A quick image dump for my finished portable workstation in the S400 v2 (10.8L) case.
\nAlso see the build thread over at https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/portable-workstation.19776/
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"content_text": "A quick image dump for my finished portable workstation in the S400 v2 (10.8L) case. \nAlso see the build thread over at https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/portable-workstation.19776/",
"date_published": "2024-11-16T16:59:33+01:00",
"date_modified": "2024-11-16T16:59:33+01:00",
"author": {
"name": "fwolf",
"url": "https://wp-devil.com/author/fwolf/",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c2a31599f60eec1232806bfc26066ed2?s=512&d=mm&r=g"
},
"image": "https://wp-devil.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241109_021655_mighty_axp90_installed.jpg",
"tags": [
"7950x",
"axp90",
"build",
"gallery",
"image dump",
"sffpc",
"thermalright",
"Life and let die",
"SFF PC"
]
},
{
"id": "https://wp-devil.com/a4-h2o-with-280-mm-aio-part-1/",
"url": "https://wp-devil.com/a4-h2o-with-280-mm-aio-part-1/",
"title": "A4-H2O with 280 mm AIO \u2013 Part #1",
"content_html": "My new system is work-in-progress since early May 2024, that is: Dan Case A4-H2O, with a side-mounted 280 mm AIO and a top-mounted GPU.
\nCurrently I’m using a Gigabyte Radeon RX 6800 Gaming OC, which is 286 mm long, up to 58 mm tall and officially only 115 mm wide.
\nAlso weights about half a ton (kidding, 1.3 kg), lovingly called The Brick. Its chonky, unwieldy and vastly inflexible in montage, esp. when wiggled inside the radiator compartment of the A4-H2O.
Rest of the specs and overall progress is found over at the SFF.Net build log: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/portable-workstation-a4-h2o-w-280-radiator.19558/
\nImage dump as follows:
\nInitial test fitting of the 280 AIO radiator, right after the case arrived.
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\n\nSecondary thorough building with the 280 radiator, including trying to figure out how to route tubes etc.
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\n\nFirst try with fitting the GPU on top. Last picture showing the painfully bent riser cable.
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\n\nSecond try with the GPU rotated by 180\u00b0, ie. with the fans pointing inside of the case.
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"content_text": "My new system is work-in-progress since early May 2024, that is: Dan Case A4-H2O, with a side-mounted 280 mm AIO and a top-mounted GPU.\nCurrently I’m using a Gigabyte Radeon RX 6800 Gaming OC, which is 286 mm long, up to 58 mm tall and officially only 115 mm wide.\nAlso weights about half a ton (kidding, 1.3 kg), lovingly called The Brick. Its chonky, unwieldy and vastly inflexible in montage, esp. when wiggled inside the radiator compartment of the A4-H2O.\nRest of the specs and overall progress is found over at the SFF.Net build log: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/portable-workstation-a4-h2o-w-280-radiator.19558/\nImage dump as follows:\n280 AIO test install\nInitial test fitting of the 280 AIO radiator, right after the case arrived.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSecond test ftting:\nSecondary thorough building with the 280 radiator, including trying to figure out how to route tubes etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTest fitting of the GPU\nFirst try with fitting the GPU on top. Last picture showing the painfully bent riser cable.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRotated GPU test fit\nSecond try with the GPU rotated by 180\u00b0, ie. with the fans pointing inside of the case.",
"date_published": "2024-06-03T04:41:25+02:00",
"date_modified": "2024-06-03T04:42:39+02:00",
"author": {
"name": "fwolf",
"url": "https://wp-devil.com/author/fwolf/",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c2a31599f60eec1232806bfc26066ed2?s=512&d=mm&r=g"
},
"image": "https://wp-devil.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/radiator-second-testfit-008.jpg",
"tags": [
"Hardware",
"SFF PC"
]
},
{
"id": "https://wp-devil.com/low-profile-cpu-cooler-tests/",
"url": "https://wp-devil.com/low-profile-cpu-cooler-tests/",
"title": "Low profile CPU cooler tests",
"content_html": "Currently testing several low-profile CPU coolers, in my newly (re)built OBS streaming system.
\nSystem specifications as follows:
\nCoolers used for the test:
\nBase levels for testing:
\nRoom temperature is approx. 21~ C, testing is done with CPU in idle, 100% load and mixed mode (in its original purpose, ie. streaming using OBS Studio, ProjectM visualizer and VLC running).
