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

theoretical yes but it will increase the price and only 5% of the users will use it. I will think on it this night maybe there is a more easie way.
I wont claim to know the in's and outs of mass production and cost efficiency, but would adding extra vent holes and using less metal per case bring the cost up? even re-purposing the ssd mount to serve as a fan mount as well? it could be a really good option to drive out all that heat being cramped in the case.
 
Maybe the most genius build with the A4-SFX. MaximumBurrito is the creator of this build. To activate crossfire he used a Bifurcation riser.

img_4895-jpg.19311


If you use a single slot watercooling heatsink on the 1080 ti with singl slot bracket and second 3M Riser - SLI will be possible too.
after turning it burns
 
Even though I have two Dan A4 cases I would love to see a very limited edition colored case if you are doing a new Kickstarter.
 
Somebody reported severe temperature improvements with the C7 when adding the backplate, it was a reddit post that was copied here. I'm sorry for not tracing it down for you.

Thank you for the effort tracking that link down. The backplate is a piece of plastic though, it's got no great thermal conducting properties, I'm inclined to believe that the only people who see thermal improvements with the backplate are people who haven't secured the heat-sink properly without it.
 
Sooo… as earlier mentioned the Asus 1080 Ti strix seems to be a measly 75 mm too wide. What you guys think, throw in the towel or squeeze and accept some "tension"?
 
I like the idea of providing more fan installation options for the next revision of this case. I know the original goal of this case was to create the smallest ITX form factor possible that can fit a full-sized graphics card. I'd assume active cooling (even in a slightly larger case if need be) would be beneficial for people trying to squeeze out as much performance as possible with minimal compromise to size.

Looking forward to see how a Ryzen 1800X performs in this case, once more ITX boards start to trickle out. Might require Dan's HSLP-48 cooler to get moderate temps. I'm thinking this processor and a GTX 1080 Ti will be the perfect combination for people who split their usage between 4K gaming and productivity.
 
Having an 80x10 mm fan or a 92x14mm fan at the top of the case appears to make no noticeable difference to the measured CPU and GPU temperatures. Do not have the facility to measure mobo temps or any other temps as I am only using afterburner and have a basic mobo.

Method
- EVGA 1070 SC, H97I Plus, i5 4750, Intel Stock Cooler, stock bios settings, fan profile "standard" (which is 20% CPU at 30deg, 100% cpu at 70%), Corsair SF450
A) Preheat - Had the system running Prime95 and furmark at the same time, was pre-heated for about 60 minutes prior so the whole system was warm and had observed temperatures stabilised for at least 10-15 minutes
[ambient 23 deg, CPU
B) Testing - all tests were given 10+ minutes of running after temperature stabilisation to ensure equilibrium temps are reached.

1) 80x10mm at silent RPM - I had started with the 80mm fan taped to the chassis over the PSU. No mods needed. Had it running at a quiet voltage (same noise level as GPU loaded) (around 5v for my fan). No measurable difference

2) 80x10mm at full 2100 rpm at 12V. - Also no significant difference to GPU or CPU temps. Feeling the chassis for changes in airflow, no noticeable difference. The GPU is still pushing air out the top and bottom very well, and hot air exhaust from the GPU still overflows into the CPU side and hot air comes out of the side panel under the PSU. Fan is very noticeable at this point, more than doubling the noise of the system to my ears.

3) PSU moved down 10mm with spacers, 80x10mm at full RPM. - PSU was not screwed into the case, but it was still a tight fit wedged against the Mobo and with my cables firmly tied together. Ran this test with the 80x10 at full RPM again, and no difference in temps too. Anecdotally the airflow from this fan is less "suffocated" by its proximity to the PSU and the structural fin of the PSU bracket, so it feels like there is more airflow and less noise.

4) With PSU down, 80x10 turned off, and no difference in temps noted.

5) Noctua 92x14 fan installed, PSU down 10mm, run at full RPM, also no significant difference in temps noted. feels like there is more airflow from this fan, but its proximity to the PSU plug (only 2mm of space between blades and psu plug) causes a bit more interference noise. Air temperature from this front fan is much cooler than the air from the back end of the case where the GPU blows the air out directly. Airflow rate is not significantly higher due to the top fan, compared to what the GPU pushes out itself. Noctua is just as loud as the 80mm, lower frequency tone though.

