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

FrozenQ PC Mods
Dear XXXXXXXXXXX,
Your order # XXXXXXXXX has been
Creating Product.

Due to the fire in the beginning of November, the reservoirs are finally done, and we are just waiting on faceplates to arrive (since we don't have a laser right now). Once the faceplates come in early next week they will ship.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at [email protected] or by phone at [email protected].

Last email I received from them.
Edit: This was received on 11/21/13
 
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Last email I received from them.
Edit: This was received on 11/21/13

I got some information from Alex yesterday. He said that the fronts (lids) that had to be laser cut were coming in that day according to tracking. He said that he would be working on them as soon as they came in and shipping as soon as possible. His web site has a similar statement on it. I think they may be shipping soon if not already. You might want to keep an eye out for a tracking number over the next few days.
 
I got some information from Alex yesterday. He said that the fronts (lids) that had to be laser cut were coming in that day according to tracking. He said that he would be working on them as soon as they came in and shipping as soon as possible. His web site has a similar statement on it. I think they may be shipping soon if not already. You might want to keep an eye out for a tracking number over the next few days.

Awesome. thanks for the update adamantium! Now I need to figure out the rest of the build. As of now I have the following parts.
4770k - $227
840pro 256gb - $180
HD650's - $244.77
Reservoir - $81.24
Evga 680 2gb - $265
Ncase M1 - $205
Overall, I have done pretty well with finding good deals. Now for figuring out water cooling, headphone amp, studio monitors, mobo, and power supply. Hopefully the ITX MSI board comes out soon so I can snag that and an AD2, ST30, scythe 120mm fans, tubing, fittings and I should be ready to build my fully water cooled M1!
 
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Hey fellas, with your tracking number in the US, what does it say when it's been delivered?

The last update on my is November 7th in Taiwan :(

Early ship list 2

Pretty sure no one has received their M1 in the US yet, aside from VIPs (M4rk & W360's roomate) and The_Cheese, who received the prototype.

Last activity on mine (and probably everyone else's) via USPS & iPost was that it left Taiwan on Nov 7, headed for New Jersey on dispatch #26. It's been the same status ever since.
 
Pretty sure no one has received their M1 in the US yet, aside from VIPs (M4rk & W360's roomate) and The_Cheese, who received the prototype.

Last activity on mine (and probably everyone else's) via USPS & iPost was that it left Taiwan on Nov 7, headed for New Jersey on dispatch #26. It's been the same status ever since.

I think someone said to expect 28 days in transit, so we should start to see status updates late this week or early next.
 
Where did you manage to find HD 650s for $244?

That's not the only great deal he found. The 840pro at $180 is really good as well. I got mine on sale for $223 back in June. They are still $233 at newegg and $222 at amazon.
 
duct tape.... :D

or one of those brackets mentioned 50 or 100 pages ago.... (drill required for the top I think...)

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8797/ex-pmp-79/UNDesigns_Z2_Pump_Bracket_-_120mm_Fan_Mount.html

I didn´t realize how can I use it.

I was originally planning to install a fan to the top panel, and as an exhaust, i would have simply used good quality double sided tape to attach it to the panel. One for the back of the motor and depending on how much attachment i want, maybe the corners too.

A simple suggestion: double-sided mounting tape, e.g. from 3M. You would only need a small piece of tape in each corner of the fan (or only in two opposite corners), since the glue is ridiculously strong. No need to worry about the fan falling off, I promise. :)

Thanks! This will be my 2nd option. Probably I will open cover top frequently (just to everything working :D ) So I will try to figure out a way to attach this fan at side bar of chassi. Lets see if a spare piece included in box helps me.
 
I think someone said to expect 28 days in transit, so we should start to see status updates late this week or early next.

So this Thursday is..

28-Days-Later-Posters.jpg


..and the M1 is a new strain of virus that will turn us into flesh-eating zombies?
 
You have it installed in an M1 already? My concern was the combination of M1 + ASRock Z87 + C12P SE14, just from what I had been reading on this thread.

I'm sure it could work somehow someway, but I was concerned about the build difficulty given my lack of skill (never having done an iTX build, and frankly had frustrations working with rather large mATX mobos and cases).

I'd like to see that if you have time. The more pics we have of people's set ups the better.

