Brain Tumor Build (S4 Mini #517)

PaulWalker

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Sep 19, 2017
15
88
Hey Guys, I'm starting a new build in an S4 Mini Classic. I'm doing this build for my brother you has always shared my passion for Gaming and PC Building. On New Years Eve he was driving home and had a seizure. He crashed his car into the guard rail on the interstate. Thankfully he was not injured in the crash, but after going to the hospital and receiving and MRI it was revealed that he had a golf-ball sized brain tumor on his left frontal lobe which caused the seizure. He is so far doing fine, but the doctors won't know much more until they can operate and remove the tumor. Needless to say my brother has a heavy weight on his shoulders right now as he contemplates a lot of things. He is scheduled for surgery in a few weeks and we will know more then. In the meantime I know that he will have a lot of expenses between medical co-pays and his car repairs so I wanted to give him something nice. So I'm building him an S4 Mini Classic of his very own, and I wanted to share the build log with you guys. The parts list is below:

Case: S4 Mini Classic #517
Motherboard: ASRock Z370M-ITX/ac
CPU: Core i5 8400
RAM: 16GB Ballistix DDR4-2400
SSD: Crucial MX300 1TB M.2
GPU: In the market for 1070 mini (All the miners are making this part difficult to find, if anyone is selling I am buying)
Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i
PSU: HDPLEX 400W & Dell 330W
Sleeving: MDPC-X Atomic Green and custom cables




 

Coach_Rico

Average Stuffer
Mar 16, 2017
69
74
Sorry to hear about your brother. Praying for a speedy recovery! Graphic cards are really hard to find at a good price nowadays however I know Fry's in my area (Atlanta) still get them but only for a few hours before they get sold out again.... Still way overpriced tho.

good luck with the build!
 

PaulWalker

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Sep 19, 2017
15
88
Thanks for all the support guys. I'm hopefully going to get 90% of the system hooked up outside the case this weekend in order to take make sure it all works before installing inside the S4 Mini. In the meantime, I received this in the mail today. Can't wait to cut those cables to length and turn them ATOMIC GREEN!!!

 

BrotherStein

Cable-Tie Ninja
Nov 11, 2017
168
136
Thanks for all the support guys. I'm hopefully going to get 90% of the system hooked up outside the case this weekend in order to take make sure it all works before installing inside the S4 Mini. In the meantime, I received this in the mail today. Can't wait to cut those cables to length and turn them ATOMIC GREEN!!!

Are those the cables that come with a HDPLEX400?
 

PaulWalker

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Sep 19, 2017
15
88
Successful test run outside of the case. I don't have the 1070 yet to test, but it's on it's way thanks to a helpful member of this forum. The only issue I ran into was the Dell 330W power brink I bought off Amazon won't power the system. I get the green LED on the power brick when I plug it into the wall, and the output voltage is correct according to my multi-meter, but when I plug in into the DC power jack on the HDPlex the light goes out and I can't boot. Luckily I have another Dell power brick for my personal S4 Mini and it worked flawlessly. So all I have to do is process the return and hope the next brick works. While I was troubleshooting I noticed that the faulty brick seems lighter than my good brick, so I'm wondering if I got a knockoff. Anyway next step is to begin installing the hardware into the S4 Mini.


Successful Boot, all the hardware seems to be detected correctly. I'll wait to install the OS and any other software until I get it into the case.

All up and running with the help of Baby Groot.

Thankfully the HDPlex doesn't have a button that blows things up.
 

PaulWalker

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Sep 19, 2017
15
88
Pulled out my trusty MDPC-X sleeving tools this morning, and the first sleeve is complete. I'll wait for the GTX 1070 to arrive before I do the rest of the sleeving because I want to cut the cables to length, and I'm not sure which way I'll have to mount the DC power jack once the graphics card is installed.

 

PaulWalker

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Sep 19, 2017
15
88
This community is so awesome. With crypto currency inflating GPU prices, it's been impossible to find a 1070 for this build at a resonable price, but this community stepped up and I was able to get a beautiful Galax 1070 mini at a very reasonable price. Thanks so much to Zovc for making this happen. And thank you to the community for helping to better this build for my brother.

Received a much appreciated package today from SFF member Zovc.


Installed in the case, just need to power it up and give it a test run.
 

PaulWalker

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Sep 19, 2017
15
88
Hey guys, sorry it's been a few days since my last update. It's been a busy week at work. My brother's surgery is Thursday so it's crunch time to get this build done. I've been working on the wiring tonight. Sorry I don't have much for you today, but here's a shot of the custom length 24 pin and 8 pin GPU connector. I just need to sleeve them and get them installed. I think I will end up redoing the 8 pin CPU connector that I've already sleeved. The cables just aren't the right length and its going to put too much stress on the connector in the long run.