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

Have mostly finished my build. Reasonably happy with the results.

63RhQf+.jpg

Have some minor questions though.

I have some tiny case scratches on the matte black finish. Anyone know of some paint that I can use to touch up the markings?

After my latest efforts in cleaning up the cables, I have somehow noticed one of the fans making a louder noise than usual. I have confirmed none of the obvious fans (PSU, CPU and GPU are the cause). Is there a fan on the ASUS Strix Z270i motherboard because I have ruled out the 3 main components and am stumped where the fan noise is coming from. My best guess is there is a fan on the right side of the CPU at the back IO connectors. If so, can I control these fan settings?

Temperatures have been great with my i7-7700 (non K) and it doesn't seem to be a bottleneck for the EVGA GTX 1080ti FTW3 GPU. Temperatures idle around 40C (minimum 35C). Peak seems to be around 80C (maximum observed 84C).

Performance has been insane. Absolutely nothing feels slow. The Samsung 960 EVO 1TB drive is just a beast when it comes to boot times.

My main efforts have been around noise, and until the recent issue I mentioned above the system has been so quiet that often the only sounds I hear are the monitor buzz, which I never knew I had until I had a system this quiet!

Regarding the custom cabling. My recommendations are as follows:
  • 150mm 24 pin PSU cable.
  • 240mm 8 pin EPS cable.
  • 2 x 300mm 8 pin PCIE cable (250mm is absolute minimum but you need to get very creative on routing the cables between the PSU and GPU).
Make sure for ALL of these cables that the retention clip is on OPPOSITE sides. Cablemod puts them on the same side and causes twists when installing. Reversing this would have given a much cleaner cabling and would have also made it easier to work with. I'd also recommend picking up a few cable combs. They really help keep the cables organised.

Beware of the Gskill Trident Z RAM (3200Mhz) with the Strix Z270i motherboard. You will need to increase the CPU system agent voltage to 1.15 to set it to 3200. Enabling XMP will cause the system to not boot. Hopefully ASUS fixes this issue with a future bios, but it was an effort to find the proper solution (thx reddit).

Lastly, the CPU cooler and fan. This is easily the most difficult and complex part of the build. I ordered both the LP53 and the Cryorig C7. I also ordered the Noctua A9x14 fan. I feel the results are so similar (both silent as long as you use the A9x14) that it is best to use the Cryorig C7 heatsink as it is much easier to install on the motherboard. Seems a much better fit. However, the Noctua on the C7 isn't as well fitting (less connection points) however using thin cable ties does the job to an acceptable level. For reference, I found the LP53 was cooler at idle but the C7 was cooler at maximum load. With the difficulty with ordering a LP53, just do the C7 and save yourself significant effort.
 
Extremely thorough write up and your system looks great! There is no fan on your motherboard just the three that you have listed. When you checked each did you do it with the cover on or off? I'd recommend both ways, and then stopping each fan separately with the computer still on to find the culprit. As long as your are gentle and don't hold the fan blade from spinning too long (over a minute) there will be no harm done. Otherwise it might not be fans at all, could be coil whine or even a bad capacity possibly.
 
I stopped all fans with my fingers, it definitely sounded like a fan, not coil whine. Not sure what a faulty capacitor sounds like though.

The only fans I had spinning were the CPU fan and 1 of the GPU fans. The CPU fan was at 900 rpm and the GPU fan at 600 rpm. The PSU fan was definitely not spinning. With only 2 fans it was trivial to stop them all manually which is why I was so confused.

Interestingly enough, the sound has gone now and I am back to a totally quiet system (but it did last a good 30 minutes).

One thing I did forget to mention was the difficulty in getting the GPU connected to the PSU. The card is so large that the connectors at the top can easily prevent the top of the case from fitting properly.

VcMYVx+


However, turns out with custom cabling, you can route the cables between the GPU and the PSU. The cables themselves if ordered side by side do not put any pressure on the GPU at all (visually it isn't as obvious). This gives the shortest distance from the GPU to PSU which is what allowed me to use 250mm cables. However the cables must bend 180 degrees nearly immediately or there will be bulge on the top case when trying to fit it back. I am not sure if there are "low profile" molex connectors, but it is something to be mindful of especially when using the EVGA GTX 1080ti FTW3. You have very little clearance between the top of the card and the case and need to plan accordingly.

