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DAN A4-SFX: The smallest gaming case in the world
- Thread starter dondan
- Start date
i7 7700k not exceeding 70 degrees but the noise the Noctua generates is intolerable.
I'm gonna see if I can shove in another small fan on the top portion of the case.
Is your 7700k delidded?
Nah I didn't want to take the risk of losing a CPU that sat on the shelf for 6 months to be built lol
jenosmaverick
Limp Gawd
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- May 24, 2017
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Can you guys post builds with the window panel? wanna see what it looks like with aftermarket cards. Thanks!! 
Can you guys post builds with the window panel? wanna see what it looks like with aftermarket cards. Thanks!!
There are some here: https://hardforum.com/threads/dan-a...in-the-world.1799326/page-324#post-1043437876
I have done some interesting changes to the water cooling, usb and power supply that you may like.
The cutouts in the watercooling radiator allow the case sidepanel clips.
The usb and its bracket is cutaway so much that it fits in the case again.
The powersupply has the power socket and switch removed, power cable attached to the other side, and whole powersupply is mounted upside down so all cables exit on top, including power and fan cable.
I am going to try to use the fan on pull on the watercooling, and make de air go out via the powersupply. This way more fresh/cold air is available to the radiator, and usually powersupplies are able to handle quite a bit of heat.
The cutouts in the watercooling radiator allow the case sidepanel clips.
The usb and its bracket is cutaway so much that it fits in the case again.
The powersupply has the power socket and switch removed, power cable attached to the other side, and whole powersupply is mounted upside down so all cables exit on top, including power and fan cable.
I am going to try to use the fan on pull on the watercooling, and make de air go out via the powersupply. This way more fresh/cold air is available to the radiator, and usually powersupplies are able to handle quite a bit of heat.
Finished the build and did a first naked boot. Everything works! Love this small chassi, big THX for your hard work dondan !!
MSI Z170I
Asus GTX 1080 Turbo
Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4 8x2
Corsair SF600
i7 6700k stock speeds
Cryorig C7 with standard fan so far, will change on monday evening.
MSI Z170I
Asus GTX 1080 Turbo
Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4 8x2
Corsair SF600
i7 6700k stock speeds
Cryorig C7 with standard fan so far, will change on monday evening.
D10S
Limp Gawd
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- Jan 31, 2017
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- 135
great job m8 ! 
Fyi, I decided to leave my CPU-side panel open for these reasons:
- With all the cables and tubes stuffed underneath, the side panel doesn't completely close with the front (a little bump appears)
- The downside of AIO is that components with hitsinks don't get enough airflow- M.2 for example ran at 60"
- Can't see the opened side from where I am sitting lol
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Cody Spring
n00b
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2017
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- 20
Was waiting on pins and needles for the last components I needed for the new build, Processor, Motherboard, and RAM to arrive. Just found out FedEx forgot my package at the facility when they left and it was never out for delivery to begin with. And they're closed tomorrow and Monday. So now I have to wait for Tuesday to get here before I can build in my DAN Case. At least I have this beautiful aluminum case to look at in the mean time.
jenosmaverick
Limp Gawd
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- May 24, 2017
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sldr
Nice! How's the noise and heat with the window kit? I'm thinking of getting the opposite and go with Strix in there
Nice! How's the noise and heat with the window kit? I'm thinking of getting the opposite and go with Strix in there
Anyone using Cablemod want to post pics of their routing (or point me to them) and the lengths they got? My bottom case fan is getting some turbulence at speed from the pile of excess PSU wires that have to go in that space and I hoped to be able to turn it up for auxiliary GPU cooling. Perhaps I should have got a A9x14 for instead of the A9 for the bottom after all, but I'm hoping a cleaner space would make it alright (and pretty enough to show off)
DocKeR
n00b
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- Jan 19, 2018
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- 7
Salut, je n'ai pas eu ce souci, j'ai reçu le mien hier.
Well, at last, I've received my Dan A4 SFX, I'm so happy. Now it's shopping time, I need to fill this tiny case with interesting bits of computer hardware. Thanks Dan and everybody here, the knowledge there is in this thread is priceless.
D10S
Limp Gawd
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- Jan 31, 2017
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...and some shoots of the PSU attached on top please?
...is easy to close with all the cables on top?
thanks!
D10S
Limp Gawd
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- Jan 31, 2017
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Blackreplica
Limp Gawd
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- May 9, 2016
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Here's a repost of my cable routing and lengths on my V1. 7700K on Asus Strix Z270. I think it should be the same with coffee lake and the asus Z370 which seems to have an identical layout.
Custom cable lengths used are 150mm for the 24 pin ATX cable and 250mm for the 8 pin EPS cable
Reverse side. PCIE cable lengths are 200mm and too short. I recommend minimum 300mm if you are making your own to guarantee compatibility. I later bought a 150mm PCIE extension giving total length 350mm which works great even with my tall EVGA 1080Ti FTW3
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Blackreplica
Limp Gawd
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- May 9, 2016
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- 205
Routing it behind the GPU works fine. The card bends only slightly, nothing it can't handle. Alternatively, if you want to avoid this, get a 350mm PCIE cable and run it through the front of the A4 case instead (i.e. behind the case front panel), there is a hole at the top of the front frame you can run the cable through and into the GPU PCIE connectors
Nah, not happening, was trying for hours with my SSD there. Maybe the Cablemod cables are thinner but I don't think they're that thin versus the Corsair premium SF set to be able to squeeze in past an SSD with the power extension cable also. Have them currently routed across the memory, obviously behind the GPU would be much tidier. I'll check it out, maybe save a few quid
I Have also finished my DAN-A4 Build.
