DAN A4-SFX: The smallest gaming case in the world

It might have to be a question for Dan to answer.
I know this case will fit taller cards than the Ncase will, but I'm not sure what the cutoff is.
 
dondan Would it make more sense to measure the maximum safe card/cpu cooler dimensions and post it on your website so when someone asks if their card/cooler will fit we can just link them to the dimension page?
 
On his site, there is the following info:

Graphics Card
Note: All manufacturers measure their cards differently, because there is no standard defined!

  • Max. Height
    • From bottom of the PCIe-Slot to top: 144mm
  • Max. Width:
    • Without backplate: 40mm
    • Including backplate: 45mm
  • Max Length:
    • Complete card incl. bracket: 306mm
    • Without bracket: 295mm
Click to expand...

All the maximum dimensions are given there. IMO it's specific enough.
 
Aircoookie I stand corrected! I'm not sure how I missed that when I quickly scanned it to make sure I wasn't being redundant, but lo and behold I have proven myself redundant :p
I will proceed to spam the info page whenever someone asks from now on!
 
Ah, somehow I'd missed the max height dimension on the website, it's definitely specific enough. :)
 
I found something interesting... It's a guy on LTT who wanted to prove his point about it (he tried really hard...)

And what is more interesting is than Dondan himself was part of the thread, and he didn't gave him an answer...

Here's the link: Dan A4 SFX Future Build

And here's the important part:



Alright... This will require of my full capabilities of imagination and... microsoft paint
smile.png




Note: this is just my reckless mind trying to believe that it will work



Pic 1: GPU view of the A4 SFX







A = common known object to measure (DVI Port)

A1 = measuring with that object

B = clear space



Pic 2: CPU view of the A4 SFX







A = common known object to measure (DVI Port)

A1 = measuring with that object

B = clear space



Pic 3: back view of the Kingpin 980 ti







A = common known object to measure (DVI Port)

A1 = measuring with that object

B = pci-e power connector scaled to the picture, comparing it with a dvi port in real life

C = clear space

Line = mathching the edge of the pcb, the connection limit of the pci connector and the measuring object (DVI port)



Pic 4: side view of the Kingpin 980 ti








A = common known object to measure (DVI Port)

A1 = measuring with that object

B = clear space



I know that this isn't a real proof that it WILL fit, also as you see in pic 3, the wires of the pci power connector are gonna be tight as hell, or just won't fit, but come on... if the wires are my only problem, i can manage to get a lower profile pci power connector like this one:







Here is a link on ebay of those



Sleeved PCI-E 8 pin 90 degree left power extender w/ low profileALL BLK-USA MADE



And to end this, if the low profile pci connector doesn't work neither, i'm just gonna solder a extension to the kingpin's connectors and that's it.



I will get my kingpin there, no matter how B)
 
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I didn't gave him an answer, because I forgot this thread on LTT.


So here is my answer:

I write on my side the card can have a maximum height of 144m (from the PCI-E bottom to the top of the card). So if we can trust the guy on LTT the Kingpin card is 144,8mm height.

On the first view the card could fit with a bit of wobble and bend, but....

...when I made the measure, I only thought on high cards like the Asus Strix, where the highest point is the heatpipe and not the fan cover. The highest point of the heatpipe is typical between both top clips, so there is no problem.

But for the Kingpin card the highest point is the fancover so it will collide with the clips.

If you don't care about the warranty you can grind 2mm of the bottomside of the clips. The the card can fit very very very closely.

Here you can see the measurement on the CAD drawing. As you can see the maximum height of the heatpipes could be higher as 144mm but I made the decision to use more save values on my website.

kingpinhxrsn.jpg


evga_kingpin5vksa.jpg
 
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I'm sure this subject was brought out before, but will dust be a problem or the positive pressure is enough to keep it away?
 
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Thank you for the answer Dan!

So... I'm wondering if...

Is there any chance that you can move the gpu slot a few milimeters down???

You know... just 2mm or 3mm would be fine... ;););)
 
Sorry this isn't possible , because the slot bracket will hit the ac power inlet.
 
dondan said:
Sorry this isn't possible , because the slot bracket will hit the ac power inlet.
Click to expand...
There's room to move the AC inlet down. I understand not wanting to do it at this point though, since it involves changing multiple parts and possibly the manual as well. Also it looks to me like in order to get such a tall card in, you'd probably need to unscrew the PCIe riser and put the card in first.
 
