I realised recently that I'm not a superhero. Being the solo parent of two pre-teens, working a day job, dealing with anxiety disorder, amongst other things, I needed to slow down. I've (significantly) slowed my content production down for SFF Network, and it's time I built a more.. long term.. system. One to last more than the three or four weeks my playing with review units has led me to recently. Million Dollar PC hall of fame inspired, as the designer of this case would say - "No compromises".
Amusingly, with all the samples to hand, I've chosen to buy most of the parts for this build - over the past few months mind you. Let's get started.
Hardware. Yes, that's a NFC SkyReach S4M - It's about time I had hands on with this legend of the SFF world. I'll be giving my thoughts on it throughout the build. Along side this;
The NFC SkyReach S4M. A great quality case, designed by @Josh | NFC and produced by Lian Li in Taiwan via partnership with SFFLab. The expected Lian Li quality is here, although there are some niggles I'll mention. See that black faceplate? The silver aluminium? Yep, I'm changing that
One thing to note on my thoughts - Phillips head screws seem a little out of place on such a premium product. I'll be replacing them with Allen head screws where possible.
Ok, this has to go.
Done. The orange is great and all, but the tribal pattern? Meh.
The accessory kit that comes with the S4M. No instruction manual is included (le sigh), but the riser is awesomely small. The included screws cover a load of config options, but as I mentioned above, I will be installing my own style where possible.
The included SILIFLEX riser is awesome - just follow the instructions on the riser, or we'll all judge you.
The power inputs are either a barrel jack or an IEC C8 connector - I'll be using an internal AC-DC so the latter will be used. However, I hate unused holes/ports/slots/mounts, so I'll be rear mounting a power button (also happens to fit in with the aesthetic in mind) in the barrel jack hole.
I previewed this aesthetic at Computex a couple of years back, and at the risk of angering the masses, I prefer it over the NFC S4C. Prepare yer pitchforks! The two matching outer panels are attached with four Phillips head screws in a countersunk hole. I'll be adding additional depth to these to suit the screws for my personal build, though. Good thing I'm painting it!
The panel fit is a bit tight, and it does lead to marring the inside of the panels. I'm a little disappointed in this - a tight panel fit is nice, but I'm removing powdercoat every time I mount the panels. The fit is a little too tight :/
Options! The SkyBracket allows mounting of a 120mm fan all over the case - the mounting holes are numerous and well positioned. This, as with the entire case, is aluminium.
More of the mounting holes. These are compatible with both the SkyBracket and the SkyBracket Duo, pictured in part here.
Mount either bracket where you want. Or don't. It's your build! I won't be using either in my system.
So they will live on as a "friendly" face.
Up front, behind the black front panel, hide a few more options, should you be willing to create a custom front panel. I was tempted to use these, and take these as inspiration. We'll see where that takes me.
Right, let's go with a test build. SkyBrackets removed.
IO Shield in, fits perfectly.
Motherboard in. As always, the padded EMI shield makes this a pain.
GPU in. I needed to bend the bottom retention tabs on the card to get this to fit - not sure if this was a card or case issue.
Riser in. This is a pretty snug fit - and I'll be 3D printing a cover for this - I'm not a fan of this shade of brown. Screams mid 90's motherboard to me.
NFC SkyWires in, along with the HDPlex 400w DC-ATX. The SkyWires are very, very nice, with a silicone style coating on the robust wires. Kudos to @Josh | NFC for these. I was going to sleeve these, but nope, these are too good to hide. I did modify them though, by removing the wires for the extra two pins, taking the PCIe 8 pin to be a cleaner 6 pin for my card.
No official mounting holes for the HDPlex 400w DC-ATX, so find your own way to mount it.
From the back, pretty subtle. I'm very happy to see access to back mounted M.2 drives and CPU cooler retention included in the case's design - great for me especially as I will be slotting in a 512GB or 1TB M.2 drive when this becomes my main system.
Rear mounted power switch. I'll be re-wiring this, these are just the cables included when I sourced a CustomMod Nano with this switch. That case? it didn't fit the motherboard it was designed for. #fail
A fair bit of empty space here. Yuck! Ah well, to the top will be used for an internal HDPlex AC-DC 400w, when those.. eventually.. hit the market. To the left? not sure yet.
That black brushed front panel? Fingerprint magnet. Note the replaced screws..
And to the back, showing the power button.
--------------
Long term plans;
Amusingly, with all the samples to hand, I've chosen to buy most of the parts for this build - over the past few months mind you. Let's get started.
