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

I'm very interested in this. Do you know what kind of window material do they use? Is it acrylic or tempered glass? Also, do you know about how much it cost?

Well, to answer my own question, Performance PCs charges $69 plus shipping back. You'll have to send the panel to them first. Unfortunately, it's a bolt-on type system and it's acrylic. There was no mention if it was cell-cast acrylic or not (cell-cast is more premium than what most manufacturers put in their acrylic side window cases).

Here's a sample of the bolt-on style. The photo is from Performance PCs.

bolt on sample1.jpg
 
Well, to answer my own question, Performance PCs charges $69 plus shipping back. You'll have to send the panel to them first. Unfortunately, it's a bolt-on type system and it's acrylic. There was no mention if it was cell-cast acrylic or not (cell-cast is more premium than what most manufacturers put in their acrylic side window cases).

Here's a sample of the bolt-on style. The photo is from Performance PCs.

View attachment 38314

Thanks for doing the research and posting here. I'm sure you weren't the only person interested in this service.
 

Not the exact 1 but yes very similar to this 1 except you see how the LED at the bottom looks staggered? What I mean is there is space in between each light... mostly because the light is being thrown from inside of the case to the outside making it go throw the bottom grills making that staggered look.

I'd like mine to look like a glow underneath with no spaces.

I wonder how one can achieve this exactly.
I believe 1 way would be to have the light stuck underneath the outside of the case, but I wonder how it would stick there forever + how I'd be able to manage the cables.
 
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DIFFUSION ACRYLIC FILTERS

You can snag one off a old lcd if you aren't using it anymore. They're sold on eBay too, and maybe Amazon, iirc.

Or, you can stick the led strip under the case with some 3m double sided tape, but you'd still have slightly uneven light because there are multiple leds. The diffusion filter takes the light and scatters and spreads it so it's even across the surface of the filter.
 
Not the exact 1 but yes very similar to this 1 except you see how the LED at the bottom looks staggered? What I mean is there is space in between each light... mostly because the light is being thrown from inside of the case to the outside making it go throw the bottom grills making that staggered look.

I'd like mine to look like a glow underneath with no spaces.

I wonder how one can achieve this exactly.
I believe 1 way would be to have the light stuck underneath the outside of the case, but I wonder how it would stick there forever + how I'd be able to manage the cables.

Just get a couple cathode light bars. http://www.performance-pcs.com/logisys-true-color-ccfl-light-bar-20-pink.html
 
Someone posted recently that this is not compatible with a 1080ti, but is with a 1070 or 1080. Can you confirm this?

I am curious about this too, it is listed for the 1070/1080 FE but I compared the pcb's on the 1070 and the 1080 Ti and it looks like it will cover the necessary components and the screw holes look the same.
 
Are you considering a B350 build? I’ve waited so long to do my build I’m now trying to decide between a i5 8600K 6-core or Ryzen 1700 B350 8-core. Decisions, decisions. ;-)

The board barely has any I/O at the back. On top of that it's rumoured that Asus hasn't really fixed the issue most am4 itx mobo's had with the vrm cooling I believe.
Hopefully they are planning on a x370 am4 itx with these issues fixed.
 
Wonder how I can make them stick under the case properly so they don't come off unless I take them off & without damaging the case.
3M double sided tape can't even hold a strip of led's let alone a cathode bar.

Zip ties to the rescue...?!?
 
You know... you might just get lucky. Some of the tubes already have block ends on them. Just use some 3m mounting tape and it will hold.

Anecdotally, the 3M tape is so strong, the chassis panels will start bending if you try and pull that stuff off without twisting or cutting it first!!
 
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Wonder how I can make them stick under the case properly so they don't come off unless I take them off & without damaging the case.
3M double sided tape can't even hold a strip of led's let alone a cathode bar.
Depends on which tape you get. Some of their stuff will rip the paint off before separating, just need to prep the surface properly before applying the tape and keep pressure for about a minute.

