• Save 15% on ALL SFF Network merch, until Dec 31st! Use code SFF2024 at checkout. Click here!

S4 MINI Classic (S4M-C)

CubanLegend

Steely-Eyed NVFlash Man
Dec 23, 2016
834
1,011
smallformfactor.net
If you absolutely want to use prime95 use a version 27.9 or earlier, as I believe those versions don't have the super intense AVX loads that are what's causing your CPU temps to spike so unrealistically high.

here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1621347/kaby-lake-overclocking-guide-with-statistics

use the section of that threads first post entitled "Stress Testing" and look at how they rate the different stress tests from Walk in the Park, Easy, Medium, Tough to Marathon Man. Prime95 28.10 is a marathon man stress test, certainly not useful with our tiny NH-L9i coolers, and especially not useful on chips that are NOT delidded. You can forgo delidding and use the x264 stress test they have available for download, it's what I use, More details on it below:

Note in that section where they state "x264 is the recommended and the default go-to stress test for this thread. " I use it to measure my stress test temps, as it has provided me with very accurate and measurable load temps that top out without much spiking between 85c-95c depending on my clock speed, voltage, and if I'm in the S4 mini or not.

Below that section you will find download links to all the stress tests they have listed. Try ROG Realbench for more realistic load temps and try the custom x264 load too if you like. :)
 
Last edited:

TheDreamingMonk

Average Stuffer
Sep 17, 2016
62
48
Temperature doesn't mean much without the delta. If your ambient is 40C, then you'll never see anything lower. Likewise, the higher the ambient, typically the higher you'll get.

Now, if you start at 30C idle and suddenly hit 100C then I would say somethings wrong.


Also remember that stress tests are not indicative of real world loads. They're designed to push things further than you would ever realistically get to.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CubanLegend

ngriesdo

Cable-Tie Ninja
Feb 15, 2017
193
163
I am also wondering out of pure curiosity why the Pico PSU's are no longer used or at least well liked, is it just because the HDPlex's are better? I'm very new when it comes to DC-DC parts, I have always used ATX or SFX PSU's until this build.
 

Creep

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Mar 2, 2017
91
83
Bye-bye 250D :)

 

CubanLegend

Steely-Eyed NVFlash Man
Dec 23, 2016
834
1,011
smallformfactor.net
Yes, I agree with Josh. I just finished re-testing with the noctua l9i again, it was better but still worse then I had hoped. I run about 38c idle in a 71F room. It's currently 30F outside my door so it's not adding extra heat to the room and I have the test bed to the left of my monitor off the floor on my desk away from any heat sources. I can't imagine how hot this thing will get when summer hits.. Anyways the re-test got me about 69c on average in game so it dropped a couple of degrees but it still throttled hard in Prime95 98c on two cores and 100c on the other two. I know that that won't be a normal load but I would have thought that it may have cooled better then it did. I think what I am going to do is return this i5 and get a i7 7700T to try and get the temps do even further. This CPU is the one problem in this build and I don't like those temps enough to keep it.
You wont get the NH-L9i cooling any better than you have it, so it might not just be your CPU, it's your choice of stress test. (PS. You might want to hold off until I get my LP-53 in and temp test it, it's supposed to be 10c cooler than the NH-L9i under load in an open test bench) that version of P95 throttles my cores up to 99c as well. We'd need a HUGE ful-atx sized air cooler to not throttle. So WITHOUT A DELID we wont be getting "normal" CPU temps that others on full-size air coolers are getting. AND btw IF youre going for a 7700T I'd recommend you just go for the K instead if you're already going to spend the money, lol. You can underclock/undervolt it if necessary.

Also don't worry abotu getting solid temps in P95 28.10, I'll refer you to a quote from the Cverclockers.net foum thread I linked you to before:
Computers are built for using, and what really matters is whether you crash often enough while using it normally. Forcing yourself to pass a stress test "just in case you use it to its limits" makes no sense either. No point in going down "what ifs" which have no signs of ever happening. And if it does, work it out when it does.
So if youre CPU will never actually hit 90-100c that P95 28.10 deos with the HUGE AVX loads, then don't worry about it. Below 70c sounds like great temps at load, and low 70s sound like decent temps for an NH-L9i, especially inside an S4 mini. :)

Time to delid?
Once I get my LP53 in and get all my final pre-delid temps, I'm certainly going to delid my 7700k. :)
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,936
Josh is also going to be trying the LP53 sometime in the next week or two. If the added data is that it is consistently better than the L9i then I am in talks with Thermolab to import and resell them under the Kmpkt brand with improved mounting hardware.
 

CubanLegend

Steely-Eyed NVFlash Man
Dec 23, 2016
834
1,011
smallformfactor.net
Josh is also going to be trying the LP53 sometime in the next week or two. If the added data is that it is consistently better than the L9i then I am in talks with Thermolab to import and resell them under the Kmpkt brand with improved mounting hardware.
=) Sounds cool! But, what do you mean by "improved mounting hardware"? Is there anything about the LP53's current mounting hardware that isn't good enough? I like the use of a similar mounting system as the NH-L9i, using screws and no backplate.
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,936
Yeah basically a screw down mounting system for 92mm fans. I'd also be keen to have mounting holes for 120mm as well seeing as the selection of <15mm fans is vastly better in the 120mm category. The present system is pretty much as non-ideal as I can imagine as it uses rubber vibration dampening connectors to tie the fan down.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CubanLegend

Nimikins

Trash Compacter
Jan 4, 2017
38
53
I've had some questions due to my poor wording on my website. My SILIFLEX riser is SOLD SEPARATELY. It does not come with the S4 MINI.

