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

I received my A4-SFX today
IMG_1508.jpg IMG_1511.JPG

Dan Cases A4-SFX vs my custom case :)
IMG_1512.jpg

PS: Dan Cases A4-SFX is for sale. Please PM me, If you are interested.
 
eggyolk said:
Put my Dan A4 together today. Can confirm that the MSI Armor 1080 Ti fits with no problems, and also that the C7 is really damn noisy.
Click to expand...

It's actually super quiet with the side panel off, though. Have you tried the duct solution others mentioned in this thread?

Edit: for some reason I thought I read that the duct was supposed to help with noise, not just temps. I tried the duct and noise levels are not noticeably different.
 
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eggyolk said:
Put my Dan A4 together today. Can confirm that the MSI Armor 1080 Ti fits with no problems, and also that the C7 is really damn noisy.
Click to expand...

Awesome, that just put the MSI on the top of my list for my 1080ti purchase. I like the way the MSI fills up most of the available space and I think those white rings will reflect my case RGB lighting nicely. Could you let us know how the card fares noisewise under full gaming load? and maybe show us how the GPU looks with the side panel installed?

BTW you can also consider using 4mm standoffs for your motherboard to pull the C7 fan a little further from your side panel to reduce the noise or to swap the fan for the noctua a9x14 which is very quiet
 
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like this
This is a beautiful duct mod that everyone needs to see!

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
Click to expand...
 
This might seem blasphemous but I'm tempted to just cut a 92mm hole so the fan has unrestricted intake, probably with a basic black fan guard bolted on the inside of the panel.

The ideal situation would be to order custom cut side panels with less restrictive perforations that match exactly with the interior components. Could slap some strips of EPDM foam around the outside edges to acts as ducts too. Maybe dondan wouldn't mind sharing his side panel Solidworks files with us... :)
 
eggyolk said:
This might seem blasphemous but I'm tempted to just cut a 92mm hole so the fan has unrestricted intake, probably with a basic black fan guard bolted on the inside of the panel.
Click to expand...

Don't be ashamed. The thought of cutting holes in this case has crossed my mind as well....
 
I received my case a good week or so ago. I am a little curious whether or not version 2 will use the LiHeat riser that CustomMOD uses. Was the LiHeat riser not flexible enough for v1? I think I remember Dondan stating this way back, but just wondering is all. Anywho, the case is quality and I cannot wait to build in it!
 
No also the version 2 will use 3M 300mm riser. I don't know where you got the LiHeat information?
 
richiegore said:
I'm thinking about making a full copper side panel with a block all the way down to the CPU... It would have to be mounted to the motherboard and super accurate but i think it would be pretty cool...
Click to expand...

Probably better to just make it in two pieces with another thermal interface between the block and the side of the case, with some sort of flexible mounting system. This would also allow for different motherboard layouts if you ever changed. Might also be easier to manufacture something like that instead of trying to nail the super tight tolerances of mounting directly to the motherboard.
 
phinnaeus said:
Probably better to just make it in two pieces with another thermal interface between the block and the side of the case, with some sort of flexible mounting system. This would also allow for different motherboard layouts if you ever changed. Might also be easier to manufacture something like that instead of trying to nail the super tight tolerances of mounting directly to the motherboard.
Click to expand...
Yea that was my plan exactly, it will be quite a challenge to make it flexible for future layouts.... Maybe the motherboard can mount to it via the cooler holes rather than the case with normal holes, that way I could be a bit less precise... A fun challenge....
 
Also my case arrived today, got it from eBay.de, very pleased it is lovely. Don't have a problem with the button or the feet!

Looking forward to building once Ryzen itx boards are released, I can't be bothered with all this de-lidding nonsense! Also I'll be rendering from time to to so it's much better for that!
 
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I recently have gotten my hands on a Dan Case super excited to put it together.
I have been reading on here for a while now because this is the place where people try all sorts of mods with the case.

Anyways, has any one tried to put washers / a 2mm stand off for the motherboard? This would allow the LP53 to have a full 25mm fan on it.
Also, I was thinking of putting electrical tap on the pertain that the motherboard may come in contact with as an extra layer of protection.

I would like to know what people think before attempting this on my own build. Also, regards to the fans at the top of the case. I have seen people do this with 14mm & smaller fans by lowering the PSU. Tests show this makes little to no different. Is this still the case after several people have tried it?
 
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dondan said:
No also the version 2 will use 3M 300mm riser. I don't know where you got the LiHeat information?
Click to expand...
I was just wondering if CustomMod's case design is different from the Dan A4 that allows for this cheaper $40 LiHeat riser to be compatible.
 
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Mark Casteel said:
I recently have gotten my hands on a Dan Case super excited to put it together.
I have been reading on here for a while now because this is the place where people try all sorts of mods with the case.

Anyways, has any one tried to put washers / a 2mm stand off for the motherboard? This would allow the LP53 to have a full 25mm fan on it.
Also, I was thinking of putting electrical tap on the pertain that the motherboard may come in contact with as an extra layer of protection.

