Plastidip is marketed as a low risk coating for beginners, but it is anything but easy to get a professional result with the aerosol can. I've practiced and practiced and the learning curve is steep.
S4 MINI Classic (S4M-C)
- Thread starter Josh | NFC
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Just have to make sure to use light coats. That's the biggest mistake the vast majority of people make with any kind of spray system... going to heavy. Rattle can or spray gun alike.
Don't worry if you can still see the base layer after the first coat, or the second, hell even the third coat in some cases. Just go light and after a few coats, things will begin to get nice and solid.
Plastidip can benefit from light coats even more than paint as well. Until it actually cures it'll "bond" with each additional coat, so in the end it'll be one solid layer.
Spray one pass over the item, wait 15-30 minutes or so, do another, wait again, do another, wait again, do another.
Patience is the number one rule when painting.
Another tip to get even sprays and less clogging in rattle cans, soak it in warm water for a few minutes between each coat. More so this time of the year when it's still relatively cold, or if you keep your spray cans in a basement or underground garage that stays cool year round.
Don't worry if you can still see the base layer after the first coat, or the second, hell even the third coat in some cases. Just go light and after a few coats, things will begin to get nice and solid.
Plastidip can benefit from light coats even more than paint as well. Until it actually cures it'll "bond" with each additional coat, so in the end it'll be one solid layer.
Spray one pass over the item, wait 15-30 minutes or so, do another, wait again, do another, wait again, do another.
Patience is the number one rule when painting.
Another tip to get even sprays and less clogging in rattle cans, soak it in warm water for a few minutes between each coat. More so this time of the year when it's still relatively cold, or if you keep your spray cans in a basement or underground garage that stays cool year round.
This is basically my experience with plastidip, you have to be mindful when applying it, but if done right it will last and look great.
I've plastidipped parts of my car on the front hood w/7-8 coats, they have lasted 14 months it's been on the car, through the 17,000 highway miles and a monthly hand-wash. It's very durable stuff.
Offtopic a bit: So I've finally gotten my S4 #193 Build Thread all caught up and updated. Please stop by and leave me any constructive criticisms/questions/concerns you may have for me, I welcome all that stuff.
(you can also find a link to my build in my forum Signature)All I'm waiting for next is the LP53 to pit it against the NH-L9i... whichever delivers the best pre-delid CPU temps will stay in my S4, and then I'll delid my CPU and will document the process and my results in that thread... and then my S4 build will be complete (for now)! I'll post any future long-form info on my build (LP53 & delid) in that thread from now on, to help keep this thread clean.
I've never used these folks' shields, but they make foam shields intended for 'full contact' combat and use plastidip on top of their finished product before painting. In the game I used to play which involves full speed tackling with the shields between combatants, plastidipped gear can hold up.
The reason I mention that stuff is, plastidip can definitely look great and it definitely can hold up.
The reason I mention that stuff is, plastidip can definitely look great and it definitely can hold up.
I'm just throwing out the idea here of using a Mean Well EPP-200 PSU inside a S4 Mini case. @Kmpkt's Orangulan build showed a brick-less setup, two different configurations of using a HD-Plex DC-ATX inside the case with a GPU, but its size still rather limits the GPU options.
An EPP-200 has a 2" x 4" x 1.2" volume so it will fit easily in the front of the motherboard, the same place that is frequently used for the HD-Plex DC boards. The GPU area is left completely open and you no longer need an external power brick. You can't use a GTX 1080 with it, but it is possible to run a 1060 *and* have all the power supply parts completely inside.
An EPP-200 has a 2" x 4" x 1.2" volume so it will fit easily in the front of the motherboard, the same place that is frequently used for the HD-Plex DC boards. The GPU area is left completely open and you no longer need an external power brick. You can't use a GTX 1080 with it, but it is possible to run a 1060 *and* have all the power supply parts completely inside.
Couldn't you just go with the HDPlex 160w AC-DC + 160w DC-DC combination at that point and achieve virtually the same thing?
The thing is that the Meanwell would output a straight 12V which means far less downconversion at the DC board (ie. less heat produced). Additionally, it has a smaller footprint than the 160W DC-DC (102x51x31 vs. 131x 52x40 - 60% of the size). Using a Pico 160XT, you would have a complete solution inside your case and would have no restriction on GPU length.
That sounds like a good idea for those who are under a certain wattage. But if you ever plan to upgrade to a 1070 or 1080, is there any brick-less solution that will cover that option?
The Meanwell EPP 300 & 400 as well as the HDPlex 300 would be the only Nano-PSU options that I can think of that are viable for SFF (Cosel makes some really small 500W open frame units for about 500 USD each if money is no object). The unfortunate thing is that none of these is S4 friendly. The dimensions of the EPP-300 and EPP-400 units are 127x77x35 while the HDPlex is supposed to be 136x62x41. Hypothetically if the dimensions hold until production the HDPlex could be squeezed into the S4 if you don't mind chopping stuff up, but it'd be tight.
One fun tidbit while we're talking about AC-DC solutions is that the HDPlex 300 will be the only AC-DC solution I am aware of specifically designed to deal with desktop PC system spikes. One of the problems that arises with laptop bricks is they are only made to take about 10% above their rated wattage as they have batteries to buffer hardware power spikes. As such you either need to get something far above your needed wattage (i.e. Dell 330W) or run the risk of bricking your brick. I did this to a 150 dollar Razer AC-DC brick despite it being rated for 150W and me never seeing higher than 130W from the wall. The HDPlex will have plenty of momentary spike headroom for the present generation of GPUs.
One fun tidbit while we're talking about AC-DC solutions is that the HDPlex 300 will be the only AC-DC solution I am aware of specifically designed to deal with desktop PC system spikes. One of the problems that arises with laptop bricks is they are only made to take about 10% above their rated wattage as they have batteries to buffer hardware power spikes. As such you either need to get something far above your needed wattage (i.e. Dell 330W) or run the risk of bricking your brick. I did this to a 150 dollar Razer AC-DC brick despite it being rated for 150W and me never seeing higher than 130W from the wall. The HDPlex will have plenty of momentary spike headroom for the present generation of GPUs.
Yeah, that's why I mentioned it as I like its smaller footprint compared to the HDPlex 160 or 300 AC units.
@CubanLegend, correct you won't be able to use a GPU more powerful than a 1060, at least this generation. But it's still a leap ahead of the 1050 Ti. With the HD-PLEX setup, you'd be limited to only the shortest of short cards at < 6 inches and there aren't any 1060's that small.
Actually I found quite a few power-coating places here in Joplin, MO. I'm going to talk prices with them and maybe get a gnarly color for my Mini (With the frosted bezel )
@CubanLegend
)@CubanLegend
6700T, 1060 (stock clocks, 100% power target), 1 SSD
Just finished playing through a couple hours of BF1 and Quantum Break. Using (80% Power Target, -100 MHz Core/Memory) I haven't had any resets....yet.
So ultimately, unless you do some heavy modding, at this point in time with current solutions getting the level of performance that requires more than 220W out of an S4 Mini with no external power brick is not realistic.
If that's your performance goal than it may be better to look at a different case or to work with Josh to see if he's willing to collaborate on a modified S4 design that can fit an HD Plex 300W DC-DC unit as well as the 300W AC-DC unit.
I'm assuming if you keep the same design language but (vertical stand position) if you make the case just a bit wider to accommodate the AC-DC unit and make it a bit deeper so you can slot the AC-DC unit in front of the mother board and put the DC-DC unit in front of the GPU, you could fit both 300W units while also providing additional space for slightly longer ITX GPUs. Then get some custom cabling done to make everything fit and look nice.
