SKYREACH 4 MINI (S4M)

BeerNsoup

Cable-Tie Ninja
Mar 12, 2017
205
149
Sent my side panels for powder coating today *squeeeeee*

Also...



Just gonna leave this here

Nice!... Any very rough eta for a reveal?


I know you can't say too much.... Feel free to decline to answer this lol.

I've seen a few comments about brickless support for the new s4 going back to before it was shipping. I'm very interested in a brickless s4m. If a brickless kit is coming I will probably pull the trigger on an s4m very soon and get it up and running with my hdplex 400w until the brickless kit is available.

My one concern is I think the brickless solutions always involved 2x hdplex 160w ac/dc with one of them placed between the gpu and the front panel.

I'll be running a 1060sc and my concern is that it would be exhausting some of it's heat onto one of the 160w internal powersupplies. IF that's the setup or potentially an issue with whatever solution you plan implement... have you tested enough to know gpu exhaust on one of the internal units won't be a problem?

Thanks in advance for however much you can share!
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,935
I'm gonna keep this one close to the chest for the time being. I will be posting a build log in the next couple weeks once I get the side panels for my S4M back from the powder coaters. Once I've done my half, the PC will be travelling to @Josh | NFC for the finishing touches. What I can tell you is that this build will be featuring a KMPKT/NFC collaborative mod kit that we plan to sell (if it works). How's that for a cliffhanger?
 

Eigua

Trash Compacter
Jan 25, 2018
42
16

I've been searching to find something that corroborates this but I haven't been able to. I have found articles that mention the fact that nand writes better at higher temperatures such as this one, but I haven't found any that state that the memory intentionally heats itself up by writing to empty cells over and over.

What I have found are many articles that talk about the benefits of cooling such as this one that shows cooling will prevent throttling during long read/write operations.

Do you know of some authoritative source that corroborates the information in the link you posted? Thanks!
 
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Choidebu

"Banned"
Aug 16, 2017
1,196
1,204
What I have found are many articles that talk about the benefits of cooling such as this one that shows cooling will prevent throttling during long read/write operations.

Do you know of some authoritative information that corroborates the information in the link you posted? Thanks!
I never said that cooling have no benefit. It's your choice, lifespan or performance. Just like overclocking.

Then again, I'm also very new to this info (literally read the post 2 days ago), so if you need in-depth sources maybe ask in that thread I linked?

My general stance in this is l just use common sense - if it's running >65°C maybe it'll benefit from some cooling. Especially when it's sandwiched between mobo and back frame. Which is not the case in S4M.
 
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Parge

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jun 8, 2015
148
186
here's my Skyreach setup - 8700K / Zotac 1080 / Asrock z370 Fatal1ty



I have a GUnique Arch Deamon (400w) and a 330w HDPlex PSU. I'd like to use the G-Unique, but I didn't think there were correct output cutouts for mounting?

How have you done it?
 

Hank0

Caliper Novice
Oct 13, 2017
24
48
I have most of the components for an SFF setup. I am striving for a very low noise setup for low to medium gaming and wanted a brickless setup with an HDPLEX 160W PSU. I finally took the plunge today and ordered am S4M as it looks like it fits my needs.

Couple of questions for the forum members:
  • 16mm Vandal Switch: Where are you buying your 16mm vandal switches. Did not see any for sale on the sfflab.com site.
  • Feet: what feet are you using if you are laying the SF4 flat? How are you attaching them

Thanks
 

kittysox

Cable-Tie Ninja
Aug 8, 2017
156
195
I have most of the components for an SFF setup. I am striving for a very low noise setup for low to medium gaming and wanted a brickless setup with an HDPLEX 160W PSU. I finally took the plunge today and ordered am S4M as it looks like it fits my needs.

Couple of questions for the forum members:
  • 16mm Vandal Switch: Where are you buying your 16mm vandal switches. Did not see any for sale on the sfflab.com site.
  • Feet: what feet are you using if you are laying the SF4 flat? How are you attaching them

Thanks

nfc systems website offers both. Josh hand builds them.
 
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brt02

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jan 3, 2018
224
234
I've been searching to find something that corroborates this but I haven't been able to. I have found articles that mention the fact that nand writes better at higher temperatures such as this one, but I haven't found any that state that the memory intentionally heats itself up by writing to empty cells over and over.

What I have found are many articles that talk about the benefits of cooling such as this one that shows cooling will prevent throttling during long read/write operations.

Do you know of some authoritative information that corroborates the information in the link you posted? Thanks!

It's the controller that throttles at high temperatures, so cooling that chip is worth it, especially if the SSD is under sustained heavy loads

Cooling the NAND flash is generally not necessary and in some cases shorten their lifespan and was what was referred to in previous posts
 

Craxas

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 10, 2016
130
147
Don't mean to clutter the thread but just wanna confirm something...
To those of you that have yet to receive your preorder s4m in the US and paid for express, is the customs location JFK AMC?

