S4 Mini rare breed

DocH

G4G
Original poster
Apr 2, 2017
312
306
Found an S4 mini for sale a little bit ago and had to pick it up. I also ordered from Josh on his July order but couldn't wait. I was really excited seeing it was the 17 unit i think. Feel like I am buying a piece of SFF history here. Anywho the unique things about the build is the fan mount I made for the gtx 1080 mini. I did no modifications to the gpu. It was a snug fit with the two 80mmx10mm fans. Can't wait to test and post some thermals. Without further Ado here is the build.


I also did a time series build once I edit it I will post.
 

CubanLegend

Steely-Eyed NVFlash Man
Dec 23, 2016
832
1,011
smallformfactor.net
Nice build! I love how you made yourself a custom fan mount! did you have to mod the inside of the S4 Mini's original wrap-around bezel to fit the 1080mini? I'm amazed that the heatsink actually fit!

Man this really makes me want to see what youre temps are, since my 1080 mini REALLY pushed A LOT of air out of the front-panel GPU vent that is build into Josh's new Acrylic 2D bezel. You dont have that, and you also have less airflow from the top of the GPU since you have the wrap around there... hmmm, I hope your temps are cool and your fan noise is low. Which fans did you use? are they both linked to one fan header or seperate headers?

Also why did you remove the GPU's backplate? I'm curious, are you planning to fit some thick 15mm SSD's or HDD's on the back of that 1080mini? ;)
 

DocH

G4G
Original poster
Apr 2, 2017
312
306
Nice build! I love how you made yourself a custom fan mount! did you have to mod the inside of the S4 Mini's original wrap-around bezel to fit the 1080mini? I'm amazed that the heatsink actually fit!

Man this really makes me want to see what youre temps are, since my 1080 mini REALLY pushed A LOT of air out of the front-panel GPU vent that is build into Josh's new Acrylic 2D bezel. You dont have that, and you also have less airflow from the top of the GPU since you have the wrap around there... hmmm, I hope your temps are cool and your fan noise is low. Which fans did you use? are they both linked to one fan header or seperate headers?

Also why did you remove the GPU's backplate? I'm curious, are you planning to fit some thick 15mm SSD's or HDD's on the back of that 1080mini? ;)
Wow there is a lot here.

I did not mod the original wrap around bezel to fit the 1080 mini. I sits against the front panel actually touching. What i did was loose the top two pin on the s4 and pulled the bezel for a slight gap at the top and it fit. My temps on Furmark is 75C after ten minutes and doesn't move from that. I run the fans around 1800rpm which is 50% of the fans capacity. The noise it produces is 30dBa which i find quite reasonable. The fans themselves are two single 80mm fans.

The fans are Evercool 80x10mm ball bearing fans. You really cant fit anything thicker in there. I removed the backplate because when i was watching josh's videos on youtube he showed the mod for the hdplex. I followed that and modded the side that was show and figured the other side of the power input had some important components. Unfortunately the side i modded was the thinner side and you can only fit it in with the back plate off. In the end i guess it isn't a big deal
 

CubanLegend

Steely-Eyed NVFlash Man
Dec 23, 2016
832
1,011
smallformfactor.net
wow! Awesome! Great answers, thanks! I'm so glad to see your temps are doing well. Josh still has my original wrap-around bezel so i might have him cut the GPU hole identical to the 2D acrylic bezel, and send it to me someday to swap it with my 2d acrylic bezel. :)
 

DocH

G4G
Original poster
Apr 2, 2017
312
306
wow! Awesome! Great answers, thanks! I'm so glad to see your temps are doing well. Josh still has my original wrap-around bezel so i might have him cut the GPU hole identical to the 2D acrylic bezel, and send it to me someday to swap it with my 2d acrylic bezel. :)
I actually thought about this as well and use the vented cover. It just happened to work out without any mods and for most work i do the gpu hover around 50C so i cant complain.
 
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DocH

G4G
Original poster
Apr 2, 2017
312
306
Not to be a grammar/spelling Nazi, but did you mean Rare Breed? Rare Bread is like undercooked bread I believe.
you are correct. I don't think i can change the title but i could go for some rare bread though
 

Reldey

Master of Cramming
Feb 14, 2017
387
405
This build is great, and very similar to the one I plan on doing. One question though, do you think you would be able to fit a 15mm slim Noctua fan there instead? I was thinking of buying one for a Zotac 1080 Mini, but wasn't sure if it would fit in the S4.
 

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
Really nice build...cable management is always a challenge in the marvellous nfc s4 mini..:)

I truly your customed gpu fan mount!
 

DocH

G4G
Original poster
Apr 2, 2017
312
306
This build is great, and very similar to the one I plan on doing. One question though, do you think you would be able to fit a 15mm slim Noctua fan there instead? I was thinking of buying one for a Zotac 1080 Mini, but wasn't sure if it would fit in the S4.

Yes, my fans were 10mm and the mount was approximately 4mm. I then have the bolts which are another 4mm maybe. If all you plan on doing was a 15mm slim it definitely will fit however, i am unsure how well that will cool. Linus put a 25mm fan by shaving it a little. I believe he tested a smaller fan and the cooling power was not enough for the 1080 mini.


Really nice build...cable management is always a challenge in the marvellous nfc s4 mini..:)

I truly your customed gpu fan mount!

Thanks, i had avaetum do my cables just because with my schedule i no longer have the time to do it. In all honesty you can buy my fan mount the only thing i did was drill the holes to mount it. Also picked the appropriate sized bolts so the card pushes it against the top fan mount and it doesn't budge. I posted furmark if you are interested in its performance. Couldn't ask for anything better honestly. 75C full 100% load.


Wow, insanely low number MINI. I remember the first 20 extremely well.

Yep!!!! December 21, 2015 I am in your july run and i am excited to make some changes to this build with your skins idea.

wait....so youre cooling that 7700k with the Thermolab ITX-30?! what are your temps, is that CPU delidded?

Correct under normal use it was fine but under prime95 it was dead. Lasted 39 second before 100C. I then used a scythe 2000rpm fan and results are posted below 95C. I was going to do the redux fan but decided against it since the dual fan method performed so poorly. I have now delidded it and I'm using the id cooling. It is performing much better. The delid is required for the 7700k which is sad.

Here it is updated. New cooler and painted all the wires so they blend better. Here is the link to the pcpartpicker which was featured on the site.
https://pcpartpicker.com/b/cLP323

 
Last edited:

Reldey

Master of Cramming
Feb 14, 2017
387
405
Yes, my fans were 10mm and the mount was approximately 4mm. I then have the bolts which are another 4mm maybe. If all you plan on doing was a 15mm slim it definitely will fit however, i am unsure how well that will cool. Linus put a 25mm fan by shaving it a little. I believe he tested a smaller fan and the cooling power was not enough for the 1080 mini.


You think a 120mm fan by itself wouldn't be enough? You may be right...
 

DocH

G4G
Original poster
Apr 2, 2017
312
306
Did you use id cooling is-vc45? At least you are using its fan..:)

Yes i am using the is-vc45 currently.

You think a 120mm fan by itself wouldn't be enough? You may be right...

it may be fine under normal use. Heavy use or brenchmarking you may have issues

Here is my benchmark, also the system peaks around 266 watts while benchmark as i showed in a previous picture above.
 

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
Nice score i'm reaching 20398 on firestrike with r7 1700x oc 4.02ghz, ram @3.52ghz and gtx 1080ti...for sure my cpu is worse than core i7 7700k on this benchmark..:)

What about cpu temperature with is-vc45? Personnally i'm still using it on so hot core i7 4770k but with 120mm fan..:)