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

Not at this time. It's difficult to add a button, since the eject button isn't in a consistent location on the drives. It's a bit kludgy, but I think it will be possible to mount the drive such that pressing the front of the top panel will be enough to engage the button. We'll see though.

Worth noting that Silverstone doesn't have an eject button on the FT03/FT03-mini, either.
 
If it was up to me, I'd not even include a button on any ODD drive, just on the PC casing, like the reset button.
I always liked Apple's implementation too, which has an Eject button on the keyboard and when you hold the mouse button during power-on it force-ejects the ODD.
 
Whats involved fitting a sound card into this case?

Can I just buy any m-pcie to 1x pci-e adaptor and will it also power the card?
 
Whats involved fitting a sound card into this case?

Can I just buy any m-pcie to 1x pci-e adaptor and will it also power the card?

pretty much. the hard part will be finding one long enough to go all the way around your gpu and up to the back of the case where the 3rd slot is. ive never seen a sound card with dedicated power, so yes it should be powered by the slot. cant say im too familiar with mpcie to pcie adapters though so i dont know how much power they can supply. almost for sure it will be enough.
 
Is there a notification list or anything as far as availability goes? I, unfortunately, did not find out about this in time to contribute...
 
pretty much. the hard part will be finding one long enough to go all the way around your gpu and up to the back of the case where the 3rd slot is. ive never seen a sound card with dedicated power, so yes it should be powered by the slot. cant say im too familiar with mpcie to pcie adapters though so i dont know how much power they can supply. almost for sure it will be enough.

Asus Essence STX needs external power.
 
Is there a notification list or anything as far as availability goes? I, unfortunately, did not find out about this in time to contribute...

If you go to the IGG campaign page, under the first pic of the case, just to the right of "share this campaign" there's a pink "follow" heart you can click. You may need to make an account first.
 
pretty much. the hard part will be finding one long enough to go all the way around your gpu and up to the back of the case where the 3rd slot is. ive never seen a sound card with dedicated power, so yes it should be powered by the slot. cant say im too familiar with mpcie to pcie adapters though so i dont know how much power they can supply. almost for sure it will be enough.

I did some checking into this a year or so ago. There are solutions, although they aren't necessarily cheap.

http://www.hwtools.net/adapter/PE4L.html

Apparently a mini HDMI cable is capable of carrying a 1xpcie signal, so you can really get any length you need within reason. Then you just need the adapter for the mini pcie slot, and another for the 1x pcie slot. The one I linked to has a floppy power plug. I can't remember if the USB plug is functional or has some other purpose (power maybe).

There might be more options available now, that's just the bookmark I had saved. But using this method you can avoid dealing with pcie ribbon cables, and you have the power supply built in to the adapter.
 
Could you do a quick render with a 200mm L PSU such as the Corsair AX1200(i)?
Without a graphics card would do fine.
 
Could you do a quick render with a 200mm L PSU such as the Corsair AX1200(i)?
Without a graphics card would do fine.

Definitely pushing the limits of what will fit:



16mm between the PSU and bottom of the case, very little room for cables...
 
hmmm, I am trying to figure out why you would need a 1200 watt power supply in a case this size. Just curious :)
 
It's my current powersupply, and after paying so much for it I am checking if I can use it or not.
Would be a waste to replace it really.
 
It's my current powersupply, and after paying so much for it I am checking if I can use it or not.
Would be a waste to replace it really.

nah, it would be a waste to use it. not only are you taking up way more space than you need to in the case and limiting your options, but you could easily sell that PSU on craigslist and buy a more appropriate one for less than half of what you get for it.
 
nah, it would be a waste to use it. not only are you taking up way more space than you need to in the case and limiting your options, but you could easily sell that PSU on craigslist and buy a more appropriate one for less than half of what you get for it.

Let alone that such huge psu will have a shitty efficiency at the loads you can use it in a mITX case...
 
I did some checking into this a year or so ago. There are solutions, although they aren't necessarily cheap.

http://www.hwtools.net/adapter/PE4L.html

Apparently a mini HDMI cable is capable of carrying a 1xpcie signal, so you can really get any length you need within reason. Then you just need the adapter for the mini pcie slot, and another for the 1x pcie slot. The one I linked to has a floppy power plug. I can't remember if the USB plug is functional or has some other purpose (power maybe).

There might be more options available now, that's just the bookmark I had saved. But using this method you can avoid dealing with pcie ribbon cables, and you have the power supply built in to the adapter.


Wow, there is some cool/crazy/neat stuff on that page!

Looks like you would want the PE4L-PM060A from the http://www.hwtools.net/Adapter/PE4L V2.1.html page
 
thats not entirely true. a good PSU like that is going to be pretty efficient at any power usage.

actually it wasnt too hard to find. 88.5% at 238W and 92.1% at highest seen efficiency.

Also the low-load test is pretty good: 84.1% efficiency at 122W. Only GPU that will fit then is a short-PCB GTX 670. Still I have to agree that it seems a waste of the case to fill half of it with a PSU that you're only using 10-20% of.
 