Hardware. Yes, that's a NFC SkyReach S4M - It's about time I had hands on with this legend of the SFF world. I'll be giving my thoughts on it throughout the build. Along side this;
- Intel i7-7700T (thanks @Kmpkt)
- Gigabyte B150N Phoenix WiFi
- G-Skill Flare-X 16GB
- Sapphire RX570 Pulse ITX
- NFC SkyWires kit (fantastic, by the way, more thoughts later)
- HDPlex DC-ATX 400W, early generation with arguably the better looking heatsinks
The NFC SkyReach S4M. A great quality case, designed by @Josh | NFC and produced by Lian Li in Taiwan via partnership with SFFLab. The expected Lian Li quality is here, although there are some niggles I'll mention. See that black faceplate? The silver aluminium? Yep, I'm changing that
One thing to note on my thoughts - Phillips head screws seem a little out of place on such a premium product. I'll be replacing them with Allen head screws where possible.
Ok, this has to go.
Done. The orange is great and all, but the tribal pattern? Meh.
The accessory kit that comes with the S4M. No instruction manual is included (le sigh), but the riser is awesomely small. The included screws cover a load of config options, but as I mentioned above, I will be installing my own style where possible.
The included SILIFLEX riser is awesome - just follow the instructions on the riser, or we'll all judge you.
The power inputs are either a barrel jack or an IEC C8 connector - I'll be using an internal AC-DC so the latter will be used. However, I hate unused holes/ports/slots/mounts, so I'll be rear mounting a power button (also happens to fit in with the aesthetic in mind) in the barrel jack hole.
I previewed this aesthetic at Computex a couple of years back, and at the risk of angering the masses, I prefer it over the NFC S4C. Prepare yer pitchforks! The two matching outer panels are attached with four Phillips head screws in a countersunk hole. I'll be adding additional depth to these to suit the screws for my personal build, though. Good thing I'm painting it!
The panel fit is a bit tight, and it does lead to marring the inside of the panels. I'm a little disappointed in this - a tight panel fit is nice, but I'm removing powdercoat every time I mount the panels. The fit is a little too tight :/
Options! The SkyBracket allows mounting of a 120mm fan all over the case - the mounting holes are numerous and well positioned. This, as with the entire case, is aluminium.
More of the mounting holes. These are compatible with both the SkyBracket and the SkyBracket Duo, pictured in part here.
Mount either bracket where you want. Or don't. It's your build! I won't be using either in my system.
So they will live on as a "friendly" face.
Up front, behind the black front panel, hide a few more options, should you be willing to create a custom front panel. I was tempted to use these, and take these as inspiration. We'll see where that takes me.
Right, let's go with a test build. SkyBrackets removed.
IO Shield in, fits perfectly.
Motherboard in. As always, the padded EMI shield makes this a pain.
GPU in. I needed to bend the bottom retention tabs on the card to get this to fit - not sure if this was a card or case issue.
Riser in. This is a pretty snug fit - and I'll be 3D printing a cover for this - I'm not a fan of this shade of brown. Screams mid 90's motherboard to me.
NFC SkyWires in, along with the HDPlex 400w DC-ATX. The SkyWires are very, very nice, with a silicone style coating on the robust wires. Kudos to @Josh | NFC for these. I was going to sleeve these, but nope, these are too good to hide. I did modify them though, by removing the wires for the extra two pins, taking the PCIe 8 pin to be a cleaner 6 pin for my card.
No official mounting holes for the HDPlex 400w DC-ATX, so find your own way to mount it.
From the back, pretty subtle. I'm very happy to see access to back mounted M.2 drives and CPU cooler retention included in the case's design - great for me especially as I will be slotting in a 512GB or 1TB M.2 drive when this becomes my main system.
Rear mounted power switch. I'll be re-wiring this, these are just the cables included when I sourced a CustomMod Nano with this switch. That case? it didn't fit the motherboard it was designed for. #fail
A fair bit of empty space here. Yuck! Ah well, to the top will be used for an internal HDPlex AC-DC 400w, when those.. eventually.. hit the market. To the left? not sure yet.
That black brushed front panel? Fingerprint magnet. Note the replaced screws..
And to the back, showing the power button.
--------------
Long term plans;
- Paint the shell beige (well, duh!)
HDPlex 400w AC-DC- Cable management
- Custom front "3D" panel made from NZ timber
- De-tribal that IO shield
- 3D printed stuff
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