Tracking the M1 every now and then, it always felt to me like they were trying to please everyone in there =p. While it is a great accomplishment, and it largely does satisfy a lot of those ppl's needs, it feels a bit much for me. Other times it seems like it's geared towards very specific parts, high-end parts no less. Then again, that is exactly who this case is targeting, so congrats I suppose.

I still pine for an equally efficient space saving case, but for more practical parts. I'm looking for Steam box replicas actually, but perhaps shorter because I don't buy Titan cards nor would ever lol.

Great review, Case reviews always a pleasure to read here. Keep those ITX case reviews coming =).

Thanks for the review. I found the M1 thread on [H] after it had sold out. This case is truly a gem. I read most of the original M1 thread and didn't get the impression that the designers were trying to please everybody. They had to please enough people to get sufficient orders of course. I think the final product is as no-compromise as design-by-committee can be. Assuming they don't change too much, I will very likely buy rev 2.


Are you keeping it?!

Please, explain to a not-english reader some things (as I'm sure there are some key passages I miss).

It is a cute case, ok. But, if I look just at raw figures:

1 - It isn't such a cool place, even for not so hot hardware.
2 - It isn't very quiet, definitely.
3 - It isn't as serviceable as larger enclosures.
3 - It isn't affordable at all.

So why SPCR actually recommend it?

That's a fair question to ask, since this is SPCR. Regarding your points 1 and 2 above, in response to SPCR's review, the designer notes (link):

Regarding your last two points, the M1 is actually pretty serviceable for mITX. Lawrence comments on this in the review. And I do not think expense was a primary concern. It was always going to be expensive, given the low quantity.

It would be nice to see SPCR re-evaluate the M1 with liquid cooling, since that's one of the stand-out features of the M1.

Thank you, great review, as always. The whole point of Mini-ITX is small, but this one has the footprint of an ATX. It looks like a Lian Li, is it?

Well, actually I see how that enclosure make (more) sense but with a proper water cooling setup.

Even so, I do not understand the recommendation from the limited SPCR perspective, as it can't be quiet with a blower equipped video card, and it *might* be relatively quiet with a full watercooled setup (but Lawrence Lee has not actually tested it with such a setup, so IMVHO the M1 can be "just" an interesting enclosure, broadly speaking).

Hi Luca,

I understand your issues with the recommendation. The M1 did not stand out in its ability to perform quietly nor provide better cooling than other cases. As pointed out clearly in the review, we didn't use the ideal components recommended by the designers, and we also didn't test the case exhaustively. It seems likely that with a blower fan on the video card, overall performance could improve, and perhaps the added noise of a water pump would be more than offset by improved CPU cooling and lowered fan noise.

But the awards aren't always based entirely on performance alone. There are several factors which compelled me to recommend the M1:

1. I like to recognize and reward ingenuity and out of the box thinking. The goals set by the designers for themselves were demanding, and while the end result may not seem 100% successful, the design's flexibility is great.
2. That flexibility allows for a fair amount of creativity on the part of users. SPCR simply cannot afford to pour unlimited time & effort on reviewing any single product, but if you had it in your hands, you could spend days playing around with different configurations.
3. The size of the M1 is about as small as it can be given the components it can hold. It really is tiny to behold. I think its proportions, which are similar to that of a deep ATX mid-tower, give the illusion that it's bigger.

If I were to use this case, it would definitely not be for a gaming rig; they're almost all too noisy unless I apply extreme silencing methods on a much bigger case with the potential for low noise high volume airflow, and I'm just not into gaming enough to make this worthwhile. No, I'd use it with integrated video or a mid-power passive cooler for an all-purpose desktop PC. I'm tired of crawling under my desk to get at the innards or the back of my PCs; even beside-the-desk floor placement is a nuisance. A stylish box this small that can still give me a PCI(e) slot or 2 would be welcome on my desk.

I like this. I think we're all going to see some area where we'd like it to be different, simply because if we all built cases ourselves, they'd all be different! For me it's too big given the need for massive graphics cards.

The notes on graphics card cooling and needing blower style coolers did get me thinking. I'm not sure if the case is wide enough for an Accelero S1 Plus but I would try running one of these, building ducting from the bottom fans up to it and then enclosing it towards the back of the case which would be vented and work as an exhaust. This should work well.


