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

Those are plastic tubing and they are a little bit more flexible than conventionnal tubing.
 
My case just arrived via the USPS. Black No. 0018. I kinda like that my serial number is so low =)

8JSCa7Ql.jpg


I want to thank both wahaha360 and Necere for the awesome job they did on the case. Mine came in perfect condition, both the case and the extra no ODD top cover. I feel like a kid on Christmas again, since it arrived so close to Christmas haha!

Link to my album of pictures

Edit: I forgot to mention that my case was on Despatch #26 and I am in North Carolina.
 
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NY State and #26, no update or case yet here. Like everyone else, really hoping to get it soon! :)
Best wishes to you who had the ice storm. Stay warm.
 
My case just arrived via the USPS. Black No. 0018. I kinda like that my serial number is so low =)

Nice serial! That's weird that yours shipped with external power outlet upside-down.. think most of the others I've seen had the center ground pin at the bottom.
 
Nice serial! That's weird that yours shipped with external power outlet upside-down.. think most of the others I've seen had the center ground pin at the bottom.

Thanks.

I honestly haven't looked that closely at other people's pictures, so I honestly wouldn't have even noticed that it was different haha.
 
Nice serial! That's weird that yours shipped with external power outlet upside-down.. think most of the others I've seen had the center ground pin at the bottom.

My ground pin is at the top too. :)
 
Just got mine, MN. This is one nice looking little lady. Can't believe how lite it is either. I'd like to thank Wahaha360 and Necere for coming up with an amazing little case. Serial 0558. :D
 
This should interesting. Any bets on how high they go? Or were they straight out sells?

They're 7-day auctions, just listed. Don't know how much they'll go for, but this is perfect for people like me who missed the Indiegogo campaign, need to build a computer in the next month or so, and can't wait around for the second batch.
 
Got my silver M1 delivered today!! This case is absolute perfection. It really is the case I've been waiting for. First Edition Serial Number 0944
 
Kif! The case has arrived, inform the men.

I'm so excited I haven't even opened the box yet. In other news, looks like I'm going to have to settle for the 450W SFX.
 
My GF was home all day and the mailman didn't even knock, just left the notice in the mailbox...sigh....

But tomorrow I have off and will be picking it up!!!!

However he did also mark it was a letter...from taiwan...I guess USPS doesn't really need accuracy.
 
h80 has metal tubing, h80i has rubber tubing, i'm worried this metal tubing will be much less flexible and i'm not about to try and shorten it. :/

If i can't get it in, i may just have to order a good large air cooler.

Two features of the H80i tubes play a crucial part for it to work, those are the length of the tubes and their resistance to colapsing. If those tubes on the H80 have similar properties then you will have no problems.
 
Florida and Texas are getting theirs instead of me, here in Connecticut, way closer to NJ....
USPS makes no sense.
 
My GF was home all day and the mailman didn't even knock, just left the notice in the mailbox...sigh...

As expected, the f'ing tracking number was useless.

Waited home for a few extra hours, but the mail lady was waay late and gave me a notice at 3PM according to just now updated tracking at USPS. F'ing morons.. f'ck, f'ck, f'ck :mad:
 
mine came in today too. i'm pretty happy overall but kind of bummed i got such a high numbered one (#439), considering i bought one within about the first 20 minutes they went on sale. i know the numbers assigned were random but i was still hoping for something under 100.

anyways, here are a few quick observations for maybe if you guys decide to make a rev2 of this in the future. just my 2 cents:

- would be nicer if it was more tool-less. some of the screws were tiny, and seems like pretty easy to lose and/or strip if not careful. seems like there might be ways to design a future model where you don't need as many tiny screws to fasten everything.

- the metal panels were pretty thin and made me uncomfortable. i'm afraid it'll probably be very easy to bend or dent. in fact i was scared i'd bend them when i was just applying force to pop them off those rubber thingies.

- minor detail, but the front usb/audio cables seem longer than necessary. but maybe thats the smallest length they had.
 
Just ran some quick and dirty GPU stress testing with no fans & a non-blower cooler to test whether an air damn would suffice instead of running additional fans on the bottom to feed the GPU...

No side panel: 81*C
IMAG0407.jpg
Without any air damn: 86*C
With temporary ghetto air damn: 81*C
IMAG0410.jpg
67*F Ambient, Furmark burn-in 1920x1080 15min benchmark

If you're concerned about noise like me, it looks like one can construct an air damn and be just as well off for normal usage. Continued mining/torture testing may benefit from feeder fans.

My original air damn idea involved a partition going out to the side panel & front panel, which may look a lot better, and also allow HDD mounts to be utilized on the floor. This setup was just for testing purposes. Please excuse the potato pictures.
 
- the metal panels were pretty thin and made me uncomfortable. i'm afraid it'll probably be very easy to bend or dent. in fact i was scared i'd bend them when i was just applying force to pop them off those rubber thingies.
LianLi can't go over 1.5mm aluminium thickness because of their tools.

- minor detail, but the front usb/audio cables seem longer than necessary. but maybe thats the smallest length they had.
Did you check for all possibilities to connect them to an imaginable motherboard at the upper left corner and have some spare to get them routed through the case?
 
ncase M1's #0133 and #0873 have arrived in sunny Minnetonka, MN

rbu8.png


IEC C13 Ground Plug facing up on both :)
 
LianLi can't go over 1.5mm aluminium thickness because of their tools.

i see. i never bought one of their cases before, i'm used to beefier panels.

