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

I'm truly sorry for asking, because I know the extend to which this question has been asked, but I'm greatly considering pouring more money at dondan, and upgrading from my v1 to a v3, but I just want to know: Can I get one with those fancy window sidepanels?
 
Will the Gigabyte RTX 2080 Ti GAMING OC 11G fit in? It appears to be a 2-slot version, but looking at the product photos, the fan housing appears to be slightly over the 2-slot width (but I don't know by how much, because Gigabyte does not list the card's dimensions. Would a three-fan setup be able to cool the GPU more quietly than a 2-fan setup, like, for instance the one found on EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti XC GAMING? Any answers you may have are very much appreciated. Thank you very much.
 
About that, dondan where can we buy the new feet? i'm waiting for them for a while now.

Are you still waiting for feet? I recently contacted Dan through his site and he sent me 4 rubber feet for free. Installed them yesterday and now the case wont budge when pushing it :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jspr
like this
Anyone know of a USB 3.1 gen2 front panel USB-C port that will fit the A4 to replace the USB-A port?
 
Will any of the 2.75-slot designs of the 2080 or 2080 ti fit in? I know the question is most likely silly, but I just want to make sure there is simply no room for those kinds of boards to fit in. Thank you.

Sorry, no, these won't fit in the A4. Dan's in-progress C4-SFX does have accommodations for 2.5-slot cards, however.

Will the Gigabyte RTX 2080 Ti GAMING OC 11G fit in? It appears to be a 2-slot version, but looking at the product photos, the fan housing appears to be slightly over the 2-slot width (but I don't know by how much, because Gigabyte does not list the card's dimensions. Would a three-fan setup be able to cool the GPU more quietly than a 2-fan setup, like, for instance the one found on EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti XC GAMING? Any answers you may have are very much appreciated. Thank you very much.

Hard to tell, but if I had to guess from eyeballing the photos: no. I have a Gigabyte 10-series card, with a similar plastic shroud, but it doesn't extend nearly as much as the 2080 Ti GAMING appears to.
 
Anyone know of a USB 3.1 gen2 front panel USB-C port that will fit the A4 to replace the USB-A port?

Dan's cable is a custom design, so you won't find a drop-in replacement unless he chooses to source one. Last I heard, he does not intend to at this time.

I don't have a USB 3.1 header on my mobo, but have considered trying to mod one of these cables into my A4. Similarly, you could try the same with this one which supplies Gen2 speeds but only fits specific ASUS motherboards.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
  • Like
Reactions: sldr
like this
Got Windows installed on my new build last night (finally). No GPU yet but I performed a Prime95 stress on the CPU:

i7 7700K 4.2GHz
Cryorig C7 w/ 120mm Noctua 15mm
97C (yikes)

Underclocked the CPU to a measly 4.0GHz and it now sits at 80C under maximum load. A delid should get me a bit more performance but overall I'm happy with those results. Will have to retest once I've got a GPU in the machine.
 
Got Windows installed on my new build last night (finally). No GPU yet but I performed a Prime95 stress on the CPU:

i7 7700K 4.2GHz
Cryorig C7 w/ 120mm Noctua 15mm
97C (yikes)

Underclocked the CPU to a measly 4.0GHz and it now sits at 80C under maximum load. A delid should get me a bit more performance but overall I'm happy with those results. Will have to retest once I've got a GPU in the machine.

A fan shroud between the Noctua and the side panel will help with the temps. In lieu of a 3D-printed part, makeshift 'flaps' around the edge of the fan can easily be fashioned with gaffer's tape.
 
A fan shroud between the Noctua and the side panel will help with the temps. In lieu of a 3D-printed part, makeshift 'flaps' around the edge of the fan can easily be fashioned with gaffer's tape.
this is interesting. i'll give this a whirl this evening and will report back

luckily i've got a friend at work who has a 3d printer, so if you know any free designs for a shroud/funnel for this then i'd appreciate a link if you will
 
Why dont buy a fan adapter? Its cheaper then 3D print services, looks better and is easy to modify. U can easily grind down a fan adapter to the right hight with sandpaper

https://shop.bitspower.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_133&product_id=288
https://shop.bitspower.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_133&product_id=3896

The 3D printed adapters I designed mate to the C7 without modifications or zip ties.

