DAN A4-SFX v4.1

[x111]

Ok i see that i can only mount one fan under the psu, i have really good temp on the gpu around 75C in full load but the cpu have temp around 60C in idle and 87-88C in full load any suggestions for don't compromise my performance? In the next days i will print the fan duct but i think is not enough alone!

what hardware are you using again ?
those temperatures are dangerously high.

also, try to tune / adjust fan speed,
and the best solution is to put 120mm fans under the case as well as on the sides and turn them on when on full load.

this way I keep my amd 3900x and rx5700xt under 50-60C on the full continuous load.

_________________

i can't seem to get sf600. any alternatives that should work? planning to use 2070 super and asetek 645LT.

I would strongly suggest to find corsair sf750, it has plenty of power and very good quality cables with almost perfect length to get everywhere around nicely,
just remember to manage them around separately one by one individual wire,
it took me hours to put everything neatly.

_______________________

I have a 3600x cooled by a noctua NH L9A with an asus strix gtx 1080 the strange thing is that the GPU never exceeds 70 degrees while the CPU even in idle has very high temperatures. I am aware that in mini itx cases the temperatures with these configurations are not low, but the CPU seems to me really exaggerated.

You should make sure that you applied a right amount of good thermal paste.

____________________

What are you talking about? Those temperatures aren't dangerously high at all. 75C with a 1080 inside the Dan A4 is rather good, I have a 2080 that gets around 85 degress while gaming. Keeping in mind that this is one of the smallest cases on the market and doesn't exactly have any airflow at all.

And the users 3600X has a max temperature of 95 C, and if his CPU is doing 60C during idle and around 88C during load, it isn't very good, but it's not thermal throttling either. Especially considering he's using the Noctua NH-L9a, which isn't the best cooler.
And seeing as I bet the person hasn't manually tuned their CPU, I bet the user is running auto voltages, which are very high and therefore make the CPU run a lot hotter.

So no, those aren't "dangerously high" temperatures. I'd respectfully and kindly advise you to be a bit mindful of your words in the future, as you may not know how the other person might take them.
They might be so scared to even turn on their PC because of it (I used to be that person).

Regarding your own system, what exactly do you mean by "full continous load"? Are we talking about rendering? Gaming? What kind of game and at what resolution?... There are too many variables in a system to just say that your system has a specific temperature, since everyones system is unique and no two systems will perform exactly the same.

Why should the person put a 120mm fans under the case and on the sides?... If the person would undervolt their CPU, they don't need any extra fans and their temperatures will be better.

How do I know this? Cause this is what I did to my 3700X and 2080, which is using the Asetek 645LT and it never surpassed 90C during Aida64 Extreme for over 18 hours continous load. 90C is high yes, but not surpassing the 95C max temp. And keeping in mind that Aida64 Extreme is basically the absolute worst test you can put your CPU through. It literally pushes your CPU balls to the walls, the worst case scenario possible.

So having 89C for continous 18 hours of that stress test, it passed. And during full gaming load, my CPU is around 65C. Keeping in mind that at the end of the day, in this computer case, all cooling systems are extremely limited and high temps are unforunately not to our favour.

Lastly, I agree with you on the SF750 PSU. But the included cables, while they will get the job done, they are far from perfect. They are extremely long and will take up A LOT of space inside the A4 SFX. Getting custom cables helps immensely. I am very happy that I got custom ones, as they are just the correct lengths for this case and now my case barely has any cables at all.

Oh and by the way, please don't take this post as personal or like I'm attacking you. I'm just trying to shed a different perspective regarding your post, in order to hopefully give the user a bigger picture and understanding for his system, temperatures and ways to improve. Nothing else

over 90C on cpu is a critical number,
anything over 75 is on a danger side and you should do something about it in order to reduce it unless you care about a healthy life of your hardware.
Regarding your system I would definitely bring significant changes to your cooling setup.

as you can see here on the official place it clearly said maximum 95C !!
"https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-9-3900x"

even asus motherboad software state that 75C on your cpu is critical !!

From my personal experience, it is possible to keep your system in dan a4 case under 50-60C on the full load.
The only weird part of amd 3900x is that it gives a few seconds temp jump and than normalises to 50-60C
By full load for me is pushing over 400fps at 1080p in csgo and using 240hz monitor.
- 3900x is set to 1.35v and 4.3ghz.
- "Rx 5700 Xt" is set to 1890mhz "vram".
- 92mm fans set on 50% power from 0C.

and on idle it shows me
40-50C on cpu, gpu, motherboard, ssd.

Keep your system cool !!

also, do not forget to get proper 2.52W 92mm fans and not that 1W trash.


