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

BaK

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May 17, 2016
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The solution is in my kitchen: I adjust my hot air oven to 138C precisely using my multimeter's temperature probe...
I hope that your next pizza won't be bismuth spiced! XD
Wouldn't have been easier to mod an empty cold plate, without soldered pipes in it, like the one you used for the VRMs?
 
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petricor

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May 12, 2018
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I hope that your next pizza won't be bismuth spiced! XD
Wouldn't have been easier to mod an empty cold plate, without soldered pipes in it, like the one you used for the VRMs?
Yeah perhaps I leave it at that one cooking session... don't intend to grow additional limbs...

Getting the pipes off was actually quite straightforward - went for that cooler as it came with the right size of block and amount of grooves plus mounting hardware I could mod, and that stuff is so cheap that it didn't really matter whether I'd buy a vanilla block or the whole thing! Miracles of the global supply chain... Greta would disapprove, though.
 
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thelaughingman

SFF Guru
Jul 14, 2018
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Got any pictures? Curious to see that...
you'll have to take Josh's words on it https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/s4t-update.16451/

he disabled playback now but in the video he did show stacking the 2 S4T vertically. the mechanism to hold the 2 cases together is not yet finalised but 1 possibility he mentioned was to make extended front and back panels and then screwed to the cases. best to ask him on Discord or join his Patreon for exclusivity / first dip
 

BaK

King of Cable Management
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May 17, 2016
930
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Yeah perhaps I leave it at that one cooking session... don't intend to grow additional limbs...
Especially with a hot air oven that should distribute the fumes in the whole kitchen! 😵

Getting the pipes off was actually quite straightforward - went for that cooler as it came with the right size of block and amount of grooves plus mounting hardware I could mod, and that stuff is so cheap that it didn't really matter whether I'd buy a vanilla block or the whole thing! Miracles of the global supply chain... Greta would disapprove, though.
I would either if I didn't do the same on some occasions... I tend to be less partial with that when it comes to my hobby! Like buying a whole box of switches when I only need one...
But I try to compensate with other 'good' actions, like collecting waste I stumbled onto when I go out for a walk, not taking the car for short distances, etc..
Sorry for the digression, back to your amazing build!
 

Vaderator

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Aug 7, 2017
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Ok - it took quite a while, but mine is up and running. Again, this is a complete copy of Petricor's design - he deserves all the credit -this is more to share that his design was solid enough to inspire other builds.
For me, it is not the final version yet, but definitely functional. Next steps are to upgrade the slim cryorig fan to the full width Noctua 140mm fan, but I will need my ADT-link flat Displayport extensions to arrive before the Noctua will fit.

I'm not super handy with a dremel or drill, so none of this build has any real mods to the S4M case. You can see a slight bulge on the side, but I was able to screw everything in original holes.



In terms of build fully featured:
3080 FE, Ryzen 3700x, Gigabyte Aorus ITX x570, 32gib of full height (Albeit deshrouded ram), and a 600w g-unique skyreach g-stick, Louque Ghost PCIE4.0 stranded cable (high quality part - I put it through the ringer, and it still works in PCIE4 mode)

Watercool parts:
corsair XG7 GPU block (aluminum case removed), custom terminal for XG7 detailed below. Alphacool Eisblock CPU Block, Alphacool 2600 LT pump, Alphacool Eisstation 40 DC-LT - reservoir, Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 Full Copper 140mm radiator V.2, alphacool TPV straight and elbow fiittings, Koolance LowProfile G1/4 elbows

So first, I received my laser cut acrylic modifications, they turned out well and the JBWeld4 sealed perfectly. Tapping the G1/4 threads was really tricky because it needed to be perfectly perpendicular to the surface, and I ended up doing an alright job:



Biggest problem was my watercool fittings kept leaking. I used TPV fittings from alphacool, and for some reason, two of the five 90 degree elbows, I just could not rely on to stay water tight. It was the inner gasket that seemed to be failing, as water pooled around the inner rotary seal instead of the seal with my blocks.

You can see the pool on the right side fitting around the neck - super frustrating but we got through it.