I would like to know what people think before attempting this on my own build. Also, regards to the fans at the top of the case. I have seen people do this with 14mm & smaller fans by lowering the PSU. Tests show this makes little to no different. Is this still the case after several people have tried it?
Click to expand...
I was planning on using washers too. I was going to sit the board on them, leave it flat on the table, and keep adding washers until there was a good 1mm of clearance. I'm not planning on using an m2 drive. Electrical tape is a good idea. You have to account for the back plate on whatever cooler you decide to use as well though so probably an m2 drive will fit anyway...
 
Just posting the components I use and temps I get to add to the data. Also would love advice on ways to improve cooling if any. I see people talking about delidding, but not for my generation of CPU. Would it be helpful for me? Is there a way to "underclock" my cpu? Currently using it at stock levels.

CPU: i7 4790K
GPU: EVGA 980ti sc ACX2.0
Cooler: Noctua L9i
I use 2 SSDs both mounted on the bottom bracket, no M2s used currently.

  • The gpu stays around 78 to 80 degrees after a few hours of gaming. Don't think it ever got higher than 80-82 at any point. This is fine, right?
  • Cpu was similar, stayed in the upper 70s, reached as high as 81 or 82, but mostly stayed in the upper 70s after long periods of gaming.
  • Glad I got this cooler instead of the C7, as it's a pretty average noise level. It's not loud enough to where I ever notice it while gaming.
Overall, I'm really happy with it. My GPU is actually a higher than recommended TDP, and it seems to work alright in the case. Really impressive. I've moved this system from the Ncase M1 to this. In the Ncase, I was able to use the Noctua L9x65 cooler, two case fans on the side panel, and 2 case fans on the bottom underneath the GPU. This kept the gpu and the cpu about 5 to 10 degrees cooler than the Dan Case. Seems reasonable.

Main questions if anyone has input:

  • Would it help much to delid my i7 4790k?
  • Is there a way to underclock (or w/e the term is) my cpu and would it benefit me?
  • Are the temps I'm getting dangerous at all? They're below the throttling points as far as I know.
 
richiegore said:
I was planning on using washers too. I was going to sit the board on them, leave it flat on the table, and keep adding washers until there was a good 1mm of clearance. I'm not planning on using an m2 drive. Electrical tape is a good idea. You have to account for the back plate on whatever cooler you decide to use as well though so probably an m2 drive will fit anyway...
Click to expand...

I think it would work I mean 2mm is a pretty tight fit but I just wanted a second opinion before I try. Also, if anyone else would weigh in that would be fantastic.
 
mapesy said:
Just posting the components I use and temps I get to add to the data. Also would love advice on ways to improve cooling if any. I see people talking about delidding, but not for my generation of CPU. Would it be helpful for me? Is there a way to "underclock" my cpu? Currently using it at stock levels.

CPU: i7 4790K
GPU: EVGA 980ti sc ACX2.0
Cooler: Noctua L9i
I use 2 SSDs both mounted on the bottom bracket, no M2s used currently.

  • The gpu stays around 78 to 80 degrees after a few hours of gaming. Don't think it ever got higher than 80-82 at any point. This is fine, right?
  • Cpu was similar, stayed in the upper 70s, reached as high as 81 or 82, but mostly stayed in the upper 70s after long periods of gaming.
  • Glad I got this cooler instead of the C7, as it's a pretty average noise level. It's not loud enough to where I ever notice it while gaming.
Overall, I'm really happy with it. My GPU is actually a higher than recommended TDP, and it seems to work alright in the case. Really impressive. I've moved this system from the Ncase M1 to this. In the Ncase, I was able to use the Noctua L9x65 cooler, two case fans on the side panel, and 2 case fans on the bottom underneath the GPU. This kept the gpu and the cpu about 5 to 10 degrees cooler than the Dan Case. Seems reasonable.

Main questions if anyone has input:

  • Would it help much to delid my i7 4790k?
  • Is there a way to underclock (or w/e the term is) my cpu and would it benefit me?
  • Are the temps I'm getting dangerous at all? They're below the throttling points as far as I know.
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with the possible gains of delidding 4790K but it should give at least a little improvement.
As it is a K i'm fairly certian you can undervolt. Doing so on my 6700K improved temperatures greatly.
I don't think your temperatures are anywhere near dangerous, but if you want I'm sure you can improve.

I gather a new cooler is out of the question? (Cooltek LP53 and Noctua a9x14)
 
Anyone in here has any recommendations with motherboards for 7700K? Been looking at Gigabyte GA-Z270N-Gaming 5, Asrock Fatality Z270 and Asus Strix 270i. I can't find any reviews of the Gigabyte motherboard at all for some reason.
 
Mark Casteel said:
I recently have gotten my hands on a Dan Case super excited to put it together.
I have been reading on here for a while now because this is the place where people try all sorts of mods with the case.

Anyways, has any one tried to put washers / a 2mm stand off for the motherboard? This would allow the LP53 to have a full 25mm fan on it.
Also, I was thinking of putting electrical tap on the pertain that the motherboard may come in contact with as an extra layer of protection.