It's too bad. It doesn't have to do fitted high end 980ti (giga extrem, asus matrix, msi lighting, galax hof,evga kingpin etc..). In fact, kingpin was expecting. but 2~3mm...... sad.
 
Even if there is room to move the PCIe riser bracket assembly down (without interference from the AC plug inlet), the entire back would need redone in regards to the external dual slot PCIe bracket area…?
 
I don't get the whole making every single graphics card available fit thing. This case is about compromising some compatibility for a small size while still keeping 90% of options available (well except for cooling). Just like you're limited with your PSU and motherboard options, while still having a huge number of available options, not every card will fit. But the vast majority will, and if you want to use this case just get one that will fit. How hard is that? You won't be compromising on anything. If you already have a card that won't fit that's too bad. Maybe sell it on eBay and then buy one of the Pascal cards when they come out this summer. If you can afford this case, you're probably not too pressed for money. But you can't expect the dimensions to change or the design to become much less practical just to accommodate 5% of cards out there. The marginal utility will be tiny for the inconvenience for the rest of us. The only area where the compatibility limitation is significant is in cooling, but there the marginal utility is huge as you can make the case 40% smaller. And that is the preference of the people this is targeted to. Maybe one day we can all 3D print our perfect case, but for the time being we have to deal with broader categories of products, and this case is for those of us who want as small size as possible while maintaining a decent desktop compatibility.
 
Gonna side with quantumbraced.
The K|NGP|N card is at the far extreme of GPU dimensions, and for a case like this it shouldn't be to surprising or a letdown that it wont fit (Without modifications to something).
As is there's much better compatibility than the Ncase for GPU's.



Pantera_666 I see maybe 2mm there, and even if the PCIE slots were lowered to have the end of the PCIE bracket completely flush with the AC inlet it may still not be enough.
Also it could cause some strange issues when installing GPUs, I dunno.
 
Also this case is coming out late summer early fall 2016. Maybe even later. I imagine the trend of more powerful and smaller cards is going to continue in the next generation.
 
Curiositie said:
The K|NGP|N card is at the far extreme of GPU dimensions, and for a case like this it shouldn't be to surprising or a letdown that it wont fit (Without modifications to something).
As is there's much better compatibility than the Ncase for GPU's.
Click to expand...
In the M1's defense, it can fit longer cards than the A4. It's mainly some of the ASUS Strix cards that are too tall for the M1, but they're also too long for the A4, so it's a wash. Edit: though, point taken if you're talking about open cooler performance between the two cases. The A4 should fare better in that regard.
 
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Any word on when the crowdfunding will start and estimates on release date? April's halfway over and I'm dying to upgrade my rig.
 
shinjinian said:
Any word on when the crowdfunding will start and estimates on release date? April's halfway over and I'm dying to upgrade my rig.
Click to expand...

Crowdfunding start has been postponed until May unfortunately. I'd like to know how far we are now in the process of CE certification and the Kickstarter page asset creation and if May is more like May 1st or end of May...
 
Aircoookie said:
Crowdfunding start has been postponed until May unfortunately. I'd like to know how far we are now in the process of CE certification and the Kickstarter page asset creation and if May is more like May 1st or end of May...
Click to expand...
Damn. I was hoping I'd get it by the time the Polaris GPU's ship out but it looks like that might not happen. I'll either have to get another case or live with the stupid broken power button on my obnoxiously big tower until the a4 ships.
 
A small update:

So guys I have great news. On friday DAN Cases will be finally founded. CE testing is in full progress and should be done in 1-2 weeks. Next week I will start creating the Kickstarter campaign. We are in the final steps.

Best regards

Daniel
 
dondan said:
A small update:

So guys I have great news. On friday DAN Cases will be finally founded. CE testing is in full progress and should be done in 1-2 weeks. Next week I will start creating the Kickstarter campaign. We are in the final steps.

Best regards

Daniel
Click to expand...
That's great news. Kickstarters usually last like 30 days from what I remember. What's the estimated turnaround on manufacturing the cases once it's funded?
 
2 years and a half for this case design being reality. Too long for wating. Hope all the rest of processes will be smooth.
 
Recently we saw the cerberus' case crowfunding failure, and i think i know why they failed...

I wasn't really interested in that case, but just for curiosity i visited the webpage and it was so confusing...