Another very important tip that I would recommend everyone do is tape a piece of plastic over the PCIE ribbon cable. This makes it easier to mount the motherboard and prevents damaging it. The issue is that the back of the motherboard (solder joints) can easily catch on the cable and damage it when trying to mount it.
 
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Is anyone aware if there is a mod for the EVGA GTX 1080ti FTW3 to get 0db fanless mode at idle? I haven't been able to tweak the fan curse to off at low temps. Currently the GPU is idling 33C and it seems like it would be something worth trying.
 
Hotshot619 said:
On the German hardware forums there is a thread with a step by step guide on modifying right angle power connectors like this
p10109842t5h.jpg
If you are the tinkering type and want to eliminate any possible future bulging issues.
Click to expand...
Link for the lazy and unknowing?
 
mikelorant said:
Another very important tip that I would recommend everyone do is tape a piece of plastic over the PCIE ribbon cable. This makes it easier to mount the motherboard and prevents damaging it. The issue is that the back of the motherboard (solder joints) can easily catch on the cable and damage it when trying to mount it.
Click to expand...

While it shipped on the motherboard side, I thought the pictures of the case had the PCIe ribbon on the GPU side. I thought this was an important detail due to backside M.2 card slots on most Mini-ITX motherboards. Even if the ribbon would still fit past an installed M.2 drive, it could interfere with airflow and cooling.

It was easy to reroute the ribbon to the GPU side of the motherboard plate; if it was the first thing you did when the case was empty. Most enthusiast GPUs have a back plate so they will not rub and damage the cable. If the ribbon was between the plastic shield and the aluminum motherboard plate it would always be protected, even with rough-backed GPUs.
 
JackGLemmon said:
While it shipped on the motherboard side, I thought the pictures of the case had the PCIe ribbon on the GPU side. I thought this was an important detail due to backside M.2 card slots on most Mini-ITX motherboards. Even if the ribbon would still fit past an installed M.2 drive, it could interfere with airflow and cooling.

It was easy to reroute the ribbon to the GPU side of the motherboard plate; if it was the first thing you did when the case was empty. Most enthusiast GPUs have a back plate so they will not rub and damage the cable. If the ribbon was between the plastic shield and the aluminum motherboard plate it would always be protected, even with rough-backed GPUs.
Click to expand...

This is a very good point and should be something that likely should be rectified for the new v2.0 models being shipped.
 
JackGLemmon said:
While it shipped on the motherboard side, I thought the pictures of the case had the PCIe ribbon on the GPU side. I thought this was an important detail due to backside M.2 card slots on most Mini-ITX motherboards. Even if the ribbon would still fit past an installed M.2 drive, it could interfere with airflow and cooling.

It was easy to reroute the ribbon to the GPU side of the motherboard plate; if it was the first thing you did when the case was empty. Most enthusiast GPUs have a back plate so they will not rub and damage the cable. If the ribbon was between the plastic shield and the aluminum motherboard plate it would always be protected, even with rough-backed GPUs.
Click to expand...
I'm just glad there's clearance for the ribbon between a typical GPU and that side of the mobo tray - I was having a tough time telling from just pictures. No idea which motherboard I'll be shopping for January, but safe bet M2 location(s) will be back side of mobo in mITX form factors [potential insanity near I/O notwithstanding, but Dan's recent tests suggest we want the IO area open for multi-core beasts]. I'd like to avoid M2 SSD thermal throttling, but now this seems one less thing to worry about.
 
mikelorant said:
Regarding the custom cabling. My recommendations are as follows:
  • 150mm 24 pin PSU cable.
  • 240mm 8 pin EPS cable.
  • 2 x 300mm 8 pin PCIE cable (250mm is absolute minimum but you need to get very creative on routing the cables between the PSU and GPU).
Make sure for ALL of these cables that the retention clip is on OPPOSITE sides. Cablemod puts them on the same side and causes twists when installing. Reversing this would have given a much cleaner cabling and would have also made it easier to work with. I'd also recommend picking up a few cable combs. They really help keep the cables organised.
Click to expand...

