Parts list:
Motherboard: MSI Z270I GAMING PRO CARBON AC
CPU: Intel i7-7700 (Turbo boost disabled, undervolted to 0.925v)
Fan: Noctua NH-L9i (I really want a black alternative to this...)
RAM: DDR4 16GB PC 3200 CL15 G.Skill (1x16GB) 16GVK Ripjaws
Disk: Intel Solid-State Drive 600p Series (512GB)
GPU: EVGA GTX 1060 SC Gaming (Replacement for a EVGA GTX 1050 Ti)
PSU: HDPLEX 160W DC-ATX (Replacement for a PicoPSU 160W)
Power-Brick: DELL 330w (Replacement for a 192W brick used with the PicoPSU)
The primary goal of this build was to make something that would run Dolphin (GameCube/Wii emulator) at 1080p@60FPS which would allow me to have integrated GC controller ports as well as a Wii Sensorbar (Mayflash Dolphinbar in this case as it's awesome in terms of not having any friction when installing and using - it's pretty much as easy as pairing and using it like on a regular Wii console) and the S4 mini ticked all those boxes!
The plan for this build was also to replace a few of my existing PCs at home which where 2 x NUCs that i used for software development and an ASRock 330 HTPC for, well, HTPC purposes (KODI/XBMC).
I went with an i7 to get VT-x/VT-d and Hyperthreading as i needed those for my virtual machine testing and software development workflows and those requirements are also the reason for the 32GB of RAM which would otherwise be overkill as that would give me the combined amount of memory as my current two Intel NUCs.
However as is listed in the parts list above i am running a single 16GB DIMM as unfortunately the motherboard i had chosen would not allow me to have 2 DIMMs installed together with the HD-PLEX 160W - it simply will not fit
I'm currently looking for board with a 24 pin power connector that is not as close to the RAM slots as the MSI Z270I board and hoping the ASUS Z270i Strix board might allow this so if anyone has this setup please let me know if that fits.
I started with a GTX 1050 Ti as that would be sufficient (and then some...) but quickly came to the realisation that i also wanted to experience 1080p@60FPS PC gameplay for a few titles i had never gotten around playing on my PS4/XONE (GoW4, Tomb Raider, Hitman, Quantum Break, Nier Automata etc.) so the upgrade was made to a GTX 1060 instead. This also allowed me to run Dolphin at 4K@60FPS which is nice i guess, i just dont have a 4K monitor...
After making this GPU switch i started experiencing resets at 160-175W total power draw from the wall and the system was very unstable. I disabled turbo boost as i didn't need that extra oomph and undervolted the CPU to 0.925vcore to same some watts but i still had resets. I switched the 192W brick with a 500W regular ATX power supply and wired it up to the PicoPSU but alas - still resets.
Then the HD-PLEX 160W arried and once i plugged that in and a DELL 330W brick furmark + linpack over a 4 hour period at ~190W power draw from the wall the system is stable! I rarely get above 160-170W when gaming but ill post some test results later.
I had not played with custom build PCs running Windows for the last 10-12 years so my knowledge was very limited but i wanted to learn and also build as much of the stuff on my own. By that i mean custom cabling, sleeving and making all the parts fit nicely (WiiU GameCube adapter ports, Mayflash sensorbar etc.) inside the S4 Mini and add a few nice touches to the build to pay my tributes to both the GameCube as a console but also the awesome work the Dolphin development team and community have been doing over the last decade.
The first part i started with was custom cabling and sleeving which turned out to be great fun! I had to buy a ton of tools to just get started but it has been super fun to learn how to do this. This is my first time doing something like this so the heathshrink job is a bit loose on some of the cables but overall im pretty happy with the results and the wiring is now down to a minimum inside the S4 Mini.
For the GC controllers to function properly (or the easiest i have found) with Dolphin i went for the Wii U GameCube adapter controller which is fully supported under Dolphin. My local Gamestop had a sale on these so i emptied the stores around where i live as i knew i would f... up some of the boards as i never soldered anything before.