Edit: for removable but permanent, their heavy duty fastener is pretty good, but it's a bit thick. It's like a plastic velcro, except instead of hook-and-loop it's balls on both sides. Holds well against sheer and vertical forces, but comes right off with a bit of torque.
 
Depends on which tape you get. Some of their stuff will rip the paint off before separating, just need to prep the surface properly before applying the tape and keep pressure for about a minute.

Edit: for removable but permanent, their heavy duty fastener is pretty good, but it's a bit thick. It's like a plastic velcro, except instead of hook-and-loop it's balls on both sides. Holds well against sheer and vertical forces, but comes right off with a bit of torque.

You guys think 1 cathode will do right at the bottom middle of the case upside down to get the glow effect?
I think 2 cathodes might just give a massive flash light rather than a good amount of glow.
Any preference as to which cathode company is the best? I am mostly doing a black/white build with a black ncase m1 so prefer the cathode be white light.
if you guys know any "low light cathode" or less powerful yet good company which would give me a "light glow" effect rather than a massive flash light glow let me know.

Thanks!
 
Done with my custom loop for now. Back to air.


elFohpQ.jpg

Yeah I did the same thing a couple of months ago, so much easier not having to disassemble the loop every time I want to mess with something inside of the case.
 
Is the Dark Rock TF compatible with an Acer AM4 B350 itx board in the M1? The community compatibility spreadsheet says yes, but with modding to the mounting kit. What type of modding?
 
Done with my custom loop for now. Back to air.


elFohpQ.jpg

Pictures like this make the M1 look cavernous. (Unfortunately, it also shows how easily the paint chips off the frame.)

Have you been holding onto that NH-C14? I know they are getting very rare now. Nice cable management and aftermarket feet. I put the same ones on my son's M1. Did you have to trim the from I/O bracket like I did to make room for the bolts?
 
Pictures like this make the M1 look cavernous. (Unfortunately, it also shows how easily the paint chips off the frame.)

Have you been holding onto that NH-C14? I know they are getting very rare now. Nice cable management and aftermarket feet. I put the same ones on my son's M1. Did you have to trim the from I/O bracket like I did to make room for the bolts?

Yeah Qrash I have the same problem. All my exterior panels are perfect but the frame is getting really beat up.
 
Yeah I did the same thing a couple of months ago, so much easier not having to disassemble the loop every time I want to mess with something inside of the case.

Yeah it's nice when it only takes 40 seconds to change something out.

Pictures like this make the M1 look cavernous. (Unfortunately, it also shows how easily the paint chips off the frame.)

Have you been holding onto that NH-C14? I know they are getting very rare now. Nice cable management and aftermarket feet. I put the same ones on my son's M1. Did you have to trim the from I/O bracket like I did to make room for the bolts?

Yeah I kept the C14 from my original build. And while the case paint definitely chips pretty easy, this is after some pretty rough and numerous builds, tried all watercooling configs, big air, little air, etc over two years. As for the feet., no modding needed the Lian-Li spacers came with longer screws that threaded no problem.
 
Would you have a link to those feet, please? I think I need to make a bit more clearance under my M1!
 
Someone seriously needs to do an instruction video step by step on how to achieve this hdd led mod on their ncase m1:


He has a website where he answers some questions about it but never ends up going through with any tutorial:
http://oliver.st/blog/ncase-m1/

There were people willing to pay $5 each just for a tutorial on this but he just vanished later.
If anyone has done this or knows how, please help us all out. A video tutorial step by step would be the best!

Thanks!
 
Is the Dark Rock TF compatible with an Acer AM4 B350 itx board in the M1? The community compatibility spreadsheet says yes, but with modding to the mounting kit. What type of modding?

I had the Dark Rock TF on this board and had to modify the mounting kit. You just have to dremel a little bit of the mountig kit, so it doesn't hit the chokes:

before
before.jpg

after
after.jpg

btw. i didn't have this problem with the backplate, mine fit just right.
 
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Someone seriously needs to do an instruction video step by step on how to achieve this hdd led mod on their ncase m1:


He has a website where he answers some questions about it but never ends up going through with any tutorial:
http://oliver.st/blog/ncase-m1/

There were people willing to pay $5 each just for a tutorial on this but he just vanished later.
If anyone has done this or knows how, please help us all out. A video tutorial step by step would be the best!

