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

88records said:
So for anyone purchasing from the US this means somewhere around $250~275 USD.
Click to expand...

Jesus that's rich. I'm probably looking at closer to $300 CAD. The manual was a good read, with a M.2 SSD i might just try and jam a 4x2.5in RAID-5 array into this mofo.

Does anyone know if the onboard Intel SATA ports will support SAS drives, or am I limited to SATA?
 
Last edited:
Dephcon said:
Jesus that's rich. I'm probably looking at closer to $300 CAD. The manual was a good read, with a M.2 SSD i might just try and jam a 4x2.5in RAID-5 array into this mofo.

Does anyone know if the onboard Intel SATA ports will support SAS drives, or am I limited to SATA?
Click to expand...

I know exactly how you feel, us Canadians are always screwed on computer parts, but on the upside we can purchase the h220 :p
 
Everyone in the world except Asians and Americans are screwed on computer parts.
 
Phuncz said:
Everyone in the world except Asians and Americans are screwed on computer parts.
Click to expand...

nah, everybody in the entire world is screwed on computer parts... in the graphics and CPU front there's been barely any change in 3 full generations now. RAM hasn't changed that much, just clock speed goin up slowly. SSD's have been evolving nicely at least.

Warranties on basically everything are disappearing. It's rare to find lifetime warranties anymore. 3 years is generally enough for most products but even high end GPU's are coming down to 1yr more and more.

Yep I'm on a 1366 dual Xeon system and a 7770 since my 7950 is out on RMA.
 
We were talking about the prices and taxes, plus the lack of discounts and rebates.
 
Phuncz said:
Everyone in the world except Asians and Americans are screwed on computer parts.
Click to expand...

I don't know about other Asian countries but here in Singapore prices are around 20%-50% higher than the US (20% for no rebate and 50% for rebate/black Friday/discount etc because we don't have any).
Even China Amazon price their gadgets higher than US Amazon.
 
Necere said:
Click to expand...

Are you worried at all about losing 70% of the effective capacity of that reservoir by having it oriented on its side? It has effectively become a see-through fill port. Albeit you could just tilt the case on its side to top off if you noticed the water level getting slightly lower.
 
Last edited:
Siba said:
Are you worried at all about losing 70% of the effective capacity of that reservoir by having it oriented on its side? It has effectively become a see-through fill port. Albeit you could just tilt the case on its side to top off if you noticed the water level getting slightly lower.
Click to expand...

In the horizontal orientation, the baffle also effectively eliminates more than half of the tank's volume by walling off the other side. In revision 2 they added a little hole in the corner to allow bubbles to escape, but in this orientation it would be at the bottom of the tank and therefore of no value. The hole isn't large enough to support the rate of flow between both sides of the baffle, and there isn't any pressure or activity on the right side anyway. The top of the baffle is significantly higher than the fill port. So what happens when the water level is below the top of the baffle, and what prevents the inlet from directly feeding the outlet? The baffle is actually doing more harm than good in the horizontal orientation. It appears that this reservoir was designed only for vertical mounting with a fill port on top, an outlet on bottom to feed a pump or drain, and an inlet on the side.
 
Siba said:
Are you worried at all about losing 70% of the effective capacity of that reservoir by having it oriented on its side?
Click to expand...
With the hole in the baffle it's not an issue.

adamantium said:
In the horizontal orientation, the baffle also effectively eliminates more than half of the tank's volume by walling off the other side. In revision 2 they added a little hole in the corner to allow bubbles to escape, but in this orientation it would be at the bottom of the tank and therefore of no value.
Click to expand...
Why wouldn't the coolant flow through the hole?

adamantium said:
The hole isn't large enough to support the rate of flow between both sides of the baffle
Click to expand...
Why would you need a high rate of flow between both sides?

adamantium said:
So what happens when the water level is below the top of the baffle, and what prevents the inlet from directly feeding the outlet?
Click to expand...
Why is that a problem?

Seems like much ado about nothing, tbh.
 
Necere said:
Seems like much ado about nothing, tbh.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I've used the old version of that reservoir - without the hole - in exactly that orientation for many months without issue. The function of a reservoir is to remove air bubbles. In this configuration, while bleeding the loop (pump at max) the bubbles will still rise up and be collected in the top. Once the loop is bled and you slow the pump down, there's no problem to have 'the inlet directly feeding the outlet'. The baffle still helps to avoid whirlpooling, which is the primary reason many reservoirs aren't able to do their job and let the pump suck air back into the loop.

