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

blitzhex said:
My test wasn't very scientific because I had a messed up thermal paste application on the l9i during the test. Only realized after I removed it to put in the c7cu. I'm too lazy to retest the l9i with better thermal paste coverage, but at least the entire die was covered.

Here's some pics of my thermal paste coverage on the l9i and c7cu.
View attachment 68940
View attachment 68941
Don't worry, the plastic was removed (y)

Test conditions: 25c ambient, NT-H1 and a9x14 used on both heatsinks, TDP set to 120w, fan speed set to max (2.5k), vcore 1.04, all core 4.3ghz, prime95 8k inplace FFTs for 10 mins inside dan a4sfx v2, no mods apart from delid and hwmonitor was reset a few minutes into the test to clear idle values.

Test results:
L9i (potentially bad paste coverage):
View attachment 68942

C7cu:
View attachment 68943

C7cu
Pros: 45c ΔT
Cons: Turbulence starting from 1.3k rpm /w a9x14 and x2 the weight of alu verison.
View attachment 68944
Click to expand...
where did you get those clips to hold a noctua fan on the c7
 
Can someone explain how you are supposed to mount a 120mm radiator on the A4-SFXv2? (GPU side) On the compatibilities page it says "Installation on included AIO bracket" - what bracket is this?
 
blitzhex said:
Test conditions: 25c ambient, NT-H1 and a9x14 used on both heatsinks, TDP set to 120w, fan speed set to max (2.5k), vcore 1.04, all core 4.3ghz, prime95 8k inplace FFTs for 10 mins inside dan a4sfx v2, no mods apart from delidded 8700k with CLU inside and hwmonitor was reset a few minutes into the test to clear idle values.

Test results:
L9i (bad paste coverage):
View attachment 68942

L9i retest (good paste coverage):
View attachment 70247

C7 Cu:
View attachment 68943

C7cu
Pros: 45c ΔT
Cons: Turbulence starting from 1.3k rpm /w a9x14 and x2 the weight of alu verison.
View attachment 68944
Click to expand...

The turbulence on c7cu with a9x14 was getting annoying, so I've gone back to the l9i till we can get windowed panels and raise the cpu clearance a bit.
I retested the l9i with more thermal paste and made sure the coverage was right. Forgot to take pics of the new thermal paste application, but it was fine this time.

Updated the previous post with the new results.
A few less degrees with the highest temp on the hottest core, but on average it was a lot cooler.
 
blitzhex said:
The turbulence on c7cu with a9x14 was getting annoying, so I've gone back to the l9i till we can get windowed panels and raise the cpu clearance a bit.
I retested the l9i with more thermal paste and made sure the coverage was right. Forgot to take pics of the new thermal paste application, but it was fine this time.

Updated the previous post with the new results.
A few less degrees with the highest temp on the hottest core, but on average it was a lot cooler.
Click to expand...

Getting annoying lol?
What rpm are you having the fan, my C7Cu with stock fan, for now until i get my boxed 92x14mm noctua, at 25-30% are inaudbile...
 
blitzhex said:
The turbulence on c7cu with a9x14 was getting annoying, so I've gone back to the l9i till we can get windowed panels and raise the cpu clearance a bit.
I retested the l9i with more thermal paste and made sure the coverage was right. Forgot to take pics of the new thermal paste application, but it was fine this time.

Updated the previous post with the new results.
A few less degrees with the highest temp on the hottest core, but on average it was a lot cooler.
Click to expand...

Apologies for the imposition, but is there a chance you could also check on the original fan that cam with the c7cu? Or is that result known?
 
Sebbie said:
Getting annoying lol?
What rpm are you having the fan, my C7Cu with stock fan, for now until i get my boxed 92x14mm noctua, at 25-30% are inaudbile...
Click to expand...

Turbulence starts at 1.3k rpm and mine is usually in the 1.4k-1.6k range while in load with my fan curve.
On the l9i there's much more clearance and the fan is very hard to hear till 1.8k rpm, even max 2.5k rpm is A LOT quieter.

It's true though I could set the c7 cu fan curve to always be below 1.3k rpm and it would be inaudible.

