Did disassemble the current system in the Meshlicious. Had lots of "fun" with installing the Thermalright AXP120-x67, because of its mediocre setup. The only issue I didnt have is heatsink vs. RAM height, LPX memory chips avoid this issue from the very beginning 
<RANT>
Really, I build with a lot of cheap CPU coolers, but this one reminded me of times thought long past; the manual is more like a picture book - it tells you just the rare basics, missing important information like HOW and WHERE to attach the somewhat flimsy CPU fan clips. First I thought it was because I've been trying to use the Silverstone Air Slimmer ARGB right from the start - but NO: Its the idiotic bare-minimum manual, cause it didnt work with the original fan either!
Had to watch multiple YT videos to figure out, that you have to move the clip to a slight indentation / notch thats located roughly 5ish mm from the top of the heatsink. Pointing out the most helpful one by DalraeMyo; its primarly a test / review, but it shows the proper "clamp down" position perfectly.
</RANT>
Right now, the only thing remaining in the Meshi is the 280 mm radiator / AIO (Silent Loop 2). Its been doing its work flawlessly, and might be soon repurposed in the actual Mesh-mATX build, as the RX 6800 + the rad should fit snuggly together (although I'm still sooo happy with the AP201, not gonna give this one away, its SUCH A JOY to build with it, even with the slight flaw with the PSU mounting).
BTT: There was quite an amount of thermal paste smeared everywhere. Guess one cant complain about not enough pressure. But cleaning it up was such a PITA! So for the air cooling setup, I'm going with the suggested method of Noctua, and use only 5 "dots" (found in the supplied mini-manual of the NH-T2).
The thermal paste before was Arctic MX-6, the new one is the Noctua NH-T2.
Also got a cheap contact frame, but only out of curiousity (not installed). Probably going to get another one by Thermalright or the original by Thermal Grizzly instead. The current temps didnt seem to warrant replacing the original frame just yet.
Another thing to note: One major disadvantage of the S400 is the GPU non-cutout. Instead of small slots or just a big cutout, you get a much more rigid structural frame. This removes the option to do a proper GPU standoff mod, because you cannot position the GPU in-between slots. Hence I cannot reuse the PCIe 4 Riser cable from the Meshlicious build, because it sits / bends too tall, and without half a slot distance it would interfere with the case or remove the option for a slim fan above the front mainboard / GPU slot compartment. Should not be a big issue with the current RTX 3050 for now, because of the moderate use (I really only need NVenc).
Done yesterday:
- disassembled the Meshlicious
- cleaned CPU and installed Thermalright AXP120-x67 (+ Silverstone Air Slimmer ARGB)
- replaced the aftermarket PCIe 4 Riser with the original PCIe 3 thats supplied with the S400, because of afore-mentioned fitting issues
- test-fit of the GPU, has to sit in the inner two slots, else the fan shroud interferes with the side panel; not happy with this, because that means if I was to use the second m2 slot on the back of the MB, I'd have to ensure proper circulation somehow
- test-fit of the PSU and initial figuring out how to do the cable management; PSU fit seems flawless, cable routing probably needs a few more bends and folds to safely store them away (ie. less clutter); surprisingly, because the original cables are already pretty short
To-do list for today:
- make lunch (the dinner of yesterday didnt happen, went to bed at 2:30ish am)
-
- f
(there should be 1 - 2 left hidden away somewhere)
- install the second Silverstone Air Slimmer ARGB
- install the Silverstone Air Blazer 120RW (also ARGB)
- if all works, figure out a place to mount an ARGB mini-controller / fan hub
-
-
(50% and 100% CPU load)
- do some cable management
-
Future to-do list:
- replace the SSD (Transcent MTE220S) with the soon-to-be available FireCuda 510 1 TB from the main workstation build (got myself a P41 Platinum 2 TB to help out as additional drive); there seem to be multiple issues with this specific SSD, ie. high failure rate, despite its supposedly big TBW
- continue with the low profile CPU cooling tests; probably one per week or every two weeks
- replace PCIe Riser cable
- upgrade to RTX 4060 Solo / LP or one of the ITX 4060 Ti StormX-like variants
- maybe replace air cooling with 120 or 140 mm AIO
cu, w0lf.
