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

You would need the details of the exact PSU and motherboard combination. The PSUs have connectors across the 100 mm center of the back. The motherboards have the 24-pin power connectors on the top or the back edge. The CPU power can be next to it, or anywhere around the middle of the board.

I am going with the Asus Z270 with the Corsair SF600.
 
So I contacted innodisk about low profile ram and volume discounts. If we can get 50 people together we can get 32gb (2x16gb) VLP ram for $318. The volume discount is for 100 16gb sticks.

You think there are 50 people interested in doing this? This is 100 dollars cheaper than the crucial option.

Here is the p/n: M4U0-AGS1WCSJ
How about the 16gb (2x8gb) kits?
 
Begin to mod Phanteks PH- TC12LS.

Gap between Tower and Heatsink är 12.5 mm so used a metall file to grind it down for about 2 hours.

Forgot mounting system that are a metall bar over the heatsink Will not fit when i grind it down.

So now i must try to fabricate a new One that will fit.

Will se if i can suceed or i must buy a new Cooler.
 
I'm also using the i7-7700K on the Asus Z270I with a Noctua L9i. Delidded my CPU and applied Coollaboratory Liquid Pro on the Die itself and Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut between Heatspreader and the L9i. I get temperatures up to 80°C/83°C in Realbench/Prime v26.6 @ 4.5 GHz with which I am totally happy with. Average temperatures while gaming are about 65-75°C.
Before delidding temperatures crossed the 100°C-mark within seconds in Prime and the CPU throttled. I'd advise anyone using a 91/95W-CPU to delid it!
 
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A question for those who delidded their 7700K:

Did you do anything special to seal the IHS to the chip when you put it back? Or did you just use the mobo cpu socket clip to hold the IHS in place? Honesly I was going to do the latter and just save the damn trouble but reading Kyle's article on relidding with silicone to prevent temps from rising in future due to the IHS warping under uneven pressure has me a little scared.
 
I used a bit of heat-resistant silicone-adhesive on the broad edges of the IHS just to hold it in place, more of a habit though. Never had any problems with relidded CPUs this way.
 
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Can anyone please post the PSU and the custom cable length that worked for you? Not able to find those posts.

This thread is getting longer by the day.

I just got done building custom ATX and EPS cables for my Corsair SF450 and MSI H110i combo using the same method that Pantera_666 has outlined on this forum (i.e. using short "patch" wires on the PSU end for the double wires).

I varied the lengths of the ATX wires from 145mm to 105mm to match the curve, and it's a tight fit. So if I was ordering I'd probably go for 150mm for ATX. And I made the EPS cable 240mm long and it fits well.

This is my first custom cabling project. It's slow fiddly work and I still have the PCI-E cable to go, but happy with the outcome so far. Only thing I would change in hindsight is using 18 AWG cable instead of the 16 AWG that I'm using as thinner cables would have been much easier to deal with when crimping two wires into a single pin.

DSCF2857.jpg DSCF2863.jpg DSCF2875.jpg DSCF2878.jpg
 
A question for those who delidded their 7700K:

Did you do anything special to seal the IHS to the chip when you put it back? Or did you just use the mobo cpu socket clip to hold the IHS in place? Honesly I was going to do the latter and just save the damn trouble but reading Kyle's article on relidding with silicone to prevent temps from rising in future due to the IHS warping under uneven pressure has me a little scared.
I followed these instructions exactly and am getting good results. I used the same glue they recommended on each corner to hold the ihs in place. I like that you can delid again easily if something were to go wrong. Using silicon glue, it's hard to delid again. https://rockitcool.myshopify.com/pages/using-the-rockit-88
 
I just got done building custom ATX and EPS cables for my Corsair SF450 and MSI H110i combo using the same method that Pantera_666 has outlined on this forum (i.e. using short "patch" wires on the PSU end for the double wires).

I varied the lengths of the ATX wires from 145mm to 105mm to match the curve, and it's a tight fit. So if I was ordering I'd probably go for 150mm for ATX. And I made the EPS cable 240mm long and it fits well.

