NCASE M1 V6 info

Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,713
3,261

ChrisB

Case Bender
New User
Oct 16, 2021
2
2
Sorry to hear that the M1 is EOL. I get my silver M1 in a couple of days. But I wanted to order the optional ODD top panel too. Does anyone have a tip where I can possibly still buy the silver ODD top panel (New, used, from dealer, privat, …)?
 

Engr62

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jun 7, 2018
126
77
We've made the decision not to order any new M1 production, so there won't be any restock, unfortunately.
Shocking and sad news. I guess that explains the sudden lack of NCASE M1s on eBay. My system has been in a V4, V5, and V6 over the years. I really hate to see it go. Now both of my favorite SFF cases (the NCASE M1 and the CCD MI-6) are out of production.
 

marcolopes

Case Bender
New User
Aug 25, 2020
2
0
Due to various factors, we have decided not to order another batch of M1 at this time. This means the current M1 design, or M1 *Classic, is effectively end of life, and we will not have any more M1 Classic cases or parts available to order. It's had a good eight year run, but evolving component requirements and shifts in the market have made it a less compelling option in recent times. We apologize to anyone who wasn't able to order an M1 Classic before stock ran out. The decision not to reorder was a difficult choice.
What "evolving component requirements and shifts in the market" exactly?

What's really happening that puts one of the best (if not the best!) Mini-ITX/DTX case out of production?
 

Revenant

Christopher Moine - Senior Editor SFF.N
Revenant Tech
SFFn Staff
Apr 21, 2017
1,480
2,370
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schn1tt3r

Cable-Tie Ninja
Sep 24, 2018
151
247
Can't wait for new info on rtx 4000 GPU's. Not sure if I should wait for those or just buy the next 3080 deal I find considering the 750 PSU limit. If these rumors of 4000 series being power hungry cards, there's no point waiting for them.
 

ScottSimply

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Nov 15, 2021
119
225
So per this article it sounded as if there were two new designs in the works - one from you and the other from Necere. Are you able to share which of the two is on the way, please?
W360 talked about this a little in the SFF Gurus Discord, of course plans can still change, but there he said:
"the new product will come in two sizes, one horizontal and one vertical, the vertical kit will be the new MachOne
@Necere worked out the details for horizontal case, I follow his design cue for the vertical MachOne".
 

corgi

Minimal Tinkerer
New User
Mar 2, 2022
4
17
So per this article it sounded as if there were two new designs in the works - one from you and the other from Necere. Are you able to share which of the two is on the way, please?

W360 talked about this a little in the SFF Gurus Discord, of course plans can still change, but there he said:
"the new product will come in two sizes, one horizontal and one vertical, the vertical kit will be the new MachOne
@Necere worked out the details for horizontal case, I follow his design cue for the vertical MachOne".
I'm an Ncase M1 user. I accidentally discovered it was discontinued last year when I recently wanted to buy another 2 for people I know.

From what I've gathered, they gave no heads up and no real reason why they've chosen to discontinue the (undoubtedly very popular) M1.

Then there's their official statement, from the link in their October reply above "The decision not to reorder was a difficult choice."

That announcement uses language and structure (beat around the bush, regurgitate a bunch of excuses/rephrases that don't give a real explanation and pretending like they give a shit about you when they don't) that stinks of shit commonly used in corporate environments like this:

"Due to various factors, we have decided not to continue your employment at this time. This means your role at the company is effectively terminated, and we do not have any other roles for available to transition to. It's been a good eight years having you as part of the (company name) family, but evolving job requirements and shifts in the market have made you a less compelling fit in recent times. We apologize to for the sudden* notice. The decision not to continue employing you was a difficult choice."

*Sudden = Planned wind-down months ahead of announcement to you.

I know they've said they're working on new products, but whatever they may be, I will no longer be purchase anything from Ncase in the future because of how much their M1 discontinuation reeks of insincere bullshit, and would highly encourage others to consider boycotting this group as well.
 
