NCASE M1 Mini-ITX PC Case - A Space Saver Without Compromises?
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,849 words · ~9 min read
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I actually tried to figure out how to get in touch with the PR folks at ENC
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case a couple of times before they eventually reached out to me because I
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really wanted to review the NASA M1
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since I first saw the crowdfunding campaign that brought it to life. It's
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no great secret that I've got kind of a weird fetish for tiny feet that I mean
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PCs. And the end case is on the extreme
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end of what can be done to make a computer that uses standard components
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as compact as possible. It's kind of
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magic like the piece of camera tech that Brandon will be checking out in his
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second hosted Linus Tech Tips video due out in a couple of days. So, let's get
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started, shall we?
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Save on select Intel Core i7 processors and 730 series SSDs with instant rebates
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during Valentine's week, February 14th to 21st, 2015. Click now to learn more.
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The included accessories stood out to me right away. Most casem makers abandoned
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wire fan grills due to their cost years ago, but you get four of those and
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filters to go with them, a power supply bracket, and all of your mounting
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hardware neatly sorted into little baggies for your consumption. If I had
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to complain at this stage, though, it would be about the complete lack of
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included documentation. There isn't even a little slip of paper that says, "Hey,
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you can download the manual on the website here." Fortunately, I found this
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image on their site without too much difficulty. And the site also has some
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helpful tips for component selection, but it should be noted that most of it
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is quite technically worded. And for a project like building a PC in the M1,
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while it's enough for experienced builders, for folks who are new to
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building PCs, I think it could be improved. The first step is to pop off
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the front and all three ventilated panels on the sides and top. It should
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be noted that I have the top panel with the slot load OD cutout in it, but this
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can be swapped out for a plain one if you prefer not to have an optical drive
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and not to have a slot for the one you don't have. With all of them off, it
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reveals the skeleton of the case, which actually, other than the motherboard
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tray, doesn't give us a ton of hints about how a computer is supposed to fit
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in here. Again, a very experienced builders will probably be able to fight
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their way through it using a combination of the FAQ compatibility and spec tabs
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on the website, but uh for those who are less experienced, well, I guess that's
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the point of people like me existing. So, let's do a tour of the guts of the
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case together, shall we? At the front, you'll find two USB 3.0 0 ports, a power
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switch with power and drive activity LEDs built into it, and front panel
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audio jacks along with mounting holes to put the slimline optical or up to two 2
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and 1/2 in drives between the front of the chassis and the bezel using fine
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threaded spacer screws and rubber grommets and the handy dandy SSD
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stacking plates, two sets of which come in the box. On the right hand side is
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the motherboard tray with a cutout for easy cooler installation and absolutely
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zero room for cable management. You can
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run really small stuff between the motherboard and the tray if you're
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desperate, but other than that, you'll be bundling everything over on the other
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side of the motherboard under the power supply. Also over here, speaking of your
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power supply, is the intake for your power supply, which will probably be SFX
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if you don't want to give up mounting drives or a radiator on the left side.
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The ability to use a modular power supply or the ability to install a
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fulllength GPU, not worth it, IMO, especially with Silverstone's excellent
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600 W SFX power supply as an option where you don't have to make any of
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those compromises. And you even get zero RPM mode when it's not under heavy load,
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making for a very quiet little system. While we're looking at the power supply,
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the top of the case is mostly taken up by the mounting bracket for it. And this
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cleverly routed AC power input extension with a good look at just how little
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space was wasted in the width of this case once you fill it with hardware.