They were offering like 7 options to support them (by buying something) and only 2 or 3 of the options will actually get you the case (if cowfunding were succesful)

It was something like: $20 = stickers or some $hit like that
$50 = stickers and a poster
$100 = stickers, poster and a coffe cup (WTF?)
$200 = basic case (without something i don't remember)
$300 = case, stickers and a tshirt
$500 = all the previous ones
$1000 = i don't really remember, but it was some dumb $hit

Dan will you do the same thing ($hit) like they did?

Or will you just give us the one and the only thing that we all need, the full case with the 3M riser included and that's it?
 
It's been a convenient excuse for me to avoid the upgrade bug until this case comes out. So I see the wait as a blessing in disguise for my bank account, really.

Thanks for the good news Dan, looking forward to backing the campaign. :)
 
Pantera_666 said:
They were offering like 7 options to support them (by buying something) and only 2 or 3 of the options will actually get you the case (if cowfunding were succesful)
Click to expand...

Yes, having multiple tiers for people who want to support the project but don't need the main product works well for other types of crowdfunded projects, but it doesn't seem to apply to cases. That's definitely not the reason the campaign failed though, that was more price and overestimating demand.
 
I don't disagree with having multiple tiers but following the cookie cutter crowdfund levels with crapy like stickers and shirts cheapens the case and campaign (in my opinion of course).

The cerberus was very well produced and presented and they are offering freaking stickers, coffee cups etc. Those could be addons but I would not make them part of any tier except the very lowest.

Instead, this is what I would do:

T1 - Merch, can be mixed and matched and added onto other tiers at will.

T2 - Case without riser. Warnings about the types and lengths of risers that are compatible and basically a warning.

T3 - The case in all it's glory. No fancy stuff, just what you would expect from a retail case (screws, documentation, packaging etc).

T4 - Case + extras. Brackets? extra screws? spare cables? different colours? I dunno but only useful stuff.


As to the type of merch I would actually be interested in - stuff relating to the case, not random crap like coffee mugs, wtf. Posters are fine if they are cool. I would use the production pics, sketches and development work to create this stuff. A little book or art book showing the entire development process of the case would be really cool to see and maybe even useful to people designing their own cases.

Testing and alternative ideas would also be good to see.

How about branded microfibre cloths? printed mousepads? These are useful, easy to produce/get produced and much better than tshirts or coffee mugs.
 
dondan said:
A small update:

So guys I have great news. On friday DAN Cases will be finally founded. CE testing is in full progress and should be done in 1-2 weeks. Next week I will start creating the Kickstarter campaign. We are in the final steps.

Best regards

Daniel
Click to expand...
Please make the exact pricing available a few days before launching the kickstarter so that we can have the funds ready when it hits.
 
promaty said:
Please make the exact pricing available a few days before launching the kickstarter so that we can have the funds ready when it hits.
Click to expand...

Payment isn't charged until the kickstarter ends–– and this is only if the campaign is successful. For this case I'm not too concerned, but I guess that depends on Dan's minimum target.
 
Dan,

Do you have any pictures of the two prototype cases side-by-side? This will help in deciding which color I'll get :joyful:

Thanks
 
Vexel said:
QDyXPeH.jpg


If you value practicality over everything else, then you could do this to stop the dust and protect components from overheating. Its not perfect solution but at least... something, right?

I just don't wanna clean the dust constantly. Plus, when you transport your PC you can take those off... The only thing is you gotta find proper sized fans... Which I haven't thought about. It'll sure look ugly though haha, I don't give a heck, I still want two USB ports
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all the major heat source components intake air directly from outside the case, psu exhaust directly out top, open style gpu directly exhaust out top, bottom and back, cpu exhaust indirectly out top through convection, since all fans are intake it creates positive in case pressure hindering dust build up, this is much more efficient then conventional case designs
 
dondan said:
A small update:

So guys I have great news. On friday DAN Cases will be finally founded. CE testing is in full progress and should be done in 1-2 weeks. Next week I will start creating the Kickstarter campaign. We are in the final steps.

Best regards

Daniel
Click to expand...
it would really help the case gain traction/popularity if you could send review samples to the top pc tech youtubers (linustechtips, hardwarecanucks, jayztwocents etc) before you start delivering to the general public
 
Yeah, even if less than a tenth of the subscribers are buying a case he's selling over 400. I don't think Dan needs additional exposure, that will come on its own.
 
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