How do you think the user would mount the 120mm fan to the C7 with the products you listed?

On an off note, I would not recommend the 120mm overall as most of the airflow generated is on the tips.
 
Got Windows installed on my new build last night (finally). No GPU yet but I performed a Prime95 stress on the CPU:

i7 7700K 4.2GHz
Cryorig C7 w/ 120mm Noctua 15mm
97C (yikes)

Underclocked the CPU to a measly 4.0GHz and it now sits at 80C under maximum load. A delid should get me a bit more performance but overall I'm happy with those results. Will have to retest once I've got a GPU in the machine.

Your fan is too big. The NF-A9x14 (92mm) Noctua fan will have better temps.
 
I have been seeing some builds on the Dan case and cpu Temps get me worried. I am really wanting to migrate my build to a v3 Dan case.
My current build is in a Silverstone Ml08. I have a 8700 non k and a scythe big Shuriken 2 Rev b with a thermalright ty14013 fan.

While gaming, my cpu boosts all cores to the maximum and stays below 60 degrees.

Would moving my build to a Dan Case with a cryorig c7 or Ar11 result in those above 80 degrees temperatures I see posted here and on reddit?

Cheers
 
I have been seeing some builds on the Dan case and cpu Temps get me worried. I am really wanting to migrate my build to a v3 Dan case.
My current build is in a Silverstone Ml08. I have a 8700 non k and a scythe big Shuriken 2 Rev b with a thermalright ty14013 fan.

While gaming, my cpu boosts all cores to the maximum and stays below 60 degrees.

Would moving my build to a Dan Case with a cryorig c7 or Ar11 result in those above 80 degrees temperatures I see posted here and on reddit?

Cheers

Yes. You will not get anywhere near the cooling with air coolers that fit in this case. And with water coolers, you'll have all the fun little issues with things besides the CPU heating up. The best setups (imo) are the ones with air coolers and CPUs running at stock power draw. I run the 8700 myself and wrestled my asus board into actually running it in stock config and temps are never an issue. But that's 65W TDP so it should never be an issue with any of these coolers or even the stock one. If you want to push it harder than that, you have this whole hundreds-page long thread filled with examples of how people have dealt with higher TDPs to refer to. But honestly, if you want to push your CPU I really would not recommend this case. I would wait for Dan's next case which will actually be designed around water cooling, just a bit bigger, and much better for the purpose. This case is gloriously tiny but thermals are ... difficult.
 
I have been seeing some builds on the Dan case and cpu Temps get me worried. I am really wanting to migrate my build to a v3 Dan case.
My current build is in a Silverstone Ml08. I have a 8700 non k and a scythe big Shuriken 2 Rev b with a thermalright ty14013 fan.

While gaming, my cpu boosts all cores to the maximum and stays below 60 degrees.

Would moving my build to a Dan Case with a cryorig c7 or Ar11 result in those above 80 degrees temperatures I see posted here and on reddit?

Cheers
Seems like you've already done your research, and know the answer already.
Your CPU wlll be warmer in the A4 than the ML08. Most heat problems are incorrectly installed heatsinks, and also from hot air being recirculated within the A4. Getting a duct will help the C7 fan pull cold air from outside the case.
 
hi guys !! I have some questions if anyone can help me that be great.

I plan on buying the A4-sfx v3 and a new RTX 2080ti and most likely going to need a sfx-l 800w to power the dam thing 130mm depth.

now I was thinking of using a AIO to cool the cpu and Dan website recommends a 92mm aio and 120mm aio comes with gpu restrictions now I am a little confused trying to work it all out as I am dyslexic so bare with me.

will the 120mm aio Silverstone slim still have the same GPU restrictions ? or will a full length RTX 2080ti still fit? I am considering the Asus Turbo model the blower fan if that helps ( dimensions of that gpu 26.9 x 11.4 x 4.2cm ) the 120mm aio slim with fan total thickness is 37mm
 
I have been seeing some builds on the Dan case and cpu Temps get me worried. I am really wanting to migrate my build to a v3 Dan case.
My current build is in a Silverstone Ml08. I have a 8700 non k and a scythe big Shuriken 2 Rev b with a thermalright ty14013 fan.