How did you get cables so short? I tried their custom configurator and it only goes down to 250mm.

Thanks.

Dave
 
Got in on the Kickstarter. So when are we supposed to let someone know what color v2 we want?
 
dondan said:
DAN A4-SFX cooling performance:

img_2553plrt1.jpg

picture48sb2.jpg


Introduction:
Below, I want to inform you about the cooling performance of the DAN A4-SFX, because many potential buyers are sceptical that powerful hardware can be cooled in this case.
Also, the test should determine which CPU coolers with a maximum installation height of 48mm is suitable for this case.

Many readers are also interested in: How a Top-Blow cooler graphics card will perform in this case. This question is intended to clarify as well.


Testsystem:
The following hardware has been used for the results:




    • CPU: Intel Xeon 1230v2 3,5Ghz TPD 69W (Ivy Bridge)
    • GPU1: Nvidia Geforce GTX 780 reference design
    • GPU2: MSI Geforce GTX 970 Gaming 4G
The hardware was tested in an open build (without case) and inside the case at a room temperature of 21-22°C. The fan speed is the same in both setups.
All tests inside the case were made with the sidepanel Version 1, which will be used for the final product.
This Version offers the better look and allows the same cooling performance as Version 2.

sidepanel63j13.jpg



CPU Cooling:
As already mentioned, the maximum installation height incl. fan is only 48mm. This measurement refers from the top of the CPU to the sidepanel.
Therefore the selection of suitable coolers is very limited. For the tests I also used coolers, higher than 48mm, which fit while using a thinner fan.

Now I would like to introduce the test candidates.

coolertest2kopie3op7k.jpg

cooler_4pjq1m.jpg



Intel Boxed cooler:
The Intel Boxed cooler is probably the most famous cooler at all. Every boxed Intel CPU includes this cooler. With an height of 47mm it fits perfectly in the case.
However this coolers is not very popular, because of his bad cooling performance.

Noctua L9i:
The L9i is one of the smallest cooler in this test. With a height of just 37mm incl. fan, it is truly tiny. The cooler includes the Noctua A9x14 fan,
which is also available without the heatsink. But the rotation speed is different for the standalone version. The L9i version offers 2500rpm and the standalone version 2200rpm.
Therefore I use the 2200rpm version in the test. Due to the low height of the cooler, it can also be operated with a 25mm thick fan inside the case.
So the L9i was also tested with the NF A9 PWM.

Silverstone Argon SST-AR05:
The AR05 is the smallest cooler in the test. Directly attached heatpipes to the CPU heatspreader are special for this cooler. This cooler was also tested with the NF A9 PWM.

Cooltek LP53:
With the default height of 53mm the LP53 wouldn't fit inside the case. But if you switch the f an with an thinner version like the A9x14 it fits.
However the mounting of at thin 92mm FAN must be performed with cable ties, because the default 92mm fan has mounting points of an 80mm fan.
As a special highlight I'm going to test this cooler with the Thermalright TR-Y100, which is the default fan of the AXP100 Cooler.
Whats special of this fan are the dimensions of 100x100x15mm and the increased air pressure towards to the A9x14.

Xigmatek Janus:
Even the Janus does not fit without adjustments on it, because with its 60mm it would actually be too high.
If you unscrew the 120mm top fan and change the lower 80mm fan to the Noctua A9x14, Thermalright TR-Y100 or Scythe SY1012SL12M the cooler fits.
The lower fan was mounting in priming position through the upper heatsink. Mounting it the other way results in 10°C higher temperatures.

Phanteks PH-TC12LS:
The last test sample is the PH-TC12LS. With it's 72mm this cooler is too hight as well, but after unscrewing the top fan it fits.
You can mount a Scythe SY1012SL12M (12mm) between the top fins and the lower heatplate.


CPU cooler test scenario:
The following tables are showing the test results in idle and under full load.
The fan speed is fixed to 100% with Speedfan for all tests, to show you the best possible values. Of course, under you can setup the fan speed to 30% for low usageand you will never reach 45°C.

