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

For the right angled cable, it mentions, "Included with the M1 v1 only, and compatible with all versions of the M1. May be useful for certain powers supplies where the left-angle power cable will not fit."

Does this mean it's very long like the original V1 cable? Will this be a better fit for the Corsair SF600?
 
Glad to see you guys were able to acquire some more additional fan brackets. Got that along with the SFX bracket and some clips "just in case" for my V1. Haven't managed to break one of those so far.
 
I ordered the SFX bracket on the 13th and then ordered the steel fan bracket on the 15th. I don't mind the extra shipping costs but will they be shipped at the same time?
Both are part of the current production run and won't be shipped until next month, so they should be shipped at the same time.

Will they fit underneath the ACX cooler?
You can have fans under any card that doesn't exceed two slots thick. So yes.

For the right angled cable, it mentions, "Included with the M1 v1 only, and compatible with all versions of the M1. May be useful for certain powers supplies where the left-angle power cable will not fit."

Does this mean it's very long like the original V1 cable? Will this be a better fit for the Corsair SF600?
The cable is shortened compared to the actual v1 cable, and is the same length as the left-angle cable used since v2.

Right-angle is a little better for the SF600, since the left-angle will extend past the edge of the PSU. If the PSU is oriented so the fan draws from the right side of the case, the power cable will hang out over the motherboard. Oriented the other way, the cable passes through the opening at the top-front of the chassis, so it could be a problem if you have an optical drive installed. The fit with left-angle cable and the SF600 is pretty similar to how the right-angle fits with the ST45SF-G and SX600-G.
 
Just oreder the fan bracket with filter for my v3! very excited as my other filters would not fit. thanks for all the hard work! now just need to sell the h105, and get the hg10 with two h75s installed
 
Have a Dark Rock TF heading my way as a local review unit presented itself, but I sold off my rigs to wait for Skylake and only have my E3 Xeon/E3C226D2I at the moment. If I manage to find a cheap Z97 ITX board I'll do some fitment testing and take photos.
 
Have a Dark Rock TF heading my way as a local review unit presented itself, but I sold off my rigs to wait for Skylake and only have my E3 Xeon/E3C226D2I at the moment. If I manage to find a cheap Z97 ITX board I'll do some fitment testing and take photos.

Wow, amazing commitment! Definitely appreciated.
 
You can have fans under any card that doesn't exceed two slots thick. So yes.

Would it be better to have the fans that are mounted at the bottom to be configured as intake or exhaust to help with controlling the temperatures of a non-reference GPU? I wanted to have all my fans as intakes so I could passively exhaust all the hot air through the open vents to prevent dust from settling in the case, just not sure what to do about mounting the fans as an intake or exhaust near the gpu.

Have a Dark Rock TF heading my way as a local review unit presented itself, but I sold off my rigs to wait for Skylake and only have my E3 Xeon/E3C226D2I at the moment. If I manage to find a cheap Z97 ITX board I'll do some fitment testing and take photos.

I took the plunge and purchased a Dark Rock TF for my new build with a Asus Z97I-Plus. If there any clearance issues I'll post back on here.
 
Would it be better to have the fans that are mounted at the bottom to be configured as intake or exhaust to help with controlling the temperatures of a non-reference GPU? I wanted to have all my fans as intakes so I could passively exhaust all the hot air through the open vents to prevent dust from settling in the case, just not sure what to do about mounting the fans as an intake or exhaust near the gpu.
You don't want the bottom fans configured as exhaust or they'll be fighting the GPU fans. You could remove those, but then it'd be best to have a duct between the bottom fans and the GPU heatsink.
 
I'm definitely a lurker here. So, first post!

I pre-ordered V4 first day it became available. Now I have some time to decide what to put on it.

My build is going to focus mostly on a quiet build. Not high end performance stuff. At least for now. I'm transplanting my current ITX build to this:

Zoltac H67 1155 motherboard
Core i7 2600k
CoolerMaster Vortex Plus CPU cooler
8GB Ram
Onboard video

The main reason I got the M1, is to have flexibility. This is going to be my case for years, that's how I'm justifying paying a premium for this case and put it low end stuff for now. Also, my focus is to have this as silent as possible!

So first thing. Which PSU should I get?? I'm still undecided on SFX-L vs ATX. How does the Silverstone 500W SFX-L compare to a good ATX as far as noise goes. Would the Seasonic Fanless 520W survive with my low end components? I'd add 2 or 3 120mm Fans, running at 5V, for case ventilation.

