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

Hey guys,
Today I tested the LP53 and the TY-100.

results TY-100:
- at full speed it's a tiny bit louder than the NF-A9x14, but mounted on a NH-L9i it cools it a few degrees better.
- at 1900 rpm the NF-A9x14 cools better and both are equally quiet.

results LP53:
- in general identical performence to NH-L9i. Sometimes a few degrees better than NH-L9i.
- I testet both with my i5-3570k@4,3 Ghz, delidded and liquid metal thermal paste. I testet both with the NF-A9x14 at 1850rpm and 2550rpm with and without the I/O shield.

Conclusion:
I use my NH-L9i with the NF-A9x14 @1850rpm until there is a cooler that outperforms it, without being louder. So far, I don't think there is any on the market that could do that. If you think there is one, prove me wrong by submitting your results. I would highly appreciate that. :)

https://do
cs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aZfTysWc4dtJC33qkLCjLkhPnzVLtbCtjpxoZeT92ZA/edit#gid=0
 
Last edited:
J_bravo14 said:
Thanks for such extensive testing.

I have noticed that you did not have any I/O shield in-place during these testing, which may increase the temps a little.

I'm impressed with the results you got, in my scenario (Node 202 Case + 4770K (delid) + LP53 Noctua combo ) i top out at 85 C.

Looking at ways to mod the I/O shield to have vents.
Click to expand...

i have the node 202 case, it didn't have very good temps, i think it's because of the dust filters.

dopa said:
You are doing god's work here :)

With the 4mm standoffs you should have room for a 25mm thick fan. Do you happen to have a 92x25mm fan?
It would also be interesting how a slim and regular 120mm fan would cool and sound on the LP53. I think you don't have LP RAM so you would need to temporarily remove one instead to fit the fan in.
Click to expand...

If i used a 25mm fan i might get the turbulence problem again, theres not that much point anyway, i think the temps and silence of the a9x14 is good enough, i plan to delid when my delidding tool finally arrives. i think if Dan makes a fully copper cool i will buy that, that'll be the last one lol. im still waiting on a nexus too
 
just bought the lp53 to do some testing on.
couldn't resist considering that there was the $10 off $50 USD ebay coupon code CFEBFLASH10OFF

I got way to many coolers now...

nexus low-7000
cyrorig c7
scythe shuriken big 2
thermalright axp-100h
thermolab's lp53
also another engineering sample beast full copper cooler on the way

plus maybe 3 ty-100 fans, a a9x14 one, a prolimatech 12 slim one...

a rockit delid tool,Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra, and Kryonaut thermal paste....

think I got an addiction. halp! lol
 
mcheddadi said:
just bought the lp53 to do some testing on.
couldn't resist considering that there was the $10 off $50 USD ebay coupon code CFEBFLASH10OFF

I got way to many coolers now...

nexus low-7000
cyrorig c7
scythe shuriken big 2
thermalright axp-100h
thermolab's lp53
also another engineering sample beast full copper cooler on the way

plus maybe 3 ty-100 fans, a a9x14 one, a prolimatech 12 slim one...

a rockit delid tool,Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra, and Kryonaut thermal paste....

think I got an addiction. halp! lol
Click to expand...

Don't worry man you aren't the only one lol
 
Meccabolix said:
Just got my LP53, zip-tied the TY-100 fan onto it and ......



Idle temps:

View attachment 17693

Prime 95 temps:

View attachment 17694

Bloody hell ..... looks like the LP53 + TY-100 is in the lead so far in my tests! This is on my 6700K @4.4Ghz as usual.

I didn't even see it hit 86°C, must have only been for a split second, 99% of the time it was hovering between 81 and 83°C

This is with the 4mm standoffs and no I/O shield. i have used the same thermal paste on all of these tests btw, the Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, i applied it with the included spreader as per the instructions.

It's silent at idle and pretty quiet at full speed. It's actually a lower pitch when the side panel is on, but sounds more or less the same with the side panel both on and off, which is good. the 4mm standoffs may be helping with this as the fan is further away from the side panel than it would be without the shorter standoffs, therefore creating much less air turbulence.



Man i am jealous, seeing how good this tiny little copper cooler performs has me itching for one now lol

I'm wondering if the fins being copper has anything to do with the lower temps, its barely taller than the AR05 and cools much better, and that has copper direct contact heatpipes, the LP53 doesnt have direct contact heatpipes, doesn't look like it even needs them.

