1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:08,800 a while back we got a tweet from a viewer who suggested we take a look at 2 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,480 the S4 Mini by NFC a completely unheard 3 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:14,759 of Indie outfit run by this guy Josh 4 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:19,520 sniffing well I'm not sure what he's been sniffing but it must be some pretty 5 00:00:17,359 --> 00:00:27,320 good stuff because basically out of his garage He is building what appears to be 6 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:30,359 by far the smallest case for custom 7 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:34,360 gaming PC Builders out there measuring 8 00:00:30,359 --> 00:00:37,719 just 2 and2 in thick the diminutive S4 9 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:40,640 Mini case pushes the definition of small 10 00:00:37,719 --> 00:00:50,039 form factor cases to the absolute breaking point but will it break when we 11 00:00:45,079 --> 00:00:54,640 try to cram a Zotac GTX 1080 and a core 12 00:00:50,039 --> 00:00:57,920 i7 7700 K into a system that's even 13 00:00:54,640 --> 00:01:01,460 smaller than the PlayStation 4 there's 14 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:06,430 only one way to find out 15 00:01:09,439 --> 00:01:19,479 out we're hosting LTX 2017 on July 29th 16 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:21,240 2017 it's a Meetup Tech Carnival thing 17 00:01:19,479 --> 00:01:27,119 and uh it's going to be a lot of fun learn more at the link in the video 18 00:01:24,079 --> 00:01:30,000 description distilling a gaming PC down 19 00:01:27,119 --> 00:01:35,479 to this degree comes at a cost the the S4 Mini has no front IO to speak of the 20 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:42,040 CPU Cooler and RAM module clearance is 40 mm and GPU options that don't require 21 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:44,960 some uh creativity are pretty limited 22 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:51,360 thankfully more powerful mini cards have come into fashion and our MSI GTX 1060 23 00:01:48,119 --> 00:01:54,360 ocv1 fit quite easily without even being 24 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:57,039 so tight inside that we couldn't fit two 25 00:01:54,360 --> 00:02:03,200 2 and 1/2 in drives which will take gladly but even that it's probably not 26 00:02:00,159 --> 00:02:07,680 enough so what other tricks did they use 27 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:10,720 well unlike oems like MSI and Zotac the 28 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:14,160 S4 Mini uses an off-the-shelf miniitx 29 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:17,720 motherboard and a desktop graphics card 30 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:19,599 but like them they're relying on a main 31 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:25,239 external power brick with a high efficiency DC todc power supply mounted 32 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:30,080 inside there are a handful of options including some lower cost ones for more 33 00:02:27,599 --> 00:02:33,280 pedestrian system configs but to give ourselves some breathing room we are 34 00:02:31,599 --> 00:02:40,560 using a Dell 300 30 W brick with an hdplex 300 power 35 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:45,000 supply inside now without any modifications we 36 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:49,440 ended up with what we'd consider to be a pretty decent machine we've got a low 37 00:02:47,519 --> 00:02:57,640 voltage core i7 7700t a GTX 1060 16 gigs of Vengeance 38 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:59,720 lpx memory and an mp500 m.2 SSD for 39 00:02:57,640 --> 00:03:04,760 Speed and a little bit of space saving savings behind the video card and firing 40 00:03:02,519 --> 00:03:10,319 it all up we found ourselves greeted with actually pretty great thermal and 41 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:15,319 acoustic performance it's right in the middle of the other competitors in our 42 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:20,920 recent small form factor case Roundup impressive perhaps even most impressive 43 00:03:18,799 --> 00:03:27,080 but I wouldn't call it a Jedi if it was another one of those stupid looks great 44 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:29,879 but can't perform cases would I well 45 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:35,480 good news my friends the limit here is not our power supply or our thermals 46 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:43,159 thanks to the S4 Mini's perforated side panels just volume so let's see then how 47 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:45,159 far we can push our luck I mean if we 48 00:03:43,159 --> 00:03:51,640 look at our CPU cooling results we've got a lot of Headroom there so step one 49 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:55,120 we go ahead and upgrade to a 50 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:57,159 7700k as for the RAM well come on this 51 00:03:55,120 --> 00:04:04,159 stuff's clearly not cool enough for a rig like this but ah ah A Stroke of Luck 52 00:04:01,879 --> 00:04:10,319 Corsair contacted us and asked if we wanted a sample of their new Dominator 53 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:14,159 Platinum special edition torque we took 54 00:04:10,319 --> 00:04:17,919 one look at that stuff and said f yeah 55 00:04:14,159 --> 00:04:21,000 seriously orange fins and labeling heat 56 00:04:17,919 --> 00:04:24,960 treated titanium styling on the top bar 57 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:28,479 32 gigs of this was definitely worth the 58 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:32,440 $75 we paid to have Josh overnight ship 59 00:04:28,479 --> 00:04:35,759 us a custom hot rod style side panel to 60 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:37,280 go with it moving on to the GPU while we 61 00:04:35,759 --> 00:04:43,840 were scratching our heads trying to figure out how to get something bigger 62 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:46,479 than a 1060 in here I mean we're kind of 63 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:55,960 coming to the point where we can almost fit a card like Zotac GTX 1080 64 00:04:50,880 --> 