Wow, there is some cool/crazy/neat stuff on that page!

Looks like you would want the PE4L-PM060A from the http://www.hwtools.net/Adapter/PE4L V2.1.html page

Yeah, I think that stuff is the end result of some slightly bonkers plan for an external laptop GPU. It seems like it's more trouble than it's worth, but I'm glad there are people putting together crazy stuff like that. And while an external GPU might not be so great over a 1x pcie lane, there are lots of other addin cards that this could be used for.
 
I've brought this up before but... there's a canadian engineering company called amfeltec that makes a mpcie to pcie x1 adapter with and option for getting external power from the psu or from the pcie bus.

i emailed them once upon a time and they gave me a price of ~$70 CAD including shipping inside canada.

here's the adapter in question... i always wanted to build a rig with one instead of a wireless card, and it seems to come up a fair bit with the 3 expansion slots.

http://www.amfeltec.com/products/minipcie-to-pcie-adapter.php

absolutely love the finished(?) case btw guys, looking forward to picking one up.
 
I'm really excited that this is moving forward, I can't wait to actually order one.... which I hope is soon cause I need to get a new case pretty soon here. :)
 
Since the prototype is here, are there any shots of components in it yet?
Well, it's not here here. Lian Li still has it, and it'll probably be next month before they ship it. They're waiting for their supplier to finish up the front I/O.
 
Would I be stupid to even start thinking about fitting watercooling for a Titan in this thing?
I haven't looked in to how it would be done, but seeing as this is a little bigger than the SG05B, which fits CPU watercooling..
 
Would I be stupid to even start thinking about fitting watercooling for a Titan in this thing?
I haven't looked in to how it would be done, but seeing as this is a little bigger than the SG05B, which fits CPU watercooling..

have you read the thread? this case was designed from the start to allow watercooling and full-length GPUs.

At 10.5", you'll easily be able to watercool a titan in this case :D
 
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Lurking this thread since beginning but missed out on the crowd funding as it's over now.
But I wonder if it in Lian Li style there will be the three colour versions (black, silver and red)?
 
Lurking this thread since beginning but missed out on the crowd funding as it's over now.
But I wonder if it in Lian Li style there will be the three colour versions (black, silver and red)?

The crowdfunding that is complete was for the prototyping. One prototype will be made in silver and one will be made in black.

Once that is complete, there will be a second crowdfunding campaign where people can actually obtain rewards of a production case (current plan is to only make them in black, IIRC).
 
I see they used some rivets in the prototype shot. Is that just for them to keep costs down on the proto, but wont be in retail?
 
I see they used some rivets in the prototype shot. Is that just for them to keep costs down on the proto, but wont be in retail?

Rivets are used in most cases, and pretty much all lian li cases. At least on the parts not meant to be taken apart by the end user. But if you need to do mods, you can easily drill them and and replace them again - the rivets are aluminum, I just did it to my Lian Li PC-Q25B this weekend.
 
Hello, I've been following this thread for some time now. I'm really a huge fan to SFF and especially this project. I really like the idea, concept and almost all about it. I'm interested in 2 pieces of this case.

I'm a bit confused now, because you told several times that you plan to produce 300-500 cases, there will be two indiegogo campaigns. 1st to raise money for prototypes and testing. 2nd to order production cases.

Now after some time I looked at indiegogo (1st campaign) and there states under "Perks" that Prototype (1 piece), Early shipment list (299 pieces) and Early shipment list 2 (200 pieces) are already sold out.

Is there any possibility to get this case when the production starts or am I out of the game? Will you produce more than 500 cases?

[edit]

Don't need to be on early shipment list, just want this unique case :)
 
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Rivets are used in most cases, and pretty much all lian li cases. At least on the parts not meant to be taken apart by the end user. But if you need to do mods, you can easily drill them and and replace them again - the rivets are aluminum, I just did it to my Lian Li PC-Q25B this weekend.

Just curious since they used all screws in the renders, I wasn't sure if their intention was to ship with all screws (awesome) or were leaving it up to lian-li.
 
Hello, I've been following this thread for some time now. I'm really a huge fan to SFF and especially this project. I really like the idea, concept and almost all about it. I'm interested in 2 pieces of this case.

I'm a bit confused now, because you told several times that you plan to produce 300-500 cases, there will be two indiegogo campaigns. 1st to raise money for prototypes and testing. 2nd to order production cases.

Now after some time I looked at indiegogo (1st campaign) and there states under "Perks" that Prototype (1 piece), Early shipment list (299 pieces) and Early shipment list 2 (200 pieces) are already sold out.

Is there any possibility to get this case when the production starts or am I out of the game? Will you produce more than 500 cases?

[edit]

Don't need to be on early shipment list, just want this unique case :)

You will still have a chance to buy this case. They will make as many cases as there is demand for, and in fact the more cases they make the cheaper they will get. You just may have to wait a little bit longer to get your case. Make sure you participate in the second funding campaign when it goes up, though!
 
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