Did you check for all possibilities to connect them to an imaginable motherboard at the upper left corner and have some spare to get them routed through the case?

sure, but vast majority are not in the upper left corner.
 
:( upon further inspection, the panels don't quite line up :(

I've tried reseating the panels but it's still the same.
Here's some pictures...
http://imgur.com/a/XqLZC#0
This was discussed early on as an area of concern. Punching the vents with the NCT can leave the panels slightly and unpredictably warped. With the first prototype I received, it didn't seem to be a problem. However the later ones did show some evidence of it. I inquired about it, and was told that they were in fact already pressing the panels flat to try to bring it back to a reasonable degree of deviation, but that they would try overpressing for the production units. Unfortunately, as you've discovered, it's not always adequate. This is an area where the ideal of the design doesn't quite match up with the limitations imposed by manufacturing. The design is really at fault, and by extension, myself. I wish there was some other way of ensuring it wouldn't be a problem, but there didn't seem to be any solutions that didn't require compromising , or even scrapping and rethinking, large parts of the design.

As for what you can do about it, one thing you can try is to bend the panel back into shape by hand. What may work is to put the center of the panel on your leg while you're sitting down, and bending it gently at the edges, so it flexes opposite the curvature. You'll want to do it repeatedly and check between bends to see the effect. I can't guarantee you'll have satisfactory results, but it's worth a try.


- would be nicer if it was more tool-less. some of the screws were tiny, and seems like pretty easy to lose and/or strip if not careful. seems like there might be ways to design a future model where you don't need as many tiny screws to fasten everything.
Any specific suggestions? Think about LL's other cases, and the kinds of parts and processes you see in them, because that's basically what we're limited to. Toolless parts typically take up extra room, as well. Also keep in mind custom plastic parts are out of the question, due to the high costs for mold set up.

- the metal panels were pretty thin and made me uncomfortable. i'm afraid it'll probably be very easy to bend or dent. in fact i was scared i'd bend them when i was just applying force to pop them off those rubber thingies.
Yeah, we would've used 2mm aluminum for the exterior panels if it had been an option. If we didn't have to use the NCT to punch the vents, we could've.

- minor detail, but the front usb/audio cables seem longer than necessary. but maybe thats the smallest length they had.
They're actually shorter on the production version than they were on the prototypes. It's better to err on the side of too long though, IMO, rather than too short.
 
IMAG0407.jpg

You may want to reconsider curling the SATA cables like that. We used to do that at work to make our builds look neater but over the years quite a few of them were brought in the shop for weird, intermittent issues and swapping the cables fixed them. Now, whenever one of those older rigs comes in for anything we replace the SATA cables.
 
Just ran some quick and dirty GPU stress testing with no fans & a non-blower cooler to test whether an air damn would suffice instead of running additional fans on the bottom to feed the GPU...

If you're concerned about noise like me, it looks like one can construct an air damn and be just as well off for normal usage. Continued mining/torture testing may benefit from feeder fans.

My original air damn idea involved a partition going out to the side panel & front panel, which may look a lot better, and also allow HDD mounts to be utilized on the floor. This setup was just for testing purposes. Please excuse the potato pictures.

Are those the stock cables that came with the psu ?
 
You may want to reconsider curling the SATA cables like that. We used to do that at work to make our builds look neater but over the years quite a few of them were brought in the shop for weird, intermittent issues and swapping the cables fixed them. Now, whenever one of those older rigs comes in for anything we replace the SATA cables.
Thanks for the heads up!
Are those the stock cables that came with the psu ?
No - I shortened the stock cables (& deleted many) that came with the OEM ST45SF out of my SG05-450. They're optimized for the SG05, so they look a little shitty for this build, but I will be replacing this PSU soonish.
 
Necere Will using a 38mm think rad be pushing it i have a 34mm one sitting here but im thinking of changing it as i like the other one more? Are the fans better off pushing air out of the case or sucking air in?
 
Just ran some quick and dirty GPU stress testing with no fans & a non-blower cooler to test whether an air damn would suffice instead of running additional fans on the bottom to feed the GPU...

No side panel: 81*C
IMAG0407.jpg
Without any air damn: 86*C
With temporary ghetto air damn: 81*C
IMAG0410.jpg
67*F Ambient, Furmark burn-in 1920x1080 15min benchmark

If you're concerned about noise like me, it looks like one can construct an air damn and be just as well off for normal usage. Continued mining/torture testing may benefit from feeder fans.

My original air damn idea involved a partition going out to the side panel & front panel, which may look a lot better, and also allow HDD mounts to be utilized on the floor. This setup was just for testing purposes. Please excuse the potato pictures.

Do you think feeder fans on the bottom would help with the heat much?
 
My theory is yes, but only slightly. During one of the open side tests, I was blowing fresh air under the GPU w/compressed air for about a minute at a time, sometimes not gently, and temps were unaffected. Would need to install feeder fans to be sure though.
 
My theory is yes, but only slightly. During one of the open side tests, I was blowing fresh air under the GPU w/compressed air for about a minute at a time, sometimes not gently, and temps were unaffected. Would need to install feeder fans to be sure though.

Do you have any side fans installed as well?
 
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