S4 MINI Classic (S4M-C)

[CC Ricers]

I think I read somewhere that some motherboards need it while some don't. I'm trying to find that list but sadly I can't remember.

Anyways, should I remove the wire connecting those pins in my extension cable or do you think it is safe?

I've been using that Z97I-Plus board on my main build with a Silverstone PSU, and then a HD-PLEX PSU. The cables on both lack the superfluous -5V wire. Haven't encountered any power problems whatsoever in the two years I've had it.

 

[RenG]

on another note....that Asus GTX 970 DirectCU mini had me a little annoyed how asus did their cooling....4 out of the 8 ram chips are cooled so I changed the thermal paste and added thermal pad thick enough to help the chips they neglected to cool. -__-

Did you also need to adjust the mounting holes for the pico psu power in?

 

[loc125]

Did you also need to adjust the mounting holes for the pico psu power in?

Not for the Pico PSU, but for HDPlex - Yes, i took josh's advice and used a needle file to adjust the holes. what helped, I plugged in the power brick (not powered of course) to hold the hd plex power-in, in place to see how much I needed to file away. I don't think the pico has enough juice to power the asus 970 directcu mini.

 

[Shaun]

My cards are here, will put them in the S4 shortly and report back.. I also have a Gigabyte 1060 and 1070 mini on order which should come soon.

Cheers
Shaun

 

[K888D]

My cards are here, will put them in the S4 shortly and report back.. I also have a Gigabyte 1060 and 1070 mini on order which should come soon.

Cheers
Shaun

Very nice indeed, welcome to the forum!

I would be extremely appreciative if you could post the real world dimensions (including shroud) of the Gigabyte GTX 1070 ITX card, it looks allot bigger than Gigabytes quoted measurements!

 

[Josh | NFC]

Thanks for taking three for the team, Shaun.

 

[Zackmd1]

My cards are here, will put them in the S4 shortly and report back.. I also have a Gigabyte 1060 and 1070 mini on order which should come soon.

Cheers
Shaun

I had this card in my amazon cart as in stock. By the time I went to confirm the purchase it was out of stock..... Really interested in hearing your experience with this card in the S4! I will hopefully be not to far behind you with either the Zotac or EVGA variant.

 

[RenG]

Wish I had that kind of money to spend

Anyways, anyone here ordered dell power brick from eBay for their S4 Mini? Just doubting about the genuineness of those bricks. I might order from dell website directly even if the price is higher than in eBay.

 

[Josh | NFC]

Wish I had that kind of money to spend

Anyways, anyone here ordered dell power brick from eBay for their S4 Mini? Just doubting about the genuineness of those bricks. I might order from dell website directly even if the price is higher than in eBay.

I have ordered bunches. Hit or miss; if you want genuine to be sure buy from Dell.

 

[Zackmd1]

Grabbed the Zotac! 11 more in stock on amazon!

 

[CXH4]

Wish I had that kind of money to spend

Anyways, anyone here ordered dell power brick from eBay for their S4 Mini? Just doubting about the genuineness of those bricks. I might order from dell website directly even if the price is higher than in eBay.

It doesn't necessarily have to be from eBay, I ordered a dell 330 watt power brick from newegg for 80$. Cheaper than some listings on eBay and I feel this is more reliable coming from a site like newegg.

 

[iFreilicht]

I think I read somewhere that some motherboards need it while some don't. I'm trying to find that list but sadly I can't remember.

This one?

They then sent that list directly to the R&D department in Taiwan, who checked the designs of each of them to determine whether they need Pin 14 (aka -12V) present to boot or not. Here are the results:

• QC500-ITXPH: Required
• AM1H-ITX: Required
• Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac: Required
• H81M-ITX/Wifi: Not required
• A68M-ITX: Not required
• FM2A88X-ITX+: Required
• H97M-ITX/ac: Not required
• Z97E-ITX/ac: Required
• H110M-ITX: Not required
• H170-ITX/DL: Not required
• X99E-ITX/ac: Required
• J3160-ITX: Required
• C2750D4I: Required

So as you can see, while some of their boards don't need -12V to boot, a lot of them do, including the very popular X99E-ITX/ac and the Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac. While ASUS and Gigabyte didn't give me any helpful answers, this data alone is enough to convince me that there is no way around adding a -12V rail to the PSU.