I've had more problems with putting tube reservoirs on their sides than the MCRES precisely because there's no baffle directly above the outlet when it's horizontal.
 
Necere said:
With the hole in the baffle it's not an issue.

Why wouldn't the coolant flow through the hole?

Why would you need a high rate of flow between both sides?

Why is that a problem?

Seems like much ado about nothing, tbh.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware of the hole in the baffle, that solves everything, as long as its not 100% static then the speed of flow between the two sections will be more than how fast the coolant is disappearing if at all.
 
New ASUS boards must be dropping soon. The P8Z77-I Deluxe (LGA1155) just dropped by $20 on amazon for this interested. With a $15 rebate on purchases before the end of July the board comes to under $140 w/free shipping :D
 
Will I still be able to buy this even though I wasn't on the first campaign? I"m planning to build my first mitx rig.
 
Yes. The first campaign was for designing the case. The first production campaign (where you buy the case), has not started yet.
 
Necere said:
Why wouldn't the coolant flow through the hole?
Click to expand...

Did I say the coolant wouldn't flow through the hole? I brought up the fact that there was a hole to point out that there may be some flow because of it. What I also said was that the hole is small and its purpose of allowing air to pass through it wouldn't be necessary since there won't be air at the bottom of the reservoir. The existence of the hole and the description of its purpose by the manufacturer indicates the intention of the design. Not that you can't use it any other way. There is nothing stopping anyone from mounting it flat, or using either of the two side ports for inlet and/or outlet in the horizontal orientation.

So what is going to cause the water to move from one side to the other through the little hole? Any pressure going in the left side will be balanced by the same amount of pressure going out the same side. You'll probably get more movement between left and right sides if you just keep the tank filled above the baffle. You will need to tip the computer on its side obviously to do that since the fill ports are lower than the top of the baffle. I'm not implying that is a problem either. Do what you want.

Necere said:
Why would you need a high rate of flow between both sides?
Click to expand...

Did I say you need a high rate of flow between both sides? First of all, reservoirs are optional. They provide a thermal buffer and a convenient way to fill and drain the loop. Filling is more difficult with this reservoir, and if you aren't going to fully utilize its capacity (both sides), then the benefit of thermal buffering is diminished.

Necere said:
Why is that a problem?
Click to expand...

Answered above.

Necere said:
Seems like much ado about nothing, tbh.
Click to expand...

I agree.
 
imode said:
New ASUS boards must be dropping soon. The P8Z77-I Deluxe (LGA1155) just dropped by $20 on amazon for this interested. With a $15 rebate on purchases before the end of July the board comes to under $140 w/free shipping :D
Click to expand...

That IS great news.
 
ASUS likes to release new mobos during the August/September time frames if you look back at their more recent past years. Doesn't mean it will be 1st of August though so dont get too excited just yet.
 
adamantium said:
First of all, reservoirs are optional. They provide a thermal buffer and a convenient way to fill and drain the loop. Filling is more difficult with this reservoir, and if you aren't going to fully utilize its capacity (both sides), then the benefit of thermal buffering is diminished.
Click to expand...

Reservoirs in PC water cooling are simply used to remove air bubbles from the loop and provide negligible thermal buffering. Thermal buffers are of a much more complex design used in water heating systems or coolers (e.g. fridges) to reduce heat transfer between two subsystems with a large temperature difference. Since water cooling is based on a single loop where the whole point is to directly connect the heat producer to the heat dissipater, any kind of thermal buffer would be counterproductive.
 
imode said:
New ASUS boards must be dropping soon. The P8Z77-I Deluxe (LGA1155) just dropped by $20 on amazon for this interested. With a $15 rebate on purchases before the end of July the board comes to under $140 w/free shipping :D
Click to expand...

Nice! Been eyeing that board for a while waiting for a "sale" on it. Just got that board from newegg for $153 (no tax) - $15 rebate plus free shipping ($138 total after rebate).

