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

Got my V2 yesterday and moved my hardware into it. I'm having a hell of a time fitting the AIO and EVGA 1080 Ti FTW3 in there. I can't close the CPU side panel because the mess of wires from the PSU have nowhere to go, specifically the huge ATX cable. There is no void space when the AIO is installed. Any tips on routing these? Are custom cables the answer?

I was having the same issue. Like sldr I picked up the Corsair cables eventually (which I'll be posting about later today), but I was also using the stock cables successfully with a 92mm fan grill installed over the noctua fan, then I routed the 2 PCI-E cables up the channel between the PSU and the motherboard, the 24-pin across the noctua and stuffing whatever excess into the space between the radiator and the front ssd panel, etc etc. Twisty ties or zip ties help a bit. You can see some layouts from prevous posts of mine and others, but it's fairly simple to manage all the cables except the 24-pin which requires a little more...attention than the others in my experience.

Edit: I'm late, I see you already found a solution!
 
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Received the case yesterday and built last night. Set up everything else today. Gotta say, I'm impressed (and relieved) at the temperatures I am getting with an i5 8400 and Strix 1080. Absolutely love the case.
 
What's the best cooler currently available for the Dan A4 with a delidded 7700k running at stock temps on a Z270i mobo? I have a Cryorig C7 but not really too happy about temps or noise with the current setup while it has the side panel on.
 
I put my L9i in and I love it. It might not be the "best" cooler, but it is very simple to install, easily available, cheap, pretty much silent. it gets you 80% of the way there with minimal effort, so it was the preferred choice for me.
 
Disclaimer: Usual apology for non-ideal camera or lighting conditions.

This is the upgrade from my previous Maximus VII Impact build here.

Specs:
Asus ROG Strix B350i Gaming
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0
Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz @ 32 GB
Samsung 950 Pro 512 GB
Samsung 960 Evo 1 TB
Samsun 850 Evo 500 GB
Corsair SF600 PSU
Asetek 545LC AIO CPU Cooler
Noctua A9x14 92mm Fan
Reevan Vanxie 80x10mm fan

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Below are the temps I've gotten on core components. While gaming is not all I do with this rig, it is the most thermally demanding activity even if the device in question is not directly involved in gaming. All temps are reported from HWiNFO after an hour of using it normally.

CPU
Idle temps: 44 C~
Gaming temps: 50-75 C

GPU

Idle: 51 C
Gaming: 75 C

Drives
950 (back M.2 slot, system drive)
Idle: 62 C
Gaming: 73 C

960 (front M.2, virtual machine drive)
Idle: 62 C
Gaming: 74 C
Note: This drive reports 2 temperature sets, so I included the set that was higher.

850 (front panel ssd, game storage)
Idle: 34 C
Gaming: 40 C

Motherboard
Note: This board does not include VRM sensors for some reason, so I am reporting the highest reported temp.
Idle: 60 C
Gaming: 74 C

All temps are with the 80mm fan off. It makes an unbelievable amount of noise even on a silent curve and I haven't determined if it's turbulence or a bad fan. Also, I plan to reroute the 24pin cable into the GPU area as I've seen in other builds as it will make closing the side panel a little easier (everything closes but there is a small amount of pressure on the panel from the cabling). Haven't set up the RGB effects the way I want so I don't have any pics of it lit up, but the lighting zones are pretty tastefully placed.

Also, I have some concerns about the AIO tubes being right over the exhaust fan; is it possible that the water will start heating up from the exhaust, creating a feedback loop?
 
Woah! A 1800x in there and still decent temps compared to a 8700.I'll be waiting for the zen+ before deciding on grabbing either the zen+ or an i5 8500 then plug in the upcoming c7 copper aswell. If not for the ridiculous ram and gpu prices April could have been an awesome time to build a pc :(
 
Received the case yesterday and built last night. Set up everything else today. Gotta say, I'm impressed (and relieved) at the temperatures I am getting with an i5 8400 and Strix 1080. Absolutely love the case.
Which cooler? How are your temps? I really think the 8400 is the chip to get if you want to go intel.
 
Here are my temps after 8 hours of general usage and gaming:

0EeNqeT.png


Here are my temps after 17 hours of mining (ZCL, 60% GPU power, +100 core, +500 mem)

d8PZQsj.png



I can't seem to find any VRM temps. I also need to replace the little 40mm fan pointing at my NVME drive because that thing is LOUD!
 
