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

Has anyone successfully modded the power button on the M1? I keep drooling over this mod as I much prefer white led's, but he never released any how-to's beyond an electrical chart I can't understand: http://oliver.st/blog/ncase-m1/

yep i did! didnt do anything fancy. just plugged in the wires I ordered (below). i wouldve had to add some resistors if i was going to do the 2 white led activity light underglow

ordered the 12mm vandall switch - message and ask for 1 sample

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/100p...tch-Ring-LED-DHL-Free-Shipping/862820050.html

and ordered these so i didnt have to cut up the original wires

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/R1B1...itch-Cable-with-HDD-LED-Light/2024894558.html

I used the red led to test if i wanted to do the underglow activity led, and honestly it looked cool if you had your head level with the bottom of the case, otherwise you cant see it at all. I ended up taking it out and just have the power button on.

I LOVE IT
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Hey guys, does anyone have any information on when the silver, no-odd M1's are going to be back in stock? I assume it could take some time...

They don't have any full cases, but you could do what I did... which is financially irresponsible, but I'm an impatient man:

Buy the Black w/ ODD slot case (which is in stock now). $185
Go to M1 accessories page and buy the silver panel kit (which they just restocked) $70
You can stop here if you're satisified with a silver w/ ODD slot, but if you're like me you'll also buy the silver no ODD top panel $18

So it's a premium of about $88 (plus extra shipping?) if you want the silver model ASAP, or you can wait until December. For me, I decided I really didn't want to wait, and will see if I can trade or sell the black panels and extra silver top panel.

---

@No Hands 55: Thanks for the info and photos! Will any 12mm power button work or are there things I need to watch out for?
 
Or, you could buy some wood, some aluminum sheets, a metal nibbler, and some clamps, and cut/bend it yourself...but that'd probably end up costing more too. lol
 
For a dual AIO set up, do both the Gigabyte or ASrock Gaming Z170 work? And does the RAM need to be low-profile?

Thanks
 
Just received my M1 V4 silver+no ODD.

Breathtakingly tiny and sweet looking - it'll look nice next to the army of 2013 MacPro (trashcans) setups we have.

I'm still on the fence about actually building right now. It's sitting on my desk empty because I'm weary of dropping the cash on current gen stuff this far into the generation, especially with the questionable DX12 stuff on Kepler 2.0. Was originally thinking 5960X + 980Ti + 32GB RAM but now I'm thinking OCed 5820K+980Ti or wait for the next HEDT release or even go NOVA when it comes out and mATX so I can get thunderbolt 2.

Decisions, decisions. I could also use the money towards whatever MacBook Pro is coming down the pipeline as the CUDA implementation with my current model's Geforce 750M+Adobe CC 2015+OS X is glitchy and unstable at best. Gotta have that slim hardware footprint and high DPI display on the go, though. Crucial for my work here.

Beautiful case - I wouldn't be surprised if I find myself giving in and building soon.
 
Has anyone successfully modded the power button on the M1? I keep drooling over this mod as I much prefer white led's, but he never released any how-to's beyond an electrical chart I can't understand: http://oliver.st/blog/ncase-m1/

I did the mod previously, you can view here

The hdd LED you usually wouldn't notice. The person who did the original mod, I believe made a hole in the bottom of the case for the LED to stick out.
 
Hi,
Loving my NCase build from earlier this year. It has met all of my expectations. I am looking for a couple of recommendations,

1) What optical drive has been working well?
2) Have any of you found a good way to incorporate a card reader? I'd like to get a basic USB3 reader but haven't found anything that floats my boat. There are so many options - all I really need is a need is SD card though microSD would be a nice bonus.

Just an idea: It does seem the power, audio, and usb ports could be scrunched a bit to make room for an SD reader.
 
Been very happy with the Transcend USB3 card reader. My SD cards are not the fastest around, maybe "80mb/sec" theoretical Samsung pro, but I do get around the 30-45mb/sec mark (if i remember correctly) which is very decent. Not sure if thats card limited, or reader limited. For the price, very happy with its performance.

This is the smaller one with a USB cap, available in white and black gloss, and does both SD and microSD. Transcend RDF5 i think is the item code.

I have the Asrock Z87EITX Mobo, and it fits perfectly into the space under my top panel, wedged under the Noctua C14 115x mounting bracket. Alternatively, I think that using the appropriately sized double sided mounting tape, it can be mounted in the area where the CD drive is, and you can "slot load" your SD card into the CD slot and into the reader. You will need to make up your own internal USB3 header cable, but could be a neat addition if you want integration and don't use the CD slot for a CD drive (Doesn't interfere with the 2.5" drive bay)

Heres a photo of it in-situ. Please excuse the dust as this photo was taken rather quickly with the phone camera flash and without any consideration for cleaning up.
Screen%20Shot%202015-09-27%20at%2012.26.13%20am_zpsalcszudr.jpg
 
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What's the approximate dimensions of the shipping package these days?

