My only gripe is a January delivery date. Other than that its a pretty good mitx case. One production run but it wouldn't surprise me if LL copies it considering the attention it is getting.
Lian-Li would be smart to make it a production case.
The price is the biggwst turn off
It's a wonder why it would take a kickstarter campaign to come up with a mitx case that doesn't look like shit.
Why didn't Lian Li start producing something like this long ago?
Heck, they could remove the old-skool 1990's cd-drive, would make the case even better.
it's 2013 already.
I hope you are joking. That slot is about as unobtrusive as possible and designed such that you could go without one and no one would even know that there was a bay for one. With any mini-ITX chassis there is a high probability that it's going in a home theater where a BD drive is VERY welcome.It's a wonder why it would take a kickstarter campaign to come up with a mitx case that doesn't look like shit.
Why didn't Lian Li start producing something like this long ago?
Heck, they could remove the old-skool 1990's cd-drive, would make the case even better.
it's 2013 already.
The case is a niche market item basically. LL probably thought not enough people would buy something like it. Maybe the M1 will change manufacturers minds about what to offer in the future. We can only hope.
I hope you are joking. That slot is about as unobtrusive as possible and designed such that you could go without one and no one would even know that there was a bay for one. With any mini-ITX chassis there is a high probability that it's going in a home theater where a BD drive is VERY welcome.
This is bunk. Any premium mini-ITX chassis is "niche market" and yet they make those. It's not like there was some engineering breakthrough that allowed this one.
I have a whole shelf of opera DVDs that I constantly enjoy (most opera and classical stuff is not available via streaming) so having a 5.25 external bay is critical for me. I wouldn't buy this case for HTPC purposes since Lian Li already makes the PC-Q27 which is about the same size and works perfectly fine for that use (I just finished my second HTPC build with this case, this one for my daughter). That case is perfect for HTPC, passively cooled, mini-ITX (but using a ATX PSU), and room for three data drives (if you need that many) as well as an optical drive.I think it would be interesting to take a poll at a place like AVS Forum to see how many HTPC users have optical drives, and if so, which type. Personally, I don't have any in either of my HTPCs. My Streacom case doesn't even have a slot for one (note: there is a variant of the FC-8 Evo that has an ODD slot), and I never put one in my Corsair 550D.
I'd consider it, but if I want to play a Blu-Ray, I'll just fire up my PS3 instead. The Blu-Ray playback software can be rather expensive unless you want that OEM junk that's limited to stereo sound. I was able to pick up TMT5 on sale ($45 I think?), which I use on my main desktop.
You mean like Lian-Li's newer curved Mini-ITX case? ...or their movable train case? Lian-Li loves to make weird stuff. This project seems right up their alley.
I have a whole shelf of opera DVDs that I constantly enjoy (most opera and classical stuff is not available via streaming) so having a 5.25 external bay is critical for me. I wouldn't buy this case for HTPC purposes since Lian Li already makes the PC-Q27 which is about the same size and works perfectly fine for that use (I just finished my second HTPC build with this case, this one for my daughter). That case is perfect for HTPC, passively cooled, mini-ITX (but using a ATX PSU), and room for three data drives (if you need that many) as well as an optical drive.
So rip the dvdd. Or download them. Optical is dying!
Some things I would design differently:
Push/Pull and thicker radiators would be possible with protruding fans. The mesh grill in between would be removable (only serves to restrict airflow otherwise). The 2.5" bottom mount would be perpendicular to the current orientation so as not to restrict the other fan to 92mm/80mm.
My old "super-mini-ATX" design used an AGP riser card and a 1U PSU for making things even more compact. I don't see why we cant have a PCIe riser card or something similar and get rid of the space wasted by relocating the PSU.
A 1U PSU might be an improvement
It would not because it would be optional. If you wanted a thick radiator and push/pull fan you would have the option of "killing the look" to do so without irreversibly hacking apart the side panel. You could do that currently but you'd have the grill needlessly sandwiched in between hampering airflow. Also, some would think that the more obvious "extreme cooling in a small package" look would MAKE it, especially if the fans were dressed up a bit.Protruding fans would kill the look of the case.
I think right angle connectors with upside-down mounting would solve the connector clearance issue. Also, is there no reason they couldn't make a bracket that mounts it above the fans?I also assume you mean the bottom 3.5" mount as the bottom 2.5" mount already allows for 120mm fan. The 3.5" drive can't be oriented perpendicular to its current position because there is not enough room internally for it plus cables. Yes, increasing the size may have solved both issues but the case is already larger than initially envisioned by the designer.
I'll take a look. Thanks!This case also started on the hardforum may have been more to your liking but sadly lack of funding and equipment failure ended the project: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/m3a2-beta-aluminum-mini-itx-case It still used an sfx psu but also used a riser for the gpu to keep the case thin.
For that you only need one optical drive in the household. Also, if new disks are not being ripped constantly, it might be fine to just have an external drive you plug in when you need to rip a disk. Ripping the existing collection is a one-time thing so for that it hardly matters whether the drive is internal.And you rip the DVD/bluray with.........(wait for it)......an optical drive.
I think right angle connectors with upside-down mounting would solve the connector clearance issue. Also, is there no reason they couldn't make a bracket that mounts it above the fans?
I'll take a look. Thanks!
Edit: Didn't see anything about the riser card but I'm not sure how else they'd fit full-sized graphics in there.
What 240 rad do you think would fit? I am thinking about getting my 680gtx and i5 3770k water cooled with a single loop :-D
I don't know much about water cooling but I believe Necere said that there is slightly over 300mm internally where the rad will be and said this one might should fit: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6...Reservoir_MCR220-QP_Res_R2.html?tl=g30c95s160 It has a resevior built in so all you need is the pump/block.
Sorry I must have glanced over your link.
I believe the mock-ups use a H220 with the gpu added to the loop. Its a good bit shorter than the rad/res linked.
Hmm that makes sense. Yeah, based on the lengths on Swiftech's site, the MCR won't fit because it's actually longer than the case by 3mm. That is with the pump though, but even without it, it's only 16mm shorter.
Did they use a Rev2 in the mockup?