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

Going to remove the backplate of my GPU in preparation for SX500-LG. It's generally safe to have the backplate off, right?
 
Just ordered a silver v3 w/ no ODD slot. This time I chose the fast shipping.

I already have a V2, but I want to use a SilverStone SX500-LG in my system. I hate the fan noise of the SX600.
 
cowsgomoo said:
Going to remove the backplate of my GPU in preparation for SX500-LG. It's generally safe to have the backplate off, right?
Click to expand...

Why not do you tried cut off a little space for the cable on the connector? Someone tried but now really don't remember the page/post #/user
 
Necere said:
The only other possible bright spot I can see is if some company picks up the Dirac SFX, which uses a 92mm fan and has a length between SFX and SFX-L.
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I can't see that happening. The Diracs were made from an initial rejected batch of SX600-Gs.
I suppose Silverstone could divert some SX600-G boards, and recase them with a new fan to make a 'quiet 600W SFX-L' or something, with a premium over the existing SX600-G.
 
EdZ said:
The Diracs were made from an initial rejected batch of SX600-Gs.
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Haha, that was my invention, not true. Tony Ou said the Dirac-Enhance deal was done behind Silverstone's backs via a middle man.
 
WiSK said:
Haha, that was my invention, not true. Tony Ou said the Dirac-Enhance deal was done behind Silverstone's backs via a middle man.
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I thought they were Enhance's first run of SX600-G boards that failed to pass validation, and Enhance sold them to a liquidator which then sold them on to Dirac (rather than scrapping them). Unless Enhance is continuing to sell boards to a middleman who resells them to Dirac.
 
Half Life said:
Why not do you tried cut off a little space for the cable on the connector? Someone tried but now really don't remember the page/post #/user
Click to expand...

Oh well I'm hoping not to mutilate anything as much as possible. It's easier to take apart my GPU.
 
Tschus said:
I just got the SX500-LG. Tried it out a bit and the compatibility with long videocard is indeed not good.
The components I have currently is an experimental build and I knew that not all of these will fit:
Asus M7I
Cryorig C1
Nvidia GeForce GTX970 Reference cooler
Silverstone SX500-LG

Su0hTM7h.jpg

Notice that I didn't put any of the cables on, because it is nearly impossible :cool:
The extra few mms from the V3 bracket might help, but I think it would still be very tight.

Another problem is the orientation of the power plug:
TczKFVFh.jpg

If I bend the cable sharp enough then I might be able to squeeze it in the bracket but it would be a bit scary so I did not try that.

Besides the problem with the PSU, I confirmed that Cryorig C1 on Asus M7I won't fit in the NCASE M1 with the SFX bracket. It would interfere with the PSU, by only a few mms. :(

Feel free to let me know if you want me to try something out or take more pictures.
Any suggestions on how to fix my build is also welcome and appreciated :D
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Necere, will a V3 w/ the V3 PSU bracket have more clearance b/w the PSU and back of the GPU, than the V2 w/ V3 PSU bracket?
 
Synomenon said:
Necere, will a V3 w/ the V3 PSU bracket have more clearance b/w the PSU and back of the GPU, than the V2 w/ V3 PSU bracket?
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Nope. Only the bracket has changed. The attachment points on the chassis are the same from V1 through V3.
 
So the SFX PSU brackets are out of stock. Will it be re-stocked in time to come? or is that it.
 
okwchin said:
So the SFX PSU brackets are out of stock. Will it be re-stocked in time to come? or is that it.
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We may have a few (<10) more for sale, but otherwise, that's it until the next full production run of the M1. It's a 1000 unit MOQ if we were to order separately, so that's out.
 
So if I am intending to purchase one of these brackets, along with a pair of left and right power cables, how do I go about doing that.
 
okwchin said:
So if I am intending to purchase one of these brackets, along with a pair of left and right power cables, how do I go about doing that.
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You can order the cables on the website right now. The V3 SFX bracket I'm not sure about - w360 mentioned that we may have 10 more, but I have to get confirmation with him about that and if/when they'll be available. Edit: they were in fact already up for order and have sold out.
 
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Just want to put this out there:

CAUTION: SFX-L is still a very tight fit with long GPUs, even with the revised V3 SFX bracket.

Some people seem to be under the impression that the V3 bracket will make the SX500-LG an easy fit in the M1, but, while no one has yet tested it with the bracket, I can say it will only marginally improve the clearance situation with long GPUs. We've seen how tight the modular connectors are with the old bracket, and that they do not fit at all if the GPU has a backplate, so an additional 2mm is not going to make a big difference. The primary improvement for SFX-L with the V3 SFX bracket is the cutaway of the flange that interferes with the angled power cable; long GPU (195mm+) clearance is still borderline.


Also: V3 SFX brackets are sold out, there will be no more until the next production run. Our apologies to anyone this has inconvenienced.
 
Necere said:
CAUTION: SFX-L is still a very tight fit with long GPUs, even with the revised V3 SFX bracket.

Some people seem to be under the impression that the V3 bracket will make the SX500-LG an easy fit in the M1, but, while no one has yet tested it with the bracket, I can say it will only marginally improve the clearance situation with long GPUs. We've seen how tight the modular connectors are with the old bracket, and that they do not fit at all if the GPU has a backplate , so an additional 2mm is not going to make a big difference. The primary improvement for SFX-L with the V3 SFX bracket is the cutaway of the flange that interferes with the angled power cable; long GPU (195mm+) clearance is still borderline.
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Also, to add to what Necere said :

If you have your wires coming out of the SX500-LG, pressing against the back of a GPU without a backplate, there is a real chance of piercing some of the wires and causing short circuit.
 