I'm hoping Dondan can do a fully copper cooler, the temps show that its far more efficient than aluminium, at least in this super small cooler range.
Click to expand...


Just out of curiosity, did you install the TY-100 onto the Cryorig C7 using zip ties as well?
 
Meccabolix said:
Don't worry man you aren't the only one lol
Click to expand...
Certainly not, but the problem is somewhere else. After a moment the use of the entire case is heated to 60 ° C and the fan in the power supply and rotated at full speed and roaring like a vacuum cleaner
 
mcheddadi said:
just bought the lp53 to do some testing on.
couldn't resist considering that there was the $10 off $50 USD ebay coupon code CFEBFLASH10OFF

I got way to many coolers now...

nexus low-7000
cyrorig c7
scythe shuriken big 2
thermalright axp-100h
thermolab's lp53
also another engineering sample beast full copper cooler on the way

plus maybe 3 ty-100 fans, a a9x14 one, a prolimatech 12 slim one...

a rockit delid tool,Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra, and Kryonaut thermal paste....

think I got an addiction. halp! lol
Click to expand...
54394511.jpg

No but seriously I have these coolers:
Silverstone R05
Cooltek LP53
Thermalright AXP-100RH
Phanteks PH-TC12LS
Cooljag Falcon II
Dynatron K1
Dynatron K129
Noctua NH-L9i
Cryorig C7
Nexus R2 7000 (not yet received)
a secret heatsink
a custom heatsink

Fans:
NF-A9
NF-B9
Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 12
and all the fans from all the heatsinks

Other stuff:
Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
Coollaboratory Liquid Pro
three new thermal probes
A sonometer (which I got for free from work)
A Rockit delid tool (not yet received)
Multiple bags of small heatsinks (from work)


I might have a problem....
 
Ivan Pla said:
Some Ryzen 1700 benchmarks are already 'rising' and it's looking very interesting: http://126kr.com/article/5cfgpfkknr6
Click to expand...
Article: wccftech

"Ryzen’s instructions per clock are significantly higher than anything AMD ever had before. In fact, according to the latest benchmarks Ryzen offers even better single-threaded performance/clock than Intel’s Kaby Lake."

Userbench single threaded IPC test results (both at 4.5GHz; results are scaled up and do not reflect actual clk of Ryzen):
Ryzen 7 1700X: 147
i7 7700K: 140

That cannot possibly be true can it?
I see that the R7s have more cache and the single threaded advantage probably comes from that extra cache and not actually because of the IPC itself.
Still, this would be huge for AMD. This would mean that an R5 1600X at somewhere around 4.2GHz (OC) on all six cores would be able to outperform the i7 7700K in multithreaded loads. Only difference is that the expected price is only 260$.

If this is actually true Intel will absolutely have to lower their prices significantly or they would have to drop Cannonlake with a huge performance improvement.
 
blonda007 said:
Certainly not, but the problem is somewhere else. After a moment the use of the entire case is heated to 60 ° C and the fan in the power supply and rotated at full speed and roaring like a vacuum cleaner
Click to expand...

My SF450 sounded like a vacuum after 5 mins on full GPU load (mind you it's a 1060). Swapped it for an SF600 and the difference is night and day. Maybe I had a terrible 450 and a great 600, either way, try another PSU if yours is loud. Mine's no longer the loudest component.
 
epitaphic said:
My SF450 sounded like a vacuum after 5 mins on full GPU load (mind you it's a 1060). Swapped it for an SF600 and the difference is night and day. Maybe I had a terrible 450 and a great 600, either way, try another PSU if yours is loud. Mine's no longer the loudest component.
Click to expand...
let me guess .... using GPU with aftermarket cooler ....
 
David A4 said:
I have a really really curious question!, how much space in millimeters is there saved between the GPU block and the side OF the case??? I really gotta know the answer!
Click to expand...

I'll get you a measurement when I get home tomorrow evening.
 
epitaphic said:
My SF450 sounded like a vacuum after 5 mins on full GPU load (mind you it's a 1060). Swapped it for an SF600 and the difference is night and day. Maybe I had a terrible 450 and a great 600, either way, try another PSU if yours is loud. Mine's no longer the loudest component.
Click to expand...
I've got a SF450 and a EVGA 970 SSC - my PSU does not even spin up during most loads, so you definitely had a faulty SF450 - it's been said many times, it's a very very good PSU - if you don't have a dud that is!
 
Anyone who is concidering putting a Ryzen into the dan a4

Would you go 1700 or 1700x? I know the only difference between the 1700-1800x is binning, the chips are identical.

