S4 MINI Classic (S4M-C)

[Josh | NFC]

Is the case for optimised airflow thicker in dimension?
Also, will regular case with no vents on the front still be offered?

It's the same case. I just removed the front bezel for that customer's system, and put some perforated plate in the GPU install hole. So it's actually a bit thinner, sorta.

Glad to see you took my advice about feet Will you be offering more than one option for feet?

Ideally I would like to have this as more options. I need more time and hands!!! This is what I have been using for full-build customers who want feet:

Best looking cases ever.

Thanks for the compliment.

 

[Tanax]

It's the same case. I just removed the front bezel for that customer's system, and put some perforated plate in the GPU install hole. So it's actually a bit thinner, sorta.

Ohh I see, I thought it was a new "model" of the S4

Ideally I would like to have this as more options. I need more time and hands!!! This is what I have been using for full-build customers who want feet:

I'd love to see how feet like these would look on the S4

https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Appartamento_34.jpg

 

[iFreilicht]

I'd love to see how feet like these would look on the S4

https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Appartamento_34.jpg

Someone did that already, but I can't remember who.

 

[hat1324]

I've just been using Chinese adhesive feet ~.5cm tall and ~1cm diameter. Got a pack of 100 for 5 bucks and use them on basically everything

 

[zhl146]

So I got my system up and running with a i5 6400 undervolted by 180mv with 2 SSD and a EVGA 1060SC. I'm finding that I actually hard reboot even at 70% power limiting in some games (I think this generally happens if I alt-tab or on load, so it's probably GPU spiking?). I am wondering if this is normal, or if my having 2 SSD is overstressing the system? I was thinking not since both SSDs are rarely getting stressed at the same time during gaming.

I was thinking of different power options. Right now I am running a pico 160XT kit. I was going to "upgrade" to the Z4 200W with a 19V power brick. I was thinking this might solve my problems, but I had the idea of turning a SFX or flex ATX PSU into a 12V supply.

Has anyone tried the above? Basically wire all the 12V leads together and throw a switch onto it? Will I run into issues if I do this? I was thinking then I could get a PSU that would be more reliable than your average laptop brick. Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[Josh | NFC]

So I got my system up and running with a i5 6400 undervolted by 180mv with 2 SSD and a EVGA 1060SC. I'm finding that I actually hard reboot even at 70% power limiting in some games (I think this generally happens if I alt-tab or on load, so it's probably GPU spiking?). I am wondering if this is normal, or if my having 2 SSD is overstressing the system? I was thinking not since both SSDs are rarely getting stressed at the same time during gaming.

I was thinking of different power options. Right now I am running a pico 160XT kit. I was going to "upgrade" to the Z4 200W with a 19V power brick. I was thinking this might solve my problems, but I had the idea of turning a SFX or flex ATX PSU into a 12V supply.

Has anyone tried the above? Basically wire all the 12V leads together and throw a switch onto it? Will I run into issues if I do this? I was thinking then I could get a PSU that would be more reliable than your average laptop brick. Any thoughts are appreciated!

I'd like to know what is messing you up here. The 1060SC wasn't plug an play for me on the Pico (it didn't reset, but it was running too hard) I had to underclock it a teensy bit and lower the power to 80%, but at that point I was pretty safe. It could be that your card is just not liking being undervolted that much, or as you say, perhaps the SSDs being on the same line as the GPU is causing it to bomb. I've never put SSDs on the same line as a 1060 in my tests. As a side note the 1060 NON superclocked was a drop in and I didn't have to do any tuning to get a max draw of 180 with a 65w CPU (again, no 2.5" SSDs only M.2).

I wonder if moving the SSD harness to the other port on the Pico and keeping the 8 pin separate would improve things for you? Possibly not, but I am all about experimentation.

 

[Saltvann]

Josh: Did you see a large difference in power draw between the EVGA 1060SC and 1060 regular version?

 

[MarcParis]

So I got my system up and running with a i5 6400 undervolted by 180mv with 2 SSD and a EVGA 1060SC. I'm finding that I actually hard reboot even at 70% power limiting in some games (I think this generally happens if I alt-tab or on load, so it's probably GPU spiking?). I am wondering if this is normal, or if my having 2 SSD is overstressing the system? I was thinking not since both SSDs are rarely getting stressed at the same time during gaming.

I was thinking of different power options. Right now I am running a pico 160XT kit. I was going to "upgrade" to the Z4 200W with a 19V power brick. I was thinking this might solve my problems, but I had the idea of turning a SFX or flex ATX PSU into a 12V supply.