While gaming, my cpu boosts all cores to the maximum and stays below 60 degrees.

Would moving my build to a Dan Case with a cryorig c7 or Ar11 result in those above 80 degrees temperatures I see posted here and on reddit?

Cheers

You will never get 60 degrees in this case while gaming at full tilt. If you really go all out and de-lid, use a shroud/vent/duct or whatever, remove the I/O, buy the right mobo and optimize airflow and all of that, get lucky with a good chip, you maaaaybe could see high 70's low 80's. Check out the huge google spreadsheet available in this thread showing the hundreds of sample temps for high end rigs and look at what people had to do to shave a handful of degrees off their temps.

I personally don't care about higher temps other than the noise it generates. And your GPU is going to be way louder than the CPU fan when gaming anyway.
 
I'm pretty sure the Asetek smashes it, though I don't recall how much. It was going by what other folks had recorded and while the C7 Cu wasn't around at that time, it's not the upgrade to previous air coolers like the Asetek was
 
By the way, Kyle's build perfectly illustrates why ribbon-style cables are better for SFF than individually sleeved cables. They are way less bulky. His cable management was excellent to prevent the cables from interfering with the 92mm fan. If those had been individually sleeved cables, there would have been a lot more bulk and interference, and would have prevented him from using a longer GPU with that same style of cable management. So I'm not happy that Corsair is going to sleeved cables for their new SF series. What they needed was way less stiff cables, but still ribbon-style.
 
hi guys !! I have some questions if anyone can help me that be great.

I plan on buying the A4-sfx v3 and a new RTX 2080ti and most likely going to need a sfx-l 800w to power the dam thing 130mm depth.

now I was thinking of using a AIO to cool the cpu and Dan website recommends a 92mm aio and 120mm aio comes with gpu restrictions now I am a little confused trying to work it all out as I am dyslexic so bare with me.

will the 120mm aio Silverstone slim still have the same GPU restrictions ? or will a full length RTX 2080ti still fit? I am considering the Asus Turbo model the blower fan if that helps ( dimensions of that gpu 26.9 x 11.4 x 4.2cm ) the 120mm aio slim with fan total thickness is 37mm

You will never fit a SFX-L PSU with the 92mm AIO, it barely fits with the SFX PSU. In order to use a 120mm AIO you have 2 choices, you either use an itx size graphic card (175mm) or you use a HDPlex instead of the SFX. There are no itx 1080 Ti so I doubt there will be any 2080 Ti ones and the current state of HDPlex you cannot power a 8700k + 1080 Ti so the 2080 Ti will be even worse.
 
You will never fit a SFX-L PSU with the 92mm AIO, it barely fits with the SFX PSU. In order to use a 120mm AIO you have 2 choices, you either use an itx size graphic card (175mm) or you use a HDPlex instead of the SFX. There are no itx 1080 Ti so I doubt there will be any 2080 Ti ones and the current state of HDPlex you cannot power a 8700k + 1080 Ti so the 2080 Ti will be even worse.

Thank you for clearing that up for me :) Nvidia states the RTX 2080ti will need 650w so my only option will be the sfx-l psu.

So my best option should be a full copper cooler such as the c7 cu that give me a tdp of 115 unless you guys have a better recommendation?
http://www.cryorig.com/c7cu.php
 
Thank you for clearing that up for me :) Nvidia states the RTX 2080ti will need 650w so my only option will be the sfx-l psu.

