Also Gury's power supplies and bricks use 12V instead of 19V, giving him a bit more thermal/voltage headroom whereas HDPLEX uses the hotter but more universal (you can use almost any brick, instead of just custom) 19 volts.
SKYREACH 4 MINI (S4M)
- Thread starter Josh | NFC
- Start date
Let's be progressive here. The advancement in AC-DC bricks and DC-DC psu is only happening recently. In the past sub 150W is where it's used. We're lucky enough to see 300W+ right now, and even then not many are intended to run internally. As with any new development, the challenges are huge, and I applaud gury for his approach and contributions.
My point is it's not that they (manufacturers) wouldn't make it, but it's a just growing market which was a niche before. It really is not easy engineering to cram all that wattage in a small space and pass all govt certifications.
Thought I would share my build as it's sort of finished now finally!
i7 4790, B85i, GTX 1060 6GB SC, Dynamo Mini + Dell 330W brick
The case is awesome but short story is be careful if using an older platform as there may be compatibility issues. With hindsight I would have upgraded first.
Big thanks to all those who helped with the trouble shooting!
Long story after the pics...
CPU cooler Jonsbo HP-400;
Very happy with this, got it as it came with AM4 bracket out of the box and a better colour fan than the Noctua
My 4790 is undervolted running at about 1V for 3.9GHz across all cores (so technically overclocked). The cooler deals with this fine and I find it pretty quiet, not bad at all given my ambient is about 30oC.
GPU Riser;
Apparently some older boards like myne don't play nice with the riser. With the help of Josh who put me in touch with people at Dreamcore Singapore I was able to get (and even test beforehand) a riser that works (and looks pretty cool too).
24pin location + dynamo mini;
With the 24pin on my board down the side it was just possible to get the dynamo fitted after a couple of quick mods - removing a ram clip on the motherboard and removing the retaining clips on the psu connectors. It was however extremely tight against the side of the case. Moreover - and I'm not sure if this is due to some dodgy connections on my motherboard - it just wouldn't boot with it jammed in like that, and seems like it actually needs to be leaning the other way to work. So to get it working my motherboard isn't screwed in and I've shifted it sideways to give more space. I've wedged some bike handlebar tape over the standoffs to avoid shorts. As well as obviously not being very secure this though means the lid won't go on properly.
Dynamo mini + b85i;
I get weird behaviour at shutdown whereby the cpu fan keeps running, and more annoyingly if then restarting no usb devices work. If I power off at the wall and startup from cold though all is good. It's been confirmed there's some odd voltage coming off the motherboard and there will be a fix included in future units to address this. It's obviously a bit annoying but easy enough to live with for now.
Dynamo mini power;
With my 4790 at 1V and 3.9GHz I need to have my 1060 set at around 75% power limit to avoid resets. Based on the Tom's Hardware review I have a suspicion that the EVGA SC model may be a bad match as they found it had relatively high peak power.
www.tomshardware.co.uk/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-graphics-card-roundup,review-33833-4.html
I don't consider this a real problem however as I would have tuned it down for quietness anyway.
Next steps;
Still deciding... I'm thinking I could go with a hdplex 400W dc-atx which should resolve the current issues. Or I go with a ryzen 2 build in a couple of months or so.
i7 4790, B85i, GTX 1060 6GB SC, Dynamo Mini + Dell 330W brick
The case is awesome but short story is be careful if using an older platform as there may be compatibility issues. With hindsight I would have upgraded first.
Big thanks to all those who helped with the trouble shooting!
Long story after the pics...
CPU cooler Jonsbo HP-400;
Very happy with this, got it as it came with AM4 bracket out of the box and a better colour fan than the Noctua
My 4790 is undervolted running at about 1V for 3.9GHz across all cores (so technically overclocked). The cooler deals with this fine and I find it pretty quiet, not bad at all given my ambient is about 30oC.GPU Riser;
Apparently some older boards like myne don't play nice with the riser. With the help of Josh who put me in touch with people at Dreamcore Singapore I was able to get (and even test beforehand) a riser that works (and looks pretty cool too).