Have to file a case with the postal inspector and police reports since it seems someone stole my M1 right off my porch. :( Obviously it's not likely it'll be recovered but I'd like to do my due diligence.
 
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Been very happy with the Transcend USB3 card reader. My SD cards are not the fastest around, maybe "80mb/sec" theoretical Samsung pro, but I do get around the 30-45mb/sec mark (if i remember correctly) which is very decent. Not sure if thats card limited, or reader limited. For the price, very happy with its performance.

This is the smaller one with a USB cap, available in white and black gloss, and does both SD and microSD. Transcend RDF5 i think is the item code.

I have the Asrock Z87EITX Mobo, and it fits perfectly into the space under my top panel, wedged under the Noctua C14 115x mounting bracket. Alternatively, I think that using the appropriately sized double sided mounting tape, it can be mounted in the area where the CD drive is, and you can "slot load" your SD card into the CD slot and into the reader. You will need to make up your own internal USB3 header cable, but could be a neat addition if you want integration and don't use the CD slot for a CD drive (Doesn't interfere with the 2.5" drive bay)

Heres a photo of it in-situ. Please excuse the dust as this photo was taken rather quickly with the phone camera flash and without any consideration for cleaning up.
http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums...hot 2015-09-27 at 12.26.13 am_zpsalcszudr.jpg

That card reader isn't connected, though, is it? And are those internal speakers you've got there? That's pretty cool.

But yeah, slot drive seems like the best option, except that aterren also asked for slot load drives, so that doesn't seem to be possible at all.

I don't know how well the front I/O panel can be modded, but maybe you can remove one of the USB3 ports and replace that with an SD card reader? You'd need to cut a slot so the hole where the USB port previously was is big enough, but that seems like an interesting idea nonetheless.
 
For a dual AIO set up, do both the Gigabyte or ASrock Gaming Z170 work? And does the RAM need to be low-profile?

Thanks

IMO if you use anything other than a stock Intel hsf always go low profile ram for M1. That way you are sure to be good in any build. Just my opinion though. :)
 
Been very happy with the Transcend USB3 card reader. My SD cards are not the fastest around, maybe "80mb/sec" theoretical Samsung pro, but I do get around the 30-45mb/sec mark (if i remember correctly) which is very decent. Not sure if thats card limited, or reader limited. For the price, very happy with its performance.

This is the smaller one with a USB cap, available in white and black gloss, and does both SD and microSD. Transcend RDF5 i think is the item code.

I have the Asrock Z87EITX Mobo, and it fits perfectly into the space under my top panel, wedged under the Noctua C14 115x mounting bracket. Alternatively, I think that using the appropriately sized double sided mounting tape, it can be mounted in the area where the CD drive is, and you can "slot load" your SD card into the CD slot and into the reader. You will need to make up your own internal USB3 header cable, but could be a neat addition if you want integration and don't use the CD slot for a CD drive (Doesn't interfere with the 2.5" drive bay)

Heres a photo of it in-situ. Please excuse the dust as this photo was taken rather quickly with the phone camera flash and without any consideration for cleaning up.
Screen%20Shot%202015-09-27%20at%2012.26.13%20am_zpsalcszudr.jpg

Can you elaborate on that internal speaker? Where'd you get that, and how is it connected? That's awesome.
 
I'll order up a Transcend RDF5 and give it a shot. Slot drive mounting is a neat idea. I'm not 100% sure I want to use my slot for that purpose though so I'll just plug it in as needed.

A few times a month I find that an optical drive would be convenient and at this point i have to fire up an old Thinkpad T61 which is slow and does not bring back fond memories.
 
I finished up my NCASE build a couple days ago:

NCASE M1 v4
ASRock X99E-ITX/ac
Core i7 5820K
Asus GTX 960 Mini
Samsung 500GB 850 EVO
Silverstone SX500-LG
Corsair LPX 2 x 8GB DDR4 2666MHz
Noctua C14 w/ P14 140mm fan on top, P12 120mm fan on bottom

Build is running nicely so far, save for one minor annoyance. I'm noticing a high pitched noise, almost like high frequency electronic switching. It only occurs after I wake the computer from sleep, or power it on, for 10-20 minutes. After things have warmed up, it goes away.
 
