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

Hey, I have a question. I'm pretty new to fan profiles and stuff.

My cooler is a Noctua NH-L9i. I have a fan profile for my CPU that goes as follows:
0-40C = no fan
40-55C = 30%
55-65C = 60%
65-70C = rapid ramp from 60% to 100%

I'm using my computer with an ambient temperature of about 25C and find it regularly idles at around 38C when using the desktop, watching a movie or something that doesn't involve a lot of processor load.

If I compile something in Visual Studio, the load will push the peaks in HWMonitor to 66C, but the numbers jump around in the range below that, usually sitting in the mid 40s and 50s.

Does this seem about right to you guys?

Is there any danger in having no fans running in the case if CPU and GPU temperatures are within range of not requiring it? I would imagine you'd want a fan running most of the time to increase air pressure and push the hot air out the top, but it seems fine without it.

The top of the case is warm to the touch. A little warmer than the similar vents on the top of my monitor.

Is this real life? I can't believe the acoustics on this machine (coming from an old Core 2 Duo). If I'm doing desktop work, the fan will occasionally spin up to 750-800 RPM, but I can hardly hear that. I hear a mild buzz with all fans off that I thought was the power supply, but it's my monitor. If I turn the monitor off, I honestly can't hear a sound. It's deathly silent and amazing.I'd just like a little confirmation that my profile is okay.
 
Hey, I have a question. I'm pretty new to fan profiles and stuff.

My cooler is a Noctua NH-L9i. I have a fan profile for my CPU that goes as follows:
0-40C = no fan
40-55C = 30%
55-65C = 60%
65-70C = rapid ramp from 60% to 100%

I'm using my computer with an ambient temperature of about 25C and find it regularly idles at around 38C when using the desktop, watching a movie or something that doesn't involve a lot of processor load.

If I compile something in Visual Studio, the load will push the peaks in HWMonitor to 66C, but the numbers jump around in the range below that, usually sitting in the mid 40s and 50s.

Does this seem about right to you guys?

Is there any danger in having no fans running in the case if CPU and GPU temperatures are within range of not requiring it? I would imagine you'd want a fan running most of the time to increase air pressure and push the hot air out the top, but it seems fine without it.

The top of the case is warm to the touch. A little warmer than the similar vents on the top of my monitor.

Is this real life? I can't believe the acoustics on this machine (coming from an old Core 2 Duo). If I'm doing desktop work, the fan will occasionally spin up to 750-800 RPM, but I can hardly hear that. I hear a mild buzz with all fans off that I thought was the power supply, but it's my monitor. If I turn the monitor off, I honestly can't hear a sound. It's deathly silent and amazing.I'd just like a little confirmation that my profile is okay.

Those temps are totally fine. It's basically impossible to fry a CPU these days. Assuming your temperature sensors are working, there is nothing wrong with passive cooling.
 
Hello all,
Here's my contribution to the A4-SFX community; I've designed and printed some custom door clips to fix the sagging issue as well as some custom cable combs to best route the cables in the limited space!

If you're interested in getting the .stls so you can print these items, checkout my Case Modding Thread.

If you're interested in further pics for my build, check out this Imgur Collection.

Props to my awesome roommate for these amazing pics!!

bDCHYww.jpg

Uvo3WRK.jpg

cofnqd6.jpg
Where did you get the kinetic cooler? Must be a prototype, Is it good?!? Also awesome build!
 
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Got my case yesterday. I'm supposed to be the second to last to have shipped.
For anyone interested, the lowepro messenger 250 is almost impossible to use unless the inside padding (seperating main compartment and tablet/laptop area) is cut out - But without that, the case fit perfectly inside, maybe too perfect, its tight.
Pictures will be tonight
So here are the pics:

The case next to the bag:
https://preview.************/i0n4fa/image.jpg

The bag with the padding cut out:
https://preview.************/hSgx0a/image.jpg

The case inside the bag:
https://preview.************/kXxgRF/image.jpg

And the final touch, the perfect keyboard that fit perfectly inside the perfect bag that is used to hold the perfect A4 perfectly. Perfect!
https://preview.************/c9xbtv/image.jpg
 
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I live in the U.S. and ordered it direct from Amazon; the make/model is the Thermaltake Engine 27 and can be found here on Amazon.
That's cool, I thought those coolers were still in the prototyping/testing phase, not bad reviews on Amazon too, are you happy with it?
 
