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

I got mine in maybe 4 Days... all the way up to Sweden, where i live. You won't find it anywhere in Europe, as far as i know.. But good luck fiting it in :) I still havn't been able to Close the case after installing it. As it looks now i'll have to CAD a new mounting for the PSU to get it closer to the roof of the case. The Cable for the PSU is the limitation... since, there is litterally NO room for the hose and PSU Cables in that tight spot between the Fan and the PSU. I dont know if V2 will have this issue adressed since Dan says V2 will fit the 545LC...
Maybe there is a more Thin PSU Cable available? (the connector is rather thick)


Fernando93 said:
Does anyone knows where can i buy the Asetek 545LC cooler here in Europe? (i live in Spain)

(Can't find it anywhere besides the Asetek.com website and they ship it from USA making it highly expensive)
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Hi - wondering if somebody could provide a few measures for the stud-clips that are used to secure the side panels to the Dan A4 case… I would like to try and make some custom panels - but awaiting v2 to get to me ;) - so I thought I could ask a v1 owner as assume they are the same…? The key dims - overall length (height) - diameter etc, etc. - I want to utilise the existing case clip device - but will try and source some 'studs' that will work in them (I do not want to modify the side panels that get supplied with the case - keep them 'stock' so can revert to original if required)… a SFF forum member pointed me in the direction of Pencom - but need to give some dimensions…

thanks in advance for any help (see images to highlight exactly what I am after)

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SilverFox18 said:
Hi - wondering if somebody could provide a few measures for the stud-clips that are used to secure the side panels to the Dan A4 case… I would like to try and make some custom panels - but awaiting v2 to get to me ;) - so I thought I could ask a v1 owner as assume they are the same…? The key dims - overall length (height) - diameter etc, etc. - I want to utilise the existing case clip device - but will try and source some 'studs' that will work in them (I do not want to modify the side panels that get supplied with the case - keep them 'stock' so can revert to original if required)… a SFF forum member pointed me in the direction of Pencom - but need to give some dimensions…

thanks in advance for any help (see images to highlight exactly what I am after)

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Those Pencom studs are a fair bit bigger than the LL studs, and won't work with LL's clips, unfortunately.
 
Necere said:
Those Pencom studs are a fair bit bigger than the LL studs, and won't work with LL's clips, unfortunately.
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Thanks Necere - that's a shame - I have also seen small studs used in model cars… for the steering/suspension mechanisms - and wonder if they might be re-purposed for my needs… they certainly look closer in shape to LL's studs - and I could add some height using a 'standoff' perhaps - but need to have the dimensions to see if they are anyway near the right size of LL studs - Cheers

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Ok... after a week of tuning I have been unable to get the L9i cooler to work with the 8700 without putting a Tornado like fan on it. Anyone have any suggestions on better coolers or should I move the system to the M1?
 
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Revenant_Knight said:
Ok... after a week of tuning I have been unable to get the L9i cooler to work with the 8700 without putting a Tornado like fan on it. Anyone have any suggestions on better coolers or should I move the system to the M1?
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The easily obtainable Cryorig C7 and Thermolabs LP53 are only slightly better, I believe most people are using those. It's better to move to the N1 if you already own it until Dan's new heatsink comes out. If you don't own the N1, wait for the Dan C4?
 
You might be waiting a while for Dan's heatsink, if it even comes out.

The C7 or LP53 temps, at least for the previous i7 generation, were adequate at stock, including the K models. Check out the spreadsheet floating around this thread with all the measurements.
 
Yeah...what worked on the last gen won't work as well on this gen. These chips remind me of the first run of Haswell or trying to OC an Ivy Bridge past 4.4. I think I'm going to have to wait and see for Dan's cooler and use the M1 in the meantime.
 
Oh. Is it really that much hotter than last gen? (Genuinely am curious, I have not looked at many reviews.)
 
illram said:
Oh. Is it really that much hotter than last gen? (Genuinely am curious, I have not looked at many reviews.)
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Most reviewers are using AIO water coolers or high spec air coolers. The older 65 Watt cpus like the 6700 and 7700 (NON K on both) could be cooled by a L9I without issue. The 8700 just fries it. It's tough for SFF builders.
 
Revenant_Knight said:
Ok... after a week of tuning I have been unable to get the L9i cooler to work with the 8700 without putting a Tornado like fan on it. Anyone have any suggestions on better coolers or should I move the system to the M1?
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Mmm, mine is actually running pretty well even with the L9i stock fan. I am using a card board fan duct for it and did some adjustments in the Bios, mainly undervolting and fixed TDP limit (see some posts earlier for details). The system is quite silent and runs at full speed in pretty much all real world tasks. It only clocks down in stress tests and under heavy AVX usage (e.g. video encoding), but always manages to reach 4.0 to 4.2 GHz on all 6 cores. That means in worst case it's ~5% slower than running the CPU water-cooled in a big tower, and that means it's still faster than pretty much anything else you can put in an SFF build.
 