In terms of performance, pretty happy so far, temps were in the 60s for this run, but later I played Cyberpunk at 4k and after about 20 mins, it was up to 77c, so hopefully the better fan fixes the rising temps.


Overall, I wanted to see if Petricor's design could be applied without too much skill, and apart from the GPU Block terminal, I think this build is somewhat accessible. If you can get your hand on a 3080 FE or similar FE. I got mine by having a different 3080 and doing some buy/sells at these crazy prices.
 
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Vaderator

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Aug 7, 2017
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@petricor
How hot does your 800w psu get? Does it ever thermally shut down? My gstick seems to get too hot after a while of high load gaming/stress testing and shut down to protect itself without an undervolting. I am working on undervolting now, but also wondering if I need to get your front heat sink made or if I should switch to a modded 800w psu, or both.
 

morj

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Feb 11, 2020
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@petricor
How hot does your 800w psu get? Does it ever thermally shut down? My gstick seems to get too hot after a while of high load gaming/stress testing and shut down to protect itself without an undervolting. I am working on undervolting now, but also wondering if I need to get your front heat sink made or if I should switch to a modded 800w psu, or both.

I have a build with same PWS-804P-1R PSU in the works, I've put a temperature probe to the PSU, and the PSU temp is at stable 55° C while running 1+ hour of FurMark (it's not full load for the PSU, only 400-ish watt overall, but depicts conservative undervolted gaming scenario at least). But I'm using the thicker 4020 Noctua NF-A4x20 fan. Waiting for the X570 waterblock to test the PSU under full load.

@Vaderator can you put a temperature probe to your gstick to measure how hot it does get before shutting down?

 

petricor

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May 12, 2018
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Ok - it took quite a while, but mine is up and running. Again, this is a complete copy of Petricor's design - he deserves all the credit -this is more to share that his design was solid enough to inspire other builds.
For me, it is not the final version yet, but definitely functional. Next steps are to upgrade the slim cryorig fan to the full width Noctua 140mm fan, but I will need my ADT-link flat Displayport extensions to arrive before the Noctua will fit.

I'm not super handy with a dremel or drill, so none of this build has any real mods to the S4M case. You can see a slight bulge on the side, but I was able to screw everything in original holes.



In terms of build fully featured:
3080 FE, Ryzen 3700x, Gigabyte Aorus ITX x570, 32gib of full height (Albeit deshrouded ram), and a 600w g-unique skyreach g-stick, Louque Ghost PCIE4.0 stranded cable (high quality part - I put it through the ringer, and it still works in PCIE4 mode)

Watercool parts:
corsair XG7 GPU block (aluminum case removed), custom terminal for XG7 detailed below. Alphacool Eisblock CPU Block, Alphacool 2600 LT pump, Alphacool Eisstation 40 DC-LT - reservoir, Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 Full Copper 140mm radiator V.2, alphacool TPV straight and elbow fiittings, Koolance LowProfile G1/4 elbows

So first, I received my laser cut acrylic modifications, they turned out well and the JBWeld4 sealed perfectly. Tapping the G1/4 threads was really tricky because it needed to be perfectly perpendicular to the surface, and I ended up doing an alright job:



Biggest problem was my watercool fittings kept leaking. I used TPV fittings from alphacool, and for some reason, two of the five 90 degree elbows, I just could not rely on to stay water tight. It was the inner gasket that seemed to be failing, as water pooled around the inner rotary seal instead of the seal with my blocks.

You can see the pool on the right side fitting around the neck - super frustrating but we got through it.

In terms of performance, pretty happy so far, temps were in the 60s for this run, but later I played Cyberpunk at 4k and after about 20 mins, it was up to 77c, so hopefully the better fan fixes the rising temps.


Overall, I wanted to see if Petricor's design could be applied without too much skill, and apart from the GPU Block terminal, I think this build is somewhat accessible. If you can get your hand on a 3080 FE or similar FE. I got mine by having a different 3080 and doing some buy/sells at these crazy prices.
Amazing progress… the Loque cable is a pretty good pick! Which RAM are you using/ how high does it project over the motherboard when deshrouded? I’m still working towards keeping the memory slots clear of other components but looks like I could allow for some overlap with the cooling loop which would make things easier…
Could you post a top view shot showing how cooling loop and ram/ plug-in PSU overlap?
 
