Log Sliger SM550 - Compact & Quiet Gaming HTPC

[TheHig]

It’s not bad but the the difference for me with the PC on my desk goes from barely audible to definitely noticeable. I only wear my headphones when gaming so I get picky about too much fan churn when browsing and such.

 

[MarcParis]

It’s not bad but the the difference for me with the PC on my desk goes from barely audible to definitely noticeable. I only wear my headphones when gaming so I get picky about too much fan churn when browsing and such.

Weird..I suppose you have setup customed fan curve on fan xpert? It looks like fan is ramping up even when workload is not there.

 

[TheHig]

I have set up a better fan curve in bios and its much better for sure. Dead silent a idle with the panel off though and I am going to mod a fan grill on the panel I have or order another panel or two to play with.

To get an all core OC that is only 100mhz under the stock max boost with a decently low voltage has been excellent really. Its cool in my office space and I'm currently browsing/idling at like 37c 1.1v and 4090 all core and near silent. Can't say enough good things about the Ryzen 3600 and the SM550 combo.

 

[MarcParis]

I have set up a better fan curve in bios and its much better for sure. Dead silent a idle with the panel off though and I am going to mod a fan grill on the panel I have or order another panel or two to play with.

To get an all core OC that is only 100mhz under the stock max boost with a decently low voltage has been excellent really. Its cool in my office space and I'm currently browsing/idling at like 37c 1.1v and 4090 all core and near silent. Can't say enough good things about the Ryzen 3600 and the SM550 combo.

Ahah understood.
You can cut some metal on side panel..

Personnally I prefer to stay at stock with vcore -0.1v...working great also

 

[TheHig]

As you well know from all your testing Ryzen 3000 is probably better off with fast ram , good cooling and left alone or just that offset voltage.
But messing with all the levers is too much fun! ?

Maybe its silicon lottery or just this board but even with the offset voltage it was producing higher temp spikes as it surges to 1.35 or more for the boost clock. And that boost was only topping out at 4.175 or so. I was only seeing 3900 all core on CB runs or even sustained in games via Afterburner. I am limited for cooling with the IS 60 so that definitely plays a role. I can play with it some more as I have not used a Gigabyte board in a long time and truthfully the bios is all there but the layout is a mess. Missing that Asus and MSI or Asrock bios which are really easy to navigate intuitive for veterans.

Speaking of lottery I'm getting 3600 on the ram and 1800 fabric which my 3900x would not do on a 3x more expensive board with the same ram. Lol.

Getting 3707-3724 cb R20 Multi with fixed clock and voltage and 475-480 single core depending on the run.

Guru 3d review of the 3600 had 3575 and 462 so i'm at 3600x territory and lower than stock voltage.

I can get 4.2 stable even on the IS 60 but yes it gets hot and I have to go into the 1.3+ range and the cooling isn't enough for that long term. My 3600 is probably fairly average in that regard but seems to handle 4100 at 1.1-1.2 just fine.

Not breaking any records but it has been super stable and performance is few percentage points better than stock numbers which I consider a nice win for a small build on small air cooling.

 

[MarcParis]

As you well know from all your testing Ryzen 3000 is probably better off with fast ram , good cooling and left alone or just that offset voltage.
But messing with all the levers is too much fun! ?

Maybe its silicon lottery or just this board but even with the offset voltage it was producing higher temp spikes as it surges to 1.35 or more for the boost clock. And that boost was only topping out at 4.175 or so. I was only seeing 3900 all core on CB runs or even sustained in games via Afterburner. I am limited for cooling with the IS 60 so that definitely plays a role. I can play with it some more as I have not used a Gigabyte board in a long time and truthfully the bios is all there but the layout is a mess. Missing that Asus and MSI or Asrock bios which are really easy to navigate intuitive for veterans.

Speaking of lottery I'm getting 3600 on the ram and 1800 fabric which my 3900x would not do on a 3x more expensive board with the same ram. Lol.

Getting 3707-3724 cb R20 Multi with fixed clock and voltage and 475-480 single core depending on the run.

Guru 3d review of the 3600 had 3575 and 462 so i'm at 3600x territory and lower than stock voltage.

