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

#6-32 x 3/4 in screws are what I used. As mentioned above, if you have the tools you can just cut the included screws down to size.

I also tried this, probably by wrong means (pincer) and damaged the first threads..
 

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How about this.... anyone used one of these in the A4?

Would be pretty epic if that fits...

http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/hydro-series-h5-sf-low-profile-liquid-cpu-cooler

View attachment 51222
Of course! :D
But you need 2 Dan A4: one for this cooler and one for all the rest of the build! :ROFLMAO:
Joke apart, this case in incredibly small...and you don't realize it before it's in your hand!
Yesterday try to fit just the pump of a Lepa Exllusion 240(just 4 joke, of course),
and yes, it doesn't fit!
Just 6cm height is too much! :whistle:


:vamp:(waiting 4 mobo):vamp:
 
Can anyone point me to a video or guide on how to properly fit the SF450's stock cables in the case when you have hard drives in the case's caddy?

For some reason I can't fit everything and my build looks like some animal whose intestines are falling out after a gruesome encounter with a predator. :(
 
How silent should SF450 be in idle? I'm asking not about fan noise but rather coil noise. Should it be complete silent?
 
How silent should SF450 be in idle? I'm asking not about fan noise but rather coil noise. Should it be complete silent?

I can't say that I've put my ear directly next to the PSU but I can't hear any type of coil whine from about 2-3 feet away when the room is quiet.
 
How silent should SF450 be in idle? I'm asking not about fan noise but rather coil noise. Should it be complete silent?

I personally haven't noticed any as of yet. I am however sitting at least 4-5 feet away from the case itself. I have two of em, and they both so far seem to behave very similar to the Seasonic units I've been using for the last decade.
 
Can anyone point me to a video or guide on how to properly fit the SF450's stock cables in the case when you have hard drives in the case's caddy?

For some reason I can't fit everything and my build looks like some animal whose intestines are falling out after a gruesome encounter with a predator. :(

I honestly tried the build with both the stock and the premium. It can be done, it's just a tighter/tougher fit with the stock cables. Unless you go the custom route you just gotta stuff em in there bro. FWIW I wound up using a molex to sata adapter for the two drives I have in the cage made the job way easier.
 
Hello! Been a lurker for a while, and here's my first post as I get closer to completing my DAN A4 SFX v2 build. I would like to run my build through here for comment before purchasing (got the case the other day, looks great but now it needs guts), so here it is so far:

CPU: Intel Core i5-8400
CPU Cooler: LP53 Heatsink + Noctua A9x14 Fan
Delid: Rockit 88 Kit with Thermal-Grizzly Kryonaut
PSU: Corsair SF600 600W Supply with cables from Cablemod
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming-ITX/ac
SSD: Samsung 960 EVO 500 GB M.2 NVMe
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB DDR4-3200 - F4-3200C14D-16GTZRX – 2x8GB Kit - http://gskill.com/en/product/f4-3200c14d-16gtzrx
GPU: Unknown at this time, haven’t researched as of yet.

I think everything here will work… but do have a couple concerns:
  1. Should I even bother to delid the i5-8400? I went back and forth a lot in my mind on i5-8400 vs i7-8700, and I see it seems delid is a given with the i7-8700 and the A4, and I’m not planning to OC. Is the Thermal-Grizzly Kryonaut suitable for inside the lid on the bare die as well as on the heatsink, or should I be looking for something even better like Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra?
  2. I’m questioning the RAM choice. Good timings and such, but is there any benefit to going to 3200 or even higher when the processor runs at 2666? I went with 2x8GB instead of 1x16 GB, even though I’d like to run 2x16 GB later on… but the cost is a bit nuts at the moment and don’t think I need it just yet. Looking at comments about the ASRock board, it seems as though it may allow me to bump the RAM throughput to 3200 without a K-spec processor.
No GPU just yet… figured this would be the last thing to get researched and purchased given the current market pricing/state. Any feedback you have on this build, would be awesome for someone that hasn’t built a PC in over 10 years (been going laptop to laptop, but now I want a nice small gaming rig like most of us here).

Thanks!
 
I personally haven't noticed any as of yet. I am however sitting at least 4-5 feet away from the case itself. I have two of em, and they both so far seem to behave very similar to the Seasonic units I've been using for the last decade.

I hear absolutely nothing from mine.

Thanks. I'm thinking I got faulty unit. Coil noise in mine case is notisable but not too much annoying. I could live with it. Corsair have long guarantee maybe I will try to sent it to RMA some day.
 
