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

dondan said:
Here some pictures of a member in ther German Hardwareluxx forum that mounts a Nexus Low 7000 R2 on an Asrock Z97E-ITX with an Xeon 1230v3. With an FAN speed of only 1200rpm and 30min Prime95 the temps went not above 63°C. This is really good for a NOT delid Haswel.

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There will be a how to on my site if I have more time.
Click to expand...


Where can i buy that Cooler ?? Live in Europe
 
Ok guys, jumped from my Gigabyte RX 480 to a MSI RX 480, because i couldnt get the Gigabyte quiet enough. In a normal case that card is awesome and quiet. but too lowed in this case. I custom fan cruve didnt help, since the Gigabyte card crashes because of to high VRM temps while the GPU is sitting around 75-80°C @ 1400-1500rpm
The Gigabyte is a little bit handicapped because its closer to the sidepanel and has smaller fans. So the fans are getting bottlenecked, which results in higher temps and noise.

For the MSI cooler thats not even a problem, because the fans are pretty big and can move the same amount of air with less RPM. The MSI has a out of the box higher power consumption of 20-25Watts then the GIgabyte, but still achieves to cool the gpu @ 70°C with 1000RPM at closed sidepanel. Thats nearly unhearable if there wouldnt be a little coil whining.

If u buy an AMD card and u want the quietest card, i guess the MSI is the only one which can achieve that, while the Sapphire and XFX cards are pretty noisy. And i mean everything about 1400rpm with a 80-90mm fan is noisy!
 
Received the case earlier today (Stockholm, Sweden), Thank you Dan!
The packages was so light so I thought is was empty but it was a case inside :)
 
sldr said:
So, is it ok if I share some photos from my build?

These are the components that have been installed already - the GPU will hopefully arrive today.

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Installation of the CPU, CPU cooler, memory on the motherboard, and then the motherboard in the case:

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Enough space between the CPU cooler and the side panel:

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Let's add the PSU:

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The corsair's power connector is too close to the side of the PSU bracket:

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But nothing that can't be solved .... removed the PSU bracket, re-aligned the cable and now it fits perfectly:

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Then I thought there was an issue with the power connector for the SSD when installed in the front of the case:

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But then I read Dan's manual, and after flipping the SSD there was no issue with the power cable:

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So now I'm only waiting for the GPU to arrive, so hopefully an update later today:

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Here are some more pictures of a naked half-filled Dan A4-SFX case:

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I'm not an expert on building PC so it is just my thoughts.

Do you not want to have the fins from the cpu heatsink vertical if the hot air is suppose to go out through the top? Your mainboard have some obstacle over the heatsink so it maybe correct rotated but you may consider removing the IO shield.
 
anyone else get a asus z270i stirx and have a c7 cooler? wondering how people are going to fix the issue with the m.2 shield interfering with the heatsink, I imagine cutting the heat sink will be the answer as the shield also cools the chipset.
Has anyone thought of putting fans on the shield?
not sure when ill have my z270i so just wondering what everyone else will be doing
 
voodosheeb said:
anyone else get a asus z270i stirx and have a c7 cooler? wondering how people are going to fix the issue with the m.2 shield interfering with the heatsink, I imagine cutting the heat sink will be the answer as the shield also cools the chipset.
Has anyone thought of putting fans on the shield?
not sure when ill have my z270i so just wondering what everyone else will be doing
Click to expand...

It is no problem. I was wrong. You have a 0,1mm gap :)
 
dondan said:
Here some pictures of a member in ther German Hardwareluxx forum that mounts a Nexus Low 7000 R2 on an Asrock Z97E-ITX with an Xeon 1230v3. With an FAN speed of only 1200rpm and 30min Prime95 the temps went not above 63°C. This is really good for a NOT delid Haswel.


There will be a how to on my site if I have more time.
Click to expand...

Did he cut the fins of the skivetek heatsink (the small heatsink on top of the cpu block) and sanded it so only the base will remain? Or is it an improvised block?

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absolut_zero said:
Did he cut the fins of the skivetek heatsink (the small heatsink on top of the cpu block) and sanded it so only the base will remain? Or is it an improvised block?

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Click to expand...

Or he just replaced it with something else that would fit.
 
