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

Brilliant work guys. I've been playing with custom SFF cases and case designs for over a year now and I can say this design is the best possible (as far as smallest size while fitting most types of components with good cooling (read: PSU not over motherboard) and still looking good)

Unfortunately, I am dead broke so I can't support this, so I'm making a home-made case very similar to this by chopping the top PSU channel off a junk mATX case. Almost identical layout ;-) Enough to hold me over until short video cards are more common and affordable.

Good luck! Hope it does well.
 
Necere said:
I assumed he was asking if two 120mm radiators could be installed side-by-side on the fan cage, which is the configuration I addressed.

You're right that a block on the card with radiator right underneath isn't likely to fit, though depending how far back the block sits, a configuration like I posted a while back might allow it to work.
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O, I guess I didnt think about 120mm radiators. Still seems like alot of money when for not alot more you could just build a simple custom loop that would be more effective.

Oh well, to each his own...
 
I just picked the $10 option. Would have done more, but the next step $2000 was a little too steep for me :p
 
Eh, I told W360 I was asking Kyle for the all-clear before posting the IGG link. oh well, let's hope it doesn't get us banned :p

But yeah, the Indiegogo campaign for prototype funding is now live! If you want to see this case happen, now's your chance. Tell your friends, 'like' the page on facebook, spread the word!
 
Diverge said:
I just picked the $10 option. Would have done more, but the next step $2000 was a little too steep for me :p
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Yeah, it would've been nice to offer more intermediate tiers, but we had a tough time coming up with perks as is. Of course, You're not limited to just $10 - that's just the minimum for that tier. By all means, don't let that stop you if you want to contribute more :p

crazjayz said:
Contibuted! Let's do this guys!

Can we get this thread on the front page?
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That'd be nice, but I'm hesitant to bother Kyle about it. If he or another editor considers it front-page worthy, I'm sure they'll do it on their own.
 
where are the pics with all the cable clutter? I DO love the design of this case, but I for the life of me cant see where cable routing is gonna be good at all.
 
Necere said:
Yeah, it would've been nice to offer more intermediate tiers, but we had a tough time coming up with perks as is. Of course, You're not limited to just $10 - that's just the minimum for that tier. By all means, don't let that stop you if you want to contribute more :p
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I might contribute more as it gets closer to deadline depending where it's at.

I have a suggestion for the $2K option, not that I could lay out that much money, but I think that person should get a production unit to go along with the prototype (that someone else got to play with), assuming it makes it to production.

Just a thought. It might be the driving factor that pushes some rich person to pick it :)
 
Diverge said:
I might contribute more as it gets closer to deadline depending where it's at.

I have a suggestion for the $2K option, not that I could lay out that much money, but I think that person should get a production unit to go along with the prototype (that someone else got to play with), assuming it makes it to production.

Just a thought. It might be the driving factor that pushes some rich person to pick it :)
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One of the rules of IGG & KS is that we can't promise tangible rewards outside the scope of the current campaign.
 
NIVO said:
where are the pics with all the cable clutter? I DO love the design of this case, but I for the life of me cant see where cable routing is gonna be good at all.
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See this post. I left the cables out of the renders because it's quite a lot of work modeling them to look halfway realistic.

It's true though - with a case this small, cables are going to be an issue no matter what. There's only so much space to work with. But then again, the SG05 has it even worse, and that doesn't stop people from using that case.
 
Welp, Kyle got back to me - turns out we can't link the IGG campaign after all :(

Gonna be an uphill climb all the way, it looks like.
 
Necere said:
Welp, Kyle got back to me - turns out we can't link the IGG campaign after all :(

Gonna be an uphill climb all the way, it looks like.
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That's sad. Know if any of the other computer forums will support the project? Its not like you guys are starting a business or making profits...
 
Diverge said:
That's sad. Know if any of the other computer forums will support the project? Its not like you guys are starting a business or making profits...
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In order to get an import ID, we had to form a business.

It's been a fight since the project started, we'll keep moving forward :)
 
Well if I had computer geek friends I'd post it on my facebook, but I don't have any :[

I'd post it on Xtremesystems and OCN, but i'm not sure if you guys would be better off seeing if that is okay with the owners of those sites. I really want to see this case go to production. I can't see how anyone would want to prevent that :(
 
Diverge said:
I'd post it on Xtremesystems and OCN, but i'm not sure if you guys would be better off seeing if that is okay with the owners of those sites. I really want to see this case go to production. I can't see how anyone would want to prevent that :(
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I've asked the OCN mods but it's a no-go there. They have rules against posting about stuff one has a (presumably financial) "interest" in. Of course, I can't very well stop any of you guys from posting about it (there or elsewhere) :p The Anandtech forums might be an option - I didn't find any terms that it would violate (but maybe I didn't look hard enough).