Hello! Been a lurker for a while, and here's my first post as I get closer to completing my DAN A4 SFX v2 build. I would like to run my build through here for comment before purchasing (got the case the other day, looks great but now it needs guts), so here it is so far:

CPU: Intel Core i5-8400
CPU Cooler: LP53 Heatsink + Noctua A9x14 Fan
Delid: Rockit 88 Kit with Thermal-Grizzly Kryonaut
PSU: Corsair SF600 600W Supply with cables from Cablemod
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming-ITX/ac
SSD: Samsung 960 EVO 500 GB M.2 NVMe
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB DDR4-3200 - F4-3200C14D-16GTZRX – 2x8GB Kit - http://gskill.com/en/product/f4-3200c14d-16gtzrx
GPU: Unknown at this time, haven’t researched as of yet.

I think everything here will work… but do have a couple concerns:
  1. Should I even bother to delid the i5-8400? I went back and forth a lot in my mind on i5-8400 vs i7-8700, and I see it seems delid is a given with the i7-8700 and the A4, and I’m not planning to OC. Is the Thermal-Grizzly Kryonaut suitable for inside the lid on the bare die as well as on the heatsink, or should I be looking for something even better like Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra?
  2. I’m questioning the RAM choice. Good timings and such, but is there any benefit to going to 3200 or even higher when the processor runs at 2666? I went with 2x8GB instead of 1x16 GB, even though I’d like to run 2x16 GB later on… but the cost is a bit nuts at the moment and don’t think I need it just yet. Looking at comments about the ASRock board, it seems as though it may allow me to bump the RAM throughput to 3200 without a K-spec processor.
No GPU just yet… figured this would be the last thing to get researched and purchased given the current market pricing/state. Any feedback you have on this build, would be awesome for someone that hasn’t built a PC in over 10 years (been going laptop to laptop, but now I want a nice small gaming rig like most of us here).

Thanks!

I would delid if I were you, it can only help. I am using the Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra but the Kryonaut is supposed to be just as good, but I would only use it between die and the IHS. Just get a regular TIM for the CPU cooler. From what I have read the liquid metal is difficult to use for a cooler and if you get any on the motherboard you can fry it.
 
How silent should SF450 be in idle? I'm asking not about fan noise but rather coil noise. Should it be complete silent?

I think there's no difference between the SF450 and SF600. The latter, by the way, is dead silent.
 
Dan Case vs Fractal Design Define Mini:

27292344_1781243028595175_1651614239_n.jpg


Who wants a 20% off CableMod cables?
Here's the coupon code to be entered at checkout: asus-83a99b4675cf6cfe-5
I got this coupon together with the motherboard but I'll be modding the cables myself.
 
I would delid if I were you, it can only help. I am using the Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra but the Kryonaut is supposed to be just as good, but I would only use it between die and the IHS. Just get a regular TIM for the CPU cooler. From what I have read the liquid metal is difficult to use for a cooler and if you get any on the motherboard you can fry it.

Thanks! I wasn't aware that the liquid metal was a hazard to the PCB. Makes sense.
 
Can anyone point me to a video or guide on how to properly fit the SF450's stock cables in the case when you have hard drives in the case's caddy?

For some reason I can't fit everything and my build looks like some animal whose intestines are falling out after a gruesome encounter with a predator. :(
My tips are:

Bend the cables hard at the plug.
Fold cables hard so they go back on themselves.
Cable tie them to hold them folded.

The key is to choose
IMAG1994~2.jpg
the distance between folds so it fits neatly in the under PSU area. That's a 15mm drive in my picture.

Don't fold your sata data cables though!
 
My tips are:

Bend the cables hard at the plug.
Fold cables hard so they go back on themselves.
Cable tie them to hold them folded.

The key is to choose the distance between folds so it fits neatly in the under PSU area. That's a 15mm drive in my picture.

Don't fold your sata data cables though!

Nice, thanks for the tip. I see we both have the same number and size of drives, and you managed with stock cables so it should work in my build too.
I did not think about having the SATA cables go behind the motherboard, that's a rookie mistake on my part. :)
 
sldr
Nice! How's the noise and heat with the window kit? I'm thinking of getting the opposite and go with Strix in there :)

you can hear the Turbo's fan a bit, because it always spins at 20% - compared to the Strix versions that don't spin when idle.
In-game you can clearly hear the high-pitched fan, but I'm either using headsets or using my AudioEngine A2+ speakers.