I earlier got some tips regarding corsair sfx psu's for a dan case build, reading some userexperiences

so for this chassi
400W and below loud, spin's all the time
600W and above ideal chose

silverstone, not high quality components (high price tag) even the +600W spins at idle and makes noise
corsair 600w high quality components, quiet at idle, could make some noise at load

What PSU do you have in the dan case, and does it work for you? I wan't my PC as quiet as possible and think it's worth putting money into it.

The build is
Chassi: Dancase (delivery january)
MOBO: Asus Rog Strix B350-i
CPU: Ryzen 1800X with Asetek 545LC (AIO delivery in 10days) and 92mm Noctua NF - A9x14 (fan delivery with case)
PSU: SFX: Corsair, Silverston, Other? probably Corsair
RAM: not decided
GPU: Vega RX 65
SSD: M2 Samsung Evo 960 500GB
 
Revenant_Knight said:
Ok... after a week of tuning I have been unable to get the L9i cooler to work with the 8700 without putting a Tornado like fan on it. Anyone have any suggestions on better coolers or should I move the system to the M1?
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Yes, there are many ways to improve the perfomance. Its a shame that good posts, with helpfull contenct dont get pinned in the main post

https://hardforum.com/threads/dan-a...in-the-world.1799326/page-306#post-1043187374

and my results (Bitspower fan adapter)
https://hardforum.com/threads/dan-a...in-the-world.1799326/page-308#post-1043195385

cowsgomoo2 said:
The easily obtainable Cryorig C7 and Thermolabs LP53 are only slightly better, I believe most people are using those. It's better to move to the N1 if you already own it until Dan's new heatsink comes out. If you don't own the N1, wait for the Dan C4?
Click to expand...

the Cryorig C7 isnt better then the Noctua as some tests have shown...
 
Revenant_Knight said:
Ok... after a week of tuning I have been unable to get the L9i cooler to work with the 8700 without putting a Tornado like fan on it. Anyone have any suggestions on better coolers or should I move the system to the M1?
Click to expand...

You should limit the power and avx and stop running benchmarks. ;) I think this cooler and case can handle this chip in normal usage...
 
Hey guys,

I have an octa-core Ryzen 5 1600 and would like to know at which settings your Ryzen sytems are running. I feel like I can't go higher than 1,10V and 3550Mhz but maybe I just choose a benchmark that was too extreme(Linx).
 
Shaav said:
Hey guys,

I have an octa-core Ryzen 5 1600 and would like to know at which settings your Ryzen sytems are running. I feel like I can't go higher than 1,10V and 3550Mhz but maybe I just choose a benchmark that was too extreme(Linx).
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Hi Shaav - looking at your sig, you have a quad core i5, does it bottle neck your 1080ti? my 1080ti FTW3 seem to bottleneck with my i5 4590 (3.5GHz, 4 threads). I am thinking may need a quad core, 8 thread processor upgrade at a minimum (eg. 4770k or 4790k - or xeon equivalent)
 
I wouldnt say that it bottlenecked me, but I had a good offer so I sold it.

btw. need to fix my signature.
 
Anyone found a decent Portable Monitor or LapDock for the Dan Case A4 that is usable with a discrete GPU?
 
galletabah If your offer still stands about the window kit I'd love to reach out to you and discuss it more in whatever way is most convenient for you (Don't know how to DM on this site yet) Just let me know
 
Fernando93 said:
Anyone found a decent Portable Monitor or LapDock for the Dan Case A4 that is usable with a discrete GPU?
Click to expand...


I bought a 15.6 inch 4K from china like 2 months ago. I REALLY like it and it matches my DansCase really well. They have a 13 inch 1440p as well. After taxes, shipping and the company agent service YOYbuy it cost be 390$. I plan on making a USB-C to DC power adapter at some point so I can just have a short plug and short hdmi or dvi cable for a clean mobile system.
Here is one link. There are many more just look around and find something you like.
https://shop57714512.world.taobao.com
 
Fushilang is great, I own one. With the right camera tripod + rod you can make a stand for it as it has a 1/4" hole. I recommend the 17.3" one as it should fit in backpacks.
 
Hotshot619 said:
I bought a 15.6 inch 4K from china like 2 months ago. I REALLY like it and it matches my DansCase really well. They have a 13 inch 1440p as well. After taxes, shipping and the company agent service YOYbuy it cost be 390$. I plan on making a USB-C to DC power adapter at some point so I can just have a short plug and short hdmi or dvi cable for a clean mobile system.
Here is one link. There are many more just look around and find something you like.
https://shop57714512.world.taobao.com
Click to expand...

