Better cooling solution with Dan Case? (unusual way...)

arkitec

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Apr 27, 2019
10
12
Dear good SFF people,

I have an unusual question about a possible GPU setup. I'd like to know if it's even possible to link Dan case build connecting with Razer egpu. It sounds like totally defeat the purpose for small factor but was wondering any possibilities.

I'm about to build a pc with Dan Case, and looking at GPU side in the case. What if I place 240mm aio cpu cooler where normally GPU goes (back side of MOBO and PSU where many people place gpu) and have the MOBO using ASRock Z390 ITX to link egpu using thunderbolt 3.

I'm very new to PC world and I understand am asking a dumb question but if above works, do I still need gpu directly connect to MOBO and then link egup? or no need gpu (without having gpu in Dan Case that what I want) but just link egpu instead?

Any thought or opinion would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
 

dfrgu

Trash Compacter
Mar 11, 2019
51
43
The AIO might work in theory, but the you have to use slim fan with 15mm thickness.
However, I don't think to use an egpu worth that, because the razor core is basically as large as the Dan case, and you may just find a larger sized case to fit your needs.
 

Nanook

King of Cable Management
May 23, 2016
805
793
The cooling would not be ideal because the case spine will block the airflow. The 92mm AIO works quite well. If you’re really interested in better cooling:
  • Larger case that allows a taller heatsink, or accommodates an AIO. Less hassle.
  • If you’re ok with tethering something to the A4-SFX, you’re better off using an AIO, placing the radiator outside of the case, and routing the tubing through the I/O opening. This would require finding a block that fits through the I/O opening, and of course not using an I/O shield.
 
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BonfireOfDreams

Average Stuffer
Mar 14, 2019
68
32
I'm about to build a pc with Dan Case. What if I place 240mm aio cpu cooler where normally GPU goes (back side of MOBO and PSU where many people place gpu) and have the MOBO using ASRock Z390 ITX to link egpu using thunderbolt 3.

On a monetary & aesthetic (my own interpretation of) basis I'm going to recommend that if not already purchased, another case should be sought out for your application. Assuming you are committed to a 240mm AIO there are cases out there designed more for your needs than the DAN case, that as great as it is, won't tailor to.

While I can't yet speak on case designs for large AIO's, If you're okay with large air coolers instead I'm going to recommend using the Raijentek Metis Plus (multiple color options available). It is large enough to fit a Noctua U12A & with an SFX PSU supports up to 266m length video cards. You can rock a nice processor & good GPU with adequate cooling in a 13.3L case.

While that is 6L larger than the DAN case, that size change is negligible once the eGPU enclosure is taken into account. You'd save a lot of money for what would be better performance. If you're on the expensive side for hardware specs, here's a PC Part Picker recommendation I have for you (albeit the graphics card could be bumped up to a 2070 and storage could be more/less crazy too). I designed it under the assumption that you need a beefy processor to warrant large CPU cooling solutions.

Hope you found this post useful.
 
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x111

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Aug 5, 2019
114
45
I have a better solution in mind,
I want to use peltier cooling to blow cold air inside the box where will be sitting the dan pc,
and using marine blower to push enough air in that big box.
Also, it will eliminate any dust by using vehicle's round air filter.
In this way, dan pc will still be portable and very well ventilated as a fault driver.
what do you guys think ?
 
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Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
I have a better solution in mind,
I want to use peltier cooling to blow cold air inside the box where will be sitting the dan pc,
and using marine blower to push enough air in that big box.
Also, it will eliminate any dust by using vehicle's round air filter.
In this way, dan pc will still be portable and very well ventilated as a fault driver.
what do you guys think ?
Peltier units are generally useless for PC cooling, as they generate far too much heat to be useful. A peltier with enough cooling output to make a tangible difference would spew out so much heat that it would need its own large and complex cooling system, not to mention a huge power supply. You say the case will be sitting in a "big box" - which means a resaonably large volume of air - and want a powerful fan setup to circulate and replace said air rapidly. While I don't know how to calculate this accurately, I'm reasonably sure you would need a very powerful peltier unit to meaningfully lower the air temperature. Linus Tech Tips did a series of videos on this recently - though they focus on "direct" (CPU-mounted) TEC/Peltier cooling, results wouldn't be much better using it in your proposed setup.

Also, by marine blower, do you mean something like this? That sounds like an incredibly noisy and space-inefficient solution.

For a setup like that, standard air conditioning would be far more efficient (and usually allows you to vent the hot waste air outside through a duct or similar). But with anything like this you need to be wary of condensation, as you'll be blasting the PC with sub-ambient temperature air. You don't have to look far for stories about mining GPUs ruined due to being put directly in front of an AC unit with no protection.

Do you live somewhere with very high ambient temperatures? If not, this sounds like an overkill solution without much merit - which would be much better solved by getting a slightly larger case capable of fitting a slightly larger CPU cooler (like the Ncase M1).
 
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