I emailed Moddiy.com to see if they will do custom lengths of 150mm for the ATX cable. They are also selling a pack of a 20cm ATX, 24cm EPS and 24cm PCI-E for $70. I think the ATX length might be a tad too long (but still better than the 30cm that comes with the SF600) but I worry the others may be too short.
 
illram said:
I emailed Moddiy.com to see if they will do custom lengths of 150mm for the ATX cable. They are also selling a pack of a 20cm ATX, 24cm EPS and 24cm PCI-E for $70. I think the ATX length might be a tad too long (but still better than the 30cm that comes with the SF600) but I worry the others may be too short.
Click to expand...
Please let us know if they can do it
 
Yup, Moddiy can do it. Here is their answer for custom cable lenght:

Sure, all our premium cables are 100% tailor-made for each customer with best materials, including top quality UL1007 18awg wire, premium JMT connectors, gold plated pins, and high density sleeving.

Please just buy the item as usual and state your required length in order remark during checkout. We'll build it accordingly for you.

edit: China is really awesome for this ^^
 
Yoshikan said:
Yup, Moddiy can do it. Here is their answer for custom cable lenght:

Sure, all our premium cables are 100% tailor-made for each customer with best materials, including top quality UL1007 18awg wire, premium JMT connectors, gold plated pins, and high density sleeving.

Please just buy the item as usual and state your required length in order remark during checkout. We'll build it accordingly for you.

edit: China is really awesome for this ^^
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for that. It will be quite some time before my Dan A4 arrives (my country is near the bottom of the list) so I have decided to order the custom cables (the price is good and shorter available length a big plus).

My build will be using the Asus Z270I Strix and I have requested the following lengths based on my estimates:

1) 24 pin ATX cable - 150mm
2) 8 pin CPU/EPS cable - 250mm
3) PCI-E - 200mm each

Confirmation of how well the lengths work will take a while though
 
voodosheeb said:
oh well that saves me a lot of trouble thanks :)
Click to expand...
Pantera_666 said:
To be honest with you, it was my first attempt EVER in cable sleeving.

First i've spent A LOT of time watching youtube tutorials... On top of that, when i said "eye balling" it litelally means that. I didn't took any measurements!


I can tell you how i made it step by step:

1. Ive started by the PSU connectors. Made all the shared/jumped wires in a "Y" form, then sleeve it and finally connected them to the PSU connectors (18+10 pin connectors). If i'm not mistaken there was 4 wires this way.

2. Then i did all the rest of them, having this way the whole PSU side connectors populated... I made all the wires the same lenght, and way larger than i needed.

3. After that, i used the aluminum cable combs (see pictures) to give it the exact angled shape that i nedded. Finnaly, cutted to size, crimped the cut ends of every cable and connected them to the MOBO side connector (24 pin)



It ain't that hard, it's just so time consuming bro... IT TOOK ME MY WHOLE DAY OFF!!!

But let me tell you... I did enjoy a lot by doing it...
Click to expand...

Great work!

I tried to shorten and sleev a PCI-E cable yesterday when I didn't got my cases and I need some help.

After you cut the correct length how did you cut the sleev a littel bitt shorter? My sleev don't stretch so much.

How did you do your shared/jumps? Did you just mash two in one pin? I didn't get a good quality feeling for my work :). And how did you do the sleeving of these?
 
I recieved my case yesterday around noon as anticipated and was also impressed with the light weight.
Im very pleased with the result and quality of the case! I was in a hurry, so didn't get to take any pictures of the build.
The only thing that frustrated me was the lack of pretutions / holes to zip tie cables onto, especially in the front where cables need to kept away from the powerbutton and around the ssd tray.
I could drill holes myself, but I wont risk ruining the paint.
Great work Daniel!
 
GTX1080 arrived yesterday :)

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And then it was finished!

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And here it is at home, ready to use:

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Obviously Doom runs great in 1440p with Nightmare quality settings, but - more importantly - temperatures of the CPU and the GPU are very low...

After an hour of playing Doom, the CPU fan steps up his RPM, but is barely hearable. Also: only 2 of the 3 fans of the GPU spin at average speed. Ofcourse you can hear them, but it's not like a jet-engine on the table. Configured the Asus Aura to display the LEDs on the GPU with "green" for termperatures below 70°C, then orange and red at 90°. Never saw another color than green :)
 
Guys! I have some amazing news for those of you wanting to use CableMod.com!!!

After some lengthy discussion with a PR Rep, they have agreed to make an exception for Dan A4-SFX users on the length issue!! Being that they have factories in both the U.S. and the EU, this should be pretty good news for just about everybody. I have posted the full conversation behind a spoiler tag, but the most important quote is the following...