6) PSU down 10mm, no front/top fan installed. Also no significant difference in temps.

7) 80x10mm fan over the back area, over the PCIe riser. at full RPM. There is some interference noise from the proximity of the riser (1mm) but airflow is not noticeably more than without the fan, and no measurable differences in temperature.


Data Summary
- The addition of a fan within the top of the case provided no measurable benefits to CPU and GPU temperatures.

Discussion
- There was an expectation that the fan would help suck air out and assist in the removal of hot air, allowing for better case temperatures and hopefully GPU and CPU temps.
- My measurements of temperature did not allow me to really measure other areas in the case, so there might have been some benefit, but from the feel of the case and where the hotspots areas, such as the side panel area under the PSU on the mobo side where hot GPU air also exhausts, there was no noticeable difference in temperature, suggesting that the small slim fan simply does not provide enough airflow to negate the amount of hot air being pumped into the case.
- Secondly, the GPU has vertically orientated fins, and naturally has vertically directed exhaust air that moves with a rather well projected direction. Airflow from the GPU when bench mounted can be felt a good 30 cm away from the GPU in a fairly 'tight' column of air. Compared to my earlier Asus 670 which had fins horizontally, the Asus would have hot air projected out the ends of the card, but along the length of the card, exhaust air did not have anywhere near the same velocity as the vertically oriented fins of the EVGA cooler. This means that the EVGA naturally has more exhaust velocity that suits the DanA4 and already drives a good amount of hot air out of the case, and that the slim fan is only able to match or at best slightly improve exhaust air, but not make a significant difference.

- There is still a significant amount of hot air dumped into the case as the GPU is clearly creating positive pressure and there is no significant exhaust opportunity that can negate the positive pressure generated by the GPU, and therefore naturally hot air is pushed into the CPU side. I was hoping the top fan could reduce this, but clearly it did not make any significant difference.

Conclusion
- The slim fans 80x10 and 92x14 mounted within the top area both over the PSU and PCIe riser made no differences to the CPU and GPU temps, and had no perceivable impact on the positive pressure within the case generated by the GPU.
- They did however make the most noise in the whole system, much louder than the GPU itself. System noise at full GPU and PSU load was more than doubled simply by the use of these fans at full rpm.
 
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Trying to wait patiently for my case which still has no tracking updates. But it's hard when the family keeps yelling at me asking for a home.

View attachment 19382
Other than the cooler that looks exactly like my build! I'm the other way around; I have my case, but the gear won't get here til Friday.
 
The stock l9i is performing very similar to the Cooljag Falcon 2 with 14mm Noctua fan blowing outward. (max 89C with cooljag max 91C with l9i while gaming with 7700k dellid on Ghost Recon Wildlands for 2 hour sessions each) This is disappointing as I tore my whole build apart to try. I may go back to stock l9i so my m.2 and ram stay accessible...
 
The stock l9i is performing very similar to the Cooljag Falcon 2 with 14mm Noctua fan blowing outward. (max 89C with cooljag max 91C with l9i while gaming with 7700k dellid on Ghost Recon Wildlands for 2 hour sessions each) This is disappointing as I tore my whole build apart to try. I may go back to stock l9i so my m.2 and ram stay accessible...
That's disappointing considering how good the Nexus Low-7000 R2 performs.
 
Having an 80x10 mm fan or a 92x14mm fan at the top of the case appears to make no noticeable difference to the measured CPU and GPU temperatures. Do not have the facility to measure mobo temps or any other temps as I am only using afterburner and have a basic mobo.

Method
- EVGA 1070 SC, H97I Plus, i5 4750, Intel Stock Cooler, stock bios settings, fan profile "standard" (which is 20% CPU at 30deg, 100% cpu at 70%), Corsair SF450
A) Preheat - Had the system running Prime95 and furmark at the same time, was pre-heated for about 60 minutes prior so the whole system was warm and had observed temperatures stabilised for at least 10-15 minutes
[ambient 23 deg, CPU
B) Testing - all tests were given 10+ minutes of running after temperature stabilisation to ensure equilibrium temps are reached.