Here I have taken alot of Pictures for reference
Dan A4-SFX "Post your build here" Thread!
Here I have taken alot of Pictures for reference
Dan A4-SFX "Post your build here" Thread!
richiegore
Limp Gawd
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- Feb 1, 2017
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I had a sata power and data cables running behind my GPU and it caused the drive to be not recognised at boot on a pretty regular basis. Two different drives actually as I thought it was a problem with the drive initially. You should be ok with your GPU power cables if you can fit them though. Just a heads up if you decide to run other cables being the gpu.
Well, not much I can do at the moment. The 445mm long SATA cable for one SSD an inch away from the power supply is taking up the front end where the PCIE cable would wrap behind the GPU, and I'm not totally redoing the mess of overly long cables after spending hours trying to get it in at all. I guess it's all dark in there anyway other then the mostly clean GPU side, so the only people who really get to see it are you guys.
Hot damn Noctua fans are quiet. Didn't know silent computing could be this literal, I can't tell it's on at idle. All the more reason to look at cables to reduce the bottom fan's turbulence at high RPM so the not as quiet ASUS fans don't have to kick up as often.
Hot damn Noctua fans are quiet. Didn't know silent computing could be this literal, I can't tell it's on at idle. All the more reason to look at cables to reduce the bottom fan's turbulence at high RPM so the not as quiet ASUS fans don't have to kick up as often.
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What do you mean? It's like any case fan. I did mine with the wire the shortest distance to the motherboard in intake, and it was juuuust long enough to reach the fan header. It's the straight cable below the CPU cooler fan in my pictures
Alaberti
Weaksauce
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- Jan 21, 2018
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Disclaimer: camera and lighting were not ideal for properly staged photography.
Stats upfront:
Intel 4790K @ 4.4 GHz
Asus Maximus VII Impact
16 GB Ram
512 GB 950 Pro
500 GB 850 Evo
Corsair SP 600
EVGA GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0
Asetek 92mm AIO /w Noctua NF-A9-14
I completed my build, using the AIO, but it wasn't long until I realized a problem - the PSU cables were pushing down on the noctua fan just enough to prevent it from spinning, so temps flew out of control. Currently, the PSU is outside the case while I try to figure it out. Anyone have a similar problem?
In its current state, idle temps are around 37 C with gaming temps about 52 C. I have previously overclocked this CPU to 4.8 GHz successfully on a corsair h100i v2, but with current numbers I think 4.4 GHz is a much safer bet. "Devil's Canyon" and all that.
While I would like to upgrade to a ryzen system (using the Asus strix board) to take advantage of all those threads for my VM workloads, it's been really hard for me to justify a new system (if we ignore Meltdown and Spectre for those following that debacle) given the performance I have under the hood, and this system is only about 4 years old.
Stats upfront:
Intel 4790K @ 4.4 GHz
Asus Maximus VII Impact
16 GB Ram
512 GB 950 Pro
500 GB 850 Evo
Corsair SP 600
EVGA GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0
Asetek 92mm AIO /w Noctua NF-A9-14
I completed my build, using the AIO, but it wasn't long until I realized a problem - the PSU cables were pushing down on the noctua fan just enough to prevent it from spinning, so temps flew out of control. Currently, the PSU is outside the case while I try to figure it out. Anyone have a similar problem?
In its current state, idle temps are around 37 C with gaming temps about 52 C. I have previously overclocked this CPU to 4.8 GHz successfully on a corsair h100i v2, but with current numbers I think 4.4 GHz is a much safer bet. "Devil's Canyon" and all that.
While I would like to upgrade to a ryzen system (using the Asus strix board) to take advantage of all those threads for my VM workloads, it's been really hard for me to justify a new system (if we ignore Meltdown and Spectre for those following that debacle) given the performance I have under the hood, and this system is only about 4 years old.
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Blackreplica
Limp Gawd
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- May 9, 2016
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Can you close the side panel with the hose going over the ram?
Alaberti
Weaksauce
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- Jan 21, 2018
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Yes, there is a very slight amount of pressure on the side panel but the clips are able to retain it without popping out randomly. If the 24-pin PSU cable with the ziptie isn't settled "just right" then there's a problem.
Edited for accuracy.
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Sorry, I meant how to attach it to the case?
Or should I just buy some screws plus nuts?
Alaberti
Weaksauce
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- Jan 21, 2018
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I'll send the dimensions of the screws I bought at a local hardware store after work. I used the long noctua screws as a guide to eyeball the size then bought a few varieties just in case, but you could also measure the it out.
Has anyone used the HDPlex 400 in one of these cases?
https://www.hdplex.com/hdplex-400w-hi-fi-dc-atx-power-supply-16v-24v-wide-range-voltage-input.html
https://www.hdplex.com/hdplex-400w-hi-fi-dc-atx-power-supply-16v-24v-wide-range-voltage-input.html
How about this.... anyone used one of these in the A4?
Would be pretty epic if that fits...
http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/hydro-series-h5-sf-low-profile-liquid-cpu-cooler
Would be pretty epic if that fits...
http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/hydro-series-h5-sf-low-profile-liquid-cpu-cooler
Alaberti
Weaksauce
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- Jan 21, 2018
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#6-32 x 3/4 in screws are what I used. As mentioned above, if you have the tools you can just cut the included screws down to size.