.

 

[floodcf]

I have a 3600x cooled by a noctua NH L9A with an asus strix gtx 1080 the strange thing is that the GPU never exceeds 70 degrees while the CPU even in idle has very high temperatures. I am aware that in mini itx cases the temperatures with these configurations are not low, but the CPU seems to me really exaggerated.

 

[element72]

what kind of size fans can you mount to the side panel, if you tried this? 92mm or 120mm? I want to stick two on there.

 

[Dawelio]

what hardware are you using again ?
those temperatures are dangerously high.

also, try to tune / adjust fan speed,
and the best solution is to put 120mm fans under the case as well as on the sides and turn them on when on full load.

this way I keep my amd 3900x and rx5700xt under 50-60C on the full continuous load.
_________________
I would strongly suggest to find corsair sf750, it has plenty of power and very good quality cables with almost perfect length to get everywhere around nicely,
just remember to manage them around separately one by one individual wire,
it took me hours to put everything neatly.

What are you talking about? Those temperatures aren't dangerously high at all. 75C with a 1080 inside the Dan A4 is rather good, I have a 2080 that gets around 85 degress while gaming. Keeping in mind that this is one of the smallest cases on the market and doesn't exactly have any airflow at all.

And the users 3600X has a max temperature of 95 C, and if his CPU is doing 60C during idle and around 88C during load, it isn't very good, but it's not thermal throttling either. Especially considering he's using the Noctua NH-L9a, which isn't the best cooler.
And seeing as I bet the person hasn't manually tuned their CPU, I bet the user is running auto voltages, which are very high and therefore make the CPU run a lot hotter.

So no, those aren't "dangerously high" temperatures. I'd respectfully and kindly advise you to be a bit mindful of your words in the future, as you may not know how the other person might take them.
They might be so scared to even turn on their PC because of it (I used to be that person).

Regarding your own system, what exactly do you mean by "full continous load"? Are we talking about rendering? Gaming? What kind of game and at what resolution?... There are too many variables in a system to just say that your system has a specific temperature, since everyones system is unique and no two systems will perform exactly the same.

Why should the person put a 120mm fans under the case and on the sides?... If the person would undervolt their CPU, they don't need any extra fans and their temperatures will be better.

How do I know this? Cause this is what I did to my 3700X and 2080, which is using the Asetek 645LT and it never surpassed 90C during Aida64 Extreme for over 18 hours continous load. 90C is high yes, but not surpassing the 95C max temp. And keeping in mind that Aida64 Extreme is basically the absolute worst test you can put your CPU through. It literally pushes your CPU balls to the walls, the worst case scenario possible.

So having 89C for continous 18 hours of that stress test, it passed. And during full gaming load, my CPU is around 65C. Keeping in mind that at the end of the day, in this computer case, all cooling systems are extremely limited and high temps are unforunately not to our favour.

Lastly, I agree with you on the SF750 PSU. But the included cables, while they will get the job done, they are far from perfect. They are extremely long and will take up A LOT of space inside the A4 SFX. Getting custom cables helps immensely. I am very happy that I got custom ones, as they are just the correct lengths for this case and now my case barely has any cables at all.

Oh and by the way, please don't take this post as personal or like I'm attacking you. I'm just trying to shed a different perspective regarding your post, in order to hopefully give the user a bigger picture and understanding for his system, temperatures and ways to improve. Nothing else

 

[swaggywaggy]

Where am I able to buy a replacement plastic sheet that protects the back of the GPU?

 

[dondan]

@swaggywaggy You need M3 screws with a length of 6mm. You can get the plastic sheet from me https://dan-cases.com/rma.html
Because of COVID-19 there are countries where shipping is currently not possible like US.

 

[swaggywaggy]

@swaggywaggy You need M3 screws with a length of 6mm. You can get the plastic sheet from me https://dan-cases.com/rma.html
Because of COVID-19 there are countries where shipping is currently not possible like US.

Thanks,
UK possible?

 

[dondan]

I have a 3600x cooled by a noctua NH L9A with an asus strix gtx 1080 the strange thing is that the GPU never exceeds 70 degrees while the CPU even in idle has very high temperatures.

High IDLE Temps on Ryzen 3xx0 chips are very normal. The DIE size is so small that the heat can disappear fast enough. Furthermore these CPUs are having very high voltage jumps while jumping in Turbo mode for some second. Exmaple: You start a software, CPU kicks in turbo with high clock, in the next second the clock is back to idle. This one second turbo mode creates very much heat on a very small surface that no heatpipe can move fast enough away.