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especially if it goes balls to the wall with an ROG board with that beefy
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daughterboard mounted power delivery solution and 3/8 in tubing on your AIO
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CPU cooler. It should be noted that had I not opted for a dual 120 mm radiator,
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there's a bracket that sits where the forwardmost radiator fan is now that
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holds up to two 3 and 1/2 in hard drives. And the space taken up by my
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rearmost radiator fan would have been reserved for clearance for a CPU air
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cooler. Around the back, we find mounting holes for an 80 or 92mm fan,
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but I opted to leave this empty since my dual 120 mm radiator fans are pressure
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optimized models configured as intakes with the rest of the case basically
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acting as passive exhaust. Back here, we also find external water cooling
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grommets. Definitely useful for the third party reservoir mount that some
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users have installed back here and IO for the motherboard and curiously
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actually three PCI slot covers allowing up to a triple slot card if you opt not
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to install a 3 and 1/2 or 2 and 1/2 in drive using rubber grommets in the
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bottom where we have this hard drive mounted. Another option down in the
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bottom, thanks to the feet that keep the case up off the desk or floor, is a 120
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mm fan in the back and a 120 mm fan in
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the front. But again, neither of those are possible with that hard drive in
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there. You can throw in an 80 or 92 in the front, but I opted not to since my
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GPU intake is right there anyway. Which leads us finally to the left hand side
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where we can see the system assembled. And we actually, no, actually, we really
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can't see a whole heck of a lot of the system assembled. just the dual 120 mm
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radiator and the GTX 780 Ti that I threw
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in to find out if this sucker will throttle even one of the powerest
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hungriest cards available. Powerist. So,
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all that's left now then, I guess, is to start tearing it down so you can
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actually see how all the guts fit in there. The radiator mounting bracket
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comes off first with four screws revealing the CPU area and the
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incredibly tightly packed motherboard connectors that just barely allow enough
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clearance for my 16 gig memory kit to fit inside. Pulling out the GPU gives us
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a better look at the rat's nest of cables in front the front of the case
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where the video cards PCI Express power connectors are wrapped up and also a
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better look at how much room there is for high-end large graphics cards. I
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would seriously recommend sticking with a reference design like I have for this
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build, but if you really wanted to, you could actually install something taller
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than standard, like an ASUS Direct CU card or MSI gaming card. Just don't
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expect the rest of your system temps to be very good, as we demonstrated in this
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video here. So, I guess all that's left now is the conclusion. The M1 is a
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stunningly strong first entry for a new manufacturer and delivers exactly what
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it promises with a thoughtful internal layout that wastes no space and allows
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your PC to be as quiet as it would be in a much larger case without compromising
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on thermals. My GTX 780 Ti turboed up
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around 1 GHz in Crisis 3 without even touching boost clock settings. Freaking
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impressive. There are some sort of less
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positive notes. Um, bits like the inclusion of different kinds of rubber
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isolators without specifying which is for what and general documentation
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deficiencies with ENC case relying on a thread on hard form to guide users
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during the installation process. Not to mention that it's not exactly uh cheap,
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pretty darn expensive, but if you're looking for something that's beautiful
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and functional, the end result really does look like it's going to be worth
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the effort. It's compact, gorgeous, and
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not going to be easy for N Case to top if they want to try to build something
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more compact that fits a full-size system. Speaking of beautiful, Massdrop
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sent us a pair of headphones that actually really surprised me. These are
7:56
the Audio Legacy Elites, and they're beautiful. So, naturally, I expected
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them to sound like junk, but I was dead wrong. A Audio has actually hit a nice
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sweet spot with this between sound quality, price, and features with active
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noise cancelling included, but also possible to just turn off if you don't
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feel like replacing the AAA batteries. Uh, at the lowest drop point, by the
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way, the price looks pretty darn impressive, which you can check out at the link in the video description. And
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if you haven't heard of Mass Drop by now, well, then you must be pretty new to this here interweb show that we got
8:28
gosh darn it. They're a site that facilitates group buys, sourcing product
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8:36
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8:43
and their inventory changes all the time. So head over to Massdrop today
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using our link that's drawups/inus
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tech to check out these headphones, the Legacy Elites from Audio as well as all
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their other awesome drops. Using our link doesn't give us a commission or
8:59
anything, but it does let Massdrop know that we sent you. So, please click that
9:03
link in the video description when you sign up. And while you're down there, we also have a link to support us. You can
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buy a cool t-shirt like this one. Give us a monthly contribution or change your Amazon bookmark to one with our
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affiliate code. So, whatever you're buying, like new power cables or
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whatever else it is you buy on Amazon, we get a small kickback. That kind of thing helps us out a lot. Thanks again
9:20
for watching and as always, don't forget to subscribe.