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

dondan said:
I think there is no need of comparison pictures because I have three photos with hardware inside. If you know how big a ITX board is you can estimate how big the case is.
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omg i think i got it! use a live german shepherd puppy nnngh kill me noo soo cute!! :D
 
it is so gorgeous; I just couldn't wait to have it on my desk. I think it is also pretty portable that we can carry it for LAN party or something....

Lowepro Nova Sport 35L <- Although it is a camera bag, I think of this as my carrying bag for A4 (with other stuffs), with the measurement I think it fits well.

http://www.amazon.com/Lowepro-LP36608-PWW-Sport-Camera-Slate/dp/B00F5JHAH2
 
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jameshca said:
it is so gorgeous; I just couldn't wait to have it on my desk. I think it is also pretty portable that we can carry it for LAN party or something....

Lowepro Nova Sport 35L <- Although it is a camera bag, I think of this as my carrying bag for A4 (with other stuffs), with the measurement I think it fits well.

http://www.amazon.com/Lowepro-LP36608-PWW-Sport-Camera-Slate/dp/B00F5JHAH2
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I think it will fit rather well into close to any backpack.
The one issue I see with this being used at a LAN party is the inconvenient footprint. Maybe it's not as bad as I imagine, but with the case being as long and small as it is, you can't really put it on the floor, and putting it on the desk would take up a significant amount of space. Maybe putting it on its front would be the most space-efficient, but I don't know if many people would want to use it like that.
 
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Really look forward to how the C7 cooler works in this case.


On another note

- I was wondering, what was the design reason for the fold over of the side panels to the bottom plate (and screws).

I would see that it allows the side panels to be fixed on securely. I would most likely leave the screws off based on how I am using my NCase, and therefore without screws, would the side panel still need the folded flange?

I can expect that the flange helps to align the side panel, and provide a degree of retention against vertical sliding, especially without vertically aligned panel clips.
This could however be managed by putting additional clips on the front and back of the case. Is this something that would be considered? I would see it allowing the bottom of the case to be even cleaner looking.

I'm sure you have considered the reason for the flange, and wondered what your primary reasons are for the flange. I can understand that some users would very much appreciate being able to fix the panel in. Making more than one type of panel is also not a feasible option for this scale of operation.

Not a criticism of the design, just intending to gain an insight into the development of the design, and to strike up a discussion about the design. where its going now, I'm not working out if I'm going to be joining this kickstarter, but working out how many I should buy.
 
okwchin said:
Really look forward to how the C7 cooler works in this case.


On another note

- I was wondering, what was the design reason for the fold over of the side panels to the bottom plate (and screws).

I would see that it allows the side panels to be fixed on securely. I would most likely leave the screws off based on how I am using my NCase, and therefore without screws, would the side panel still need the folded flange?

I can expect that the flange helps to align the side panel, and provide a degree of retention against vertical sliding, especially without vertically aligned panel clips.
This could however be managed by putting additional clips on the front and back of the case. Is this something that would be considered? I would see it allowing the bottom of the case to be even cleaner looking.

I'm sure you have considered the reason for the flange, and wondered what your primary reasons are for the flange. I can understand that some users would very much appreciate being able to fix the panel in. Making more than one type of panel is also not a feasible option for this scale of operation.

Not a criticism of the design, just intending to gain an insight into the development of the design, and to strike up a discussion about the design. where its going now, I'm not working out if I'm going to be joining this kickstarter, but working out how many I should buy.
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Yes your reasoning is correct, IIRC. It basically provides an additional level of security and stability for those who want it.

But the case is perfectly usable without the screws there, though the side panels might sag by a mm, which isn't really noticeable.
 
Adding another 2 mounting clips at right angles to the existing clips could mitigate the upward/downward movement of the panel.

(Front clip)
What is behind the folded aluminium edge that appears to provide support for the front panel. From what I can see, the panel should be able to fit a mounting tab. A possible concern is the available width of this metal section (and thus the clearance for the hole to be punched, and the clip installed. Another concern might be a minimum distance between the edge of the panel and the mounting lug that is pressed into the side panel)

(Back clip)
With regards to the back panel, the same applies, is there sufficient clearance to increase the depth of the metal fold over to allow incorporation of a mounting clip, without impinging on access to the motherboard.
Having a thicker back fold over would possibly prevent changing the motherboard without removal of the PSU.