On permanent load high temps are normal on a 95W Ryzen like the 3600X with a small heatsink. So I would run this CPU in 65W ECO mode, this will costs maybe 2% perf. but will give you much better temps. You can activate it in Ryzen Master or on some vendors in the UEFI.

 

[Dawelio]

over 90C on cpu is a critical number,
anything over 75 is on a danger side and you should do something about it in order to reduce it unless you care about a healthy life of your hardware.
Regarding your system I would definitely bring significant changes to your cooling setup.

as you can see here on the official place it clearly said maximum 95C !!
"https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-9-3900x"

even asus motherboad software state that 75C on your cpu is critical !!

From my personal experience, it is possible to keep your system in dan a4 case under 50-60C on the full load.
The only weird part of amd 3900x is that it gives a few seconds temp jump and than normalises to 50-60C
By full load for me is pushing over 400fps at 1080p in csgo and using 240hz monitor.

Yes, that is true. But 90C on my CPU was again, during a stress test. Since nothing you do can ever get anywhere close to the load that Aida64 does on your system. That is why it's called a stress test.

And that 95C on AMD's website refers to when that specific CPU starts to throttle.

400+ fps at 1080p in CSGO isn't heavy at all. CSGO is an old game and even low end hardware can achieve that amount. Plus, 1080p isn't exactly a demanding resolution.

 

[swaggywaggy]

Going to attempt my first SFF build tomorrow in the Dan V4.1. I'd be greatful for any tips, Eaton what order to install the components.

Going with a Aorus X570i
Corsair SF650 (Gold rated - plastic type cables)
RX580
Asetek 645lt

 

[swaggywaggy]

I can't see where to edit my post :-

I'd be especially grateful for what order to install the components

 

[Dawelio]

To the bottom left, on the right side of the "Report" button, there should be an "Edit" button to edit your post.

If you would ask me, I'd install the GPU last. This is due to you'll most likely need to lay the case down a few times and not having the GPU installed, minimizes the risk of it getting damaged.

I installed the motherboard first, then I removed the front side panel clips on each side. You need to do this in order to install the Asetek radiator and then I installed the Asetek cooler. I then routed the power cable and front USB cable to the motherboard, squeezing them in along side the radiator on the bottom.

Then I did what the video below instructed. I screwed the case apart in the front top, I plugged in the CPU, 24 pin and dual GPU cables into the PSU, only 4 cables in my case, into the PSU. I then tried to train the cables right away on the PSU. I held it the way it was going to be installed and tried seeing where each would go and then would try to bend them as tightly as possible, this is to try and get them neatly as possible between the Asetek AIO and the PSU itself. Since there's barely any room. Keeping in mind, I have even less space since I also have an 92mm fan grill on my radiator, this is to minimize any risk of the cables actually touching the fan blades over the long term.

When this was done, I then routed the PSU cables first the way each were going at the same time as I was slowly trying to squeeze it into the case itself. It's a very tight fit, but if you take your time, being careful and not trying to force it in too much, it will go rather smoothly. With the small flexibility of the front top part apart, this process goes even smoother.

If you want overall tips and especially regarding the Asetek 645LT AIO in the Dan A4, I would highly recommend you watch the video below. As well as maybe check out his other videos with this case, as he has been doing several tests in this case for years.

If you're going to install the Asetek 645LT. I would advice you to remove the screws that hold the PSU "cage" to the front of the part. This will give you a bit more flexibility to install the PSU with the cables attached. At 1:22 you'll see what I mean, and this is probably the most important thing as it will heavily help when installing the PSU.

​

Once the PSU got installed, I then routed the PSU power cable through the front and up to the PSU, plugged it in and switched the PSU to on.

Then I installed the GPU and then plugged everything in.

After I did this, I ordered custom cables from PSlate customs, which helped out alot. They are extremely short and a bit tricky to get in, but damn what a difference they made. Both in terms of overall cables, space and aesthetics. Highly recommend checking them out, whenever they are up for sale again.
He did open his store on April 20th for a limited time, before closing again due to Covid-19. I was lucky enough to get an order in and I am extremely happy that I purchased them. Especially the 24 pin connector and then an CPU cable.
PCI-E cables aren't that big of a deal, you can just use the one cable that comes included with the Corsair PSU, that is a chained cable. Ie, it has an 8 pin that is attached to an 8 pin cable. So 2 connectors on the same cable.

Hope some of this made sense and helped you in some way. Good luck with your build!

 

[element72]

I want to see asetek vs black ridge(92mm and 120mm), a direct comparison. I want to see temps and noise. Has anyone seen this yet?

 

[swaggywaggy]

I am having no luck what so ever trying to get this all in. It's the 24 pin that is the killer for me. Did you run any of that cable into the GPU chamber?