Anything regarding PSU in my situation would help. I read a lot about the M1 builds, but most of them focus on higher end stuff than what I'm putting now. Eventually, I'll upgrade and then maybe add higher end stuff, like a decent video card, etc.

Thanks!
 
Re-use your current PSU if you can since you are using onboard video. More (likely better) SFX options will present themselves in the coming months that should align with the rest of your computer purchase. Things such as the Corsairs 600W SFX and Silverstones 700W SFX-L.
 
Re-use your current PSU if you can since you are using onboard video. More (likely better) SFX options will present themselves in the coming months that should align with the rest of your computer purchase. Things such as the Corsairs 600W SFX and Silverstones 700W SFX-L.
Yeah. That sounds like a very good plan for now. I'm using an Apex MI-008, so it's 250W SFX power supply.

I'll transplant everything and then check the noise level. I'm not sure how quiet this Apex PSU really is. My current build is noisy, but mostly due to the other fans I have running. The Apex is a very small case, so I can't run all the fans at 5v, like I'm planning to on the M1.
 
What blu-ray burners are a good fit for nCase? Are some quieter then others? Are other better? I Would like like to burn both Blu-Ray and DVD and how do I eject disks from it? I can't see any eject button? Only SW-eject?
 
What blu-ray burners are a good fit for nCase? Are some quieter then others? Are other better? I Would like like to burn both Blu-Ray and DVD and how do I eject disks from it? I can't see any eject button? Only SW-eject?
No slot-loading burners will have a usable physical eject button, only soft-eject.
Unfortunately, in terms of speed, noise, and ability to override region-protection nonsense (RPC-1 firmware), all slim slot-loading BD writers are equally bad. In actual use,, they are pretty much identical. Go with whatever drive you can find for cheapest.
 
No slot-loading burners will have a usable physical eject button, only soft-eject.
Unfortunately, in terms of speed, noise, and ability to override region-protection nonsense (RPC-1 firmware), all slim slot-loading BD writers are equally bad. In actual use,, they are pretty much identical. Go with whatever drive you can find for cheapest.

So I wasn't really planning on watching many Bluray movies on it, maybe a few. But more on burning backups to BD disc, are these also region-protected? In was planning to buing my discs online from all over the world whomever is cheapest.

And are there non slim drives that don't have region-protection?
 
Long-time lurker, first-time buyer. Looking-forward to my V4!

I'm going to use mine as a server. If I'm installing 4x3.5" HDDs, is the only option to mount on the side bracket (I ordered the extra tray)?

Can one mount 4 3.5" HDDs on the bottom of the case if no card is being used in the PCI-E slot (using onboard video)?

If I can mount the HDDs on the bottom, that would give me more HSF options for the CPU.
 
Long-time lurker, first-time buyer. Looking-forward to my V4!

I'm going to use mine as a server. If I'm installing 4x3.5" HDDs, is the only option to mount on the side bracket (I ordered the extra tray)?

Can one mount 4 3.5" HDDs on the bottom of the case if no card is being used in the PCI-E slot (using onboard video)?

If I can mount the HDDs on the bottom, that would give me more HSF options for the CPU.

To answer your question, yes you can mount HDDs in the bottom. Somewhere in this thread there is a picture of a yellow themed M1. It has two WD Black 4TB drives in a bracket mounted in the bottom with a short video card. Edit: I completly missed you wanted to mount four in the bottom. It looks to be possible if you have two mounted like the yellow themed M1, and then two mounted lengthwise under the motherboard. Someone else would have to chime in about 4 mounted on the bottom.


As an aside, I have purchased two V4s. I was originally going to use two Node 304s, but decided I should be able to squeeze everything I want into the M1s.

One system will be a high end gaming system/workstation that will dual boot Windows 10 and OSX and the other will be a file server. The way I am planning on setting up my file/media server is with 6HDDs. Basically I am planning on having four hdds mounted to the side using the HDD brackets, and I will then use a bracket with two HDDs in the bottom under the motherboard. The CPU will be cooled by 92mm AIO radiator that will be placed in the bottom front as intake. There will be a 92mm fan up top as exhaust. I would prefer to use the 92mm aio up top as exhaust but it will not fit with the HDDs over the motherboard.

I guess its kind of good that the cases won't be delivered until late July as neither of these builds will be built until Skylake comes out in August.
 
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Silver V4 no ODD ordered, along with those separate parts ordered to upgrade the V1.

The ol' V1 will indeed become a combination HTPC/file server in the future.
 
The 3.5" HDD cage wasn't designed to be mounted on the bottom, but you guys made me curious so I did some investigating.

