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

jenosmaverick said:
The talks of v3 where from a German forum. Hardwareluxxe I think. The link is on kickstarter comments.

Man that AR11 is what I'm looking for a complete all black build!!! Wished it'll have an AM4 socket soon or I'll be forced with an Intel i5 8500 and an asrock board.
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I sent a message to their support asking for an AM4 version, I really hope it will get one - I won't switch to intel just because of a cooler, that's for sure ^^
 
I think the V2 is pretty much perfect. A SFX PSU + 120 AIO + a 1080ti mini would mean a lot more noise, and you can say goodbye to semi fanless PSU too. Can't really imagine anyone doing that.

Also the 3M PCI riser is pretty much guaranteed to scale up to whatever version of PCIE as long as they don't change the physical port. PCIE 5.0 mean 4x the bandwidth and isn't that far away. (I read that since 4.0 seems to be delayed, the industry might jump directly to 5.0)

The Lian Li might do that as well, but you don't have to be Einstein to know that the 3M is just better. And us ITX fans will gladly pay extra for something "better", even if it doesn't mean "better performance". We're stupid like that.
 
V3 changes

- Price (about - 20-30 €)
- Lian Li riserkabel (completely in black)
- Mount for 120mm AIO at the location of the SFX power supply
- Support for flex power supplies (eg FSP 500W Platinum) must be used when using the 120 AIO the max GPU length is reduced to 215mm which fits the Zotac 1080ti mini
- maybe HDPlex 400W DCDC mount
- 92mm slim fan mointpoints above.
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the changes are huge in comparison to them we had from v1 to v2.
V3 seems to be hugely different and extremely versatile. We speak about a case that can host a SFX, Flex ATX or HDplex psu simultaneously.
 
Yeah, the C7 is supposed to be quieter with a Noctua fan according to the benchmark spreadsheet, but, neither is anywhere near as quiet as it can be with a shorter heatsink.
 
Why are so many infatuated with using a C7 in the A4-SFX?
Dan's own tests revealed the LP53 + Noctua to be a potent cooling combination – and those using it have reported it as quiet, with no turbulence.
 
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dglow said:
Why are so many infatuated with using a C7 in the A4-SFX?
Dan's own tests revealed the LP53 + Noctua to be a potent cooling combination – and those using it have reported it as quiet, with no turbulence.
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LP53 is a lot more expensive, and by the time you pay that much you could just get the AIO instead. For many people cooling isn't as big of a deal to the point where they want to spend $60USD more on it, so C7 and such are sufficient enough. It's the best air cooler, but it's in a weird spot.

Those who don't want to spend that much on cooling go C7 or NH-L9I, and those that do want to spend extra on better cooling will typically just go for the AIO solution instead.
 
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Cody Spring said:
LP53 is a lot more expensive, and by the time you pay that much you could just get the AIO instead. For many people cooling isn't as big of a deal to the point where they want to spend $60USD more on it, so C7 and such are sufficient enough. It's the best air cooler, but it's in a weird spot.

Those who don't want to spend that much on cooling go C7 or NH-L9I, and those that do want to spend extra on better cooling will typically just go for the AIO solution instead.
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Yeah, the clock speeds you can attain with the LP53 is all-core turbo boost speeds for the newer Intel i5/i7 cpus at better temps. At worst, probably will settle 100-200 mhz less with the NH-L9i or CryOrig, which is not a big deal.
 
Cody Spring said:
LP53 is a lot more expensive, and by the time you pay that much you could just get the AIO instead. For many people cooling isn't as big of a deal to the point where they want to spend $60USD more on it, so C7 and such are sufficient enough. It's the best air cooler, but it's in a weird spot.

Those who don't want to spend that much on cooling go C7 or NH-L9I, and those that do want to spend extra on better cooling will typically just go for the AIO solution instead.
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CknSalad said:
Yeah, the clock speeds you can attain with the LP53 is all-core turbo boost speeds for the newer Intel i5/i7 cpus at better temps. At worst, probably will settle 100-200 mhz less with the NH-L9i or CryOrig, which is not a big deal.
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Ok, got it. A build like this doesn't seem ideal for min-maxing (just look at the cost of the case), but that's just my opinion. Alas, the AIO isn't a CPU option either – I'd rather devote water cooling to the GPU. Cheers.
 
Another of my reposts since the V2 is starting to reach people's hands.