I can get 4.2 stable even on the IS 60 but yes it gets hot and I have to go into the 1.3+ range and the cooling isn't enough for that long term. My 3600 is probably fairly average in that regard but seems to handle 4100 at 1.1-1.2 just fine.

Not breaking any records but it has been super stable and performance is few percentage points better than stock numbers which I consider a nice win for a small build on small air cooling.

Thanks for sharing your experience..
I need to keep in mind that I performed my test on C7 with pretty good R7 3800X (already binned by AMD). From R5 3600 to R7 3700X, silicon lottery is way more hazardous..

What is important remains that your system is answering to your needs completely..

 

[MarcParis]

Here are some news on my SM550..

• I finally desactivated Windows game mode as it was leading 2 annoying bugs (curiously I don't have bugs on my R7 3800X setup) :
  • regular (2-3 times in 10 hours) disconnects or lag of Gamepad (xbox elite series 2 in bluetooth)
  • regular (2-3 times in 10 hours) stutters in game (same sympton as throttling CPU)
• I move my crucial SSD M.2 MX500 1To from sata box to motherboard m.2 equipped with heatsink. Indeed, even with opened case, SSD temperature was rising up to 74°C in game (not really intense), exceeding sometimes 80°C on heavy load. Now with heatsink, SSD max temperature is 60°C, even on very heavy load.
• From now, I can tell that most demanding game (so far) on cpu load is "Detroit : become human" (from Quantic Dream). Loading/streaming data in background generally leads to cpu fan to spin at very hearable speed. With recent demo on Unreal Engine 5 I'm supposing CPU & SSD loads will increase significantly in upcoming years to cover background data loading charge.
• Surprise. I've checked what RAM module did I get with my "cheap" Corsair Vengeance 16Go case 16-18-18-36...and it leads to Samsung b-die...
  
  
  
  Now I understand why I didn't struggle that much to reach 3200MTS with my Ryzen 7 1700X..

 

[MarcParis]

Well I just received and installed my new TV, LG CX55.
It took quite long time to setup everything : TV, TV box, AV receiver and SM550..
Main points were resolution, HDR, refresh rate and ARC.

Gears 5 in 4K HDR is quite impressive even with my gtx 1070 (gears 5 is so good to dynamic resolution).. Still lacking GSync and 120hz hdr refresh (missing hdmi 2.1 gpu) but current result is already impressive..

As expected, my SM550 will become my main gaming setup. It won’t be a fast process but I expect it should be finished by 2021..

 

[Valantar]

Well I just received and installed my new TV, LG CX55.
It took quite long time to setup everything : TV, TV box, AV receiver and SM550..
Main points were resolution, HDR, refresh rate and ARC.

Gears 5 in 4K HDR is quite impressive even with my gtx 1070 (gears 5 is so good to dynamic resolution).. Still lacking GSync and 120hz hdr refresh (missing hdmi 2.1 gpu) but current result is already impressive..

As expected, my SM550 will become my main gaming setup. It won’t be a fast process but I expect it should be finished by 2021..

I'm planning on getting that exact same TV! Would love to hear some more impressions down the line if you're up for it

 

[MarcParis]

I'm planning on getting that exact same TV! Would love to hear some more impressions down the line if you're up for it

So far so good with this LG OLEDCX55..
Do you have any specific question about it?

Hardest part for me was to setup hdr and arc, playing with setups of 4 different devices. Now I’m very pleased with all video sources. 4K hdr native content is just gorgeous!
What are your video sources? What is your sound system? How do you want to use it?

One important comment : to avoid any burn-in pixels, here are 2 tips (I guess there are same advices as for my first liquid crystal tv...)

• Never cut off completely current (pixels maintenance procedure is occurring during sleep mode)
• Avoid too static and vivid logos for hundreds of hours in row
  

 

[Valantar]

So far so good with this LG OLEDCX55..
Do you have any specific question about it?

Hardest part for me was to setup hdr and arc, playing with setups of 4 different devices. Now I’m very pleased with all video sources. 4K hdr native content is just gorgeous!
What are your video sources? What is your sound system? How do you want to use it?

One important comment : to avoid any burn-in pixels, here are 2 tips (I guess there are same advices as for my first liquid crystal tv...)