I finished up my NCASE build a couple days ago:

NCASE M1 v4
ASRock X99E-ITX/ac
Core i7 5820K
Asus GTX 960 Mini
Samsung 500GB 850 EVO
Silverstone SX500-LG
Corsair LPX 2 x 8GB DDR4 2666MHz
Noctua C14 w/ P14 140mm fan on top, P12 120mm fan on bottom

Build is running nicely so far, save for one minor annoyance. I'm noticing a high pitched noise, almost like high frequency electronic switching. It only occurs after I wake the computer from sleep, or power it on, for 10-20 minutes. After things have warmed up, it goes away.

Sure it is not related to the fan control of the PSU. The Silverstone SFX PSUs have had a few issues.
 
^^^ nice

I've also just completed (*nearly*) a build. Part of it included designing a fan duct for the bottom intake to the graphics card, which I have no idea if is worth the effort but I'll get some test result temps with and without the duct later.

fan duct idea:
https://youtu.be/XLT4v-shXQo


fan duct version 2 prototype:

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and some nearly finished pics:

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mobo: Gigabyte Z170N-WIFI (requires low profile USB3 header adapter to fit under the cooler)
cpu: i5 6600K
cooler: Noctua NH-C14 (lower fan removed because it interferes with the psu)
ram: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 (2x4GB)
gfx: Asus GTX960 Strix
psu: Silverstone SX500-LG
fan: Noctua P12

Initial temps on stock clock and ULNA cooler fan speed are high 20's idle and low 50's AIDA64 stress (case panels on).

...and the low profile USB3 header adapter *just* arrived

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TESTING RESULTS:

Fan duct in: GPU 73deg (fans 60%), motherboard 55deg
No fan duct: GPU 72deg (fans 58%), motherboard 55deg

I ran 2x 15 minute stints of FurMark and monitored the temps with AIDA64. With the fan duct in, the GPU maxed out at 73deg (fan 60%) and motherboard at 55deg. With the fan duct removed, the GPU maxed out at 73deg (fan 58%) but stayed at 72deg for longer periods and was only fluctuating up to 73deg every now and then, the motherboard also reached 55deg but it took a few more mins to get there. I think getting a better case airflow going to keep the motherboard temps town will be beneficial for the GPU temps. I have the CPU (C14 cooler) fan at 770rpm (using the ULNA cable).
 
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Sure it is not related to the fan control of the PSU. The Silverstone SFX PSUs have had a few issues.

Could be. I read about the 500 watt SFX-L unit specifically having issues with whatever mechanism they used to switch the fan on and off. Could be when the noise stops after 10-20 minutes is when the fan turns on for good. It's really nice having the 120mm fan on the PSU. Bummer if it's the PSU that's making the high pitched noise though. I don't have any case fans installed yet, and now I'm wondering if adding a case fan would caused the high pitched noise to last for longer as the case would take longer to reach a temperature that would trip the PSU fan :confused:
 
I've also just completed (*nearly*) a build. Part of it included designing a fan duct for the bottom intake to the graphics card, which I have no idea if is worth the effort but I'll get some test result temps with and without the duct later.
Well done, I'm interested how it performs ! Be sure to test it with the fan reversed too !
 
Hello world !

After month of reading this topic lurking in the shadows, I finally chose every component for my Ncase that I would like to share with you :

NCASE M1 v3
Silverstone SX500-LG
GIGABYTE GA-Z170N-WiFi, Intel Z170
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 2x 8GB DDR4, PC4-24000 (3000MHz) CL15
Core i7 6700K
Noctua C14 w/ P14 140mm fan on top, P12 120mm fan on bottom
Samsung 500GB 850 EVO
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G
Panasonic UJ-265 BDRIP
and still looking at the complementary fans needed for the case.

Any advise/warning with such a configuration?
 
Hello world !

After month of reading this topic lurking in the shadows, I finally chose every component for my Ncase that I would like to share with you :

NCASE M1 v3
Silverstone SX500-LG
GIGABYTE GA-Z170N-WiFi, Intel Z170
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 2x 8GB DDR4, PC4-24000 (3000MHz) CL15
Core i7 6700K
Noctua C14 w/ P14 140mm fan on top, P12 120mm fan on bottom
Samsung 500GB 850 EVO
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G
Panasonic UJ-265 BDRIP
and still looking at the complementary fans needed for the case.

Any advise/warning with such a configuration?

Only as mentioned above, with a lower fan on the C14 you'll most probably need a low profile USB3 header cable/adapter.

Also, the SX500-LG sounds a bit annoying when stressing the GPU, a whine/buzz and a tick from the fan. I'm sure this has been gone into on the board somewhere I just haven't read through it all yet.
 