Ducting of the LP53 fan yielded a 3 degree improvement in temperatures! The duct was created to cover as much of the side panel as possible to increase the effective available side panel area, reducing the restriction on airflow, especially when I do eventually have demci filters installed.

The only downside here is that there is more noise due to the duct reflecting the noise from the fan back and fourth between the side panel and the duct until the sound escapes, rather than being absorbed within the case.

Testing was done at full RPM for a fair comparison. The increased efficiency should reduce the required RPMs, but my feeling is that it is likely not enough to make it quieter. Making the duct out of a felted material should reduce the effect of sound reflection, but more effective acoustically would be to not have the duct more parallel rather than flared out. So weighing up the benefits of increase side panel utilisation vs acoustic amplification of a flared duct.

Here are some photos of the duct that I put together with cardboard from the box for the SF450 and some masking tape.

Duct%20CPU%20Side%20LP53_zpsne6rehsa.jpg

Duct%20CPU%20Side%20LP53%20with%20Duct_zpstizppgrg.jpg

Duct%20Low%20Angle_zpsua7p4avc.jpg
Maybe you could try flock spray, it might dampen the sound reflection a bit and would look kind of cool.... Not sure how easy it is to dust though...
 
richiegore I've been very happy with it; it provides 95% of the cooling capacity the C7 provided before its installation, looks pretty awesome, and is even quieter than the C7!
Pretty much the only downsides are cost and QA; first one I received had a small balancing clip (much like a car tire) which I bumped and threw the balance off, so it made a bit of noise. Once I received the replacement I noted there was no balancing clips and it's been dead silent since!
 
My EVGA 1080TI stepup got accepted! will be without a video card for a week but im so excited to install the TI beast in my Tiny A4.
 
Got a NH-L9i to replace my c7. Was getting about mid 80s with the c7 (no backplate on z170i). The L9i actually ended up being worst on initial install. Ran prime95 and got low 90s on my 7700k (stock everything). Thought maybe my thermal paste application was messed up so I reapplied but one of the mounting screws broke while I was screwing it back in. Contacted noctua support for replacement screws but thats going to be atleast 2 weeks out. Ended up just putting in a stock intel cooler for an i3. Getting same temps as the c7 which is okay until I find a better solution.
 
The Strix 1080ti as well as the Msi both fat cards..

Hope the evga ftw3 saves the day
 

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Use the C7 heatsink with the noctua fan


Got about same temps are regular C7 fan but noise was much lower. Overall I think delidding the cpu should solve my issues but right now its not something I want to do. I am going to move my parts back into my ncase where I can use my Noctua Nh-D9dx. Need to get back to doing some programming and gaming. May keep it for a future build or sell it for now and just build a new one when the v2 comes out.
 
Got a NH-L9i to replace my c7. Was getting about mid 80s with the c7 (no backplate on z170i). The L9i actually ended up being worst on initial install. Ran prime95 and got low 90s on my 7700k (stock everything). Thought maybe my thermal paste application was messed up so I reapplied but one of the mounting screws broke while I was screwing it back in. Contacted noctua support for replacement screws but thats going to be atleast 2 weeks out. Ended up just putting in a stock intel cooler for an i3. Getting same temps as the c7 which is okay until I find a better solution.

Low 90s with the L9i is normal for prime 95. Actually, not throttling on a stock, non delidded 7700k should be considered above average for the L9i. Check out the thermal benchmark spreadsheet floating around d this thread.

Also totally normal that the C7 outperformed the L9i.
 
Low 90s with the L9i is normal for prime 95. Actually, not throttling on a stock, non delidded 7700k should be considered above average for the L9i. Check out the thermal benchmark spreadsheet floating around d this thread.