For the idle test, the temperatures of all four cores without load were noted after 20 minutes on the desktop. The average value was insert into the table.
In load mode, the system is operating in Prime95 20min in 8K test. The 8K test produced the highest temperatures on the cores.

ATTENTION: The temperature values in Prime95 8K are not comparable to those in games or processor-intensive applications,
since Prime achieved a 15% higher CPU temperature as other applications.

cpu_idle56q37.jpg


cpu_loadnhrmq.jpg




Overvolting and Undervolting:
The next test should demonstrate what is possible by using the Cooltek LP53.
Therefore, Prime has been tested both in undervolted and in overvolted state. A normal Ivybridge could reach the 4,2-4,5Ghz stable with 1,2V voltage.
As you can see normal overclocking could be possible with the right cooler in this case. Or you can lower the noise level under load y undervolting the CPU.

ocuv2nqib.jpg




Graphics card cooling:
Another important part of this test are the results of cooling graphic cards in this case. Especially the comparison between radial cooler and top blow cards is important.

Info: Radial cooler cards blow the air out through the slot bracket from the housing.
Whereas Top-Blow cards blow the air directly on the heatsink and and the air escapes mostly upper and lower side of the card.
Only a very small part of the air escapes through the slot bracket.

For the test I use a Nvidia GTX 780 in the radial cooler design and a MSI GTX 970 Gaming G4 in top-blow design.

Graphics card test scenario:
Such as the CPU cooler, the graphics cards were tested in idle and load mode. The fan speed was fixed to 30% under idle and 60% under load for both cards.
The speeds was fixed with the tool MSI Afterburner. In the idle mode, both cards was very silent (subjective value).
At a speed of 60%, the GTX970 was still silent, but you are able to hear the GTX780.

For the measurement results, the cards were tested in 3D Mark Test Firestrike demo for 20min and 20min in idle on the desktop.
The 3DMark test ran in continuous loop and the temperatures were recorded with the Tool MSI Afterburner.

gpu_load_idlejoqnx.jpg




Case efficiency:
The final test was to prove the housing efficiency. The efficiency is the overall avarage temperature difference between an open body usage and usage inside the case.

efficiencyt2q03.jpg





Noise level:
Finally, I want to say something about the noise level of the components inside the case. Of course, these results are subjective, so everybody will percipience it different.

In idle and low usage mode (office, browsing or watching movies) each CPU can be cooled very silent. Under load you will hear the CPU cooler while testing with Prime95.
But under normal load usage in games like GTA5 or high load applications like rendering tools you can set the fan speed to 60%.
In this setup the cooler is far from being realy disturbing. By the time the game is starting with a normal volume, you can't hear nearly all coolers in the test.

Under normal usage and with a fan speed of 30% both cards are very silent. Only while playing games or running benchmarks with a fan speed of 60% the MSI card is still quiet,
but the GTX780 is definitely hearable.


Final words:
I hope I was able to convince even the last sceptics with this test, that it is possible to cool hardware from the impact of an NVIDIA Titanium X and an i7 4790K / 5775C in the DAN A4 SFX.
However the remarkable thing about this case is the cooling efficiency. It can accumulate air at any point and every component works cool technically self-sufficient without an the need of case fans.
Hot air rises and can escape directly over the top ventilation holes. All fans of the components blow into the case to provide pressure and promote a faster escape of the heated air over the top.

Thank you for reading my test. I will be back soon with many professional made product pictures.
Click to expand...

Hi Dan, I recently bought a Dan A4 V2 and I was looking for a nice GTX 1080 to put in it. Here are my specs so far

i7 6700k
Cryorig C7
Gigabyte Z170N-Wifi
Corsair LPX 16GB DDR4-2400
Samsung PM951 1TB M.2 SSD
iGPU (waiting to buy a 1080)
Dan A4 SFX
Corsair SF600

So with these soecs in mind, what style of 1080 would you recommend? Would an aftermarket open air design (like a EVGA FTW, ASUS Strix, MSI Gaming X, etc) be better over a blower style cooler (looking at the Founder Editions) or will the FE be cooler and quieter?

In my mind, better means cooler and quieter. I don't really care too much about aesthetics.