I would like to know what people think before attempting this on my own build. Also, regards to the fans at the top of the case. I have seen people do this with 14mm & smaller fans by lowering the PSU. Tests show this makes little to no different. Is this still the case after several people have tried it?
Click to expand...


you don't need 2mm standoff. I tried the lp53 with the default 120mm nexus 7 25m fan and it fit no problems. I mounted it directly to the inside of the side panel. it was 5C cooler than the noctua 92x14mm fan on the lp53
 
A 960 Evo is plenty fast for me. Yes you can run a raid 0 with multiple M.2s but honestly the price of them isn't low enough for me to want to raid them as well adding additional points of failure to a system. Some people might want dual m.2s and to that I would totally encourage them to get the Strix z270i but for me it is an extra feature that I will not be using that I don't want to pay a premium for.
 
mcheddadi said:
RAID 0
Click to expand...

Have a look into the bandwidth limitations on the DMI 3.0 link and compare that to how fast a single hight end nvme drive is.

DMI 3.0 bandwidth = 3.93 GB/s

960 pro bandwidth =
Sequential Read Speed 3,500 MB/sec
Sequential Write Speed 2,100 MB/sec

Raid 0 nvme drives is pointless.
 
elgardo said:
I think 3M quality is a Little bit different
Click to expand...
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:


cover26jlfd.jpg
Click to expand...
Not convinced about changing the stand-offs for stamped in ones, as others have said, most people won't fit their motherboard more than once. People who are swapping it all the time are enthusiasts and will appreciate the possibility of changing the stand-offs... Unless it is cheaper I would leave them as they are.
 
mcheddadi said:
you don't need 2mm standoff. I tried the lp53 with the default 120mm nexus 7 25m fan and it fit no problems. I mounted it directly to the inside of the side panel. it was 5C cooler than the noctua 92x14mm fan on the lp53
Click to expand...

Can confirm that.

Was running with the Cryoig + TY-100 fan and was getting a max of 71 deg C (prime 95, delidded + liquid metal + no I/O shield + 4mm Standoffs + hifi feet), with "ok" noise levels (but which was SIGNIFICANTLY better than the Cryoig + C7 fan).

I have previously tried AXP-100H MUSCLE (max 87 deg C), and the Nexus 7000 low R2 (max of 76 deg C). Both pre-delids.

Today I swapped to LP53 + NF-A9 (92mm x 25mm fan), and am now getting a max of 64 deg C (prime 95 @ over 30 mins run time) with very impressive low noise levels (noticeably better than the TY-100 fan). To be honest, I can not see how this could be easily improved!
I have tried to capture the sound levels here....



Edit: For whats it worth, if I change the motherboard setting from a "normal" to a very aggressive fan cure you can obviously hear the fan more with the noise level probably about the same as Cryoig + TY-100, but the max temps are now 56 deg C (@ prime for 23 mins). Quite simple, it seems as if airflow wins here.
 
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All your meassurements are welcome :)

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aZfTysWc4dtJC33qkLCjLkhPnzVLtbCtjpxoZeT92ZA/edit#gid=0
Click to expand...

I measured today, if the fan-duct mod has any impact on cooling performence.
I measured a reduction in temperature of 3°C when my NF-A9x14 was spinning at full speed and 4°C when it was equipped with the 7V low.noise.adapter. So I think we can savely say, that a peace of paper can help reducing the temperatures.
I did't measure if there was any increase in noise, but I can safely say that I didn't notice any rise.
 
HoodedHusky said:
Can confirm that.

Was running with the Cryoig + TY-100 fan and was getting a max of 71 deg C (prime 95, delidded + liquid metal + no I/O shield + 4mm Standoffs + hifi feet), with "ok" noise levels (but which was SIGNIFICANTLY better than the Cryoig + C7 fan).

I have previously tried AXP-100H MUSCLE (max 87 deg C), and the Nexus 7000 low R2 (max of 76 deg C). Both pre-delids.

Today I swapped to LP53 + NF-A9 (92mm x 25mm fan), and am now getting a max of 64 deg C (prime 95 @ over 30 mins run time) with very impressive low noise levels (noticeably better than the TY-100 fan). To be honest, I can not see how this could be easily improved!
I have tried to capture the sound levels here....



Edit: For whats it worth, if I change the motherboard setting from a "normal" to a very aggressive fan cure you can obviously hear the fan more with the noise level probably about the same as Cryoig + TY-100, but the max temps are now 56 deg C (@ prime for 23 mins). Quite simple, it seems as if airflow wins here.
Click to expand...


3.137ghz????on your video in real temps. that's some serious underclock.
 
mcheddadi said:
you don't need 2mm standoff. I tried the lp53 with the default 120mm nexus 7 25m fan and it fit no problems. I mounted it directly to the inside of the side panel. it was 5C cooler than the noctua 92x14mm fan on the lp53
Click to expand...
That is interesting.
This was with stock 7mm standoffs?
"nexus 7" - you mean Nexus LOW-7000? that has a 20mm thick fan. How much room is there between the fan and cooler?
How was the noise compared to noctua on load?
 
I would say the MSI Gaming X would be the best from what the cooler looks like.
 
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