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

- Lian Li and Li Heat developed a completely new riser card that looks like the 3M ones with shielded cables in black. This cable cost only 60% of the 3M ones. I will test it if the cable has the same performance and features like the 3M ones. Then we could achieve a price of $180-210

- The A4-SFX was pictured in the most popular gaming magazine in Germany. “PC Games Hardware 11/2015”. The article is about computer technology nowadays and prior 15 years. The case represents cases today.

- Currently we have more than 1450 people on the subscription list. This is so amazing I never thought that so many people are interested to buy this case.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

Awesome. Congrats on the ongoing success...your case has really hit a chord with me and seemingly a ton of people.

FWIW, I wasn't even seriously considering ITX until I saw your case.
 
A small update:

-Next week Lian Li will finalize the work on two new prototypes. One will be for some review sides and the other for a huge European case reseller.

- I made one little change on the new case. The front top screws moved some centimeters more to the middle. The reason is the light bending of the top panel. The bending is the result of NCT pressing manufacturing, because of the huge count of holes. I move the screws to make sure that every panel will flush 100% with the topside of the side panels.

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- Lian Li and Li Heat developed a completely new riser card that looks like the 3M ones with shielded cables in black. This cable cost only 60% of the 3M ones. I will test it if the cable has the same performance and features like the 3M ones. Then we could achieve a price of $180-210

- The A4-SFX was pictured in the most popular gaming magazine in Germany. “PC Games Hardware 11/2015”. The article is about computer technology nowadays and prior 15 years. The case represents cases today.

- Currently we have more than 1450 people on the subscription list. This is so amazing I never thought that so many people are interested in to buy this case.

I'm sure that first run will go above 1000 units without a single problem. Congrats on all the good stuff up to this point, but I'm 100% sure that real success is just around the corner. This case will be talked about even 10 years later.
I'm the one that will be buying it 100% as soon as available.
 
Great to hear news as always, dondan!
Especially such good news, congrats on the magazine feature!
 
I was actually thinking about the Lian Li PCI riser cable the other day, in relation to the A4-SFX.

I was looking at the Lian Li PC-0X series of wall-mount chassis, and when looking over the ribbon cable, I thought "Isn't Lian Li the production facility for the A4-SFX? This could bring costs down some…"

And then it was so! Now, I am not claiming to be a Prophet or anything… :^p

Looking forward to an A4-SFX for an ultra-compact miniITX rig!

Yet I also really want to do a full water-cooled NCASE M1, for the most compact fully water-cooled miniITX gaming rig! Might just end up with the NCASE M1 as my Gaming Rig, and an A4-SFX as a general purpose Internet/HTPC Rig…

Man, you guys make it SO hard to choose a chassis for SFF miniITX! Now I MUST have one of each!!!
 
- Currently we have more than 1450 people on the subscription list. This is so amazing I never thought that so many people are interested in to buy this case.

IMO this case design is a no-brainer. it's the best small case design and millions of people SHOULD buy it
 
The case should support GPU up to 295mm length. Gigabyte's G1 Gaming is 309mm so I doubt it will fit inside.
 
@ DonDan,

Support of using Lian-li's riser if the performance difference is marginal. 180++ sounds more reasonable....
 
Wow, lots of progress since I last posted. Looking great, especially that Cryorig C7 review (kinda late on that one I know). Still can't wait until release.
 
Registered here just to say that I'm looking forward for this case as many other people here. And aesthetic of pc-q12 case - I just love it.
 
To Dan and the 5-10:
Dan and the 5-10 people on the forum who guided this development, I say bravo!

I know Dan did the heavy lifting, but as I have reviewed the 162 pages of posts I see a lot of people who contributed. And to the main 5-10 who came up with some great solutions, provided data, pondered and thinked, (or thinkered?!) shared relevant experiences, and helped answer the millions of questions posed by us newbies: THANKS
 
As a long time lurker on this forum I would just like to say also thanks to all who contributed and I can't wait to order one.
 
Hi guys, I have some questions for you. I bought an NCASE M1 for my new computer that will be completed in this november. However the case is quite bulky and it fills entirely the cabin sized backpack that I bought for it. I'm thinking to switch to a DAN A4 by mid 2016, but I don't know exactly what to buy (I only have an SX600-G PSU already bought). So my questions would be:
1. What would be the maximum size (w x h x d) of the video board ? (Thinking about MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming)
2. Can I use both a 3.5" HDD and a 2.5" SSD ? (if not possible, I would ditch the SSD...)
3. How much room do I have for the CPU cooler?
Thanks!
 
