DAN A4-SFX v4.1

[Vrekgar]

Just got through with some fiddling around. Managed to make the 645lt fit but because I installed the fan backwards there was a rather annoying temperature spike to like 80+c so after some futzing and slapping my forhead after I flipped the fan the temperatures are very nice. Can probably futz with the motherboard fan controls to make the fan response more correct and less ramp up then down then up then down repeating...

Also the 5700xt blower is very quiet actually. Was quite surprised at that revelation. Sure it becomes audible when it ramps up to 100% but thats to be expected. Most of the time its a gentle whisper.

 

[dondan]

Today I tested the PCIe 4.0 compatibility with all A4-SFX generations and here are the results:

Windows 10 crashed with a blue screen directly after the boot logo on the v3 and v4 risers. Only the 3M Twin Axial riser was able to handle PCIe 4.0. I made a 6 hours benchmark run through Futuremark, Valley Benchmark and some games without a problem. So if you have a v3 and v4 case, don't worry just setup PCIe link speed gen3 in UEFI. Currently the performance loss is 0%.

Tomorrow I will do some thermal test on the Ryzen 3700X.

 

[Pappas]

Today I tested the PCIe 4.0 compatibility with all A4-SFX generations and here are the results:

Windows 10 crashed with a blue screen directly after the boot logo on the v3 and v4 risers. Only the 3M Twin Axial riser was able to handle PCIe 4.0. I made a 6 hours benchmark run through Futuremark, Valley Benchmark and some games without a problem. So if you have a v3 and v4 case, don't worry just setup PCIe link speed gen3 in UEFI. Currently the performance loss is 0%.

Tomorrow I will do some thermal test on the Ryzen 3700X.

Will you be doing any testing with the 3900x and 645LT?

 

[dondan]

@jrkd Noctua A12x15 or Scythe KAZE FLEX 120 SLIM
@Pappas: No I wait for the 16 core version.

 

[Multiplexer]

I can say that the next v4 batch that is in production will not have the internal 20pin cable it will have the new USB3.1 key-A connector this will solve these "problems" but will create a new one: The number of boards featuring a key-a header is very low.

Will the cable be available to purchase for existing V4 users?

 

[PseudoPsyche]

Windows 10 crashed with a blue screen directly after the boot logo on the v3 and v4 risers. Only the 3M Twin Axial riser was able to handle PCIe 4.0. I made a 6 hours benchmark run through Futuremark, Valley Benchmark and some games without a problem. So if you have a v3 and v4 case, don't worry just setup PCIe link speed gen3 in UEFI. Currently the performance loss is 0%.

Could we just swap out the riser on the v4 case ourselves if there is a need for PCIe 4.0 in the future?

 

[Vrekgar]

At Idle my 3700x with the 645lt bounces between 45c and 55c. The clock speeds also spike up on a few cores as they do this and I've yet to figure out the exact reasoning behind this behavior. It might be something to do with PBO as it was doing the same behavior with the box cooler sticking out of the Dan. And when I load it with a stress test for just the CPU it hits 77ish Celsius but cools down as expected when the load is removed.

But it's more of a spike up to 55 and a quick descent down. Much faster than the box cooler allowed as well as way less noise, although not like there was much noise to begin with.

To get the same from the box cooler I had to undervolt it to 1.25v as opposed to stock where it fluctuated around 1.3 and 1.45v.

 

[Daemos]

For the PCIe gen 4.0 compatibility question:

I ordered x570, 3700x & 5700 to test it next week. I think it will be not compatible because the total length from the CPU to GPU is longer than 10 inch and the cable has no active retimer component. But it should be possible to change the linkspeed to gen3 in UEFI then it should work. The performance loss is not meassureable.

Regards
Daniel

FWIW I gave the gigabyte x570 itx board + an rx5700 xt and have zero issues with it as I set the PCI express slot to gen 3 in the bios.

 

[SoulTribunal]

How noisy is the blower 5700xt on the A4 SFX? Is it worst to wait for axial blade cards?

On the A4 it has an audible hum at load while gaming but otherwise It's rather quiet, to the point where I'm starting to think that all the reviewers that froth at the mouth about how noisy it is are just exaggerating for effect.

I'd say if you can wait then wait anyway just to have more options, but honestly the blower version will work just fine.

 

[dondan]

@Multiplexer: I will talk with SFFLab
@PseudoPsyche: Yes.
@Daemos: Yes PCIe 3.0 will work perfectly
@SoulTribunal I am also very happy with the noise of the RX5700. The 2080 FE was much louder in IDLE.

 

[91Mackmr2]

Eagerly awaiting your results. I had to unbox and install the only C7G I was able to find recently as my 645LT was giving me strange pump noise issues (air bubbles) even at low pump header RPM. The C7G was a bit of a surprise coming from the Black Ridge before.

Did you configure the two case fans on the bottom to exhaust or intake? I believe I read that with air cooler the fans worked better as exhausts and with the 645LT it was better as intakes.

 

[LiYonJin]

Today I tested the PCIe 4.0 compatibility with all A4-SFX generations and here are the results:

Windows 10 crashed with a blue screen directly after the boot logo on the v3 and v4 risers. Only the 3M Twin Axial riser was able to handle PCIe 4.0. I made a 6 hours benchmark run through Futuremark, Valley Benchmark and some games without a problem. So if you have a v3 and v4 case, don't worry just setup PCIe link speed gen3 in UEFI. Currently the performance loss is 0%.

