S4MAX: Brickless S4M w/ 3090 FE and R9 5950x - 800W, 5l, water cooled

petricor

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try to rotate the video card 180 degrees. Then part of the plastic can be cut off from the water block and the pci connector will not interfere and the hdmi outputs can be nicely placed on the side of the case
And also turn the radiator with a pump 180 degrees and replace all the fittings with 8 mm and there will be happiness
I have been pondering over such alignment (GPU rotated by 180 degree relative to my current layout), and this has indeed been my initial choice. Comparing options, however, I found that it will result in slightly reduced airflow over the fan as the offset between case and GPU board is slightly smaller in my current alignment (that's assuming use of a cable with a low profile left angle PCIe connector such as the "printed" hdplex pcie 3 - a bit short - or ideally the to-come link-up pcie 4 extreme) when compared to the offset generated by even a cut-down GPU terminal. Of course that comes with its own set of challenges and I will indeed need to machine away quite a lot of the acrylic GPU cover (postig a markup soon...). All that said, rotating the GPU might indeed still be on the cards if the PCIe routing becomes too challenging. Working on a mock-up at the moment.
Re video-out: Plan is to use an internal DP blind plug for headless operation (it's what I do with my current s4 mini) and link a single short DP cable to the ITX/TB3's DP-in at the rear to use the mobo's Thunderbolt port to connect optional additional displays - suffices for the application I plan, and with that in mind the current alignment of the ports works out better - otherwise I'd have a DP connector sticking out at the side...
 

petricor

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Small update from the workshop: Am in possession of two beautifully machined G1/8 brass fittings now. The flange is for soldering them to the radiator... 12mm hole diameter. This should resolve the fitting clash!

 

Valantar

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Can't believe I haven't found this thread before, subscribed and watching with bated breath. This is incredible. Very excited to see this progress. Massive kudos to the OP for going above and beyond what anyone could expect to be possible.
 
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petricor

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Some more metalwork:

Next thing I need is temporary chipset cooling solution. My ultimate plan is to use heat pipes to connect chipset and VRMs to the case and make it work as a giant heat sink. This will require some CNC machined parts which I'll get made in China and require several weeks lead-in, so the first iteration of the build will need to make do with something more conventional.

Using a $2 northbridge heat sink I found on ebay...



...I get a near-enough match with the space reservation on the board.

There's some work to be done on the mounting holes though: The board has a 54mm spacing, so the plan is to move one of the fasteners 5mm inwards which should be doable with a bit of drilling and and grinding.



This should do the trick!


Not pretty (the heatsink mounting holes in the board do not line up at 45 degrees, hence the rotation), but the heat sink makes firm contact with the chip and stays clear of all other components so technically that's a box ticked.


Of course this still requires a fan from all we know about x570- and transplanting the one that comes with the board's factory cooling solution is rather straight forward as the screws just find their way into the grooves of the heat sink and provide for a tight fit.


WIth that done, I start to mark-up major cuts to the case in preparation for another workshop session. These big cuts will certainly benefit from using proper milling equipment - there is only so-and-so much precision I can get out of a Dremel with a flex disc...


First markup is a cut to the main board tray to resolve a clash with the mother board's i/o cover (resulting from lowering it into the case by 3.5mm - see earlier posts):



These two notches cut into the front frame will allow me to align the radiator flush to the case's bottom panel by making room for the folded metal brackets on the radiator's edge:


And finally I'll need a 20x28mm cut to fit in the Supermicro's C14 plug - it's made for clipping into metal cases so this should be a straighforward transplant.


As the plug will cover the cuts, I can hand-dremel this one without exposing any messy edges...

...looks about right...

...and makes for a tight fit.
In the plastic bag next to it you see a black 12mm momentary button with white status LED (lesson learned from my last build)...


...that should go nicely with the black rear panel...


...and makes for a clean fit in the case's original DC power connector perforation.


From the inside I get a compact fit of the Supermicro's EMI filter, and can use an existing threaded hole in the case to connect a ground wire.

Next up: Preparing that GPU water block for machining...
 
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Choidebu

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WIth that done, I start to mark-up major cuts to the case in preparation for another workshop session. These big cuts will certainly benefit from using proper milling equipment -

While you're at it I suggest to have the shop add more weld to the standoff's pemserts, recent reports of few of them popping off is concerning.
 
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petricor

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While you're at it I suggest to have the shop add more weld to the standoff's pemserts, recent reports of few of them popping off is concerning.
That´s the ones in the S4M? Ouch... will have a close look! Cheers...
 

petricor

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aquelito

King of Cable Management
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Feb 16, 2016
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@petricor :

you'll never cease to amaze me ! I tinkered with the same idea in SKP but gave up after one hour or so !

I haven't read the full thread but why would you need the Eistation 40 reservoir ?
You could just connect the pump to the radiator and use the top inlet as fill port, as first intended ?