Don't know how much help these are. Indeed it is very close. The second picture shows how much the cooler extends above the motehrboard in the sideways heat pipe orientation. You can see the line I marked. I can't really measure it accurately in the case, it's very close to 10mm. I played around with the fan mount and I couldn't really get it to bend well enough to allow it to mount, but I think it should be easy enough to fabricate some metal wire ties to lower it without an issue.



Based on Phuncz build, I think there are a few mm to spare above his 62mm with his NH-L12 oriented with heat pipes facing down, so the 63mm (listed value) should be ok.

So let's get the ball rolling:

This is what I'm using in the build:

● Ncase M1 - N° 0796
● Asrock Z87E-ITX
● Intel Core i5-4670K
● Noctua NH-L12
● 2x 8GB Crucial VLP 1600MHz
● AMD Radeon R9 290X (reference)
● Samsung 830 256GB SSD
● Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W SFX PSU


bFHQIqn.jpg

So the orientation for the NH-L12 on the Z87E-ITX I used for the CM Elite 130 doesn't work, it sticks out at the top (see pic) and towards the I/O ports.

twt2zjq.jpg

So don't install this cooler on this motherboard like this, it won't fit.

e4G5YLc.jpg

But this orientation does !

M6y55Cq.jpg

Although barely spareing a few millimeters on the top. So you're mounting the heatpipes towards the top.

vqiOwo6.jpg

AMD Radeon R9 290X fits, I routed the HD-AUDIO plug over the GPU to not bend it too sharply. You can zip-tie it at the bottom (top of the pic) on the side to secure and hide it.

do1NwAk.jpg

Here you see everything mounted and connected. I like the SSD being tucked away to the right.

2gjHuKi.jpg

Where did the SSD go ? It just vanished.

WIqcjC0.jpg

Top view, here you can see the CPU has about 55-60mm left. So enough for a slim radiator.

93pVO2H.jpg

Although the CPU backplate isn't fully accessible (an issue for later), the mSATA slot is.

plRlanV.jpg

Nothing but cables in the front. I put the T-shape SATA power connector just inside that slot so I don't have to stuff it somewhere else. Zip-tie to keep cables from moving about.

9Za6hXa.png

Top view showing the clearances. I didn't have any cables acting strange.

The assembled computer is quiet, CPU is a little less cool than in the Elite 130 but it also had an extra fan. I might change the fan profile to compensate, I'll need tot test.

All in all I am damn impressed with the work done by Necere and Wahaha360 in designing a brilliant case and delivering it to my door with the best trans-continental shipping experience ever. You guys deserve medals for being pinnacles in the community. Respect and love for the both of you !
 
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That's not the only great deal he found. The 840pro at $180 is really good as well. I got mine on sale for $223 back in June. They are still $233 at newegg and $222 at amazon.

Purchased it off a seller here on [H] bnib. Actually come to think of it everything I got so far has been from the hot deals or the for sale threads. Well except my Ducky shine 3 green backlit with mx reds thats on its way. Picked it up for $135.
 
The 290x is quiet too? I thought they were noisey or is that just the 290? Thanks for the pics!
 
The 290x is quiet too? I thought they were noisey or is that just the 290? Thanks for the pics!

It's all about the fan profile. The 290 is louder in uber mode at full load then the 290x due to the high fan speed top end fan speed. But not by much. In uber both are louder than one would normally want. But it's not loud enough to a deal breaker unless you over value noise levels at load over performance.
 
So this Thursday is..

28-Days-Later-Posters.jpg


..and the M1 is a new strain of virus that will turn us into flesh-eating zombies?

From the info I found, I think it takes 34 days to get to Jersey from Taiwan via the pacific ocean. Tomorrow puts us at 27 days from the 7th and that leaves one more week for 34 days. Then some of us have 5-7 days probably of land travel if nothing else gets in the way (like the USPS and customs). So I am anticipating the boat hits shore on the 11th and then reaches me between the 16th and the 18th (the middle of December we have been hearing about). Maybe even the week before Christmas. Maybe even the week after Christmas (cringe). Things may move a little faster with all of the extra help they have during the holidays, or it may get plugged up with all the extra packages they have. Whatever happens this week will be important. Hopefully you are right about 28 after all there aren't any movie posters for 34.

