NFC Skyreach 4 Mini - "The Techoholic"

PedroGonzales

What's an ITX?
Original poster
New User
Jul 10, 2018
1
9
First, let me thank you all for all of the resources and guides that you've posted on this forum. This is my first post, and it's to show you my custom-dipped NFC Skyreach 4 Mini, "The Techoholic".

I didn't get any good pictures of the unboxing of my Skyreach 4 Mini, but, you'll see the finished product later on. I sent it to an Auto Paint Shop (Thanks Joey!) to have it custom painted and dipped.
  • All of the parts and pieces that I've decided to go with:


    • MB - Asus ROG Strix X470-i Gaming
    • CPU - AMD Ryzen 7 2700
    • CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L9a-AM4
    • GPU - EVGA Superclocked GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
    • RAM - G.Skill TridentZ RGB Series 16GB CL16 (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3200
    • SSD1 - Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2 (500GB)
    • SSD2 - Samsung 960 EVO NVMe M.2 (1TB)
    • PSU - HDPLEX 400W HiFi DC-ATX (w/Dell 330W AC Adapter)
    • Vandal Resistant Illuminated Momentary Switch - Black - 18/16mm - Green Ring
  • First things first, lets "build" the power switch:
    - Pins are pretty small on this thing:

    - Had to properly pin the cables (Thank to Wraith at OC3D, for providing pics and instructions):


    - Then I used the included Q-Connector header plug to tidy up the entire setup.

    - Heat shrink added, but not heated, just in case:
  • OK, now let's build the entire system, and hopefully get a post:


    - Everything is put together. This was my first build with RGB Lighting, but I wasn't as disappointed as I thought I'd be.

    - Woohoo! Got a Post!

    - Playing with RGB:
  • Let's load Windows and do some testing:
    - These SSD's are ridiculously fast! Fastest things I've ever played with, anyway.

    - Pic of a Windows Server 2012 ISO file, roughly 5GB.

    - Sorry for the blurry pics, but here's that same file transferring from one drive to the other. These drives are so fast, that Windows doesn't have enough time to calculate how long it's going to take for the transfer. Again, sorry for the blurry pic, but it says that it's copying at 1.43 GB/s!

    - Here's a short clip showing the transfer:
    - This is the best benchmark I have on this GPU, so far. I was running this GPU on an external GPU setup previously, and got nowhere near as good of a score. And, again, sorry for the blurriness. I know that I can save the results. But because it saves in HTML, it's easily manipulable. No cheating here! #FullDisclosure
  • Off to go paint the "ugliness" off of the Noctua Fan and Shroud:
    Disclaimer: I do not recommend this, as it does void Noctua's warranty, and there are many naysayers out there, about this process. All I can say is from my experience, so far, a month in, everything is still good!
    - It takes a little finesse, but I was able to separate the electronics from the fan and shroud.

    - Closeup of the fan control board.

    - Rust-oleum to the rescue!

    - Just follow the instructions - full strokes from side to side, top to bottom, and front to back.

    - I also purchased and painted the NFC Mini Feet:

    - I used plastic plant pots and a large cardboard box. I did this all outside, on a sunny clear day.
  • Skyreach 4 Mini case being prepped, painted, and dipped at Joe's BadAss Customs:
    - Measuring out hydrographic film:

    - After hydro dipping:

    - After clear coating:

    - Inside:
  • And now, the final product!




Thanks for visiting.
 
Last edited:

zjxlsff

Efficiency Noob
Aug 31, 2018
5
8
how does the fan-color-change stay up? any noise? i know they are that color for reasons......
great build btw.
 

CubanLegend

Steely-Eyed NVFlash Man
Dec 23, 2016
832
1,011
smallformfactor.net
@PedroGonzales Holy crap, that black Noctua Fan mod looks amazing. I've got a few NF-A9x14 (2500RPM CPU versions) lying around, would you mind posting some details or a video of how exactly you took apart, painted, and put together the NF-A9x14? I have the SAME rustoleum paint lying around and would 100% try this on my S4M-C build's exact fan, especially if it'll look THAT good. :)

Hell, I'll so ALL the fans and might even swap the other 2 with my ZOTAC 1080 mini's fans and fan shroud if i could get them to be black!
 
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