This is my first custom cabling project. It's slow fiddly work and I still have the PCI-E cable to go, but happy with the outcome so far. Only thing I would change in hindsight is using 18 AWG cable instead of the 16 AWG that I'm using as thinner cables would have been much easier to deal with when crimping two wires into a single pin.

View attachment 18469 View attachment 18470 View attachment 18471 View attachment 18472


Thanks mate. Helped a lot and gives me lots of ideas.
 
So I contacted innodisk about low profile ram and volume discounts. If we can get 50 people together we can get 32gb (2x16gb) VLP ram for $318. The volume discount is for 100 16gb sticks.

You think there are 50 people interested in doing this? This is 100 dollars cheaper than the crucial option.

Here is the p/n: M4U0-AGS1WCSJ

See email below:

Hello Dan,


Thank you for the quick reply!


I am pleased to offer the following:


Innodisk P/N: M4U0-AGS1WCSJ

Unit Price: $159 / 1-99 PCS

147 / 100 PCS+

Delivery: FOB CA, 3 wks ARO


Please let me know if you have any questions or need anything else.


Best Regards,

12$ discount per stick if we have 100+ ??? what the hell.

here's 90$ per stick but out of stock:
http://www.avadirect.com/16GB-PC4-1...MM-ECC-Unbuffered-VLP-Memory/Product/10777634


here's some in stock bu more expensive (all unbuffered UDIMM)
crucial:
140$ https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=CT424EV16G in stock

micron ram:
150$ https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=M424EV16G1 in stock
150$ http://harddiskdirect.com/categorie...-low-profile-vlp-dual-rank-memory-module.html
in stock and freeship

Micron ram specs https://www.micron.com/~/media/docu...odules/unbuffered_dimm/ddr4/adf18c2gx72az.pdf

don't need their inflated bulk prices and 3 week time, fucking innodisk
 
12$ discount per stick if we have 100+ ??? what the hell.
....
don't need their inflated bulk prices and 3 week time, fucking innodisk

true that, I have seen 16GB VLP UDIMM sticks on amazon for <150$ and on other websites for <130$
 
does anyone know the clearance height we have from the board where the cpu cooler mounts to the case side panel? iam trying to see if i can put a swiftech Apogee II pump combo in there and have my 92mm rad mounted on the back with 3d printed mounts to make it as clean as possible without sticking out more then the case it self but allowing me to still connect all my cables. cross my fingers for 2.4"s
 
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I don't see why you woud want to watercool in the A4 anyway. The only reason would be to "just do it" or "just for fun". If you really want to push your CPU/GPU to higher levels, I'd say you've picked the wrong case. Remember that even a water cooling system is "air cooled" in the end. It only makes sense if you can move the air-cooling part to a location where you have more space, read: big radiators, with lots of fans. For short distances heat-pipes do fine, they even have water inside :D
 
yea i guess it can go back in my m1 case, i just happened to find a 92mm rad when cleaning my house and was wondering if i would work in my soon to come dan case
 
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After talking with EVGA tech support im eligible for a 1080TI Step-Up for another 33 days as long as they come out with a TI card option for my ACX card within that time.
 
I just got done building custom ATX and EPS cables for my Corsair SF450 and MSI H110i combo using the same method that Pantera_666 has outlined on this forum (i.e. using short "patch" wires on the PSU end for the double wires).

I varied the lengths of the ATX wires from 145mm to 105mm to match the curve, and it's a tight fit. So if I was ordering I'd probably go for 150mm for ATX. And I made the EPS cable 240mm long and it fits well.

This is my first custom cabling project. It's slow fiddly work and I still have the PCI-E cable to go, but happy with the outcome so far. Only thing I would change in hindsight is using 18 AWG cable instead of the 16 AWG that I'm using as thinner cables would have been much easier to deal with when crimping two wires into a single pin.

View attachment 18469 View attachment 18470 View attachment 18471 View attachment 18472

O
M
G

Just like i pictured it on my mind!!!!!!

Congratulations bro, i'm glad that my idea came to reality and looking so good as well...