\nOptionally doing noise level tests, although the case fans tend to be louder than the CPU fan. Currently using the “neodym magnet” mod, which moves the case fans as far to the front as possible; also rerouting the PSU extension through the GPU slot opening, to reduce heat impact (the original routing sits right above the VRM and PCIe riser cable, the hottest part in the case during CPU loads).
CPU load is being induced using the simple but very effective method called “Yes Stress Test”, which uses the ‘yes’ binary, which is part of the GNU core utils package (ie. part of all normal Linux installations), to utilize one core at a time.
\n‘yes’ repeats the letter ‘y’ (or any other string you define) until its process is killed, utilizing 100% CPU load per core / thread. Also see the article “How to stress test your CPU on Linux” for a more detailed explaination.
All temperatures are in Celsius.
\n| CPU cooler | \nFan | \nIdle | \n100% load | \nMixed load | \nNotes | \n
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Be quiet Silent Loop 2 | \n1x Silent Wings 3 140 HS, 1x Silent Wings 4 120 HS w/ 120-to-140 Noctua adapter | \n21 \u00b0C | \n53 \u00b0C | \n50 \u00b0C | \nFans set to exhaust; Mixed load after ~4 hours of intense streaming; both open and closed front panel in the Meshlicious (no difference in thermals) | \n
| Thermalright AXP-120×67 | \nSilverstone Air Slimmer ARGB (intake) | \n24 C | \n71 C | \n63 C | \nOpen side panel | \n
| 26 C | \n74 C | \n65 C | \nClosed side panel; Additional thermals: NVME idle: 32 C, Wifi idle: 33 C; NVME 100% load: 34.9 C, Wifi 100% load: 36 C | \n||
| Silverstone Airblazer 120RW (intake) | \n25 C | \n74 C | \n59 C | \nSemi-closed panel; Implements a mod using neodym magnets to allow for up to 82 mm of width instead of 65 mm. | \n|
| Silverstone Airblazer 120RW (exhaust) | \n26 | \n77 | \n– | \nSemi-closed panel using the neodym magnet mod (see above) | \n|
| Thermalright SI-100 | \nThermalright E-12W-S (ARGB) | \n26 C | \n63 C | \n(tbd) | \nOpen side panel; Additional thermals: NVME idle: 34.9 C, Wifi idle: 35 C; NVME 100% load: 36.9 C, Wifi 100% load: 39 C | \n
| Silverstone Vida 240 | \n2x Silverstone Airblazer 120RW | \n26 | \n60 | \n47 | \nClosed panels, but AIO sits on top of the case = outside; Additional thermals: NVME idle: 31 C, Wifi idle: 32 C; NVMe 100% load: 34 C, Wifi 100% load: 34 C; (mixed temps: tba) | \n
A random collection of a bunch of things I want to do this year, ie. 2021 \ud83d\ude42
\n
For one, I’ve been planning and preparing to write several lengthy, detailed articles about how to use Icecast in combination with OBS, eg. to solve the “current song” issue most DJs run into, when streaming live to platforms like Twitch or YouTube. But also, what you can do further with OBS, just by relying on the the magic of the web (ie. HTML 5, CSS 3 and Javascript).
\nThe other topic is how-tos and articles just about the environment of Twitch and online DJing in general. That includes gathering statistical information from multiple sources, eg. quite a few point towards the statistical result, that the sweet spot for shows per week are only TWO. Anything further supposedly decreases the viewing time or viewers per show per se. Etc.
\nNext on, I want to add several services to my existing web development “empire” (of dirt), specifically aimed towards DJs, musicians, projects / bands. That includes building or restructuring WordPress-based websites towards their needs, and offering plugins, and extensions which allow you to connect your own site with eg. Twitch, at least to some extent. Not to mention I plan to build own plugins to improve my own site and publishing cycles (eg. multiposting to other platforms, straight out of ClassicPress / WordPress), which eventually will be turned into premium plugins.
\nTalking about plugins: Lets not forget about Classic Forms 8, a fork of Contact Form 7 for CP and WP 4.9.x. Gotta get it working till the end of January 2021 \ud83d\ude42
\nLast but not least, I intend to improve on my own channel and shows, trying to get it down to 1 1/2 shows per week = primary show is on Sunday, 4 – 9 pm EST = 21:00 – 02:00 UTC+0, but I also do a different show, once every few weeks, on Thursday afternoon (ie. Central European Time = usually starting around 17:00 CET). This I want to change into bi-weekly, so eg. every odd or every even week. Further improvements include saving money for a decent workstation and streaming computer. Plus improved audio hardware.
