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

dondan said:
I will get these glass versions as sample and let you decide:

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Version A looks great (even though it doesn't have the greatest temps)!
Not convinced of B both visually and functionally; for that, I'd prefer the original option C that illram also pointed out, BUT ONLY if it's reversible so you can have the cutout over the intake for blower-style cards.

A note on the stamped-in MB stand-offs: as a few other guys already mentioned, I don't think it's a good idea to remove functionality as long as the high-end cooler situation hasn't been sorted out yet. I can see why you would want to make the change but imo the added value is not on par with the options you are taking away from people who want to get the absolute most out of the case – so essentially those people who will end up in your Hall of Fame ;)
 
Re the standoffs and trying to cater to the "majority", also remember the 1% of "enthusiasts" are the ones having their builds retweeted by Thermalright, posting their builds on the Internet and getting exposure, etc.

Has anyone here actually had their mobo standoffs come off? Isn't it super easy to just stick them back on?
 
dondan said:
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.
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Considering those 99% of users are most likely not enthusiast users then they will most likely install a mainboard exactly a single time and never unscrew it again so they gain nothing while the true enthusiast lose again.
 
dondan said:
UPDATE:

Here are all the changes for A4-SFX v2 that are already done. Only one thing is on my list to be checked:


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Hi dondan,

I would like to suggest making the side panel vents area bigger so bigger fans can be fully exposed to fresh air. 120mm fans are currently partially covered. I have SFX-L and 120mm CPU fan and both would probably perform better with less restricted area. This also applies to graphics cards with bigger or 3 fans.

Thank you.
 
Excallibur said:
I completed my build aswell now:

I7700K delided
AXP100 copper
Asus Z270I
Crosair SF600
Nvidia MSI 980TI
Crosair 32GB 2133 memory
Samsung 960 Evo 1tb M2

I also made the Plexiglass extension to not have to mod the cpu cooler.

a few quick crappy patato shots here:

http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/Excallibur1/story

I really like the case!
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I really like that plexiglass extension for the look it give. Would just have made it thinner however, because it's too fat for my taste, but I understand it was "fit your cooler first"
 
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Excallibur said:
I also made the Plexiglass extension to not have to mod the cpu cooler.

http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/Excallibur1/story
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I might be coming from a place of ignorance here, but looking at this photo, I think you might be able to smooth out the Plexiglass edges with some high-grit sandpaper. From previous experience, acrylic sands down surprisingly well, so you don't want to start with a low grit. I'd start at 600 or so (400 if it's really rough), then take it up to 800 or 1200, maybe even 1600 or 2000 if you can find 'em. It'll give it a smooth, matte, somewhat cloudy sort of finish. You might be able to shine it with some polishing compound, too, but I don't have any experience in that regard. If you like the worked look, though, please disregard this message. Looks awesome!

P.S. If you do decide to go that route, I'd glue the sandpaper to some sort of flat, inflexible surface, and use that as an improvised sanding block. You don't need anything too permanent in terms of glue, you just need it to last through the sanding. You'll want the flat surface, because otherwise, you risk rounding out your edges as the paper curls around the acrylic. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any pre-made sanding blocks in 800 and up, but they are trivial to make.
 
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vishcompany said:
Thanks fpr your reply.
I know about brownian movement, I am no expert physician, though. Thus, out of interest: Do you know, how far a typical air molucule will travel, until it crashes into the next one? At what speed? If all molecules move around in a completely fuzzy manner, why can we feel air flow behind a fan and make it visible by means of smoke threads?
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I don't think the speed and distance matters in this discussion. I'm not a physics expert either. When there is pressure from a certain direction, even though the movement are mostly fuzzy, there is a net shift of molecules in the direction from the point of higher pressure to a point of lower pressure. That net shift results in more molecules hitting your hand in a certain direction, which causes the feeling of force. The molecules right in front of a fan has more kinetic energy and thus pressure.
Read about the kinetic theories of gases on wikipedia too.
 
I decided to mod my strix 270i board heatsinks to work with the nexus cooler. Running with the axp100 in pull mode and I can run stable with a delided 7700k overclocked to 4.6ghz. idle: 35c gaming load for a few hours at 67-70c max.

It's not the coolest but it really is a lot quieter than the cryorig c7.

Edit: I also had to remove the heatsinks on my ram to get the cooler to fit.

Here are some pics of it installed.

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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
 
CarbonVirus said:
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!!
Click to expand...

Very gorgeous!

How is that cpu cooler working out for you?
 
Installed new mosfet heatsinks today on my Asus Z270I with these. I only replaced the large heatsink next to the IO panel. They basically fit perfectly on the mosfets.

MW5xzX9.jpg


In the case:

LVon5rH.jpg


Very simple as they come with thermal pads applied. Needle nose pliers, a tiny flathead screwdriver to gently stick them on, and a steady hand. I didn't stick one on that little tiny one at the end as the capacitors around it (or whatever those are) interfered with adequate application of the thermal pad.

Using a laser thermometer I measured the exposed mosfets getting up to around 46c during Prime95 26.6. Well within their operating range, but after fitting the above heatsinks they went down to 37c. Oddly, they were actually cooler than the other large stock heatsink I left on, which was hitting 44c.

This was at 23c ambient, stock voltage on a 7700K, so plenty of thermal headroom. You're going to reach thermal throttling on the CPU itself before the VRMs become a problem, if you're overclocking in the DAN A4 case.

Also, for fun I re-measured the LP53 heatpipe bend temperatures in vertical position when positioned at the bottom of the case, and they were about half the temperature (33c) versus when the motherboard is laid flat with the heatpipe bends parrallel to the ground. I wasn't expecting that. Also the PCB in the rear IO, if you have your heatsink fins perpendicular (with air blowing out the IO) gets up to about 63c.
 
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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.
 
Gurok said:
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.
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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.
 
CarbonVirus said:
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
Click to expand...
Where did you get the kinetic cooler? Must be a prototype, Is it good?!? Also awesome build!
 
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jjsyht said:
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
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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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CarbonVirus said:
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.
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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?
 
okwchin said:
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
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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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Blackreplica said:
Use the C7 heatsink with the noctua fan
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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.
 
enyownz said:
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.
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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.
 
illram said:
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.
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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?
 
dondan said:
If I remember right a user tested this some pages ago and this has no influence on the temps.
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Well, yes and no.
okwchin said:
- 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.
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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.
 
vishcompany said:
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.
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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.
 
dopa said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
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