Initially i thought i could just de-solder the actual ports from the PCB and run some custom wiring to allow everything to fit but after having tried that for a couple hours i finally had it removed from the PCB but i had destroyed more or less all the connectors... Back to the drawing board!
I tried to fit everything back into the chassis and it became apparent that i needed to run the JST connector underneath the controlle board for everything to fit under the backside of the graphics card. I ordered some new JST connectors and housings which im still waiting for to arrive at this point. Once they do arrive the plan is to de-solder the pints attached to the board and solder on a surface mount housing onto the backside of the board so i can run the cabling in parallel with the board so everything fits.
To be continued!
As for the Wii controllers i needed an easy way to connect those which wouls also play nicely with Dolphin. Mayflash Dolphinbar was what i had used before and it also had the benefit of a build-in sensor bar which i thought i could then fit into the S4 mini as well.
This is currently also a work in progress and at this point i have only verified that it works through the custom 3D printed front bezel as i wasn't sure how the IR emittors would work when they where contained inside non-clear plastic but it seems to work fine for my use. I guess depending on how far you sit from the sensor bar that it might impact the quality but from a functional perspective it works fine.
Im still to figure out how to mount the sensor bar in the chassis (3D printed case is an option im looking into) and how i can mount it so i can still get some type of access to the on/off switch and sync buttons.
Also to be continued!
For the custom front bezel with the cutouts i contacted Josh @ NFC and asked if he could cut one for me in alu or plastic and sure enough he would be happy to help!
At this point i thought it would be fun to try and get a model 3D printed to verify my measurements before sending it over to Josh for the final product.
This also allowed me to go down another rabbit role: 3D Printing and SketchUp! A few days later i had a model build and i found a company in Copenhagen, Denmark, where i could print 5 pieces for a fixed price and had the oppurtunity to change the measurements between each print until i had something that fitted perfectly.
Ill leave you with a few pictures of the progress so far and ill update the thread as i move closer to finishing the project.
If you made it down here to the end - thanks!
Motherboard: MSI Z270I GAMING PRO CARBON AC
CPU: Intel i7-7700 (Turbo boost disabled, undervolted to 0.925v)
Fan: Noctua NH-L9i (I really want a black alternative to this...)
RAM: DDR4 16GB PC 3200 CL15 G.Skill (1x16GB) 16GVK Ripjaws
Disk: Intel Solid-State Drive 600p Series (512GB)
GPU: EVGA GTX 1060 SC Gaming (Replacement for a EVGA GTX 1050 Ti)
PSU: HDPLEX 160W DC-ATX (Replacement for a PicoPSU 160W)
Power-Brick: DELL 330w (Replacement for a 192W brick used with the PicoPSU)
The primary goal of this build was to make something that would run Dolphin (GameCube/Wii emulator) at 1080p@60FPS which would allow me to have integrated GC controller ports as well as a Wii Sensorbar (Mayflash Dolphinbar in this case as it's awesome in terms of not having any friction when installing and using - it's pretty much as easy as pairing and using it like on a regular Wii console) and the S4 mini ticked all those boxes!
The plan for this build was also to replace a few of my existing PCs at home which where 2 x NUCs that i used for software development and an ASRock 330 HTPC for, well, HTPC purposes (KODI/XBMC).
I went with an i7 to get VT-x/VT-d and Hyperthreading as i needed those for my virtual machine testing and software development workflows and those requirements are also the reason for the 32GB of RAM which would otherwise be overkill as that would give me the combined amount of memory as my current two Intel NUCs.
However as is listed in the parts list above i am running a single 16GB DIMM as unfortunately the motherboard i had chosen would not allow me to have 2 DIMMs installed together with the HD-PLEX 160W - it simply will not fit
I'm currently looking for board with a 24 pin power connector that is not as close to the RAM slots as the MSI Z270I board and hoping the ASUS Z270i Strix board might allow this so if anyone has this setup please let me know if that fits.