\nNeed to get the backlog uploaded to Mixcloud. Its currently sitting at shortly afte November 16th, 2020, spanning 11 recordings. Thus, improving the website (Gothic-Forest-Troll.org) and turning it into a CP-powered site, with optional frontend members only etc. pp. is a totally nice goal for the next few months. Maybe folks might even be inclined to join one of the the Steady subscription plans? \ud83d\ude42
\nAccording to several sources, CPU power still overrules GPU power, when it comes to streaming video, at least with common streaming software like OBS; hence I plan to either get a AMD Ryzen 4750G Pro (essentially a SoC with a Ryzen 7 3700 + Vega 11 GPU), or a Ryzen 9 3900X / 3950 X plus a simple GPU like the nVidia GTX 1650.
\nThus, the rough setup is going to be:
\n– CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 4750G Pro or Ryzen 9 3900X / 3950 X, plus a nice Noctua 14/15 cm CPU fan
\n– GPU: either SoC / APU or nVidia GTX 1650
\n– Case: probably Cooler Master HAF XB Evo or the Corsair 4000D Airflow; but no fancy bullshit RGB / LED light garbage \ud83d\ude42
\n– Case Fans: Noctua + Scythe Flex ..
\n– RAM: 32 GB, 3200 MHz, CAS 15 timings (to aim for the 10 – 11 ns sweetspot)
\n– Storage: 1 TB NVMe + raid of regular SSDs (Goodram SSD IRDM PRO Gen2 1TB, Intel SSD D3-S4510 or maybe Seagate Nytro 1000)
\n– OS: Linux triple / multiple boot, one with Kubuntu / KDE Neon base, and the second system is gonna be Manjaro; maybe even with a Windows 10 Pro partition
After intense studies and research, my personal sweet spot seems to be the Rode Procaster, which is surprisingly flexible in its usage. Aside of being a really good microphone for talk and moderation – which is what I want to get back into strongly, having done web radion since the early 2000s – it is also quite comfortable to use as a directional microphone for recording the sound of instruments; which was my initial idea behind getting a Samsung E845 S.
\nNot “hardware” per se, but I finally want to get some decent percussion “hardware”, ie. a nice cajon plus bass or 2-in-one cajon, maybe a bongo or two, very possibly an african conga, and others \ud83d\ude42
\nAnd finally, there is those things like with the extended lockdown in Germany till mid of February, and all that stuff going on .. trying out yoga, and picking up sport / stunt kiting again. Actually, my parents both did yoga even before my birth, so its .. both familiar, but also new. Also, I did sport kiting for over 10 years, and that was kind of the only real type ofsport I liked, aside of cross-country skiing.
\n", "content_text": "A random collection of a bunch of things I want to do this year, ie. 2021 \ud83d\ude42\n\nFor one, I’ve been planning and preparing to write several lengthy, detailed articles about how to use Icecast in combination with OBS, eg. to solve the “current song” issue most DJs run into, when streaming live to platforms like Twitch or YouTube. But also, what you can do further with OBS, just by relying on the the magic of the web (ie. HTML 5, CSS 3 and Javascript). \nThe other topic is how-tos and articles just about the environment of Twitch and online DJing in general. That includes gathering statistical information from multiple sources, eg. quite a few point towards the statistical result, that the sweet spot for shows per week are only TWO. Anything further supposedly decreases the viewing time or viewers per show per se. Etc.\nNext on, I want to add several services to my existing web development “empire” (of dirt), specifically aimed towards DJs, musicians, projects / bands. That includes building or restructuring WordPress-based websites towards their needs, and offering plugins, and extensions which allow you to connect your own site with eg. Twitch, at least to some extent. Not to mention I plan to build own plugins to improve my own site and publishing cycles (eg. multiposting to other platforms, straight out of ClassicPress / WordPress), which eventually will be turned into premium plugins.