S4 Mini w/ Ryzen 1700 and 1080 TI

[Reglar]

Based on your initial pics, the L9i is oriented in a sub-optimal way. You want the fin gaps to be parallel with your ram; if you rotated the L9i by 90 degrees I bet you'd get better cpu temps

Siba, I looked at that today since the system was pulled apart, and the cooler isn't square, it's rectangular. So I can't rotate it 90 degrees. More/better fan coverage is the only solution here. The AMD one appears to be a bit bigger than the Intel one.

 

[Reglar]

While the CPU cooler rotation idea didn't work out, I did spend more time on the problem. I've made 2 additional changes:

First, I am swapping out the 90mm fan included with the CPU cooler for a 120mm version. I'm not going to get as much of a seal as I did with the 90mm but I do get full coverage on all fins, unlike the 90mm, and I get some air on the motherboard components as well.

The second change is I have created a cardboard baffle to try to keep the air between the motherboard and 1080 TI separate.

 

[W1NN1NG]

While the CPU cooler rotation idea didn't work out, I did spend more time on the problem. I've made 2 additional changes:

First, I am swapping out the 90mm fan included with the CPU cooler for a 120mm version. I'm not going to get as much of a seal as I did with the 90mm but I do get full coverage on all fins, unlike the 90mm, and I get some air on the motherboard components as well.

The second change is I have created a cardboard baffle to try to keep the air between the motherboard and 1080 TI separate.

Cool idea. But I'd cut it from acrylic now that you have a stencil for it. Then paint it.

 

[Reglar]

Cool idea. But I'd cut it from acrylic now that you have a stencil for it. Then paint it.

If the idea works out I'll consider it.

The RMA on the 1080 TI was accepted. Once it's back I'll see if the baffle helps significantly.

 

[Reglar]

Zotac sent me a note they received the card, waiting to hear back on what they find or do.

 

[Reglar]

The 1080TI came back to me today so I'll be working on it this weekend.

 

[Reglar]

Ok, so good news, the system is back up and running.

My first experiment of replacing the CPU cooler's 90mm x 15mm fan with a 120mm x 15mm fan didn't work out, as Josh predicted I lose too much static pressure. So I put the 90mm cooler back on.

The baffle between the GPU and the motherboard helped keep temps manageable, and I was able to get the CPU to stay below 85C and the GPU ran under 90C while keeping the clock at a constant 1809.

Here's a screenshot from my testing; I ran Aida64 for the CPU stress and Kombuster from MSI to stress the GPU using the large memory preset to ensure GPU memory was being stressed in addition to the processor on the card.

Next step is to tweak the cooling to try to improve the temps. Overall I'm pretty happy with where I am right now though.

 

[MarcParis]

Ouch your r7 1700 temperature is high as recommended max temp for ryzen is 70°c on r7 1700 (without xfr).
Same comment on gtx 1080ti...max temp should be around 85°c.
Above these temperature you are reducing quickly lifespan of your components.

Forget aida and furmark...please, especially in s4 mini. This case is made for compact & mobile gaming, small workstation. Test your setup in heavy, but realistic, loads. Aida64 and furmark are more useful to test oc stability...even if intel burn test is better for cpu oc test..

Try in contrary gaming or encoding (or both together).
Personnally, with my cerberus-x setup that is pretty close to yours (r7 1700x, gtx 1080ti), i'm able to encode, game and capture in UHD at the same time...and i let you see temperature :
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...-x-complete-build-log.2007/page-13#post-63558

 

[Reglar]

Thanks, I agree those temps aren't great, but they are stable, which was the problem I was really trying to address first. Next step is some cooling tweaks as well as the real world tests.

 

[MarcParis]

Thanks, I agree those temps aren't great, but they are stable, which was the problem I was really trying to address first. Next step is some cooling tweaks as well as the real world tests.

It's your money..

 

[Reglar]

I played some VR games today to see temps, CPU hovered around 55, GPU averaged 80 with peaks of 85 but core frequency was nicely in the high 1800s so not being overly stressed. VR is really what I put the system together for, well portable VR anyway. I have a full system I run as my main gaming rig with a triple monitor setup which I am not trying to replace with the S4 build.

I did more research on what to expect from the Zotac GTX 1080 TI temperature wise and these cards just run hot. Many of the reviewers had the card hitting thermal max during their testing with the card's throttling down when needed.

I still plan to play more with the cooling, have some additional parts arriving Monday, but right now I'm not worried.

 

[MarcParis]

Please monitor gpu watts used by your gtx 1080ti (hwinfo and you can even put them in riva tuner/afterburner).

Better %of gpu usage, resolution, core frequencies, please monitor gpu wattage...at least you will know what is really able your gpu.
In my case, in gaming, highest power use by my msi gtx 1080ti gaming x was under mass effect andromeda, in uhd/4k @60fps with 325w with average at 310-320w...pretty hungry card when pushed..

I expect your mini zotact gtx 1080ti around 275w max.

 

[Reglar]

Looks like the Zotac card does not report gpu wattage, doesn't show up in the HWInfo panel.

 

[MarcParis]

Thus, old style wall kill o meter could do the job approximately.
On intense gaming i'm reaching 430w-450w of power on plug, where cpu an other equipment are using roughly 130w.

Ps : just to be sure, you hwinfo, not hwmonitor? Do you see watts used by your cpu?

 

[Broxin]

Here you can see the ghetto mod I made to add 2 USB 2 ports; I am using this build to drive a 3 sensor Oculus Rift, and any sensors after 2 have to be USB 2.

It works, so I'm happy.

im using the s4 also for a oculus rift 3 sensor setup.
how do you setup your rift with only one hdmi connection?
and how is the 1080ti compared to 1080? you run all games at supersampling 2.0?

 

[Reglar]

im using the s4 also for a oculus rift 3 sensor setup.
how do you setup your rift with only one hdmi connection?
and how is the 1080ti compared to 1080? you run all games at supersampling 2.0?

I put the Rift headset in the HDMI port and use the DVI port for the external monitor. I haven't tried with a 1080 so really can't compare. I so have super sampling at 2.0.

Thus, old style wall kill o meter could do the job approximately.
On intense gaming i'm reaching 430w-450w of power on plug, where cpu an other equipment are using roughly 130w.

Ps : just to be sure, you hwinfo, not hwmonitor? Do you see watts used by your cpu?

I see 410 watts from the wall wart on the synthetics (komblaster/Aida), still need to do the real world test.

I am using hwmonitor, let me look at hwinfo.

 

[Reglar]

Here's what I get for the card with HWINFO, I see the watts under GPU power, doing some tests now.

 

[Broxin]

Ok, thanks. Do you have any coilwhine with gurys psu?

 

[Reglar]

No coil whine at all. Can't say everyone will have the same experience but overall I am very pleased with the PSU.

 

[Reglar]

Ok did more testing; note I had added a slim scythe 120mm fan over both the back of the GPU (blowing on the backplate) and one over the CPU cooler (in addition to the 90mm on the cooler) to see if temps were any better.

The CPU was much cooler, at 73C, the only problem is it sounds like a mini jet engine, I'll have to play with it to see if its really worth it given I don't hit consistent max CPU in my gaming.

So using HWINFO, here's the CPU info.

Here's the GTX1080TI with default settings (and the scythe), not much of a difference performance wise. It shows me drawing 220W average.

And for kicks I bumped the GPU fans to 100%, and now i had 2 jet engines going, but the temps were much better and I didn't thermal throttle. I jumped ~10W as a result of the cooler temp (the card could draw more power). Really not sure I liked the noise but I will definitely play with the fan curve to try to get a happy medium.