Does a larger fan over the whole board do well or is it just better to use a 92mm fan on the heatsink?
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S4 MINI Classic (S4M-C)
- Thread starter Josh | NFC
- Start date
you can give it a try but it depends on the cooler underneath really. I found smaller fans have better pressure right on the cooler so it worked better then a larger fan above. It also allow heat to escape on the sides but again everyone may have different results.
josh said a fan behind the gpu helps a lot. I found smaller fans on the gpu heatsink helped a lot as well. i never tried with the standard cooler on my 1080. make sure you run it with the panel on as that makes a difference
@Illoominatty I've tried that setup with that exact same fan in the s4, using the heatsink of a l9i cooler. It performs better heatwise, but there is a noticeable noise increase. Though, its not an annoying high pitched noise, but more of a noticeable deep "woosh" noise.
That being said, I eventually moved back to using the stock 92mm fan of the l9i, its much quieter even under load in comparison.
That being said, I eventually moved back to using the stock 92mm fan of the l9i, its much quieter even under load in comparison.
It is, @royalba94 is working on a mod for it currently, to clean up the cables and better contain the fans and their cables.
In the meantime, I gave @guryhwa a shout and installed one of his units. It is working really well, although the brick is quite large. That is just how it has to be though given it's passive cooling.
The gaming performance on the monitor is fine. It pales to my Dell GSync, but the brightness is OK and the contrast is decent given it is an IPS screen. If you sat me in front of another 1080p IPS monitor, I doubt I could tell the difference, but I haven't done much FPS gaming on it, mostly just RPG/MMO stuff.
Also, I tried a little mod suggested earlier in the thread with my Zotac GTX 1080 Mini. Went to Microcenter today and picked up a small 5cm x 5 cm 8 0.5 thermal pad to act as a thermal transfer point inbetween my GPU heatsink and the aluminum bezel. Pictures below:
As far as results, I have seen a drop of about 4-5 degrees celcius under load. The bezel now gets VERY hot, not sure how much of an issue that is, I assume not as long as I don't try to pick it up by the bezel while it is under full load, as it cools down quite quickly.
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Lol, stream of consciousness posting. Fixed...
No worries
I've intereacted with that thread a fair bit, and did mention doing something similar with the 160 watt version.
That poor laptop in the front, i have the same idea to bring a s4 mini with a portable screen to class. People with overpriced MSi laptops are gonna be jealous lol. NiceJust wanted to share a pic of my S4 Mini out in the wild...
Also just to note, using the GeChic 15.6 inch portable screen, and it fits perfectly above the S4 Mini. I am sure I'm not the first one to do this, just thought it was funny how the little feet on the display JUST sit at the edge of the wrap-around bezel and side panels.
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Can someone please measure the distance between the side panels on the interior? I'm getting 2 3/8" from the model and I just want to be sure
I love that this actually made a difference haha. Any reason you didn't just go with the "3D bezel"?
I just like the wrap around aluminum more aesthetically, and planned on replacing the zotac's fans anyhow given the less than savory noise they make compared to the Noctua.
You bring this setup into your university library and you are going to stand out as a total badass haha. They'll probably hate you if you use a mechanical keyboard there though.
The product we REALLY need is a cheap and practical 15" laptop shell - that is, just a monitor, keyboard, and trackpad (and maybe external battery) in a laptop body that you can connect to your mini PC to make it portable. Still, nowhere near as practical as an ultrabook if you need to do light work, but if you need to travel with serious power, that setup would destroy any gaming laptop as far as power/cost/customization and you can also connect your phone/tablet to a laptop shell like this for web browsing and such. So it's quite practical. I know it's been done with the Nexdock and Superbook, but I wish it would seriously take off and we'd see some good and available units from serious companies out there, and proper Android support. I can see people connecting NUCs to it too. It would make the S4 Mini more portable.
I feel like right now we're in a state where sub-5L cases have the potential to be portable, but because you have to carry around a monitor/keyboard/mouse, they're not really portable. And if it's going to sit on your desk, you may as well have something a little larger that can cool better and have internal power, hence why the M1 is so popular - still tiny, but no compromises. But if portability truly became feasible, then all of a sudden having something you can easily toss in your backpack becomes very appealing, and the external brick starts to make more sense as it's more portability-friendly. With a laptop shell and the S4 mini, it would be like having an ultrabook + eGPU, except much cheaper and much more powerful.
You'll have to keep us posted. I too like the asthetics of the aluminum but want to use a 1080 mini.
Reminder, Zotac isn't the only one with a 1080 mini anymore. Gigabytes fits in there with the stock cooler and the wrap-around bezel!
OH! I'll have to look into this!
EDIT: for those interested http://www.gigabyte.us/Graphics-Card/GV-N1080IX-8GD#kf
TBH I think I like the duel fan set-up more even though you have to work harder for it
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Does anyone have a guide for how to setup the Zotac mini cards in a stock case without the 3D bezel? I.e. removing the fan shroud and replacing it with case fans?
Anyone putting K version cpus in their S4 minis? I'm going to get intels 8th gen CPU just don't know if K or not. I know the perks and con's just curious on who actually run the K versions in their rig if they like it or not. Temps and results.
@CubanLegend stuck a delidded 7700k in his S4 "Ant-Man" rig, which has a 91W TDP. The 8700k has a 95W TDP, but the extra 2 cores it has over the 7700k could chew up some extra power when loaded. Check out his comprehensive thread for a full run-down
I stuck a 7600k in mine since I was running a z270i and overclocked ram anyway. Haven't overclocked it or anything, and temps are stable. I still don't really see the need for the i7 over the i5.