1) 80x10mm at silent RPM - I had started with the 80mm fan taped to the chassis over the PSU. No mods needed. Had it running at a quiet voltage (same noise level as GPU loaded) (around 5v for my fan). No measurable difference

2) 80x10mm at full 2100 rpm at 12V. - Also no significant difference to GPU or CPU temps. Feeling the chassis for changes in airflow, no noticeable difference. The GPU is still pushing air out the top and bottom very well, and hot air exhaust from the GPU still overflows into the CPU side and hot air comes out of the side panel under the PSU. Fan is very noticeable at this point, more than doubling the noise of the system to my ears.

3) PSU moved down 10mm with spacers, 80x10mm at full RPM. - PSU was not screwed into the case, but it was still a tight fit wedged against the Mobo and with my cables firmly tied together. Ran this test with the 80x10 at full RPM again, and no difference in temps too. Anecdotally the airflow from this fan is less "suffocated" by its proximity to the PSU and the structural fin of the PSU bracket, so it feels like there is more airflow and less noise.

4) With PSU down, 80x10 turned off, and no difference in temps noted.

5) Noctua 92x14 fan installed, PSU down 10mm, run at full RPM, also no significant difference in temps noted. feels like there is more airflow from this fan, but its proximity to the PSU plug (only 2mm of space between blades and psu plug) causes a bit more interference noise. Air temperature from this front fan is much cooler than the air from the back end of the case where the GPU blows the air out directly. Airflow rate is not significantly higher due to the top fan, compared to what the GPU pushes out itself. Noctua is just as loud as the 80mm, lower frequency tone though.

6) PSU down 10mm, no front/top fan installed. Also no significant difference in temps.

7) 80x10mm fan over the back area, over the PCIe riser. at full RPM. There is some interference noise from the proximity of the riser (1mm) but airflow is not noticeably more than without the fan, and no measurable differences in temperature.


Data Summary
- The addition of a fan within the top of the case provided no measurable benefits to CPU and GPU temperatures.

Discussion
- There was an expectation that the fan would help suck air out and assist in the removal of hot air, allowing for better case temperatures and hopefully GPU and CPU temps.
- My measurements of temperature did not allow me to really measure other areas in the case, so there might have been some benefit, but from the feel of the case and where the hotspots areas, such as the side panel area under the PSU on the mobo side where hot GPU air also exhausts, there was no noticeable difference in temperature, suggesting that the small slim fan simply does not provide enough airflow to negate the amount of hot air being pumped into the case.
- Secondly, the GPU has vertically orientated fins, and naturally has vertically directed exhaust air that moves with a rather well projected direction. Airflow from the GPU when bench mounted can be felt a good 30 cm away from the GPU in a fairly 'tight' column of air. Compared to my earlier Asus 670 which had fins horizontally, the Asus would have hot air projected out the ends of the card, but along the length of the card, exhaust air did not have anywhere near the same velocity as the vertically oriented fins of the EVGA cooler. This means that the EVGA naturally has more exhaust velocity that suits the DanA4 and already drives a good amount of hot air out of the case, and that the slim fan is only able to match or at best slightly improve exhaust air, but not make a significant difference.

- There is still a significant amount of hot air dumped into the case as the GPU is clearly creating positive pressure and there is no significant exhaust opportunity that can negate the positive pressure generated by the GPU, and therefore naturally hot air is pushed into the CPU side. I was hoping the top fan could reduce this, but clearly it did not make any significant difference.

Conclusion
- The slim fans 80x10 and 92x14 mounted within the top area both over the PSU and PCIe riser made no differences to the CPU and GPU temps, and had no perceivable impact on the positive pressure within the case generated by the GPU.
- They did however make the most noise in the whole system, much louder than the GPU itself. System noise at full GPU and PSU load was more than doubled simply by the use of these fans at full rpm.

That's very thoroughly tested with interesting findings, I have been playing around with dropping my PSU around 32mm (1.25 inches) or even more if I remove the SSD tray entirely (would justify me getting that 960 Evo :rolleyes:) myself. I am thinking the TY-100 might have enough juice to affect temps. I wonder if more space might help it over the 10mm you lowered your PSU. I was also thinking what would happen if instead of treating the top fan as an exhaust as another intake. Generally speaking I don't think it would be a benefit as some of the warm air from the PSU would be recycled into the case but the cooler air from outside might offset that and be a net positive.
 