\nTalking about plugins: Lets not forget about Classic Forms 8, a fork of Contact Form 7 for CP and WP 4.9.x. Gotta get it working till the end of January 2021 \ud83d\ude42\nLast but not least, I intend to improve on my own channel and shows, trying to get it down to 1 1/2 shows per week = primary show is on Sunday, 4 – 9 pm EST = 21:00 – 02:00 UTC+0, but I also do a different show, once every few weeks, on Thursday afternoon (ie. Central European Time = usually starting around 17:00 CET). This I want to change into bi-weekly, so eg. every odd or every even week. Further improvements include saving money for a decent workstation and streaming computer. Plus improved audio hardware.\nApropos further improvements:\nNeed to get the backlog uploaded to Mixcloud. Its currently sitting at shortly afte November 16th, 2020, spanning 11 recordings. Thus, improving the website (Gothic-Forest-Troll.org) and turning it into a CP-powered site, with optional frontend members only etc. pp. is a totally nice goal for the next few months. Maybe folks might even be inclined to join one of the the Steady subscription plans? \ud83d\ude42\nPlans for the workstation are:\nAccording to several sources, CPU power still overrules GPU power, when it comes to streaming video, at least with common streaming software like OBS; hence I plan to either get a AMD Ryzen 4750G Pro (essentially a SoC with a Ryzen 7 3700 + Vega 11 GPU), or a Ryzen 9 3900X / 3950 X plus a simple GPU like the nVidia GTX 1650.\nThus, the rough setup is going to be:\n– CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 4750G Pro or Ryzen 9 3900X / 3950 X, plus a nice Noctua 14/15 cm CPU fan\n– GPU: either SoC / APU or nVidia GTX 1650\n– Case: probably Cooler Master HAF XB Evo or the Corsair 4000D Airflow; but no fancy bullshit RGB / LED light garbage \ud83d\ude42\n– Case Fans: Noctua + Scythe Flex ..\n– RAM: 32 GB, 3200 MHz, CAS 15 timings (to aim for the 10 – 11 ns sweetspot)\n– Storage: 1 TB NVMe + raid of regular SSDs (Goodram SSD IRDM PRO Gen2 1TB, Intel SSD D3-S4510 or maybe Seagate Nytro 1000)\n– OS: Linux triple / multiple boot, one with Kubuntu / KDE Neon base, and the second system is gonna be Manjaro; maybe even with a Windows 10 Pro partition\nPlans for audio hardware:\nAfter intense studies and research, my personal sweet spot seems to be the Rode Procaster, which is surprisingly flexible in its usage. Aside of being a really good microphone for talk and moderation – which is what I want to get back into strongly, having done web radion since the early 2000s – it is also quite comfortable to use as a directional microphone for recording the sound of instruments; which was my initial idea behind getting a Samsung E845 S.\nNot “hardware” per se, but I finally want to get some decent percussion “hardware”, ie. a nice cajon plus bass or 2-in-one cajon, maybe a bongo or two, very possibly an african conga, and others \ud83d\ude42\nAnd finally, there is those things like with the extended lockdown in Germany till mid of February, and all that stuff going on .. trying out yoga, and picking up sport / stunt kiting again. Actually, my parents both did yoga even before my birth, so its .. both familiar, but also new. Also, I did sport kiting for over 10 years, and that was kind of the only real type ofsport I liked, aside of cross-country skiing.", "date_published": "2021-01-21T08:22:34+01:00", "date_modified": "2021-01-21T08:34:00+01:00", "author": { "name": "fwolf", "url": "https://wp-devil.com/author/fwolf/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c2a31599f60eec1232806bfc26066ed2?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "image": "https://wp-devil.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/mmezn_tfzso.jpg", "tags": [ "2021", "audio", "djing", "Hardware", "plans", "resolutions", "sports", "thoughts", "ClassicPress", "DJ", "Life and let die", "Linux", "Musick", "wordpress" ] }, { "id": "https://wp-devil.com/my-current-dj-setup-09-2020/", "url": "https://wp-devil.com/my-current-dj-setup-09-2020/", "title": "My current DJ Setup (09/2020)", "content_html": "Thanks to being much more active lately, I thought I’d share my current DJ setup with you.
\nBe aware: My main focus is still webradio broadcasting and (podcast) recording (yes, I upload my shows to Mixcloud, on a semi-regular base; ie. I’m picky with recordings :))
\nThinkPad T400, Core 2 Duo (P8600), 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, 1440 x 900 WXGA+ screen.
\nBunsenlab Linux, Internet DJ Console 0.8.17
\nWhich was actually my fallback system, but has been used as the main DJ station since April 2019.
