S4 MINI Classic (S4M-C)

[zovc]

I want to say ~5mm is the recommended minimum amount of clearance, but I can't remember certainly. I want to say it was somewhere between 6mm and 3mm. Honestly I can't remember where I read that or how they measured it, but I want to say it was suggested that there was a negligible difference in airflow up until that point.

 

[bledha]

Larry did say that the new hdplex model should alleviate coil whine paired with higher power cards.

My new 160w HDPlex whines without a GPU. So, anything is possible!

 

[Nimikins]

Holy cow. I never knew ARK took up that much space.

The base game is only a 17 GB download (compressed of course) but the DLC is another 5-10 GB and then mods are up to 2GB each if you include maps. Then Ark has a nasty habit of not cleaning up after itself when it patches. I have reduced the folder size by 50 GB before by doing a clean install and/or clearing out the temp folders.

 

[Coach_Rico]

We could totally try this with some cereal box cardboard, I'm gonna try it and vinyl spray or plastidip the peices in black, too. Hell, it might even help a bit with hiding some of the beige on the A9x14, HAHAHA! Maybe I can get some extra temp drop from using such a fan duct inside the S4 with my current NHL9i config, before I even get the LP53! I'll test it and post results later this week.

Are you thinking about sticking something like this on the fan? that could work as long as it doesn't touch the chassis. What do you think?

or this:

That would look more professional than a cereal box! (;

 

[CubanLegend]

Are you thinking about sticking something like this on the fan? that could work as long as it doesn't touch the chassis. What do you think?

or this:

That would look more professional than a cereal box! (;

wow that looks like some enterprise server level type hardware. But sadly I only have 5mm between the fan and the chassis side panel, thanks for the suggestion though.

So I'll probably make some cereal box pieces that cover all 4 side of the fan (14mm thick fan) all the way up to the edge of the chassis (5mm), so it's 19mm total. I'll do that today and report if I find any temp difference.

 

[Nimikins]

wow that looks like some enterprise server level type hardware. But sadly I only have 5mm between the fan and the chassis side panel, thanks for the suggestion though.

So I'll probably make some cereal box pieces that cover all 4 side of the fan (14mm thick fan) all the way up to the edge of the chassis (5mm), so it's 19mm total. I'll do that today and report if I find any temp difference.

Custom pieces like that are REALLY simple to do on a 3D printer...

 

[Coach_Rico]

Custom pieces like that are REALLY simple to do on a 3D printer...

Exactly my thoughts. I just googled something like 92 mm fan duct and results showed pictures of 3-D models that can also be downloaded. I don't remember the specific links though ....

 

[CubanLegend]

Custom pieces like that are REALLY simple to do on a 3D printer...

Exactly my thoughts. I just googled something like 92 mm fan duct and results showed pictures of 3-D models that can also be downloaded. I don't remember the specific links though ....

Yeah I dont have a 3d printer, it's no big deal, I can whip up something from cereal box paper, easy.

 

[Kmpkt]

You can find a ton of ducts at thingiverse.com and have them printed through Shapeways quite easily.

 

[CubanLegend]

Thanks @Kmpkt for the additional options! I love how everyone in this community is so handy with mechanical design and offering options for the fan duct situation, Thank you.

Then again, I'm just some crazy cuban kid just wanting to do "arts and crafts" with some cereal box cardboard and black plastidip. I've got a ways to go.

 

[Creep]

Apologies if it's been discussed before, but is there a vendor in stock or an alternative to the HDPLEX 300W Hi-Fi DC-ATX PSU that's seemingly been out of stock at a number of vendors which has been recommended by so many inside this thread?

 

[|||]

HDPLEX has it listed in stock

 

[CubanLegend]

Any other temp test I should do today before I delid? I'm going to try the following:

-WatchDogs 2 in a particular spot that offers CPU bottlenecked usage and has near-identical average framerates every time
-The Gears 4 Benchmark
-The Rise of the Tomb Raider Benchmark
-The Batman - Arkham Knight Benchmark

I've already done:
-Prime95 26.6
-ROG Realbench Stress Test
-Custom x264 load batch file

EDIT: Okay so I'm going to add:
AIDA64's System StressTest (15min)
Intel Burn Test on Standard (10 runs)
Mirror's Edge Catalyst in most CPU intensive spot i could find

 

[stefan33]

Hi, excuse me... preorder are accepted until tomorrow or today? Thank you.

 

[Josh | NFC]

Monday evening I will stop taking pre-orders for R3 and the only way to get a S4 MINI will be a full system build, sniping a Special Edition MINI, or scalping one on eBay.