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FiftyFifty

Average Stuffer
May 20, 2021
65
125
I'm an Ncase M1 user. I accidentally discovered it was discontinued last year when I recently wanted to buy another 2 for people I know.

From what I've gathered, they gave no heads up and no real reason why they've chosen to discontinue the (undoubtedly very popular) M1.

Then there's their official statement, from the link in their October reply above "The decision not to reorder was a difficult choice."

That announcement uses language and structure (beat around the bush, regurgitate a bunch of excuses/rephrases that don't give a real explanation and pretending like they give a shit about you when they don't) that stinks of shit commonly used in corporate environments like this:

"Due to various factors, we have decided not to continue your employment at this time. This means your role at the company is effectively terminated, and we do not have any other roles for available to transition to. It's been a good eight years having you as part of the (company name) family, but evolving job requirements and shifts in the market have made you a less compelling fit in recent times. We apologize to for the sudden* notice. The decision not to continue employing you was a difficult choice."

*Sudden = Planned wind-down months ahead of announcement to you.

I know they've said they're working on new products, but whatever they may be, I will no longer be purchase anything from Ncase in the future because of how much their M1 discontinuation reeks of insincere bullshit, and would highly encourage others to consider boycotting this group as well.
Buhu, cry me a river 😂

On to better things:
- July to Sep available depending on 40XX GPU
- 12.5 - 14L depending on 40XX GPU (should look smaller next to M1 V6.1 classic)
- Flipping to allow GPU on top or bottom supported on all models
- Horizontal and vertical orientation via Vertical Stand supported on select models
- NO Riser or *With Riser build supported on all models.
- Interchangeable Front Panel supported
- Better air and water compatibility than M1
- USD 150 - 250
 
Last edited:

Revenant

Christopher Moine - Senior Editor SFF.N
Revenant Tech
SFFn Staff
Apr 21, 2017
1,480
2,370
I'm an Ncase M1 user. I accidentally discovered it was discontinued last year when I recently wanted to buy another 2 for people I know.

From what I've gathered, they gave no heads up and no real reason why they've chosen to discontinue the (undoubtedly very popular) M1.

Then there's their official statement, from the link in their October reply above "The decision not to reorder was a difficult choice."

That announcement uses language and structure (beat around the bush, regurgitate a bunch of excuses/rephrases that don't give a real explanation and pretending like they give a shit about you when they don't) that stinks of shit commonly used in corporate environments like this:

"Due to various factors, we have decided not to continue your employment at this time. This means your role at the company is effectively terminated, and we do not have any other roles for available to transition to. It's been a good eight years having you as part of the (company name) family, but evolving job requirements and shifts in the market have made you a less compelling fit in recent times. We apologize to for the sudden* notice. The decision not to continue employing you was a difficult choice."

*Sudden = Planned wind-down months ahead of announcement to you.

I know they've said they're working on new products, but whatever they may be, I will no longer be purchase anything from Ncase in the future because of how much their M1 discontinuation reeks of insincere bullshit, and would highly encourage others to consider boycotting this group as well.

Well…welcome to the forum. You seem to have a misconception about how big NCASE was. It wasn’t a giant company. It was two people who did this as a passion project.

Necere and W360 are some of the most active members in the community. Those two were NCASE so you can contact them directly and ask questions.

The loss of the M1 did take us all by surprise, but that is always the risk in small batch cases. Other examples of popular designs abruptly ceasing production include the CCD MI-6 COOJ Z13.

The M1 was struggling with modern hardware, and had been limited for quite some time now. It was designed when blower GPUs were the standard, and not particularly good at removing GPU heat. Quad core 95 watt CPUs were still the high-end standard when the M1 came out. Now we’re looking at 16 and 24 core CPUs that hit 300 watts. A 240m rad suffers to try to cool those basically limiting users to AMD CPUs. GPU wise there were very few high end options that even fit.

