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SFF Forum designs an eGPU case – Episode 1

So all the external Thunderbolt 3 graphics card docks announced or released so far are stupidly big, I mean, you could build a full gaming computer in something like the DAN A4-SFX in less space! To combat this and show them how we do things at SFF Forum, I offered to do the CAD work for free if someone would provide me with a Thunderbolt 3 to PCIe adapter to measure and pay for the sheet metal fabrication to make it all happen. Runamok81 on the forum has graciously offered to do just that, so now there’s a project thread going and …

Feature News

The SFF Build Challenge #1: A Gaming Rig Under $450

During the most recent episode of Low Volume, the crew and I kicked off a brand new segment of the show that will perhaps be the first series of content to be spread out across our podcast, SFF Network, and SFF Forum alike: The SFF Build Challenge! This segment is meant to take place on the last episode of Low Volume for every month, and, best of all, everything from the choice of build to the winner of each segment is determined wholly by the community! Here’s how it works: Starting two weeks before the last Low Volume episode of …

Editorial Feature

SFF Network’s Thermal Test Rig

Ever since we started reviewing CPU coolers, we’ve had a dirty (not-so-much-of-a) secret – namely, that our testing has been done on an ATX board. The reason for this was practical enough: the board itself is a part of my main workstation, and I’ve been the one responsible for cooler reviews at SFF Network! However, as we grow into a fully-fledged technology and review site, we decided it was time to build something dedicated, and more fitting to our niche of SFF systems. Thus, in today’s article, we will detail the new system, the build process, and the retesting of all our previously-reviewed coolers. While …

Editorial Feature

Let’s talk about reviews

SFF Network has been fortunate enough to be able to do a few product reviews since we started the site earlier in the year. In fact, we’ve actually been doing a lot more component testing in the past month or so, with a pile of forthcoming reviews now in the pipeline, and a few of these already published. To be honest, though, this push of reviews is somewhat unexpected for us, especially since we originally planned on solely reviewing products of interest that we bought personally (or just happened to come across). That was certainly enough to get us going …

Articles Feature

Project mATX: An interview with Jeffinslaw

Jeffery is a member of a variety of forums (including SFF Forum), and has recently entered the realm of PC case design with ‘Project mATX’ – an enclosure meant to bring the ethos and principals of the acclaimed Compact Splash to the mATX form factor. In contrast to our debut interview with Josh Sniffen of NFC Systems fame, Jeff’s first strike at case design provides an insightful window into the fundamentals of the design process, as well as some of the minutiae that comes along with learning as you go. Joshua Ramirez: Thanks for speaking with us! Let’s start by talking about what inspired you to …

Cooling Feature Reviews

CPU Coolers – An Introductory Roundup

Any good review website needs a solid test bench for reviewing hardware. Now it’s time to introduce ours. It does not yet have a name, and it’s a bit camera shy, but it does the job well. Specifications The test bench currently includes the following hardware; Gigabyte 970-D3P Motherboard Phenom II 555BE @ 3.2GHz 8GB Crucial DDR3-1600 Value RAM (single DIMM) Hitachi 60gb 2.5″ 5400RPM SATA HDD (temporary!) EVGA GT240 1GB Thermal Master 420W Power Supply Aluminium Test Bench Chassis [mks_separator style=”blank” height=”2″] Now on to the coolers. Zalman CNPS8700CU-LED This cooler is made entirely of copper, and features 2 …

Feature Graphics Reviews

Gigabyte R7-360 – Mid-Range Miniature

With the current trend towards ‘ITX-ing’ graphics cards, I thought I would have a look at a current generation card – the Gigabyte GV-R736OC-2GD. This card features the AMD R7-360 GPU, with 2GB of GDDR5 and a dual-slot, full height, form factor. A little history of the R7-360 This card features the ‘Tobago’ core – also known as the ‘Bonaire Pro’ – a derivative of the Bonaire core first featured, in ‘XT’ form, in the HD7790 from early 2013. The core is based on Graphics Core Next (GCN) 1.1 architecture, which we will detail later on. Later in 2013, AMD launched the …

Articles Feature

Not From Concentrate: An interview with Josh Sniffen of NFC Systems

Josh Sniffen is the owner of NFC systems, a SFF design firm founded in 2009. With a lineage of products and designs including the NFC ArK and the S Series, Josh has a wealth of experience and knowledge, both as a system building enthusiast and modder, and as a vendor of ultra-portable SFF chassis and systems. Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to speak to Josh about his prior work, as well as his newest creation, the S4 Mini. Josh is set to demonstrate the chassis this Friday, while participating at PDXLAN 26. Joshua Ramirez: Thanks for taking the time to talk with …