This case is the size of ATX?!? Where did you get that from?!? It's far smaller than ATX at 240x160x328 mm.


You did read the review didn't you? It is made by LianLi on an OEM basis for NCASE.

Hi SPCR,

thank you for doing this review, it is just what I hoped for!

When will we see a review of a true micro-ITX and gaming case, the Silverstone Raven Z?

Considering how many things can go inside the M1, it's far small.
But with reference to the footprint, it is about 71% of an ATX board (305 × 244 mm), so maybe not so far smaller.

So, if he has in mind the size of those mainstream IGP-only mITX boxes, such as the various NUC/Euler/M350-like, then the M1 is fairly bigger than those ones: but, as a matter of fact, he'd be also clearly wrong to compare those enclosures.

At any rate, the M1 is very diminutive & cute, particularly with reference to the height.

The RVZ01 is actually a little larger at 14l but it would be interesting to see how it performs in comparison.

mITX is about the size of the motherboard, not about the size of the case, so what's your point?
The footprint of the M1 is 160 x 328mm, what ATX cases have this footprint?
I'd *love* to see (m)ATX cases with such a small (or even smaller) footprint.

NUC is 10 x 10, which is far smaller than mITX (17 x 17).

Unfortunately DTX boards aren't (widely) available are they?

Maybe it wasn't clear, but I wrote "NUC-like", i.e. "similar to NUC boxes".

Yes, the Raven Z has a cooling system much more tuned toward cooling the hot graphics card wit 2x120mm fan intake along the card, and a 120mm fan right on top of the cpu (possitive pressure case).

Sometimes they are actually listed as MicroATX on big websites. Generally they're pretty basic entry level boards.

+1. If any of the NCASE guys are reading this... we could really do with a quality mATX case.

Perhaps this forum could get together and produce our NCASE equivalent for quiet mATX builds? There's masses of experience here, and a gap in the market...

OK, let's do this as a gedankenexperiment and look at spec:

- It's MicroATX so we need to accept more than just a single expansion card - if you only need one expansion card you should buy MiniITX.

- Do we need a fullsize ATX PSU? This is the largest component by volume which means it would be good to have something smaller. It's the only fully internal PSU design that is available in a passive form (for now) which is a good reason to keep it. Maybe a passive SFX or 1U size PSU could be created by converting a standard PSU to be cooled by case airflow being channelled through it.

- Graphics card size. If we're going for silence then high end cards need to be ruled out.

- Drive sizes. We need to drop full size optical drives and use slimline laptop drives. We also need to design around SSDs instead of fullsize hard disks.

- Cooling concept. I'm suggesting a fully integrated cooling design with uniform airflow from front to back. A pair of 140mm fans blowing air all of the way through with no other fans present. The CPU would have a large enough heatsink that it filled the space available and allowed front to back airflow to cool it but can't be as tall as a fullsize tower heatsink. The graphics card would have to have a heatsink of the correct size to cool it. The Accelero S1 Plus is too wide so something smaller is needed.

I'd go for an ATX PSU. The volume isn't that bad and you could always mount it vertically to decrease width. SFX PSUs require smaller noisier fans.
There's no reason to rule out high-end cards IMO. What case width does a Accelero S1 require?

You could do multiple case variants: one for half-height cards and one for full-height cards (or even Accelero S1s).

Personally i would try to go with ATX as well, there are very good options out there, even fanless, i bet the on the side panel cooling the CPU cooler will have indirect airflow toward the PSU also, but the second fan idk if it would fit. But this will restrict the storage that can be used, either msata/m.2 for main os drive and probably a 2.5hdd on the bottom or the side... but not sure.

The problem with S1 imo is the height of the cooler, the NCase M1 is very small width wise, the NH-C14 is one of the tallest coolers that would fit on it, so my guess is an S1 will not fit, but you can check on my post how much does the S1 go in height on custom pcb msi gtx750ti, in all cards will be different depeding on the position of the GPU.

The custom Asus coolers are quite good IMO.

Do you mean they produce an equivalent to the S1? I've checked the Asus site and can't find anything equivalent.

No, they're not equivalent to the S1.

I think the reasons for designing this case are not very sound.

It is intended to be placed on a desk or table-like surface, but it's height and shape are not suitable for such a thing. It is being designed as an ATX tower case that you can put on your desk. However, I would never ever put such a thing on my desk.