There are similar cases to the M1. Check out some of the other projects on the forum.
 

corgi

Minimal Tinkerer
New User
Mar 2, 2022
4
17
Buhu, cry me a river 😂

On to better things:
- July to Sep available depending on 40XX GPU
- 12.5 - 14L depending on 40XX GPU (should look smaller next to M1 V6.1 classic)
- Flipping to allow GPU on top or bottom supported on all models
- Horizontal and vertical orientation via Vertical Stand supported on select models
- NO Riser or *With Riser build supported on all models.
- Interchangeable Front Panel supported
- Better air and water compatibility than M1
- USD 150 - 250
FormD was founded by one of the Ncase M1 guys. So FormD x Ncase collab is different from "Ncase" that made the M1 how... ???
Well…welcome to the forum. You seem to have a misconception about how big NCASE was. It wasn’t a giant company. It was two people who did this as a passion project.

Necere and W360 are some of the most active members in the community. Those two were NCASE so you can contact them directly and ask questions.

The loss of the M1 did take us all by surprise, but that is always the risk in small batch cases. Other examples of popular designs abruptly ceasing production include the CCD MI-6 COOJ Z13.

The M1 was struggling with modern hardware, and had been limited for quite some time now. It was designed when blower GPUs were the standard, and not particularly good at removing GPU heat. Quad core 95 watt CPUs were still the high-end standard when the M1 came out. Now we’re looking at 16 and 24 core CPUs that hit 300 watts. A 240m rad suffers to try to cool those basically limiting users to AMD CPUs. GPU wise there were very few high end options that even fit.

There are similar cases to the M1. Check out some of the other projects on the forum.
Hey man, I've been following the Ncase M1 project since inception in 2012. Very patiently waited for the launch of that case, and waited some more before being able to afford dropping $200+ on a PC case.

I appreciate you shedding light on why the case was dropped - that's something I've not read anywhere, which is where my qualms stem from. I pity the folks who wanted the case or even owners who wanted parts, since they got basically zero notice before production was ceased forever.

The fact these are indie project/small batch/boutique cases is all the more why makers should treat their customer/fanbase with respect - that includes being transparent, not pretending it's all good to not give a shit about their customers and drop a sudden EOL, substantiated by no real reason at all, but just excuses written in fluffy flowery language like a faceless corporation.
 

Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,713
3,261
I'm an Ncase M1 user. I accidentally discovered it was discontinued last year when I recently wanted to buy another 2 for people I know.

From what I've gathered, they gave no heads up and no real reason why they've chosen to discontinue the (undoubtedly very popular) M1.

Then there's their official statement, from the link in their October reply above "The decision not to reorder was a difficult choice."

That announcement uses language and structure (beat around the bush, regurgitate a bunch of excuses/rephrases that don't give a real explanation and pretending like they give a shit about you when they don't) that stinks of shit commonly used in corporate environments like this:

"Due to various factors, we have decided not to continue your employment at this time. This means your role at the company is effectively terminated, and we do not have any other roles for available to transition to. It's been a good eight years having you as part of the (company name) family, but evolving job requirements and shifts in the market have made you a less compelling fit in recent times. We apologize to for the sudden* notice. The decision not to continue employing you was a difficult choice."

*Sudden = Planned wind-down months ahead of announcement to you.

I know they've said they're working on new products, but whatever they may be, I will no longer be purchase anything from Ncase in the future because of how much their M1 discontinuation reeks of insincere bullshit, and would highly encourage others to consider boycotting this group as well.
Please don't impute intent without knowing the full picture. There were circumstances leading up to the cessation of production that I could not disclose at the time. I wrote the original notice (which W360 later edited to sound more positive with an eye to his planned replacement) and I felt an obligation to explain why we were ending production, but not being able to discuss one of the biggest contributing factors is why it may have come across as insincere. The reasons I gave were not false - these were things we had discussed in the past. The launch of the 3000 series nvidia GPUs and increasing share of AIB cards that were no longer compatible due to ever growing proportions put the M1's future into question. It was only a matter of time before incompatibilities with modern hardware would render it obsolete. Sales had already fallen off a lot in 2021. Some of that was no doubt due to increased competition from cases like the NR200, but it was clear the writing was on the wall, and we would need to come up with an M1 successor sooner or later.