Now i just have to wait for my case (USA) and see how good it looks in person :)



A little confession: I feel a bit of regret about sharing my idea... Now i'm not gonna be the only one with cool looking cables ;)

Good bye my only chance for the Hall of Fame :(
 
hmm anyone got their silver case on hand already? care to post some pictures? all i see in this thread are all black version. there are atleast 500 backers who went for the silver version, but i dont see one here :p
 
A little confession: I feel a bit of regret about sharing my idea... Now i'm not gonna be the only one with cool looking cables ;)

fwiw, as an electrician I have all the tools I need to make my own custom cables and was also intending to have varying lengths for tidiness. I'm also sad that other people are doing the same :(
 
hmm anyone got their silver case on hand already? care to post some pictures? all i see in this thread are all black version. there are atleast 500 backers who went for the silver version, but i dont see one here :p
here you go. not the pest pics but if you want I can upload more once I finalize my build. Will delid CPU and make final decision on cooler tomorrow (either stock L9i or LP53 with L9i fan). Hoping to also get 4.5GHz OC since it can be done on stock voltage.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9JzkIA3mEBpRjIya1pMeks1Rjg?usp=sharing
 
I just got done building custom ATX and EPS cables for my Corsair SF450 and MSI H110i combo using the same method that Pantera_666 has outlined on this forum (i.e. using short "patch" wires on the PSU end for the double wires).

I varied the lengths of the ATX wires from 145mm to 105mm to match the curve, and it's a tight fit. So if I was ordering I'd probably go for 150mm for ATX. And I made the EPS cable 240mm long and it fits well.

This is my first custom cabling project. It's slow fiddly work and I still have the PCI-E cable to go, but happy with the outcome so far. Only thing I would change in hindsight is using 18 AWG cable instead of the 16 AWG that I'm using as thinner cables would have been much easier to deal with when crimping two wires into a single pin.

View attachment 18469 View attachment 18470 View attachment 18471 View attachment 18472

fwiw, as an electrician I have all the tools I need to make my own custom cables and was also intending to have varying lengths for tidiness. I'm also sad that other people are doing the same :(

That is a minblowing idea! So simple but effective, perfect!
As a truely uncreative person when it comes to cables I just have to say I'm sorry - if I ever get to doing custom cables, thats the way I'll go. I could of course put a small note on the cables, thanking you guys... ;)

On that note, I'm not shy to rewire and fiddle around with household item cabels, but how difficult is is to do your own custom cables? My main concern is a sudden gust of smoke from the case i.e. one wire in the wrong order or something like that.
 
OK so i'm waiting for the Dan A4 (and GTX 1080Ti) to arrive....so in the meantime i hooked up my rig to get everything working and do a little stress testing



1) 7700K (stock clocks), Asus Z270I Strix, GSkill Trident Z RGB 16GB, Samsumg 960 Evo 1TB, Corsair SF600
2) DELIDDED - IHS removed with a razor blade, applied Coolaboratory Liquid Metal between die and IHS, and Noctua NT-H1 between IHS and CPU cooler. IHS was not relidded with any sealant. It just sits on top and the CPU socket clip holds everything in place
3) CPU cooler is a C7 heatsink with the Noctua NF A9x14 cable tied to it
4) Setup is sitting on an open table, so not tested in the Dan A4

Observations:

1) the SF600 PSU is basically silent. It spins up during Prime 95 but at no point do you ever hear it
2) the CPU fan is very...ultra quiet..even at full speed. and this is on an open setup about 0.5 meters from my ear.
3) the temperatures of the 7700K are incredible thanks to the delid. IMO...the delid combined with even just an L9i should please even the most demanding builder. You don't even need the C7 heatsink

Pictures

32419972614_cb98c2d20f_h.jpg


Temperatures shown in the screenshot are after 20 mins of Prime 95. Idle temps are 38 degrees (ambient 25 degrees). Needless to say, I'm a happy camper
33263431615_a0898ef62d_h.jpg
 
I'm so salty that I happened to miss the preorder window for the 1080 Ti. Anyone know of any open-air cards that have been announced that will probably fit in the case? I would wait for the Strix 1080 Ti but I'm pretty sure it's too big.
 
fwiw, as an electrician I have all the tools I need to make my own custom cables and was also intending to have varying lengths for tidiness. I'm also sad that other people are doing the same :(
A little confession: I feel a bit of regret about sharing my idea... Now i'm not gonna be the only one with cool looking cables ;)