By the way I just asked the Internet about customs and it said 4 days minimum and 10 days maximum during busy seasons like Christmas. Maybe it has already landed and is just waiting in customs. If so, and it takes 10 days to get through customs, and then 7 days to get to destination, we are talking about the 20th as of today, and the 27th if 34 is accurate. Looks like the 16th - 20th is the optimistic estimate.
 
From the info I found, I think it takes 34 days to get to Jersey from Taiwan via the pacific ocean. Tomorrow puts us at 27 days from the 7th and that leaves one more week for 34 days.

My early shipment cases have an Oct 31st acceptance date, 7 days earlier. In preparation I opened my H220 and discovered it has a buzzing pump at low rpms. That was such a letdown.

On a more positive note, I have some 780 TI power consumption numbers for a P8Z77-I DLX/3770k/16gb 1.35v/H220/3 ssd/1 2.5" hdd/ST45SF-G system. I saw maximum of 325w in both furmark and the Metro LL benchmark. This was at stock frequencies, US 120v, and measured on a kill-a-watt. The system idles at 44w if anyone cares.

With the 780 TI at +200 core (1206mhz) and +200 mem (1850mhz), I measured a peak of 361w during three Metro LL benchmark runs.

I have to say I'm really pleased with the titan cooler. Mine doesn't exhibit any bearing/motor noise and doesn't seem to ramp up and down quickly like my 670s windforce 3x cooler. In other words, it doesn't do anything that negatively draws my attention to its noise profile.

Edit: I swapped the H220 for a Noctua heatsink and now the 780 ti idle fan is audible. There is some motor noise but less than an un-modded silverstone 450w IIRC. Also Swiftech support is telling me there's trapped air in the pump so I'm letting it run and have shaken/moved it around trying to free it. We'll see.
 
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The 290x is quiet too? I thought they were noisey or is that just the 290? Thanks for the pics!
I wouldn't call it quiet, but it's certainly not loud to me (*) in Quiet Mode. Uber Mode is just 10 times the noise for 0,1 times more performance.

* Mind you, I don't live in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no gray noise. So I'm not irritated when my PC generates 17-37dB. And when it goes up, my game's sound will probably already be up.
 
Has anyone customized their PSU cables for this case yet? I am curious what are your cable lengths. I'm using the Node 304 as a surrogate case until the M1 arrives and I have to say that the stock cables that came with the Silverstone sfx sucks.
 
I was planning to go custom wc with a R9 290, but i've discovered that vibration is a bit of an issue for me in the M1. As a test i've put a 1TB 3.5 inch drive in the bottom as I was planning to, and there is easily enough hum to annoy me. Having a pump sitting down there without much padding will likely be worse.

My new plan is to get a stock 780 and an i5 4670K, asus z87i-pro, and the noctua NH-U9B SE2.. Am I right in thinking that the mobo and cpu cooler are a good match and should fit under the side mounting bracket, with an intake fan mounted on the front end of that bracket and the cooler blowing air towards the rear with it's second fan on the back of the case?
 
I was planning to go custom wc with a R9 290, but i've discovered that vibration is a bit of an issue for me in the M1. As a test i've put a 1TB 3.5 inch drive in the bottom as I was planning to, and there is easily enough hum to annoy me. Having a pump sitting down there without much padding will likely be worse.

My new plan is to get a stock 780 and an i5 4670K, asus z87i-pro, and the noctua NH-U9B SE2.. Am I right in thinking that the mobo and cpu cooler are a good match and should fit under the side mounting bracket, with an intake fan mounted on the front end of that bracket and the cooler blowing air towards the rear with it's second fan on the back of the case?

When using your HDD on the bottom of the case, did you use something like rubber washers to prevent noise via vibration?

Also, if you are going with the Asus z87 ITX mobo, you are probably better off with the Noctua NH-C14. It's a bigger heatsink that will keep your CPU cooler.
 
When using your HDD on the bottom of the case, did you use something like rubber washers to prevent noise via vibration?

Also, if you are going with the Asus z87 ITX mobo, you are probably better off with the Noctua NH-C14. It's a bigger heatsink that will keep your CPU cooler.

