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

Singapore. The Singaporeans usually reside on Hardwarezone and VR-zone, maybe I can make a post there to see if it generates any interest. But that's if shipping here is possible.
 
I've had 2 cases with those little metal screw/slide-down plates over the expansion slots. In both cases I took them off and never put them on again. Seemed incredibly pointless.
 
Singapore. The Singaporeans usually reside on Hardwarezone and VR-zone, maybe I can make a post there to see if it generates any interest. But that's if shipping here is possible.

The bad news - we can't make promises until we choose a logistic company - it doesn't make sense to commit to a logistic company unless we are successful with the prototype campaign.

The good news -
- United States Postal Service ships to Singapore for $57.00
- According to Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, there is no import duty/GST for items less than SGD400 (www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page04.aspx?id=10832).

Cost = $160-$200 + $57.00 + logistic company warehouse + S&H fee

The uncertainty lies with the logistic company.

For us, it would be awesome to get customers from Singapore. If we have more customers in that area of the world, the logistic company would have to ship in order to get our business.
 
Not excited to see what it's going to cost to get it into Canada either.... However I really like the design and must have it.
 
Not excited to see what it's going to cost to get it into Canada either.... However I really like the design and must have it.
I bet someone would be willing to hold one for you if you wanted to drive on down and pick it up... ;)
 
Not excited to see what it's going to cost to get it into Canada either.... However I really like the design and must have it.

If it's coming to Canada the best hands off method is by air, or if you want to declare it yourself then ground is fine.

Never have anything sent ground by UPS or fed ex from the US, you'll get stung from between $30 - 70 in brokerage depending on the value and class of the goods.
 
Not excited to see what it's going to cost to get it into Canada either.... However I really like the design and must have it.

United States Postal Service ships to Canada for $40.

The import duty varies depending on where you are in Canada. I been using this website (www.dutycalculator.com) to estimate import duty, it's pretty good.
 
USPS would be the best ground option, it will be $5 processing plus duty / gst/hst. Duty may not seem bad to you with that calc, but it's the handling fees that UPS & co charge that kill. I would bet they'll tack on $40 to that 'import fee' that otherwise would be around $~30 total.
 
Is there a recommended PSU for this? All the decent ones I want fit in has at least 150mm, and are modular (do not want extra cable in a tiny-as-it-is case). Do I need to bring out my dremel for this... ? Would rather not use a shorter card either; using my existing 6950, that'd be about 11" long, and any new card will only ever be as long or longer.
 
Is there a recommended PSU for this? All the decent ones I want fit in has at least 150mm, and are modular (do not want extra cable in a tiny-as-it-is case). Do I need to bring out my dremel for this... ? Would rather not use a shorter card either; using my existing 6950, that'd be about 11" long, and any new card will only ever be as long or longer.

There are a few 140mm ATX supplies that are non-modular. The corsair 430W is like $50 on newegg. Might be some others too.

There's also the Silverstone 450W SFX supply for like $100. You could always clean up a non-modular supplies cables, hacking off the ones you don't need and make everything neat.
 
There are a few 140mm ATX supplies that are non-modular. The corsair 430W is like $50 on newegg. Might be some others too.

There's also the Silverstone 450W SFX supply for like $100. You could always clean up a non-modular supplies cables, hacking off the ones you don't need and make everything neat.

I think I want to keep my PSU, so I'll probably go the latter route and try to re-do the wiring. It's a Corsair HX 450... 150mm. I have plenty of spare cables lying around from lots of other builds I made for other people (they never come back to grab the pouches with other cables), as well as a dremel and soldering station handy, so I could go so far as relocating the modules plugs to keep things perfectly neat.
 
More than half way there in so little time! We'll hit $3000 for sure if everyone pushes and tells their friends. :)
 
Is there a recommended PSU for this? All the decent ones I want fit in has at least 150mm, and are modular (do not want extra cable in a tiny-as-it-is case). Do I need to bring out my dremel for this... ? Would rather not use a shorter card either; using my existing 6950, that'd be about 11" long, and any new card will only ever be as long or longer.

150mm PSU with a longer card is really pushing it. There is exactly 150mm between the bracket and the card, so the PSU will literally be touching it. Remember, this case was originally designed to only support SFX; ATX PSU support is just a nice bonus there for those who wish to use it. In order to keep the chassis size the same, it necessarily requires some strict limitations on PSU size.


Btw, Maximum PC published a news piece on the M1 today, check it out.
 