Having said that, those weren't the immediate factors leading up to the decision to end production when we did. So here's the rest of the story - the part I couldn't talk about.

A couple of years ago, Wahaha360 (who has run the business side of NCASE since its inception), acting on his own behalf, entered into an arrangement to design a new case in cooperation with a fledgeling daughter company of Lian Li (our manufacturer for the M1). This company was founded and run by a family member of the Lian Li founder. I was not involved, but my understanding is that W360 was instrumental in the development of the Meshlicious for Ssupd. The layout, specs, features, and name originated with him, while the engineering, manufacturing, and distribution were handled by Ssupd/Lian Li. My understanding is that for his role they made an agreement wherein w360 would be paid a portion of the profits generated from the Meshlicious. However, once sales begun, my understanding is Ssupd only offered him a fraction of the compensation they had previously agreed on. Unfortunately, they were not able to come to a new agreement, and as a consequence w360 made the decision to file a lawsuit against Ssupd for breach of contract and IP theft.

Last year, as we were coming up on the time when we'd need to place a new production order to replenish M1 stock, a decision needed to be made. W360 was concerned that because of Ssupd's close ties with Lian Li, once he filed the lawsuit it would endanger our manufacturing arrangement. So when the time came to reorder, he felt it was too risky to pay for new production. Hence the decision was made to discontinue the M1, and focus instead on developing new products with a new manufacturer. W360 had already been making the T1 in China for his other brand, FormD, so we wouldn't be starting entirely from scratch for a new product.

After deciding to end M1 production, I felt an obligation to make a statement, but as he had not yet filed the lawsuit W360 asked me not to make any mention of the situation with Ssupd. So I was left with the choice of either vague allusions to "changing hardware requirements and other factors," or saying nothing at all. I chose the former to ward off further speculation and questions. The lawsuit has been filed and publicly disclosed, so I'm now able to discuss what I know of it.

I should mention that I had no real say in the decision to discontinue the M1. If it were up to me we would've kept production going for as long as it was economically viable, or at least until we had a replacement ready to go. I've been personally affected as well, as a major portion of my income came from M1 sales. Believe me, I was as disappointed as anyone. I'm sorry things went as they did, and that I was not able to be as forthright as I would've liked to. I have always strived to adhere to a high standard of honest and ethical behavior so it causes me some distress to be accused of insincerity. I hope this makes it clear it was never my intent to deceive anyone.
 

corgi

Minimal Tinkerer
New User
Mar 2, 2022
4
17
Please don't impute intent without knowing the full picture. There were circumstances leading up to the cessation of production that I could not disclose at the time. I wrote the original notice (which W360 later edited to sound more positive with an eye to his planned replacement) and I felt an obligation to explain why we were ending production, but not being able to discuss one of the biggest contributing factors is why it may have come across as insincere. The reasons I gave were not false - these were things we had discussed in the past. The launch of the 3000 series nvidia GPUs and increasing share of AIB cards that were no longer compatible due to ever growing proportions put the M1's future into question. It was only a matter of time before incompatibilities with modern hardware would render it obsolete. Sales had already fallen off a lot in 2021. Some of that was no doubt due to increased competition from cases like the NR200, but it was clear the writing was on the wall, and we would need to come up with an M1 successor sooner or later.

Having said that, those weren't the immediate factors leading up to the decision to end production when we did. So here's the rest of the story - the part I couldn't talk about.

