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

AFD said:
I'd just really hate to see people buying hardware that might not fit in the M1 (though I have a feeling that might happen quite often, unfortunately).
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Thats seemingly the huge challenge we all face, and part of the fun doing the research and picking components that we think will work.

However the reality of it is that theres so much out that that wont fit or work, theres bound to be purchases that wont fit for a multitude of reasons. Its good for stimulating the economy?? haha

But thats also the beauty of this case, that the things that fit perfectly, make excellent use of the available space, and therefore give you the smallest case possible. We could all simply get a ATX tower and fit everything, but thats just not what we're aiming for :D



So, back to dimensions... whats the dimension from the middle of the gfx PCIE slot to the floor of the case?
 
Just got my confirmation e-mail.. with the wrong address :(

Hopefully it gets resolved pretty quickly and the time difference isn't too much of a pain in the ass for communications.

GMT-5 vs GMT+1 :/
 
Same in my case today, but i replied and hope it will be changed without problems :)
 
ipuoL said:
Same in my case today, but i replied and hope it will be changed without problems :)
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As bad as it sounds, I'm happy that I'm not the only one :p

The order was correct but the address was listed in Texas, wrong continent!
 
I had my old adress in paypal, because i forgot to change it after moving to my new place :( *facepalm*
 
Does the apogee drive 2 fit as well as the h220 pump? I feel like it might be me beneficial to have a decently strong pump for better reliability.

What other radiators on the market will fit? For sure?
 
Siba said:
Does the apogee drive 2 fit as well as the h220 pump? I feel like it might be me beneficial to have a decently strong pump for better reliability.
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I was thinking about this too. AD2 will fit but is it really better than the H220 pump? I mean sure it's faster, more flow, more max head pressure. But in a small loop like this with only CPU GPU and rad you don't need high flow. Modern waterblock design doesn't need so much turbulence any more. I never run my AD2s over half speed, and mostly on 40%, and the H220 pump can go higher than that.

So I was thinking more like this: H220 warranty is 3 years compared to AD2's 2 year warranty. MTBF is in favour of the H220. It uses the same waterblock, and comes with rad, res and decent fans. The rad/res certainly fits in the M1. It even uses the same size tubing that I've got on my other rigs.

And it's cheaper for the whole kit than the AD2 is for just the pump.
 
I'm pretty sure the apogee drive will fit as well, but being that i have a custom loop that is getting fairly old, I'd rather spend $130 for new everything and bring my gpu block over vs just $150 on a block/pump. They look to be pretty much the same dimensions, so I'd think it'd be ok
 
WiSK said:
I was thinking about this too. AD2 will fit but is it really better than the H220 pump? I mean sure it's faster, more flow, more max head pressure. But in a small loop like this with only CPU GPU and rad you don't need high flow. Modern waterblock design doesn't need so much turbulence any more. I never run my AD2s over half speed, and mostly on 40%, and the H220 pump can go higher than that.

So I was thinking more like this: H220 warranty is 3 years compared to AD2's 2 year warranty. MTBF is in favour of the H220. It uses the same waterblock, and comes with rad, res and decent fans. The rad/res certainly fits in the M1. It even uses the same size tubing that I've got on my other rigs.

And it's cheaper for the whole kit than the AD2 is for just the pump.
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I was thinking I'd almost rather have a pump running at 20% and driving the loop with ease than a pump running at 80% and "getting by". The margin of comfort on the h220 seems a little slim, but I'm the type of person that drives a manual at 2k to 3k rpm instead of 4.5k+. I'm sure running the engine harder is fine from a statistical viewpoint, and maybe I'm in the minority here when discussing a tiny water pump
 
wahaha360 said:
Error on my end. I have your addresses - I coded the Excel Macro the wrong way.

Will resend soon.
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I had an error in my address, specifically the zip code missing the first digit (a 0). I didn't receive a reply and didn't really expect one. Should I have?

*Edit: And now I have received a reply.
 
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milkcow said:
Considering AMDs 9000series (aka R9-2xx) will mainly consist of relabeld products, except the top tier cards, which well probably be > 500-600 USD at launch, it might not be such a bad idea afterall.
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Yeah I guess I'm just a Nvidia fanboy, Ive always had good luck with the green team. If AMD gives us a faster card before the 800 series launch it will be hard to resist though.
 
