Welcome...I want to start off by saying that this community has inspired me to make the jump from the traditional to the creative world of SFF PCs. I have been a long time lurker on this forum and only recently decided to jump in. I have been modding computers for over a decade (not professionally) as a hobby. I like to take my time, and most of the time I have no choice since my family and career take priority. I love the bravery and creativity that you all have expressed on this forum, and I want to thank you for taking the time to visit my build log and welcoming me to the forum.I've titled this build SFF Inception, because I have always built full-size ATX and EATX PCs. I was "that guy" with dual, triple, and quad-SLI rigs because I always approached it with a "go big or don't go at all" attitude. I no longer have this attitude thanks to recent tech achievements in both size and power that no longer make it as desirable as before. However, I'm still an avid fan of custom water cooling, and it will be hard for me to go from water to air. Hopefully, in the near future I will start a build that will take on the challenge of putting a full custom water cooling loop into a SFF case. I'm currently disassembling my main rig. I will be selling most of it and keeping a few items to put into this new build. Let's get into it!CASE: NFC SkyReach 4 Mini (S4M)MOBO: AsRock Z390 Phantom Gaming ITX/acCPU: i5-9600KGPU: Zotac 1080ti MINIRAM: 16GB G.Skill DDR4-4266PSU: HDPLEX 400W HI-FI DC-ATX with HDPLEX 400W AC-DCSSD: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB NVMe M.2 and Samsung 960 PRO 512GB M.2 HERE ********************************************************Now, I know what you're thinking. He's not going to be able to fit all that in the S4M. You may be right, but I'm also hard headed and damn determined to try. Otherwise, what's the point? I'm not timid when it comes to making the modifications necessary, and I know they will be necessary. Also, I currently do not have the S4M. It's on pre-order (JULY 19), and I'm also in the middle of moving my family across the country. I could wait til I have everything that I need on hand, but I can still do a little at a time. This will give me the opportunity to take feedback and make any necessary changes. I don't want to rush it if I don't have to.Delid and re-lid of the i5-9600K with liquid metal TIM using the Rockit Cool kit. I had the direct-to-die mounting kit on hand (compatible with water cooling blocks and limited Noctua rear plate mounted air coolers), and after trying it with the two air coolers that I have for this build (Noctua NH-L9i and the Alpenfoehn Black Ridge) I quickly discovered that it isn't going to work.Die exposed with solder ready for removal.The Rockit Cool Quicksilver solder removal kit was too easy. It only took about 15-20 mins to remove all the solder and polish the die.I applied Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut and resealed the CPU with the original IHS using a very small amount of High temp RTV silicon.These are the 2 air coolers that I'm going to use in this build. The Noctua NH-L9i (left) and the Alpenfoehn Black Ridge (right). The Alpenfoehn Black Ridge is from the latest batch (previous batches had issues). I know the Noctua cooler will definitely fit in the S4M, but the Alpenfoehn will require case modifications. I'm hoping that I can make it work, do a performance comparison between the two, then pick the winner for the final build. Regardless, the Noctua 92mm fan will be used no matter which cooler I use.RAM height is an issue. I cannot use Black Ridge cooler with the G.Skill Trident Z modules' stock heat spreaders. I'll have to order after market heat spreaders. An order has already been place for low profile all copper heat spreaders.