Also totally normal that the C7 outperformed the L9i.


Gotchu. Going to go back to ncase for now and probably post the a4 on f/s thread. Look forward to v2 with the custom dan cooler and side panels.
 
Anyone undervolting just with a negative offset rather than using manual? If so what's working for you?
 
If I remember right a user tested this some pages ago and this has no influence on the temps.
Well, yes and no.
- EVGA 1070 SC, H97I Plus, i5 4750, Intel Stock Cooler, stock bios settings, fan profile "standard" (which is 20% CPU at 30deg, 100% cpu at 70%), Corsair SF450

...

Noctua 92x14 fan installed, PSU down 10mm, run at full RPM, also no significant difference in temps noted. feels like there is more airflow from this fan, but its proximity to the PSU plug (only 2mm of space between blades and psu plug) causes a bit more interference noise. Air temperature from this front fan is much cooler than the air from the back end of the case where the GPU blows the air out directly. Airflow rate is not significantly higher due to the top fan, compared to what the GPU pushes out itself. Noctua is just as loud as the 80mm, lower frequency tone though.
He lowered it only by 1cm and was only using a i5 4750 with Intel Stock Cooler.
As you can see from here and here, he actually has very small gap to draw air from the CPU. Also the i5 4750 is not going to generate the amount of heat a OC-ed k-series would.
Look, I would agree that it would worthless if there is no difference so I wouldn't have to spend time and money installing a fan there, but we haven't had a proper test for it yet.
It's the simplest change that is already done or being considered - just need to add two more holes 3cm below the ones that will be drilled there anyway.
This mod would be done by enthusiasts who want to get the most out of their system and they can get the spacers by themselves, there is no need to include those.
Installing a grey Noctua 92m redux fan would look great and give good airflow aswell.
 
Hi guys, first time poster here, have been lurking for a while, ever since I placed my order on kickstarter.



Here is what I gained:



Granted: Delidding the 6700K brought down the temps by 17° (delta from 67° to 50°), but the fan duct reduced it by another 6° (delta from 50° to 44°).
I created my custom fan curve in SpeedFan (I could do the same in BIOS actually), which settles the fan speed @ 1800RPM creating a delta of 51°. Which to me is quite bearable, acousticly as well as thermally. It is not as silent as my R5 of course, but good enough to trade 48 liters of volume (the R5 is lovely, but big).

So there you go: It is probably the cheapest and easiest mod. It is certainly not beautiful, but it brings down your temps by 6° or it relaxes your fan speeds at equal temps.

I did not do this yet to my GPU (MSI GTX Gaming 10709 but I will try it at some point.

Nice, I like your cheap solution for reducing the temp 6 extra degrees!
Would you say that "ducting" all fans (both push and pull) would improve overall cooling efficiency?
I think that my PSU fan is the only one pulling air out of the case atm.
 
Well, yes and no.

He lowered it only by 1cm and was only using a i5 4750 with Intel Stock Cooler.
As you can see from here and here, he actually has very small gap to draw air from the CPU. Also the i5 4750 is not going to generate the amount of heat a OC-ed k-series would.
Look, I would agree that it would worthless if there is no difference so I wouldn't have to spend time and money installing a fan there, but we haven't had a proper test for it yet.
It's the simplest change that is already done or being considered - just need to add two more holes 3cm below the ones that will be drilled there anyway.
This mod would be done by enthusiasts who want to get the most out of their system and they can get the spacers by themselves, there is no need to include those.
Installing a grey Noctua 92m redux fan would look great and give good airflow aswell.
It might not only reduce temps on OCed systems with heavier load and heat output, but my understanding this is also to cool and prolong the longevity of the PSU itself?
My PSU fan (SX-600) is the loudest in the system during low/medium load and you can feel it heating up quite fast during heavier load so an extra intake fan for the PSU seems nice.
 
