Its been a long time coming, but finally the build is complete!
Specs:
- Auorus x570i Pro wifi motherboard
- Ryzen 7 5700G water-cooled APU
- Nvidia RTX A2000 GPU
- 16gb DDR4 Ram
- 1TB Samsung 970 evo Plus SSD
- 200w GaN - internal power supply
- 4" hdmi mounted sensor panel / display
- Alphacool radiator anr LP2 pump
- Blue water-cooled tubing
- Custom waterblock designed by Erick at NFC
- NFC carbon fiber stands / feet
- 175mm pcie 4.0 x16 ADT Riser cable
- Custom designed top and bottom sky covers
- Custom designed front and rear cover plates
- custom hdmi 4" screen bezel
- Modded NFC S4T case with mobo standoffs
- Sail blue paint job on internal frame and covers
The build started off from a 3.3L S4T case APU build with Ericks custom waterblock and the Alphacool radiators cooling the loop. I found myself wanting more Graphics performance and so i set off on a discovery journey of to create a dGPU a2000 build but still keep the water-cooled system.
The original build was the standard 70mm wide case, and it was compact, with little room for any additions.
The first mod i did was replace the old clear tubing with a bright blue tubing. This really improved the aethetic and gave me a great start to the blue-themed S4T build.
I came across some different ideas from others in the Not From Concentrate discord group of making a Thicc boii mod where you extend the bezel on one side to make room for a slotted in dGPU. This would not work for me due to my waterblock, and radiator locations. Shifting the motherboard mounts and creating an entirely new IO shield wasnt something i wanted to do.
Another build idea in the discord channel was a sandwich configuration, with extended motherboard standoffs and a riser cable to the behind-the-mobo GPU. This idea gave me hope, and i knew it was the inspiration i needed to move forward.
Once the sandwich idea was in my mind i did some measurements. The problem was i had no room to raise my motherboard. I found that the existing S4T top and bottom sky cover holes almost lined up with the side cover mounting holes. With a little modding, i could widen the cover holes to align with the threads in the frame.
Once i was able to mod the holes for the covers and mount them, i used standoffs to push the existing mobo / watercooler setup up into the right side bezel. This would make room behind the motherboard for an a2000 and relocated power supply.
Before i was able to do this, i needed to cut off the 90deg frame edge to accommodate the raised mobo and radiator. I then used some hard plastic to make a new dual fan / radiator from plate mount.
The next part of the build was getting the new 175mm riser cable and the Nvidia RTX a2000 GPU. The riser cable has 2 180deg connections, so it made for a very slim connection on the back of the motherboard.
Before i could place the riser cable and gpu, i had to cut the vertical center line of the s4t frame off as well as cut a 60mm tall cutout of the back frame of the s4t to make room for the a2000 to slide in. (This cut wasnt needed, but i figured i rather have the mini Display ports flush with the rear io, rather than using some permanent mini-dp adapters in the case.
Once the stars aligned and i had my a2000 and riser cable in the build, it was the moment of truth to see if both s4t side covers fit and screwed into the frame. I first grinded down the a2000 rear exhaust / io bracket so it was flush with the 4 sides. (It would make the build look better since the rear cover isnt perfectly flush with the ports).
With a bit of extra modding to the s4t side cover mount holes, the a2000 fit!
I was lucky enough to find an existing motherboard mount that aligned up with the riser cable mount, and then i used a standoff and aluminum piece to mount the other side of the riser cable. That really made the build feel like it was coming together.
Another idea i had to make the build feel like my own was to paint the inside bezels of the skyslots. I ended up taping the external side of all the covers and paint the interior with a sail blue spray paint that matched the water-cooling tubing i chose. It looks great and gives the build a unique vibrant, yet subtle blue aesthetic. Along with some blur RGBs inside, its a lot of blue!
The final pieces of the build were to design the front and rear covers, as well as some top and bottom custom covers to cover up the newly-extended s4t case.
I didnt have much experience with dxf files, but once i found out Josh has some opensource dxf files for all the different nfc covers / io shields etc, i used those as a starting point. I widened the front and back covers to fit the new width, and came up with a nice rear io cover to still accommodate the existing motherboard io plate. The top and bottom covers i designed from using the angles from s4t-s linking brackets file.
Sendcutsend.com was my go-to for getting the covers made. It ended up costing around $40 for the front, back, and top / bottom covers. 3mm thick Dark gray acrylic was what i used.
Once i got the covers, the build felt almost complete! I just had on more thing to do, and that was a 4" sensor panel / hdmi display.
I did some more hacking / cutting at the s4t case (sorry Josh) and until the 4" display could fit flush in the left side cover (behind motherboard). I then decided to design a screen bezel and redo the rear cover to include gpu rear mounting holes and reprint it from sendcutsend (Scs).
To make the hdmi work, i used slim hdmi and micro usb cables leading out of the rear of the build and plugged into a gpu mini dp and a usb port
After all that, the build finally came together! I am loving it and it feels unique and powerful. Possible upgrades in the future will be another ssd, or switch out the 2x8gb ram sticks to a 2x16gb option. For now, i have all the power and graphics performance i need! Thanks for reading, i look forward to your thoughts!
Dont forget to go checkout my Youtube channel, ill be posting a full build video in the near future!