It is a bit sad that the hardware website community isn't more supportive of grassroots projects like this, but I guess I can understand where they're coming from. They have to protect themselves from scammers and so forth. I'd hope that the amount of effort we've put into the project over the last few months would count for something, but that's how it goes.
 
may i ask why you guys are asking for $3000? it seems... overkill. i thought the purpose of this was to get one engineering sample made to try different parts for fit, make sure there are no oversights, and launch an actual kickstarter with a working prototype and start taking preorders. is it really going to be that much for lian li to make one single case? i just dont want to see it not get funded because of asking for more than is absolutely needed.

also, one thing you should look into is working with bundymania. look for him on this forum, thats his user name. he has ALL of the watercooling parts, and loves making tons of builds and taking pics with them. you might be able to ship him the case to try out a ton of parts without having to buy them all. or if youre lucky, he might be local to you. :)
 
ekuest said:
may i ask why you guys are asking for $3000? it seems... overkill. i thought the purpose of this was to get one engineering sample made to try different parts for fit, make sure there are no oversights, and launch an actual kickstarter with a working prototype and start taking preorders. is it really going to be that much for lian li to make one single case? i just dont want to see it not get funded because of asking for more than is absolutely needed.

also, one thing you should look into is working with bundymania. look for him on this forum, thats his user name. he has ALL of the watercooling parts, and loves making tons of builds and taking pics with them. you might be able to ship him the case to try out a ton of parts without having to buy them all. or if youre lucky, he might be local to you. :)
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Bundy's in Europe AFAIK. We're both US-based.

We're shooting for two prototypes so that testing won't take as long. The more different kinds of hardware we can test in the case, the better, and a couple people here have volunteered to test using hardware they have. Having two units will allow them to be shipped around and tested concurrently.

The cost of the prototypes is ~$2k (first one being more). Add shipping (~$300 for air), Indiegogo's cut, PayPal fees, etc. and it eats up much of the rest. I need at least a small budget for test hardware as well. I have some parts I can use, and can probably borrow some more, but it's not going to be as wide a variety of hardware as would be nice to test with.
 
ekuest said:
may i ask why you guys are asking for $3000? it seems... overkill. i thought the purpose of this was to get one engineering sample made to try different parts for fit, make sure there are no oversights, and launch an actual kickstarter with a working prototype and start taking preorders. is it really going to be that much for lian li to make one single case? i just dont want to see it not get funded because of asking for more than is absolutely needed.

also, one thing you should look into is working with bundymania. look for him on this forum, thats his user name. he has ALL of the watercooling parts, and loves making tons of builds and taking pics with them. you might be able to ship him the case to try out a ton of parts without having to buy them all. or if youre lucky, he might be local to you. :)
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Have you ever ordered / machined parts or had anything made? Of course you have your profile says you are a mechanical engineer. Frankly I'm surprised it's so little to get a working prototype made.

Will the prototype be made by Lian Li or locally and then you take the prototype to Lian Li?
 
ekuest said:
may i ask why you guys are asking for $3000? it seems... overkill.
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Good question, my mistake for not including a breakdown in the campaign. I've updated Indiegogo campaign with a break down of the funding allocation.

Funding Allocation:
$1500__1st M1 prototypes from Lian Li (Black)
$500___2nd M1 prototype from Lian Li (Silver)
$50____Import Duty (2.5% of value)
$2_____Merchant Processing Fee
$250___Shipping (Air, Ocean shipping takes 30days)
$13____Insurance ($0.65 for every $100)
$500___Testing Equipment / Components

Indiegogo + Paypal + Bank tranfer fees cost 10% of funding

$2815__Prototype + Testing Cost
$2700__Estimated Funding Net Fees
$115___We are paying the difference

It cost another $1500 for front I/O and packaging tooling, but we will deal with that ourselves before production.
 
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Tankerton said:
Have you ever ordered / machined parts or had anything made? Of course you have your profile says you are a mechanical engineer. Frankly I'm surprised it's so little to get a working prototype made.