Look what arrived yesterday

IMG_0393.jpg
 
Nice, thanks for the tip. I see we both have the same number and size of drives, and you managed with stock cables so it should work in my build too.
I did not think about having the SATA cables go behind the motherboard, that's a rookie mistake on my part. :)
I did shorten and flip a couple of connectors on the drive power cable though. It's really easy to shorten the power cable. The connectors just come off and you push them back on in a new location. I used one cable to run all three drives. Don't flip the connector unless you are absolutely sure what your doing though or you'll probably burn out your drive. I'll post some pictures of the full process tonight but in the mean time here is a picture to show the result.
IMAG1410.jpg
 
you can hear the Turbo's fan a bit, because it always spins at 20% - compared to the Strix versions that don't spin when idle.
In-game you can clearly hear the high-pitched fan, but I'm either using headsets or using my AudioEngine A2+ speakers.

Look what arrived yesterday

View attachment 51419

I like the protection in this package lol :/
 
New cooler from Silverstone. Looks like a C7 but the fan looks like it would be less prone to the turbulence issue.

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/silverstone-outs-argon-series-ar11-low-profil-coolers.html

The AR11 was previewed at Computex 2017, and Aiboh took some measurements at SFF Forum that looked like it would be just barely too big for the A4 without replacing the fan. Looks like the final product ships with a thinner fan and will be able to fit in the A4 stock... but I imagine a lot of people will still swap the fan out anyway.

I'm looking forward to seeing reviews, my C7 is a bit too noisy
 
The AR11 was previewed at Computex 2017, and Aiboh took some measurements at SFF Forum that looked like it would be just barely too big for the A4 without replacing the fan. Looks like the final product ships with a thinner fan and will be able to fit in the A4 stock... but I imagine a lot of people will still swap the fan out anyway.

I'm looking forward to seeing reviews, my C7 is a bit too noisy
they say it is 47mm in height including the fan, which would be perfect.

sadly, no AM4 version afaik :/
 
And it's done.

I will surely need short and sleeved cables in order to get rid off this mess under the psu and of course to install the Noctua NF-B9 Redux.
And a larger SSD has to be bought, so that i can replace the SSD (behind the front panel) and the 2.5 HDD (in the drive bay).

Thanks for the Asrock, this Z87E-ITX model is equipped with a mSata port in the back of the motherboard where i have already installed a Samsung mSata SSD.

Temperatures are great in general although i cannot push the 4770K to 4.4Ghz. I have it settled at default speed until the Noctua fan is in its place in the case.

After months of waiting, it's finally done. Some additional touches will always be needed, a gypsy LED strip maybe, but the main part is completed.
 

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Mine is about to ship. I'm in the US. Surprised to hear that a v3 of this case is coming. Hopeful for a better power button this time around.

Dan can you tell is if you will be offering window kits again with v3?
 
Where did you hear about a V3? I recalled some time ago that Dan said he wouldnt be doing anymore of these cases and would focus on other projects e.g. The C4 case
 
Mine is about to ship. I'm in the US. Surprised to hear that a v3 of this case is coming. Hopeful for a better power button this time around.

Dan can you tell is if you will be offering window kits again with v3?
there is a v3 coming? I thought Dan said the V2 is going to be the last one, considering he is working on the C4 now, that did make sense
 
Mine is about to ship. I'm in the US. Surprised to hear that a v3 of this case is coming. Hopeful for a better power button this time around.

Dan can you tell is if you will be offering window kits again with v3?

Like the others, there is a V3 coming? That would be surprising but I'd back it still :p
 
in regards to watercooling a 1080 ti mini, would this work? https://www.alphacool.com/shop/new-...ia-geforce-gtx-1080ti-pro-m23-incl.-backplate

i can't find any actual size specs, but it doesn't look like it adds too much. it seems like the hoses have similar clearance as the power cables? looks like the pump is already integrated, so that should save some space. i guess you would only need a radiator and maybe a small res?

note: i have 0 experience with watercooling. i was planning on using the 545lc for the cpu, then i figured why not try to incorporate gpu cooling as well
 
Took a bit of work, but I managed to tidy up my cables! Yay, no need to order custom cables!
Thanks everyone for the tips.
 
The talks of v3 where from a German forum. Hardwareluxxe I think. The link is on kickstarter comments.

Man that AR11 is what I'm looking for a complete all black build!!! Wished it'll have an AM4 socket soon or I'll be forced with an Intel i5 8500 and an asrock board.
 
Cooool, but a new version should include new stuff/improvements he indicates that its will only be a riser change, so i would not call it a V3 tbh
 
Has Dan uploaded the Acrylic window CAD file for the window kit?
Has anybody made a custom window for the window kit yet?
 
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