Matt from CableMod said:
I just spoke to another team member, if you can, go ahead and tell your fellow Dan case users that if they request it, we can do special requests on this.
Click to expand...

Matt
February 10, 2017 2:27 am
Hi Danny,



I’m sorry, we cannot do anything shorter than 250mm because of the 24-pin design. Due to the way that the individual cables on a 24-pin are so sporadic and criss cross, it would be, well, not so elegant of a solution to be too much shorter. We want to ensure a proper quality is given to the customers, and a 24-pin shorter than 250mm we feel would not be a great appearance. I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.



Kind regards,
Matt
----------------------------------------------

Daniel Woods
February 10, 2017 2:39 am
Hmmm. That sounds a little like BS but I’ll take your word for it. Ok, well I guess it’s making my own cables then. The photo below is from the thread I was speaking about above. The cable is 150mm and looks amazing to me! So I’m not sure I understand what you mean by aesthetics being the main cause for no options below 250mm. I really think CableMod should re-address this as SFF cases become more popular.

Thanks anyway.

D
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Matt
February 10, 2017 2:50 am
Hi Danny,



I will request this again with our product manager, and see if we can make any changes.

Can you show me the thread you are referring to?



Kind regards,
Matt
----------------------------------------------

Daniel Woods
February 10, 2017 3:34 am
Sure thing! The discussion about Cablemod goes on for a couple pages back but beginning at the first comment you can see that folks are seeking out other options after attempting to order shorter cables (150mm) from you.

https://hardforum.com/threads/dan-a4-sfx-the-smallest-gaming-case-in-the-world.1799326/page-210

Moddiy.com offers 100 and 150mm but the quality isn’t that great and they’re in Asia. It takes forever to get them…

I seriously believe there is (and will be more as SFF’s gain popularity) a demand for short “stubby” cables. Thanks for forwarding this.



cheers!

D
----------------------------------------------

Matt
February 10, 2017 4:42 am
Hi Daniel,



I just spoke to another team member, if you can, go ahead and tell your fellow Dan case users that if they request it, we can do special requests on this. :)

Additionally, what length did you need on the 24-pin?



Kind regards,
Matt
----------------------------------------------

Daniel Woods
February 10, 2017 11:26 am
Matt, this is wonderful news!

You’re going to be the hero of HardForum. I just posted the good news on the thread. How would we go about making “special requests”? The only cable that goes outside your boundaries is the the ATX cable. We need 150mm. I think the rest fit within your guidelines, but don’t quote me on that, I will get back to you. The PSU’s we’re mainly using are the Corsair SF450 and SF600 and then Silverstone’s ST45SF (SFX 450w, which I DO see listed on your configurator) and possibly the SX600-G (SFX 600w, which I do NOT see on your configurator). I’m sure they’re the same pin-out though.

Awesome news! I really didn’t want to spend a whole weekend making cables – I’m really not good at it.

Thanks again (from all of us)!

Danny

I really didn't want to spend a weekend making cables. Score!
 
Last edited:
onmybikedrunk said:
Guys! I have some amazing news for those of you wanting to use CableMod.com!!!

After some lengthy discussion with a PR Rep, they have agreed to make an exception for Dan A4-SFX users on the length issue!! Being that they have factories in both the U.S. and the EU, this should be pretty good news for just about everybody. I have posted the full conversation behind a spoiler tag, but the most important quote is the following...



Matt
February 10, 2017 2:27 am
Hi Danny,



I’m sorry, we cannot do anything shorter than 250mm because of the 24-pin design. Due to the way that the individual cables on a 24-pin are so sporadic and criss cross, it would be, well, not so elegant of a solution to be too much shorter. We want to ensure a proper quality is given to the customers, and a 24-pin shorter than 250mm we feel would not be a great appearance. I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.



Kind regards,
Matt
----------------------------------------------

Daniel Woods
February 10, 2017 2:39 am
Hmmm. That sounds a little like BS but I’ll take your word for it. Ok, well I guess it’s making my own cables then. The photo below is from the thread I was speaking about above. The cable is 150mm and looks amazing to me! So I’m not sure I understand what you mean by aesthetics being the main cause for no options below 250mm. I really think CableMod should re-address this as SFF cases become more popular.

Thanks anyway.

D
----------------------------------------------

Matt
February 10, 2017 2:50 am
Hi Danny,



I will request this again with our product manager, and see if we can make any changes.