I tested this setup several times and it works just great !
Modded 80mm radiator with an extra fill-port added on top, and modded DC-LT plexi top with an extra inlet :

 
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Curiosity

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@aquelito what's that fitting between the pump and rad's 90°? I've been trying to find the perfect fitting for a use just like that.
 

jcai33

Efficiency Noob
Jan 28, 2020
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nice build! I really appreciate the effort in making such a small case and fit EVERYTHING in there...
I saw you mentioned a short internal DP cable, do you know where can I get one of those short cables? Since I’m also using the same mobo and trying to use the TB3 one cable solution for all my setups...
 
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Valantar

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Jan 20, 2018
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That'ss a Koolance ADT-SMM fitting :


Alphacool also has similar fittings to this.
For people wanting something even slimmer than this, they have a pretty cool two-part solution bundled with their new 2U DDC pump+res combo that essentially allows for flush mounting (well, no more than a couple mm of spacing) of female-threaded water cooling parts.

It's not actually a rotary fitting, but rather two individual fittings that plug together (see p.11 of the manual). I assume it requires very tight and secure mounting of whatever is mounted on both sides at very specific distances, which likely means it'll never be sold separately (too much risk of people not understanding how it works and having massive leaks), but man, it would make for some extremely cool and compact builds.
 

petricor

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@petricor :

you'll never cease to amaze me ! I tinkered with the same idea in SKP but gave up after one hour or so !

I haven't read the full thread but why would you need the Eistation 40 reservoir ?
You could just connect the pump to the radiator and use the top inlet as fill port, as first intended ?

I tested this setup several times and it works just great !
Modded 80mm radiator with an extra fill-port added on top, and modded DC-LT plexi top with an extra inlet :

Fair question - don't have much experience with water loops as so far I have been able to avoid them. The bubble filter in the DC40 appears to be a nice-to-have; I'm a bit concerned re my ability to properly vent the loop. That said, looking at your post, I may be overly concerned!
 

aquelito

King of Cable Management
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Feb 16, 2016
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This is exactly the same principle as Swiftech first AIOs :





What you can do is use a syringe as I did to fill the loop to the max.
You can connect a piece of tubing to the fill port to prevent spilling liquid.

This way, you can start the pump only when the loop is almost filled to the max, which will make the bleeding much easier.

Indeed, the pump will "chop down" large bubbles into a myriad of small bubbles as soon as you run it.
As you will only need to run it once, you avoid this issue :)
 

petricor

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It
nice build! I really appreciate the effort in making such a small case and fit EVERYTHING in there...
I saw you mentioned a short internal DP cable, do you know where can I get one of those short cables? Since I’m also using the same mobo and trying to use the TB3 one cable solution for all my setups...
not researched as of yet - assumed that to be a comparably easy to solve one and put it on the lower end of my list. Will post any findings here - let me know if you come across something promising!
 

petricor

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Small update before some workshop action:

That’s how I intend to cut the Perspex cover of the GPU water block - in plan - the large chunk in the top right corner needs to go to make space for the fan, and the notches at the bottom are to make way for the MoBo’s audio and wifi module.


...and side view - it will need to get a chamfer at the long edge facing the case’s rear side to make space for the PCIe cable to be passed-throug behind it:



To get to grips with the PCIe cable required, I use a paper mock up to establish the right length...


...getting me to 24cm including connectors.


The ultra-thin HDPlex cable I have had ordered for this purpose is unfortunately 4cm too short so that will require a different solution.


Amazingly, @LINKUP have offered to provide me with a custom length engineering sample of their new PCIe 4 cable with a left angle connector, which is currently in the post, and should be with me soon!
 

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
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Small update before some workshop action:

That’s how I intend to cut the Perspex cover of the GPU water block - in plan - the large chunk in the top right corner needs to go to make space for the fan, and the notches at the bottom are to make way for the MoBo’s audio and wifi module.


...and side view - it will need to get a chamfer at the long edge facing the case’s rear side to make space for the PCIe cable to be passed-throug behind it:



To get to grips with the PCIe cable required, I use a paper mock up to establish the right length...


...getting me to 24cm including connectors.


The ultra-thin HDPlex cable I have had ordered for this purpose is unfortunately 4cm too short so that will require a different solution.


Amazingly, @LINKUP have offered to provide me with a custom length engineering sample of their new PCIe 4 cable with a left angle connector, which is currently in the post, and should be with me soon!
Really excited to see how this turns out. That cut between the two bottom screws makes me nervous though - do you have any plans to avoid the plexi cracking when the screws are tightened, or to maintain pressure on the gasket near where the plexi is gone? Might not be a problem, but there will definitely be less pressure on the gasket in that spot. Fingers crossed that it won't leak!
 

Daniel.f2277

Caliper Novice
Jan 13, 2020
22
11
Maybe with one of these you could route video out of the graphics card to the usb c port from the motherboard.

Or you could find something like this for displayport
 

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
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Maybe with one of these you could route video out of the graphics card to the usb c port from the motherboard.

Or you could find something like this for displayport
The ASrock X570 motherboard has a dedicated DP input port on the rear I/O for channeling video from a GPU to the TB3 port. Without a port like that there's nothing that would work. So all that's needed is a short DP-DP cable, or HDMI-DP.