Has anyone tried the above? Basically wire all the 12V leads together and throw a switch onto it? Will I run into issues if I do this? I was thinking then I could get a PSU that would be more reliable than your average laptop brick. Any thoughts are appreciated!

Don't go for z4-atx-200, it has the same power limit as mini box 192w.

My advice will be simple : go for external sfx psu...thus s4 mini expresses its full cooling potential.
I know that i love s4 mini, but I'm no supporter of any pico psu, especially with external sfx psu, smaller than power brick. I'll make some photos of my s4 mini when I'll upgrade it..

 

[Saltvann]

Just bought the Inno3d GTX 1060 Compact for my upcoming s4 mini build. I have the 1060 SC for my main build with a Arctic custom cooler. Since both the cards pcb boards supposedly are reference design I should be able to compare both the coolers on my new card. Might be able to slap on a better performing fan on the Inno3D cooler by the looks of it.

For anyone considering replacing the fan on the SC 1060 I would not recommend it. You will probably find that changing the fan of the SC cooler with a normal slim fan like the 92mm NF-A9x14 will reduce performance. A normal case/heatsink fan will direct airflow only to the middle of the SC heatsink resulting in higher temps or fan speed, which will render the shroud useless. Compared to many other vga coolers the shroud of the SC cooler actually seems to work. I have to say that the SC cooler is well designed in this regard because a lot of the the heat looks to be exhausted out the back of the card and not just dumped in the case. This should be especially useful in a case like the S4 mini with no exhaust fans.

 

[CXH4]

So I got my system up and running with a i5 6400 undervolted by 180mv with 2 SSD and a EVGA 1060SC. I'm finding that I actually hard reboot even at 70% power limiting in some games (I think this generally happens if I alt-tab or on load, so it's probably GPU spiking?). I am wondering if this is normal, or if my having 2 SSD is overstressing the system? I was thinking not since both SSDs are rarely getting stressed at the same time during gaming.

I was thinking of different power options. Right now I am running a pico 160XT kit. I was going to "upgrade" to the Z4 200W with a 19V power brick. I was thinking this might solve my problems, but I had the idea of turning a SFX or flex ATX PSU into a 12V supply.

Has anyone tried the above? Basically wire all the 12V leads together and throw a switch onto it? Will I run into issues if I do this? I was thinking then I could get a PSU that would be more reliable than your average laptop brick. Any thoughts are appreciated!

The Pico 160XT is an excellent PSU, however it is most likely the fact that the GPU is overclocked (the GPU usually consumes the most power), as well as the fact that NVIDIA's GPU boost also over clocks when possible (increasing power consumption further). I have used both the Z4 and 160XT, both are excellent and have their ups and downs. I've ran my system with the 160XT for a few months now with an i7 6700 undervolted and underclocked to 3.0Ghz and the Zotac GTX 1060 without boost clocks and power limit at 90%, and my system has never crashed and I don't really see a performance deficit. It usually runs under 150 Watts, hope this may help a bit!

Edit: Additionally, SSD's are quite power efficient in comparison to HDD's which I'm running in my system; which even one HDD can consume more power than two SSD's according to online articles. So that isn't an issue, and in fact could give you head room for your GPU.

 

[Josh | NFC]

Josh: Did you see a large difference in power draw between the EVGA 1060SC and 1060 regular version?

Yes, actually. I've done two SC systems and one normal (both 6GB versions) and the difference could be up to 25 watts, which I would not have expected.

My HYPOTHESIS is you could be having power issues, but I agree your bluescreens are probably coming from the SC card undervolting. Try dropping the clock for the memory/gpu down too and see what happens.

 

[Saltvann]

Yes, actually. I've done two SC systems and one normal (both 6GB versions) and the difference could be up to 25 watts, which I would not have expected.

My HYPOTHESIS is you could be having power issues, but I agree your bluescreens are probably coming from the SC card undervolting. Try dropping the clock for the memory/gpu down too and see what happens.

That is interesting. 25 watts? Do you think it would be possible to flash the bios of the regular version on an SC card?

Also what is the performance difference?

Sorry, might be a little bit off-topic.

 

[Josh | NFC]

Not off topic at all. I did not do a thorough benchmark to compare the two in performance as I was concerned with power consumption and was going to take what I could get after stability. I should have done those tests, but I'm sure lots of people have benchmarked them. The base model hit my 70FPS at 2160x1200 (VR res) which is all I was looking for.

No idea on the BIOS flashing. I would be interested as well because the SC is easier to find than the base model at the moment.