(Considerations)
Cost - An aspect might be the cost of adding 2 more clips/lugs vs the bottom plate, against an improved aesthetic, but possibly a reduced security for the side panel.

Need for screws on removable panels? - To put this into perspective, the NCase doesnt have screwable side panels, to which I am not aware of there being any significant concerns. Even the top panel lost its retaining screw after the first batch.
It is also worth noting that the side panel of the A4 is fully exposed on all sides, and accurate mounting is possibly more crucial for its aesthetic.

(Outcomes)
For me, I see myself not using the screws as I am constantly admiring the insides of my computer case for various reasons. Therefore having the additional lugs would help the panel self align without the need for screws.

If there is sufficient stability, negate the need for the bottom edge and screws, It would be therefore possible to remove the fold, and therefore clean up the bottom edge of the side panel too.
 
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dondan said:
I think there is no need of comparison pictures because I have three photos with hardware inside. If you know how big a ITX board is you can estimate how big the case is.
Click to expand...

You DO need pictures with a scale reference in it :) Even those of us who know what ITX looks like can benefit from that. Look at pictures next to keyboard, mouse, monitor, phone, etc, and tell me they DON'T express the size better ;)
 
My take on comparissongate - I would post some non-professional pics in the forums, but not on the website. That way it's not part of your main advertising, but it's out there for people who need to visualize what it will look like on a desk.

Seems like such a simple thing to make a bunch of your potential customers happy, so why not?
 
goodbyegalaxy said:
My take on comparissongate - I would post some non-professional pics in the forums, but not on the website. That way it's not part of your main advertising, but it's out there for people who need to visualize what it will look like on a desk.
Seems like such a simple thing to make a bunch of your potential customers happy, so why not?
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Or just CGI samples?
 
Drawings of size comparison with competing cases would be nice, especially the cubic ones. Yes I have a bone to pick with cubic cases. :)
 
iFreilicht said:
I think it will fit rather well into close to any backpack.
The one issue I see with this being used at a LAN party is the inconvenient footprint. Maybe it's not as bad as I imagine, but with the case being as long and small as it is, you can't really put it on the floor, and putting it on the desk would take up a significant amount of space. Maybe putting it on its front would be the most space-efficient, but I don't know if many people would want to use it like that.
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It definitely won't take up too much space on a desk for LAN.

I took my Ncase to Quakecon, and while the space you get to use is roughly 29" x 36" was far from cramped, I had no issues fitting everything in. From what I saw most people midtowers into that space anyway.

EH6SeYm.jpg



Keep in mind that the A4 is about a cm wider than my keyboard, and not much deeper.
 
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I'm not really trying to compare, just point out that there's no need to worry about how much (how little? :p) space the a4 would take up on a desk.

Though I think comparing the a4's footprint to my pok3r is fair, they're both roughly 100mm x 300mm (4" x 12").


Edit:
Changed 200mm to 300mm
 
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Got a reply from max fps (retailer in Scandinavia).

They are expecting Cryorig C7 to be available in their webshop by end of October.
 
Curiositie said:
EH6SeYm.jpg
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I've got to be honest, I'm confused as heck. Your monitor looks just like an iPad, but it's clearly not since you've got a full HDMI or maybe USB plus a headphone jack out the bottom (well, the side in that picture.) What kind of witchcraft is this? I assume that it's just a portable monitor but where'd you get it?
 
superblockio said:
I've got to be honest, I'm confused as heck. Your monitor looks just like an iPad, but it's clearly not since you've got a full HDMI or maybe USB plus a headphone jack out the bottom (well, the side in that picture.) What kind of witchcraft is this? I assume that it's just a portable monitor but where'd you get it?
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It is crazy lookin, an abomination to the big monitor society
 
Firewolfy said:
It is crazy lookin, an abomination to the big monitor society
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Hey, I use a portable monitor with my M1 too :p (only as a secondary when I'm at home of course.) Granted, mine is just as much of an abomination because of its giant bezels. But it was the only 1080p IPS portable monitor I could find, and it has a touchscreen and speakers so it was way worth it.
 
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superblockio said:
I've got to be honest, I'm confused as heck. Your monitor looks just like an iPad, but it's clearly not since you've got a full HDMI or maybe USB plus a headphone jack out the bottom (well, the side in that picture.) What kind of witchcraft is this? I assume that it's just a portable monitor but where'd you get it?
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I built it. :)

It's an ipad 3 LCD panel + Abusemark eDP -> DP adapter housed in an ipad 3 housing.