My SF450 fan doesnt turn on until my system is running really hot, so the 15mm thin noctua fan will be helpful for the psu at idle loads, but at full rpm even the noctua does push a little more air than what is naturally exhausted from the gpu fan but not significantly more.

I think if you have at least 25mm of spacer, you will be able to fit in a 25mm thick fan and if that generates enough airflow it will be worth the effort. Extra megative pressure in the case will help draw air into the case and should help reduce temps, well at least in theory for now.

I personally want to see fan mounting tabs added to the top frame in addition to the bottom one, but this somewhat needs to be complimented with a psu spacer kit,
Longer countersunk bolts with an unthreaded spacer, or a long motherboard standoff type spacer should be sufficient.
 
Anyone undervolting just with a negative offset rather than using manual? If so what's working for you?

I did an offset undervolt this weekend. I am running i7-6700k with the c7 heatsink+noctua fan.
Set the multiplier to 39 with baseclock of 100. Turbo mode disabled.
My stock voltage was 1.280 and I am now runing with offset -0.130 and everything is fine so far.
Have not yet done any real testing except for a 6 minute CPU-Z stress test and from this i saw 5 C lower temps. But this is still unconclusive until I've done some better testing.
 
I did an offset undervolt this weekend. I am running i7-6700k with the c7 heatsink+noctua fan.
Set the multiplier to 39 with baseclock of 100. Turbo mode disabled.
My stock voltage was 1.280 and I am now runing with offset -0.130 and everything is fine so far.
Have not yet done any real testing except for a 6 minute CPU-Z stress test and from this i saw 5 C lower temps. But this is still unconclusive until I've done some better testing.

I also undervolted mine with max multiplier 39 but turbo mode enabled (I5-7600, LH-N9i + NF-A9x14) using offset.
I tested a few things, using the Asus tool I set the multiplier to 39 and offest -0,15 and was able to run it stable (prime test), but as soon as I put those settings in bios I was not able to boot. I now run with -0,07 offset stable which is about 0,97 VCore. Had a boot fail yesterday but sceond boot was successfull, will see if first boot works today. Prime and gaming run stable with about 20 °C less than at CPU stock settings (about 95°C to about 74°C).
Somehow Asus overclocks the CPU by 0,5 MHz per multiplier which is about +20 MHz. Was not able to deactivate this oc, someone know how (Asus z270i)?
 
I also undervolted mine with max multiplier 39 but turbo mode enabled (I5-7600, LH-N9i + NF-A9x14) using offset.
I tested a few things, using the Asus tool I set the multiplier to 39 and offest -0,15 and was able to run it stable (prime test), but as soon as I put those settings in bios I was not able to boot. I now run with -0,07 offset stable which is about 0,97 VCore. Had a boot fail yesterday but sceond boot was successfull, will see if first boot works today. Prime and gaming run stable with about 20 °C less than at CPU stock settings (about 95°C to about 74°C).
Somehow Asus overclocks the CPU by 0,5 MHz per multiplier which is about +20 MHz. Was not able to deactivate this oc, someone know how (Asus z270i)?

I first tried to use the Asus AI Suite 3. I found that piece of shit software to be incredebly unreliable and giving some backgroud boost to the baseclock and what not. So i uninstalled it and am now doing everything in bios for much better results.
I would recommend doing everything through bios. Also the offset you are able to run will greatly vary from unit to unit. I found that the -0.05 to -0.07 range is quite common.
 
My SF450 fan doesnt turn on until my system is running really hot, so the 15mm thin noctua fan will be helpful for the psu at idle loads, but at full rpm even the noctua does push a little more air than what is naturally exhausted from the gpu fan but not significantly more.

I think if you have at least 25mm of spacer, you will be able to fit in a 25mm thick fan and if that generates enough airflow it will be worth the effort. Extra megative pressure in the case will help draw air into the case and should help reduce temps, well at least in theory for now.

I personally want to see fan mounting tabs added to the top frame in addition to the bottom one, but this somewhat needs to be complimented with a psu spacer kit,
Longer countersunk bolts with an unthreaded spacer, or a long motherboard standoff type spacer should be sufficient.

