Concept Necere's concept/ideation thread

Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,719
3,281
Just curious, would an mATX board fit in an NCase M1 with one more slot, if you had an SFX bracket that put an SFX PSU right up against the front wall? Or would you need to make the case longer too?
Needs another 10mm or so.
 

Arrandale

Trash Compacter
Jan 14, 2018
41
32
Widened it by 10mm so it can fit 2.5 slot GPUs and a 70mm CPU cooler. A few more renders:







I have to admit it's got some sex appeal. Sleek, modern, and compact. Doesn't look like a typical PC, yet can still pack the punch of a full gaming rig. I could see it appealing to some people.

Would it be possible to flip the Motherboard, so that the I/O is at the Back of the case, and use a flexible Riser like this one [https://www.thermaltake.com/Chassis...T_Premium_PCI_E_3_0_Extender_300mm/design.htm] to keep the GPU in the vertical orientation with the I/O on the Bottom?
I mean, i for my part use the rear I/O of my Motherboard multiple times a day, whereas i rarely ever need to access the GPU I/O. That would be a lot more practical if you ask me.
I would make a model in SketchUp to explain, but my skills are terrible at best. I hope i could convey what i mean.

Greetings
 

AcquaCow

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jul 14, 2017
113
84
What are you always changing on the rear of your PC? The only time I touch anything on the rear of my PC is when I'm unplugging everything to take it out and make changes internally.

I run a 7-port USB3 hub off the back on a 6ft cable so that I can locate that in a convenient location, but I rarely even use that.
I also have a USB 3 card reader stuck to the back of my monitor for my SD cards so that I can dump photos, but that's also a permanent install.
 

Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,719
3,281
Would it be possible to flip the Motherboard, so that the I/O is at the Back of the case, and use a flexible Riser like this one [https://www.thermaltake.com/Chassis...T_Premium_PCI_E_3_0_Extender_300mm/design.htm] to keep the GPU in the vertical orientation with the I/O on the Bottom?
I mean, i for my part use the rear I/O of my Motherboard multiple times a day, whereas i rarely ever need to access the GPU I/O. That would be a lot more practical if you ask me.
I would make a model in SketchUp to explain, but my skills are terrible at best. I hope i could convey what i mean.

Greetings
It's possible, and in fact that's exactly what the Corsair One does. This concept would already require a flex riser, since it's back-to-back like the A4, Ghost etc. The challenge is that it needs to be bent in a very particular, somewhat awkward way to achieve the One's layout, and I'm not sure that's such a great idea. I already don't really trust them to perform reliably, and they seem delicate enough that incorporating one into a case for DIY'ers (as opposed to a prebuilt like the One) where they're likely to get bent repeatedly seems like it's asking for problems. These risers are $60+ parts, remember, so that extra cost plus the potential reliability concerns leaves me not entirely keen on the idea.
 
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Arrandale

Trash Compacter
Jan 14, 2018
41
32
It's possible, and in fact that's exactly what the Corsair One does. This concept would already require a flex riser, since it's back-to-back like the A4, Ghost etc. The challenge is that it needs to be bent in a very particular, somewhat awkward way to achieve the One's layout, and I'm not sure that's such a great idea. I already don't really trust them to perform reliably, and they seem delicate enough that incorporating one into a case for DIY'ers (as opposed to a prebuilt like the One) where they're likely to get bent repeatedly seems like it's asking for problems. These risers are $60+ parts, remember, so that extra cost plus the potential reliability concerns leaves me not entirely keen on the idea.

Yeah i guess you're right. I'm using the Evolv Shift right now and i really love the formfactor.
I modded mine to have only one chamber, with both I/O of the GPU and the Motherboard up top. Works a lot better than the two chamber layout it ships with and can accommodate 2.5 Slot oversized cards without using a Riser cable.
 
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Sympathizer

Caliper Novice
Jul 27, 2016
31
23
So many intriguing concepts, but to this day SFF community has given life to just a few real products. I wonder what the chance is that during the year NCASE will have some brother?
 

Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,719
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That's hard to answer. There are some internal changes at LL and this new situation with the tariffs have introduced some additional uncertainty into the equation. It should become clear what effect those things will have on us in the next few months, but right now I'm not sure.
 
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Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,719
3,281
Looking through my old CAD project files this evening and thought I'd share a couple from ~10 years ago:





Apologies for the poor image quality, I couldn't get antialiasing to work properly. Might be because I had to open these with an ancient version of Rhino that I barely remember how to use.

These are both from 2008ish, and you might notice that the internal layouts are pretty similar to cases that came out years later. To me that just goes to show that layouts are fairly obvious - certainly for anyone who spends a little time on exploring the possible configurations - and one shouldn't expect that they were the first to do it, or that someone else won't come up with the same idea independently. Certainly, no one should claim ownership over something as basic and obvious as a layout.
 

Choidebu

"Banned"
Aug 16, 2017
1,196
1,204
Designs from a decade ago yet it still wows me... love the recessed middle part on the console style one. I can imagine the power button flush with the other surfaces.
 

CC Ricers

Shrink Ray Wielder
Bronze Supporter
Nov 1, 2015
2,233
2,556
Yep, the Shuttle Steam machine looks awesome I think! I could see the top section being detachable to make GPU replacement more easy, or to replace the top with one with more air vents.
 

AcquaCow

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jul 14, 2017
113
84
I still can't wait till we get more cases designed with ZERO 2.5in or 3.5in bays, with support ONLY for SFX power supplies.

I want ATX/MATX with nothing more than a 240-280mm radiator, two 120-140mm fans, and nothing else.

All m.2 storage.
 

Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,719
3,281
Not case related, but poking through my CAD folder I came across this quadrupedal robot tank thing I came up with a few years ago and thought it would be fun to share:





It folds up into the box on the left - probably inspired by the boxguards after a playthrough of Deus Ex: HR
 

Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,719
3,281
Yet another take on ~20L mATX:






Wanted to see how much I could pack in with a hard limit of 20L, to that end this is a little wider than the previous mATX concepts for better CPU cooler/GPU support (~150mm tall) and a rear 120mm exhaust fan. This could also support 1x240 and 1x120 rad, at least in theory.
 

turboleak

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jun 8, 2019
102
82
This one would be perfect for me if moving the PSU to the space of the SSD and making is shorter by the tall of the PSU ( no 3.5 HDD support ). I could put a 240 rad on the bottom and a 120 one on the front