I can say that in my opinion for the S4 Mini the EVGA SC is not worth it--you need to tune it and it is more expensive. Though the cooler is much nicer. Still, it doesn't make direct contact with the memory modules, so how much BETTER the cooler is anyone's guess. The base model 1060 runs fine and doesn't get too hot in games and performs splendidly and didn't require any tuning, so I am sticking with that for my custom builds from now on.

 

[Saltvann]

Great info! If you still have the gtx 1060 non-sc would you mind extracting the bios with gpu-z? I would like to see if I can flash my 1060 SC. Unfortunately it does not seem that anyone has uploaded the non-SC bios just yet. Link.


The main benefit of the SC as you mention is the cooler, which is one of the few heatsinks that features heatpipes and is short enough to fit in the S4 Mini.

 

[Josh | NFC]

I will do this next time I get one in the office, but they have all been for customers.

I have dual RX480s on my testbench right now and a 1070 in my Mini.

I WILL say that my GPU of choice is the 1060 6GB (haven't figured out which one has the best cooler, price, build, and availability) and that is all the GPU power I need and then some and I LOVE the power draw.

The 1070 is an amazing card, but is super expensive, and is still too hot for my tastes (a huge improvement over the Asus 970 and a good pairing for power users with the HDPLEX, but I dont need that power to play Overwatch and Civ VI).

The 480s are brilliant and the Sapphire versions overclock well and even stock whoop on the 1080 in crossfire DX12. They are too expensive right now and suck too much power and ARE TOO LONG for the S4 Mini, so fail there.

The 1080 was awesome and I had fun with it and was SUPER impressed by its meager power draw and huge performance, but the price and length turn me off.

I haven't got a 1050 yet but I love the idea of it as I super loved my 750ti's cold operation. Keep in mind its hot where I live and I don't run the air conditioning unless I have too...so I don't like overpowered machines for my daily use.

/just josh thoughts on GPUs

 

[blubblob]

Great info! If you still have the gtx 1060 non-sc would you mind extracting the bios with gpu-z? I would like to see if I can flash my 1060 SC. Unfortunately it does not seem that anyone has uploaded the non-SC bios just yet. Link.

This seems to be the bios you are looking for. It has the same power limits listed though, so just downclocking your SC should have the same effect.

 

[CXH4]

I will do this next time I get one in the office, but they have all been for customers.

I have dual RX480s on my testbench right now and a 1070 in my Mini.

I WILL say that my GPU of choice is the 1060 6GB (haven't figured out which one has the best cooler, price, build, and availability) and that is all the GPU power I need and then some and I LOVE the power draw.

The 1070 is an amazing card, but is super expensive, and is still too hot for my tastes (a huge improvement over the Asus 970 and a good pairing for power users with the HDPLEX, but I dont need that power to play Overwatch and Civ VI).

The 480s are brilliant and the Sapphire versions overclock well and even stock whoop on the 1080 in crossfire DX12. They are too expensive right now and suck too much power and ARE TOO LONG for the S4 Mini, so fail there.

The 1080 was awesome and I had fun with it and was SUPER impressed by its meager power draw and huge performance, but the price and length turn me off.

I haven't got a 1050 yet but I love the idea of it as I super loved my 750ti's cold operation. Keep in mind its hot where I live and I don't run the air conditioning unless I have too...so I don't like overpowered machines for my daily use.

/just josh thoughts on GPUs

Just a question, are there any 480's that fit in the S4 mini Josh? Or are they also too long?

 

[Saltvann]

This seems to be the bios you are looking for. It has the same power limits listed though, so just downclocking your SC should have the same effect.

Thank you! Somehow missed that one as it was listed as the evga sc on the list.

I did manage to flash my bios successfully. The nvflash tool will however correctly report a PCI subsystem ID mismatch. Use this command to ignore it: nvflash -6 yourbiosfilename.rom

However there is all ways a risk with bios updates so do it at your own risk.

 

[Josh | NFC]

Just a question, are there any 480's that fit in the S4 mini Josh? Or are they also too long?

Not to my knowledge, although I know they are coming with the second gen platform. Hopefully not too far out in the future...

When they do come they will be a very awesome choice if they stay priced next to the 1060.

 

[CXH4]

Not to my knowledge, although I know they are coming with the second gen platform. Hopefully not too far out in the future...

When they do come they will be a very awesome choice if they stay priced next to the 1060.

Ah yes, I heard about the revision AMD did in order to reduce the power consumption. It would be nice to see smaller and more power efficient versions of the 480's, makes me kind of want to trade my 1060 for one lol