So it ends up being a floor-standing ATX mini-tower thing with ports and controls placed at the very bottom.

Basically the only design goal for this thing seems to be "pack things as tightly together as we can".

The vertical slot-loading drive is going to be collecting a lot of dust through its slit.

The front door that looks like a front door and anyone would expect to operate as a front door is not a front door but rather something being designed as a front door while being nothing of the kind.

Next you're telling me that the power button is a fan controller and the usb ports are actually mini card readers.

Questions to ask:
- why do I want to place a tower PC on my desk?
- where is the benefit as opposed to a real "desk-top" model computer?
- did we really intend to introduce a new form-factor for PCs?
- did we not actually conceive of a hybrid that is neither fit for desktop nor floor-standing placement?

And finally,

"how long will it take for me to become fed up with this monster sitting on top of my desk that shouldn't even have been placed there ever in the first place, and I will relegate it to some kind of server-closet where it doesn't matter what shape it has and where its looks will be wasted (or graciously hidden) anyway?"

.

Seriously folks it looks nice but not a lot of thought has been given to the "why".

This case clearly isn't for you then but it definitely works well for a lot of people.

I don't like putting computers on the floor particularly. That's not to say that I haven't in the past but it only works as a fall back if you do have something really big. Putting a computer on the desk makes it more accessible for many people, both for use and for servicing. Put a computer on the floor and you inherently get lots of dust, spiders webs, etc building up around it. You also loose leg room.

As for why it's better than a desktop case, consider that we no longer have CRT monitors and therefore depth of a desk is no longer limited by the monitor. Get a minitower or SFF and put it to the side of the monitor and you can reduce the depth required, rather than putting it under the monitor. Also you can easily wall or pivot mount a monitor which then means a desktop case has no purpose in supporting a monitor and just takes up too much space. You're then better off doing what people in offices have been doing for about 30 years: turning desktop cases on their side to create a minitower!

Yeah, it was not really necessary or up to me to start criticizing someone else's design.

Perhaps in another context that would be warranted but not in this. My apologies to the people concerned, if any.

I would simply have said this instead:

"I personally think the dimensions or proportions are off for putting it on a desk. I was initially convinced that it was a floor or desk-floor standing case. So I couldn't understand anything about it. After a while it dawned on me that people want to place this thing on their desks. I was flabbergasted because to me it is either too tall or too wide."

You said a thing about desktops being placed in their sides. So I'm just going to close with this picture, and that says it all, to my mind and perception:



Kudos, Xen.

So where would you put a Bitfenix Prodigy, a Corsair Obsidian 250D or a Silverstone SG-05?

I had written a reply and the forum had logged me out and I couldn't get back to my text.

In short:

Bitfenix Prodigy wants to be on a desk or a surface because it is a mobile device (it has handles) it has very colourful, attractive design and it has the feel of something you plug and unplug often. It is also much wider than a tower case so it is not a tower model at all.

Corsair Obsidian 250D wants to be in a closet with an open front (not hidden) at about 90cm high, perhaps next to an audio stack. It is too clumsy for a desk. It doesn't want to be on the ground. But it wants a roof over its head.

Silverstone SG-05 is like a mole. It wants to be near the ground. It has a functional, non-aesthetic design. Its front is a fan-grill with fan behind it. You don't want to look at that on a desk.

NCASE M1 is unlike these cases. It was designed with functional requirements but without purpose. It is fit for nothing. It is a tower model but can't be near the ground. It has desktop-like controls but it's too imposing. The only place I could think I'd want to place it is real high. Near the ceiling high. Kinda voiding much of its supposed purpose....

Well, I think your requirements to put an enclosure on a desktop are rather debatable (color? It depends of the furniture, doesn't it? A larger footprint? What if you have a small desktop? Handles? To do what on a table?).
Personally I think a desktop should not be overcrowded by boxes, so the minute size of the M1 (and SG05) is welcomed, given also that it doesn't impact that much the cooling prowess (it's not the same for some colorful, overgrown cubes, like the Prodigy Phenom or the Xigmatek Nebula), which is - on the contrary - a mandatory capability for a computer enclosure.

What are you talking about? The M1? And what would you put on your desk?
Plenty of people put ATX and mATX towers on their desk and even if you don't size might still matter.