And in my case (haha), my GPU dumps quite a fair bit of heat through that front top mesh, so an intake fan there is directly competing with the GPU exhaust, so the hot air is forced to travel out through a different vent, and travel through the case over the other components. For mine, that area is clearly naturally setup to be an exhaust location.

Having another intake in the top front might be worth a try, but not sure if it will be helpful, or rather possibly could make things worse.
a) You will be applying a positive pressure against the PSU exhaust, reducing PSU airflow
b) increased positive pressure competes with other fans trying to pull air into the case too, such as the CPU and GPU fan, so there could also be a slight detrimental effect to those fans.

Interesting thought nonetheless, and we could be surprised. You also mentioned dropping the PSU a whole inch, might help a bit too.
 
Data Summary
- The addition of a fan within the top of the case provided no measurable benefits to CPU and GPU temperatures.
Did you notice any changes to PSU fan speed? I found that my PSU is the loudest component in the system. My GTX1060's backplate isn't touching the PSU. I was wondering if a 80x10mm fan above the PSU would draw out the hot air between the PSU and the GPU and reduce the PSU's temperature.
 
My PSU is one which is quite the opposite. On the Bench, the fan barely spins and it wasn't until I actively covered the intake opening and ran a full system load test for at least 30 minutes before the fan even turned on, and even then only at minimum speeds where the sticker on the fan can still be seen rotating, not yet a blur. While running in the case, I'm drawing 480 watts at the wall, and the fan only Just starts to spin up after 10 minutes, and the moment I stop furmark, the fan stops within a second. I am worried that the fan isnt running enough for my PSU. The bearings on my GPU are louder than the PSU fan.

Having an exhaust fan over the PSU will help draw some air through the PSU and should help with cooling your PSU. I am able to feel a light draft of air over the intake area for the PSU on the side panel of the case when I ran the top exhaust fan, but the PSU fan was still off. Without having your scenario to test, I would expect that it should provide some benefit for you.

My 80x10mm fan was a $5 ebay one. Took more than a month to arrive, but I ordered it long before my case arrived.
 
Update:

Currently I work on the poll for the window kit. I think I will offer the link in the next days. So I can finalize the drawings and make it ready on the same time the second series will be ready.


Furthermore I work on some tiny changes for the second series:


1.) switching from glued screw in motherboard stand off to stamp in stand offs.
2.) center the USB port perfectly.
3.) adding a thin rubber layer on the outer surface of the feets to get more grip
4.) Taking a look at this riser ( http://www.vary.technology/product/RP33.html) or the new riser of Lian Li to lower the price (but only if they have the same performance, quality and properties)
You gotta fix the cheap button mate. It's literally the only thing on the case you touch on a daily basis.
 
Thanks everyone for all the advice. I ended up pulling it apart and I think my problem was bad thermal paste application and/or imperfect mounting of the heatsink. I re-applied using thermal grizzly kryonaut, made double sure everything was mounted right, tinkered with voltage offset and ended up around -0.075.

After running some quick stress tests temps have improved immensely, so I clearly f*ed something up before. Still idling around low 40's however under stress testing temps are maxing around 75-80 deg, whereas previously I was straight up throttling @ 100 deg within 30 seconds. Yesterday was a very hot day though, ambient temp was probably 10+ degrees higher than today.
 
Photos of the top fan experimentation

PSU lowered by 10mm



Spacers for the PSU for the purposes of this test. 3mm threaded spacers. They are not screwed down on the psu end of the spacer, but the pressure applied by the cables kept it in place firmly.



80mm taped to the chassis. PSU lowered 10mm.
Tape mounting system


5mm from blades to top of Power plug.




And how it looks under the top panel. with tape :)



92mm Noctua. A tighter fit, and sits close to the PSU plug. PSU lowered 10mm too.






A good size for the grills, more visible than the black fan.
 