 

[x111]

I want to see asetek vs black ridge(92mm and 120mm), a direct comparison. I want to see temps and noise. Has anyone seen this yet?

you cannot compete with water cooling !!

also "black ridge" has terrible design where fan blow air out of the case !!

I can't see where to edit my post :-

I'd be especially grateful for what order to install the components

There is a very painful process ahead of you.
First you better to check all the hardware that it works and only than putting all that inside the case.
When it comes to the fitting case
first need to remove all the panels
than install fan under motherboard
than install all the memory units and begin to fit motherboard (do not forget to put motherboard shield into the case)
than install AIO with preinstall fan on it and cpu
than psu with painful cable management (mange each cable separately, and get a nice "corsair sf750", totally worth extra money, with their cables you not really need custom ones)
than gpu and you set.

also, if you are going to use rear ssd, highly suggest to use thermal pads against the case,
helps a lot !!


check your luck:

Only 6% of AMD Ryzen 9 3900X CPUs capable of 4.2GHz in Silicon Lottery test

Only 6% of Ryzen 9 3900X's tested by CPU retail site Silicon Lottery are able to reach 4.2GHz manual overclock

www.pcgamesn.com

looks like I'm now on 1.25v and 4.2ghz and maybe less.

.

 

[Dawelio]

you cannot compete with water cooling !!

also "black ridge" has terrible design where fan blow air out of the case !!

There is a very painful process ahead of you.
First you better to check all the hardware that it works and only than putting all that inside the case.
When it comes to the fitting case
first need to remove all the panels
than install fan under motherboard
than install all the memory units and begin to fit motherboard (do not forget to put motherboard shield into the case)
than install AIO with preinstall fan on it
than psu with painful cable management (mange each cable separately, and get a nice "corsair sf750", totally worth extra money, with their cables you not really need custom ones)
than gpu and you set.

also, if you are going to use rear ssd, highly suggest to use thermal pads against the case,
helps a lot !!

I'm sorry for this, but I just have to ask... Do you even know what it is you're actually talking about? Since it doesn't seem like it.

" "also "black ridge" has terrible design where fan blow air out of the case !!" "- The Black Ridge cooler has a fan. It's down to the user how it operates, intake or exhaust. Doesn't make it a terrible design.

By the way, you missed a few, very important steps in your guide:

Where and when to install the CPU?
When to install the AIO onto the motherboard?
Should the person run the AIO pump at Auto, PWM or DC mode? - Since each one has a different effect on the pump itself.

You can't install an SSD in the rear of this case, only in the front.
What you are suggesting by using a thermal pad against the case, is if the person would install an M.2 NVMe drive on the back of the motherboard. That is IF the persons motherboard even supports it in the first place.

Secondly, that isn't an SSD, it's an NVMe drive. 2 different things. An NVMe drive utilizes PCI lanes on the motherboard (which is much faster than an SSD, newer, but much more expensive) and an SSD uses SATA interface (which is much cheaper, but older and slower) - Another point to my question at the top of this post, do you even know what you're actually talking about here?

Lastly, regarding your point "than psu with painful cable management (mange each cable separately, and get a nice "corsair sf750", totally worth extra money, with their cables you not really need custom ones)" - How do you suggest the user to being able to close the side panel with the PSUs included cables, if they use an AIO? Since those cables are rather long, thick and hard to manage inside the case. Which almost has no space left to begin with.

Here's a picture for you, from another user on this forum. They use, what seems like the included cables. But with no AIO installed. Looks pretty difficult to install an AIO in there, or what do you think?:

I'll actually take a photo of my build later on today, just to show you that with custom cables, you can go a long way further than with the included cables.
Since you claim this: "with their cables you not really need custom ones".

 

[x111]

I'm sorry for this, but I just have to ask... Do you even know what it is you're actually talking about? Since it doesn't seem like it.

" "also "black ridge" has terrible design where fan blow air out of the case !!" "- The Black Ridge cooler has a fan. It's down to the user how it operates, intake or exhaust. Doesn't make it a terrible design.

By the way, you missed a few, very important steps in your guide:

Where and when to install the CPU?
When to install the AIO onto the motherboard?
Should the person run the AIO pump at Auto, PWM or DC mode? - Since each one has a different effect on the pump itself.

You can't install an SSD in the rear of this case, only in the front.
What you are suggesting by using a thermal pad against the case, is if the person would install an M.2 NVMe drive on the back of the motherboard. That is IF the persons motherboard even supports it in the first place.