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petricor

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May 12, 2018
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@petricor
How hot does your 800w psu get? Does it ever thermally shut down? My gstick seems to get too hot after a while of high load gaming/stress testing and shut down to protect itself without an undervolting. I am working on undervolting now, but also wondering if I need to get your front heat sink made or if I should switch to a modded 800w psu, or both.


That’s the worst I had when hitting it with Timespy on a 2080ti and R9-3950x for an hour or so— combined loads are probably comparable to your setup with the CPU taking a bit more, the GPU a bit less.
Mind you that this is measured at the case, not using an internal probe, so it will not be much different from what @morj reports. Never had a thermal shutdown, but the exhaust air is hot so the small Noctua definitely moves some heat, and I have changed my cabling layout slightly to improve airflow.
 
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morj

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Feb 11, 2020
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Mind you that this is measured at the case, not using an internal probe, so it will not be much different from what @morj reports. Never had a thermal shutdown, but the exhaust air is hot so the small Noctua definitely moves some heat, and I have changed my cabling layout slightly to improve airflow.

In my setup I'm measuring with a probe directly at the PSU heatsink, which is at the opposite side (towards the RAM) in your build, I believe. Will be definitely interesting to establish some empirical limits of what this PSU is capable of. So far I think it can handle at least 500W with such limited cooling over a relatively long period, but I need to verify it once more.
 
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Vaderator

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Aug 7, 2017
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@Vaderator can you put a temperature probe to your gstick to measure how hot it does get before shutting down?

Gulp... 87 C at 460W from the wall. I am able to undervolt to 390W and keep a decent 15224 (17k graphics score) Timespy score.
I think I am going to add a waterblock to the outside of the PSU where the internal heatsink is. I am hopeful that will keep the temps down while not impacting the rest of the loop too badly. the interesting thing about the g-stick is the fan is in the center of the PSU , splitting the PSU into two separate sections. The problem is the fan is way underpowered. I've thought of replacing it.
Otherwise I'll go the supermicro route.
 

Vaderator

Average Stuffer
Bronze Supporter
Aug 7, 2017
67
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Amazing progress… the Loque cable is a pretty good pick! Which RAM are you using/ how high does it project over the motherboard when deshrouded? I’m still working towards keeping the memory slots clear of other components but looks like I could allow for some overlap with the cooling loop which would make things easier…
Could you post a top view shot showing how cooling loop and ram/ plug-in PSU overlap?
Thanks!
The RAM is crucial Ballistix 3600 (Link).


My shots of the top view are pretty tough to make out bc of the tubes and wires tucked in, but here goes.
Basically, the custom acrylic terminal goes up to but not over the ram, but the fittings go right over the RAM.


 
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Elaman

Cable-Tie Ninja
Sep 13, 2020
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Gulp... 87 C at 460W from the wall. I am able to undervolt to 390W and keep a decent 15224 (17k graphics score) Timespy score.
I think I am going to add a waterblock to the outside of the PSU where the internal heatsink is. I am hopeful that will keep the temps down while not impacting the rest of the loop too badly. the interesting thing about the g-stick is the fan is in the center of the PSU , splitting the PSU into two separate sections. The problem is the fan is way underpowered. I've thought of replacing it.
Otherwise I'll go the supermicro route.
Hi, newbie here so indulge my scenario. In a hypothetical world where a DC battery of such size and power existed, would that heat up less than the DC-DC source?
 

Vaderator

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Aug 7, 2017
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Hi, newbie here so indulge my scenario. In a hypothetical world where a DC battery of such size and power existed, would that heat up less than the DC-DC source?
In this case it is AC to DC which is where the majority of the heat is lost. If I put the AC/DC brick outside of the case, that is where the heat would go. The DC - DC heat is negligible in this case.

For a battery, the heat is related to the batteries internal resistance - so let’s say you are pulling 400w from a 12V battery with 1 ohm internal resistance. The current would be 400/12= 33 amps. Then the power and heat lost would be 33amps squared x the 1ohm. Internal resistance depends on the battery type and should be less than 1 ohm, more like 0.02 ohms.
 
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