• Never cut off completely current (pixels maintenance procedure is occurring during sleep mode)
• Avoid too static and vivid logos for hundreds of hours in row

I was mainly wondering about your general impressions of its quality and setup - how was HDR setup challenging? Great to hear that it looks good once configured though. We'll be using it with a HTPC (Renoir-based once desktop APUs launch, will of course be set up to not burn in the OLED), a BD player (non-4k), and likely built-in apps for Netflix and the like. I'll also in all likelihood be lugging the Xbox Series X and/or PS5 to the TV with some regularity, even if they will live in another room most of the time. The vast majority of content watched will be SDR, except for HDR-encoded streaming and games. We won't be needing ARC, as we'll likely be using some sort of active stereo speaker setup (I've been looking at the System Audio Saxo 7, though I'd like something with USB for the HTPC), so TV audio over optical and optical or a USB DAC for the HTPC. I haven't seen any active speakers with ARC, and a receiver or soundbar aren't an option. So the main focus is really getting a TV with great image quality that can handle HDR when needed and has 120Hz support for gaming - which this seems to fit the bill perfectly for.

 

[MarcParis]

I was mainly wondering about your general impressions of its quality and setup - how was HDR setup challenging? Great to hear that it looks good once configured though. We'll be using it with a HTPC (Renoir-based once desktop APUs launch, will of course be set up to not burn in the OLED), a BD player (non-4k), and likely built-in apps for Netflix and the like. I'll also in all likelihood be lugging the Xbox Series X and/or PS5 to the TV with some regularity, even if they will live in another room most of the time. The vast majority of content watched will be SDR, except for HDR-encoded streaming and games. We won't be needing ARC, as we'll likely be using some sort of active stereo speaker setup (I've been looking at the System Audio Saxo 7, though I'd like something with USB for the HTPC), so TV audio over optical and optical or a USB DAC for the HTPC. I haven't seen any active speakers with ARC, and a receiver or soundbar aren't an option. So the main focus is really getting a TV with great image quality that can handle HDR when needed and has 120Hz support for gaming - which this seems to fit the bill perfectly for.

Globally you won’t be disappointed with it then. SDR input is pretty easy and effective.
For audio I’ve in fact stereo setup (2 klipsch rf-52 floorstanding speaker with marantz avr sr6007, remaining parts of original 5.1 setup that did not convince me overtime).
ARC is arriving in hifi stereo receivers (marantz nr1200 or Sonos amp)...and it’s very convenient as you control volume through tv volume..

 

[Valantar]

Globally you won’t be disappointed with it then. SDR input is pretty easy and effective.
For audio I’ve in fact stereo setup (2 klipsch rf-52 floorstanding speaker with marantz avr sr6007, remaining parts of original 5.1 setup that did not convince me overtime).
ARC is arriving in hifi stereo receivers (marantz nr1200 or Sonos amp)...and it’s very convenient as you control volume through tv volume..

Yeah, ARC does absolutely seem useful, but as none of us want a receiver in the living room and active speakers (AFAIK) don't have it I haven't looked into it much. Good thing that it's at least arriving in stereo receivers, last I checked it was just 5.1 and up that got it - and those boxes get huge fast. What HDR source(s) are you using?

 

[MarcParis]

Yeah, ARC does absolutely seem useful, but as none of us want a receiver in the living room and active speakers (AFAIK) don't have it I haven't looked into it much. Good thing that it's at least arriving in stereo receivers, last I checked it was just 5.1 and up that got it - and those boxes get huge fast. What HDR source(s) are you using?

ahah I understand...
Just for sanity check, have a look at sonos amp size (even marantz nr1200)...they are pretty compact.

In HDR sources I've :

• TV from optical fiber box (compatible dolby vision) : basically upscaling of SDR program...not bad at all. You can have same result with SDR source and adding HDR simulation by LG TV (dark room setup is commonly used as most accurate in color..in dark room...)
• Sliger SM550 (GTX1070, hdmi 2.0) : Windows 10 native HDR and I have some games with HDR (Gears 5, shadow of the tomb raider). Globally (even game not HDR) it looks stunning&beautiful

 

[MarcParis]

Time to move back my sweet MSI GTX 1080ti to SM550..
Thanks to all my previous studies, it was a pretty simple switch..

