The holy grail of PC cases - NCASE M2.

all right so this used to be my favorite PC case and honestly it's one of the main reasons why I even started this channel I was so obsessed with how good this thing was the end case M1 I mean at under 13 L it fit all of the fastest components but that was also back when the best CPU and GPU pulled less than 400 wats combined now we have components that pull more than that alone but also we now have this thing here which makes me feel like I've gone back in time and into the future all at once because this is the end case M2 and it is the smallest PC case to fit every air C 490 on the market you can also do 280 mil liquid cooling it can fit Micro ATX motherboards and even ATX power supplies as well all while being under 16 l in volume I mean this thing is an absolute beast but you put it next to the OG end case which I've built in so many times and it does look very very different the new one uh first of all the finish on this thing is unbelievably premium if if you're familiar with the latest Apple MacBooks and the ultra smoothed anodized and cnced finish on those the new M2 basically has that as well it is the nicest finish that I've seen on any PC case that extra space as well has been put to some very good use GPU compatibility particularly is absolutely insane in the M2 cards like this you know the massive RTX 40 series STS cards which plainly just don't fit in a lot of other ITX cases out there does actually fit in the M2 you do have to temporarily remove the front panel to squeeze it in there but once it's in there man it is a really satisfying fit now to put some context on how good that actually is the M2 is smaller than the fractal mood which I just reviewed smaller than the nr200 it's even smaller than the fractal Ridge none of those cases as well can fit this GPU right here which is kind of insane and look you can find smaller cards that will fit in those cases you can you know research the numbers and whatnot and make it work I've done that many times but in the M2 you just don't have to worry about it as long as it doesn't have like a 360 mil aiio attached to it it will fit in this case the bigger volume in the M2 also means that you can now do bigger radiators for liquid cooling so wherever you could put a 240 in the M1 you can now do a 280 mil in the M2 and I think it's also technically possible to do a triple radiator setup in this thing Believe It or Not which is absolutely mental since you can now technically install a radiator at the top of the case this is my old system in the M1 by the way which I still keep up and running as a little backup it's got a 12900 K and an RTX 390 used this thing for quite a while as you can see it's uh quite dusty but yeah the reason I didn't put a 4090 in this thing is because I knew it would tip it over the edge in terms of like temperatures and cooling but if I was to transfer all of this over to the M2 and then upgrade the radiators to 280 mm ones then that would definitely be enough calling now everything I've said about the new enase M2 uh up until this point has been like pretty cool right the build quality is like really nice and the roomy interior is much better for GPU compatibility but you only have to take one look at the mindbending motherboard tray on this thing to realize it's not a normal PC case the ene M1 you can pretty much only do one layout sure you can choose between liquid cooling or air cooling for your CPU but your GPU and your motherboard are always going to be in the same spot the M2 on the other hand can do three completely different layouts with tons of flexibility and optimization in between so firstly we've got the classic layout which is basically an end case M1 but just a bit more roomy and more optimized then you've got that but flipped so motherboard is now upside down which puts your GPU at the top and this is a lot better for GPU thermals but then if you have a really big GPU like the RG stxs you can do a vertical GPU layout with this mini Riser cable and here you'll have a top mounted 240 or 280 mil AIO for your CPU so one case but three extremely good layouts with those last two being the ones that I mostly see myself using with all of these layouts though you can actually shift the motherboard and power supply to a bunch of different heights which is insane 14 levels for the motherboard and 16 for the PSU including being able to rotate it or move it to the front panel so depending on the thickness of your fans or your graphics card whether you want to run an aiio or not you can just completely dial in and optimize the clearance and spacing of everything now between the M1 and the M2 there was actually another n case called the M1 Evo which is this thing right here uh I actually never did a build or review of this thing because by the time I got my hands on it the Creator let me know that he was already making an updated model so I honestly didn't bother but yeah I mean side by side they look extremely similar but the closer you get the more the differen has become actually pretty obvious the first thing that I noticed was the difference in the surface finish quality the M2 is coming from a different Factory so it's a much nicer super smooth finish it's a lot closer to what you get on an Apple product whereas the M1 Evo is kind of rough and patchy it's not terrible by any means but it's not personally what I'd go for the M2 is also just a little bit bigger I mean you can barely see from this angle because it's not a massive difference but it's actually mostly in the width the M2 is now 10 mm wider than the M1 Evo which means that you can now install CPU callers like the noctua D12 L which come in at 145 mm tall you also get