Good bye my only chance for the Hall of Fame :(

lol whats wroung with you guys. "oh no, they are all copying my idea" come on! wth lol
 
OK so i'm waiting for the Dan A4 (and GTX 1080Ti) to arrive....so in the meantime i hooked up my rig to get everything working and do a little stress testing



1) 7700K (stock clocks), Asus Z270I Strix, GSkill Trident Z RGB 16GB, Samsumg 960 Evo 1TB, Corsair SF600
2) DELIDDED - IHS removed with a razor blade, applied Coolaboratory Liquid Metal between die and IHS, and Noctua NT-H1 between IHS and CPU cooler. IHS was not relidded with any sealant. It just sits on top and the CPU socket clip holds everything in place
3) CPU cooler is a C7 heatsink with the Noctua NF A9x14 cable tied to it
4) Setup is sitting on an open table, so not tested in the Dan A4

Observations:

1) the SF600 PSU is basically silent. It spins up during Prime 95 but at no point do you ever hear it
2) the CPU fan is very...ultra quiet..even at full speed. and this is on an open setup about 0.5 meters from my ear.
3) the temperatures of the 7700K are incredible thanks to the delid. IMO...the delid combined with even just an L9i should please even the most demanding builder. You don't even need the C7 heatsink

Pictures

32419972614_cb98c2d20f_h.jpg


Temperatures shown in the screenshot are after 20 mins of Prime 95. Idle temps are 38 degrees (ambient 25 degrees). Needless to say, I'm a happy camper
33263431615_a0898ef62d_h.jpg
The gpu might change that temperature sligthly because of gpu heat and psu heat (adding gpu will without a doubt add more stress.
 
I'm so salty that I happened to miss the preorder window for the 1080 Ti. Anyone know of any open-air cards that have been announced that will probably fit in the case? I would wait for the Strix 1080 Ti but I'm pretty sure it's too big.

ASUS is coming out with three versions including the STRIX. EVGA announced theirs and I believe maybe ZOTAC or MSI teased theirs. Should be plenty of options, but Im sure they'll all cost more than FE.
 
The gpu might change that temperature sligthly because of gpu heat and psu heat (adding gpu will without a doubt add more stress.

Indeed, for sure. Wondering how much higher the temps will get once in the case with the GPU. I played around with the overclocks and got 4.7GHz @ 88deg C running Prime 95's small FFT test (which i understand is worst case scenario for temps). Using the prime 95 blend test or intel extreme test im only seeing temps in the low 70s at the most. As a gaming pc i reckon this would work in the Dan A4 and GPU but we'll see
 
Indeed, for sure. Wondering how much higher the temps will get once in the case with the GPU. I played around with the overclocks and got 4.7GHz @ 88deg C running Prime 95's small FFT test (which i understand is worst case scenario for temps). Using the prime 95 blend test or intel extreme test im only seeing temps in the low 70s at the most. As a gaming pc i reckon this would work in the Dan A4 and GPU but we'll see
I'm looking forward to seeing your results with the gtx 1080ti.
 
Has anyone tried fitting the LP53 cooler on the Asus Z270I Strix or ASRock Z270M-ITX with fins running parallel to RAM like this?:


Thank you.
 
I'm so salty that I happened to miss the preorder window for the 1080 Ti. Anyone know of any open-air cards that have been announced that will probably fit in the case? I would wait for the Strix 1080 Ti but I'm pretty sure it's too big.
Don't worry about it. The 3rd party cards are much quieter and clock higher. Patience will win out here.
 
Has anyone tried fitting the LP53 cooler on the Asus Z270I Strix or ASRock Z270M-ITX with fins running parallel to RAM like this?:


Thank you.


Yes, it won't fit. IO heatsink blocks it. If removed you could do it.
 
Spoke with Cablemod. They said their foam backed RGB LED strips are at end of life/discontinued because magnetic is much more popular. Sucks since this case is aluminum. Anyone know of some good quality RGB strips that will work with ASUS Aura and this case?
 