Hi guys, I have some questions for you. I bought an NCASE M1 for my new computer that will be completed in this november. However the case is quite bulky and it fills entirely the cabin sized backpack that I bought for it. I'm thinking to switch to a DAN A4 by mid 2016, but I don't know exactly what to buy (I only have an SX600-G PSU already bought). So my questions would be:
1. What would be the maximum size (w x h x d) of the video board ? (Thinking about MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming)
2. Can I use both a 3.5" HDD and a 2.5" SSD ? (if not possible, I would ditch the SSD...)
3. How much room do I have for the CPU cooler?
Thanks!

all of the answers are here:
https://www.dan-cases.com/dana4.php

1. 980Ti Gaming will fit ( max size is 40x144x295)
2. no support for 3.5" drives
3. max height 48mm
 
Created an account just so I can follow this thread better. Can't wait to replace my Caselabs S3 with this case.
 
oweee! subscribed for an e-mail update from the site itself!

more power to you @dondan!

light is just ahead of the tunnel of preparations
 
dondan amazing case ! BUT Will there will be another one with holes for WC or even better WC mount ? For X99 its pretty limited - if I spend $$$ on 6 or octalcore I will want overclock because default clocks are low, with WC to screw it somewhere it would be perfect case.
 
I think a while back in the thread he mentioned that you can thread the hoses through the IO area of the mobo for an external rad. With a bit of creativity maybe you could mount a rad internally in the GPU chamber if you're going for an ITX GPU?
 
It will still look ugly,its shame there is no holes or mount for WC,he should have make holes and mount for WC on top something like LianLi dual fan mount for PC60 test bench where you can mount WC there or mount for radiators under the case.
Or place in front for one radiator.Then you could overclock Cpu and it would best case ever for x99.

Holes or mount for external 120 240mm radiator would be very simple.
 
I think a while back in the thread he mentioned that you can thread the hoses through the IO area of the mobo for an external rad. With a bit of creativity maybe you could mount a rad internally in the GPU chamber if you're going for an ITX GPU?

Hey, earlier in this thread I did some calculations for an internal rad. If you use an ITX GPU, you could fit a 25mm rad with a 12mm fan in the GPU chamber. The trick would be fitting your pump and reservoir below, but it may be possible. Dondan concurred!
 
Hey, earlier in this thread I did some calculations for an internal rad. If you use an ITX GPU, you could fit a 25mm rad with a 12mm fan in the GPU chamber. The trick would be fitting your pump and reservoir below, but it may be possible. Dondan concurred!

Heh, nice!

That being said I personally wouldn't want to sacrifice full length GPUs for a liquid cooler in that spot...if I was hellbent on liquid I would just go for an external rad...but that carries a penalty in terms of footprint.

I wonder if you could use an external PSU and use the space for a rad there...admittedly I know nothing about external PSUs so I don't know if that's a realistic thought
 
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There should be holes in side of the case for WC pipes.And screws/mount for 120 - 240mm external radiator on side of the case as it is 327mm long for people who need some serious CPU cooling.
Now you can still do it but its much moire clumsy as you need to have open case.

I think best solution would be mount frame for 240mm or even 380mm radiator on top, as it would cool down CPU space between radiator and case would be enough to keep cooling of mb/ram intact.With some holes and this mount you could
WC and overclock CPU and even CPU/GPU.

It doesnt change dimensions of the case, what is needed :

1) holes for WC
2) frame for radiator

That's it very simple.I think WC was dismissed because the author is too much love into art/design instead of functionality.External radiator isnt cute but for people who would like to use X99 seriously or overclock it would be very appealing to have such option.In second image, in fact if two fans would be mounted facing down the top of the case they would cool down MB/RAM by taking air out and then cool CPU by cooling down radiator.
 
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Heh, nice!

That being said I personally wouldn't want to sacrifice full length GPUs for a liquid cooler in that spot...if I was hellbent on liquid I would just go for an external rad...but that carries a penalty in terms of footprint.

I wonder if you could use an external PSU and use the space for a rad there...admittedly I know nothing about external PSUs so I don't know if that's a realistic thought

Depends on how you want to do it. If you want a GPU and a good CPU, you'd either need an external SFX PSU which requires a lot of modding to look decent, or you could go with two external power bricks. I don't think there's a single brick that can supply high end cards and 100W+ CPUs with power at the same time without melting. But if a 970 or 960 was enough, then a single brick could be sufficient.

Either way, you'd still need a spot for the DCDC converter inside the case.
 
