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

Anyone here interested in a silver v1 A4? The HSLP-48 was originally going to support narrow lga and just recently that is no longer the truth. Pm me if you are interested.
 
OmenemO said:
Mosfet heatsinks will do the job, something like these, The C10 version probably fits too, but I didn't notice them until after I installed the C1's.
Click to expand...

So take the heatsink off and just put these on? Do I put thermal paste on the heatsink and just stick them to the VRM? Sorry for the questions, farthest I've gone with modding is taking a sticker off a case lol.
 
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darxder said:
So take the heatsink off and just put these on? Do I put thermal paste on the heatsink and just stick them to the VRM? Sorry for the questions, farthest I've gone with modding is taking a sticker off a case lol.
Click to expand...

They come with adhesive thermal pads, you just take the heatsink off, clean the VRM's if necessary (I did with Methylated Spirits), then stick these on.

I should note, I've not noticed any improvement (or worsening) of temperatures, I did this purely because I wanted clearance for Dan's upcoming cooler.
 
After sitting on my desk for month, I finally got my build together. Strix 370, 8700k, MSI 1080 and an AXP-100 full copper. The current blocker is the missing delid-die-mate 2. It is simply unavailable :( Can someone recommend an alternative?
 
HighKo said:
After sitting on my desk for month, I finally got my build together. Strix 370, 8700k, MSI 1080 and an AXP-100 full copper. The current blocker is the missing delid-die-mate 2. It is simply unavailable :( Can someone recommend an alternative?
Click to expand...

Rockit Cool Link
This one is an alternative, they delivered it to me (Europe) in about a week.
 
darxder said:
So take the heatsink off and just put these on? Do I put thermal paste on the heatsink and just stick them to the VRM? Sorry for the questions, farthest I've gone with modding is taking a sticker off a case lol.
Click to expand...

Adafruit also has multiple fitting heatsinks. One MOSFET is around 6x6mm which means your heatsink should preferably have a width and length of roughly 6mm. (0.25-0.27inch from Adafruit work for example).
If I remember correctly Z270i has 11 MOSFETs which means you should use 11 heatsinks. I assume the Z370i is the same, maybe buy 15 to be on the safe side.
 
HighKo said:
After sitting on my desk for month, I finally got my build together. Strix 370, 8700k, MSI 1080 and an AXP-100 full copper. The current blocker is the missing delid-die-mate 2. It is simply unavailable :( Can someone recommend an alternative?
Click to expand...

Where did you get the AXP 100 Copper?
 
Hi,

Like many of you I'm getting my V2 in January and have most of the components ready (Corsair SF600, GTX 1080 Ti FE, 32GB HyperX Savage 2666 RAM, Samsung 850 EVO 500GB)

I have, however, been trying to figure out what CPU to go best with this case seeing as several people have experienced high temps and throttling in the V1.

The PC will only be used for gaming and while the budget is not an issue, performance, and most importantly temps, are.

I won't be overclocking but are looking for the best gaming performance while not melting the CPU. For my cooling solution I'm thinking about going with the C7 for now - at least until Dan's own cooler is available.

Therefore I've been thinking about either going with the i7-8700 or i5-8400 to avoid the higher TDP of the K chips, even though these are the ones I have noticed most A4-SFX builders are going with.(?)

So my question that I hope some of you will be able to help me with is, what CPU makes the most sense in my specific user case - building a gaming-only platform? Will the heat difference between K and non-K be significant and if so would the 8700 make sense over the 8400?


TL; DR:
What CPU is the best fit for a non-overclocked, gaming-only platform in the A4-SFX V2 with the least amount of heat/throttling possible.
 
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Dhommi said:
Hi,

Like many of you I'm getting my V2 in January and have most of the components ready (Corsair SF600, GTX 1080 Ti FE, 32GB HyperX Savage 2666 RAM, Samsung 850 EVO 500GB)

I have, however, been trying to figure out what CPU to go best with this case seeing as several people have experienced high temps and throttling in the V1.

The PC will only be used for gaming and while the budget is not an issue, performance, and most importantly temps, are.

I won't be overclocking but are looking for the best gaming performance while not melting the CPU. For my cooling solution I'm thinking about going with the C7 for now - at least until Dan's own cooler is available.

