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

Designer could make 0.5cm or even 0.1cm wider and -all- cards would fit - now there will be never ending questions 'will this card fit ?' because nobody wants reference cards.Why it has been done -exactly- for 2 slots I have no idea.Such case -should- fit non reference cards for width because they offer much better cooling, clock and value.If it fits such card for length like Titan X or 980Ti it should fit non-reference for width.We are talking -most probably - about 10-30mm difference thats nothing.
 
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Dondan has long stopped asking for feedback for the design of the case itself. Let it rest.
 
JFK78 said:
Designer could make 0.5cm or even 0.1cm wider and -all- cards would fit - now there will be never ending questions 'will this card fit ?' because nobody wants reference cards.Why it has been done -exactly- for 2 slots I have no idea.Such case -should- fit non reference cards for width because they offer much better cooling, clock and value.If it fits such card for length like Titan X or 980Ti it should fit non-reference for width.We are talking -most probably - about 10-30mm difference thats nothing.
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I don't see a problem with it, because there are so many cards also with aftermarkt coolers that fit. MSI Gaming serie, Asus Strix serie, EVGA Dual Fan cooler s.o there are only sone extreme oc cards and some AMD GPU cards with 2.5 Slot designs that will not fit.


QuantumBraced said:
Guys, I hate to keep spamming this question here, but since it's been brought up again -- would you recommend a reference or non-reference GPU for this case?
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It make no differece because radial blower (reference) and top blower cards work perfect in this case. I like the top blower cards more, because they are more silent.
 
QuantumBraced said:
I see that Dan has only included reference cards in his recommendations and I'm wondering why.
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The reason is that there are hundreds of cards on the market from different manufracture, it is impossible to make a lis,t that is up to date with all suitable cards inside.
 
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Okay, thanks for the feedback. I think non-reference would be better for dust, but only if I had a magnetic demcifilter. Hopefully that would be available with the magnetic strips. I would put filters on each side, and I should have some serious positive pressure in the case, with the GPU, CPU and PSU fans drawing air from the outside, and I'd leave the top and bottom filterless. I'm imagining very little dust buildup in that scenario.
 
Sorry a bit off topic but long time lurker, first time poster.

I am just wondering if dondan could tell me if a mATX board will fit in the A4 case?

I really want to configure an sli setup in the case but i am concerned about the heat.

@dondan, if necessary, could you change everything about the case so it suits my every requirement? (This question is based on the logic of someone like JFK78). :p
 
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firies2000 said:
Sorry a bit off topic but long time lurker, first time poster.

I am just wondering if dondan could tell me if a mATX board will fit in the A4 case?

I really want to configure an sli setup in the case but i am concerned about the heat.

@dondan, if necessary, could you change everything about the case so it suits my every requirement? (This question is based on the logic of someone like JFK78). :p
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Heh.
 
I say it like that, but if it was possible to order and pay directly on the site, I would have already ordered and paid 2 to be on to have as soon as possible .... And I'm sure many would the same thing as me .... :)
 
00joshua00 said:
I say it like that, but if it was possible to order and pay directly on the site, I would have already ordered and paid 2 to be on to have as soon as possible .... And I'm sure many would the same thing as me .... :)
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There were already some who offered that, and Dondan - the author of the case agreed on that. He will send you your new A4 case tomorrow if need be. You only need to pay 10,000 euro.
 
But for that 10k Euros, you get (I do believe) a piece of A4-SFX history, a prototype chassis…?
 
@Dodan
It would be really cool to see a series of images from first prototype -> A4 v1.0.
To me it's really fascinating and think for others too!
 
All existing pictures of the first prototype are here in this thread. I could not make new ones because I sold the case to rawr.
 
Vexel said:
There were already some who offered that, and Dondan - the author of the case agreed on that. He will send you your new A4 case tomorrow if need be. You only need to pay 10,000 euro.
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In this way dondan have money before ... I'm just saying I would be willing to pay well in advance just to be on to have one among the first to get out ... ;)
 
No sense on paying right now, u will have the case the same day.

If i pay today for a case that i'm going to get in 3-4 months i'll become more impatient :p
 
I'm torn between the Cryorig C7 and the Nocua NH-L9i for this case. Could someone give me pros and cons of both? I think the C7 performs better, but the Noctua is probably quieter and I also love the Noctua fan -- it's a standard 92mm fan, hence easier to replace, obviously Noctua brand which is the best fan there is, and also more appropriate for a case intake, which it will basically act as in this case, in addition to cooling the CPU. I think the Cryorig will deliver lower temps though, but since I don't plan on overclock, that won't matter all that much. Thoughts? What are you guys getting?
 
