A Look Around the M1
Simply put, the fit and finish of the case is excellent. Edges are square, panels are flat and sit fairly tight against the frame, and the black finish on this example is really good (the M1 has also been available in silver). In keeping with its sleek aesthetic there are very few visible screws, with only one on the top and nothing on the front or sides. Obviously a lot of attention has been paid to details here, and the OEM for NCASE, Lian Li, knows a thing or two about working with aluminum on enclosures.
The front of the enclosure showcases the M1's minimalist approach to design. It is dominated by a removable panel with no openings, and below there only a small logo and the front I/O; with two USB 3.0 ports and audio along with the power button (which lights up blue when the system is on).
The sides are identical, with plenty of air flow from the upper half of each panel.
Looking at the back view the M1 may look like like a typical enclosure, but this is an optical illusion. It is proportionally scaled, and resembles a tiny micro-ATX case in person (it’s so much smaller than anything I’ve built with!).
You might get a sense of the scale from that rear I/O opening on the left. The M1 measures at just 9.85” tall and only 6.3” wide, it’s not even big enough for a standard rear fan mount (that rear fan opening only supports 80/92mm fans). There are grommets for external water cooling as well, and regardless of custom or AIO cooling solutions it supports 240mm radiators inside.
The top of the case is perforated like the side panels, and there is a slot about the length of a CD over on the front edge… (More on that later!)
A look at the bottom of the case reveals a mounting point for a hard drive on the left, and the case floor does support dual 120mm fans as well.
All panels (front, sides, top) are connected with clips, and are easy to remove.
A little more pressure is needed than you might expect, but the clips are strong and seemed to hold up well to repeated use. The only issue with removal is that force could flex the aluminum panels, though they are rather easily flattened again if this happens.
With the panels removed we'll take a look at the build process next.
The case may look open now, but it's about to get PACKED
Great article Mr. Peak. If
Great article Mr. Peak. If you guys are ever revisit the M1, I’d love if you guys could throw together a worst case scenario build in terms of power consumption and push this case to its absolute limits. Something along the lines of a 4770k overlocked with an AIO cooler and an aftermarket Hawaii GPU.
The M1 was designed to offer no compromises in performance and I think a thermal torture test would go a long way toward verifying that claim. Enthusiasts have already shown that small cases like the Node 304 can handle that sort of setup and I’d like to see if the M1 can do the same while shrinking ITX cases even further.
Thanks! I wish we could cover
Thanks! I wish we could cover every angle and I agree that pushing the limits really is the purpose of a small case like this. An overclcocked 4770K on a mITX Z87 board would be a good test, although a 240mm cooler like the H100 should easily cope with this (especially if it was pulling outside air)… But the aftermarket Hawaii GPU is really going to contribute to temps in the case. 80-90c air blowing inside the case with a non-blower R9 290X would be interesting. But in that instance you could have dual 120mm fans blowing up to force the air up… (There are many possibilities)
Hawaii GPU + NZXT Kraken G10
Hawaii GPU + NZXT Kraken G10 + Corsair H80 AIO water cooler. That would be dope :).
I’m using a mATX build right now with 2x GTX 970, 2x NZXT Krakgen G10 & 2x Corsair H90. Works so well!
Is the triple slot design
Is the triple slot design only useful for triple slot PGU coolers? Is it possible to get an ITX board with 2 PCIE slots? That would be my ideal. I like the idea of ITX but if I don’t have a single open slot I have no option for any sort of future comparability with products that may not exist yet but may be very useful. If I could get an ITX board with 2 slots and a case with 3 that allows for a double slot GPU + one expansion slot I’d be all over it. As I don’t think that’s possible I think I’m relegated for mATX for the next while.
I’ve never heard of a
I’ve never heard of a mini-ITX board with more than one PCIe slot (though it would awesome), so yeah the purpose of the extra slot is just for a triple-slot cooler. So I guess that means go ahead and put a TITAN-Z in there!
Its called mini dtx its a
Its called mini dtx its a 203mm × 170mm board vs the 170mm x 170mm of itx amd introduced the formfactor in 07 but sadly it hasn’t really gained any traction. The M1 really screams for one but I can’t find any for sale.
There are a handful of
There are a handful of smaller microATX boards that will fit in the M1 – see this post for an example. There are also Mini-DTX boards with two slots, though they’re quite rare, and are typically listed as mATX. ECS makes boards in this size, which you can see installed in the M1 here.
That’s a good point – and it
That’s a good point – and it would substantially lower the cost of a build considering a board like that ECS H81H3-M4 is only $48. I bought that exact one on amazon last month for an unrelated project I haven’t started – haha if I’d thought about it I could have tried the install. It’s still in the box.