Alaberti said:
Apologies for the imposition, but is there a chance you could also check on the original fan that cam with the c7cu? Or is that result known?
Click to expand...

There are a couple of guys who have tested c7 cu with stock fan on smallformfactor forums. I can't really test mine right now because I'm travelling soonand going to be away from the heatsink for a while.
 
Just FYI, there's 5% cash back if you order with paypal and you use your chase freedom card.
 
DAN Cases – Hall of Fame Voting

I like to thank everyone for sending me so many great pictures. Too bad not everyone can be in this voting so don’t be sad if your picture is not in the list. The selection was very hard, but these are the best 12 pictures in my opinion.

My choice was made based on image quality, creativity and build execution. Now it is your turn! Please rate the pictures so we can find the best ones. Every picture can be rated by a value between 1 and 5. 1 is the lowest score and 5 the highest. Please take your time and enjoy the pictures.

I wish you much fun.

PS: The voting will end in 14 days.



intro_1200_black6iugz.jpg


Link to Voting



With best regards

Daniel Hansen
 
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Oh wow, a wood covered Dan a4...thanks for making us wait almost a year for your rubbish "contest". Wow. Seriously??? WOOD VINYL???? BIG let down.
 
So... you must vote as you see each image before proceeding to the next. You can't view them all before voting. And the order appears to fixed, not random.
Dan, I think this process will bias the results. How do I baseline my curve? What defines a three vs a four, and won't that change by the time I reach the end?

Sorry to be a downer. Stack-ranking is the best way to do this. If not possible, then let folks view the full set of images first.
(larger pics would be nice, too)
 
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readeh said:
I'm kind of disappointed in most of the cases shown as most of them just have custom cables and unmodified coolers. There are some nice water builds, but was hoping to see some awesome custom paint jobs or mods.
Click to expand...

I agree with you there.....
 
Mine didn't make it into the competition, but I'm super proud of how it turned out.

The other WOODAN case in the contest got my top vote. Looks very nice. I'd love to know how they approached cutting the holes in the vinyl. My method was a lot of Netflix and a thin filing tool :)

20180429_DAN_01.jpg 20180429_DAN_02.jpg 20180429_DAN_03.jpg
 
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@deglow: I am sorry but the pictures can't be bigger with google forms. If you plan to rate a movie for example on IMDB do you view all existing movies in the world before doing this? I understand your point, but rating will also work if you didn't see the other from the beginning ;)
 
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All good builds, though underwhelming for a "hall of fame" honestly. Ugly cable management, external radiators (defeating the point of such a compact case), and what I consider basic bitch builds make up the majority of the list. Most had at least one single creative element (though some notably lacked even that) but one element does not a hall-of-famer make.
 
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antok86: Noctua L9i with Noctua NF-B9 redux-1600 PWM. I think they will not perform better as the Noctua NF-A9x14 PWM but they looks better.

Alexreffand : I don't got that much pictures in a periode of 1 year. In total they are 5000 A4-SFX on the market and I got 50 build pictures. 60% of the pictures have a poor quality or are default configuration that we see 1000 times so I can't use them for the HOF site. From the other 40% I took the best. I can only show what I got and I think there are some really cool builds in this list. What is the problem with external water cooling I think the main rule for a HOF build is that it looks awesome and is well made.

@ALL: If you think the HOF preselection is bad or the builds aren't cool than you should ask yourself why you didn't send me a picture of your build that is better? These pictures are not made by me they are made by users of the community. If you think the list include pictures that aren't be woth to be a HOF picture give them a bad score. Only the TOP 5 will be displayed. I don't like what some people write because it isn't fair to that ones that took the time and send me great pictures.
 
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Preorder is ready sind march on SFFLab. Shipping is mid of may. It will be also available on Caseking and OcUK in June.
 
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dondan said:
I currently work on the water cooling manual/guide for the A4-SFXv3. It will be available as an PDF on dan-cases.com. It will include all three possebilities to installe an AIO inside the v3.

View attachment 70424
Click to expand...

This is awesome dondan, the v3 is shaping up to be amazing.

I'm going to be doing this exact cooling setup in my v1, a long with a delid and wire shortening. Hcts did it in his v1 here: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/Q6XPxr so thats my inspiration.
 
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