DAN C4-SFX: The smallest water cooling case in the world

dondan

Are the feet about 10-11mm high? When you're testing temperatures in the case, could you test how much would it affect if the feet would have been 25mm high? If using a bottom rad I mean... Giving more space for it to breathe.
 
dglow said:
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Personally I see a lot of lines, and in particular, exposed seams. The lack of these seams is exactly what made the A4 so beautiful, IMO of course.

I'll ask this once and then let it go. But, dondan, is there any chance of:

1. Bringing the window panels edge-to-edge on the top and bottom
2. Making the top and front panel a single, folded piece again

This would mean removing the side fold-overs currently present on the top and foot panels. There don't appear to be any screws on the thin side portions, so one might suspect they're largely aesthetic.

And I agree with everyone above: the receding foot design does look fantastic. Better than in the renders, even – nice work.
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2. I imagine that would make flipping the front IO a bit more difficult. Also those fold overs on the bottom seem to be part of the feet design. But I agree on the edge to edge panels. It would also make the thickness of the glass a none issue.
The flippable design is actually the biggest thing for me on this case. I need a case for a left side set up. And I could not find any decent small form factor cases with that feature.

I also looked into trashcan style cases, but there are only some chinese ones out there and even less reviews. Maybe you could look into making one of those next. It's definitely a niche to be filled.
 
Here are some more pictures of the C4-SFX. Yes you look right there is no type-c port on the i/o. I tried everything to keep it but the port itself requires a very long part behind the port that will collide with the front hdd. The supplier make some tests to make it shorter but failed.

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Not having USB C for a late 18, early 19 case is not good. Especially not in the high end market.

When the case has side IO, can't you just have the USB C below the jack connectors, and the normal USB A above them? That shoud clear the SSD drive just fine. And afaik you can always turn the drive, so the connectors point upwards.
 
dondan said:
Here are some more pictures of the C4-SFX. Yes you look right there is no type-c port on the i/o. I tried everything to keep it but the port itself requires a very long part behind the port that will collide with the front hdd. The supplier make some tests to make it shorter but failed.

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Well.. it's gorgeous and i want one, what more can i say?
Also, the side panel behind the the motherboard will be all perforated or just the PSU area or not perforated at all?
 
dondan said:
Here are some more pictures of the C4-SFX. Yes you look right there is no type-c port on the i/o. I tried everything to keep it but the port itself requires a very long part behind the port that will collide with the front hdd. The supplier make some tests to make it shorter but failed.

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Amazing! Thanks for trying to keep th type-c port. Not a dealbreaker for me. I can just use the one on the motherboard.
 
Notional said:
Not having USB C for a late 18, early 19 case is not good. Especially not in the high end market.

When the case has side IO, can't you just have the USB C below the jack connectors, and the normal USB A above them? That shoud clear the SSD drive just fine. And afaik you can always turn the drive, so the connectors point upwards.
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I second this.
If there is no way to add the USB type C on the side, what about a second USB type A?
 
That's a real shame... No Type-C is a huge disappointment for me - I guess I can use an extension cable from a rear type-c port, but that's going to be a fair bit uglier... D:
 
dondan I would suggest you try to smoothen some of the sharp corners a little to make it look classier. Right now the separate front and top panel reduce the look of quality from the case because of the panel gaps/irregularity.

Is there a way to spec the top and front panel such that that are one piece, bent 90 degrees (i.e. just like the A4?). Of course this would mean only side I/O is possible. But looking at the picture in the flesh, the side IO looks MUCH better than the top IO
 
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Blackreplica said:
Is there a way to spec the top and front panel such that that are one piece, bent 90 degrees (i.e. just like the A4?). Of course this would mean only side I/O is possible. But looking at the picture in the flesh, the side IO looks MUCH better than the top IO
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I guess this would make the Case unflippable tho, but I totally agree on the side IO looking better by far.

but dan, is there a reason why the top and bottom is taking up a small part of the side aswell? the screws seem to be on top anyways, I think the side panel would look better (like on the A4), if it would just end with the case - this would get rid of the kinda un-smooth gap there.
 
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You could still invert the case, just install the joined front/side panel upside down to the frame
 
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Blackreplica said:
dondan Right now the separate front and top panel reduce the look of quality from the case because of the panel gaps/irregularity.
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Personally I'm not bothered at all by the tiny gap between the front and the top. Consider that we are looking at a prototype, there's definitely room for improvements.

thed00d said:
but dan, is there a reason why the top and bottom is taking up a small part of the side aswell? the screws seem to be on top anyways, I think the side panel would look better (like on the A4), if it would just end with the case - this would get rid of the kinda un-smooth gap there.
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If the top and bottom didn't take a bit of the sides, the case will look way too boxy (like the Ncases). I'm totally fine with the current approach.

To be honest the only thing that I'm not too convinced on are the screws on the side panels (im referring to the aluminum side panels). Maybe Push Pins + Screws on the back could work? Not sure.
 
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dondan you should really look into capacitive switches for the sides, they feel really premium in my opinion! Something like the start button on the in win 909 on the side instead of the button would be amazing! Another thing with capacitive switches is that you (if you wanted to) could make the entire I/O side act as a power button... Even though that wouldn't really be practical... Imagine plugging in a usb drive or taking out your headphones o_O
 
Hi

Very nice project .

Just, as watercooling guy, i would point on some things ;

You pointed that case is watercooling ready, wich IS, but not completely . I mean , 2x240 is enough for vga or cpu, not both . You clearly building case for enthusiasts and guys that will pay premium price for smart and small case. But, although case is superb, it missing just a bit to fulfill it all. You miss a space for at least 1 more 120mm to have enough cooling for cpu/gpu . one more 240 would be perfect, but at least 120 would be needed. Maybe next project would be that much larger
 
vex_sb said:
Hi

Very nice project .

Just, as watercooling guy, i would point on some things ;

You pointed that case is watercooling ready, wich IS, but not completely . I mean , 2x240 is enough for vga or cpu, not both . You clearly building case for enthusiasts and guys that will pay premium price for smart and small case. But, although case is superb, it missing just a bit to fulfill it all. You miss a space for at least 1 more 120mm to have enough cooling for cpu/gpu . one more 240 would be perfect, but at least 120 would be needed. Maybe next project would be that much larger
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120x2 radiator, 780ti + 3770k full overclocked corsairs fans around 800 rpm fixed.
I think, 240 is more than enough for a sff build.
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Well that really depends on the airflow of the case . If it's cramped , you have a problem . I have 240 and 120 in phanteks shift x , 980ti and 6600k, temps are over 60 celsious, and motherboard over 60, pch over 70. All those temps were 15 celsious less in normal case with another 240 radiator. I imagine that going even more down on rads will get temps well over 70. And i want to put 1080ti in new build. And i want to OC both cpu and gpu to the max, so yeah, it NEEDS more than 1 240 rad.
 
Really looking forward to testing results although I will be sticking with my A4 probably..... o_O
 
dondan said:
The samples are on the way to Germany. After testing i can talk about release dates.
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Happy to hear that - I'll surely replace my A4 with the C4 for better cooling, keep up the good work :)

What I've been asking myself tho (the question might have been overlooked on hardwareluxx, but as people there are rather unfriendly anyways, I prefer staying on hardforum ^^) - will I be able to interchange the side panels?
I want to build 2 PCs, with the same side replaced with tempered glass (or an acrylic window, whatever I like more when I know more about pricings and weight), while the other side would stay, as it is.

Will I need to buy two window kits and just use one panel per kit, or will one be enough?
 
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