Also, the SX500-LG sounds a bit annoying when stressing the GPU, a whine/buzz and a tick from the fan. I'm sure this has been gone into on the board somewhere I just haven't read through it all yet.

Although the SX600-G fan also grinds and chatters and needs higher RPM to cool the PSU so the alternative isn't better.
 
Also, the SX500-LG sounds a bit annoying when stressing the GPU, a whine/buzz and a tick from the fan. I'm sure this has been gone into on the board somewhere I just haven't read through it all yet.
Just to let spixel know: this really seems to be a case-by-case issue. I don't have any problems any at all with mine running a Xeon E3-1231 with a GTX 760 ITX.
 
Hey guys,

Is there a recommended/preferred PCI-E x16 flexible adapter for the ncase M1?

I am looking at getting the Dark Rock TF but in order to fit the HDD cage, the pipes need to be pointing down. A redditor posted detailed photos of this pushing against the GPU which ended up causing issues with the mobo. Since we have a 3rd expansion slot, I was thinking about a flexible adapter that gives me one extra slot for spacing. This should also give more room for the SFX-L PSUs!

Thoughts? Is this possible?
 
so, after a long time, it finally happened. my computer shutdown by itself while it was sleep and never woke up again. previously, i could turn it back on after a random shutdown by leaving it disconnected for a while, or by pressing the Clear CMOS button, or by pressing the power button (cold start). but this time, it seems like it's completely dead. i guess it was bound to happen, given my history with this computer.

it's the motherboard. there are various reviews on Newegg about this ASRock board, and specifically, there is one with the exact symptoms that i have seen from mine. i'll send the board to ASRock for warranty, but given its age and the fact that it's out of production, i'll be receiving a refurbished board, it any! and it'll most probably fail one way or another.

now my question: is there a ITX board with an mSATA connector? i have one mSATA drive that i've been using with my ASRock Z87 board, and i have stuff on it that i don't want to lose. i'd like to get a new(er) ITX board with mSATA. do they make those anymore?

Well it's a basic mouse-supporting one, nothing too fancy, but you've got all the options you could wish for. You can over- and under-volt the CPU and RAM, over- and underclock both the CPU and the CPUs internal GPU seperately, you have access to the TDP limit for the CPUs Boost cycles, the boost multiplactors and everything. Not sure whether the multiplicator overclock would actually work with my 4770T, but it's there and it's not greyed out.

You can't set completely custom fan curves, but you can set how much the fan speed is increased per C°. Both fan headers seem to be PWM controlled. The orange LEDs on the back of the board can be turned off or can be set to be always on as opposed to pulsing, which is the standard for whatever reason.

i finally got the time to take out the piece-of-s**t ASRock Z87E-ITX motherboard out of my M1 and replaced it with a Gigabyte GA-B85N Phoenix WiFi (thanks iFreilicht for suggesting it), and everything is working flawlessly now. with the Gigabyte board, i got to keep my mSATA drive, and i am able to control the fans with new version of SpeedFan, and there is no need for Gigabyte's bloated, non-functional utilities. the only drawback is that the case power LED does not blink when the computer is in one of its sleep modes. :)

that ASRock motherboard gave me trouble literally since the very first day, until it died about two months ago. given the percentage of negative reviews it has received on NewEgg, i'm fairly certain that my case is not an outlier, and it's a general pattern of these ASRock boards...never again!
 
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Hey guys,

Is there a recommended/preferred PCI-E x16 flexible adapter for the ncase M1?

I am looking at getting the Dark Rock TF but in order to fit the HDD cage, the pipes need to be pointing down. A redditor posted detailed photos of this pushing against the GPU which ended up causing issues with the mobo. Since we have a 3rd expansion slot, I was thinking about a flexible adapter that gives me one extra slot for spacing. This should also give more room for the SFX-L PSUs!

Thoughts? Is this possible?

I bought a couple and this one is by far the one I'm most happy with.

Also it comes with two lengths(even tough 10cm is enough)
Just long enough, and high quality.

I find these ones hard to manage.

Edit:
Keep in mind the difference between the first and second one. It has to be angled like the first one in order to fit.
 
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Thanks!

Oh I saw that Lian Li does one too. Has anyone found one to buy that is in stock?
 
Ah yes I see, it's half way over the GPU card's fan and the the shroud is ducted half way over the other side.
 
Just finished (for now) my M1 build. What a case! This is a welcome upgrade from my now 7yr old C2D laptop. As an engineer, this will be used for CAD, data analysis and scientific computing- I was tempted to go the 'Xeon-ECC memory-Tesla GPGPU' route, but that gear was far too expensive. It will also be used for gaming (Total War, Halo 5 type stuff), so higher clock speeds are preferred.

