Watercooled RVZ02 to S4 mini

[bichael]

Hi all

Been browsing this forum for a while, contemplating an S4 mini build so time for my first post!

Currently I'm using a water cooled RVZ02 with external rad, i7 4790 + R9 290. This works great but I'm tempted by a change, partly to make things a bit simpler - I recently blew my psu as was trying to top up my res without taking the PC out of the cabinet and must have dribbled a bit into the psu!

So as much fun as water cooling is I'm thinking of changing to a compact air cooled build. Likely it would be an S4 mini with a GTX1060 but for now keep the cpu and mboard. - cpu runs at quite low volts so I think it's probably reasonably efficient. Or alternatively give it another 6 months or so and see what the next generation of gpus brings and maybe swap mboard etc as well.

My main concerns that I'd appreciate any feedback on;
1 - I'm in Singapore so have high ambient temp, typically around 30oC, and looking to use case horizontally and with it in a TV unit (see below) - with an efficient gpu like a 1060 do you think temps/noise would be okay or it's going to struggle?
2 - How might the above impact a DC-ATX psu, should I be selecting one with plenty of spare capacity to allow for the fact it will be running hot?
3 - Currently thinking I would go with a G-unique plug-in type PSU, not sure if the above would favour either that or the HDplex route?

Current pics below. Any thoughts welceome.
Thanks!

 

[ignsvn]

Hello fellow red dot dweller,

I'm quite sure the GTX 1060 will not struggle, however it won't be totally quiet either. (Well my friend's GTX 960 was quiet but it was in Fractal Design Nano)

As for the DC-ATX PSU, yeah it's always good to have some extra capacity. If possible, try to expose it to some airflow.

 

[Midiamp]

Hi all

Been browsing this forum for a while, contemplating an S4 mini build so time for my first post!

Currently I'm using a water cooled RVZ02 with external rad, i7 4790 + R9 290. This works great but I'm tempted by a change, partly to make things a bit simpler - I recently blew my psu as was trying to top up my res without taking the PC out of the cabinet and must have dribbled a bit into the psu!

So as much fun as water cooling is I'm thinking of changing to a compact air cooled build. Likely it would be an S4 mini with a GTX1060 but for now keep the cpu and mboard. - cpu runs at quite low volts so I think it's probably reasonably efficient. Or alternatively give it another 6 months or so and see what the next generation of gpus brings and maybe swap mboard etc as well.

My main concerns that I'd appreciate any feedback on;
1 - I'm in Singapore so have high ambient temp, typically around 30oC, and looking to use case horizontally and with it in a TV unit (see below) - with an efficient gpu like a 1060 do you think temps/noise would be okay or it's going to struggle?
2 - How might the above impact a DC-ATX psu, should I be selecting one with plenty of spare capacity to allow for the fact it will be running hot?
3 - Currently thinking I would go with a G-unique plug-in type PSU, not sure if the above would favour either that or the HDplex route?

Current pics below. Any thoughts welceome.
Thanks!

I'm from Indonesia, so I know how it feels to live around the equator.

My previous 4790K build was using RVZ02 + 1080Ti FE. Basically the only sound that came out of the system is from the Deepcool Gabriel low profile fan when gaming. The fan has quite a high pitch noise, but does the job well to cool the processor. I use mine vertically, so the GPU chamber has direct access to fresh air, temperature using default fan curve is manageable, not until heavy ultra settings games such as Destiny 2 and Battlefield 1 I have to crank up the fan manually to 60% to reduce throttling since the card crossed its 84 degrees Celsius limit.

My suggestion is if you have the budget, go straight to Coffeelake i5 stock with 1060. If your main goal is gaming, the i5 is future proof for at least another 3 years and has good thermal envelope. Go with Ryzen 7 1700 if you multitask and does multithreading work religiously. With those configuration, you can still use the RVZ02 and SFX PSU, and lose the water cooling while still keeping the noise level quite low. I sold my 4790K and quite surprised the price still held up after all these years, I'm not so sure I will get similar used price with my Ryzen 7 1700X, but I'm supporting market competition so Intel can deliver a much better product in the future.