Photos of the top fan experimentation

PSU lowered by 10mm



Spacers for the PSU for the purposes of this test. 3mm threaded spacers. They are not screwed down on the psu end of the spacer, but the pressure applied by the cables kept it in place firmly.



80mm taped to the chassis. PSU lowered 10mm.
Tape mounting system


5mm from blades to top of Power plug.




And how it looks under the top panel. with tape :)



92mm Noctua. A tighter fit, and sits close to the PSU plug. PSU lowered 10mm too.






A good size for the grills, more visible than the black fan.

I really really like your build! Did you unscrew the heatsink on the mosfets to fit the lp53? Or is that just not on the H97I Plus? Because I have the z97i plus, and I did unscrew it, but screwed it back in. It is a tight fit with the Lp53+a9x14 but it is really quiet.
I might redo some cabels by what is see in your pics.
I think the fan in/out is better over the mobo/gpu part instead of PSU. That's where my case is warm. On the PSU side (both in and out) is totally cold, but on the top where the mobo is, it is warm to touch.
 
Survey: Second Production Run



Currently I plan the second production run for the A4-SFX v2 that includes some improvements .

The original plan was to make this happen with my distributors/resellers. The main problem is that my resellers have to do an advanced payment.
From ordering to delivery it will takes 6 month. If you take a look on my last Kickstarter campaign we are talking about a capital with a six-digit amount.
So this is a lot of money for my resellers and will end a less high order quantity of them (~1000) . As I know there are 25.000 customers on the subscription list. So I also consider a second Kickstarter campaign.

It would be also possible to combine it. Unlimited quantities for the Kickstarter customers and a small quantity of 200-300 cases for the resellers for those are afraid of Kickstarter. And a 100% guarantee that Kickstarter customers shipment will start before reseller shipment.

Please help me to find the way you prefere:



SURVEY: A4-SFX - Second Production Run


Thank you

Daniel Hansen
Hi folks just because I have received in the last time a lot of mail about availability and some featurerequests and pricing questions, I thought it's about time for a status update. Unfortunately, some thread pages in future some people will not see this post, I would be grateful if you do not resent me if I quote this post to answer the questions.

- General:

Overall, the project in the four main forums has now been clicked 1.1 million times.
I have more than 2500 registration of potential buyers on my website
(Thank you so much for that!)
- Availability:
In mid-year it was planned to offer the case from the beginning to the end of December on a crowdfunding platform. Meanwhile I am in contact with a large reseller who wants to market the A4-SFX in his shop. If I could make the deal, the cases will be order in early January and can be purchased from you in the store in March or April. If I could not make the deal, I'll use crowdfunding.
- Sales price
The sale price will move depending on the order quantity of the reseller between 200-230$. In this price, of course, is the very high quality 3M risercabel.
To be realistically the final price of the first series will be very close to 230$, because no reseller will be order 1000 cases in the first run from an unknown company.

To give you some insight into the pricing, I have here a short list:

(At a price of 230 € incl. VAT. = 119%)



    • case about 45%
    • Riser 30%
    • Fixed costs (replacement parts, tooling costs, lawyer's fees ,tax consultants, s.o.), shipping, my profit and profits of the reseller = about 25%
    • VAT 19%

I did not calculate the development costs, the Monetary is about 3000 € and thousands of hours work. The reason for the high costs on the case itself is because I did not have my own fabric where I can build the cases. At first LianLi see me as a customer, but also as an competitor so I have to pay a higher price for the case.

If I could I would like to sell the case for 100 €, but desire and reality are far apart.
- Riser:
As riser cable I will use the cable from 3M for the first series. For later series, it may be that I will use the new secret LianLi cable. However, this results in high tooling costs for adjustments to the PCB so that is the same as the 3M one. Producing a prototype with this exact PCB will need more time, so I choose the 3M one. The priced difference will be $ 20 between the cables, therefore, the new cable will not make the case much cheaper. By the way I'm not allowed to show pictures of the new riser yet ;)

- Feature Request

I am grateful for every idea that you have to improve the product. However, these ideas are no longer included in the current revision from now, because the current revision is final. Maybe some ideas will be implemented in future revisions. [/ Indent]

- ToDo

currently I work on the user manual. This will be completed in 1-2 weeks and I'll then upload it on my website. Of course it will be included with the final case.
If my 2011 Narrow Ilm Bracket of Asetek will arrives next week for my Corsair H110, I will publish a tutorial on how to use an AIO water cooling external WITHOUT modding with the A4-SFX.