Can you show me the thread you are referring to?



Kind regards,
Matt
----------------------------------------------

Daniel Woods
February 10, 2017 3:34 am
Sure thing! The discussion about Cablemod goes on for a couple pages back but beginning at the first comment you can see that folks are seeking out other options after attempting to order shorter cables (150mm) from you.

https://hardforum.com/threads/dan-a4-sfx-the-smallest-gaming-case-in-the-world.1799326/page-210

Moddiy.com offers 100 and 150mm but the quality isn’t that great and they’re in Asia. It takes forever to get them…

I seriously believe there is (and will be more as SFF’s gain popularity) a demand for short “stubby” cables. Thanks for forwarding this.



cheers!

D
----------------------------------------------

Matt
February 10, 2017 4:42 am
Hi Daniel,



I just spoke to another team member, if you can, go ahead and tell your fellow Dan case users that if they request it, we can do special requests on this. :)

Additionally, what length did you need on the 24-pin?



Kind regards,
Matt
----------------------------------------------

Daniel Woods
February 10, 2017 11:26 am
Matt, this is wonderful news!

You’re going to be the hero of HardForum. I just posted the good news on the thread. How would we go about making “special requests”? The only cable that goes outside your boundaries is the the ATX cable. We need 150mm. I think the rest fit within your guidelines, but don’t quote me on that, I will get back to you. The PSU’s we’re mainly using are the Corsair SF450 and SF600 and then Silverstone’s ST45SF (SFX 450w, which I DO see listed on your configurator) and possibly the SX600-G (SFX 600w, which I do NOT see on your configurator). I’m sure they’re the same pin-out though.

Awesome news! I really didn’t want to spend a whole weekend making cables – I’m really not good at it.

Thanks again (from all of us)!

Danny

I really didn't want to spend a weekend making cables. Score!
Click to expand...

Great, thank you !
 
onmybikedrunk said:
Guys! I have some amazing news for those of you wanting to use CableMod.com!!!

After some lengthy discussion with a PR Rep, they have agreed to make an exception for Dan A4-SFX users on the length issue!! Being that they have factories in both the U.S. and the EU, this should be pretty good news for just about everybody. I have posted the full conversation behind a spoiler tag, but the most important quote is the following...

I really didn't want to spend a weekend making cables. Score!
Click to expand...

Do you know how much the cable wil be sold for?
 
Long story short:
- the Cryorig C7 is a bad cooler compared with the NH-L9i.The reason? The fan is too close to the side panel, so that it become very load even at moderate rpm.
- on NH-L9i is doesn't matter if you use the NH-A9x14 PWM or the NH-B9. Both perform identically at the same noise level
- Therefore I recommend a small cooler for the DAN A4, like the NH-L9i or any of he full-copper coolers. And don't forget to mount the NH-A9x14 PWM on it!

If you wish to know more details translate this text that I posted in german forums, or read the document:
https://do
cs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aZfTysWc4dtJC33qkLCjLkhPnzVLtbCtjpxoZeT92ZA/edit#gid=0
I would appreciate it, if you would benchmark your systems aswell und submit your results. Have a great day!

So, ich habe ein kleines Update zu verkünden. Meinen Cryorig C7 habe ich geliefert bekommen und ihm im DAN A4 auf Herz und Nieren testen können. Zum Vergleich habe ich den Noctua NH-L9i gehabt und als zusätzlichen alternativen Lüfter für den Noctua-Kühler noch den 25mm dicken NH-B9 ausprobiert.

Bei der Demontierung des NH-L9i habe ich festgestellt, dass sich die Flüssigmetall-WLP unterirdisch schlecht verteilt hatte. Die hiermit ermittelten Testergebnisse sind aus heutiger Sicht viel zu hoch und spiegeln nicht das Leistungspotential des Kühlers wieder. Ich habe daher alle Test die ich zuvor mit dem Noctua-Kühler gemacht hatte wiederholen müssen. Im Schnitt sind die Temperturen mit einer normalen, korrekt verarbeiteten WLP nun gute 10°C niedriger, als mit der schlecht von mir verarbeiteten liquid metal paste.