Heh, nice!

That being said I personally wouldn't want to sacrifice full length GPUs for a liquid cooler in that spot...if I was hellbent on liquid I would just go for an external rad...but that carries a penalty in terms of footprint.

My thought was to place two ITX GPUs side by side and have them on single slot liquid cooling, this would give you more than the performance of a normal full length GPU! Possibly this could be done with 2x R9 Nano.

I wonder if you could use an external PSU and use the space for a rad there...admittedly I know nothing about external PSUs so I don't know if that's a realistic thought

Sure, anything is possible if you get creative, but current external PSUs don't have the power to support a setup like this...
 
My thought was to place two ITX GPUs side by side and have them on single slot liquid cooling, this would give you more than the performance of a normal full length GPU! Possibly this could be done with 2x R9 Nano.



Sure, anything is possible if you get creative, but current external PSUs don't have the power to support a setup like this...

The HD PLEX 250W power board if properly cooled can do 400W with an external brick. There's a test floating around here somewhere.
 
Depends on how you want to do it. If you want a GPU and a good CPU, you'd either need an external SFX PSU which requires a lot of modding to look decent, or you could go with two external power bricks. I don't think there's a single brick that can supply high end cards and 100W+ CPUs with power at the same time without melting. But if a 970 or 960 was enough, then a single brick could be sufficient.

Either way, you'd still need a spot for the DCDC converter inside the case.

Yeah, personally I think I'm more into using the case as intended. Air cool + full length GPU is more than enough for how I use my PCs, personally.

I'd imagine that if you're a hardcore overclocker this case probably isn't a great compromise for that purpose. Even the Cryorig C7 is liable to not be all that capable of anything more than light OC duty.

Just idly speculating as modders should be doing some interesting things.
 
It doesnt change dimensions of the case, what is needed :

1) holes for WC
2) frame for radiator

That's it very simple.I think WC was dismissed because the author is too much love into art/design instead of functionality.External radiator isnt cute but for people who would like to use X99 seriously or overclock it would be very appealing to have such option.In second image, in fact if two fans would be mounted facing down the top of the case they would cool down MB/RAM by taking air out and then cool CPU by cooling down radiator.

Maybe an optional extra like how the no-odd tops were offered for the ncase? But watercooling in a smaller form factor is a small percentage of an already niche market, and it does disrupt the aesthetics quite a bit.

If you're serious about overclocking or have funds for X99, shouldn't you also be able to spring a bit more cash for cutting your own holes for external WC?
 
http://s28.postimg.org/eyzclwc7x/0000.png[/IG][IMG]http://s27.postimg.org/xiu7us1sz/0001.png[/IG]

There [B]should be[/B] holes in side of the case for WC pipes.And screws/mount for 120 - 240mm external radiator on side of the case as it is 327mm long [U]for [B]people who need[/B][/U] some serious CPU cooling.
Now you can still do it but its much moire clumsy as you need to have open case.

I think best solution would be mount frame for 240mm or even 380mm radiator on top, as it would cool down CPU space between radiator and case would be enough to keep cooling of mb/ram intact.With some holes and this mount you could
WC and overclock CPU and even CPU/GPU.

It doesnt change dimensions of the case, [B]what is needed[/B] :

1) holes for WC
2) frame for radiator

That's it very simple.I think WC was dismissed because the author is too much love into art/design instead of functionality.External radiator isnt cute[B][COLOR="Red"] but for people who would like to use X99 seriously or overclock it would be very appealing to have such option.In second image, in fact if two fans would be mounted facing down the top of the case they would cool down MB/RAM by taking air out and then cool CPU by cooling down radiator.[/COLOR][/B][/QUOTE]
Lol

You aren't in the target market of this case then, plain and simple. I love how you just joined and are dictating to someone how a finalized product needs to change at the 11th hour to accommodate your edge use-case.

You [B]should [/B]design a case for [B]the needs[/B] of those people and not expect others to do it for you.
 
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Oh btw for everyone who want's to watercool: If you mount the PSU reversed by 180° you can use its fan to pull through the radiator if you need something a bit thicker. If you want to mod, you could also reverse the fan and use it as a pusher.
 
Oh btw for everyone who want's to watercool: If you mount the PSU reversed by 180° you can use its fan to pull through the radiator if you need something a bit thicker. If you want to mod, you could also reverse the fan and use it as a pusher.

WHOA. Now that's an idea... Would the PSU fan on an SFX-L psu have enough oomph to properly pull from the radiator? Presumably this would also heat up the PSU with warm air from the rad...
 
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