This time, I develop a more robust anti-sag system (using unused older PSU cable)

I simply love capacity of SM550 to host 2.5 slots GPU, quite easily...master of cramming stuff (on top of IS-60 and SFX-L PSU..)

I'll test if cpu upgrade is required (R7 1700X right now) as I'm aiming to build a SM550 capable of 4K120 HDR machine on short-mid term.
Most probably decision will wait for Nvidia Ampere release, as 4K gaming will be main benefit of this next gen GPU.

 

[MarcParis]

Just tested Logitech G305 (wireless)...to be honest, it's just a great mouse...it's hard to recommend any more expensive mouse...
Very impressive..

In terms of keyboard, I'm still using K800 (wireless, membrane)...just really good also..

 

[Lallo]

Hi MarcParis!

Nice build and I'm very glad there are people like you who document and post photos of their builds so that others like me who are thinking about getting an SFF build can get some very valuable information!

I have some questions:

1.Sorry if I didn't understand, but did you change from the Asetek AIO cooler to the cpu air-cooler because it was better with both performance and noise?

2. How heavy is the case? I've been looking at Sligers website and they mention different weights for sidepanels and all so I can't really figure it out.
I'm looking for a small case I can move between my home city and where I study (not moving it every weekend but a few times a year) and I need something compact but not to heavy as well.

3. So how is the noise now with everything finished? I'm allergic to noise and the "problem" with SFF is that it looks really weird to have such a small case on the floor but putting it on top of my desk obviously will make any noise comming from it to be more noticable.

4. How is the g305 mouse? I'm using a Zowie EC2-A and I love the ergonomic shape which unfortunally haven't appeared in any of the recent wireless mouses yet.

Thnx in advance!

 

[MarcParis]

Hi MarcParis!

Nice build and I'm very glad there are people like you who document and post photos of their builds so that others like me who are thinking about getting an SFF build can get some very valuable information!

I have some questions:

1.Sorry if I didn't understand, but did you change from the Asetek AIO cooler to the cpu air-cooler because it was better with both performance and noise?

2. How heavy is the case? I've been looking at Sligers website and they mention different weights for sidepanels and all so I can't really figure it out.
I'm looking for a small case I can move between my home city and where I study (not moving it every weekend but a few times a year) and I need something compact but not to heavy as well.

3. So how is the noise now with everything finished? I'm allergic to noise and the "problem" with SFF is that it looks really weird to have such a small case on the floor but putting it on top of my desk obviously will make any noise comming from it to be more noticable.

4. How is the g305 mouse? I'm using a Zowie EC2-A and I love the ergonomic shape which unfortunally haven't appeared in any of the recent wireless mouses yet.

Thnx in advance!

Hi Lallo!

Thanks for your comment!
I'm trying to share my build experience as best as possible...mainly for others but also for me, to know what I've already tested...time to time, same idea is coming back..

Here are my answers.

1. No. Asetek 645LT is still best cpu cooler for SM550/560 in terms of performance. IS-60 has other pro/con that I can list below :
   1. Performance : Asetek 645LT is still best but IS-60 is not that far behind. While gaming, IS-60 is the best as it has access to fresh air, whereas 645LT is receiving hot air from GPU. Cherry on the top is that IS-60 is also cooling all CPU soket area (SSD, RAM, VRM) If setup is more focused on gaming, IS-60 is a better compromise to my eyes.
   2. Installation : Asetek 645LT (following my guideline) is the easiest one as it does not impose constraints on Motherboard & RAM choices. Only constraint is to use SFX psu...not a great deal. IS-60 is imposing specific motherboard & RAM..and also my SM550 side panel mod (with washers). On the other hand you can use SFX-L psu with IS-60.
2. Case is a minor contributor of full setup weight.. Beefy GPU, PSU, motherboard & cpu cooler are way heavier. At the end, setup weight should be around 4-6kg.
3. What about noise? SM550 remains one of the best (if not the best)case for GPU thermals...it's as if you were using it on open air benchmark table. Thus while gaming, even close to the case, noise level is very good. On CPU cooling, SM550 remains below average/mediocre (in absolute value) like all small SFF case under 10L. You can cool efficiently cpu up to around 100W but you will hear it on heavy load (either 645LT or IS-60). In idle/low loads scenario, with IS-60, SM550 is reaching silent operation (fanless mod on GPU, others 120mm fan spinning at low rpm...no pump noise). If it's a gaming setup I strongly advice to undervolt/unerclock cpu to reach pretty quiet operation during medium load.
4. Logitech G305 is really great. Wireless (logitech "lightspeed" tech) is working great...I don't even notice it's a wireless mouse, no lag, very precise. You can even make it lighter by using AAA battery with AAA to AA conversion case. check below videos :

Let me know what you will choose at the end..