Thank you for reading and for the many interests here in the forum.

Many greetings

Daniel Hansen


Since this time around you could order way higher quantity, get cheaper but still quality riser and not have some one-time fixed costs (case tooling costs, setting up the company etc.), you could probably sell it on Kickstarter for 200 eur including shipping and profit. 199 eur tag would definitely look more appealing to customers.
 
Photos of the top fan experimentation

PSU lowered by 10mm


Very, very nice!
So to the obvious question: what are your results regarding temps from this?
EDIT: just read your prior post, good thinking! I'm going to put one fan pushing air into the top of the PSU and test a second above the CPU pulling out of the case.
 
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Having an 80x10 mm fan or a 92x14mm fan at the top of the case appears to make no noticeable difference

Thank you for your excellent research! It is clear that dan's case was perfectly designed from the beginning. The problem is we don't have the perfect parts for it. I believe the large GPU heatsinks that fit tightly are quite perfect. But to balance the 2-3 large fans on that side of the case, we need a large and perfectly configured CPU fan on the other side.

It is my understanding that fans perform better pushing against something, rather than pulling against something. That's why we attach fans to heatsinks to blow on them, rather than to case doors to pull through them. So I wonder if anyone has tried a large thin fan (maybe SST-FN123 or R4-XFXS-16PK-R1 ) blowing onto a small heatsink (L9i) with custom ducts (made of tape or paper?) both between the heatsink and the fan, and again between the fan and the case vents.
 
And in my case (haha), my GPU dumps quite a fair bit of heat through that front top mesh, so an intake fan there is directly competing with the GPU exhaust, so the hot air is forced to travel out through a different vent, and travel through the case over the other components. For mine, that area is clearly naturally setup to be an exhaust location.

Having another intake in the top front might be worth a try, but not sure if it will be helpful, or rather possibly could make things worse.
a) You will be applying a positive pressure against the PSU exhaust, reducing PSU airflow
b) increased positive pressure competes with other fans trying to pull air into the case too, such as the CPU and GPU fan, so there could also be a slight detrimental effect to those fans.

Interesting thought nonetheless, and we could be surprised. You also mentioned dropping the PSU a whole inch, might help a bit too.
I Still stand by my theory that extending the bottom vents across the whole bottom plate and giving the ssd tray an option to mount a fan is the best option.
 
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I really really like your build! Did you unscrew the heatsink on the mosfets to fit the lp53? Or is that just not on the H97I Plus? Because I have the z97i plus, and I did unscrew it, but screwed it back in. It is a tight fit with the Lp53+a9x14 but it is really quiet.
I might redo some cabels by what is see in your pics.
I think the fan in/out is better over the mobo/gpu part instead of PSU. That's where my case is warm. On the PSU side (both in and out) is totally cold, but on the top where the mobo is, it is warm to touch.
The installation of a fan over the back area had no benefit in my testing, and I suspect mostly because the amount of airflow from my GPU is greater than what the 80x10 could push, and therefore it was not helpful, except that it made more noise!

Thank you for your excellent research! It is clear that dan's case was perfectly designed from the beginning. The problem is we don't have the perfect parts for it. I believe the large GPU heatsinks that fit tightly are quite perfect. But to balance the 2-3 large fans on that side of the case, we need a large and perfectly configured CPU fan on the other side.

It is my understanding that fans perform better pushing against something, rather than pulling against something. That's why we attach fans to heatsinks to blow on them, rather than to case doors to pull through them. So I wonder if anyone has tried a large thin fan (maybe SST-FN123 or R4-XFXS-16PK-R1 ) blowing onto a small heatsink (L9i) with custom ducts (made of tape or paper?) both between the heatsink and the fan, and again between the fan and the case vents.
I would not say that pushing is better than pulling, technically a fan in a tube would have just as much airflow on the intake as the exhaust, but without the tube, the airflow pattern is quite different between the intake and exhaust, especially if the fan is partially obstructed at the intake side. Intake can be thought of as air coming in from various directions, but generally smooth and converging towards the fan. The exhaust in free air could be somewhere between a column of air to almost only outward directed air. Fan blades that are heavily forward raked tend to be better at providing a column of air as the forward rake helps to pull air inward toward the hub. Obstructions on the fan intake prevent smoother laminar flow over the blades, so the blades stall and it becomes more of an impeller spinning outwards. A fan can be more effective blowing air onto a heatsink because it has more turbulence which helps to increase the transfer of heat from the heatsink surface to the air. There are many factors at play, so its not always as simple as that.

