S4 MINI Classic (S4M-C)

[Josh | NFC]

I'm so happy that everyone in here is able to fit 1080 minis in there S4 Mini! Knowing that everyone else is enjoying them really makes my buyers remorse of buying one extremely early from Amazon at the price of like $720 and having it modded to had the shroud cut by Josh, this really makes it all not that big of a deal.... and makes me feel like it was totally worth it, if it was in the name of science and if it helps everyone else to be able to fit their cards without modifications. This is such a great feeling, I hope you guys enjoyed those 1080 minis in the best SFF chassis money can buy, IMO.

I'm glad you did. You were the first. I thought you were crazy (well, you are crazy, but also a genius.)

It really was for science. Since you ordered that MINI and we made that vid it has been the ONLY card used in my full build systems. I could build a fort out of all these 1080 boxes.

I'm very grateful for your first purchase, and for all your help. You are a cool Cuban cucumber.

 

[DocH]

I was thinking of going with an RX570, but decided to just spend the extra money for a gsync monitor and go 1080 mini with a ryzen 1600 cpu.

Speaking of 1080 mini's. How much did you all spend on your's? Is the current prices inflated because of bitcoin mining, or is that the normal price? ($620 USD)

Wow that is really inflated. I purchased mine back in April i think for $420 USD. But then again it was kind of a deal at that time too.

 

[SkudShark]

I was thinking of going with an RX570, but decided to just spend the extra money for a gsync monitor and go 1080 mini with a ryzen 1600 cpu.

Speaking of 1080 mini's. How much did you all spend on your's? Is the current prices inflated because of bitcoin mining, or is that the normal price? ($620 USD)

Keep an eye on Newegg's eBay store. I bought mine from there for $450 not long ago when Newegg's website still showed it for $549. Same card, same seller, just they undercut themselves on eBay for some reason.

 

[DocH]

Keep an eye on Newegg's eBay store. I bought mine from there for $450 not long ago when Newegg's website still showed it for $549. Same card, same seller, just they undercut themselves on eBay for some reason.

They actually do this all the time. Their ebay store has more sales then the actually newegg store on GPUs and CPUs. Not sure if it is cause an agreement with ebay or what. I have seen it down at $450 a few times but again that was prior to the inflation currently.

The funny thing i was telling myself to hold off till summer when i get the S4 mini. I guess i made the right move buying it back then.

 

[rokabeka]

I have also ordered in April and now it is coming.
my second S4 Mini previous one was an Intel build, now this is going to be an AMD just to keep yin-yang
(oh. yin-yang might be a good theme for a wrap)

 

[Raybird]

I really hope you guys put up some build logs! I want to see what you are putting into these S4s!

I'll most likely post mine, however I'm not sure it would be as glam as everyone else's!

I have my graphics card and the case to be shipped! my cards estimated 1st to the 4th of august! Josh said he'll be posting mine sometime this week? I'm not sure how long that will take since I'm in the small island of Northern Ireland based in the UK!

 

[CubanLegend]

I really hope you guys put up some build logs! I want to see what you are putting into these S4s!

YESSS! Everyone should make a build log thread over here on the Build Log section of the forums. I'd love to see your build logs, guys!

And if you have any questions on how a build log can look, just click on the Build Log link to my build log, in my forum signature, for "NFC S4 Mini #193."

I'm glad you did. You were the first. I thought you were crazy (well, you are crazy, but also a genius.)

It really was for science. Since you ordered that MINI and we made that vid it has been the ONLY card used in my full build systems. I could build a fort out of all these 1080 boxes.

I'm very grateful for your first purchase, and for all your help. You are a cool Cuban cucumber.

Senpai noticed me!

I don't consider myself a genius, I was just a Crazy Cuban who risked an early adopters fee on a GPU and MIGHT NOT fit into the case he wanted, and you were the dedicated fabricator and modder who made it happen! And then allowed others to do it too, but without modding! You deserve the praise! I'm glad to even be noticed or mentioned. Since I basically just still troll around these forums and threads as a fan of the SFF community and especially as a believer of the NFC S4 mini ,and as an admirer of the new buyers who are fitting better and more powerful GPUs and PSUs into them, it's amazing! Plus i get to answer questions for them sometimes and help them, these guys helped me when I built mine, it's only fair I give back and help those new ones in return.

Dude I had no idea the ZOTAC GTX 1080 Mini the ONLY card you've used in your full-build systems, (you makin' bank now, lol) I'm so happy for you and that my "for science" experiment and the video that resulted got you the business push your company deserves. Thanks so much for the kind words, Josh.

 

[Haulien]

It seems Noctua are providing AM4 upgrade kits for NH-L9i's and NH-L9a's.... honestly considering a Ryzen 7 series CPU paired with a GTX 1070!

 

[Josh | NFC]

Dude I had no idea the ZOTAC GTX 1080 Mini the ONLY card you've used in your full-build systems, (you makin' bank now, lol) I'm so happy for you and that my "for science" experiment and the video that resulted got you the business push your company deserves.