Potential options:
- Remove backplate, cover rear of card (where wires will be) are in Kapton tape
- Mod cable ends to have wires exit at 90° (drill out upper section of plastic to prevent wires pulling conductive inserts out)
 
I ordered another PSU extension cable since I trimmed mine and with the relocated SFX-L socket, it's about 5-10cm too short. I'm going to try to get the SFX-L solution to work properly, also as a test for Ncase M1 users.

Too bad we still haven't found a good solution to lower the graphics card one bracket (with a riser), or this wouldn't be a problem. And those 3-slot mATX boards are all such low-end chipset options. Maybe there are some more riser options available now ? I believe the original problem was that a (long) flex riser was not having enough spare room to fold it and we have yet to find a rigid riser that extends it neatly one slot down.
 
EdZ said:
Remove backplate, cover rear of card (where wires will be) are in Kapton tape
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Wouldn't the tape get pierced too? And is the tape is sticky.

From wiki: Kapton insulation ages poorly: an FAA study shows degradation in under 100 hours in a hot, humid environment.[5] It was found to have very poor resistance to mechanical wear, mainly abrasion within cable harnesses due to aircraft movement. Many aircraft models have had to undergo extensive rewiring modifications--sometimes completely replacing all the Kapton-insulated wiring--because of short circuits caused by the faulty insulation.

I would just use a 1mm piece of polycarbonate :)
 
This could also be a DIY option:

Z2-ATX-120-font-b-120W-b-font-power-20pin-mini-ITX-DC-ATX-power-supply.jpg


But I can't find those (yellow) plugs, but someone must make them. If the PCB was laying flat on the ATX plug, you could solder the wires onto the PCB and have plenty of clearance. But this would be very very DIY ofcourse.
 
Certainly an idea I would love to investigate further. I asked earlier too, and it didn't turn up any leads. If cost was not a concern, one could certainly buy such a pico PSU and grind the PCB back all the way, but it seemed rather overkill compared to simply trimming back a normal connector, especially paying $20-40 on such a product, and wasting all of the PSU.

Secondly, removing the plug would be significantly more difficult, as its already hard enough with plastic to hold onto.


And thanks Necere for the updates regarding the brackets. I guess I missed out, but thats ok, I guess I won't be building too soon anyway.
 
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Wow those look really good. I'm wondering if there are any retail versions of this, but my guess is no. :(
 
Those look quite good. I can't imagine those casings were custom built for Alienware, there must be somewhere to get them from. But at that point, modding them yourself surely is the easier route to go :)
 
iFreilicht said:
Those look quite good. I can't imagine those casings were custom built for Alienware, there must be somewhere to get them from. But at that point, modding them yourself surely is the easier route to go :)
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Actually that's a pretty reasonable assumption, considering they are owned by Dell, who have the money for custom bits and pieces. The stuff inside the X51 is actually pretty interesting; Dell is able to develop their own parts like the DC-DC "power board" (akin to the HDPlex).
 
Gents,

I would like to invest in some modded cables to clean up the clutter in my M1 case.
Any guidance around this? I suppose I measure distance and have 2 options:

- DIY (not sure I would do this)
- order online (e.g. Moddiy; any others options?)

When measuring, anything specific I need to take into account?

Anyone in the BeNeLux open to help me out? :D

Cheers!
 
dnoiz said:
Gents,

I would like to invest in some modded cables to clean up the clutter in my M1 case.
Any guidance around this? I suppose I measure distance and have 2 options:

- DIY (not sure I would do this)
- order online (e.g. Moddiy; any others options?)

When measuring, anything specific I need to take into account?

Anyone in the BeNeLux open to help me out? :D

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Well if you want to do DIY, then you would have to buy all the right tools and materials... so I would consider that option more of a personal project for a hobby.

If you order online, you could get someone to do a custom job for you. It would be expensive, but it would tailored to your exact needs.

Could ask for people near you here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Pcsleeving
 
The problem is that buying modded cables requires that you find compatible ones, or you are just basically using extenders which will just make it more cluttered. Making your own cables, depending on your plan of attack, requires a few tools (crimp tool, molex pin remover, PSU tester, sharp cable-cutter), connectors, wires, crimp terminals, sleeving, heatshrink and some stuff like cable guides.

If you choose to go with the most barebones version, just using wire without sleeving and reusing the existing cables, you basically only need a crimp tool, molex pin remover, a sharp cable-cutter and crimp terminals.

But this isn't for the faint of heart, this can be quite daunting. I recommend getting an extra set of cables (PP05-E I believe) to do this so you can keep using your computer and get a PSU cable tester to make sure you aren't shorting something out or have wires crossed.
 
The cables in the PP05-E set are all shorter than the ones that come with the power supply, except for one (I forget which cable).
 
Qrash said:
The cables in the PP05-E set are all shorter than the ones that come with the power supply, except for one (I forget which cable).
Click to expand...

The 24-pin ATX cable on the SX600-G is shorter, but all the rest of the PP05-E set is shorter versus stock..

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041115907&postcount=932


If you have a modular Silverstone PSU inside your M1, and aren't up to doing a custom cable job, I highly recommend the PP05-E set for an extra $30..

www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Tek-Flexible-Modular-PP05-E/dp/B00H7Y3I4M/
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
dnoiz said:
All thanks with regards my questions for the PSU cable mod.

Anyone experience with Moddiy? Seems they do mods specific for the SX600:
http://www.moddiy.com/search.php?search_query=SX600&x=0&y=0

g.
Click to expand...

I've purchased modded cables from them before. No issues at all and I will probably have them make custom cables for my next setup as well. Only issue is they're in Hong Kong I think and shipping takes a couple of weeks.

Performance-PCs in Florida can do custom cables as well, but they're much more expensive.
 
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