Thank you very much dude!

I guess you got one of these models:
2780: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?sp...14593007312.19.6de91cc3OzzSvR&id=543054847061
1980: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?sp...14593007312.16.6de91cc3OzzSvR&id=551674231118

The more expensive one has 100% Srgb right? (correct me if im wrong)
 
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Hey guys, I know this is kinda off topic but may of you guys have similar hardware so you might be able to help me.
I just wanted to do some thermal benchmarking with the new instruments I got and with a replacement motherboard (Asus Z270i).

The problem looks like this:
The CPU POST LED turns on for a moment (like it is supposed to do) then the RAM POST LED turns on for a long time (5-10s) but then turns off but it doesn't go any further than that.
I already swapped my RAM, GPU and PSU but still the same. Does anybody know this problem? Do you have any idea where the problem could be? I am really out of answers right now.
 
Is this similar to the old problem with that board? I.e. you just turn it on a few times and it magically works? Some issue with the board's voltage and RAM. I forget the particulars. There were some posts about it a ways back in the thread. I had a lot of weird POST issues with that motherboard that made zero sense and just sort of resolved themselves for no good reason after rebooting.
 
illram said:
Is this similar to the old problem with that board? I.e. you just turn it on a few times and it magically works? Some issue with the board's voltage and RAM. I forget the particulars. There were some posts about it a ways back in the thread. I had a lot of weird POST issues with that motherboard that made zero sense and just sort of resolved themselves for no good reason after rebooting.
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You mean this thread? https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthre...LED/page10&s=6465f6d100a114ad3e0dd71f02292aac

My issues seem to have resolved magically, too. I haven't updated BIOS in a while, and the thread just sorta died.
 
Philfreeze said:
Hey guys, I know this is kinda off topic but may of you guys have similar hardware so you might be able to help me.
I just wanted to do some thermal benchmarking with the new instruments I got and with a replacement motherboard (Asus Z270i).

The problem looks like this:
The CPU POST LED turns on for a moment (like it is supposed to do) then the RAM POST LED turns on for a long time (5-10s) but then turns off but it doesn't go any further than that.
I already swapped my RAM, GPU and PSU but still the same. Does anybody know this problem? Do you have any idea where the problem could be? I am really out of answers right now.
Click to expand...

That's the infamous cold boot issue which Asus refuses to acknowledge to this day. Basically, the theory is Asus really messed up the Auto settings for the Z270I when you run any typical memory kit that's not DDR4-2133. Which is nearly everyone. The solution is methodically changing the VCCIO and System Agent voltages until the system reliably cold boots (boots after being fully unplugged for a minute or so). Some typical values are listed here. This solved it for me.

Edit: to add, if you power cycle three times, it will load bios defaults allowing you to make changes.
 
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Shaav said:
Hey guys,

I have an octa-core Ryzen 5 1600 and would like to know at which settings your Ryzen sytems are running. I feel like I can't go higher than 1,10V and 3550Mhz but maybe I just choose a benchmark that was too extreme(Linx).
Click to expand...
According to Tom's hardware:

"During a single-core Cinebench test, we recorded frequencies that regularly jumped to 3.7 GHz on two cores, so it appears the Ryzen 5 1600 also features XFR."


If it's boosts to 3.7 I would leave it stock, unless you can get 3.7 on all cores your not going to gain much, you might actually loose in some games. I tried to hit 3.7 on all cores on my 1700 with and L9a, couldn't manage it, maybe I'll be able to do it with the fan duct I am designing or the Dan cooler but really it will just be for fun... I know it won't noticeably affect anything I do with my pc.

You might have more luck than me though as you have two less cores and therefore less heat.

Have fun!
 
I really want to build a new Coffee Lake machine in the next few weeks in time for Christmas and unfortunately seeing as my A4-SFX order from Kickstarter wouldn't be arriving until early next year, in the meantime I was thinking of building the computer without a case, i.e the motherboard and PSU just sitting directly on top of my wooden desk. Are there any downsides to that approach other than it will be very ugly to look at?

I don't have a spare case and I considered buying a very cheap case just temporarily, but all the cheap cases only come with ATX PSU compatibility so then I'll also need to look for one of these SFX to ATX adapters which are somewhat hard to find...
 
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The other issue is damage of something falling on a component, like your keys or something simple like that. Obviously liquids too....
 
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Hello dondan I just saw your update on Kickstarter.

Since you haven't mentioned pre-orders outside Kickstarter on the post,
I would like to know approximately when the pre-ordered customers on OcUK will receive the case in hands.
 
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