Which GPU do you use? As already wrote, my SF450 is the loadest in idle and under load. In idle I set the CPU cooler to about 500 rpm and the EVGA Gtx 1080 FTW cooler to about 200 rpm. Both are quiet, but only the PSU fan makes a little bit of noise, running at low speed all the time (the PSU air-output is not hot, with or without GPU back to back does not make a difference). Under load PSU fan is at 100% and a little bit more anoying than GPU und CPU fan.
Guess I am going to write Corsair about it.

I first tried to use the Asus AI Suite 3. I found that piece of shit software to be incredebly unreliable and giving some backgroud boost to the baseclock and what not. So i uninstalled it and am now doing everything in bios for much better results.
I would recommend doing everything through bios. Also the offset you are able to run will greatly vary from unit to unit. I found that the -0.05 to -0.07 range is quite common.

Thank you for the tip, in this case I will do that. I used to use it to show CPU stats (clock, themp, fanspeed) but the update frequenzy is low and there are better tools to show those.
 
im starting to think we gotta mod our PSU to get them to be quieter, i dont understand why they cant use quieter bearings/motor?
 
illram: Yes I know some modders and enthusiast are switching the 7mm stand offs for 4mm ones to get some milimeters more space. I think the numbers of user who did this is less then 1% of all customers. But the other 99% of my customers will get benifits of the stemp in stand offs because they will never come out while unscrewing the mobo.
Well, weren't the "1%" the ones that made your project happen?
 
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Looking forward to the V2. The only reason why I didn't buy the V1 was because it didn't have a PCIe cover
 
Hey everyone,

Been following for a long time. I received the case last week (US). LOVE IT! Just put the build together over the weekend. I will post picture in the other thread when I get a chance. I have a delidded 7700k and Asus z270i with the C7 heatsink and a 100mm Thermalright fan on it. Noise is pretty quiet unless its running at full rpm. My idle temps after being on for awhile seems to hover around 40C is this normal? I actually have a stable overclock at 4.8 GHz using the Asus Suite III. Complete noob on messing with the BIOS. Never overclocked before. I am coming from am i7-930 build (about 7 years ago?)
 
I did an offset undervolt this weekend. I am running i7-6700k with the c7 heatsink+noctua fan.
Set the multiplier to 39 with baseclock of 100. Turbo mode disabled.
My stock voltage was 1.280 and I am now runing with offset -0.130 and everything is fine so far.
Have not yet done any real testing except for a 6 minute CPU-Z stress test and from this i saw 5 C lower temps. But this is still unconclusive until I've done some better testing.

Thanks. I'm trying to calculate my offset by looking at the vid at idle and load, and poring over old hwinfo dumps, and comparing it to the .035 offset I did last night, it's hard to tell a difference. I am seeing a minor decrease in load temps but not idle. I'm trying to find the right undervolt to maintain the same clocks and turbo and all the other fun stuff.

Anyone else got a 7700K negative offset they can share?
 
With undervolting it is the same as for overclocking. It depends on your cpu (silicon lottery). So a list will not give you any information what your cpu can handle. Nornaly is a offset value between -0,05V and -0,2V. Start with a offset of -0,05V run Prime95 for 30min and then reduce in 0,025 steps til you found the lowest value possible. Verify the final value with a 3 hours Prime run.
 
Thanks. I know every chip is different just looking for ballparks as to if I am wildly off. I tried -.035 based on looking at my VID stats at idle and load, which did basically nothing, but was stable in Prime. I tried going down from there, but windows is crashing immediately after logging in, repeatedly, even at -.04v. I'm inexperienced in over/underclocking so this is taking me longer to get a grip on everything.

However I am unsure if that is related to the undervolt or something else because I had a whole bunch of unrelated issues having to do with multiple windows installs and multiple boot loaders. I think to do this right I need to move my bootloader to the right drive, failing that wipe both my drives, start all over with windows, and then try undervolting again so I can properly troubleshoot and isolate if boot problems are voltage related or not. Yay!
 
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