asking about their upcoming Dark Rock TF, the representative who replied said they were aiming to have them available to buy by the 26th, for around 80.

Really excited for it, it's supposed to be similar dimensions to the NH-C14, but with some extra heatsink on the bottom, and in black!

be_quiet_dark_rock_tf_1.jpg
 
Curiositie said:
I sent BeQuiet! an email asking about their upcoming Dark Rock TF, the representative who replied said they were aiming to have them available to buy by the 26th, for around 80.

Really excited for it, it's supposed to be similar dimensions to the NH-C14, but with some extra heatsink on the bottom, and in black!

http://www.purepc.pl/files/Image/news/2015/01/be_quiet_dark_rock_tf_1.jpg
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Awesome! Been excited for this cooler. And now with the new nh-c14s it should be interesting to see how they compare.
 
Hi all,
Does anyone know of a more powerful PSU than the SX600 that would still allow for a full length graphics card in the NCase m1? I have a 5960x and a Titan X on the new Asrock X99E-ITX and even with stock clock speeds, the PSU isn't cutting it. I get constant reboots and bsod's. I wired in a 750w PSU (setting it beside the case) to confirm that the PSU was the issue. As of now, it looks like I will have to move everything to the rather bulky and less elegant Corsair 250d that I have lying around.
 
Ed_Pasterino said:
Hi all,
Does anyone know of a more powerful PSU than the SX600 that would still allow for a full length graphics card in the NCase m1? I have a 5960x and a Titan X on the new Asrock X99E-ITX and even with stock clock speeds, the PSU isn't cutting it. I get constant reboots and bsod's. I wired in a 750w PSU (setting it beside the case) to confirm that the PSU was the issue. As of now, it looks like I will have to move everything to the rather bulky and less elegant Corsair 250d that I have lying around.
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I doubt the problem is insufficient power - reviews put whole system power consumption under 400W for a similar setup. The only thing I can think of besides a bad unit is there might be some issue with the PSU and the Titan X specifically (as apparently there was with the Titan Z). You might try contacting Silverstone to make sure they've validated the PSU with the Titan X. If they say it should work, then it could just be a bad unit and you'll have to RMA.
 
That was your 1000th post on this thread Necere :D

Keep up the good work, you've come a long way.
 
rawrr said:
That was your 1000th post on this thread Necere :D

Keep up the good work, you've come a long way.
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Was it? How about that... and at 980 days since the thread started, that's an average of just over a post a day. It sure doesn't feel like I've posted that much... or that it's been that long. It's been quite a journey. It's cool to see some of the other top posters that have been here since the beginning - Phuncz, AFD, WiSK to name just the first few - are still regularly contributing to the thread. I'll say it again: we couldn't have done all of this without you guys. My thanks to all of you.
 
Question!
I can't seem to find a definite answer here.

Does the Nvidia Gtx 980 Gaming from Msi fit the M1?
And will the sharkoon silent storm sfx be enough?(500W and 4790k)
 
Necere said:
It seems unlikely. The MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G does fit, and despite the fact they have virtually the same dimensions, the 980 has a taller PCB (980 vs. 970) and will by the looks of it have the same problem as the ASUS Strix cards, where the PCB runs into the panel retaining clip.

Ought to be fine.
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Thanks for your quick reply.
Are there any dangers to cutting the pcb like he did?
It's just the sli connectors, right?
 
Ed_Pasterino said:
I have a 5960x and a Titan X on the new Asrock X99E-ITX and even with stock clock speeds, the PSU isn't cutting it. I get constant reboots and bsod's. I wired in a 750w PSU (setting it beside the case) to confirm that the PSU was the issue.
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Like Necere said, sounds like a defective unit. I know the wattage is enough because I'm powering a 5930K and dual 980s off a SX600-G and it handles running both Prime and FurMark with room to spare.
 
Aibohphobia said:
Like Necere said, sounds like a defective unit. I know the wattage is enough because I'm powering a 5930K and dual 980s off a SX600-G and it handles running both Prime and FurMark with room to spare.
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Hmm, your dual 980's and 5930k should be way over what I am pulling from the PSU. I'll send an email to Silverstone. Thanks for the input.
 
Necere said:
Was it? How about that... and at 980 days since the thread started, that's an average of just over a post a day. It sure doesn't feel like I've posted that much... or that it's been that long. It's been quite a journey. It's cool to see some of the other top posters that have been here since the beginning - Phuncz, AFD, WiSK to name just the first few - are still regularly contributing to the thread. I'll say it again: we couldn't have done all of this without you guys. My thanks to all of you.
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Thanks to you and Wahaha360 for the incredible case and making the SFF world a better place ! Many people will have been inspired by your successful project to take their passion to the community !
I've always felt responsible to share my experiences and (usually) serious opinions to help people find their way in the SFF jungle. But thanks is always appreciated !
 
skjetne said:
Question!
I can't seem to find a definite answer here.

Does the Nvidia Gtx 980 Gaming from Msi fit the M1?
And will the sharkoon silent storm sfx be enough?(500W and 4790k)
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The MSI Gaming 980 fits fine once you remove a single panel retaining clip at the rear of the case. It does require low-profile PCIe power extensions though, otherwise you won't be able to get the side panel back on.
 
makar1 said:
The MSI Gaming 980 fits fine once you remove a single panel retaining clip at the rear of the case. It does require low-profile PCIe power extensions though, otherwise you won't be able to get the side panel back on.
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Thanks makar1!

If its just the retaining clip i'll look into getting a pci-e extension-ribbon and use the lower position with the fans to the bottom. Do you know where I can get those power extensions?

Maybe a thing to change on the v4 necere?

Btw, why are there no subreddit for Ncases?
 
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