Siba said:
I was thinking I'd almost rather have a pump running at 20% and driving the loop with ease than a pump running at 80% and "getting by". The margin of comfort on the h220 seems a little slim, but I'm the type of person that drives a manual at 2k to 3k rpm instead of 4.5k+. I'm sure running the engine harder is fine from a statistical viewpoint, and maybe I'm in the minority here when discussing a tiny water pump
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Not the minority I think, I can understand your preference.

But I think you underestimate the H220 pump. It's far above the kind of pumps used in CPU-only AIOs like the Corsair H100 and such. It is very similar to the AD2 pump: same size impeller and same motor design. AD2 parts are sourced from Laing, the H220 parts are apparently made by Swiftech in-house. The difference with the H220 is that (in stock configuration with the PWM splitter) pump speed is tied to fan speed. In order to allow full fan speed, the pump ramping tails off between 2500-3000rpm. So I think it mechanically could do more, but they lowered the PWM curve to avoid reviewers and non-enthusiasts saying "oh, it's so loud* at full speed".

Edit: check Martin's Liquid Lab review, page 6 at 65% PWM the pump is at 2500 while the fans are at max. The pump itself reaches full speed 3000rpm at 90% PWM. Compared to the AD2 where the pump goes to 4500rpm much earlier and flattens off at like 80%.

Edit2: * when I say loud, I don't know for sure, but if the H220 is anything like the AD2 pump then it's actually pretty quiet even at full speed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1jeXDaFe_c the click at the beginning is me switching on the PSU, you can use that as a sound-level check.
 
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Siba said:
I was thinking I'd almost rather have a pump running at 20% and driving the loop with ease than a pump running at 80% and "getting by". The margin of comfort on the h220 seems a little slim, but I'm the type of person that drives a manual at 2k to 3k rpm instead of 4.5k+. I'm sure running the engine harder is fine from a statistical viewpoint, and maybe I'm in the minority here when discussing a tiny water pump
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Running the engine harder in your car occasionally is actually GOOD for it. ;)
 
Any chance whatsoever that this thing will be available to buy again??? I just discovered the forum, the beautiful case, the amazing collaboration and would be so willing to purchase this thing... I love the flexible compact and minimal design.

Could Lian Li possibly purchase the design? Could you guys do another run of 100-600 cases?

Great work, its inspiring for sure.
 
slabhatnik said:
Any chance whatsoever that this thing will be available to buy again??? I just discovered the forum, the beautiful case, the amazing collaboration and would be so willing to purchase this thing... I love the flexible compact and minimal design.

Could Lian Li possibly purchase the design? Could you guys do another run of 100-600 cases?

Great work, its inspiring for sure.
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Not anytime soon. If they did it would probably be in 2014 since they are trying to get this first batch out by end January.
 
If it could be confirmed that they'd do another run, I'd wait.... if not its back to hoping rosewill's Jonsbo partnership pans out to be worth that wait... Lian Li is all I've ever bought, but I fully agree with the whole trajectory of this project that itx cases are sorely left behind in terms of aesthetics and refined design- until of course the M1....

It just sucks to be the schmo that came along literally a week after the whole deal closed, and found such an incredible case! Thats me!!! SOL for awhile I guess.
 
slabhatnik said:
If it could be confirmed that they'd do another run, I'd wait.... if not its back to hoping rosewill's Jonsbo partnership pans out to be worth that wait... Lian Li is all I've ever bought, but I fully agree with the whole trajectory of this project that itx cases are sorely left behind in terms of aesthetics and refined design- until of course the M1....

It just sucks to be the schmo that came along literally a week after the whole deal closed, and found such an incredible case! Thats me!!! SOL for awhile I guess.
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There's always the Case Labs S3. It's a very nice case.
 
Thanks for the recommendation drklu. The S3 is nice for sure, but I am after the M1 footprint as much as anything. Fortunately, I think I just got hooked up!!!

This case project, and this entire forum are new to me as of this week. I've been reading through each page as the M1 developed... It's inspiring to examine this collaboration resulting in such a superior design as well as the fact that it is actually going to production- especially in this day and age of profit driven manufacturing where true design and aesthetics are always afterthoughts and where the end users are left to what is available.

