The next NCASE project: a Steam Machine-style case (indeterminate)

I would be surprised if a double-digit percentage of potential buyers regularly played blu-rays on their windows HTPC. It's an irrelevant feature for a high-end gaming case because of how much better a walmart blu-ray player is in comparison. Who with this kind of money will settle for such a terrible blu-ray player as powerdvd?

I use ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 6 which I grabbed off of Newegg for $30 on sale, easy to use interface and it just works. I would definitely want an optical slot on this case for a blu ray player.
 
I would be surprised if a double-digit percentage of potential buyers regularly played blu-rays on their windows HTPC. It's an irrelevant feature for a high-end gaming case because of how much better a walmart blu-ray player is in comparison. Who with this kind of money will settle for such a terrible blu-ray player as powerdvd?

Personally i agree with you 100%, but from how the duscussion have gone in this forum several people seem to really want this, and it's hard to argue with that:)

Edit: And since this reply was sitting in edit for 30min examples have popped up:)
 
We've already been through this regarding the ODD earlier in the thread. Having an ODD means we can't use top-end AMD cards due to length restrictions. That's unacceptable. It also means even NVIDIA reference designs will be pushing up against the front panel USB/power cables. It's a no-go unless Necere comes up with some clever rearrangement that would allow both an ODD and full length video cards.
 
We've already been through this regarding the ODD earlier in the thread. Having an ODD means we can't use top-end AMD cards due to length restrictions. That's unacceptable. It also means even NVIDIA reference designs will be pushing up against the front panel USB/power cables. It's a no-go unless Necere comes up with some clever rearrangement that would allow both an ODD and full length video cards.

I will be disappointed if GPU length is sacrificed. In my opinion it wouldn't be worth it. However if they need to sell 300 for it to be a go, and the last 70 needed for it to be realized said no due to no odd, i would happily make the sacrifice.

This is probably not the last time this will come up, as it seems to be the single biggest issue for people at this time.

But nothing more has been said about it, unless I've missed something?

I think this is something OEM needs to clear up, if it's an option at all.
 
Sorry I haven't been around the forum much.
We're not ready to order a prototype. The last 20% is like 80% of the work, and I just haven't been able to work on it much.
 
Sorry I haven't been around the forum much.
We're not ready to order a prototype. The last 20% is like 80% of the work, and I just haven't been able to work on it much.

No worries.

...though the prospect of a prototype was really exciting.

We can have a constructive discussion about adding a 15" touch screen to the front panel alongside 10 hot swap bays and a cup holder while we wait:cool:
 
No worries.

...though the prospect of a prototype was really exciting.

We can have a constructive discussion about adding a 15" touch screen to the front panel alongside 10 hot swap bays and a cup holder while we wait:cool:

Wait, were we not doing that? Well, you've lost a sale.(jk)
 
Take your time,whats the word on the flippable front panel?
A "flippable" front panel isn't an option; the only real way to have an ODD model and non-ODD model is to offer two different versions. Most of the difference is in the front panel, but the bracket for mounting the USB ports will probably need to be different as well.

In other news, using a riser board instead of a flexible riser is going to add 10mm to the height (in vertical orientation), which puts it at 340x80x334mm.
 
In other news, using a riser board instead of a flexible riser is going to add 10mm to the height (in vertical orientation), which puts it at 340x80x334mm.

Did something happen to the plan to use a flexible extender?
 
Did something happen to the plan to use a flexible extender?
Both options are still on the table. A riser board has cost and reliability in its favor; flex riser has size and flexibility (i.e., CPU cooler can extend a few mm over the PCIe slot).
 
Both options are still on the table. A riser board has cost and reliability in its favor; flex riser has size and flexibility (i.e., CPU cooler can extend a few mm over the PCIe slot).

Gotcha, I'd be fine with the extra height, it would still be much smaller than any other available Steambox style case.
 
A "flippable" front panel isn't an option; the only real way to have an ODD model and non-ODD model is to offer two different versions. Most of the difference is in the front panel, but the bracket for mounting the USB ports will probably need to be different as well.

In other news, using a riser board instead of a flexible riser is going to add 10mm to the height (in vertical orientation), which puts it at 340x80x334mm.

I vote for board.

This machine isnt about modularity, such as the m1.


Just cram it down our throats and say it was a design decision.
 
It adds about 1L to the overall volume, 9L. Visually it won't matter but it loses a litre of bragging rights;)

i don't think its worth the extra volume from a cost perspective, but if there are structural concerns i agree
 
A "flippable" front panel isn't an option; the only real way to have an ODD model and non-ODD model is to offer two different versions. Most of the difference is in the front panel, but the bracket for mounting the USB ports will probably need to be different as well.

In other news, using a riser board instead of a flexible riser is going to add 10mm to the height (in vertical orientation), which puts it at 340x80x334mm.
Unless my math is wrong that is a quarter liter size difference, which isn't too bad. How much in savings are we looking at using board instead of flex? Also,and more importantly, which of the two is more user friendly? It's gonna be tight in there,I don't want to make it even tougher.
 
Unless my math is wrong that is a quarter liter size difference, which isn't too bad. How much in savings are we looking at using board instead of flex? Also,and more importantly, which of the two is more user friendly? It's gonna be tight in there,I don't want to make it even tougher.