Thanks!


I did this to mine as well. i just bought the anti vandal switch and a spare power button with wires on aliexpress. took the wires off the power button and wired it up to the new power switch. pretty straight forward. you can see it at the end of this album https://imgur.com/a/jWjI6
 
I did this to mine as well. i just bought the anti vandal switch and a spare power button with wires on aliexpress. took the wires off the power button and wired it up to the new power switch. pretty straight forward. you can see it at the end of this album https://imgur.com/a/jWjI6

Thanks for this, looked at it very closely.
Ill be honest I still don't know how to do this. Im not a handy man at all, all I saw in your pictures were wires & still clueless. This is why I asked for a step by step process.
Plus I want to keep the original ports up front, don't want to ruin the case in any way.
Do I need to modify the case in any way to make this work?

If you can just take out like 5min of your time and maybe make a video it'll be awesome, not just for me but for a-lot of people who were asking about this mod. There were people willing to pay $5 just for a step by step process on it.

Please do think about doing so.
Thanks a lot!
 
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I think it is going to depend on the cooler you use and if you delid the CPU or not. A 240mm AIO or custom watercooling should be no problem. A large heatsink like the Dark Rock TF or Noctua NH-C14 should work too. I think if you don't delid the 92mm tower coolers may not be up to it.

Thanks, I just ordered my M1 and am starting to plan out parts. From reading it seems like I should definitely find a good 240mm aio if I'm going to go with the 8700k, and I'd really like to since I want to try to run linux but pass the vid card through to a windows virtual machine. I think the intel chip will let me use the built in gpu for linux while giving the graphics card to the VM.

Do you think the aio would be enough alone or would it be good to also do the delidding process? Not super comfortable modifying the chip myself but could order one already done I suppose.

Any suggestions on the best aio for the m1?
 
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Thanks, I just ordered my M1 and am starting to plan out parts. From reading it seems like I should definitely find a good 240mm aio if I'm going to go with the 8700k, and I'd really like to since I want to try to run linux but pass the vid card through to a windows virtual machine. I think the intel chip will let me use the built in gpu for linux while giving the graphics card to the VM.

Do you think the aio would be enough alone or would it be good to also do the delidding process? Not super comfortable modifying the chip myself but could order one already done I suppose.

Any suggestions on the best aio for the m1?

The Corsair H100 is a popular choice, I would also look at the NZXT X52 and the Fractal Design.

https://siliconlottery.com/collections/all/products/8700k Check Silicon Lottery for 8700k already delidded.
 
Thanks for this, looked at it very closely.
Ill be honest I still don't know how to do this. Im not a handy man at all, all I saw in your pictures were wires & still clueless. This is why I asked for a step by step process.
Plus I want to keep the original ports up front, don't want to ruin the case in any way.
Do I need to modify the case in any way to make this work?

If you can just take out like 5min of your time and maybe make a video it'll be awesome, not just for me but for a-lot of people who were asking about this mod. There were people willing to pay $5 just for a step by step process on it.

Please do think about doing so.
Thanks a lot!

I can look into doing it tomorrow possibly. I dont have the old switch or anything but i cant explain it the best i can, but for now ill explain it shortly.
  • i took the green and white wires from the new set, which were attached to an led for the "power led", and wired them to the anti vandal switch. I plugged in the power led light to the mobo and turned the system on with the old switch, the new switch only has the leds hooked up for power. Once the leds worked i new i had that correct. Then i removed the blue and white wires that were on the spare power switch and wired them to the anti vandal switch. plugged that in and it worked. So then you can just unscrew a bracket from the inside of the case to remove the power button. then you feed the wires through the hole where the power button was and install the new one with the screw ring around it on the back. no alterations to the case needed.
 
Do you think the aio would be enough alone or would it be good to also do the delidding process? Not super comfortable modifying the chip myself but could order one already done I suppose.

If you do not overclock there is no need to delid.
 
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