DAN A4-SFX v4.1 AMD Performance Alternative [working configuration]

JohnTinkerer

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Nov 14, 2020
42
3
Hello Community,

I would like to thank @dondan for providing the example hardware configurations^ as well as for the design of the case. I also would like to thank the rest of the community for overall guidance on this journey.

With this in mind I would like to give back and share a working configuration that I was able to get my hands on as of September 2021 (and in my opinion components listed were not overall overpriced). This configuration was extensively tested and there are no temperature/overheating issues or installation issues (no cutting).

MB: ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming (90MB14L0-M0EAY0)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor. Note: The CPU was working fine also in semi-ECO mode where I manually limited it to something like 80W TDP within the BIOS. Potentially the full 105W might be working as well.
COOLING: Noctua NH-L9a-AM4. The CPU fan was removed and used at the bottom of the case (15mm). The CPU cooler actually uses a taller fan model Noctua NF-A9 PWM. It fits but it's gently touching the case. Probably higher performance than the original fan.
SSD: M.2/NVMe Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB + SATA Crucial MX500 1TB. Note: There is sufficient space for a SATA HDD at the bottom of the case but I don't have the need for it. The SSD are really cheap nowadays.
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT EAGLE 8G (GV-R66XTEAGLE-8GD). Note: No issues at all temperature or size wise. Power of Radeon RX 5700 XT for almost half the TDP.
PSU: Corsair SF Series SF750 80 PLUS Platinum 750W SFX12V (CP-9020186-EU). Probably an overkill and the 600W or even 450W would suffice.
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX black DIMM kit 32GB, DDR4-3200, CL16-20-20-38 (CMK32GX4M2E3200C16)

If you guys plan to get something similar feel free to ask any questions.
 

dondan

Shrink Ray Wielder
DAN Cases
Feb 23, 2015
1,977
8,378
Thank you for your feedback. :)

Btw the NF-A9 is not so silent because it is very close to the side panel. Better install the A9x14 + 3D printed FAN-Duct. Files can be found on the FAQ page.
 

nightshift

Airflow Optimizer
Jul 23, 2020
268
168
Would appreciate pictures please:)

But yeah, if you attach the original fan back to the L9a, the fan duct can improve it's performance while keeping the silence. And you can put the 25mm fan under the psu.
 

Frenzy

Trash Compacter
Feb 14, 2020
47
18
Quick thoughts:

How is the 5900X behaving with the NH-L9a in (near) -idle mode? And doing a cinebench would max it out to 95 degC ? I have the 3700x with the NH-L9a, I remember quite a struggle bringing the jumpy peaky behavior down.
The fan noise was not acceptable for me. The problem is also in the bios everything above 75 degC (don’t remember the exact value by heart) sets the CPU fan at 100%.

Believe mostly due to power management setting with the lowest state still set at 95%.
Adjusting this and further slight undervolt and fan duct did the trick. All quiet during idle / browsing.

Other than that my system is very similar with a 1080 still. (going to forego 30xx or this generation AMD, will check what summer 2022 has to offer GPU wise).

Ow and Pix indeed!
 

JohnTinkerer

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Nov 14, 2020
42
3
Apologies for late reply.

@nightshift I'm not very big on photos, might provide them some day.

@Frenzy The overall noise level in idle is very low (I have the computer on my desk behind a computer screen). During load you can hear something but totally fine with me. My old HP Workstation-grade laptop was probably more noisy than this with fraction of horsepower this rig has.