However the 1700 is 65w and the 1700x is 95w. Due to AMD using soldered chips (Thank god) I would say the temps would be down alot and if the 1700x can manage max 70-80c inside the dan A4 I could see myself getting one without fear of it thermal throttling.
 
Im waiting for AMD Ryzen reviews first as well as YouTube gaming fps scores. That being said, the hexacore is definitely going to be their big seller. I might just go for the 1700X if gaming temperatures are fine.
 
Anyone with the Corsair SF600 having the issue where the fan will not turn off in idle after load?

I just tested mine in an open environment, and the fan only started after 4 minutes of Prime95 (i5-4690K) and Furmark (GTX 970). However, the fan never turns off in idle afterwards.

Am I looking at a replacement, or is this normal behaviour?
 
Between those two I'd go for the 65W part, though personally I'm going to have to try pretty hard to talk myself out of just going for a 6700T + Strix Z270I and instead wait for ryzen ITX and maybe lower TDP parts.
 
My SF450, the fan barely turns on! I finally managed on a hot day (almost 30 degrees C in the house) to get the PSU fan to turn on, and only after half an hour of prime and furmark on an i5 4570 with a 1070 EVGA SC. Even then, it was not even audible with my ear on the PSU, and I am sensitive to fan noise.

Within seconds of turning off prime and furmark, the PSU fan powered down. I almost returned my PSU because the fan didnt come on. Still not sure if mine is abnormally insensitive to heat as the PSU smells warm and feels very warm to touch on the metal case.

(my pc is currently running open on the desk, not in any case)
 
Henrik_s-a said:
Anyone with the Corsair SF600 having the issue where the fan will not turn off in idle after load?

I just tested mine in an open environment, and the fan only started after 4 minutes of Prime95 (i5-4690K) and Furmark (GTX 970). However, the fan never turns off in idle afterwards.

Am I looking at a replacement, or is this normal behaviour?
Click to expand...

In the computerbase.de forum some had the same problem. It looks like the backplate of the GPU is heating up the PSU.
One suggested to put some isolation material (in his case of the PSU packaging) between PSU und GPU, which solved the problem in his case.

Here a link to his post including picture: https://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=1651725&page=18&p=19795435#post19795435
 
With Ryzen looking quite promising: have there been any mITX boards announced for the platform?
 
Thank you for the suggestion. I have just tested it completely outside the case, and the fan now starts after 8 minutes stress test but still does not turn off in idle afterwards.

Probably need to send it back for a replacement and use my old full sized psu externally in the mean time :-/
 
Henrik_s-a said:
Thank you for the suggestion. I have just tested it completely outside the case, and the fan now starts after 8 minutes stress test but still does not turn off in idle afterwards.

Probably need to send it back for a replacement and use my old full sized psu externally in the mean time :-/
Click to expand...

Try to have a fan blowing air towards it. If the psu fan stops with the fan directing airflow, you know that the problem is the temperature and not the load, which would mean that the psu is not defective.

All in all, I am convinced this is a design choice that can't be fixed. The psu needs to be thermally-protected, and that only happens if the fan is temperature-controlled. It happend with a Silverstone unit, If I'm not mistaken, that it was only load-controlled and thus would fail (it would trip) in computers with poor or no airflow.
 
Philfreeze said:
View attachment 17895

No but seriously I have these coolers:
Silverstone R05
Cooltek LP53
Thermalright AXP-100RH
Phanteks PH-TC12LS
Cooljag Falcon II
Dynatron K1
Dynatron K129
Noctua NH-L9i
Cryorig C7
Nexus R2 7000 (not yet received)
a secret heatsink
a custom heatsink

Fans:
NF-A9
NF-B9
Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 12
and all the fans from all the heatsinks

Other stuff:
Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
Coollaboratory Liquid Pro
three new thermal probes
A sonometer (which I got for free from work)
A Rockit delid tool (not yet received)
Multiple bags of small heatsinks (from work)


I might have a problem....
Click to expand...

Have you done some tests on temps on all coolers ??
 
SideSwiped said:
Any US customers cases actually leave germany yet? Mine hasn't left Rodgau in days.
Click to expand...
Negative ghost rider. Next Thursday is the current date for DHL to pick up tye cases. Some of is still don't have a shipping label or notification.
 
Wazzuppi said:
Anyone who is concidering putting a Ryzen into the dan a4

Would you go 1700 or 1700x? I know the only difference between the 1700-1800x is binning, the chips are identical.