I actually ran a back to back test on my own comparing LP53 copper heatsink with Noctua A9x14 fan vs C7 heatsink with A9x14 fan in the V1

The C7 heatsink beats the LP53 heatsink when directly compared with the fan constant across both (by a small margin)

Bear in mind YMMV

To this day I run the C7 with noctua fan over the LP53 which is sitting in my closet:


C7 vs LP53 Test (both with Noctua A9x14 fan)

Specs:

Stock Intel 7700K used for this test. Undervolted to 1.12V and clocked at 4.3GHz
Asus Strix Z270i Gaming (bear in mind default settings on this board will overclock the 7700K to 4.5GHz on all cores)
Noctua a9x14 fan on both heatsinks
Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste
GTX 970 mini (waiting for my FTW3 to arrive)
Identical CPU and GPU fan curves (above 75 degrees, the CPU fan runs at 100% anyway)
LP53 is mounted with the heatpipe curve pointing down
C7 heatsink is mounted with heatpipes facing side to side

Test 1: Intel Extreme Utility Stress Test + Uniengine Heaven Loop, running concurrently for 1 hour, heatsink swapped, then test done again
Ambient conditions: Ambient 28-30 deg C. No airflow where the computer is situated. I literally had sweat on my brow the whole time sitting at my computer while running the test, so it was a pretty hard test

LP53 + Noctua A9x14: Averaging 91-92 degrees with occasional maximum spikes into 96-98 degrees

C7 + Noctua A9x14: Averaging 88-89 degrees with occasional maximum spikes into 93-94 degrees

Test 2: Observing temps on BF1

LP53 + Noctua A9x14: 85 degrees average (max 88 degrees) while gaming with maximum spikes into 90 degrees during map loading

C7 + Noctua A9x14: 81 degrees average (max 83 degrees) while gaming with maximum spikes into 87 degrees during map loading

My honest opinion:

The LP53 is pretty overrated. Sure, its made of copper, but thats the only good thing about it compared to the C7. It is absolutely dinky in size (similar to the NH-L9i size) and only has 2 heatpipes. Using it with the Noctua fan, a lot of available height for the CPU cooler is not used, and therefore wasted. Material type alone will not overcome the lack of fin surface area, especially since the size differences between the 2 heatsinks is so large. I also like the mounting solution of the C7 heatsink better (with a backplate under the motherboard). Plus it is also much easier (not to mention more elegant) to mount the noctua fan to the C7 heatsink compared to the LP53, because the fan is about the same diameter as the C7 heatsink, whereas it is larger than the LP53 heatsink.

I would take the LP53 over the NH-L9i, but with my setup, the C7 heatsink is clearly superior to the LP53 by 3-4 degrees on all loads
 
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I myself did the same test right after my DAN A4-SFXv1 arrived. My results were the following:

The Noctua NH-L9i has the best build quality and you can barely hear it up to 1900 rpm. Sadly it performs a few degree worse than its competitors.
The LP53 performs a few degree better than the NH-L9i and is as quiet as the Noctua when itˋs equipped with the NF-A9x14. If you don‘t care much about asthetics then this cooler is the best choice.
The C7 on the other hand is insanely loud compared to the other ones. This can be fought by using the Nf-A9x14 instead. Then this cooler will not torture you anymore but still be very loud while not being better in performance than the LP53.

Keep in mind that I used the fan duct which helps to lower the temperatures to the smaller CPU-coolers.
 
I think that fan-duct with the Noctua NH-L9i is probably the most cost-effective cpu cooling solution. May have to sacrifice 100-200 mhz on clock-speeds depending on quality of silicon.

Also, looking at the Google Sheet, somebody managed to hit 4.7 GHz @1.1V with the i7 8700K (delidded + liquid metal) using the Noctua NH-L9i, but with the new slim NF-A12x15 Noctua Fan. :cool:
 
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best value for money solution: Noctua L9i
best air cooling solution: Cryorig C7 with or without Noctua fan

The LP53 is more expensive than anything and outperforms only the Noctua. It's the better solution for other cases, like S4 mini, which cooler height is more limited than this on Dan's case.

Have anyone tried the ID cooling IS40 v3?? It says it can handle 100W TDP.

Or the VC45?? 130W at 45mm.
 
I have the LP53 + Noctua A9x14, and find the setup actually noisy. It must be how I attached the fan, or how it touches the RAM stick?

Here's a picture of my build, is that how we're supposed to attach the fan?
 

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michel v said:
I have the LP53 + Noctua A9x14, and find the setup actually noisy. It must be how I attached the fan, or how it touches the RAM stick?

Here's a picture of my build, is that how we're supposed to attach the fan?
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Most builds I've seen have the fan in push configuration relative to the heatsink (push air at the heatsink fins rather than pull it away)
 
gffermari said:
best value for money solution: Noctua L9i
best air cooling solution: Cryorig C7 with or without Noctua fan

The LP53 is more expensive than anything and outperforms only the Noctua. It's the better solution for other cases, like S4 mini, which cooler height is more limited than this on Dan's case.

Have anyone tried the ID cooling IS40 v3?? It says it can handle 100W TDP.

Or the VC45?? 130W at 45mm.
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never saw those in any dan case so far, but if anybody ever tested them, I'd be curious about the results aswell - especially as the IS40 v3 seems to fit on AM4
 
I'm currently refitting my DAN Case, didn't like the temps. Bought a LP53 to try lowering the temps a bit.

Though I'm currently hitting a roadblock. The only way to fit the LP53 correctly (aligning the heatsink fins parralel to the memory) involves removing a heatsink on the motherboard. See the picture below.

Now, what do I do? Remove the heatsink from the Mobo or turn the LP53 a quarter?

[ Removed the Pics, they were way to big. ]
 
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MrWahloh said:
I'm currently refitting my DAN Case, didn't like the temps. Bought a LP53 to try lowering the temps a bit.