For PSU, I use a very idiotic simplistic method to pick my wattage. I use superPi and furmark, run both CPU and GPU torture test using my biggest PSU available, and see what the peak wattage. My current build Ryzen 7 1700X and 1080Ti FE peaked at 460 watt, I can go for a smaller PSU at 450 watt since any PC won't be 100% all the time. However since I want to future proof my build (wishing for ITX Threadripper), I chose bigger SFX PSU at 600 watt.

 

[ignsvn]

I'm from Indonesia...

High-five & selamat pagi. Whoa I'm quite amazed at those high-end hardwares you guys put into the RVZ02.

... I sold my 4790K and quite surprised the price still held up after all these years, I'm not so sure I will get similar used price with my Ryzen 7 1700X, but I'm supporting market competition so Intel can deliver a much better product in the future..

I'm currently considering if it's worthy enough to sell my existing i5-4670 + mobo + RAM, and get a Ryzen 3 1300X + mobo + RAM in order to get an M.2 slot. (I'm considering to get an SSD, and wondering if I should get a 2.5" SSD, or sidegrade the system and get an M.2 instead. It'll be still SATA M.2 SSD tho, not PCIe - no budget for PCIe SSD for now, and not that I need the speed either)

 

[Midiamp]

High-five & selamat pagi. Whoa I'm quite amazed at those high-end hardwares you guys put into the RVZ02.



I'm currently considering if it's worthy enough to sell my existing i5-4670 + mobo + RAM, and get a Ryzen 3 1300X + mobo + RAM in order to get an M.2 slot. (I'm considering to get an SSD, and wondering if I should get a 2.5" SSD, or sidegrade the system and get an M.2 instead. It'll be still SATA M.2 SSD tho, not PCIe - no budget for PCIe SSD for now, and not that I need the speed either)

Selamat pagi as well My goal with going SFF is exactly that, cramming the highest possible computer spec into the smallest space. My first ever SFF with Coolermaster Elite 130 fails spectacularly, with thermal throttling left and right. Now that I learn a thing or two, thermal is no longer an issue. I'd settle for RVZ02, but I still want at least 1x 3,5" drive for my storage. Sure there's external dock, but I'd want my key components all inside the case.

Don't fall into the PCIe SSD trap, I currently use Corsair MP500. Awful heat for exactly zero benefit (to me). For M.2 slot, is it necessary? Since the goal is to optimize space. For an ITX case at most probably you will use 3 drives, I'd go traditional drive if space isn't an issue. I used to have my current build on Phanteks Evolv ITX, because I have 5 drives, with two of them being a 3,5". My current case is Cougar QBX, and I have to sacrifice 1x 3,5".

 

[ignsvn]

Oops I think I've derailed OP's thread. @Midiamp let's just continue here: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/2-5-drive-question.5980/

 

[bichael]

Thanks for the replies guys, nice to hear from others in this part of the world!

Helped me realise probably the best thing is to do a test run with air cooling the cpu first in my current case. I have a Gamerstorm Gabriel as well so it happens, if that is able to work okay - given the issues of high ambient temp, horizontal location in a cabinet, no case fans - then I can be fairly confident that it's doable. Can then maybe do it in stages, get a new gpu first to go air cooled in the RVZ02 before getting an S4 mini and DC psu later.

I think what I also realised is that when I first put my loop together it was largely so I could achieve extremely quiet operation, having moved to Singapore that's now not really an issue as there is always quite a bit of background noise - be it from a room fan, open window, or the AC - so a decently quiet air cooled build would be just as good. ​

 

[Josh | NFC]

Why not external loop cool a mini

Air cooling can be really quiet though, especially when you are looking at a 1060. I'd say its much easier to get it quiet than water as pump vibration and flow vibration are hard to conquer. You are still using the same number of fans anyway

I will say the air temps in a MINI will be far superior to your Z02. This is coming from a biased source...but I have no desire to sell you something I can't deliver on.

Peace

 

[kittysox]

You stuck a water cooled x299 i9 into an s4m, you madman.