A couple of years ago, Wahaha360 (who has run the business side of NCASE since its inception), acting on his own behalf, entered into an arrangement to design a new case in cooperation with a fledgeling daughter company of Lian Li (our manufacturer for the M1). This company was founded and run by a family member of the Lian Li founder. I was not involved, but my understanding is that W360 was instrumental in the development of the Meshlicious for Ssupd. The layout, specs, features, and name originated with him, while the engineering, manufacturing, and distribution were handled by Ssupd/Lian Li. My understanding is that for his role they made an agreement wherein w360 would be paid a portion of the profits generated from the Meshlicious. However, once sales begun, my understanding is Ssupd only offered him a fraction of the compensation they had previously agreed on. Unfortunately, they were not able to come to a new agreement, and as a consequence w360 made the decision to file a lawsuit against Ssupd for breach of contract and IP theft.

Last year, as we were coming up on the time when we'd need to place a new production order to replenish M1 stock, a decision needed to be made. W360 was concerned that because of Ssupd's close ties with Lian Li, once he filed the lawsuit it would endanger our manufacturing arrangement. So when the time came to reorder, he felt it was too risky to pay for new production. Hence the decision was made to discontinue the M1, and focus instead on developing new products with a new manufacturer. W360 had already been making the T1 in China for his other brand, FormD, so we wouldn't be starting entirely from scratch for a new product.

After deciding to end M1 production, I felt an obligation to make a statement, but as he had not yet filed the lawsuit W360 asked me not to make any mention of the situation with Ssupd. So I was left with the choice of either vague allusions to "changing hardware requirements and other factors," or saying nothing at all. I chose the former to ward off further speculation and questions. The lawsuit has been filed and publicly disclosed, so I'm now able to discuss what I know of it.

I should mention that I had no real say in the decision to discontinue the M1. If it were up to me we would've kept production going for as long as it was economically viable, or at least until we had a replacement ready to go. I've been personally affected as well, as a major portion of my income came from M1 sales. Believe me, I was as disappointed as anyone. I'm sorry things went as they did, and that I was not able to be as forthright as I would've liked to. I have always strived to adhere to a high standard of honest and ethical behavior so it causes me some distress to be accused of insincerity. I hope this makes it clear it was never my intent to deceive anyone.
Wow, shit, that sucks. My apologies for jumping the gun there with my earlier post. Appreciate the in-depth description on what happened. I've been in legal situations before as well, and couldn't disclose what was happening with people I knew, even though I felt they deserved an explanation. I know that what it's like going through shit like that and now I feel like an asshole =(

What I wrote earlier was based off how the notice was written in a way that was very stone-faced corporate-like. TBH, a much more blunt and brief "Due to personnel issues/a personal crisis, we're going to have to discontinue the case on short notice. We'll be back in the near term future with new products. So sorry and thanks for your support over the years" would have sat better. Maybe throw in "If you're looking for an ITX case right now, check out the FormD T1 as a current alternative" for good measure.

Well I guess I'll be sitting here embarassed and waiting for your next case design then 😖
 

Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,713
3,261
Wow, shit, that sucks. My apologies for jumping the gun there with my earlier post. Appreciate the in-depth description on what happened. I've been in legal situations before as well, and couldn't disclose what was happening with people I knew, even though I felt they deserved an explanation. I know that what it's like going through shit like that and now I feel like an asshole =(

What I wrote earlier was based off how the notice was written in a way that was very stone-faced corporate-like. TBH, a much more blunt and brief "Due to personnel issues/a personal crisis, we're going to have to discontinue the case on short notice. We'll be back in the near term future with new products. So sorry and thanks for your support over the years" would have sat better. Maybe throw in "If you're looking for an ITX case right now, check out the FormD T1 as a current alternative" for good measure.

Well I guess I'll be sitting here embarassed and waiting for your next case design then 😖
Hey no worries. I accept your apology and I appreciate your humility. It's good to get the story out there for people regardless.