Therefore I've been thinking about either going with the i7-8700 or i5-8400 to avoid the higher TDP of the K chips, even though these are the ones I have noticed most A4-SFX builders are going with.(?)

So my question that I hope some of you will be able to help me with is, what CPU makes the most sense in my specific user case - building a gaming-only platform? Will the heat difference between K and non-K be significant and if so would the 8700 make sense over the 8400?


TL; DR:
What CPU is the best fit for a non-overclocked, gaming-only platform in the A4-SFX V2 with the least amount of heat/throttling possible.
Click to expand...

I am intrigued by the Coffee Lake i5-8400, honestly. If you want to go the easy to cool and "bang for your buck route" it's $190 and according to anandtech bench outperforms last year's champ, the i7-7700K. And of course it is 65w and will be easily cooled in the Dan case with something like the L9i. Oddly it even outperforms the 8700K on their tests, which makes zero sense, so I wonder if something is up with their Coffee Lake testing bench or something.

As far as throttling though, really, I don't think that many people had that issue even with a K chip. I have not been paying close attention to this thread once I was done building mine though so maybe I missed something. I have the 7700K in the A4 with an LP53 and I just undervolt it slightly and get low 80's high 70's in gaming in 4K. If you're really worried about it, delid. I think ultimately if you did go for the 8700K even just for the slight increase in stock clock and turbo boost, you would not be throttling with a C7, although it would be getting hot. If you don't want to delid and that really concerns you go with the non K, either the 8700 or the 8400, depending on the max res you want to game on.

To be honest I have a similar setup as yours and the biggest heat generator is the 1080Ti FE. That thing is a little oven and its fan sounds like a little tiny jet engine.
 
Hi everyone!

Long time lurker, first time poster here. :)
Like many of you, I bought my case in june and it'll arrive at my doorstep in january, but it's actually the first PC that I'm building in 13 years so I need some help with my config.

Here's the parts I'm buying in addition to the case:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte Z270N-WIFI
- CPU: Core i7 7700k
- GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming X+ 6G
- RAM: one 16 GB DDR4 stick (to be determined), one more much later
- Power: Corsair SF450 SFF
- CPU cooler: no idea, but the priority is low noise
- other coolers: no idea, will I need them?
- disks, screen, keyboard, mouse: I already have them

Am I missing some required parts, and/or are some of my picks wrong?
(I checked the thread and found a post where someone installed the same GPU (but the 1080 version) and it did fit, as it should according to the case's specs.)

Thanks for the help!
 
illram said:
I am intrigued by the Coffee Lake i5-8400, honestly. If you want to go the easy to cool and "bang for your buck route" it's $190 and according to anandtech bench outperforms last year's champ, the i7-7700K. And of course it is 65w and will be easily cooled in the Dan case with something like the L9i. Oddly it even outperforms the 8700K on their tests, which makes zero sense, so I wonder if something is up with their Coffee Lake testing bench or something.

As far as throttling though, really, I don't think that many people had that issue even with a K chip. I have not been paying close attention to this thread once I was done building mine though so maybe I missed something. I have the 7700K in the A4 with an LP53 and I just undervolt it slightly and get low 80's high 70's in gaming in 4K. If you're really worried about it, delid. I think ultimately if you did go for the 8700K even just for the slight increase in stock clock and turbo boost, you would not be throttling with a C7, although it would be getting hot. If you don't want to delid and that really concerns you go with the non K, either the 8700 or the 8400, depending on the max res you want to game on.

To be honest I have a similar setup as yours and the biggest heat generator is the 1080Ti FE. That thing is a little oven and its fan sounds like a little tiny jet engine.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your input.

To give some clarification, I would rather not delid and I will be playing on a 2560x1440/165Hz monitor (for now anyways).

The bang for your buck factor is not my biggest concern as I would gladly pay the premium for the 8700 over the 8400 if there is any real world difference worth noting.

Would their be a noticeable difference in temperature with a non K vs a K chip in the A4-SFX? From what I can gather I wont see any real gaming performance boost from a non K to a K, at least.

You mention resolution in regards to the 8700/8400 choice - how you figure that they will differ on this subject?
 
Hey guys, when you delid the i7-7700K for air cooling, do you re-lid it, or leave it naked?

Like, after replacing the TIM with thermal compound, do you put the heat spreader back in place, or do you remove it permanently, and have your cooler touch the CPU die directly?