Though I'm currently hitting a roadblock. The only way to fit the LP53 correctly (aligning the heatsink fins parralel to the memory) involves removing a heatsink on the motherboard. See the picture below.

Now, what do I do? Remove the heatsink from the Mobo or turn the LP53 a quarter?
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You have the Asus Z270I right? I removed the VRM heatsinks on mine and replaced them with little copper ones like these but I THNIK anything under 7mm*7mm will work

My 2 cents with a 7700k, LP53, L9x14

Delid plus remove VRM heatsink on Asus Z270I: - about 15 degrees, from throttle to full turbo at 88
Fan duct: -3 degrees
Undervolt at -50mv offset: -3 degrees

Currently sitting at 82 degrees prime95 26.6 8k stable overnight

hope it helps
 
SirJack said:
You have the Asus Z270I right? I removed the VRM heatsinks on mine and replaced them with little copper ones like these but I THNIK anything under 7mm*7mm will work

My 2 cents with a 7700k, LP53, L9x14

Delid plus remove VRM heatsink on Asus Z270I: - about 15 degrees, from throttle to full turbo at 88
Fan duct: -3 degrees
Undervolt at -50mv offset: -3 degrees

Currently sitting at 82 degrees prime95 26.6 8k stable overnight

hope it helps
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It's a H270I, good guess though. I decided to turn the LP53, so now the cooling fins are not actually running parallel to the RAM but I get way better temperatures than I did with the Noctua NH-L9i that I tried before, 35 - 40 degrees Idle, around 80 - 85 degrees stable with a 30 minute Prime95 run. That'll have to do for now.

Maybe I'll turn the LP53 when I'm doing maintenance (after a couple months) will see how it's going to run in the long run. Now I just want to play some games on this badboy.
 
michel v said:
So you mean I should detach the fan and turn it around?
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Yup
MrWahloh said:
It's a H270I, good guess though. I decided to turn the LP53, so now the cooling fins are not actually running parallel to the RAM but I get way better temperatures than I did with the Noctua NH-L9i that I tried before, 35 - 40 degrees Idle, around 80 - 85 degrees stable with a 30 minute Prime95 run. That'll have to do for now.

Maybe I'll turn the LP53 when I'm doing maintenance (after a couple months) will see how it's going to run in the long run. Now I just want to play some games on this badboy.
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Decent temps especially with the heat sinks on! What CPU are you using?
 
I managed to get my Noctua in pull configuration with the asetek aio and SF 600 PSU - which I turned around to pull this off without the PSU cables keeping the fan from spinning, so I'm glad the PSU is super resilient - and my idle temps are now at 27 C, gaming load 51 C, after-gaming holds at about 43 C as heat dissipation is still rough. Wish I could fit a second case fan at the bottom, under the mobo. Otherwise, nothing to complain about here.
 
Alaberti said:
I managed to get my Noctua in pull configuration with the asetek aio and SF 600 PSU - which I turned around to pull this off without the PSU cables keeping the fan from spinning, so I'm glad the PSU is super resilient - and my idle temps are now at 27 C, gaming load 51 C, after-gaming holds at about 43 C as heat dissipation is still rough. Wish I could fit a second case fan at the bottom, under the mobo. Otherwise, nothing to complain about here.
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Post a picture :)
 
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gffermari said:
best value for money solution: Noctua L9i
best air cooling solution: Cryorig C7 with or without Noctua fan

The LP53 is more expensive than anything and outperforms only the Noctua. It's the better solution for other cases, like S4 mini, which cooler height is more limited than this on Dan's case.

Have anyone tried the ID cooling IS40 v3?? It says it can handle 100W TDP.

Or the VC45?? 130W at 45mm.
Click to expand...

VC45 review

 
Alaberti said:
I managed to get my Noctua in pull configuration with the asetek aio and SF 600 PSU - which I turned around to pull this off without the PSU cables keeping the fan from spinning, so I'm glad the PSU is super resilient - and my idle temps are now at 27 C, gaming load 51 C, after-gaming holds at about 43 C as heat dissipation is still rough. Wish I could fit a second case fan at the bottom, under the mobo. Otherwise, nothing to complain about here.
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The Asetek 80x80x12 fan will fit under the board.
 
Do somebody have good sugestion how to silence hdd in dan case. I investigate my problems with noise from psu and It turn out that my secondary drive -> hdd that I install behide it making constant noise even if isn't used. I got https://www.amazon.com/HGST-Travels...347&sr=8-1&keywords=hitachi+travelstar+7k1000. Corsair SF450 is dead silence:) I tried to use bootom caddy hdd slot but it wasnt too much better.
 
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Hotshot619 said:
The Linus Tech Tips video with the DanCase v2 is up on their float plane platform. I'd expect about 2 pages worth of people coming fairly soon asking where and when they can buy it.
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I just want to know where to buy the window kit.
 
Uhm I think it won't be available for quite a while. If my memory serves me right someone asked about window kits at kickstarter and Dan said it won't be available.
 
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