IIRC the specs are:

9.7" IPS
2048x1536 @ 60hz
30-50ms response time (It sounds horrible, but It's not too bad imo. Here's a test I did)
Displayport for video in, Mini USB for power.


I haven't noticed any bad input lag or anything, so it makes a great LAN screen.

Firewolfy said:
It is crazy lookin, an abomination to the big monitor society
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Don't worry about my place in the large screen society though, I've got a 27" at my desk. ;)

superblockio said:
Hey, I use a portable monitor with my M1 too :p (only as a secondary when I'm at home of course.) Granted, mine is just as much of an abomination because of its giant bezels. But it was the only 1080p IPS portable monitor I could find, and it has a touchscreen and speakers so it was way worth it.
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Your bezels are arguably smaller than mine though, so it's not too bad.
Plus you've got a working touchscreen + Speakers, which is more than I've got!

@Ehmm

That's great news!
 
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I applaud your effort on the iPad monitor.

I just think I would of spend the effort & money on making a typical monitor more portable.
 
A big part of why I did the iPad monitor was so that I could take my whole setup on a plane and be guaranteed I wouldn't have to check it, as it stands I can bring everything I need to LAN for a few days in a single bag that fits under-seat.

I think my total cost including things I messed up for that monitor was just shy of $200, closer to $150 if I had done it 100% correct on my first go.

Plus It makes a good conversation piece. ;)
 
Dang dude, that's super crazy awesome. Also, my bezels are bigger than that Amazon page may lead you to believe. There's a black inner bezel in addition to the white outer one. In fact, one of those images on that page is an outright lie. Man... if there was some way you could use the iPad's digitizer so you could use it as a touch screen for your pc... that would be amazing. That'd probably be really hard though.
 
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I think someone is trying to make an adapter to do just that, But I haven't looked into it much since touch isn't something I'd actually want on mine.

I'm thinking of doing a pair of the bare LCD's for quakecon next year, it'll be sort of like an ultrawide then.
 
Curiositie said:
A big part of why I did the iPad monitor was so that I could take my whole setup on a plane and be guaranteed I wouldn't have to check it, as it stands I can bring everything I need to LAN for a few days in a single bag that fits under-seat.

I think my total cost including things I messed up for that monitor was just shy of $200, closer to $150 if I had done it 100% correct on my first go.

Plus It makes a good conversation piece. ;)
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About the monitor, I ended up going with a much cheaper implementation where I forgo the aluminum back and the front glass and simply stuffed the display and adapter board into a $12 "full coverage" ipad 3/4 case.

The only major problem I have with it is how small it is but I understand it is by far the lowest-cost option for a display with DP due to just how many ipad 3/4's were shipped. It probably won't stick around forever given the trend to move to fully laminated displays.

BTW I think you mean 300mm, not 200mm ;)
 
vipz said:
About the monitor, I ended up going with a much cheaper implementation where I forgo the aluminum back and the front glass and simply stuffed the display and adapter board into a $12 "full coverage" ipad 3/4 case.

The only major problem I have with it is how small it is but I understand it is by far the lowest-cost option for a display with DP due to just how many ipad 3/4's were shipped. It probably won't stick around forever given the trend to move to fully laminated displays.

BTW I think you mean 300mm, not 200mm ;)
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I sometimes wonder if I should have done it that way instead of how I did it, did you secure the board, and if so, how?

It'll be here for a little while, at least though. :)

Ah, yeah. My bad.
 
Curiositie said:
I sometimes wonder if I should have done it that way instead of how I did it, did you secure the board, and if so, how?
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Right now, just tape, and it's not actually road-worthy :(

I have yet to take off the protective film it shipped with.

When I'm feeling less lazy I'll try to create a frame of some sort with some foam boards I have lying around.
 
Curiositie said:
It definitely won't take up too much space on a desk for LAN.

I took my Ncase to Quakecon, and while the space you get to use is roughly 29" x 36" was far from cramped, I had no issues fitting everything in. From what I saw most people midtowers into that space anyway.

EH6SeYm.jpg



Keep in mind that the A4 is about a cm wider than my keyboard, and not much deeper.
Click to expand...