Abgesehen von der Kühlperformence habe ich auch die Lautstärke aller Kühler-Lüfter Kombinationen verglichen. Letztere geschah rein subjektiv. Hierfür habe ich vier Einstufungen gewählt.
- silent (grün): der Lüfter ist nicht hörbar, außer wenn man mit dem Ohr direkt rangeht
- ok (gelb): der Lüfter ist zwar hörbar aber gibt nur ein leichtes säuseln von sich
- annoying (hellrot): der Lüfter ist sehr gut hörbar.
- loud (dunkelrot): der Lüfter ist sehr laut oder gibt unangenehme Geräusche von sich wie Lagerschleifen oder hochfrequente Töne. Man fühlt sich gezungen lauter zu reden und will definitiv nicht längere Zeit ohne Kopfhörer neben de PC verbringen.

Ich habe hierbei festgestellt, dass der A9x14-Lüfter auf dem C7 deutlich leiser ist als der C7-Lüfter. Beide Lüfter sind aber deutlich lauter als jeder der Noctua-Lüfter auf den NH-L9i. Hinzu kommt, dass ich keine bessere Kühlperformence beim C7 feststellen konnte. Mein Fazit hieraus ist folglich, dass der NH-L9i bei gleicher Lautstärke deutlich besser kühlt als der C7. Die genauen Werte habe ich in dem Tabellenblatt "noise / performence" aufgelistet:

Des weiteren kann man den Daten entnehmen, dass der NH-A9x14 und der NH-B9 sich bei gleicher Lautstärke in der Kühlleistung nicht merklich unterscheiden.

Weiterhin habe ich getestet ob sich das Gehäuse mit der Zeit (mindestens 10min Prime 8k) aufheizt und dadurch die Kühlung der CPU zusätzlich erschwert. Hierfür habe ich die mittlere Gehäuseverkleidung weggelassen sodass Abwärme ungehindert aufsteigen kann. Sofern der CPU-Lüfter sehr schnell dreht war dies nicht festzustellen (annoying), bei moderater Drehzahl ("ok")schon eher. Um maximal 10°C hat sich die CPU dann zusätzlich erhitzt.

Als Fazit kann ich nur vom Cryorig C7abraten und zu flachen CPU-Kühlern raten, wie dem Noctua NH-L9i. In wie fern sich die Vollkupfer-Kühler schlagen habe ich nicht getestet. Ich gehe aber davon aus, dass diese ähnlich stark performen wie der Noctua bei identischer Lautstärke.

Ich möchte an dieser Stelle nochmal dazu aufrufen an der Tabelle teilzunehmen. Ich würde mich sehr über zahlreiche Einsendungen freuen:
Click to expand...
 
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Is the noctua cooler much quieter? Would be interesting to see the rpm speed for both coolers that has good noise and cooling performance
 
The rpm willnot give your the information you are looking for. Any fan on the C7 is spinning just 2mm next to the side panel.This makes the fan very noisy. If you remove the side panel, die noise of the fan that is on the C7 lowers tramatically, while the fan on a smaller cooler doesn't become more quiet. That one has already been quiet, because there is more space between the fan an the side panel.

To see how they both perform while emitting the same amount of noise, click here:

https://docs.goo
gle.com/spreadsheets/d/1aZfTysWc4dtJC33qkLCjLkhPnzVLtbCtjpxoZeT92ZA/edit#gid=1550586304

and go to the paper called "noise / performence"
 
Looks like if I want to go i7 and want acceptable cpu temps and noise levels, I should go with an unlocked i7 with turbo-boost turned off.
 
Shaav said:
Long story short:
- the Cryorig C7 is a bad cooler compared with the NH-L9i.The reason? The fan is too close to the side panel, so that it become very load even at moderate rpm.
- on NH-L9i is doesn't matter if you use the NH-A9x14 PWM or the NH-B9. Both perform identically at the same noise level
- Therefore I recommend a small cooler for the DAN A4, like the NH-L9i or any of he full-copper coolers. And don't forget to mount the NH-A9x14 PWM on it!

If you wish to know more details translate this text that I posted in german forums, or read the document:
https://do
cs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aZfTysWc4dtJC33qkLCjLkhPnzVLtbCtjpxoZeT92ZA/edit#gid=0
I would appreciate it, if you would benchmark your systems aswell und submit your results. Have a great day!
Click to expand...
Great! because i already dished out on the l9i xD
 
Can unfortunately confirm the noise from the C7 is this quite annoying medium pitched air noise. (even when idle) Oh well. Just ordered the Noctua.
The dust filters seem a bit on the small side btw, like half a cm length wise and a few mm on the gpu side in height. Bought mine from caseking.
 
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