Peace!

 

[Brandon86]

Monday evening I will stop taking pre-orders for R3 and the only way to get a S4 MINI will be a full system build, sniping a Special Edition MINI, or scalping one on eBay.

Peace!

How do we find out about special edition minis? I have one on preorder, but very interested on where these Special editions may pop up or where info can be found.

 

[Josh | NFC]

How do we find out about special edition minis? I have one on preorder, but very interested on where these Special editions may pop up or where info can be found.

We are all at the mercy of "when it happens."

I don't have any info at this time. I have no idea what color mixes will work, how they will bake, and when I can schedule to rent the powdercoaters out to get them all done. Then I need to filter them for imperfections.

I am really super sorry for not having this info, but I will update you here, and on Facebook for sure. Of course the powdercoats will show up in my shop too after I announce them.

All I can tell you is I have several mixes and colors picked out and am working on samples now, but I don't want to reveal them because they might not work and I don't want to get people's hopes up.

Peace

 

[cleveland]

Hey, @Josh | NFC, this must be the repetition of a question buried into these 125 pages os discussion, but here i go:

is there any chance of a "NFC S4 micro", suitable for dual slot, half height only GPUs?

 

[Josh | NFC]

Hey, @Josh | NFC, this must be the repetition of a question buried into these 125 pages os discussion, but here i go:

is there any chance of a "NFC S4 micro", suitable for dual slot, half height only GPUs?

I never say never, but I don't think this will happen. Sorry!

 

[CubanLegend]

NHL9i vs NHL9i* vs LP53* vs LP53 w/i7-7700k Delidded* - RESULTS! (+bonus alternate "mini" VRM heatsinks installed!)

PICS of the Delid process adventure, skip these and look at the results below if you like (theres a bonus video in there showing the ACTUAL delid moment, too!)

Getting ready to delid, got all my tools out.

Removing the 7700k revealed my LP53's mounting to the A9x14 PWM fan was on point:

Also my NT-H1 application was on point:

Video of the Delid itself (the IHS pop was not super loud and was not bad at all!):


Here's my verification pic for the overclockers.net forums delidded club:

The bare CPU PCB/Die and the back of the IHS, note the GAP in the sealant Intel uses, i marked it with a red pen on the IHS to not lose track of it and remember to replicate it when i relid the CPU:

Cleaned the integrated TIM from the CPU's die and the black sealant glue with my fingernail (perfectly safe on the CPU and I used the flat end of my old Discover card on the IHS's glue. Here's the bare CPU PCB/Die and the IHS:

Made sure to tape off the CPU die for applying my CLU (CoolLaboratory Liquid Ultra) I also tapped off the IHS:

Applying the CLU, was interesting since its got this strong surface tension, I placed a drop of it on the surface and had to spread it around with the little brushes provided with the CLU TIM until it covered the whole surface:

Both surfaces nicely covered, i used the brush to lap up any extra to make the surface as uniformly flat as possible, removing any excess CLU TIM:

the tape surprised me and it worked prefectly once I peeled it off, any CLU that overapplied onto it, came off with the tape and it was a perfect application. And according to other's CLU application results, a good application like this, will last the life of the CPU.

Reinstalling the CPU WITHOUR SEALING THE IHS... I actually didn't use the black glue to relid the IHS, I just sat it perfectly ontop of the CPU once it was back in the socket and the retention bracket is holding it in place perfectly with ZERO budge, this also reduced the space between the CPU die itself and the IHS, potentially increasing cooling capacity of the relid for better heat transfer.

NT-H1 applied (NOTICE ANYTHING???) I was able to reapply the Heatspreader to my RAM stick closest to the CPU socket as my LP53 wasn't pushing it aside that bad. :

LP53 back in.

Everything back in place!

So, how did the Delid go, you may wonder? ....

... Well, wonder NO MORE!

PRE/POST DELID TEMP RESULTS DISCLAIMERS:
1) AMBIENT TEMP was 74F/23C at all times
2) * means my Z270i's VRM heatsinks were removed
3) Results were taken with the S4 Mini Side Panels On, in a vertical position (power button near the bottom)
4) Synthetic Benchmark temps taken after 10 minutes, or until i hit 99C (with timestamps included)
5) Gaming all done at 1080p in most CPU intensive area I could find, or using the game's built-in benchmark

Here's how I gathered my temps: My temp numbers were taken from the hottest core (core0) noting the highest temp that core had hit during the 10 minutes of continuous load from said benchmark/game. If the benchmark/game was showing erratic spiking of temps up/down within a range, I would take the average hottest temp of that range (ex: if spiking from 75-80c I'd average that to 77c).

