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Reddit post with 5700G as the CPU
As a follow up to my last post I feel this build is complete after some much needed tweaks and can be replicated if you have a S4T. This build arose mostly out of curiosity for maximum performance in the S4T with air cooling and fairly accessible ITX parts. It is also my travel PC.
Components:
Case: The Skyreach 4 TINY is the foundation of the build. I love the NFC products and their wholesome community. The main body of the case was modded to allow the A4000 to fit past the front bezel. I highly recommend contacting a local metal machine/cnc shop to do all the mods for you. Overall I spent about $60 on all the “metal cutting” mods - everything will just look cleaner and in most cases intentional.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D. It’s the most powerful gaming CPU I could realistically cool under gaming loads. (-30 CO - 100/65/90). CPU stays under 90C (@100% fan) in stress tests and under 75C during gaming with a reasonably quiet fan curve.
GPU: PNY RTX A4000 16GB is a key component to the build. It is currently the most powerful stock GPU that fits in the modded S4T (without shunt mods). This build will work with any other single slot cards as well. You will need to remove the IO plate from the GPU to make it work. The GPU’s heatsink needs a small mod to extract the 6-pin power cable which reduces overall length of the build. I Recommend to have a local cnc shop do this for you. You will have to repaste and save the stock pads for reuse.
Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix B550-I. The motherboard’s shroud needed to be removed to make this build work. In general you need the wifi card/holder to be the tallest part of the IO. For example the upcoming gigabyte A620i would be an AM5 motherboard that would work without removing any parts.
RAM: G.Skill Ares 32GB DDR4 3200 CL14. I had some decent B-Die available and wanted to maximize performance out of my cpu. These dimms will do 4000cl14 with some tuning but the stock settings are fine. Note that any ram <33mm will fit. For example the Corsair lpx should fit no problem.
Storage: 1TB WD SN750 + 1TB Intel 670P. Nothing special here any game drive will do for my purposes. The intel drive is doing double duty for riser cable management if you look closely.
PSU: GaN 250W PSU is probably the best PSU option. It is modded for active cooling with a Noctua NF-A4x10 PWM Fan (Any 4x10mm fan will work). The GaN will survive without active cooling but it was getting very hot to the touch during longer gaming sessions. This mod keeps the PSU cool with minimal added noise.
Cooler: Thermalright AXP90-X36 with ID-Cooling 92x12mm fan from the ID-Cooling IS-30A. 4 small holes had to be drilled into each corner of the fan to allow it to be clipped down to the cooler. This fan was slightly thinner than the fan from the regular IS-30 which would rub the side panel of the S4T. Note that you need to use the Thermalright backplate for this build. The stock AM4 backplate will conflict with the GPU riser.
Additional Accessories:
J-Hack M2426 - makes for cleaner cable management. Luckily, I managed to find a used one locally.
Louqe PCIe 4.0 Riser - This riser is essential for the build because the thin cables don’t add any thickness and the cables can be easily routed around any conflicts. You may need to compromise on CPU cooling if you have a thicker riser.
Custom Cables - the stock cables worked fine but custom cables make for a cleaner build. I made some of my own by recycling shorter cables and re-pinning them to the stock GaN connectors. The GaN uses silverstone’s pin out for reference. As a side note, I highly recommend the official molex tool for repinning.
NVME Cooler - Be Quiet MC1 Pro. Because I couldn't use the stock motherboard cooler I needed something to dissipate heat. It's fairly cheap and does a good job.
Brackets/Standoffs/Screws - You need to buy these items to make the build work.
Washers
Standoffs
M3 Screws
General Build Instructions
- Find the GPU riser placement. Take apart the S4T entirely and lay the A4000 flat against the back of the case with IO plate removed. Attach the riser cable loosely to the GPU and take the stand-off measurement to connect the riser to the back of the case (from the top left motherboard stand-off) such that the card will lay flat when the riser is attached. You can also do this by trial and error using whatever combo of standoffs/screws/washers. Note that one side of the riser will become part of the top-left motherboard stand-off. The other side will be loose hanging unless you can find a slotted bracket that will bridge the gap to the top right motherboard stand-off. If you have a FormD T1 V2 the single fan brackets are miraculously perfect for this.
- Working backwards now (with the gpu riser in place and gpu removed) find the motherboard placement. Install the CPU and Cooler onto the motherboard - do not use the stock AM4 backplate for this. Then by trial and error you want to install the motherboard on all 4 motherboard standoffs such that the CPU fan blades just clear the case when closed. You will want to use a combination of standoffs/screws/washers/nuts to do this. You will need a ruler to measure each standoff to make sure everything is square. Finally secure the motherboard to the standoffs and connect the riser to the pcie slot in the motherboard.
- Install the GPU. Place a piece of paper in between the gap between the motherboard and GPU riser. This is so that the GPU will not snag on any of the riser cables while you install it. You’ll need to use some wiggling to get the gpu inserted into the riser. Do not force anything during this step. It should require a bit of wiggling but nothing that bends the case or motherboard. You can choose to leave a small piece of paper inserted or remove it once the GPU is secure.
- Now similarly find the PSU placement. You will need a second T1 single bracket here lol. By trial and error you want to install the PSU on all 4 standoffs such that the fan blades just clear the case when closed. See photos for details. There’s an option here to push the PSU all the way forward if you are skipping the active cooling part.