You're using an L9i with a 7700K? If so I'm disappointed because I ended up returning the 7700K I bought for a 7700 after talking to Noctua about TDP.
View attachment 18438
This is indeed unfortunate as we updated the TDP guidelines for the L9i just one day later with the newest information, which is now more fine grained than before and accompanied by yet another FAQ-entry.
http://noctua.at/en/nh_l9i_tdp_guidelines

7700K with proper stock values and realistic workloads (not prime95) is doable with the L9i and no delid, while for very AVX heavy loads lowering the AVX-Offset by 2-3 steps helps a lot and brings the power consumption to more reasonable areas.

The topic of supporting the top-end SKU's on LGA115x with our L9i has been difficult ever since Ivy Bridge and the non soldered heatspreaders. It doesn't help that since Haswell all vendors are shipping most of their Z-series boards with TDP values set to such a high value that the function of the TDP-limit is basically disabled, as well as enabling turbo-overclocking by default.

The result is a processor that runs overclocked out of the box, with the majority of users not even aware of this and then blaming the cooler for being crap, when they are loading their overclocked CPU with prime and no limits in place to ensure the CPU stays within thermal specs.
Needless to say the processors emit quite a bit more than the specified 84/88/91W when the CPU is stressed with prime, which ends up being too much for a small cooler, whose capabilities are already seriously hampered by the bad thermal performance between chip and heatspreader.

Delidding helps a lot and I have done tests with stock and delidded CPUs ever since Ivy but even though the process is easy with the newly made delid-tools, we can't recommend it officially to users. Just imagine a complete novice getting the hint to delid his processor and damaging it in the process. You can bet that he would blame us for even suggesting something like this and expecting full compensation for his dead CPU, even though it is his own fault. Seeing how the web works nowadays, there is a reasonable risk that it could hurt our reputation, even though we are not to blame at all .

Thus we are very cautious and conservative with our suggestions, trying to avoid any risks, as we can't tell how experienced a user is and if he is able to see why his processor is getting hot and what to do to resolve the issue. People having completely unreasonable expectations when it comes to CPU temperatures with a small cooler doesn't help either.
As I have seen in this thread, there are many experienced users here but unfortunately the majority of our customers is not into this topic that much and has no clue about all this. :(
 
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Is the LP53 with the Noctua fan worth the price over just a NH-L9i cooler? I see mixed opinions where the BLIX YouTube videos show great results, whereas others are saying the LP53 did not make a huge difference.
 
If I remember correctly there was at least one user here who posted results showing the L9i throttling during gaming with a 7700K. There are some 100c readings in the Dan A4 spreadsheet that is floating around also. That's not to say the LP53 won't get toasty. On open air my LP53 on occassion went >90c during a 10 minute run of Aida64. (7700K stock)

But I haven't seen a user here yet say the LP53 throttles if I remember correctly. I think the consensus is between the L9i and the LP53, the LP53 is a little bit better, if you are going the 95w route. Worth the extra money? Don't know. You could probably delid or undervolt or both and be perfectly fine.
 
OK so i'm waiting for the Dan A4 (and GTX 1080Ti) to arrive....so in the meantime i hooked up my rig to get everything working and do a little stress testing



1) 7700K (stock clocks), Asus Z270I Strix, GSkill Trident Z RGB 16GB, Samsumg 960 Evo 1TB, Corsair SF600
2) DELIDDED - IHS removed with a razor blade, applied Coolaboratory Liquid Metal between die and IHS, and Noctua NT-H1 between IHS and CPU cooler. IHS was not relidded with any sealant. It just sits on top and the CPU socket clip holds everything in place
3) CPU cooler is a C7 heatsink with the Noctua NF A9x14 cable tied to it
4) Setup is sitting on an open table, so not tested in the Dan A4

Observations:

1) the SF600 PSU is basically silent. It spins up during Prime 95 but at no point do you ever hear it
2) the CPU fan is very...ultra quiet..even at full speed. and this is on an open setup about 0.5 meters from my ear.
3) the temperatures of the 7700K are incredible thanks to the delid. IMO...the delid combined with even just an L9i should please even the most demanding builder. You don't even need the C7 heatsink

Pictures


What length cables did you go with? Cablemod i assume?
 
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