Thanks!
 
I think you should get a not-FE card, so that the fans won't turn on unless heavy gaming is happening.

Does any one know about LapDocks? I was thinking about getting one with the Dan A4 SFX so it could be a powerful gaming setup, as portable as it could be
 
Matthew Tina said:
Hi Dan, I recently bought a Dan A4 V2 and I was looking for a nice GTX 1080 to put in it. Here are my specs so far

i7 6700k
Cryorig C7
Gigabyte Z170N-Wifi
Corsair LPX 16GB DDR4-2400
Samsung PM951 1TB M.2 SSD
iGPU (waiting to buy a 1080)
Dan A4 SFX
Corsair SF600

So with these soecs in mind, what style of 1080 would you recommend? Would an aftermarket open air design (like a EVGA FTW, ASUS Strix, MSI Gaming X, etc) be better over a blower style cooler (looking at the Founder Editions) or will the FE be cooler and quieter?

In my mind, better means cooler and quieter. I don't really care too much about aesthetics.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

MSI makes the best gpu coolers according to all the reviews I've read. It just needs to be double slot, not triple slot. The MSI 1080 is double slot. (Their 1080ti is triple slot. So for 1080ti buyers, Dan has recommended the evga double slot cooler instead. )
 
bAMtan2 said:
MSI makes the best gpu coolers according to all the reviews I've read. It just needs to be double slot, not triple slot. The MSI 1080 is double slot. (Their 1080ti is triple slot. So for 1080ti buyers, Dan has recommended the evga double slot cooler instead. )
Click to expand...
bAMtan2 said:
MSI makes the best gpu coolers according to all the reviews I've read. It just needs to be double slot, not triple slot. The MSI 1080 is double slot. (Their 1080ti is triple slot. So for 1080ti buyers, Dan has recommended the evga double slot cooler instead. )
Click to expand...

So the Gaming X would work well? Can you show me where Dan said this?
 
Matthew Tina said:
So the Gaming X would work well? Can you show me where Dan said this?
Click to expand...

There are people in this thread running the msi gaming x 1080, but I don't blame you for not knowing that because dan hasn't updated the front page gpu compatibility list to say that YES the msi gaming x 1080 works! The problem is always cable management. Some people like to modify or buy right-angle power connectors.
 
I bought the v2, so I'm selling my v1 case. If someone is interested I have still the original package with all accessories. Just pm me :)
 
bAMtan2 said:
There are people in this thread running the msi gaming x 1080, but I don't blame you for not knowing that because dan hasn't updated the front page gpu compatibility list to say that YES the msi gaming x 1080 works! The problem is always cable management. Some people like to modify or buy right-angle power connectors.
Click to expand...

So the Gaming X would stay cool and quiet? Is there a better card I should get?
 
I'm sorry I keep bringing this up, I think probably 3 times in the last 300 pages, but is there NO way vertical-side push-pins can be implemented so we can get rid of that bulge in the middle of the side panels? I swear, once you see it you cannot unsee it, they bulge out and it's not by a negligible amount. The bottom flaps aren't really fixing the issue and no one uses them anyway, it'd be ideal if they were replaced by an alternative panel stabilizing solution. My OCD made me post this.
 
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Two quick questions guys.

1.What temperatures are you getting with the Asus Strix 1070 in the A4 in stock form and fans on auto ?

2. Did anybody installed the MSI Gaming 1070 in the A4 without flat pci-e connectors?

Thanks.
 
QuantumBraced said:
I'm sorry I keep bringing this up, I think probably 3 times in the last 300 pages, but is there NO way vertical-side push-pins can be implemented so we can get rid of that bulge in the middle of the side panels? I swear, once you see it you cannot unsee it, they bulge out and it's not by a negligible amount. The bottom flaps aren't really fixing the issue and no one uses them anyway, it'd be ideal if they were replaced by an alternative panel stabilizing solution. My OCD made me post this.
Click to expand...

My right side panel is about 1-1.5mm offset(downwards) and about 1mm in the top-front corner. I tried everything, screws no screws and is does stay the same.
Maybe add screws to the back of the case (like on the bottom of the panels)?
 
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