Just wanna make sure mines an isolated case and it's not that this particular spot is holding them.
 

damekko

Trash Compacter
Jan 16, 2018
43
49
Wohooo!!!! Thank you !!!!

Apparently it has been travelling 4 days already!
 
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damekko

Trash Compacter
Jan 16, 2018
43
49
I have most of the components for an SFF setup. I am striving for a very low noise setup for low to medium gaming and wanted a brickless setup with an HDPLEX 160W PSU. I finally took the plunge today and ordered am S4M as it looks like it fits my needs.

Couple of questions for the forum members:
  • 16mm Vandal Switch: Where are you buying your 16mm vandal switches. Did not see any for sale on the sfflab.com site.
  • Feet: what feet are you using if you are laying the SF4 flat? How are you attaching them

Thanks


I’ve bought 2 vandal switches of Amazon, Ulinkos brand they do also offer a harness for them.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XT1MXBT/?tag=theminutiae-20
 
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Eigua

Trash Compacter
Jan 25, 2018
42
16
It's the controller that throttles at high temperatures, so cooling that chip is worth it, especially if the SSD is under sustained heavy loads

Cooling the NAND flash is generally not necessary and in some cases shorten their lifespan and was what was referred to in previous posts

Ahh, that's an important distinction. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm still researching on the cooling NAND = shorter lifespan issue.
 

Eigua

Trash Compacter
Jan 25, 2018
42
16
I have most of the components for an SFF setup. I am striving for a very low noise setup for low to medium gaming and wanted a brickless setup with an HDPLEX 160W PSU. I finally took the plunge today and ordered am S4M as it looks like it fits my needs.

Couple of questions for the forum members:
  • 16mm Vandal Switch: Where are you buying your 16mm vandal switches. Did not see any for sale on the sfflab.com site.
  • Feet: what feet are you using if you are laying the SF4 flat? How are you attaching them

Thanks

Vandal Switch:
I ordered my switch from FrozenCPU. You have to wire them up yourself or buy one of their switch cables. NFC has a great video on wiriting one here.

Feet:
I searched "aluminum feet" and "steel feet" in "amplifier parts and components" on ebay:
It looks like you'd need bolts, nuts, and rubber washers to protect the case.

Installation:
The NFC store page for the feet states:
  • includes four feet, screws, and countersunk washers
  • installs by clamping to the MINI's SKYSLOTS
 
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Eigua

Trash Compacter
Jan 25, 2018
42
16
I never said that cooling have no benefit. It's your choice, lifespan or performance. Just like overclocking.

Then again, I'm also very new to this info (literally read the post 2 days ago), so if you need in-depth sources maybe ask in that thread I linked?

My general stance in this is l just use common sense - if it's running >65°C maybe it'll benefit from some cooling. Especially when it's sandwiched between mobo and back frame. Which is not the case in S4M.

Understood. I posted in that thread to see if I could get some further clarification. I didn't realize it was such a recent conversation. For some reason I thought it had happened in 2017 and I didn't want to necro post.

I'm going to be running a Samsung 960 Evo which is probably somewhat similar to the 950 Evo performance shown here. Under load, even a basic ad-hoc heat sink made out of a small 1.5mm thick aluminum sheet stuck to the SSD was able to quadruple the read time before throttling bottomed out performance . (40 seconds vs 160 seconds). And it bottomed out at a higher speed also. Note that this test was done on a back-mounted card though, which like you said, gets really poor airflow. On the graph, the purple line represents the bare SSD with a side-mounted fan blowing on it which performs well. I suspect in the S4M, being exposed to the ambient air due to the large ventilation holes but not directly being blown on by a fan would put the performance somewhere between the two.



Still, I'd like the option to have one if I decide to. Now it's a matter of finding one that would be able to fit.

There are plenty of cheap 3mm tall M.2 heat sinks out there for < $3 such as this one on ebay. It states it needs 5mm of clearance for the combination of thermal pad, heat sink, and bands that hold it on. I was thinking of using thermal paste instead to see if I could trim that profile down to fit it in the tight space between the mobo and the case wall.



I've also found more expensive ($9) copper heatsinks such as this one which claims to be only 2mm tall, though it doesn't look as thin as the 3mm one above to me. If it really is 2mm, it might be a better fit in the S4M. (Edit: According to the review on the bottom of the ebay page, this heat sink design doesn't perform well due to the lack of fins to dissipate the heat.)



As for holding them on, heat stabilized cable ties look appropriate for the task. According to this site, standard nylon zip ties are rated up to 185f/85C but are only good for a max sustained temp of 150F/65.5C. The monoprice page says they heat stabilized ones are rated up to 302F/150C. I know, I'm being overly cautious here. Normal cable ties would likely work fine for normal SSD operating temps.

The cable ties will add some thickness as well, so I might end up having to file grooves into the heat sink to countersink them.
 
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