First, mounting the cage lengthwise on the bottom-rear does work:

UuLs7pX.png


As I said, it wasn't designed to mount this way, and it almost doesn't work because the side panel clips are actually pushing up against the cage when it's mounted. That makes screwing it in a little more difficult than it could be, but it does still fit. It also leaves enough space in front for a 92mm fan, as shown.

Crosswise, however, does not work:

QPbqKET.png


It almost fits, but unfortunately the screw holes don't line up with the slots on the chassis floor. That does mean, however, that it's only four M4 tapped holes away from mounting right up. I will note that the drive+right angle SATA connectors use the entire width of the case, and will basically be touching the side panels at either end.

Also worth noting is that neither layout allows for more than two drives on the bottom. The chassis isn't long enough for a lengthwise cage plus another lengthwise or crosswise cage, and a second crosswise cage won't fit on the rear mount due to the motherboard tray.

@bznotins
Given the above, you would be able to have one cage on the fan bracket in the forward position, and one cage on the bottom-rear mounted lengthwise. This will allow for the CPU cooler flexibility you want.
 
@bznotins
Given the above, you would be able to have one cage on the fan bracket in the forward position, and one cage on the bottom-rear mounted lengthwise. This will allow for the CPU cooler flexibility you want.

That's awesome. For some strange reason (likely because I'm slow) I never considered two on the bracket and two on the floor. That will work perfectly!

Appreciate the super-detailed feedback. With drawings.

You have designed and engineered a truly beautiful and efficient mITX case. Worth every penny and can't wait for mine to arrive (and Skylake to be released for me to install!).

As a side note, it's notable how many folks (like me) are "waiting for Skylake". Seems to be more than your typical "waiting for [insert next-gen CPU here]" crowd.
 
So does anyone have any recommendations of a good BluRay burner for this? Or at least as good as I get?
 
So does anyone have any recommendations of a good BluRay burner for this? Or at least as good as I get?

I can't vouch for the quality of the burner, but I went with this one since it was recommended on the Google Sheets comments for this case. Buying the kit that I linked gives you the slim-SATA to regular-SATA connector cable which you would have to buy separately otherwise.
 
Looks like that one is the same UJ-265 that many of us use. Some of us bought OEM ones off ebay. Some bought the Silverstone branded one. It's a good option. Perhaps the only option really.
 
Looks like that one is the same UJ-265 that many of us use. Some of us bought OEM ones off ebay. Some bought the Silverstone branded one. It's a good option. Perhaps the only option really.
IIRC, LG makes one as well.

I just sold my Silverstone branded one today :(
 
I can't vouch for the quality of the burner, but I went with this one since it was recommended on the Google Sheets comments for this case. Buying the kit that I linked gives you the slim-SATA to regular-SATA connector cable which you would have to buy separately otherwise.

Wonderfull, after what I found from a little googleing is that this support M-DISC? That's what I'm planning to use it for, do you know if it support any kind of lightscribe or something? It's minimal information on Amazon.
 
The 3.5" HDD cage wasn't designed to be mounted on the bottom, but you guys made me curious so I did some investigating.

First, mounting the cage lengthwise on the bottom-rear does work:


As I said, it wasn't designed to mount this way, and it almost doesn't work because the side panel clips are actually pushing up against the cage when it's mounted. That makes screwing it in a little more difficult than it could be, but it does still fit. It also leaves enough space in front for a 92mm fan, as shown.

Crosswise, however, does not work:

It almost fits, but unfortunately the screw holes don't line up with the slots on the chassis floor. That does mean, however, that it's only four M4 tapped holes away from mounting right up. I will note that the drive+right angle SATA connectors use the entire width of the case, and will basically be touching the side panels at either end.

Also worth noting is that neither layout allows for more than two drives on the bottom. The chassis isn't long enough for a lengthwise cage plus another lengthwise or crosswise cage, and a second crosswise cage won't fit on the rear mount due to the motherboard tray.

@bznotins
Given the above, you would be able to have one cage on the fan bracket in the forward position, and one cage on the bottom-rear mounted lengthwise. This will allow for the CPU cooler flexibility you want.


Thanks. Now I know my plans will work without modification.

Now that I know my media server will work in the M1. I just have to play the waiting game to see if the Silverstone 700watt SFX-L will successfully power a dual Fury card. Hopefully those two are launched around the same time.
 
Wonderfull, after what I found from a little googleing is that this support M-DISC? That's what I'm planning to use it for, do you know if it support any kind of lightscribe or something? It's minimal information on Amazon.