 

[Craiga35]

Why not external loop cool a mini
-snip-

Damn, where can I see the rest of that build? That looks extremely interesting.

EDIT: And the RVZO2, with it's stock fan filters, chokes a lot of the airflow. Pop those filters off and it will be much better. The s4 would still probably be better thermally, due to it being basically wholly vented, but that should at least help if you decide to stick with the ZO2.

 

[Josh | NFC]

You stuck a water cooled x299 i9 into an s4m, you madman.

Oh, it's far worse than that...

 

[Sean Crees]

NVM

 

[JoeyAzul]

Just wondering how many of us here in Singapore ordered the S4M. Have you guys tried Dreamcore? I gave them a few calls last year and they only sell the S4M-C full build. I came from an S340 Elite build and decided to sell most of the parts when I encountered the S4 Mini and fell in love with it. Now I have my pc naked for like a month now waiting for the shipment to start.
@bichael have you placed your order?

 

[bichael]

Haven’t ordered an S4M yet but might do pretty soon. In fact I think I'm fairly certain on the case just not what to do with it so may order it first.

Have put the Gabriel in my RVZ02 now to test out air cooling in my hot box/TV unit and it's doing a decent enough job that I think air cooling should be doable. However it is difficult to match how quiet and cool it is watercooled so I am also wondering about going external pump/res/rad in the S4M – should be less chance of me dropping water on parts (again!) if the res is external. Will definitely be interested to see more of that water cooled S4!

May take the simple route and go for a new air cooled Ryzen build though (if I can get over the upgrade guilt!). More of an AMD fan but can’t really justify a 570 over a 1060 so can at least go AMD for the cpu. Another reason for a new build is I could keep my current one mining for a while longer as making a decent return at the moment, particularly given how cheap 290s are here these days I can probably earn more than I can sell it for…

Current list I'm looking at as below, any tips from the fellow SG guys on where to get the best deal welcomed!

From thetechanic.com (seems like one of best priced seller in Sing);
Gigabyte AB350N - S$205 (or a little more for the Asrock, might be worth it for better connector layout?)
Ryzen 1200 - S$165 (probably enough and can always upgrade later)
MSI GTX 1060 aero - S$369
256GB adata pcie - S$169
8GB Vengeance LPX 2800 - S$135

From newegg;
NH-L9a – S$50
(would really prefer the CNPS2X which goes for S$30 on lazada but can’t seem to find the AM4 bracket anywhere except an Aus site which doesn’t ship)

PSU will probably go G-unique, thinking maybe the 400W option as a bit of overkill to help with the high ambient temps here.

 

[JoeyAzul]

Try this guy on carousell
https://sg.carousell.com/p/asrock-b...tx&ref_reqId=LMayKq7lQRbMyQbxFkZKqwZ2zyAERa7m

For S$205 you can get the Asrock board, bought some of my parts from him, one of cheapest I can find. Bundle with an R5 1600 for S$475.
If someone else knows where to get cheaper products here in SG, please let us know too. Cheers

 

[JoeyAzul]

@bichael If you’re still looking for the ASRock mobo I can sell you mine. I’m planning to get the Asus.

 

[bichael]

Thanks for the offer, may give you a shout in a few weeks if you haven't sold it already. Want to try everything out with my current setup before going all in on the upgrade, playing the waiting game now as lots ordered but nothing arrived yet!

 

[bichael]

So after too much time spent browsing while waiting for parts to come in I've decided to put the full upgrade on hold and have ordered a SUPOX A5545NX7 m-itx board with A8-5545 APU for around S$80 from taobao.
http://www.epox.cn/product_view.php?id=508&bid=1

Thinking this will make make a decent enough secondary system for the bedroom so as well as a bit of mining I can watch some netflix and play a few games, but the outlay is small enough I won't feel too guilty when I decide to go all in on a new setup (potentially with watercooling?) in the S4M. Plus I kind of enjoy seeing what a budget system can do - before the 4790 I was running a G3258 at 4.8GHz which was lots of fun - helps satisfy the urge for tinkering without too much investment.