So, the only way to do the M1 justice:

Ncase M1 v4
ASRock X99E-ITX/ac
Core i7 5820K
[placeholder] bundled ASRock fan
EVGA GTX Titan Z SC
Samsung SM951 256GB NVME
[placeholder] Silverstone SX500-LG
[placeholder] Crucial DDR4 2133MHz 8GB
Silverstone PP05-E

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Clearly some parts are in dire need of upgrade but it all fits very neatly. Will upgrade to Silverstone 700W SFX-L as SOON as its available, and will upgrade ram to the full 32GB when DDR4 isn't extortionate. Silverstone's short cable kit was necessary to be able to get the motherboard power routed neatly given the orientation of the PSU.

[edit]
Additionally, the r-angled SATA connectors on the mobo are almost inaccessible because of the PSU, so Silverstone's CP11 (or other low-profile SATA) cables are a godsend.
[/edit]

The PSU fan for the first 30mins run-time doesn't even spin-up when used for casual computing; the system is almost silent with the Dynatron fan on a quiet profile. System is fine in current use as I am holding off from much CAD work before the PSU is upgraded. I am debating some secondary drive (Samsung 850 EVO 120 and 250) placement as they may get toasty in the airflow from the GPU. Thinking that a 3D-printed shroud may be a good idea!
 
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Very nice. Hard to get a decent looking duct. What materials did you use?

Just a logitech mouse box, clear plastic manilla folder and hot glue :/ I only want to perform some tests to see if it's beneficial at all.

Annnnnddddd.....it's not. (Well, it's not when stressing just the GPU, I haven't tested stressing just the CPU)

I ran 2x 15 minute stints of FurMark and monitored the temps with AIDA64. With the fan duct in, the GPU maxed out at 73deg (fan 60%) and motherboard at 55deg. With the fan duct removed, the GPU maxed out at 73deg (fan 58%) but stayed at 72deg for longer periods and was only fluctuating up to 73deg every now and then, the motherboard also reached 55deg but it took a few more mins to get there. I think getting a better case airflow going to keep the motherboard temps town will be beneficial for the GPU temps. I have the CPU (C14 cooler) fan at 770rpm (using the ULNA cable).
 
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Just a logitech mouse box, clear plastic manilla folder and hot glue :/ I only want to perform some tests to see if it's beneficial at all.

Annnnnddddd.....it's not. (Well, it's not when stressing just the GPU, I haven't tested stressing just the CPU)

I ran 2x 15 minute stints of FurMark and monitored the temps with AIDA64. With the fan duct in, the GPU maxed out at 73deg (fan 60%) and motherboard at 55deg. With the fan duct removed, the GPU maxed out at 73deg (fan 58%) but stayed at 72deg for longer periods and was only fluctuating up to 73deg every now and then, the motherboard also reached 55deg but it took a few more mins to get there. I think getting a better case airflow going to keep the motherboard temps town will be beneficial for the GPU temps. I have the CPU (C14 cooler) fan at 770rpm (using the ULNA cable).

Heh, well its all for the love of tinkering with computers anyway right;)

I don't think you would see much difference in CPU tems, as the CPU cooler gets cold air from the outside anyway. I think maybe there's a few reasons why you dont see any improvements:
1 - Your GPU is short-ish, so hot air won't be that prone to get trapped in the bottom compartment in the first place.
2 - The way you channel the air from the noctua fan you might be applying air pressure that counters the effect of the GPU fans where the heatsink sticks out at the back of the card. That way the sum is less airflow over that part of the heatsink.

This is pure speculation of course. But results in hand it kind of seems logical.

Anyway. This is all a good addition to the general understanding of what works and what doesn't work so it wasn't a waste. Thanks for sharing.
 
This is pure speculation of course. But results in hand it kind of seems logical.

Anyway. This is all a good addition to the general understanding of what works and what doesn't work so it wasn't a waste. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah I also agree with you about the fans kinda fighting each other there. It was a good test, hopefully help some others out there.
 
Can anyone post up photos of the fitment of a flexible PC riser? Has anyone found it effective in fitting a SFX-L PSU and the Dark Rock TF?

An extra PCIE Expansion slot down should be perfect right?
 
Hi everybody. I just finished building my first computer in the NCASE M1 a few days ago. Everything is up and running fine except for one USB 3.0 in the front of the case. I tested USB storage drives, keyboards, mice, and USB headset. They all work on the right USB 3.0 in the front of the case but the left USB 3.0 doesn't work. Does anybody have any suggestions or thoughts on why only one slot works but not the other. Thanks!
 
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