I started with a GTX 1050 Ti as that would be sufficient (and then some...) but quickly came to the realisation that i also wanted to experience 1080p@60FPS PC gameplay for a few titles i had never gotten around playing on my PS4/XONE (GoW4, Tomb Raider, Hitman, Quantum Break, Nier Automata etc.) so the upgrade was made to a GTX 1060 instead. This also allowed me to run Dolphin at 4K@60FPS which is nice i guess, i just dont have a 4K monitor...
After making this GPU switch i started experiencing resets at 160-175W total power draw from the wall and the system was very unstable. I disabled turbo boost as i didn't need that extra oomph and undervolted the CPU to 0.925vcore to same some watts but i still had resets. I switched the 192W brick with a 500W regular ATX power supply and wired it up to the PicoPSU but alas - still resets.
Then the HD-PLEX 160W arried and once i plugged that in and a DELL 330W brick furmark + linpack over a 4 hour period at ~190W power draw from the wall the system is stable! I rarely get above 160-170W when gaming but ill post some test results later.
I had not played with custom build PCs running Windows for the last 10-12 years so my knowledge was very limited but i wanted to learn and also build as much of the stuff on my own. By that i mean custom cabling, sleeving and making all the parts fit nicely (WiiU GameCube adapter ports, Mayflash sensorbar etc.) inside the S4 Mini and add a few nice touches to the build to pay my tributes to both the GameCube as a console but also the awesome work the Dolphin development team and community have been doing over the last decade.
The first part i started with was custom cabling and sleeving which turned out to be great fun! I had to buy a ton of tools to just get started but it has been super fun to learn how to do this. This is my first time doing something like this so the heathshrink job is a bit loose on some of the cables but overall im pretty happy with the results and the wiring is now down to a minimum inside the S4 Mini.
For the GC controllers to function properly (or the easiest i have found) with Dolphin i went for the Wii U GameCube adapter controller which is fully supported under Dolphin. My local Gamestop had a sale on these so i emptied the stores around where i live as i knew i would f... up some of the boards as i never soldered anything before.
Initially i thought i could just de-solder the actual ports from the PCB and run some custom wiring to allow everything to fit but after having tried that for a couple hours i finally had it removed from the PCB but i had destroyed more or less all the connectors... Back to the drawing board!
I tried to fit everything back into the chassis and it became apparent that i needed to run the JST connector underneath the controlle board for everything to fit under the backside of the graphics card. I ordered some new JST connectors and housings which im still waiting for to arrive at this point. Once they do arrive the plan is to de-solder the pints attached to the board and solder on a surface mount housing onto the backside of the board so i can run the cabling in parallel with the board so everything fits.
To be continued!
As for the Wii controllers i needed an easy way to connect those which wouls also play nicely with Dolphin. Mayflash Dolphinbar was what i had used before and it also had the benefit of a build-in sensor bar which i thought i could then fit into the S4 mini as well.
This is currently also a work in progress and at this point i have only verified that it works through the custom 3D printed front bezel as i wasn't sure how the IR emittors would work when they where contained inside non-clear plastic but it seems to work fine for my use. I guess depending on how far you sit from the sensor bar that it might impact the quality but from a functional perspective it works fine.
Im still to figure out how to mount the sensor bar in the chassis (3D printed case is an option im looking into) and how i can mount it so i can still get some type of access to the on/off switch and sync buttons.
Also to be continued!
For the custom front bezel with the cutouts i contacted Josh @ NFC and asked if he could cut one for me in alu or plastic and sure enough he would be happy to help!
At this point i thought it would be fun to try and get a model 3D printed to verify my measurements before sending it over to Josh for the final product.
This also allowed me to go down another rabbit role: 3D Printing and SketchUp! A few days later i had a model build and i found a company in Copenhagen, Denmark, where i could print 5 pieces for a fixed price and had the oppurtunity to change the measurements between each print until i had something that fitted perfectly.
Ill leave you with a few pictures of the progress so far and ill update the thread as i move closer to finishing the project.
If you made it down here to the end - thanks!
Last edited:
