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

So, The Cooltek LP53 with a Noctua NF-A9x14 fan and 4mm standoffs mounted in a vertical position would seem to be the best config in PWM. That was also my intuition from the start, but the 4mm standoffs are a nice addition.

I have a theory that I might even try myself.
No one has mentioned the Cooltek ITX30 because of its shortcoming: It has shorter fins than the LP53 and a 80x80x10mm fan.
However, no one ever seems to have thought of using the ITX30 with the Noctua NF-A9 (92x92x25) fan, because it's too big for the notched crevasse housing the 80m fan. But it seems to me that it will still fit on top of the ITX30 (LxWxH = 100x92x30) using zip-ties.

The ITX30 is 30mm high with a 10mm fan. The fan is recessed into the heat-sink by what looks like 2mm, meaning that the copper's maximum high is actually 22mm. This means that one can fit a full sized Noctua NF-A9 onto a ITX30 heat-sink and its total height would be 47mm. If you subtract to that the 3mm shaved off thanks to shorter 4mm standoffs, you'd even have some space between the fan body and the case panel to dampen turbulence.

The main question is: Does having a full sized fan overcompensate for the smaller fin density? That, I don't know, but I'm extremely confident that it is!

If you compare the specs of the Noctua NF-A9 vs the NF-A9x14, the larger one is just so much better in every single aspect: noise, max+min rpm speed. Even the airflow is 56% higher!
However, if you compare the specs of the LP53 vs the ITX30 side by side (German site), the loss of fin surface on top is considerable (25% maybe?), but I'm sure that the superior fan will be able to push away the heat fast enough for that to not be a problem. Aside from that they're exactly the same.

Something to think about.
 
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amvoith said:
Should fit in the bottom at the front (at least looking at the space with my sfx psu). You would likely need to cut the midplate to fit in the dual one if placing it at the bottom of the case.
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Im certain its possible to make a custom waterloop in this case without exterior support, there must be a way to fit at least 2 of these radiators in the case. but I wont know for a couple weeks because my case just shipped!
 
krcm0209 said:
On paper... Would still like to see if they can handle 5GHz, even if its at a much smaller range or reduced capacity.
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That's not how that works. 5GHz isn't more powerful. It's just a different frequency. Think of it like the nubs can't "see" 5GHz, not that they'll be overpowered by it. :)
 
jtcera said:
That's not how that works. 5GHz isn't more powerful. It's just a different frequency. Think of it like the nubs can't "see" 5GHz, not that they'll be overpowered by it. :)
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I understand it's not about power. They are not rated for 5GHz at all, but I'm still wondering if they would be able to pick up something from that range. I mean, a coat hanger isn't rated for OTA television, but people can make it work sometimes.
 
Anyone else getting a 1080Ti FE to stick in this thing? That is my last piece of the puzzle. (that and my cablemod cables... plus maybe one more m.2 to justify my z270i purchase...)
 
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After seeing some Ryzen reviews and benchmarks, I think 7700k is still better for gaming at 1080. Although, for 4k, it doesn't matter as much as the GPU will be the bottleneck, so an 1700 (non X) 65W TDP will have same results and run cooler. As I'll have the Dan case connected to an LG B6 in my living room, I think this configutation is what I'll go for when there's some am4 m-itx mobos and GTX1080Ti or Vega gets released.

This video is the one it makes me think that:
 
Yes I think the same. I work and play on an Asus PB287Q (4K) so I will give Rysen a try. Keyshot will love the two cores more and in games there will be no differnts in 4K. So now we need some ITX boards and then I will try the 1700X.
 
Ivan Pla said:
After seeing some Ryzen reviews and benchmarks, I think 7700k is still better for gaming at 1080. Although, for 4k, it doesn't matter as much as the GPU will be the bottleneck, so an 1700 (non X) 65W TDP will have same results and run cooler. As I'll have the Dan case connected to an LG B6 in my living room, I think this configutation is what I'll go for when there's some am4 m-itx mobos and GTX1080Ti or Vega gets released.

This video is the one it makes me think that:
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There seems to be a ton of reviews out that are all over the place. Saw one that was within 5% of 7700k performance gaming, then another 30% lower.

From what it seems like is that motherboards are all over the place with updates and providing subpar performance.

I think this happened with Phenom X2??

Conclusion: By the time MITX boards come out, these problems should be fixed (hopefully)
 
ManaNeko said:
So, The Cooltek LP53 with a Noctua NF-A9x14 fan and 4mm standoffs mounted in a vertical position would seem to be the best config in PWM. That was also my intuition from the start, but the 4mm standoffs are a nice addition.

I have a theory that I might even try myself.
No one has mentioned the Cooltek ITX30 because of its shortcoming: It has shorter fins than the LP53 and a 80x80x10mm fan.
However, no one ever seems to have thought of using the ITX30 with the Noctua NF-A9 (90x90x25) fan, because it's too big for the notched crevasse housing the 80m fan. But it seems to me that it will still fit on top of the ITX30 (LxWxH = 100x92x30) using zip-ties.

The ITX30 is 30mm high with a 10mm fan. The fan is recessed into the heat-sink by what looks like 2mm, meaning that the copper's maximum high is actually 22mm. This means that one can fit a full sized Noctua NF-A9 onto a ITX30 heat-sink and its total height would be 47mm. If you subtract to that the 3mm shaved off thanks to shorter 4mm standoffs, you'd even have some space between the fan body and the case panel to dampen turbulence.

The main question is: Does having a full sized fan overcompensate for the smaller fin density? That, I don't know, but I'm extremely confident that it is!

If you compare the specs of the Noctua NF-A9 vs the NF-A9x14, the larger one is just so much better in every single aspect: noise, max+min rpm speed. Even the airflow is 56% higher!
However, if you compare the specs of the LP53 vs the ITX30 side by side (German site), the loss of fin surface on top is considerable (25% maybe?), but I'm sure that the superior fan will be able to push away the heat fast enough for that to not be a problem. Aside from that they're exactly the same.

Something to think about.
Click to expand...

do it and tell us! (y)
 
dondan said:
Yes I think the same. I work and play on an Asus PB287Q (4K) so I will give Rysen a try. Keyshot will love the two cores more and in games there will be no differnts in 4K. So now we need some ITX boards and then I will try the 1700X.
Click to expand...
Some reviews are stating that the ryzen chips perform the same. The last one I saw had a 1700 and 1700x overclocked to 3.9GHz where the 1700 needed 1.3v and the 1700x needed 1.35v. I'm thinking that the extra voltage needed might be because of the xfr or whatever they call it. Performance was very close for both cpus where the 1700x had a few fps over the non x.
 
Calysto said:
How's noise and temperatures with that card?
Thanks.
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Finally, the biggest noise gives the CPU fan
20170301_175733[1].jpg 20170301_181213[1].jpg
 
Has somebody received their cablemod cables yet?
I would like to order mine but I need the exact lengths before I am gonna spend the money.
 
Does anyone know the prior requirements for the EVGA step-up program? just bought my 1080 a month ago.
 
David A4 said:
Does anyone know the prior requirements for the EVGA step-up program? just bought my 1080 a month ago.
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http://www.evga.com/support/stepup/
  • Register your qualifying 3 Year Warranty product purchased new from an authorized reseller within 14 days of your original purchase date.
    • If you should happen to miss your 14 day registration window on your qualifying 3 Year Warranty product then you may also purchase an extended warranty within 90 days of your original purchase date to enable the Step-Up option.
    • Don't worry, your Extended Warranty and Advanced RMA (EAR) purchases now transfers to your new Step-Up product!
  • The EVGA Step-Up program is currently only available to residents of the United States, Canada, and EU Countries.
 
drklu said:
http://www.evga.com/support/stepup/
  • Register your qualifying 3 Year Warranty product purchased new from an authorized reseller within 14 days of your original purchase date.
    • If you should happen to miss your 14 day registration window on your qualifying 3 Year Warranty product then you may also purchase an extended warranty within 90 days of your original purchase date to enable the Step-Up option.
    • Don't worry, your Extended Warranty and Advanced RMA (EAR) purchases now transfers to your new Step-Up product!
  • The EVGA Step-Up program is currently only available to residents of the United States, Canada, and EU Countries.
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Does this require the card to have been unopened? as well, when i bought it it didnt have warranty can i still buy warranty and be included in the stepup program?
 
Ca11idus said:
The last one I saw had a 1700 and 1700x overclocked to 3.9GHz where the 1700 needed 1.3v and the 1700x needed 1.35v. I'm thinking that the extra voltage needed might be because of the xfr or whatever they call it.
Click to expand...

No the extra voltage was needed because every CPU is different. If you buy 10x 1700x some of them will need 1,4V for 3,9Ghz, some 1,3V and some golden ones only 1,25V or less. It is hadware lottery like for every CPU or GPU.
 
David A4 said:
Does this require the card to have been unopened? as well, when i bought it it didnt have warranty can i still buy warranty and be included in the stepup program?
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Step up program is for trading in your used cards for an upgrade. I would contact cs or start the process to make sure your card is eligible.
 
Finally got my system built. Running a 7700k and evga 1080 SC2 with the new icx cooler.

Getting max temps of around 78c for the CPU and an impressive 63-65c for gpu. Not bad! And have these cool new TridentZ rgb ram in there.
 

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krcm0209 said:
I understand it's not about power. They are not rated for 5GHz at all, but I'm still wondering if they would be able to pick up something from that range. I mean, a coat hanger isn't rated for OTA television, but people can make it work sometimes.
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This is a decent explanation of why 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals don't work with the same antenna (and maybe also why a coat hanger sometimes works for OTA):

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=476624&sid=564131b3e769b33957726eaf54dddf19#476624

Here is a combination antenna centered on 2.4 and 5.4GHz that should do anything in the '5GHz' range as well. It's not quite as small, but still quite compact compared to the typical bundled antenna that comes with a mainboard.

http://www.digikey.com/product-deta...nc/ANT-DB1-RAF-RPS/ANT-DB1-RAF-RPS-ND/1035407

I didn't link it originally as I was only interested in the smallest antenna for BT, and don't need 802.11xx for my application at all (and I had the antennas on hand already from another project).

Also FWIW, 5GHz will get you better speed at close range, but less effective distance/penetration as compared with 2.4GHz based wifi.
 
dominathan said:
Has anyone's US-bound case actually flown yet? Mine is still chillin in Germany.
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Yes, mine's still in Frankfurt. I think it may not update until it actually arrives at the US carrier's spot and gets sent out for delivery from there, in my case USPS. (DHL transferred my package over to them). And I'm not 100% sure we are getting a plane ride either.
 
Anyone interested in a like new Nexus 7000 r2, with all the parts, I'll throw in a scythe slim stream 2000rpm 120mm fan plus some copper mosfet heatsinks.

I tried to get this to work with my Asus z270i and ripjaw 5 ram to no avail. The even with the heatsinks removed, my ram was an issue, and I just don't feel like buying ram to make this heat sink work. This will work fine with VLP ram + 120mm. If you have that this would be great. Since my ram is too tall the largest fan I can fit with heatsink removal is a 100mm, which wouldn't be taking advantage of the whole heat sink.

I'm just charging what I paid for the heatsink plus shipping.
 
danurv said:
Anyone interested in a like new Nexus 7000 r2, with all the parts, I'll throw in a scythe slim stream 2000rpm 120mm fan plus some copper mosfet heatsinks.

I tried to get this to work with my Asus z270i and ripjaw 5 ram to no avail. The even with the heatsinks removed, my ram was an issue, and I just don't feel like buying ram to make this heat sink work. This will work fine with VLP ram + 120mm. If you have that this would be great. Since my ram is too tall the largest fan I can fit with heatsink removal is a 100mm, which wouldn't be taking advantage of the whole heat sink.

I'm just charging what I paid for the heatsink plus shipping.
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This will also happen to your new heatsink dondan. As I said, people don't know their ram height, and also don't want their ram choices to be restricted.
 
dominathan said:
Has anyone's US-bound case actually flown yet? Mine is still chillin in Germany.
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Strange. Australian here and as of this morning my status is "The shipment has arrived in the destination country". Pretty sure Aus shipped after US (or maybe same time)
 
drklu said:
Step up program is for trading in your used cards for an upgrade. I would contact cs or start the process to make sure your card is eligible.
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Ive been on some evga forums since then and people are coming to the conclusion that my acx 1080 needs to step up to icx 1080 and only then could i step up to 1080ti....

if it's true then it's pretty frustrating since the icx version wouldnt exist if they got their burning vrm right the first time.
 
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