Sorry for the generalist question. It's been like 10 years since I've built a desktop PC from scratch. Deliding wasn't really a thing in the C2Q days.
 
dondan said:
Looks good. CPU heatsink: Cooltek LP53 + Noctua A9x14 fan :)
Click to expand...

Hi Dan,

You wouldnt happen to have some input as well to my CPU inquire up at PM#12673, would you? :)

I would really appreciate all the guidance I can get on this subject as I want my V2 in the best conditions possible.

Thanks.
 
Dhommi said:
Thank you very much for your input.

To give some clarification, I would rather not delid and I will be playing on a 2560x1440/165Hz monitor (for now anyways).

The bang for your buck factor is not my biggest concern as I would gladly pay the premium for the 8700 over the 8400 if there is any real world difference worth noting.

Would their be a noticeable difference in temperature with a non K vs a K chip in the A4-SFX? From what I can gather I wont see any real gaming performance boost from a non K to a K, at least.

You mention resolution in regards to the 8700/8400 choice - how you figure that they will differ on this subject?
Click to expand...

Check out that anandtech article and look at their gaming benches for the 8400. It's a solid performer. I imagine at 1440p you would not notice much of anything with the 8700 vs the 8400. I'd go with the 8400 personally. I have an i5 7600k, stock, in another case with a 1080 mini and it runs 1440p/144hz games smooth as butter.
 
Burr said:
Hey guys, when you delid the i7-7700K for air cooling, do you re-lid it, or leave it naked?

Like, after replacing the TIM with thermal compound, do you put the heat spreader back in place, or do you remove it permanently, and have your cooler touch the CPU die directly?

Sorry for the generalist question. It's been like 10 years since I've built a desktop PC from scratch. Deliding wasn't really a thing in the C2Q days.
Click to expand...

I delidded my 7700K with the Rockit Delid Tool. Thought about running it naked but didn't have the balls to do it. Reinstalled the IHS and now it runs some 10°C cooler fully stresses.
 
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dondan said:
Looks good. CPU heatsink: Cooltek LP53 + Noctua A9x14 fan :)
Click to expand...

Thanks! I was afraid that you'd tell me the GPU wouldn't fit (since I already placed my order…). :p

How do I assemble the heatsink and Noctua fan? I suppose it requires removing the heatsink's original fan and placing the Noctua in its place, right?
 
exactly. Usually people use some zip ties to mount the new fan on the heatsink.
 
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Burr said:
Hey guys, when you delid the i7-7700K for air cooling, do you re-lid it, or leave it naked?

Like, after replacing the TIM with thermal compound, do you put the heat spreader back in place, or do you remove it permanently, and have your cooler touch the CPU die directly?
Click to expand...

I put the heat spreader back on, but didn't bother glueing it on (was worried I'd do something wrong & need to go through the process again). Just placing it back seems to have done the trick though, temps are still about 10-15°C better than they were before.
 
Dhommi said:
Hi Dan,

You wouldnt happen to have some input as well to my CPU inquire up at PM#12673, would you? :)
Click to expand...

Both CPU will work and you should pick that one that is the best for your use case.
Many customers are afraid that modern CPUs like 7700k and 8700k becomes very hot under Prime95 (stability test software). But this isn't a real test scenario. Nearly no software or game can generate the same temperatures. If the CPU reach 90°C in Prime95 the temps will be around 15-20% better in games. If you delid your CPU you can save another 10-20°C. If you also undervolt your CPU another 5°C.

So I whould recoment a i5 8400 or i7 8700 with the Noctua L9i or Cooltek LP53+ Noctua A9x14 fan. And no the K CPUs aren't worth the extra money in my opinion.
 
Shaav inspired me with his installation of a top case fan (here) to do the same.

And finally I managed to attach actually two(!) case fans is the A4: one in the top and one in the bottom. Both the Akasa Slim 80x10mm fans are in a push-configuration (out) to enhance the pull-effect (in) from CPU- and GPU-fans.

The fan at the bottom received a dustfilter on top because with this addition it fits perfectly jammed underneath the mainboard and can't move. So no clamps, zips or else were needed to hold it in place.

IMG_20171113_115030.jpg

The top fan was harder to install because it always interfered with the riser card when the case front/top was installed...
So I had to be creative and put some pads at the fans case edges to push the riser down. This did the trick.