Cheers to dondan for making this fantastic case. No other case I've worked in, even the ncase, felt so rewarding to get everything "just right." Best puzzle box I ever bought, and looking forward to whatever the next tiny case is.
 
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Hi,
img_3545hns2c.jpg

My case arrived and finished it to 90% :D


Here is a Pic and the rest is in SPOILER ABOVE



Configuration:

8700K delided [email protected]
gigabyte 1080ti@2ghz 1.05
16gb 3000 spectrix Adata XPG
Alphacool monsta 180mm
Silverstone Airpenetrator & Phoby G-silent 18
AC Kryos Next Vision
Silent loop (pump)
XSPC Razer neo
Corsair SF 600
Crucial 525gb m2 sata



Temps are to awesome ^^
 
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Hi,
img_3545hns2c.jpg

My case arrived and finished it to 90% :D


Here is a Pic and the rest is in Spoiler



Configuration:

8700K delided [email protected]
gigabyte 1080ti@2ghz 1.05
16gb 3000 spectrix Adata XPG
Alphacool monsta 180mm
Silverstone Airpenetrator & Phoby G-silent 18
AC Kryos Next Vision
Silent loop (pump)
XSPC Razer neo
Corsair SF 600
Crucial 525gb m2 sata



Temps are to awesome ^^

Damn you got a good 8700k, mine takes 1.35v to run at 5.0 Ghz.
 
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I've ordered now smaller corsair ram (not the RGB LED versions anymore)... Did someone need's 2x 16GB (32GB) Corsair Vengeance LED RGB 3200-DDR4? May be for a slightly better Price?
 
Hi guys, so its been a while since I last posted but some people wanted me to update them with my psu mod, so eventually I managed to fit in my Corsair SF600 rotated 90deg but this required some custom plates made up and a large cutout from the frame. the main reason for this mod was because I didn't like the psu cabes to come down directly towards the aio fan. I cut and re soldered the psu cables to custom lengths to make sure everything fit snugly, let me know what you think

Build:
i7 8700k delidded (not OC yet)
Asus z370 i
Corsair LP3 16GB 3200
500GB Samsung 960 evo
1TB Samsung 850 evo
asetek aio with noctua 92 mm x 14mm
corsair sf600
 

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Can you take more pictures on how you routed the cables?

Yes, I will have them up later today. Also, the 92mm fan grill was essential so if you don't have one, I highly recommend it. It has made installing the PSU and cables repeatedly much less troublesome.
 
Does anyone know if dondan has released a sketchup file for the case? looking to to test fit parts before the case arrives.

Thanks,
Jesse!
 
Hi guys, so its been a while since I last posted but some people wanted me to update them with my psu mod, so eventually I managed to fit in my Corsair SF600 rotated 90deg but this required some custom plates made up and a large cutout from the frame. the main reason for this mod was because I didn't like the psu cabes to come down directly towards the aio fan. I cut and re soldered the psu cables to custom lengths to make sure everything fit snugly, let me know what you think

Build:
i7 8700k delidded (not OC yet)
Asus z370 i
Corsair LP3 16GB 3200
500GB Samsung 960 evo
1TB Samsung 850 evo
asetek aio with noctua 92 mm x 14mm
corsair sf600

Wow this actually looks pretty interesting. Maybe future revisions can provide this as a mounting location. I hope in future the USB header is positioned somewhere different (possibly above or next to the power button) so that it doesn't have to be sacrificed for AIO use like this.
 
dglow Both of them got bad bearing noise at low RPM but the Silverstone´s is a bit quieter.

rfarmer ty yeah 1.15 is really nice but i will try testing my water setup with chips they make the 5g around 1.3-1.35 volt to see how the temps with this higher voltages :)

@PcHangover Because i love the Shape and construction of the Dan case and if we are honest then he makes a really really great job at all. N case is nice too but maybe its matter of taste ^^

The silent loop as replacement for the Laing DCC was the best Solution and the flow and noise is more then enough
 
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dglow Both of them got bad bearing noise at low RPM but the Silverstone´s is a bit quieter.

rfarmer ty yeah 1.15 is really nice but i will try testing my water setup with chips they make the 5g around 1.3-1.35 volt to see how the temps with this higher voltages :)

@PcHangover Because i love the Shape and construction of the Dan case and if we are honest then he makes a really really great job at all. N case is nice too but maybe its matter of taste ^^

The silent loop as replacement for the Laing DCC was the best Solution and the flow and noise is more then enough

Cool! Thanks for your input. It is a wonderful case.
 