24pin location + dynamo mini;
With the 24pin on my board down the side it was just possible to get the dynamo fitted after a couple of quick mods - removing a ram clip on the motherboard and removing the retaining clips on the psu connectors. It was however extremely tight against the side of the case. Moreover - and I'm not sure if this is due to some dodgy connections on my motherboard - it just wouldn't boot with it jammed in like that, and seems like it actually needs to be leaning the other way to work. So to get it working my motherboard isn't screwed in and I've shifted it sideways to give more space. I've wedged some bike handlebar tape over the standoffs to avoid shorts. As well as obviously not being very secure this though means the lid won't go on properly.
Dynamo mini + b85i;
I get weird behaviour at shutdown whereby the cpu fan keeps running, and more annoyingly if then restarting no usb devices work. If I power off at the wall and startup from cold though all is good. It's been confirmed there's some odd voltage coming off the motherboard and there will be a fix included in future units to address this. It's obviously a bit annoying but easy enough to live with for now.
Dynamo mini power;
With my 4790 at 1V and 3.9GHz I need to have my 1060 set at around 75% power limit to avoid resets. Based on the Tom's Hardware review I have a suspicion that the EVGA SC model may be a bad match as they found it had relatively high peak power.
www.tomshardware.co.uk/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-graphics-card-roundup,review-33833-4.html
I don't consider this a real problem however as I would have tuned it down for quietness anyway.
Next steps;
Still deciding... I'm thinking I could go with a hdplex 400W dc-atx which should resolve the current issues. Or I go with a ryzen 2 build in a couple of months or so.
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Beautiful. But my OCD kicks in and tells me the extra 1mm misaligned\oversized front panel hurts my eyes.
Hey, isn't that your case on sfflab preview?
Looks really cool, reminds me something related to aviation.
I will admit to having minor OCD myself and there have been times where it has bugged me. I would assume that if it was used more in a horizontal alignment that it may bother someone with OCD but when used vertically I find the large front panel aesthetically pleasing. I like how when looking at it from the front, the front panel (which is a solid piece of aluminum) dominates the case. When looking at an angle, the colors of the panels blend and it becomes unnoticeable.
The front panel also goes nicely with the power button. It signals "press button to make PC work". But in an elegant way
Josh did an excellent job. As I'm sure he does will all of his cases. I would have to say my only complaint to having such a nice case is putting in so much effort to make sure I don't scratch it when traveling with it.
Hey, isn't that your case on sfflab preview?
Looks really cool, reminds me something related to aviation.
Uh.. You know what? Never noticed that. That's pretty dope. I guess I haven't given SFFLAB the attention it deserves because I already have a sweet case and don't need to buy anything else at the moment. I find the best way to save money is to not go looking for an excuse to spend it in the first place.
What's the consensus on power balancing between cpu and gpu? If just for general use and gaming is it better to favour the gpu? Was doing a bit more testing with my 4790 and 1060 to fit within the dynamo mini power envelope, rough options below (not fully tested but should be in that range);
1.025V cpu @ 4GHz all cores / gpu around 70% power
1.0V cpu @ 3.9GHz all cores / gpu around 75% power
0.95V cpu @ 3.6GHz all cores (ie stock no turbo) / gpu around 85% power
Could maybe try and push the cpu even lower, or even turn hyper threading off?
1.025V cpu @ 4GHz all cores / gpu around 70% power
1.0V cpu @ 3.9GHz all cores / gpu around 75% power
0.95V cpu @ 3.6GHz all cores (ie stock no turbo) / gpu around 85% power
Could maybe try and push the cpu even lower, or even turn hyper threading off?
I used the Zotac GTX 1080 Mini. However, I’m currently selling it in the Buy/Sell/Trade section of the forum. I’m borrowing a 1050 Ti from a friend right now. If I had to recommend a model of the GTX 1080 mini, I would choose the Gigabyte model.
It definitely depends on what resolution you’re planning to play at. I find that CPU bottlenecking tends to be more of an issue at 1080p than it does at 1440p and 4K. At 4K, you could play with a GTX 1080 Ti and an overclocked pentium G CPU and you’d probably be fine.
I’m assuming you’re playing at 1080p given your configuration and would assume that most games will probably still be GPU bound if you’re playing on high/ultra settings. I would say that option 3 you listed (85% GPU power) seems like a good balance. Try it out and then look at the stats when you’re playing a game and see if it’s the CPU or GPU hitting 100% utilization first.