Specs:
- Auorus x570i Pro wifi motherboard
- Ryzen 7 5700G water-cooled APU
- Nvidia RTX A2000 GPU
- 16gb DDR4 Ram
- 1TB Samsung 970 evo Plus SSD
- 200w GaN - internal power supply
- 4" hdmi mounted sensor panel / display
- Alphacool radiator anr LP2 pump
- Blue water-cooled tubing
- Custom waterblock designed by Erick at NFC
- NFC carbon fiber stands / feet
- 175mm pcie 4.0 x16 ADT Riser cable
- Custom designed top and bottom sky covers
- Custom designed front and rear cover plates
- custom hdmi 4" screen bezel
- Modded NFC S4T case with mobo standoffs
- Sail blue paint job on internal frame and covers
The build started off from a 3.3L S4T case APU build with Ericks custom waterblock and the Alphacool radiators cooling the loop. I found myself wanting more Graphics performance and so i set off on a discovery journey of to create a dGPU a2000 build but still keep the water-cooled system.
The original build was the standard 70mm wide case, and it was compact, with little room for any additions.
The first mod i did was replace the old clear tubing with a bright blue tubing. This really improved the aethetic and gave me a great start to the blue-themed S4T build.
I came across some different ideas from others in the Not From Concentrate discord group of making a Thicc boii mod where you extend the bezel on one side to make room for a slotted in dGPU. This would not work for me due to my waterblock, and radiator locations. Shifting the motherboard mounts and creating an entirely new IO shield wasnt something i wanted to do.
Another build idea in the discord channel was a sandwich configuration, with extended motherboard standoffs and a riser cable to the behind-the-mobo GPU. This idea gave me hope, and i knew it was the inspiration i needed to move forward.
Once the sandwich idea was in my mind i did some measurements. The problem was i had no room to raise my motherboard. I found that the existing S4T top and bottom sky cover holes almost lined up with the side cover mounting holes. With a little modding, i could widen the cover holes to align with the threads in the frame.
Once i was able to mod the holes for the covers and mount them, i used standoffs to push the existing mobo / watercooler setup up into the right side bezel. This would make room behind the motherboard for an a2000 and relocated power supply.
Before i was able to do this, i needed to cut off the 90deg frame edge to accommodate the raised mobo and radiator. I then used some hard plastic to make a new dual fan / radiator from plate mount.
The next part of the build was getting the new 175mm riser cable and the Nvidia RTX a2000 GPU. The riser cable has 2 180deg connections, so it made for a very slim connection on the back of the motherboard.
Before i could place the riser cable and gpu, i had to cut the vertical center line of the s4t frame off as well as cut a 60mm tall cutout of the back frame of the s4t to make room for the a2000 to slide in. (This cut wasnt needed, but i figured i rather have the mini Display ports flush with the rear io, rather than using some permanent mini-dp adapters in the case.
Once the stars aligned and i had my a2000 and riser cable in the build, it was the moment of truth to see if both s4t side covers fit and screwed into the frame. I first grinded down the a2000 rear exhaust / io bracket so it was flush with the 4 sides. (It would make the build look better since the rear cover isnt perfectly flush with the ports).
With a bit of extra modding to the s4t side cover mount holes, the a2000 fit!
I was lucky enough to find an existing motherboard mount that aligned up with the riser cable mount, and then i used a standoff and aluminum piece to mount the other side of the riser cable. That really made the build feel like it was coming together.
Another idea i had to make the build feel like my own was to paint the inside bezels of the skyslots. I ended up taping the external side of all the covers and paint the interior with a sail blue spray paint that matched the water-cooling tubing i chose. It looks great and gives the build a unique vibrant, yet subtle blue aesthetic. Along with some blur RGBs inside, its a lot of blue!
The final pieces of the build were to design the front and rear covers, as well as some top and bottom custom covers to cover up the newly-extended s4t case.
I didnt have much experience with dxf files, but once i found out Josh has some opensource dxf files for all the different nfc covers / io shields etc, i used those as a starting point. I widened the front and back covers to fit the new width, and came up with a nice rear io cover to still accommodate the existing motherboard io plate. The top and bottom covers i designed from using the angles from s4t-s linking brackets file.
Sendcutsend.com was my go-to for getting the covers made. It ended up costing around $40 for the front, back, and top / bottom covers. 3mm thick Dark gray acrylic was what i used.
Once i got the covers, the build felt almost complete! I just had on more thing to do, and that was a 4" sensor panel / hdmi display.
I did some more hacking / cutting at the s4t case (sorry Josh) and until the 4" display could fit flush in the left side cover (behind motherboard). I then decided to design a screen bezel and redo the rear cover to include gpu rear mounting holes and reprint it from sendcutsend (Scs).
To make the hdmi work, i used slim hdmi and micro usb cables leading out of the rear of the build and plugged into a gpu mini dp and a usb port
After all that, the build finally came together! I am loving it and it feels unique and powerful. Possible upgrades in the future will be another ssd, or switch out the 2x8gb ram sticks to a 2x16gb option. For now, i have all the power and graphics performance i need! Thanks for reading, i look forward to your thoughts!
Dont forget to go checkout my Youtube channel, ill be posting a full build video in the near future!