Regarding ducting, that is definitely what I plan to do for my dan case once I have the fans I want and have time to work on my build more. My NCase M1 has cardboard ducting that has worked very well for the noisy silverstone PSU. If we are talking a few mm, the quickest and easiest way to seal a fan to a surface is to use stickytape where 2-3mm of its edge is stuck onto the edge of a fan say, and then folded over and stuck back onto itself and the last 2-3mm back onto the fan or cardboard edge. This can create a self adjusting flexible seal that can meet up with the side panel.

I Still stand by my theory that extending the bottom vents across the whole bottom plate and giving the ssd tray an option to mount a fan is the best option.
I too am tempted to install a fan in the bottom, but I need to weigh that up against; 1) Cutting the case, 2) needing to lift the case up at least another 5+mm to give the bottom fan some room to breathe, 3) the amount of air a 92mm fan can push might not be that substancial. Maybe if I get my GT92x25mm in the bottom that might make a bigger difference, but theres still the issue of suffocating the fan and reducing efficacy. Would just love the idea of pushing out all the hot air from the front of the case, and out the back.
 
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Hello, has anyone tried the cooltek itx30? I was thinking of combining it with the nf-a9 fan, to cool the i7-7700k
or should I just go with nh-l9i?
 
The Cooltek LP53 is basically a bigger version of the ITX30, and many people had good results with it (with the Noctua fan) so you should go with that.
 
Hello, has anyone tried the cooltek itx30? I was thinking of combining it with the nf-a9 fan, to cool the i7-7700k
or should I just go with nh-l9i?
Itx30 is 1cm less heatsink than lp53, and has roughly equal performance with the a9x14 as l9i
 
ok I finished my build with some IMO clever routing of the sf450 cables I managed to make a pretty clean install. tried the axp-100 full copper but the only way it went in is with the motherboard plate completely off the case and with no I/O shield. this required 4 "L" bracket to suspend the motherboard and using the two bottom ones to hold the pci-e extender. this way it was flush flush flush. my zotac 1070 amp has a back plate also. I had problems fabricating the brackets so I just got tired and lazy. I gave up mid way and just used the lp53 with a noctua a9x14-pwm fan. that way I don't have to mod the case or my z270i strix motherboard. also, this combo is SILENT and best temps yet according to meccabolix.

fitting the two 2tb hhd on the bracket way pretty hard with the default power cable that came with the corsair psu, but it worked in the end pretty cleanly two. i'm running 39C temps with just booting in the motherboard on 4.120ghz speed. delidded 6700K with coolabratory liquid metal ultra on the IHS and for the lp53. more test with prime 95 when I install windows 10.

btw if anybody wants my modded full copper axp-100.

also I wanted to fit two ty-100 fan on top of the case and one bellow the motherboard, but the gap is too narrow without spacers above the psu, above the mobo the pci-e riser stopped me and bellow the mobo the opening was not big enough on the motherboard plate.

dondan if you're reading

If for dan a4-sfx v2 you could lower the 4 motherboard spacers by 3 to 4 mm so we can fit a fan above it and open the gap in the motherboard plate bellow the motherboard by maybe 3 mm to fit a ty-100 fan and lower your psu plate by 4 mm, or at least pre drill some alternative mouting holes for the motherboard spacers to lower it and for the psu to be able to mount it lower. Give us some options and let us decide if we want to compromise or not. also if you drill some vent holes bellow the hhd bracket so we can mount a fan there too.

finally you should make a 10mm wide opaque acrylic spacer strip that would have the side panel sit farther outward so we can fit up to 60mm coolers( also we could run a led strip in it for extra rgb goodness lol).

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