Found another potential PSU for brickless S4M applications.
Meanwell UHP-200-12
12v 200 watt (stable to 240 Watts) DC converter with dimensions that allow it to fit inside the S4M either above the GPU or in front of the motherboard. Rock solid (so far) with Ryzen 1400 and 1060 and Pico 160xt. A 24v variant and a 350watt also exists that can be used with HDplex products or dynamo products. The 350 watt is slightly wider/larger which will require more creative mounting and will limit mounting location to the front panel area but should still be able to fit. It’s part number is UHP-350-(voltage). Best part is that the 200 watt was only $45 and is in stock! 350watt is around $60.
Meanwell UHP-200-12
12v 200 watt (stable to 240 Watts) DC converter with dimensions that allow it to fit inside the S4M either above the GPU or in front of the motherboard. Rock solid (so far) with Ryzen 1400 and 1060 and Pico 160xt. A 24v variant and a 350watt also exists that can be used with HDplex products or dynamo products. The 350 watt is slightly wider/larger which will require more creative mounting and will limit mounting location to the front panel area but should still be able to fit. It’s part number is UHP-350-(voltage). Best part is that the 200 watt was only $45 and is in stock! 350watt is around $60.
Found another potential PSU for brickless S4M applications.
Meanwell UHP-200-12
12v 200 watt (stable to 240 Watts) DC converter with dimensions that allow it to fit inside the S4M either above the GPU or in front of the motherboard. Rock solid (so far) with Ryzen 1400 and 1060 and Pico 160xt. A 24v variant and a 350watt also exists that can be used with HDplex products or dynamo products. The 350 watt is slightly wider/larger which will require more creative mounting and will limit mounting location to the front panel area but should still be able to fit. It’s part number is UHP-350-(voltage). Best part is that the 200 watt was only $45 and is in stock! 350watt is around $60.
@Josh | NFC any experience with these? Particularly the 350w/24v version? Wondering if it is a viable alternative to the Dell brick.
edit: Judjing by the internal dimensions of the S4M, it looks to be 5mm too tight in between the MB and the front faceplate.
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Should be 62mm wide by 31mm thick correct? If so you should have just enough space to fit it in between the front plate and motherboard. Would be a very tight fit though....
Link to specs: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/MEAN-WELL/UHP-350-24?qs=YCa/AAYMW011AuZKubw9Sw==
So I am looking to go brickless for now with the hdplex 400 watt dc-atx and the 160 hdplex ac-dc. Are these two compatible with each other, and will this fit with a non low-profile 1050? This is so if I upgrade to a more powerful gpu, I only have to change the ac-dc component, perhaps to the upcoming 57mm 300 watt hdplex unit.
Dear Napptr,
The HDPLEX 400 DC-DC and HDPLEX 160 AC/DC are compatible with each other and you can do a brickless build with any GPU so long as:
A. It is standard height (or less) which is about 99mm
B. It is less than 215mm long.
C It is a single slot, or dual slot.
It would be amazing if it fits. I’d definitely buy one.
My calculation is that the case is 225mm deep with the motherboard being 170mm square. That would leave only 55mm in between the motherboard and the front of the case
edit: flip it on its side and it leaves 2mm to spare height wise
I think you are correrct. I hadn’t slept for 26 hours when I originally did the calculation so I’m glad I was wrong. This is awesome if it fits.edit 2: nevermind, now I am looking at the external dimensions and not the internal. I guess it won’t fit
damnit
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It would be amazing if it fits. I’d definitely buy one.
My calculation is that the case is 225mm deep with the motherboard being 170mm square. That would leave only 55mm in between the motherboard and the front of the case
edit: flip it on its side and it leaves 2mm to spare height wise
edit 2: nevermind, now I am looking at the external dimensions and not the internal. I guess it won’t fit
Haha it would require some slight modification of the case. Basically increase the external thickness by moving the side panels outward and having a new faceplate made for the larger thickness. Wouldn’t be to difficult but still would require some mods. That or mount the PSU in such a way that it is orientated with the 62mm dimension horizontal and above the motherboard (31mm thickness would allow this to happen) like I said before though it would require some creative mounting)
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