Will the prototype be made by Lian Li or locally and then you take the prototype to Lian Li?
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my custom case i designed and built cost $75 including paint. :p it is just 6 laser-cut panels though, not stamped and everything like this. it seems like $500 each should be enough for lian li to make these since they dont even have to package it or ship it or market it or any other of a number of things they have to do to production cases. im not familiar with stamping, so im not sure if they have to actually tool a bunch of machines for just these 2 case or what. ive seen what dwood can do with some sheet metal and a few hours and just figured $1000 is way more than it needs to be. i could very well be wrong.

anyway i will be contributing before the deadline, just deciding how much. :) best of luck necere and wahaha! been watching since the beginning, and so excited to see you guys make it so far so fast.
 
Tankerton said:
Will the prototype be made by Lian Li or locally and then you take the prototype to Lian Li?
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It'll be made by Lian Li, so it'll be as close to the production version as possible (minus the front I/O module, which requires extra tooling @ $1200+).

ekuest said:
my custom case i designed and built cost $75 including paint. :p it is just 6 laser-cut panels though, not stamped and everything like this. it seems like $500 each should be enough for lian li to make these since they dont even have to package it or ship it or market it or any other of a number of things they have to do to production cases. im not familiar with stamping, so im not sure if they have to actually tool a bunch of machines for just these 2 case or what. ive seen what dwood can do with some sheet metal and a few hours and just figured $1000 is way more than it needs to be. i could very well be wrong.
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Yeah, pretty big difference. We've got cutting + punching (not stamping) + tapping + bending + anodize + assembly. The time on the NCT machine (which does the punching) is a big part of the cost, apparently. They'll of course be packaging it for shipping as well, though obviously not in final retail packaging (which has another setup cost).

They may be overcharging us some; Silverstone quoted a fair bit less for the prototype (but more for production). It might be so they don't waste their time on smaller projects, I don't know.

ekuest said:
anyway i will be contributing before the deadline, just deciding how much. :) best of luck necere and wahaha! been watching since the beginning, and so excited to see you guys make it so far so fast.
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You can always contribute a little now and then make another contribution later, if you like. That's the standard IGG way to increase a contribution.


Thanks to all who've contributed so far! Some of you really want to see this case happen :eek: I hope those weren't typos when you made your contribution :D
 
Necere said:
Yeah, pretty big difference. We've got cutting + punching (not stamping) + tapping + bending + anodize + assembly. The time on the NCT machine (which does the punching) is a big part of the cost, apparently. They'll of course be packaging it for shipping as well, though obviously not in final retail packaging (which has another setup cost).

They may be overcharging us some; Silverstone quoted a fair bit less for the prototype (but more for production). It might be so they don't waste their time on smaller projects, I don't know.
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i think so. silverstone was probably planning on making a handmade prototype and then from that would figure out the tooling. lian li might just be jumping right into tooling so theyre charging the tooling costs up front. or maybe theyre just overestimating to be safe or make it worth their time. either way, thanks for giving a price breakdown for the $3000. i think anyone who gives their money away for free likes to see where exactly it will be going.
 
ekuest said:
i think so. silverstone was probably planning on making a handmade prototype and then from that would figure out the tooling. lian li might just be jumping right into tooling so theyre charging the tooling costs up front. or maybe theyre just overestimating to be safe or make it worth their time. either way, thanks for giving a price breakdown for the $3000. i think anyone who gives their money away for free likes to see where exactly it will be going.
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Actually I don't think Lian Li will be doing any tooling for the case, either prototype or production (aside from I/O module). I think the reason the production cost will be less with LL is precisely because they've already got the tooling set up to make the design we have. I spent some time early on in the design process for the M1 studying how they made their cases and matching it as closely as possible in my design, so it seems that's paid off.

I think you may be underestimating how much tooling can cost - we got a quote for tooling for the case that was... rather high, to say the least (think 'new Porsche').
 
lol! yeah i dont mean a full redesign of their machines or whatever, i just meant minimal mass-production cost saving measures as opposed to handmaking each piece. im sure if you wanted to do a run of a couple thousand of these then the tooling costs would definitely be substantial!

so you arent using an existing lian li I/O module? i thought you were going to try to use one of theirs to save costs? none of them worked or something?
 
ekuest said:
so you arent using an existing lian li I/O module? i thought you were going to try to use one of theirs to save costs? none of them worked or something?
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Yeah, they don't have anything like that so it needs to be a custom job.
 
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