Can you take more pictures on how you routed the cables?

sldr It's really hard to show it without pulling out the 24pin cable, and after all the times I've reassembled the system I just couldn't bear to do it again. Looking from the motherboard side, I ran the GPU power cables right and up the the right-side of the PSU and the 8-pin around the front of the connectors then down through the little cutout next to the bottom of the ram and through the cutout underneath the motherboard. From the GPU side, I ran the 24pin to the left as tightly as I could through the PSU/Motherboard channel, curled it on itself and connected it, and kinda pushed the twist as much under the motherboard cutout as I could.

I don't know if any of that makes any sense, but here's the best pictures I could take without tearing everything apart again. Hope that helps, or at least gives you a starting point!
 

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I use EVGA 1080 FTW DT, When I doing game, maximum temp is 70C.
Temp is okay, but fan makes a lot of noise. I assume that A4's VGA cooling is good. Because it always gets fresh air. But it spins more than 1700rpm. So it is noisy. PUBG has no BGM, and my g533 headset nearly can't noise isolation.
It makes me annoying. Can you bear a noise by VGA?
 
I use EVGA 1080 FTW DT, When I doing game, maximum temp is 70C.
Temp is okay, but fan makes a lot of noise. I assume that A4's VGA cooling is good. Because it always gets fresh air. But it spins more than 1700rpm. So it is noisy. PUBG has no BGM, and my g533 headset nearly can't noise isolation.
It makes me annoying. Can you bear a noise by VGA?

I run the 1080 Ti FTW3 and the 40mm fan I have cooling my NVME drive is WAY louder than the graphics card.
 
I run the 1080 Ti FTW3 and the 40mm fan I have cooling my NVME drive is WAY louder than the graphics card.
I saw your situation. did you get rid of 2.5inch ssd on upper side? When I got A4, I was installed A4 under desk(using cpu holder). My system throttled soon. A4's holes need be opened I think.
Your 40mm is so small and placed the center of the case which is full of hot air(by the radiator). I think Your NVME need more fresh air. is there no room for A9x14? I can see the screw hole near the nvme heatsink. You can use them. and removing I/O shield is perhaps good.
As I know the motherboard is not good. it has poor VRM capacity and easily get heat.
 
I saw your situation. did you get rid of 2.5inch ssd on upper side? When I got A4, I was installed A4 under desk(using cpu holder). My system throttled soon. A4's holes need be opened I think.
Your 40mm is so small and placed the center of the case which is full of hot air(by the radiator). I think Your NVME need more fresh air. is there no room for A9x14? I can see the screw hole near the nvme heatsink. You can use them. and removing I/O shield is perhaps good.
As I know the motherboard is not good. it has poor VRM capacity and easily get heat.

The SSD is still in the upper side and is working fine. I really don't have any heat issues right now even while heavy gaming and mining. I'd like to fit a bigger fan in there to help with vrm cooling so we'll see how that works out.
 
For anyone interested. Wallye finally released V2 of their Tactik bag that is designed to fit cases like the A4 and a bunch of other stuff:

http://kck.st/2sI88wz

I got the weekender + padding + tkl sleeve

So, I wanted a carrying bag pretty much as slim as I could get it. This bag: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LW1E4CF is <$13 and fits the case AMAZINGLY for the price.

It has some sectional padding I got rid of. Then it has a section at the back which is not able to be removed but it fits without the window panels with it just fine. I am using the window panels so to make it easy, I just cut it off using scissors.

It becomes a very compact fit, some space/compartments at the front can hold small things, maybe a mouse, etc. And I will be placing my 60% keyboard on the top of the case once it's inside.

If someone is interested and needs pics let me know.
 
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So, I wanted a carrying bag pretty much as slim as I could get it. This bag: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LW1E4CF is <$13 and fits the case AMAZINGLY for the price.

It has some sectional padding I got rid of. Then it has a section at the back which is not able to be removed but it fits without the window panels with it just fine. I am using the window panels so to make it easy, I just cut it off using scissors.

It becomes a very compact fit, some space/compartments at the front can hold small things, maybe a mouse, etc. And I will be placing my 60% keyboard on the top of the case once it's inside.

If someone is interested and needs pics let me know.

I'd be interested in some pics.
 
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As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Here it is, the IMGUR album here: https://imgur.com/a/TafpF has the explanations of what I did and how I use it but it's pretty basic.

Seriously, for $13, it takes the sting off purchasing a case this pricey :whistle:

Link for bag: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LW1E4CF

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Looks good. I just ordered one to see how I like it. If it's good enough I can save a bunch of money from the other bag.
 