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I have the same question:
I just ordered one standard Core i5-6600.
So when the only criteria is noise:

Is the NH-L9i the best solution?
 
QuantumBraced said:
I'm torn between the Cryorig C7 and the Nocua NH-L9i for this case. Could someone give me pros and cons of both? I think the C7 performs better, but the Noctua is probably quieter and I also love the Noctua fan -- it's a standard 92mm fan, hence easier to replace, obviously Noctua brand which is the best fan there is, and also more appropriate for a case intake, which it will basically act as in this case, in addition to cooling the CPU. I think the Cryorig will deliver lower temps though, but since I don't plan on overclock, that won't matter all that much. Thoughts? What are you guys getting?
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C7 is wayyyyyyyyyy sexier ;)
 
I think Noctua's fans are so ugly that they've gained special status, making them kind of cool and iconic, so I kind of want one now :D And honestly, I don't care if my CPU goes up 2-3 degrees more, I think the Noctua would be more silent and versatile and the way I'm picturing it, it'll draw air from the outside better as it is a thicker fan, and it'll sit more snugly against the wall of the case.
 
The L9i is actually shorter than the C7 overall, the C7 will end up a good bit closer to the case wall.

From what I can tell the heatsink alone on the C7 is the entire height of the L9i.

i7OzxOu.jpg
 
What do you mean?

If it felt like it wasnt fitting right, try rotating the cooler.

My first install the backplate was ultra tight, bowed a little, but I got it mounted.

Took it off and reinstalled and it slid on easy as butter after a 180* rotation of the C7.
 
Sorry forgot to add it doesn't fit with my M.2 SSD. If the backplate was 2-3mm shorter, it would fit.

I wanted to try the C7, but i'll just stick with my L9i. At least with the L9i, using a high quality 25mm fan is possible. I have my San Ace and Gentle Typhoon ready to test once the case is ready for sale.
 
Oh you're right. I think the case's max cooler support is 48mm, so if the C7 is 47mm, it'll basically be sitting on the case wall. And I've just checked on DEMCiflex's website that their non-ferrous magnet filters are about 3mm thick, so I may not be able to use a filter with the C7 or I'll have a small bulge on the side... Never thought I'd ever be building in a case where the thickness of the dust filter would be an issue lol.
 
By the way, and this is duh, but Pascal GPUs are expected to be short, not much longer than 7-8 inches, similar to the R9 Fury X -- we may be looking at the end of the huge GPUs era, which makes it that much more imperative that a bracket is released for the case to utilize that space, for a vertical 3.5" drive, a 120mm radiator, or additional SSDs. Just a thought, but I know Dan has mentioned he would probably do that already.
 
QuantumBraced said:
Oh you're right. I think the case's max cooler support is 48mm, so if the C7 is 47mm, it'll basically be sitting on the case wall. And I've just checked on DEMCiflex's website that their non-ferrous magnet filters are about 3mm thick, so I may not be able to use a filter with the C7 or I'll have a small bulge on the side... Never thought I'd ever be building in a case where the thickness of the dust filter would be an issue lol.
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If only the filter part is against the cooler, I don't see an issue with it fitting but I have a bad feeling that the fan will be touching the filter.

With my M1 and DEMCiflex filter, it was touching the filter/fan but I added a 1.5mm thick washer and that fixed it, but that doesn't seem to be an option in the A4
 
QuantumBraced said:
By the way, and this is duh, but Pascal GPUs are expected to be short, not much longer than 7-8 inches, similar to the R9 Fury X -- we may be looking at the end of the huge GPUs era, which makes it that much more imperative that a bracket is released for the case to utilize that space, for a vertical 3.5" drive, a 120mm radiator, or additional SSDs. Just a thought, but I know Dan has mentioned he would probably do that already.
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I don't believe in this. Because they need space for huge coolers and power regulation for high end chips and I don't believe, that NVidia switch to water cooled gpus.
 
dondan said:
I don't believe in this. Because they need space for huge coolers and power regulation for high end chips and I don't believe, that NVidia switch to water cooled gpus.
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I think what we will see is a combination of more small options like the R9 Nano at the high end in addition to larger ones with current style heatsinks, where as before smaller options were more significantly underpowered compared to their larger siblings. Thus, I think that a bracket for an extra SSD/HDD or 120mm rad will be well appreciated by those that don't need the extreme performance of a 250-300W GPU, but are okay with a smaller 175W GPU design and want more storage or liquid cooling.
 
jb1 said:
I think what we will see is a combination of more small options like the R9 Nano at the high end in addition to larger ones with current style heatsinks, where as before smaller options were more significantly underpowered compared to their larger siblings. Thus, I think that a bracket for an extra SSD/HDD or 120mm rad will be well appreciated by those that don't need the extreme performance of a 250-300W GPU, but are okay with a smaller 175W GPU design and want more storage or liquid cooling.
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100% Agreed!