I bought my Panasonic UJ-265 from Digistor. Their page lists the drive's specification, but it does not mention M-DISC compatibility. However a quick search brought me to the M-DISC site's Compatibility webpage. Here the UJ-265 is included in the list of drives that "have been tested for optimum performance". So it looks like the UJ-265 is a good choice for your needs.
 
Too bad it only support M-DISC BD and not DVD, does it have any way of writing on top of disc like lightscribe?
 
So Lian Li is going to build their own case based on this now since they were the OEM? Hows that working?
 
So Lian Li is going to build their own case based on this now since they were the OEM? Hows that working?
Are you talking about the PC-Q17WX? I don't know if I'd say it's "based on" the M1... there are some obvious influences, but some significant differences as well. The layout looks fairly different and it appears to lack much of the flexibility the M1 has. At best you could say it was inspired by the M1.

For the record, we had nothing to do with it, contrary to what the articles seem to imply. No one from Lian Li or ASUS ever spoke to us about it.
 
So Lian Li is going to build their own case based on this now since they were the OEM? Hows that working?

The PC-Q17WX was not designed by LianLi. It was allegedly designed for a crowdfunding campaign by ROG employees and LianLi was just the first manufacturer to deliver a prototype. So because ROG and LianLi are well-known brands, they decided to brand the case as a collaboration of both, probably to convince people that the case will be of high quality, as mos LianLi cases are.

That case is quite different in design and as Necere said, lacks a lot of the flexibility the M1 has.
 
If I were to put two 120mm fans below a dual-fan style graphics card, would intake or outtake be more effective at lowering GPU or Case temps. Also, would airflow or pressure optimized be more effective?
 
If I were to put two 120mm fans below a dual-fan style graphics card, would intake or outtake be more effective at lowering GPU or Case temps. Also, would airflow or pressure optimized be more effective?
Will you be removing the GPU fans? If you don't and you have the additional fans as exhaust they'll be sucking air away from eachother, which is entirely counterproductive.

If you remove the GPU fans and bridge the resulting gap with a shroud, then exhaust will give you better system temps. GPU temps might be the same or slightly worse.
 
Will you be removing the GPU fans? If you don't and you have the additional fans as exhaust they'll be sucking air away from eachother, which is entirely counterproductive.

If you remove the GPU fans and bridge the resulting gap with a shroud, then exhaust will give you better system temps. GPU temps might be the same or slightly worse.

Would putting two 120mm fans as intake have a significant effect on case temps? I would definitely keep the GPU unmodified. I know non-blower coolers are bad for case temps in cases this small, but with enough fresh air, would it be acceptable?
 
Would putting two 120mm fans as intake have a significant effect on case temps? I would definitely keep the GPU unmodified. I know non-blower coolers are bad for case temps in cases this small, but with enough fresh air, would it be acceptable?
Well, you're pushing all the heat from the GPU up through the case, so it's going to make the internal case temps warmer. It won't necessarily affect CPU temps if you have a cooler/AIO that is right up against the side panel, drawing air in, and the PSU should be okay pulling air from the right side, but everything else in the case will be running warmer. For most things it's not too much of a concern, but if you're planning on having any mechanical drives in the case I would think twice about it.
 
Well, you're pushing all the heat from the GPU up through the case, so it's going to make the internal case temps warmer. It won't necessarily affect CPU temps if you have a cooler/AIO that is right up against the side panel, drawing air in, and the PSU should be okay pulling air from the right side, but everything else in the case will be running warmer. For most things it's not too much of a concern, but if you're planning on having any mechanical drives in the case I would think twice about it.

This isn't really case related, but in your opinion, would air flow or static pressure fans work better to funnel air into and around the GPU to cool it better since the fans are directly below the card? The GPU does have it's own fans, so i'm wondering if pushing hot air away from the card with air flow fans might help better than pushing more air towards the front of the card with static pressure fans.
 
This isn't really case related, but in your opinion, would air flow or static pressure fans work better to funnel air into and around the GPU to cool it better since the fans are directly below the card? The GPU does have it's own fans, so i'm wondering if pushing hot air away from the card with air flow fans might help better than pushing more air towards the front of the card with static pressure fans.
I would favor static-pressure optimized fans in any situation where either side of the fan is partially obstructed (by heatsink/radiator fins, filters, restrictive grilles, etc.), which is most of the time. About the only time I'd consider using an airflow optimized fan is as an exhaust on a case with nothing restrictive close to it.
 
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