• averaged temps marked with a "~" RealBench, AIDA64,and Watch_Dogs 2 fluctuated within a Temp Range, and the temp noted is an average.
• the orange temp delta shows the difference between the LP53 and the LP53 with the delid
• the GREEN temp delta is used to show the difference between my "stock NHL9i" temps and my new "LP53 w/Delid" temps

Synthetic Benchmarks:
Prime95_v26.6____IDLE__________LOAD
NHL9i Stock_______39c_________99c@5min (FAIL) on core0, cores1-3 averaged 93c
NHL9i *___________39c_________97c on core0, cores1-3 averaged 91c
LP53 *____________36c_________92c on core0, cores1-3 averaged 86cc
LP53 & Delid*______35c_________79 on core0 , cores 1-3 were ALL at 77c (13c from pre-delid LP53) (-20c from "NHL9i Stock")

Realbench Stress___LOAD
NHL9i Stock_______~99c@2min (FAIL)
NHL9i *___________~94c@
LP53 *____________~90c@
LP53 & Delid*______~76c@ (-14c from pre-delid LP53) (-23c from "NHL9i Stock")

x264 Custom Load___LOAD
NHL9i Stock______99c@2min (FAIL)
NHL9i *__________97c@10min
LP53 *___________ 95c@10min
LP53 & Delid*_____ 78c@10min (-15c from pre-delid LP53) (-21c from "NHL9i Stock")

Intel Burn Test (Standard) Hottest Core after 10 runs
LP53 *___________99c@1min (FAIL)
LP53 & Delid *____75c (-24c from pre-delid LP53)

AIDA64 System Stress Test (15 minutes)
LP53 *___________~92c
LP53 & Delid *____~78c (-14c from pre-delid LP53)

Thats an average 14c temp drop (on the hottest core) from from pre-delid LP53 to Delidding, ALONE.
But let's look at where I started with the NHL9i w/VRM heatsinks on... then this becomes a total average of 20C temp drop (on the hottest core) on these synthetic benchmarks, going from an NHL9i, to an LP53 without VRM heatsinks, and then a CPU delid!

Gaming Benchmarks
Watch Dogs 2:
LP53 *___________~83c
LP53 & Delid *____~69c

Mirror's Edge Catalyst:
LP53 *___________77c
LP53 & Delid *____63c

Batman Arkham Knight:
LP53 *___________70c
LP53 & Delid *____57c

Gears of War 4 Benchmark:
LP53 *___________61c
LP53 & Delid *____55c

Rise of the Tomb Raider Benchmark:
LP53 *___________64c
LP53 & Delid *____59c

That's an average 13c temp drop (on the hottest core) in these Real-world PC-game tests!

BONUS Pics of adjustments to the Motherboard VRMs (which were bare after removing the stock VRM heatsink towers). You can buy them here

Here's the little heatsinks I saw another user from the DanA4 Thread on [H]ardOCP use on this Z270i STRIX. I bought them and my order of 10 came in. They have a paper you peel with some black thermal glue on the back:

Bare VRMs before, after, and what I used to apply the heatsinks:

I used tiny pliers to apply them, then once in place i pressed them down lightly with my pinky until i noticed they were set.

The heatsinks have not fallen off after 24H of use sitting in my S4 with the vertical position.

BONUS pics of adjusting my rear M.2 mounting with the proper spacer:

When I initially installed my boot M.2 drive on the back of my Z270i I didn't use a spacer. This had now been fixed.

So... the delid was sucessful. I'm going to attempt to go for 5GHz now and see if I'm stable at a low enough vcore and temps. If not I'm fine with thie 7700k at stock turboboost clocks (4.5GHz @ 1.2vcore)

Thanks to all of you who helped me with this build in this SFF community of ours. This brings the main phase of this build's progress to an end... FOR NOW!

Things that might make me update this thread in the future:

• A new 1080ti Mini from ZOTAC that fits in the S4 mini ...? (praying for one at least, if not for me but so Josh can get more customers! and more can join the SFF or S4 Mini community!)
• The release of PC 4K/UHD Bluray PC Players, so I can drag all my 4K blurays that havent been ripped yet along with me when i take it with me for movie nights.

This post took me WAY TOO LONG to do, so glad my long-format updates are over for this build...

... and now that the latest version of CEMU is relased, I'm off to play Zelda Breath of the Wild in Glorius 4K! and then take the S4 to a friends house for some Mario Kart 8 4-player couch-multiplayer in Glorious 4K on his projector!