Can't wait to build in this thing. It'll be my first watercooled rig for sure.... now to begin that research. Recommendations welcome!
 
slabhatnik said:
Thanks for the recommendation drklu. The S3 is nice for sure, but I am after the M1 footprint as much as anything. Fortunately, I think I just got hooked up!!!

This case project, and this entire forum are new to me as of this week. I've been reading through each page as the M1 developed... It's inspiring to examine this collaboration resulting in such a superior design as well as the fact that it is actually going to production- especially in this day and age of profit driven manufacturing where true design and aesthetics are always afterthoughts and where the end users are left to what is available.

Can't wait to build in this thing. It'll be my first watercooled rig for sure.... now to begin that research. Recommendations welcome!
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That's great to hear, you are fortunate to get one after the fact. If your water cooling check out NCIX. They have H220's for $130 and will ship to the US.
 
Is the Swiftech the way to go- over a Corsair or something? I'm wondering if I should maybe go with a single fan unit to accommodate as many HDD's as possible.... I run 3 OS's and am currently thinking of dismantling and parting out my mothership to help pay for a really tight itx build in the m1. I see the Swiftech H220 pictured in a lot of the M1 sample photos, I assume that the consensus is that this is the way most go when doing high-end builds.
 
slabhatnik said:
Thanks for the recommendation drklu. The S3 is nice for sure, but I am after the M1 footprint as much as anything. Fortunately, I think I just got hooked up!!!

This case project, and this entire forum are new to me as of this week. I've been reading through each page as the M1 developed... It's inspiring to examine this collaboration resulting in such a superior design as well as the fact that it is actually going to production- especially in this day and age of profit driven manufacturing where true design and aesthetics are always afterthoughts and where the end users are left to what is available.

Can't wait to build in this thing. It'll be my first watercooled rig for sure.... now to begin that research. Recommendations welcome!
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Glad to hear you got hooked up. I think there will be people coming along for many months after saying, "I wish I knew about this case!". Also, welcome to the forums. :)
 
Skott said:
Glad to hear you got hooked up. I think there will be people coming along for many months after saying, "I wish I knew about this case!". Also, welcome to the forums. :)
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i was almost one of those i wish i knew about this
 
I definitely feel lucky. Even if they do end up with the worlds best itx case ever and Lian Li buys the design and makes thousands of them- even if the price drops to under 100 bucks a pop on newegg, I am super happy to have one of the first batch and to have supported the upstart of the whole thing.

As much as I want my M1 this minute, it's also nice to be browsing all the other hardware I'm gonna fit in to her....
 
slabhatnik said:
As much as I want my M1 this minute, it's also nice to be browsing all the other hardware I'm gonna fit in to her....
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As much as I love planning out my purchases for months or years on end, just be careful you don't get stir crazy during the wait..

I'm busy thinking up new ways to stuff 20L of gear into a 12L box :D
 
AFD said:
As much as I love planning out my purchases for months or years on end, just be careful you don't get stir crazy during the wait..

I'm busy thinking up new ways to stuff 20L of gear into a 12L box :D
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post up your ideas, i wanna put the gpu and cpu under water, was thinking about the pump/waterblock in one to save a little bit of space. past that im at a loss right now.
 
I just paid for the silver one but noticed something about extra top cover with no slot cutout? Does it mean I will get 2 top covers - one with slot cutout and one with no slot cutout if I paid $15?

Sorry I could not read every page.
 
danny.nguyen said:
I just paid for the silver one but noticed something about extra top cover with no slot cutout? Does it mean I will get 2 top covers - one with slot cutout and one with no slot cutout if I paid $15?
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Yes, if you paid the extra $15 for "Extra no-ODD slot top cover" you should receive both top covers.

vortaku said:
post up your ideas, i wanna put the gpu and cpu under water, was thinking about the pump/waterblock in one to save a little bit of space. past that im at a loss right now.
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Nothing too crazy. Doing big air on i7, lots of fans, 5 drives (eventually), not sure about GPU.

Will pretty much try to maximize use of every last spot, with some room left for airflow & cables. The cable management is probably gonna be the most challenging part of the build.
 