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Can I please ask a few of you good folks to review a proposed build / order, for a DAN A4 v2?

I'd be really, hugely grateful for any advice / guidance.

I have needed to save for longer than I care to admit (a few years, sadly) in order to be able to do something like this, so I'd really like to be sure that the parts will fit, and that there aren't any glaring problems with it.

I'm considering ordering the following system:
  • ASUS ROG Strix Z370-I Gaming Motherboard
  • Intel Core i7 8700
  • Noctua NH-L9i Low Profile Intel CPU Cooler
  • SilverStone 550W SFX Power Supply
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX CMK32GX4M2A2666C16 32GB (2x16GB) 2666MHz DDR4
  • Samsung 960 PRO 512GB M.2 (PCIE) SSD
  • ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080, 8GB
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Home Retail Pack
Sooo... are there any issues with the above?

I tried to pick Memory on the "small" side - in terms of physical footprint.

Gonna be too hot? I can redo the CPU cooler down the track, if needed - computer store would rather I work with the parts they stock, initially.

If the Strix doesn't fit (but I believe it will) or if it's too loud, or hot or something, I also have the following GPU options, listed from most costly to least costly for me:
  1. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Extreme Edition, 8GB
  2. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Edition, 8GB
  3. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 Ti AMP! Edition, 8GB
  4. ASUS Turbo GeForce GTX 1070, 8GB
  5. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP! Core Edition, 8GB
  6. ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1060 OC, 6GB
  7. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 AMP! Edition, 6GB
But... no lower than that, otherwise I'd just have bought a laptop again.

My current machine is a 2010 release N53JQ laptop from ASUS, so this is a huge upgrade for me. But a powerful machine, available at lunchtime at work, has given me a chance to really get into CAD and modeling, which I want to be able to pursue at home... and also do some mind-blowing gaming, of course, like back in my youth.

Again, thanks in advance for any assistance offered.
 
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When will a manufacturer come out with an alternative GPU cooler that takes advantage of the added real estate at top/bottom area when using vertical mounted GFX cards? It could either be pre installed or an aftermarked solution, and it could be specially tailored for the A4, or as a general solutions that should fit all the most popular cases with the Dancase configuration.
 
Can I please ask a few of you good folks to review a proposed build / order, for a DAN A4 v2?

I'd be really, hugely grateful for any advice / guidance.

I have needed to save for longer than I care to admit (a few years, sadly) in order to be able to do something like this, so I'd really like to be sure that the parts will fit, and that there aren't any glaring problems with it.

I'm considering ordering the following system:
  • ASUS ROG Strix Z370-I Gaming Motherboard
  • Intel Core i7 8700
  • Noctua NH-L9i Low Profile Intel CPU Cooler
  • SilverStone 550W SFX Power Supply
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX CMK32GX4M2A2666C16 32GB (2x16GB) 2666MHz DDR4
  • Samsung 960 PRO 512GB M.2 (PCIE) SSD
  • ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080, 8GB
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Home Retail Pack
Sooo... are there any issues with the above?

I tried to pick Memory on the "small" side - in terms of physical footprint.

Gonna be too hot? I can redo the CPU cooler down the track, if needed - computer store would rather I work with the parts they stock, initially.

If the Strix doesn't fit (but I believe it will) or if it's too loud, or hot or something, I also have the following GPU options, listed from most costly to least costly for me:
  1. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Extreme Edition, 8GB
  2. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Edition, 8GB
  3. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 Ti AMP! Edition, 8GB
  4. ASUS Turbo GeForce GTX 1070, 8GB
  5. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP! Core Edition, 8GB
  6. ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1060 OC, 6GB
  7. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 AMP! Edition, 6GB
But... no lower than that, otherwise I'd just have bought a laptop again.

My current machine is a 2010 release N53JQ laptop from ASUS, so this is a huge upgrade for me. But a powerful machine, available at lunchtime at work, has given me a chance to really get into CAD and modeling, which I want to be able to pursue at home... and also do some mind-blowing gaming, of course, like back in my youth.

Again, thanks in advance for any assistance offered.

It can fit full gpus as long as they are 2 slots. I think the Strix 1080 ti is the only 2.5 slot in the Strix line so 1080 and below will fit in. I'm just not sure the you can cool the 8700 with one fan alone you need to put another 92mm on the drive slot and try to get more airflow.

Edit: my bad sadly strix 1080 would fort but 1070 and below you should have no problems. You can view the 1st page for a complete list of viable gpu's to be sure.
 
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