However the 1700 is 65w and the 1700x is 95w. Due to AMD using soldered chips (Thank god) I would say the temps would be down alot and if the 1700x can manage max 70-80c inside the dan A4 I could see myself getting one without fear of it thermal throttling.
Click to expand...

if what you said about the binning is true, then you could run an 1800x at 1700 speeds and it would probably support lower voltages for less heat. but this is speculation until someone tests it. in the real world, if you're trying to run a ryzen in this case, you might as well save money and buy the normal lower power version. but I wouldn't suggest buying ANY ryzen now, because we don't know how well it'll work in this case. people might find that the intel chips are more efficient and therefore run faster and quieter in practice
 
So i just tried to change cooler on CPU.

Heatsink is for both cases from Cryoric C7.
Full load with HeavyLoad for 15 minutes.
Room temperature: 21C

C7 fan: idle: 35-38C, Full-load: 75-78C
Noctua A9x14: idle: 38-43C, Full-load: 76-80C

I will stay with Noctua now, because it is significantly quieter.
C7 is noisy almost like vacum-cleaner when it goes over 60C.

I have also Cooltek LP53 on the way now, so i will test it later (planned combo: LP53 copper heatsink + Noctua A9x14)
 
The LP53 and NH-L9i perform almost identical. I have tested all three coolers. You can find a large amount of tests of different CPU+cooler combinations here:

https://do cs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aZfTysWc4dtJC33qkLCjLkhPnzVLtbCtjpxoZeT92ZA/htmlview#gid=0

Feel free to join us. :)
 
Jonas Mellkvist said:
Have you done some tests on temps on all coolers ??
Click to expand...

Still waiting for the case. I finally got the cpu and the mainboard (Asus) should arrive this Monday.
As soon as I get the case I will start to go through all coolers on a daily basis (testing one per day) incuding some acoustic noise meassurements.
When I have determined the best three or so I will try to get one weekend of access to the better instruments through some friends. can't promise anything there though.

Meccabolix said:
View attachment 17899
Click to expand...
I found a heatsinks which looks quite promising from the specs and nobody here has mentioned it yet ;-)
 
WarBird25 said:
In the computerbase.de forum some had the same problem. It looks like the backplate of the GPU is heating up the PSU.
One suggested to put some isolation material (in his case of the PSU packaging) between PSU und GPU, which solved the problem in his case.

Here a link to his post including picture: https://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=1651725&page=18&p=19795435#post19795435
Click to expand...

Following up on this, as I mentioned before, my SF450 fan spun quite loudly after 5 min GPU load. The fan also spun on idle (though slowly) most of the time. Swapped for an SF600 and the fan never spun on idle and took a while to turn on during full GPU load, even then it's very quiet. I've now tested the SF600 with/without backing material.

My setup: Asrock Z270 Fatality, i5 7400, Noctua L9i, MSI Gaming X 1060 (has a pretty thick back plate), Dan A4.
Test: Kombustor memory burn, Prime95, MPC-HC with madVR (GNU very high)

All tests were done with the case fully assembled shortly after a cold boot (at least 30 min off between tests). Room temp 21C. GPU fan 1300-1400RPM, CPU fan 1300-1400RPM.

1. No backing material
- Fan turns on after 9:30min, GPU at 57C, CPU at 52C
- At 10min on the bench, GPU at 58C, CPU at 53C
- Fan turns off on idle after 4:45mins, GPU at 31C, CPU at 37C

2. PSU foam material (~3-4mm but GPU touches side panel)
- Fan turns on after 14:00min, GPU at 59C, CPU at 54C
- At 10min on the bench, GPU at 58C, CPU at 53C
- Fan turns off on idle after 5:00min, GPU at 33C, CPU at 38C

3. PSU foam material (~1.5mm)
- Fan turns on after 11:45min, GPU at 59C, CPU at 53C
- At 10min on the bench, GPU at 59C, CPU at 53C
- Fan turns off on idle after 2:45min, GPU at 35C, CPU at 39C

4. Paper (A4 sheet folded to the dimensions of the PSU)
- Fan turns on after 13:00min, GPU at 58C, CPU at 53C
- At 10min on the bench, GPU at 57C, CPU at 52C
- Fan turns off on idle after 5:30min, GPU at 30C, CPU at 37C

I opted for the 1.5mm foam.
 
Last edited:
Sooo, did anyone try using this: Dynatron K129 + Noctua A9x14?
I have not seen this kind of "combo" yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top