00:05:01,120 mini if only the case were a little 65 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:04,639 bigger or the card were a little 66 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,639 smaller so if 67 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:14,120 we yes my friends I hope you saw this 68 00:05:11,199 --> 00:05:20,080 one coming because we went there after taking the plastic shroud off we 69 00:05:16,759 --> 00:05:23,039 carefully trimmed down the rear of the 70 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:28,160 heat sinks fins as close to the heat pipe as we D to no not that close dang 71 00:05:27,039 --> 00:05:32,759 it Ivan so one quick call to Zotac and 72 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:38,759 another overnight shipment later and it's time for round 73 00:05:34,479 --> 00:05:42,000 two now we're talking now we can get the 74 00:05:38,759 --> 00:05:45,199 card inside the S4 Mini but the stock 75 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:48,880 cooling is still an issue but if we 76 00:05:45,199 --> 00:05:52,120 can't fit a Noctua F12 maybe a 77 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:55,680 Silverstone slim 120 mil on this Mount 78 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:57,479 here will be enough fire up fir Mark 79 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:03,960 and crap okay let's go back to the Noctua n 80 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:06,479 ff12 i mean it's only a couple millim 81 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:12,440 off so I think you can see where we're going with this we shaved off just 82 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:18,800 enough to make it fit in under the 120 mil fan mounts and make it fit we did I 83 00:06:16,319 --> 00:06:24,880 mean this is lonus Tech tips we always fit it in there if you know what I mean 84 00:06:22,319 --> 00:06:30,639 as for temperatures though we're stable in the high 80s we made it work but it 85 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:36,880 was a little loud due to the lack of clearance between the fan and the side 86 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:39,080 panel at about 50% fan speed though we 87 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:45,479 got to the point where our noise level was acceptable without giving up too 88 00:06:41,639 --> 00:06:47,520 much of our GPU boost clock as for the 89 00:06:45,479 --> 00:06:54,680 CPU with some careful undervolting and tweaking we got it to hold at 4.2 to 4.3 90 00:06:51,319 --> 00:06:58,039 GHz boost under synthetic load staying 91 00:06:54,680 --> 00:07:02,080 comfortably at 4.5 GHz that is full 92 00:06:58,039 --> 00:07:04,319 turbo under Li workloads like games our 93 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:10,759 Dominator Platinum Torx didn't want to go past 2400 MHz but this is an x99 kit 94 00:07:08,039 --> 00:07:14,440 on a z170 board with a seventh gen chip so we made up the difference by 95 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:21,960 tightening up the timings as far down as they'd go and all of this taken together 96 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:25,479 gives us this tiny gaming rig whose only 97 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:28,960 outward indication of its potency is the 98 00:07:25,479 --> 00:07:31,680 ba RAM vent and maybe the massive 99 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:38,400 external power brick so let's take a few moments then to put into perspective the 100 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:41,479 sheer amount of raw power contained in 101 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:43,160 this little box we only planned to run a 102 00:07:41,479 --> 00:07:48,960 couple of benchmarks you know just to make sure that it was working okay but 103 00:07:45,879 --> 00:07:52,000 we were so blown away that we had to run 104 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:55,080 more to make sure we weren't dreaming 105 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:58,319 our Decked Out S4 Mini runs with the 106 00:07:55,080 --> 00:08:01,240 best single GPU systems we've tested 107 00:07:58,319 --> 00:08:06,199 even beating out our KB Lake bench system with a Founders Edition card 108 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:13,479 thanks to the additional turbo enabled by an overclocked card and it comes in 109 00:08:10,159 --> 00:08:17,599 at the top of the pack for what we've 110 00:08:13,479 --> 00:08:20,199 ever seen in terms of performance per 111 00:08:17,599 --> 00:08:26,479 liter now at $195 not including the power supply and 112 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:28,080 without a fancy paint job not to mention 113 00:08:26,479 --> 00:08:33,880 the fact that it's completely sold out of pre-orders the S4 Mini slots in with 114 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:39,599 the rest of our premium small form factor cases it's compact reasonably 115 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:45,000 lightweight features rugged aluminum construction is near impossible to 116 00:08:42,399 --> 00:08:50,720 actually buy and isn't the easiest thing to work in but so far this is the 117 00:08:48,399 --> 00:08:56,600 closest I think I've seen to the idea that I pitched to Cooler Master four 118 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:58,200 years ago and to say I love it would be 119 00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:04,800 an understatement tunnel bear is the simpl 120 00:09:01,399 --> 00:09:08,320 to use VPN app that literally takes this 121 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:10,160 long to turn on Boom the app loads up 122 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:17,279 you go okay yep that's the country I want you click one button and Bam no DNS 123 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:22,600 settings and port forwarding or any of that kind of nonsense and once you turn 124 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:28,279 tunnel bear on you get a couple of key benefits your connection gets encrypted 125 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:30,959 keeping your traffic safe and private 126 00:09:28,279 --> 00:09:35,399 from your internet provider advertisers Etc and you appear to 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00:10:15,839 you should totally join