This is only about -12V. No board released in the last 5 years needs -5V.

 

[loc125]

My cards are here, will put them in the S4 shortly and report back.. I also have a Gigabyte 1060 and 1070 mini on order which should come soon.

Cheers
Shaun

im waiting on the GTX 1070 myself...

 

[flacman]

Would love it if someone could test the GTX 1060 with an unmodified Pico PSU.

 

[BirdofPrey]

This is only about -12V. No board released in the last 5 years needs -5V.

I can't remember, what exactly is -12VDC used for?

 

[iFreilicht]

I can't remember, what exactly is -12VDC used for?

It was required for RS232, that used negative logic signals. PCI could also use it for it's JTAG connection, but that was optional. Today it's only required in serverboards with RS232, but the amount of current needed is so low that it wouldn't be a huge burden for the mainboards to generate -12V themselves.

 

[EdZ]

I wonder if it could be dealt with inline on the cable, With such a small current draw, dead-bugging the components together (or an exceptionally small PCB) and adding a strain-relief member (or just stronger heatshrink around them) could reduce it to a lump along the cable rather than an extra board inside the PSU, allowing for use with a stock PSU lacking -12V. Something like a MAX765CSA+ with an SMT inductor, cap and diode should provide enough current to trigger a 12V sense pin.

 

[Shaun]

I had this card in my amazon cart as in stock. By the time I went to confirm the purchase it was out of stock..... Really interested in hearing your experience with this card in the S4! I will hopefully be not to far behind you with either the Zotac or EVGA variant.

Would love it if someone could test the GTX 1060 with an unmodified Pico PSU.

What's an unmodified Pico? I i'm powering the 1060 using a molex to 6pin adapter, so i'm going to assume that's unmodified because i didn't touch any wires or cut anything up.

I did an S4 mini overhaul this afternoon:
1) Removed the HDPlex, and installed a PicoPSU
2) Resoldered my power button to use terminals rather than directly soldered to the pins
3) Swapped out the GTX 960 to benchmark the GTX 1060

Here's a comparison to the EVGA 960 - this likely means that the 1060 EVGA card will be the same size as the 960, which is about 0.5cm longer than the Zotac ITX.

Cleaned up chassis, it looks wayyyy better than having the HDPlex in there:

Benchmarks against the REFERENCE RX480 (not sure if i'm doing this right so just let me know if i'm missing anything):

Specs:
Intel i5-6500
GTX 1060
16GB RAM
M.2 850 EVO
Gigabyte H170N-WIFI

Running a 160 Pico PSU with a 192 W adapter. Pico's rated to 200W Peak, obviously a T proc is more ideal here but I think the pico can handle this well.

To my knowledge the Zotac Mini isn't overclocked or anything, it's running exactly the same clocks as the founder's edition.

Other things i'm hoping to do once i get the time:
1) Game benchmarks (Limited games...)
2) Overclock the 1060 to see if the pico can support it.

Hope this helps someone..

Cheers
Shaun

 

[iFreilicht]

Something like a MAX765CSA+ with an SMT inductor, cap and diode should provide enough current to trigger a 12V sense pin.

That's what I'll be trying with the FSP500-50FSPT. Shouldn't be a problem, but I think such a circuit should sit on the side of the connector, not inline with the cable.

 

[flacman]

What's an unmodified Pico? I i'm powering the 1060 using a molex to 6pin adapter, so i'm going to assume that's unmodified because i didn't touch any wires or cut anything up.
...
Cheers
Shaun

Shaun,

By unmodified, I meant no change in wire gauging etc. (i.e. some of the mods others have done here).

I'm still waiting for my S4 mini order and PicoPSU, but most of my parts have arrived (or pending purchase):

• i7 6700T
• 16 GB DDR4
• ID-cooling VC45 and Noctua A9x14; also have a Noctua L9i on stand-by...
• H170N-WiFi (pending)
• 950 Pro 512 GB (pending)
• other bits and pieces / EPS extension cables (pending)

I like what you've done with your rig, my build will be very similar!