Tomorrow I will do some thermal test on the Ryzen 3700X.

Funny...glad I still use the 3M Twin Axial riser...not that I need it

 

[Jovogdiar]

@dondan Out of curiosity, how much do the PSU and SSD brackets cost you to fabricate?

 

[friendscatdied]

Good or bad surprise? How do temps compare with the Black Ridge using the same Noctua fan?

The Black Ridge performs better with the same 92mm 2500rpm 2.5w fan on both, but not by far. The noise profile and acoustics on the Black Ridge are much better, but the mounting system on the Black Ridge is much worse (e.g. significantly more difficult installation and less mounting pressure).

Did you configure the two case fans on the bottom to exhaust or intake? I believe I read that with air cooler the fans worked better as exhausts and with the 645LT it was better as intakes.

Neither — I have the fan underneath the motherboard set to intake and the fan underneath the power supply set to exhaust.

When I was feeling for hot spots in the case during load, I noticed the area near the power supply was getting unusually hot. Setting just the front bottom fan to exhaust dropped load temperatures around 3-5’c.

@SoulTribunal I am also very happy with the noise of the RX5700. The 2080 FE was much louder in IDLE.

The default minimum 41% fan speed on the Founders Edition cards is ridiculous and their noise profile greatly improves with a custom BIOS (e.g. allowing the fans to run at something lower like 25% during idle).

 

[Daenny]

Hey!

Im planning on doing a new itx build in tha Dan a4 case, but im kind of stuck on hardware and cooling options. I will mostly play CS:GO, seriko and battlefield 1/5 on a xl2546 240hz monitor. Considering getting either the i5-9600k and either a gtx 1080 or rtx 2070. What cooler do u guys recommend to get while maintaining good temps, or if maybe u recommend different hardware.

 

[SoulTribunal]

Neither — I have the fan underneath the motherboard set to intake and the fan underneath the power supply set to exhaust.

When I was feeling for hot spots in the case during load, I noticed the area near the power supply was getting unusually hot.

Hmm interesting. I have both bottom fans set as intake and the PSU area is nice and cool for me. Whereas the back top end of the case is burn your hand levels of hot, though internally nothing seems to be overheating.

 

[friendscatdied]

Hmm interesting. I have both bottom fans set as intake and the PSU area is nice and cool for me. Whereas the back top end of the case is burn your hand levels of hot, though internally nothing seems to be overheating.

Yeah, it’s going to be different for folks depending on their GPU/CPU/HSF combinations. Differences in airflow patterns, thermals and hot spots are going to be heavily influenced by those variables.

In my case I’m using a 2080 Ti FE, 9900K and a Alpenfohn Black Ridge.

I’m guessing the heat from the 2080 Ti was leaking into the PSU/front area or something.

 

[PeGys]

Yeah, it’s going to be different for folks depending on their GPU/CPU/HSF combinations. Differences in airflow patterns, thermals and hot spots are going to be heavily influenced by those variables.

In my case I’m using a 2080 Ti FE, 9900K and a Alpenfohn Black Ridge.

I’m guessing the heat from the 2080 Ti was leaking into the PSU/front area or something.

Yeah, it realy comes down to setup.
Since I use an external g-unique PSU and put a h55 aio instead of my sf600 with 545lc that part of the case greatly dropped in temperature since the air from the rad pushes directly on the gpu backplate (gtx1080ti ftw3) but the area above the motherboard/gpu core is the equivalent of a space heater. I think I should try baking cookies on it...

 

[jrkd]

Hey @friendscatdied, I'm looking at the BR with a 120mm noctua fan -- saw you posted in the VLP thread and wondering whether you ever tried it over the 92mm + faster/more normal height ram?

Also, whats your cooling solution for the 2080 ti - just the fans that come stock? From what I've read it seems like it runs (or even just the 2080) too high TDP to work inside the Dan without special cooling..?

 

[friendscatdied]

Yeah, it realy comes down to setup.
Since I use an external g-unique PSU and put a h55 aio instead of my sf600 with 545lc that part of the case greatly dropped in temperature since the air from the rad pushes directly on the gpu backplate (gtx1080ti ftw3) but the area above the motherboard/gpu core is the equivalent of a space heater. I think I should try baking cookies on it...

Yeah that's a good point, everything else also matters like PSU (external vs. semi-passive vs. passive vs. active) and motherboard (VRM temps etc.).

Hey @friendscatdied, I'm looking at the BR with a 120mm noctua fan -- saw you posted in the VLP thread and wondering whether you ever tried it over the 92mm + faster/more normal height ram?

Also, whats your cooling solution for the 2080 ti - just the fans that come stock? From what I've read it seems like it runs (or even just the 2080) too high TDP to work inside the Dan without special cooling..?

I was informed I'd either have to dremel/cut the VRM heatsink on my ASRock Z390 Phantom motherboard or ditch the heatsink and my front M.2, so I ended up canceling my VLP and NF-A12x15 orders.

I have the 2080 Ti undervolted to 1850MHz@850mV and it runs about as hot as my 2080 did undervolted to 1995MHz@937mV.

My 9900K is also at a -30mV undervolt (full load 4.7GHz all-core is 1.12v) and my gaming temperatures are pretty evenly distributed for my GPU and CPU -- both get up to the mid-70s or low-80s. More importantly the fan speeds don't get above 60% for the GPU or 70% for the other fans so the noise is very tolerable.