Well one of us must be wrong:)
edit: I see what i did wrong. Added the 10mm in the wrong end. *facepalm*

I think it will be fine either way with user friendlyness. At least from the renders, if you strip all the panels off the bare "skeleton" should provide easy access either way.
 
Would you still be able to fit an AXP-100 with a riser board instead of a flex riser?
 
It adds about 1L to the overall volume, 9L.
Uh, it only adds 0.2672 L (8.8176 -> 9.0848). Double-check your math.

I would also prefer to stay as small as possible since I don't see any real benefit from hard riser, though.
A few dollar difference is not a major concern.
 
Uh, it only adds 0.2672 L (8.8176 -> 9.0848). Double-check your math.

I would also prefer to stay as small as possible since I don't see any real benefit from hard riser, though.
A few dollar difference is not a major concern.

I did, and commented 3 posts up.
 
Unless it's an egregious price difference, it seems that the smaller size and increased flexibility of a flex riser (pun intended) would be superior. Interfaces are finicky, and a solid PCB riser would need 2 separate boards with an additional connector in the middle, right? One board to go up then one to go over? Necere, you say that a board is more reliable than a flex riser? That seems counter-intuitive to me, are the flex cables just really lossy?
 
remember, rigid riser also adds stability for graphics cards so they dont sag so bad, and have less signal issues than flex risers.
 
remember, rigid riser also adds stability for graphics cards so they dont sag so bad, and have less signal issues than flex risers.

With a flex riser the pcb on the GPU end of it would, at least as i understand it, be fixed to the chassis anyway, so i actually don't think there would be much gain in that dept with rigid riser.
 
If you dont have a name yet. What would you think of Ncase S1 for Steam 1. It keeps with the simple naming style as your first case and still rolls off the tounge.
 
On the naming front, how about dropping the "1" altogether? It's not like we're looking at a "2" any time soon for either the existing M1 or the hypothetical S.

What would a hypothetical M2 be that can't be named something else?
 
On the naming front, how about dropping the "1" altogether? It's not like we're looking at a "2" any time soon for either the existing M1 or the hypothetical S.

What would a hypothetical M2 be that can't be named something else?

The M1 already exists, and I highly doubt that continuing to use S1 and M2 nomenclature would be confusing to anyone. I personally like the naming scheme, and really don't see any reason why they should change it now.

Hopefully it doesn't get muddled like BMW's M-series naming, and we end up with a future NCASE 1-series M to avoid conflict with the original M1 :p
 
It's on the backburner for now.

that's disappointing but not unexpected. I hope it is revisited someday, but I think this is more of a issue of cost efficiency wrt to actual production. It's hard to get to MOQ to get LianLi to move, and thus it becomes too expensive to have mass appeal.
 
It's on the backburner for now.

"On the back burner" :( "for now":)

I've found that any project or creative undertaking almost always ends-up being better for it by being put aside when it becomes too strenuous only to be revisited later with a fresh eye. And these things should be enjoyable.

that's disappointing but not unexpected. I hope it is revisited someday, but I think this is more of a issue of cost efficiency wrt to actual production. It's hard to get to MOQ to get LianLi to move, and thus it becomes too expensive to have mass appeal.

I see what you're saying and we don't know why it's on the backburner - although Necere did share your concerns about the LRPC's market appeal earlier ITT so I hope that it's not due to that. The case is beautiful and brilliant design-wise and IMO as long as the final design is feasible to manufacture at a not prohibitively expensive cost (which I think it is) then a crowd-funding campaign should easily attain the MOQ. It would be a huge shame to see it fall by the wayside if it were due to what I and many others feel are unwarranted concerns over its feasibility as a "mass" product.
 
Bummer...
Technical or commercial?

The technical requirements for this design affects the process of production, which affects costs and MOQ, which affects commercial viability, particularly because this is a small scale production.

It's both.
 
Sad to hear it. So unless the case can be made less difficult to produce, this is essentially on-hold indefinitely ?
 
The technical requirements for this design affects the process of production, which affects costs and MOQ, which affects commercial viability, particularly because this is a small scale production.

It's both.

I feel like an idiot. There I was thinking that Necere had just run out of energy and/or free-time or had hit a wall with the design. Although I was under the impression that costs weren't an insurmountable issue. Oh well. I really do hope that you guys can pick it up again sometime and find a way around the issues. I'd love to have this case and was looking forward to getting one next year. And I'd happily pay hundreds of dollars for one although I guess that I'm in the minority on that.

If this design is on hold indefinitely then what are the chances of you revisiting the idea of a cheaper version using different materials that was hinted at a few pages back?
 
I feel like an idiot. There I was thinking that Necere had just run out of energy and/or free-time or had hit a wall with the design. Although I was under the impression that costs weren't an insurmountable issue. Oh well. I really do hope that you guys can pick it up again sometime and find a way around the issues. I'd love to have this case and was looking forward to getting one next year. And I'd happily pay hundreds of dollars for one although I guess that I'm in the minority on that.

If this design is on hold indefinitely then what are the chances of you revisiting the idea of a cheaper version using different materials that was hinted at a few pages back?

Try and enjoy the ride / process. The nature of product development is somewhat unpredictable, for both of us, we try to approach things with an open mind and just have fun.

We will keep moving forward :)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top