Then picked up the Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W SFX from them via the mobile page using promo WALLET (checkout using google wallet link as well) for $80 + $6 shipping ($86 total), again no tax.

slowly but surely this thing is coming together. mmmmYeah.


Sorry [H] for using Newegg but Amazon charges me taxes which makes things more expensive. Please accept this :eek: as payment
 
Originally I was planning to get the black version of this case, however I have been looking for a good mechanical keyboard for a while and this ducky has caught my interest. I may go for the silver M1 and the Ducky shine 3 (Year of the Snake). That is if I can bring myself to pay so much, £180!!!

Do you guys like this keyboard or do you think its just too much?

LB-KB-555-03.jpg
 
Pip_Buoy said:
Originally I was planning to get the black version of this case, however I have been looking for a good mechanical keyboard for a while and this ducky has caught my interest. I may go for the silver M1 and the Ducky shine 3 (Year of the Snake). That is if I can bring myself to pay so much, £180!!!

Do you guys like this keyboard or do you think its just too much?

LB-KB-555-03.jpg
Click to expand...

Looks nice, and I'm sure it performs very well for a mech board.. but I could never pay that much :\

To this day, the Sidewinder x4 is one of my favorites. It's not mechanical, but it does have a high key rollover that makes it excellent for gaming.
 
Iam918 said:
Then picked up the Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W SFX from them via the mobile page using promo WALLET (checkout using google wallet link as well) for $80 + $6 shipping ($86 total), again no tax.

slowly but surely this thing is coming together. mmmmYeah.


Sorry [H] for using Newegg but Amazon charges me taxes which makes things more expensive. Please accept this :eek: as payment
Click to expand...

Doesn't work in Canada sadly D:
 
Could you perhaps render it allong with a FD Node 304?
Seems like the layout is pretty much the same, would be interested to see these 2 next to each other!

Currently own a lian li pc v600fx, but would like to downsize!
 
Heading out on vacation tomorrow. I plan on stopping buy a Microcenter store and picking up a 4770k cpu for this case. I'll wait and buy the other components once I actually get the case in my hands.
 
Crispy517 said:
Anyone have experience if its possible/safe to run 2x GTAP-12's off 1 Fan header on a P8Z77-I?
Click to expand...

I think you'll be fine. I run 2, or 3 (I forget) GT AP-15's off one motherboard fan header. They are pretty low power for such awesome fans.
 
Crispy517 said:
Anyone have experience if its possible/safe to run 2x GTAP-12's off 1 Fan header on a P8Z77-I?
Click to expand...

The ASUS user guide(pg 2-24) says the CPU Fan header can drive 1A(12W), doesn't specify the Chassis fan header but I imagine it's the same.
 
Stevo_ said:
The ASUS user guide(pg 2-24) says the CPU Fan header can drive 1A(12W), doesn't specify the Chassis fan header but I imagine it's the same.
Click to expand...

GT AP-12 draw 0.083A @ 1850RPM
So in Theory up to 12 fans from one header (I wouldn't try that though)
 
Just bought some parts for this case :p gtx 780/asus vi impact/4770k and swiftech h220, I will be using Bitfenix Prodigy for temporary case.
 
milkcow said:
GT AP-12 draw 0.083A @ 1850RPM
So in Theory up to 12 fans from one header (I wouldn't try that though)
Click to expand...

make sure you verity the start amperage if you're going to use multiple fan on one header. Usually fans need more juice on start up.
 
What do guys think would be the best fan config with a H60i, a second 120mm fan (in front of psu) and a 92mm fan in the back?

1) H60i + 120mm intake / 92mm exhaust
2) H60i exhaust / 120mm + 92 mm intake
3) no 92mm - H60i exhaust / 120mm intake
4) no 92mm - H60i + 120mm intake
5) non of the above :D
 
88records said:
So were closing in, mainly tomorrow being the end of the month, any updates on whether it will go up?
Click to expand...
Yes, it won't. Things invariably take longer than expected. All I can say is that progress is being made; it'll be ready when it's ready.
 
Necere, will you do further hardware testing like you did with the first sample ?
 
Phuncz said:
Necere, will you do further hardware testing like you did with the first sample ?
Click to expand...

I don't think any of the changes will be drastic enough to require re-testing. Any further testing will most likely be done by professional reviewers and us...hopefully :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top