Th
Now that my NCASE M1 is a rare artifact I feel like I’ll have to baby it even more in order to preserve it. I really don’t think it needs to be discontinued unless the “M2” is gonna be a much improved version of it. I agree that there should have been a few months warning to give everyone a chance to get the latest variant.
The PCIE threads on mine also stripped, and my solution was to buy longer (about 1/2”) screws with a nut on the other side, and it turns out it holds the video card even more securely so I’m happy with the solution.I just read the news. I'm quite disappointed to be honest. I love my V5, I'll keep using it for as long as ITX motherboards exist, it's too bad I won't be able to get spare parts. Would have been nice to get a warning, so I could get a spare front I/O panel and some extra clips in case something in mine breaks, and so people who had been planning on getting a case could get one. One of the PCIe screwholes stripped on mine, now I have to take extra care of it knowing I can't replace any part.
Anyway, based on what read on The Verge, this was done because a new case is in the works that's going to be bigger in order to accommodate bigger graphics cards. I liked the M1 because it was as big as it needed to be to have no compromises, but no bigger. The vast majority of cards still fit. You make a 16L+ case, then you're just like the big manufacturers. It's no longer really SFF, and you lose your competitive edge. The other thing that concerns me is that none of the other NCase projects went anywhere, no offense. Some of W360's did clearly (under different brands), but I much prefer Necere's style, and out of the concepts he showed in his SFF forum idea thread, none went into production. So I'm a bit skeptical of potential future NCase projects or rather I'm skeptical that they will be true to the M1's design language and philosophy.
I think the NCase M1 is the best case ever designed (possibly second to the original IBM PC case). So... this is a little disappointing to see things moving in a more mainstream direction. I have a feeling the successor will be made of steel too, at least the internal chassis, so... yet another distinguishing feature of the M1 will be compromised. If they make it bigger and steel, I hope at least they give it mATX or even ATX support at that point, so at least we have a compelling alternative to Cerberus which I don't like at all. Anyway... RIP legendary M1, all good things must come to an end. As someone with severe OCD, this was the only SFF case I was ever able to find that was truly no compromise, the rest all have major downsides, I hope I get to see another case like this again someday. In the meantime, my V5 and I are in it for the long haul.
Now that my NCASE M1 is a rare artifact I feel like I’ll have to baby it even more in order to preserve it. I really don’t think it needs to be discontinued unless the “M2” is gonna be a much improved version of it. I agree that there should have been a few months warning to give everyone a chance to get the latest variant.