What kind of big air? I've got a nice D14 on my i7 right now, but I know it wouldn't fit in the M1. I've always liked big air, but am really interested in trying a liquid cooled rig with this case.

I also have 5 drives, 3 are 3.5" so they're likely to end up on ebay- will consolidate them to a single 4TB 3.5" and 2 SSDs for osx and windows.

The liquid cooled GPU is what I'm trying to figure out right now- I've seen aftermarket waterblocks for them but have no idea if my 660 could be retrofitted with one, or if I've gotta get a new hydro copper to do it. If the latter is the case I'll probably stick with air at least for GPU and just keep my 660 for a while.

Wish I could find a single fan swiftech.... Nothing on their site, did they ever make one? I particularly like the fact that their system is expandable.
 
extide said:
Running the engine harder in your car occasionally is actually GOOD for it. ;)
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fact

you will wear a ridge at the top of the ring stroke always shifting early, then one day you will rap it up to pass on a hill and bust a ring
 
A bit of a random question, but I only thought of it now that I'm getting an AIO for this, and I'm deciding between the H100i and the H220 (while I can still get it from NCIX). I'm sure everyone will favor the H220 in some way or another, but there's one little niggling with both of them...

This being a computer I will tote around on a plane when I'm flying to/from college, are there any known issues with taking AIO systems on a plane? Comprehensively, that means getting through security with it, how well it resists bumpy movements and any kind of instantaneous g-loading, and, of course, how these will deal with decreased air pressure.

Any reports of AIO coolers bursting because of exposure to low air pressure?

Should I just get an NH-C12? :p
 
What do you guys think of the new Zalman Reserator 3 MAX? It might be a good option for those who want side mounted 3.5in HDDs and no GPU. The few reviews that exist at this point have been mildly positive to positive on it and put it near/next to the Swiftech H220 and Silverstone TD03 on an AMD FX-8320 overclocked to 4.6GHz. Problem is it is exhaust only with no way to change the fan. It is rated between 18.9db - 36.7db, 90 liter/hr flow, has short rubber tubes, and looks like it would fit the M1. Not any good for video cooling when the H220 is about the same price, but it might be an alternative to the larger H80i and TD03 120mm-class AIOs. Its supposed to deliver 375-400W cooling capacity. Any comments or opinions?

Zalman Reserator 3 MAX Nanofluid AIO Liquid CPU Cooler Review
Zalman Reserator 3 MAX
 
Nick0matic said:
Any reports of AIO coolers bursting because of exposure to low air pressure?

Should I just get an NH-C12? :p
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Thankfully the coolant in AIOs does not expand significantly at low pressure, and the plastic/rubber tubes will easily accept any tiny expansion in whatever little bit of air exists in the loop.

Air heatsink is more likely to be affected by vibration if you plan to fly often with it. But even then - if you screw if down properly it won't have enough momentum (weight) to damage the motherboard PCB.

I don't know about US airline security, but you should phone them and ask about water cooled PCs. You may be able to get some kind of letter from them that you can hand in at security that might save you some hassle.
 
Nick0matic said:
This being a computer I will tote around on a plane when I'm flying to/from college, are there any known issues with taking AIO systems on a plane? Comprehensively, that means getting through security with it, how well it resists bumpy movements and any kind of instantaneous g-loading, and, of course, how these will deal with decreased air pressure.

Any reports of AIO coolers bursting because of exposure to low air pressure?
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I really don't see why you'd have any problems w/water-cooled M1 as carry-on, since the cabin is pressurized.

But I do wonder if your rig could be flagged if it contains a fluid amount above whatever their current restriction is (I imagine they might want to pop the side panel off to take a closer look if they notice "strange" liquid-filled tubing in the x-ray).

Probably less of a hassle to just check-in the M1 as luggage, but I'm not sure the cargo area is pressurized as well as the cabin. Plus, the way some of those guys toss around luggage loading and unloading.. I'd be a nervous wreck watching that.

I'd personally be more comfortable doing air-cooled w/solid-state drives only as a carry-on, if you're traveling a lot. But if airline & TSA are okay w/water-cooled rigs as carry-on, then go for it. Seems like a crap-shoot, though.

EDIT: Yeah, what WiSK just said :D
 
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