better GPU compatibility there are some other small differences too like the motherboard tray in the M2 is now a single solid piece it now uses one type of screw for everything which makes building a lot easier the power supply bracket as well is now super Overkill in the M2 it's this chunky CNC thing with no flex at all and the front iio is now completely locked in not wobbly like it was on the M1 Evo the M2 is also cheaper at $165 us which is insane value for what you're getting I mean the quality of of Machining and the finisher is unheard of for that price that's only $15 more than the fractal mood which I just reviewed don't get me wrong that thing was aesthetic it was clean but if we're talking about like the materials used this thing is a different tier of PC case now to be fair at that base price you are getting a flat packed case which you will need to spend a couple of minutes assembling like the form T1 and add-ons like the boosted case feed and the vertical Riser cable will push the case closer to the $200 Mark but man 165 bucks for a base end case M2 is crazy crazy value and then there's this option here which is even more expensive this will land around the $230 Mark I've been told but yeah this thing looks really special in person it kind of looks like a Mini Apple Mac Pro something that just looks super super different it's not the same cutout hopefully the camera can do it justice but yeah still looks incredibly clean I honestly think this thing could be your one and only PC case for a really long time I highly doubt GPU are going to get much bigger than they are now and I don't see gaming CPUs needing more than a 280 mil liquid cooler multi-gpu SLI systems have also been dead for a while and you can now get multiple terabytes of storage on a single m.2 Drive Ram as well I mean 32 48 gig two stick kits are pretty common if you're buying ddr5 all of this stuff fits on an ITX board so for my first building this thing let's just say it's a bit different from the old end case M1 it can seem a bit tricky and complex at times as well because there are so many options to do but that is the trade-off of having so many different configurations in one case I will eventually of course do a full step-by-step build guide on the M2 but I'm going to leave that for another video because I'm still exploring what does and doesn't fit in this case for now though I've gone with the ryzen 7800 x3d called by the thermalite pess Assassin mini I've got a 4090 f up top Corsair sf750 for the power supply and then some extra case fans for cooling I actually didn't have any Slim 140 mil fans up top so I've just used 120s there for the time being and then I've used an Arctic p14 to help with exhaust on the side I have also used a custom 16 pin power cable from Mod DIY which I'll link down below it is pretty much necessary if you're going with a 4080 or 4090 Fe in this build I'd actually recommend going with their soft flexible cable though instead because this thicker sleeved one is right on the edge of the side panel not fitting this is also one of the main advantages of the vertical Riser kit you've got a lot more G with clearance there but yeah this thing performs really really well the component and airflow setup that I have here is funnily enough almost identical to the Dan C4 sfx which I tested a while back unfortunately that case has been discontinued but yeah the temperatures are about the same as that as well with my room at 23° I saw the 490 sitting at around 7172 while pulling around 400 WS in cyberpunk but then when turning on dlss which is what I pretty much always do in this game anyway you do get lower power draw and there I was seeing mid to high 60s this is exceptionally good for a build this Compact and it's not too different from what you'll see from most mid Towers I actually can't wait to do another build in the end case M2 and I'm already brainstorming all the crazy stuff that I'm going to do with this case in a way it kind of feels like the first PC case that's like a logical step over the formed T1 you know I've done so many builds in the T1 and honestly every time I build in that case I'm just like damn nothing nothing even comes close to this experience for me now the end case M2 actually does like of course it is a much bigger PC case you put them side by side it is like a noticeable jump but with that extra size you are getting also a noticeable jump in GPU compatibility and cooling as well unfortunately though it is not exactly perfect first of all the cable which runs from the power button to your motherboard is too short for my specific build just where I need to Route it it barely reaches apparently it's going to be lengthened for the next models but yeah I doubt that's going to be fixed for the first run and then there's the user manuals which for these products are just always bad for some reason like they're just not that clear so yeah I doubt the M2 will get any kind of clear instructions on how to put it together personally I would just rely on videos and then lastly at 165 bucks uh yeah I think the chances of getting one of these in stock at least for the time being is going to be very slim so I would sign up for email notifications do all of that stuff and just be patient to get your hands on one but yeah there it is the end case M2 if you want the smallest case that can fit the biggest gpus this is pretty much it and as a bonus you're getting the most premium build quality on the market by far

Channel: optimum

Views: 464,070

Keywords: ncase M2, best itx case, ncase m1, optimum, best sff case, optimum tech, ITX 4090 build

Id: MsoEEb8_0OY

Length: 10min 44sec (644 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 25 2024