So my best option should be a full copper cooler such as the c7 cu that give me a tdp of 115 unless you guys have a better recommendation?
http://www.cryorig.com/c7cu.php

A lot of people think that nVidia is just being conservative with their power requirements. This is what is listed for the EVGA 2080 Ti:
650-Watt or greater power supply.
PCI Express, PCI Express 2.0 or PCI Express 3.0 compliant motherboard with one graphics slot.
Two available 8-pin or 6+2-pin PCI-E power dongles.
Total Power Draw: 250 Watts.

The 2080 is the same except for 210 watt power draw. I can guarantee you the rest of your system is not pulling 400 watts. 600 watt SFX PSU will be more than sufficient.
 
Also remember manufacturers need to account for people using generally crappy/generic PSUs, so recommended PSUs are always much higher than what you actually need to run it. You can run the 2080 ti with a standard desktop CPU (consumer not HEDT) quite easily on an quality SFX 450 if you really wanted to.
 
Also remember manufacturers need to account for people using generally crappy/generic PSUs, so recommended PSUs are always much higher than what you actually need to run it. You can run the 2080 ti with a standard desktop CPU (consumer not HEDT) quite easily on an quality SFX 450 if you really wanted to.

Exactly, there is a guy over at SFF with a 8700k and 1080 Ti that regularly monitors his power usage. He stated the highest he has seen is 330 watts.

But if you are really worried about it Silverstone has a 650 watt SFX PSU.
 
and what about all the people with stability issues and having to underclock to get it sorted? what about spikes/surges on the gpu? just stick to the recommended.
 
and what about all the people with stability issues and having to underclock to get it sorted? what about spikes/surges on the gpu? just stick to the recommended.

i Have always believed not to cut corners on the PSU , Nvidia recommends 650w for the GPU so to allow myself the extra headroom I thought the sfx-l 800w would be a safe bet to power the entire system with out issue.

Asus RTX 2080 TI turbo is not overclocked like the founders edition but also I have not seen any power requirements for that yet so I am just placing a safe bet atm
 
I agree not to cut corners on PSUs. But we often greatly exaggerate the wattage requirement.. Just remember it's also not always the most important metric of a PSU.

I worked at an Online tech retailer, and the amount of people sending through their 'hey is this a good list' with a standard i5, mid range card, and a 1000w+ psu in a standard ATX format was insane.

Either way I think the 600w variants for any single-GPU system is more than enough. 800w is just overkill IMO.
 
I agree not to cut corners on PSUs. But we often greatly exaggerate the wattage requirement.. Just remember it's also not always the most important metric of a PSU.

I worked at an Online tech retailer, and the amount of people sending through their 'hey is this a good list' with a standard i5, mid range card, and a 1000w+ psu in a standard ATX format was insane.

Either way I think the 600w variants for any single-GPU system is more than enough. 800w is just overkill IMO.


Well silverstone do a 650w SFX PSU and that would allow me enough space for a 92mm Aio.
Be nice for Asus to release some recommended power requirements
 
Ok checking some online power calculators and they are suggesting 515w as recommended so a 650w SFX should be more then enough
 
I will admit this RTX launch has felt very cloack and dagger, demos done on incompleted game code with Alpha drivers so terrible FPS demonstration at 1080p with ray tracing on and just days later after the back lash Nvidia released performance benchmarks showing 1.5x - 2x performance over the 1080 but no Mention of the setup that achieved this result with no note of FPS at 4K that these results where suppose to achieve. So I am very sceptical atm

But my current system is running the original haswel i5 3ghz and a gtx 980 and it’s starting to show it’s age :(
 
The released benchmarks are crap...
First there are some HDR benchmarks. Its known that the 1080 is at least 10% slower using HDR. The RTX series probably hasnt the problem anymore..
Second the benched the 1080 @ 4k. The performance impact on a GTX 1080 @ 4k is much higher then on lower resolutions. So the benched the worst possible perofmance achievable with a 1080 and compared it to the new RTX, which hasnt any perfomance problems @ 4k and HDR

RTX will be at best 30% faster... even if the are 50% faster, the RTX series is still to expensive for the perfomance they deliver.. at the actual price they should be at least 80% faster then the GTX series.
 
Back
Top