I dig the idea of a Bespoke
I dig the idea of a Bespoke case for this niche market. Mini-itx is one of the more interesting things going in the PC space now IMHO, so it’s cool to see these guys try to squeeze the package even smaller while still offering enthusiast level performance parts. Yeah there’s a hefty pricetag, but when these little guys take risks on designs that the big guys aren’t going for – and succeed – the net effects should hopefully ripple out into the rest of the case market. I for one wouldn’t mind that.
The only company I see right now pushing the size envelope (or really just messing around with case design) is Apple, and obviously they don’t jive well with DIY builders like us.
It’s probably worth pointing out that when these guys started their indiegogo thing (with pics and design specs) in early 2013 there were far fewer available mini-itx case designs on the market. Interesting things like Corsair’s Obsidian 250D, the Silverstone RVZ01, and the EVGA Hadron Air/Hydro didn’t exist.
Also that would make a pretty cool Steambox, all things considered.
I received this case Earlier
I received this case Earlier this year and it is a very impressive piece of hardware! I have a 760k cooled with an H100i and the same PSU in this review allowing me to use my old Radeon HD 5850. PERFECT setup for a LAN rig since it weighs basically nothing more than the components themselves and haven’t had an issue with temps after I got the H100i installed. (it was VERY loud with the stock AMD air cooler though)
There have been talks about another campaign running this year if anyone else is interested in purchasing one!
My Serial Number is 0414 so it’s odd that this would have taken soo long to arrive since I got mine in December!
CX750 is not 140mm. It is
CX750 is not 140mm. It is 160mm. 140mm would fit the longer graphics cards.
The CX750M is 140mm long – or
The CX750M is 140mm long – or at least claimed to be.
Here’s Corsair’s CX750M product page
I see that, but it looks
I see that, but it looks 160mm compared to other builds using 140mm and some websites indicate it is 160mm. Maybe they changed the specs and never updated the website? Can you measure it?
Well this what I get for
Well this what I get for trusting the spec sheet! You’re right, and the CX750M measures exactly 160mm.
I’m also told that even at 140mm a modular PSU won’t allow for longer GPU – the M1 builds with the long GPU/ATX PSU combo are using non-modular 140mm PSU’s. The connectors for the modular supply complicate things apparently.
Regardless, I appreciate the correction and I’ve updated the review to remove this erroneous “140mm” spec. (I also ordered a SilverStone ST55F-G power supply which by all accounts truly is 140mm! I will retire the Corsair PSU from future small builds.)
Any thoughts on the noise
Any thoughts on the noise level for the silverstone PSU under load?
I ordered one recently for my SG08-Lite build but it was just too noise when compared to an ATX 140mm non modular seasonic I had laying around.
Great review and I like the
Great review and I like the looks but I just don’t feel it is worth it. I went with the CM Elite 130 and it fits a full size ATX PSU as well as any size GPU. Its only downside is it requires a low profile CPU cooler or a 120mm AIO liquid(which I went with). 240mm rad will not fit. Below is my setup without the video card in.
http://pcpartpicker.com/b/Olp
http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mini-itx-elite-series/elite130/
Here’s a pic I took (with my
Here’s a pic I took (with my potato) of mine to show scale.. This really is the smallest powerfull case I’ve ever seen, it makes the elite 130, fractal node etc seem big.
http://ocau.com/pix/jycib
What makes this case so
What makes this case so expensive. Silverstone can design and build better itx than M1. If they can make the SG09/SG10 slimmer, it would be better for ITX.
Silverstone may be able to do
Silverstone may be able to do better, but they haven’t.
the evga hadron hydro is way
the evga hadron hydro is way better then this case. the only downside on the hadron is the power supply.
will ASUS Poseidon fit in
will ASUS Poseidon fit in this case?
Why not? Use PSU with
Why not? Use PSU with standard size and there will be no problem. You can even take non-modular PSU and cut all cables you don’t need for this build to make more room for GFX as modular PSU usually a bit longer.
i take back what i said about
i take back what i said about the hadron hydro. this case is much smaller then the hadron hydro.
Ofc you took huge 750W ATX
Ofc you took huge 750W ATX PSU (which no one need there) to block all decent GFX from installation, while could take 500-600W ATX of normal size and easily install GTX 970 or even GTX 980 there, but instead you opted for SFX PSU which is definitely not sufficient for any decent GFX.
http://desktopwallpapers.biz/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Genius-For-Downloads.jpg
You are absolutely wrong. I
You are absolutely wrong. I am running a Silverstone SFX 600W Gold Plus power supply in my Silverstone RVZ01B and it powers an EVGA GTX980Ti Hybrid card, Intel Core i5 6600K, Corsair H55 AiO CPU cooler, Samsung Pro 950 512GB, Samsung EVO 850 1TB SSD, and 16GB 3200Mhz DDR4 with no issues whatsoever. Gaming is buttery smooth and even the fan noise is low, which was a huge surprise to me. You need to do your homework. If you had, you would have known that the Silverstone SFX 600W PSU has a single 12V rail rated at 50 Amps, which is more than enough power for any current generation high-end single graphics card configuration.