 

[Lallo]

Hi Lallo!

Thanks for your comment!
I'm trying to share my build experience as best as possible...mainly for others but also for me, to know what I've already tested...time to time, same idea is coming back..

Here are my answers.

1. No. Asetek 645LT is still best cpu cooler for SM550/560 in terms of performance. IS-60 has other pro/con that I can list below :
   1. Performance : Asetek 645LT is still best but IS-60 is not that far behind. While gaming, IS-60 is the best as it has access to fresh air, whereas 645LT is receiving hot air from GPU. Cherry on the top is that IS-60 is also cooling all CPU soket area (SSD, RAM, VRM) If setup is more focused on gaming, IS-60 is a better compromise to my eyes.
   2. Installation : Asetek 645LT (following my guideline) is the easiest one as it does not impose constraints on Motherboard & RAM choices. Only constraint is to use SFX psu...not a great deal. IS-60 is imposing specific motherboard & RAM..and also my SM550 side panel mod (with washers). On the other hand you can use SFX-L psu with IS-60.
2. Case is a minor contributor of full setup weight.. Beefy GPU, PSU, motherboard & cpu cooler are way heavier. At the end, setup weight should be around 4-6kg.
3. What about noise? SM550 remains one of the best (if not the best)case for GPU thermals...it's as if you were using it on open air benchmark table. Thus while gaming, even close to the case, noise level is very good. On CPU cooling, SM550 remains below average/mediocre (in absolute value) like all small SFF case under 10L. You can cool efficiently cpu up to around 100W but you will hear it on heavy load (either 645LT or IS-60). In idle/low loads scenario, with IS-60, SM550 is reaching silent operation (fanless mod on GPU, others 120mm fan spinning at low rpm...no pump noise). If it's a gaming setup I strongly advice to undervolt/unerclock cpu to reach pretty quiet operation during medium load.
4. Logitech G305 is really great. Wireless (logitech "lightspeed" tech) is working great...I don't even notice it's a wireless mouse, no lag, very precise. You can even make it lighter by using AAA battery with AAA to AA conversion case. check below videos :

Let me know what you will choose at the end..

Thnx for the answers!

So would you recommend this case even if the CPU cooling is mediocre? I was thinking if I maybe should buy an ncase and cool both cpu and gpu with an AIO orsome thing like the Kraken G12.

 

[MarcParis]

Thnx for the answers!

So would you recommend this case even if the CPU cooling is mediocre? I was thinking if I maybe should buy an ncase and cool both cpu and gpu with an AIO orsome thing like the Kraken G12.

Well Ncase M1 has worse GPU cooling and slightly better cpu cooling compare to SM550...but it's 50% bigger..

For my point of view, AIO interest is becoming less and less interesting nowadays with automatic clocking (both GPU and CPU). Even a GPU water cooled at 50°c is not performing better than a GPU air cooled at 75°C (could be quieter if you have proper pump like D5 or DDC, all smaller pumps are noisy I find).

On GPU side, you could have cool & quiet card.
On CPU side, with zen 2 chips (especially up to R7 3800X), you don't need huge cooling to get good results (I was cooling my R7 3800X with Cryorig C7, stock settings with no issue).

True questions are :

1. You mentionned that you are planning to travel a lot with your setup, then watercooling should be banned...one shock, one leak...system dead..
2. What do you want to do with your setup? Gaming (if yes, which resolution and refresh rate?)
3. What graphic card are you looking for? Even cool & quiet GTX 2080 ti (like Ventus) can fit SM550
4. What CPU are you looking for? What is your need?

This is a personal quest..

ps : to repeat myself, as you mentionned you will travel frequently SM550 is a better choice than ncase...especially with AIO inside..