IMG_20171125_003419.jpg
IMG_20171125_001133.jpg IMG_20171125_001041.jpg

Both fans are y-connected and run smoothly between 1100 and 1700rpm depending on CPU temperature.
With delidding, undervolting and the two fans I can now slightly overclock my 7700K to 4.5 GHz and even in Prime95 I stay beneath 80°C (79-76-76-78).

Plus the GPU temperature dropped 2-3°C while gaming with the fans installed.
 
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Kreyyr said:
Both fans are y-connected and run smoothly between 1100 and 1700rpm depending on CPU temperature.
With delidding, undervolting and the two fans I can now slightly overclock my 7700K to 4.5 GHz and even in Prime95 I stay beneath 80°C (79-76-76-78).

Plus the GPU temperature dropped 2-3°C while gaming with the fans installed.
Click to expand...

Gaming temp please... :R
 
I have tested a R5 1600 (the 8-core version) with a Noctua NH-L9i, some liquid metal thermal paste, a selfmade fan-duct and without the I/O-shield.
The CPU was clocked to 3400 Mhz at 1,025V. This is proven stable.
I haven't testet if I can run slightly higher clocks with such a low voltage.

Today I have been testing how the DAN A4-SFX handles Intel Burn test v2.54 which is the absolute worst case szenario.
The CPU went up to 70°C, while the VRMs reached up to 103°C.

Then I tested Prime95 v26.6 and let the 8k-test run for about 10 minutes.
The CPU reached 68°C and the VRMs up to 93°C

For those of you who plan to install a case fan in the top, I can give you the the following advices:
- the 80x10mm fan has to be pressed against the case to have enough clearance between the fan and the PCIe-Rizer.
I made two pillars made of cardboard on which the edges of the fan case can stand and put them between the GPU and mainboard tray.
- use some zip ties to bend the pcie-rizer even more.

Here are some picture of this modification:
https://imgur.com/a/7cs5a


I have seen that barely any Ryzen system has been tested in the DAN A4-SFX.
If you want me to run some tests let me know. Maybe I can arrange something for you ;)
 
Last edited:
If you like to cool the vrm as well use the new Noctua A12x15 fan. Your CPU will be 2-3 warmer but vrm will stay much cooler. Attach the fan with zip ties. I saw this mod on a Germana4-sfx thread.

attachment.php
 
Thanks for the tipp, but I already tried the fan on my previous setup. I was disappointed by its performance. Furthermore, the VRMs are not really my problem. Its temperatures are much lower when using other applications than IBT.
 
Hello dondan could you give us an update for the preorder outside kickstarter like overclockers? Will the preorderers receive it about the same time as kickstarter backers?
 
Min Ahn: All preoders customer from Caseking or OverclockersUK that ordered before 30. June 2017 (the end of the Kickstarter campaign) will get the cases directly if the warehouse get the cases.
For all other preoders customers shipping will start mid-end January. So I have enough time to ship all EU cases.
 
Just got my Ryzen system built and the Noctua seems a little loud at idle, does the fan duct help with the noise?
 
Kreyyr said:
Shaav inspired me with his installation of a top case fan (here) to do the same.

And finally I managed to attach actually two(!) case fans is the A4: one in the top and one in the bottom. Both the Akasa Slim 80x10mm fans are in a push-configuration (out) to enhance the pull-effect (in) from CPU- and GPU-fans.

The fan at the bottom received a dustfilter on top because with this addition it fits perfectly jammed underneath the mainboard and can't move. So no clamps, zips or else were needed to hold it in place.

View attachment 44222

The top fan was harder to install because it always interfered with the riser card when the case front/top was installed...
So I had to be creative and put some pads at the fans case edges to push the riser down. This did the trick.

View attachment 44230
View attachment 44224 View attachment 44225

Both fans are y-connected and run smoothly between 1100 and 1700rpm depending on CPU temperature.
With delidding, undervolting and the two fans I can now slightly overclock my 7700K to 4.5 GHz and even in Prime95 I stay beneath 80°C (79-76-76-78).

Plus the GPU temperature dropped 2-3°C while gaming with the fans installed.
Click to expand...

It would be cool (intended) to see the difference if you cover the remaining holes around the fans (sides and bottom), either with tape or other custom made plate as others have tried... to ensure that it only breathes "fresh air".
 
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