Secondly, that isn't an SSD, it's an NVMe drive. 2 different things. An NVMe drive utilizes PCI lanes on the motherboard (which is much faster than an SSD, newer, but much more expensive) and an SSD uses SATA interface (which is much cheaper, but older and slower) - Another point to my question at the top of this post, do you even know what you're actually talking about here?

Lastly, regarding your point "than psu with painful cable management (mange each cable separately, and get a nice "corsair sf750", totally worth extra money, with their cables you not really need custom ones)" - How do you suggest the user to being able to close the side panel with the PSUs included cables, if they use an AIO? Since those cables are rather long, thick and hard to manage inside the case. Which almost has no space left to begin with.

Here's a picture for you, from another user on this forum. They use, what seems like the included cables. But with no AIO installed. Looks pretty difficult to install an AIO in there, or what do you think?:

I'll actually take a photo of my build later on today, just to show you that with custom cables, you can go a long way further than with the included cables.
Since you claim this: "with their cables you not really need custom ones".

"black ridge" design to work as exhaust.

as guess installing AIO automatically include installation cpu as well.

"You can't install an SSD in the rear of this case, only in the front."
yes you certainly can as I did,
and if your MB does not have this luxury skip the step as simple as that.

I call them all "SSD" !!
and look "how" !!
official place calls it "NVMe M.2 SSD"

SSD 970 PRO NVMe M.2 512GB Memory & Storage - MZ-V7P512BW | Samsung US

Discover the latest features and innovations available in the SSD 970 PRO NVMe M.2 512GB. Find the perfect Memory & Storage for you!

www.samsung.com

"
Lastly, regarding your point "than psu with painful cable management (mange each cable separately, and get a nice "corsair sf750", totally worth extra money, with their cables you not really need custom ones)" - How do you suggest the user to being able to close the side panel with the PSUs included cables, if they use an AIO? Since those cables are rather long, thick and hard to manage inside the case. Which almost has no space left to begin with.
"
On that picture I would say is a good example how you should NOT manage your cables !!
but there is indeed very limited space.
However this is why we chose this case, to fit everything nice and tight and do not waste any space.


and more important,
you should certainly address your question to yourself !!
"do you even know what you're actually talking about here?"

a quick Google search for "Dan A4 645LT build" give you plenty of images to judge yourself. This one for example


I would say custom cables are not a must, but a comfort/luxury items. There's actually a lot of empty space underneath the PSU even with stock Corsair cables but I'm not that bothered to really tie them up. Then there are a lot of place around the motherboard area to route and stash the cables anyway. Not my use case so can't be asked.



I would disagree. Setting the fan as intake has been proven to be the optimal orientation, surely the BR with the design goal of being the best air cooler for the A4, having the fan in the inferior orientation could not have been the design choice here.


@dondan himself designed the cooler so he can share his thinking. But I suspect there was a disconnect once the design is handed over to Alpenfohn.

I would say it looks nice, does not work.
I was thinking about this cooler but water cooling is just superior and I am happy to have 40-50C on idle,
also, with AIO you stick can squeeze 92mm fan over motherboard.

.

 

[thelaughingman]

a quick Google search for "Dan A4 645LT build" give you plenty of images to judge yourself. This one for example


I would say custom cables are not a must, but a comfort/luxury items. There's actually a lot of empty space underneath the PSU even with stock Corsair cables but I'm not that bothered to really tie them up. Then there are a lot of place around the motherboard area to route and stash the cables anyway. Not my use case so can't be asked.

"black ridge" design to work as exhaust.

.

I would disagree. Setting the fan as intake has been proven to be the optimal orientation, surely the BR with the design goal of being the best air cooler for the A4, having the fan in the inferior orientation could not have been the design choice here.


@dondan himself designed the cooler so he can share his thinking. But I suspect there was a disconnect once the design is handed over to Alpenfohn.

 

[rfarmer]

@Dawelio a M.2 NVMe is a SSD, take a look at the official name of the Samsung 970 Evo Plus "SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2 2280 1TB PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3 V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V7S1T0B/AM."

 

[Dawelio]

@Dawelio a M.2 NVMe is a SSD, take a look at the official name of the Samsung 970 Evo Plus "SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2 2280 1TB PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3 V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V7S1T0B/AM."

Fine, it says in the name ”SSD” yes. But I’m not referring to an SSD as in the traditional sense. Due to them both being physically different and hence not really being the same thing in this aspect.

"black ridge" design to work as exhaust.

Why would you even run it as an exhaust? That defeats the whole purpose of an ”down blowing CPU cooler”, which the Black Ridge certainly is. Exactly the same idea as the low profile Noctua cooler.

Anyway, I’m done with this conversation. Since clearly this is a waste of time.