One problem with this endeavor...this is an enthusiast-level case but where are the enthusiast-level motherboards i.e. ROG mITX? So far i have not seen much offerings in the mITX mb line-up? Do we have solid evidence that mb manufacturers are getting behind mITX? Not trying to be a Negative Nancy, but these questions would need to be addressed before I give my support.
 
One problem with this endeavor...this is an enthusiast-level case but where are the enthusiast-level motherboards i.e. ROG mITX? So far i have not seen much offerings in the mITX mb line-up? Do we have solid evidence that mb manufacturers are getting behind mITX? Not trying to be a Negative Nancy, but these questions would need to be addressed before I give my support.

There is everything but rog.

Edit: Not quite sure what features you expect to fit on a m-ITX board.
 
One problem with this endeavor...this is an enthusiast-level case but where are the enthusiast-level motherboards i.e. ROG mITX? So far i have not seen much offerings in the mITX mb line-up? Do we have solid evidence that mb manufacturers are getting behind mITX? Not trying to be a Negative Nancy, but these questions would need to be addressed before I give my support.

I would happily build a system in this case without needing the "ultimate enthusiast" motherboard lineup, which does nothing for me personally, but usually takes the price from around $150 to upwards of $300; For marginal features I will never use, like wireless. This is why I bought a Asus P8P67 PRO instead of the deluxe ultimate, whatever for another $150.

I think there are already enough boards for me to migrate my main system to a smaller form factor. I'm currently building a silent mini-itx file server (still waiting on a Streamcom case :() and it will end up being more powerful (except for video card, equal RAM 16GB, but newer CPU) than my main desktop. This case would allow me to consider a dedicated GPU in addition. That way I can finally ditched this hoss of a case, Corsair 600T that is mostly empty.
 
One problem with this endeavor...this is an enthusiast-level case but where are the enthusiast-level motherboards i.e. ROG mITX? So far i have not seen much offerings in the mITX mb line-up? Do we have solid evidence that mb manufacturers are getting behind mITX? Not trying to be a Negative Nancy, but these questions would need to be addressed before I give my support.

What sort of features are you looking for in a Mini-ITX board, exactly? Overclocking is supported on a fair number of boards (see this roundup). The ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe has ten phase voltage regulation - it's so packed they had to put it on its own daughterboard. Not sure what else you want out of the platform?

The M1's designed to be as small as possible, while at the same time maximizing the potential of the Mini-ITX form-factor. In terms of performance per liter, it's very hard to beat.
 
8474608401_df53f95e47_b.jpg
 
Since there's an extra expansion slot I wonder if anything funny is possible with something like this:
KZ-B24_2.jpg


Cable length is 30cm.
 
hm, actually i did miss the fact that only small psu are supported. don't like that, cause there are no good and silent 150mm psu out there.
 

There you go. Now it's 'enthusiast.' :p

Since there's an extra expansion slot I wonder if anything funny is possible with something like this:[/IMG]
...
Cable length is 30cm.

I'm sure something funny is possible. I'm not sure how workable it might be though. Maybe if there's a MPCIe slot on the backside of the board.

So what you want from ROG board is red/black color scheme of board and UEFI plus a ROG sticker on the heatsink ? Because that is pretty much all what is the difference between P8Z77-I Deluxe and a ROG board.

Eh? All four of the ITX boards in that Tomshardware roundup have UEFI, including the P8Z77-I Deluxe.

hm, actually i did miss the fact that only small psu are supported. don't like that, cause there are no good and silent 150mm psu out there.

I don't know if that's true. The Nexus Nx-5000 and NX-6000 are quiet (editor's choice in the SPCR review) and only 125mm. I'm sure there are others that are reasonably quiet and good performers. Silverstone and Corsair have a few, FSP has the Aurum Gold.

Also the max size is 140mm (and must be non-modular), not 150mm. Unless you're using a card less than 200mm, in which case you could go up to 190mm or so (and modular).

If/when they ever come out with some more compelling Mini-DTX boards with the PCIe x16 slot in the second position (like this one), you'd be able to use 160mm non-modular, or 140mm modular (maybe 150mm) with a longer card in the 2 and 3rd slot..
 
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Eh? All four of the ITX boards in that Tomshardware roundup have UEFI, including the P8Z77-I Deluxe.

I wrote red color scheme of board AND UEFI. With that i meant that instead of this color scheme he wants this one; plus that the board is red/black instead of blue/black. Because that is really the only difference between a possible ROG ITX board and a non-ROG one. There is nowhere to put the power/reset buttons, nowhere to put voltage measurement points, there is not even enough space on the back panel to put the clear cmos etc buttons on the back panel.