What model is that keyboard please?
 
itschop said:
Isn't it affected more by the distance/length of the extension? The one used in this build is rather long.
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The 3M riser is 300mm long. The time for light to travel that 300mm is almost exactly 1 nanosecond. The Velocity Factor of coax is about 0.7 (and the 3M cable essentially has a bunch of very fine gauge coax cables bonded in parallel), so the propagation time for the riser will be about 1.4ns each way. The standard PCIe bus clock is 100MHz, so has a 10ns 'clock length'. A 1.4ns delay is nowhere near enough to cause inter-lane desynchronisation (and lanes are independently clocked anyway), even in a bizarre worst-case where one signal is connected directly to the socket and the other passes over the riser.

The riser's signal delay is so tiny that you can ignore it in all practical terms.
 
Thanks EdZ for making this clear. There is no real measurable latency. Maybe under laboratory conditions. So the riser works perfectly and is very fast.
 
So basically to put this into perspective my plasma TV introduces about 22,857,142 times more latency (I think it's something like 32 ms input lag or something) in my gaming than this ribbon...
 
Some Mobo has m.2 slot at the back. Will the riser, in anyway, prevent me from installing m.2 ssd?
 
Curiositie said:
I built it. :)

It's an ipad 3 LCD panel + Abusemark eDP -> DP adapter housed in an ipad 3 housing.

IIRC the specs are:

9.7" IPS
2048x1536 @ 60hz
30-50ms response time (It sounds horrible, but It's not too bad imo. Here's a test I did)
Displayport for video in, Mini USB for power.


I haven't noticed any bad input lag or anything, so it makes a great LAN screen.



Don't worry about my place in the large screen society though, I've got a 27" at my desk. ;)


Your bezels are arguably smaller than mine though, so it's not too bad.
Plus you've got a working touchscreen + Speakers, which is more than I've got!

@Ehmm

That's great news!
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FUCK ME!

Nice setup you got there! And color me impressed with that monitor!

Yup, a wonderful setup, undoubtedly.

But... I'm not sure I would choose a keyboard with aluminum case for an "on the go" setup. Yes, I know it stiffens the keyboard and makes it feel nicer... but it also like triples the weight, and the keyboard is plate-mounted already. I don't know, If I ever travel with my Poker the aluminum case has to go.


tamaron said:
What model is that keyboard please?
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Its a Poker MK3... that the company calls pok3r. I'm just rephrasing what danij3l wrote so you do not get confused, since the name itself is fairly confusing cause of the l33t language.
 
prava said:
FUCK ME!

Nice setup you got there! And color me impressed with that monitor!

Yup, a wonderful setup, undoubtedly.

But... I'm not sure I would choose a keyboard with aluminum case for an "on the go" setup. Yes, I know it stiffens the keyboard and makes it feel nicer... but it also like triples the weight, and the keyboard is plate-mounted already. I don't know, If I ever travel with my Poker the aluminum case has to go.




Its a Poker MK3... that the company calls pok3r. I'm just rephrasing what danij3l wrote so you do not get confused, since the name itself is fairly confusing cause of the l33t language.
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Thanks. :)

All together I think the whole thing weighs ~20lb, which isn't bad when it's on your back.
 
Curiositie said:
Thanks. :)

All together I think the whole thing weighs ~20lb, which isn't bad when it's on your back.
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I'm just glad I'm not the only one who carries an M1 and portable monitor around in a backpack. I mean, I don't take it most places, just when my friends and I are partying and such. But I'd probably take it more places if it was the Dan A4, just for the sake of being able to do it since it's so compact.

I need to get me one of those 60% keyboards like that pok3r. My "portable" keyboard is a CM Storm Quick Fire TK, which is weird. It's got a numpad and arrow keys, but they're merged together such that you use the numlock to toggle between whether you're using the arrow keys or the numbers. Back when I got it, I figured it would be useful while saving a little desk space, but mostly it's just frustrating to use. And now that I can put my desktop in my backpack, the keyboard will not fit once everything else is in there, but I just might be able to manage a 60% :D

The main thing I don't like about those 60% keyboards is they don't appear to have a dedicated function row. I play Planetside 2 where the function keys are used to switch seats in a vehicle, and the number rows switch weapons, and I need quick access to both... then again I usually don't have to switch weapons when I'm in a vehicle so maybe I could re-map number keys to seats, and get by with the mouse wheel for the semi-rare cases where I need to switch weapons in a vehicle. The only other issue is... can you adjust volume with that keyboard? I guess I could use my headset's in-line volume rocker, it's kind of a hassle is all.
 
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