Hanakuso said:
If only the filter part is against the cooler, I don't see an issue with it fitting but I have a bad feeling that the fan will be touching the filter.

With my M1 and DEMCiflex filter, it was touching the filter/fan but I added a 1.5mm thick washer and that fixed it, but that doesn't seem to be an option in the A4
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I see what you're saying, it's 3mm at the magnet part, the filter is probably 1mm. Not sure how thick they are. Would you say yours is 1mm? I think the C7 fan's frame is slightly raised, so if the fan's frame hugs the filter, but the fins don't touch it, that would actually be ideal -- perfect intake from the outside directly onto the CPU. If not, then maybe we can try some thinner washers. I can live with a very slight bulge on the case.

Either way, I'm certainly going to wait for someone else to test this before I get a C7 haha. May have to go with the Noctua if it doesn't fit. I really want a filter.
 
QuantumBraced said:
100% Agreed!




I see what you're saying, it's 3mm at the magnet part, the filter is probably 1mm. Not sure how thick they are. Would you say yours is 1mm? I think the C7 fan's frame is slightly raised, so if the fan's frame hugs the filter, but the fins don't touch it, that would actually be ideal -- perfect intake from the outside directly onto the CPU. If not, then maybe we can try some thinner washers. I can live with a very slight bulge on the case.

Either way, I'm certainly going to wait for someone else to test this before I get a C7 haha. May have to go with the Noctua if it doesn't fit. I really want a filter.
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I'd say the filter itself is 0.25mm or less. I'm just worried if the filter moves in at all from the pressure, it will touch the fan. I don't think there's any room or a place to put washers.
 
QuantumBraced said:
I think the C7 fan's frame is slightly raised, so if the fan's frame hugs the filter, but the fins don't touch it, that would actually be ideal -- perfect intake from the outside directly onto the CPU.
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The frame starts about 1mm before the blades do. :)



On another note:

If anyone thinks the EK monarch ram heatsink module things look cool, they should fit in the A4, it's 46mm from the motherboard PCB to the top of the "heatsink".

source

I had the idea when Seeing d33g33's Ncase build with the bare ramsinks.

S76Pqbq.jpg
 
Ok, so 1 mm of clearance should be enough, the filter would hit the frame. Unless it bends more than 1 mm, but I'm thinking the C7's frame would basically keep it taut on the wall, and not let it cave in too much.

I'm debating whether to put a filter on the top. I think sides would be enough. I'm thinking with the C7 and PSU fans on one side, and 3 GPU fans on the other side, that's like having 5 intake fans in such a small case, I'm thinking the top and bottom will be like hand dryers ;) But then gravity is also pretty strong for when the PC is idling, plus a filter on an exhaust location can help keep dust in. So I don't know... Thoughts?

One of my main goals with this case is to crate a nearly dustless PC. Of course the design makes it very easy to clean, but I still want to eliminate like 99% of the dust.
 
All of the heatsinks I have seen on air-cooled RAM has fins/protrusions/something for the air to move around/over/thru to provide the cooling. The EK heatsinks are smooth, designed to transfer heat from the RAM to the water block. I just wonder how much efficiency they will have over RAM heatsinks designed for air-cooling as opposed to water-cooling…

This is the RAM I intend to use in the HG Computers Osmi chassis:

20-156-059-TS


And a few more examples of air-cooled RAM heatsinks:

20-148-563-03.jpg


20-233-853-Z02
 
Boil said:
All of the heatsinks I have seen on air-cooled RAM has fins/protrusions/something for the air to move around/over/thru to provide the cooling. The EK heatsinks are smooth, designed to transfer heat from the RAM to the water block. I just wonder how much efficiency they will have over RAM heatsinks designed for air-cooling as opposed to water-cooling…

This is the RAM I intend to use in the HG Computers Osmi chassis:

-snip-

And a few more examples of air-cooled RAM heatsinks:

-snip-

-snip-
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A lot of ram don't have heatspreaders, or if they do have pretty plain ones.

3QW3mvZ.jpg


I imagine if you aren't overclocking and/ or pushing the ram to the limits it'll be completely fine.

Guess I'll find out though, since I ordered a set of the EK heatsinks!
 
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