In other words - P8Z77-I Deluxe is as close to ROG boards as it gets, the only things missing from the ROG boards is the red color instead of blue on the board and in UEFI plus the features which simply didn't fit on the board due space constraints.

Edit: Sorry @ JayJapanB, i meant to answer to gflgs of course.
 
I agree with the statements that ROG wouldn't probably improve an mITX motherboard, since most of the features aren't possible because of the limited space and extreme overclocking on mITX is a little stupid.

If the Asus Z77 isn't enough, you are looking for something that doesn't make sense.
 
There you go. Now it's 'enthusiast.' :p



I'm sure something funny is possible. I'm not sure how workable it might be though. Maybe if there's a MPCIe slot on the backside of the board.



Eh? All four of the ITX boards in that Tomshardware roundup have UEFI, including the P8Z77-I Deluxe.



I don't know if that's true. The Nexus Nx-5000 and NX-6000 are quiet (editor's choice in the SPCR review) and only 125mm. I'm sure there are others that are reasonably quiet and good performers. Silverstone and Corsair have a few, FSP has the Aurum Gold.

Also the max size is 140mm (and must be non-modular), not 150mm. Unless you're using a card less than 200mm, in which case you could go up to 190mm or so (and modular).

If/when they ever come out with some more compelling Mini-DTX boards with the PCIe x16 slot in the second position (like this one), you'd be able to use 160mm non-modular, or 140mm modular (maybe 150mm) with a longer card in the 2 and 3rd slot..

the nexus psu have only a single rail structure. i don't like that. the silverstone strider psu (great: 140mm plus modular) is definetly noisy... and single rail too. don't know the aurum and most of the small corsair psu, but i did hear that they are noisy too. that will be a problem.
 
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..and what are these "reasons" you speak of exactly?

It's much easier to overload amps on the over current protection two separate rails rather than one rail with a higher rated over current protection.

Pretty sure that restricts you to a certain line of Antec PSU's if you need a dual rail these days.
 
Is the only issue with modular PSUs is the clearange for longer GPUs? I don't think my GTX680 is all that long and i only would need 2 pci-e and 1 sata cable installed.
 
Since there's an extra expansion slot I wonder if anything funny is possible with something like this:
KZ-B24_2.jpg


Cable length is 30cm.
It all depends on the mobo you use, if it has a full height or half height mini slot, and how far away from the third PCI slot the mini slot is. You can always buy your own longer FFC cable, I believe.
 
Since there's an extra expansion slot I wonder if anything funny is possible with something like this:
KZ-B24_2.jpg


Cable length is 30cm.

Is that power connector intended to supply the PCIe card with power?

This is an interesting solution that may be worth trying for the people who want a non integrated sound card.
 
All this talk about 600W PSU's makes me curious... Aren't we overestimating our needs for a PSU ?

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
System Type: 1 physical CPU
Motherboard: Mini-ITX
CPU Socket: Socket LGA 1155
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3500 MHz Ivy Bridge
CPU Utilization (TDP): 90% TDP
RAM: 2 Sticks DDR3 SDRAM
Video Card 1: AMD Radeon HD 7970
High rpm SATA: 1 HDD
Flash SSD: 1 Drive
USB: 6 Devices
Fans Regular: 4 Fans 120mm;
Keyboard and mouse: Yes
System Load: 90 %

Minimum PSU Wattage: 332 Watts
Recommended Wattage: 382 Watts

So basically a 450W PSU would be enough for an already high-end system with a fast GPU. It seems to me the Silverstone SST-ST45SF is a good fit for € 70,- or $ 80,- (depending on where you live).

If we downgrade the system a little we even need 50W less:

System Type: 1 physical CPU
Motherboard: Mini-ITX
CPU Socket: Socket LGA 1155
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3400 MHz Ivy Bridge
CPU Utilization (TDP): 90% TDP
RAM: 2 Sticks DDR3 SDRAM
Video Card 1: AMD Radeon HD 7950
High rpm SATA: 1 HDD
Flash SSD: 1 Drive
USB: 6 Devices
Fans Regular: 4 Fans 120mm;
Keyboard and mouse: Yes
System Load: 90 %

Minimum PSU Wattage: 281 Watts
Recommended Wattage: 331 Watts
I myself am considering this last rig with the Silverstone PSU.
 
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