Yes, thanks to the community and my customers I am getting a steady amount of full-build business, which I am SUPER grateful for.

Though I charge a flat rate, so I make the same if its a 1080 system or a APU build I'm just happy I get to build on the high end. Way more fun.

 

[Al Hoff]

How long time frame wise does the powdercoat pre-order set someone back? I assume you collected all the pre-orders then gave them to your guy? Will he be doing them all at once and then giving them back to you or sending them back slowly like sipping on tea?

 

[royalba94]

(oh. yin-yang might be a good theme for a wrap)

I like this idea, I'll probably try it out for my next Mockup file

 

[Reldey]

Well i don think Josh noted any changes in the video cards temps when NTH1 was added. at least in the video he didnt mention temp changes, that I remember anyway.

Also, why are you using the HDPLEX-300 AC-DC? that the tiny brick? why not use the Dell 330?

I tried a couple Dell 330watts and had both cause a system shutdown when I played WoW at really any settings after just a few minutes. So, short of getting a replacement HDPlex 400 watt, I decided to try the HDPlex 300 watt and it works great, and is much smaller. I am working on active cooling mod on it however (see here), as it can get hot and shutdown after several hours of abuse.

It is totally possible that I had two weak Dell 330Watt bricks, but I wanted to try something different for fun/modding reasons. Also I didn't like how big the Dell is anyway.

 

[Brandon86]

Number 364 just arrived! Might even have to take apart my ncase M1, and use it's parts because I'm too broke to buy a new mobo, and don't know if I'll be able to wait. Decisions..... build quality looks great, and feels much sturdier than I imagined!

 

[Charles]

My S4 Mini was delivered today. It is a beautiful case. Great job, Josh! I put the power button in it and put the case on my desk next to my monitor. I still have to buy the motherboard, cpu, RAM, L9i, and Dell 330W brick. My HDPlex 400W psu came last week or the week before.

 

[phill360]

@Josh | NFC Just wondering if there has been any decision on when the next pre order will be?

 

[royalba94]

Hey everyone

Update on the Wrap Mockup file I've been working on: It's done!

I added it to the Resource section HERE so you all can download it and show off your awesome designs too

Here are a couple pics of two new designs I whipped up real quick as a demo:


Enjoy!

Shoutout to @rokabeka for the Yin Yang idea

 

[nix]

Hey everyone

Update on the Wrap Mockup file I've been working on: It's done!

I added it to the Resource section HERE so you all can download it and show off your awesome designs too

Here are a couple pics of two new designs I whipped up real quick as a demo:


Enjoy!

Shoutout to @rokabeka for the Yin Yang idea

If someone had described the idea of case wraps to me I would have dismissed it as being silly. But after seeing some of these mock-ups I'm totally converted.

 

[Reldey]

I am using grizzly kryonaut which is considered the best paste, but i think it is only 1-2C better than Noctua paste. I also have two 80mm fans on mine instead of one noctua. My temps max around 74-75C under furmark. Weirdly with the new hdplex i can manage an overclock on the card. Still got more testing to do to get it just right and to make sure it can handle spikes but i never have issues. i have had 8 hour gaming sessions in: overwatch, battlegrounds, black desert online, and ghost recon wildlands.

Let me know how placing a fan on the back side of the card does. I have nothing on the back of mine and i don't see how it would help that much but i could definitely be wrong.

Well, on the one hand you and I were both able to fit the GPU in without cutting the heatsink apart (cough Linus cough) and I also didn't need to sand down a 120mm fan, yet I am getting slightly better thermals than Linus did in his vid. So I guess I am happy with it, although Josh did say that adding a fan behind the GPU has shown temp drops as large as 10 degrees.

 

[royalba94]

If someone had described the idea of case wraps to me I would have dismissed it as being silly. But after seeing some of these mock-ups I'm totally converted.

I'm glad they helped

I mainly made them to help me see how the wrap design would look actually on the case cause only having that one (cough) boring? (cough) flat file to work on kinda killed my creativity.

Looking forward to making more views, esp. one with both sides in the same pic

 

[rokabeka]

what about a full passive S4 Mini?

both side panels could be gigantic (yet slim) heatsinks. heatpipes would conduct the heat to the panels.
EDIT: or simply just a big block of copper as hdplex does but directly to the side panels, no heatpipes between.
CPU would be one side of the Mini, the GPU is the other. on the bottom and on the top there would be venting holes to deal with the heat generated by e.g. the dcdc, vrm, etc.
S4 Mini might needed some stands, too because the weight would be huge almost for sure. and the price...

the design itself can be anything. either kind of 3D heatsink, e.g. keeping the actual pattern of Mini's but in 3D. or
it does not necessarily need to be milled from a single piece, could be some extruded heatsink (maybe a bit boring pattern) or it could even be multiple layers of thin copper/aluminum sheets with copper standoffs between them. maybe that would be cheaper. in that case the sheets are parallel to the Mini.

could that work? how to calculate the cooling capacity of a large passive heatsink?
assembling might be a challenge, too.