Also, the C14 pulls cold air from the side panel, giving you better CPU temps, and a lower fan RPM, not to mention the larger slower fan too.


On another note...

YAY!!!, I have a message from people at home that my case has landed at home. (Perth Australia). Can't wait to get home now! Especially when today is scheduled to be a longer day at work... dang, but regardless, better than arriving tomorrow.

With 30% of cases registered on the spreadsheet, My cases are the only ones in the state of Western Australia, of two and a half million square kilometres. There could be more cases here, but so far mine are the only two registered in the state.

I'm eager to see if my trimmed Noctua C14 cooler fits into this case, and how much room I have for the fans
 
That bulk of sleeved cables doesn't look very appealing to me - very messy and takes up a lot of space.

But damn if I'm not jealous of the 0888 serial.
 
That bulk of sleeved cables doesn't look very appealing to me - very messy and takes up a lot of space.

You could also call it 'natural flowing' ;)

But I think looks are deceiving. If you look on at Cimator's other picture then you see that the wires and sleeving fit nicely in the space between MB, PSU and radiator.
 
When using your HDD on the bottom of the case, did you use something like rubber washers to prevent noise via vibration?

Also, if you are going with the Asus z87 ITX mobo, you are probably better off with the Noctua NH-C14. It's a bigger heatsink that will keep your CPU cooler.

For the HDD I used the stock mounting method provided with the M1, which does use rubber spacers.

I want to suck the hot air directly out the back of the case, so I'd rather have the tower cooler. Also this way I can have one good high pressure 120mm intake fan with a filter supplying air to the psu and cpu cooler and I can keep the weight down.
 
I completed my eyefinity set-up!

3x Acer p244w. So after all this waiting and thinking out my M1 build, I'm afraid that I can't power my set-up with anything fitting the M1 :( I think the max resolution for high setting gaming will be 2560x1440 in the M1 with current availabe graphic cards.

I want to play BF4/GTA5/Crysis 3 etc. on high settings, so my M1 might end up in storage for a later build :(

It's actually a good thing, now I ain't making a system that can't power my requirements.

The Hardware that I ordered but won't be using in the near future:

  • M1 ncase with extra no ODD drive
  • The bluerray drive that showed up in this topic
  • The cooling resevoir that showed up in this topic

Feels kinda sad, but it's for the better :p Or does anyone think I can power 3 x 1080p in some way out of my M1?

Ok, I Changed my mind again.

I'm gone run my eyefinity on my M1 case.

Therefor I will need the absolutely most powerfull set-up possible inside it.

I dare any1 to make a more powerfull system under 2 K:
http://tweakers.net/gallery/288225/#tab:inventaris
 
On another note...

YAY!!!, I have a message from people at home that my case has landed at home. (Perth Australia). Can't wait to get home now! Especially when today is scheduled to be a longer day at work... dang, but regardless, better than arriving tomorrow.

With 30% of cases registered on the spreadsheet, My cases are the only ones in the state of Western Australia, of two and a half million square kilometres. There could be more cases here, but so far mine are the only two registered in the state.
s

Your the 2nd i have mine already I'm also in Western Australia.



Will i have any problem moving my hardware over from my current case specs below? I mite pick one of these ST45SF-G up seeing the cables are going to be way to long on my CoolerMaster 550w, Also will my GPU cook because of the dual fan cooler?

Intel Core i7 4770K, Liquid Pro TIM @ 4.6Ghz 1.272v 24/7
ASUS Maximus VI Impact
Corsair H100i + 2x Cooler Master Excalibur + 2x XtraFlo Slim PWM Fans In Push/Pull
Kingston HyperX Beast 2400mhz 16gb
EVGA GeForce GTX 780 TI SuperClocked w/EVGA ACX Cooler
2x Samsung 840 pro 256 SSD in RAID 0, Western Digital WD Black 1TB,
MyDigitalSSD 128GB M.2 NGFF
CoolerMaster 550W Silent Pro GOLD
 
Will i have any problem moving my hardware over from my current case specs below? I mite pick one of these ST45SF-G up seeing the cables are going to be way to long on my CoolerMaster 550w, Also will my GPU cook because of the dual fan cooler?

You CANNOT install a DUAL RAD (240mm) with an ATX PSU !!!
NOT POSSIBLE!
 
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