\nA bit of a background story: The original system (Thinkpad T520) was also my workstation, which I had to put aside / replace with a better (and later produced) variant of the same T520 series to improve on my work situation. By profession I am a web developer cum frontend designer, and needed a working fallback solution whenever there is an issue or outtake with cable internet (Unitymedia), but my old system simply didnt have these built-in, so I decided to setup my other T520, which had been sitting around for a few months already, as my new workstation. Doing this, I had to install a new Linux distribution because my old one was nearly “done” / not easy upgradable because about 1/3 of it was self-compiled, and when I tried to set it up for my usual web radio stuff, I nearly fucked up the whole audio system. I tried twice and both times failed, so I decided to use the above mentioned system instead.
\nOne major disadvantage is the broken microphone jack, which seems to be a regular issue with these series. Replacing it with an USB sound interface has proven to be atrocious, as the permanently powered 3,5mm jack would crash the whole audio system whenever you even just BREATHED in its general direction or even just area.
\nI am going to replace it in the next two weeks with the old, repurposed, soon-to-be-upgraded T520 (with a quadcore CPU), effectively turning it into a T520p.
\nAlso, I want to buy some better, decent audio hardware, than the simple, garbagy stuff I’ve been using so far:
\nThinkPad P50, i7-6820 HQ, 32 GB RAM, 256 GB NVMe SSD, Nvidia Quadro M2000M, FHD screen, docking station (ThinkPad Ultra Dock), Sharkoon Sharkforce Gaming Mouse
\nWindows 10 Pro, OBS Studio, BeatDrop visualizer, Icecast server, VLC Player, VB Cable (for creating a virtual audio loop), VB Voicemeeter (the big brother of VB Cable)
\nSitting around for a while has been the Seagate Firecuda 1 TB NMVe. According to the manual, the maximum available capacity with NVMe drives is 1 TB, but as I still got a second slot for an m2 drive, I am just gonna test if the setup of 256 GB + 1 TB is gonna work nonetheless. If not, then I gonna have to enjoy the "fun" of moving the Windows 10 installation over to the other drive (probably with the help of the external NVMe case I’ve got myself recently).
\nAlso, I might want to upgrade to the maximum RAM capacity of 64 GB, eg. to run virtual machines with Linux and other OSes, maybe to run the whole DJ station setup inside of a virtuam machine, too.
\nThinkPad T520, i5-2520M, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, 256 GB SSD (Serial Ultrabay Enhanced), docking station (ThinkPad Mini Dock Plus Series 3), FHD+ monitor (1920 x 1200), Logitech G710 (Cherry MX Blue switches), Sharkoon Draconia Black gaming mouse.
\nMX Linux 18.3, XAMPP, Geany IDE, Audacity, irssi, etc. pp. Also see System Statistics 2019.
\nThis being my current workstation, its main purpose is to get my daily work done \ud83d\ude42
\nSecondary purposes are, among others, to prepare my semi-live moderations using Audacity and a cheap 3,5mm jack microphone, for chatting on Twitch (via irssi), and so on.
So, didnt do an update to this for quite some time (alas, AlltagsGrauen is offline, so .. no opportunity to do that anyway :D).
\nWithout further ado, the current system infrastructure I’m using these days (or am going to use in the near future):
Thinkpad T520, i5 2520M, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD (Samsung Pro); always sitting in the resp. docking station, connected with FHD+ Display (1980 x 1280), a Logitech G710 (Cherry MX Blue switches) and a Sharkoon Drakonia Black.
\nMain OS: MX Linux 18.3 (based on GNU/Debian 10 “Stretch”)
\nVirtual machines: Windows Vista Pro, Windows 7 Pro, Windows 2000 Professional (strictly for using Photoshop 8)
Note: Yep, right – gaming equipment. Turns out, regular input devices are not reliable / endurable enough. Most keyboards tend to fall apart after just a year or so – that might be related to the fact that I learned to type on the original IBM Model M, and thus, my key strokes hit home VERY hard. But so far, anything with Cherry MX Blue switches, including the original Cherry G80-3000 “clicky”, has turned out to be most satisfactory, ie. very endurable and reliable working \ud83d\ude42
\nFreshly in: Thinkpad P50, i7-6820 HQ, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB NVMe SSD, currently waiting to be upgraded to 32 GB RAM and enhanced with a 1 TB NVMe SSD (FireCuda 510 Pro). Also needs to be set up as dual boot system; maybe even triple boot, but that depends on whether the UEFI BIOS is going to cooperate or not.
\nCurrent main OS: Windows 10 Pro
\nPlanned main OS: Linux Mint Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
\nPlanned secondary OS: Windows 10 Pro, Manjaro 18 (KDE Edition)