Thanks!
Josh, you might want to consider taking the picture of the riser out of the S4 mini item, or put a not included for people who don't want to read the long description.
-Nim
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ceros_X

Nimikins

Trash Compacter
Jan 4, 2017
38
53
Also, trying to convince Josh to do a metallic blue or green. Someone else jump in on this with me so we can have pretty colors!
 

Zero

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jan 27, 2017
120
262
Returned my 1080 Mini to NewEgg, and used some gift cards to get a EVGA GTX 1080, and now I can use the EVGA Step-Up program to turn it into a 1080ti pretty much for free.

The EVGA GTX 1080 installed in the S4 super easily, actually. Looks sort of ridiculous sticking out, but the fans are idle (the damn Mini runs them no matter what) and even at load these fans are much much quieter (they make less noise than the CPU fan now, where the Mini made more). The EVGA has coil whine, but the whine itself is 3 times quieter than the whining that was coming out of the Zotac so I don't mind it from normal sitting range.

The side of the case screws on fine with my layout as pictured... between the Cryorig fan and the HDPlex motherboard cable, I'm getting some real rainbow action going:

 

Josh | NFC

Not From Concentrate
Original poster
NFC Systems
Jun 12, 2015
1,869
4,468
www.nfc-systems.com
Returned my 1080 Mini to NewEgg, and used some gift cards to get a EVGA GTX 1080, and now I can use the EVGA Step-Up program to turn it into a 1080ti pretty much for free.

The EVGA GTX 1080 installed in the S4 super easily, actually. Looks sort of ridiculous sticking out, but the fans are idle (the damn Mini runs them no matter what) and even at load these fans are much much quieter (they make less noise than the CPU fan now, where the Mini made more). The EVGA has coil whine, but the whine itself is 3 times quieter than the whining that was coming out of the Zotac so I don't mind it from normal sitting range.

The side of the case screws on fine with my layout as pictured... between the Cryorig fan and the HDPlex motherboard cable, I'm getting some real rainbow action going:


You are sick. And the only cure is more GPU.
 

Zero

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jan 27, 2017
120
262
I know it's aesthetic blasphemy to have a GPU poking out like that, but it's a testament to the versatility of your case. Was very thoughtful of you to have that cutout in there already.

If you think of it like a muscle car with the engine sticking out the hood, then it's not so bad :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: GreatestUnKnown

CubanLegend

Steely-Eyed NVFlash Man
Dec 23, 2016
834
1,011
smallformfactor.net
I know it's aesthetic blasphemy to have a GPU poking out like that, but it's a testament to the versatility of your case. Was very thoughtful of you to have that cutout in there already.

If you think of it like a muscle car with the engine sticking out the hood, then it's not so bad :)
Wow, nice! Hey did you ever document how you mounted and installed that cryorig fan? is it cooling an NH-L9i below it? How thick is the fan? does it outperform the Heatsink's stock fan?

Also... in regards to your old post form before about mitigating coil whine:
Don't get your hopes too high... my 1080 Mini has a lot of coil whine. But, if you download Rivatuner (it installs with MSI Afterburner) you can cap your frame limit to match your monitor and that will reduce most of it. I have the S4 close to me on the desk though. If you had it 10 feet away and/or use headphones it might be fine.

Let me know how you fare with it though. I think I'm gonna return mine and just for laughs try a 1080ti sticking way out of the case. It launches in 4 days (countdown on geforce.com saying "It's almost TIme" with the TI capitalized). I don't know if it's a paper launch or if there will actually be stock up for sale.
How exactly did you use Rivatuner to cap your frame limit? Isn't that the same as turning on NVIDIA's driver Vsync?
 

Zero

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jan 27, 2017
120
262
Wow, nice! Hey did you ever document how you mounted and installed that cryorig fan? is it cooling an NH-L9i below it? How thick is the fan? does it outperform the Heatsink's stock fan?

That is a frankencooler, I used the heatsink from the Cryorig C7, the mounting hardware from a Thermaltake Slim X3, and a 140x13mm Cryorig fan, mounted to the stock S4 fan bracket (trimmed the bracket ridges off with tin snips).

The C7 is a 47mm package because the fan is 15mm thick, switching in the 13mm thick fan makes it fit perfectly, still have to hack the mounting bracket because Cryorig stupidly made their motherboard mount bolts thicker than the case standoffs.

Edit: Using the rig to play Robo Recall on Oculus Rift now :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ceros_X

zovc

King of Cable Management
Jan 5, 2017
852
603
Josh is also going to be trying the LP53 sometime in the next week or two. If the added data is that it is consistently better than the L9i then I am in talks with Thermolab to import and resell them under the Kmpkt brand with improved mounting hardware.
There isn't a smiley face with heart eyes but imagine these are those: :cool::cool::cool::cool::cool: