DAN A4-SFX v4.1

M

motherofass

Caliper Novice
Oct 19, 2019
22
9
Been using this case for around 8 months now and wanted to share some thoughts on what works or doesn't.

AMD Ryzen 3700X @ 3.6ghz (turbo off)
Noctua L9a + Noctua case fan (intake)
Gently used MSI GTX 960
Gigabyte Aorus X570
Corsair LPX 32GB @ 3200mhz
1x Corsair Force NVME 1TB
1x WD Blue 2TB
2x Seagate 5TB
Corsair SF450

Total weight:
Pretty dense at 4.9kg (10.8lb), but good enough to carry on if you travel and not bad for the size to performance ratio. For reference the fat PS3 and upcoming PS5 are around 11 lb.

Temps:
Firstly, turning off turbo on the 3700X dramatically improves temps, at least on air. It's a 10% performance loss but I can live with it. Idles at mid-high 40's on a hot summer day with fans cranked but not overly loud. High 50's or 60's under a good CPU load (running RPCS3). Similar temps during winter but fans are virtually silent. Your HDD can be the only audible thing in this build while still maintaining good temps. GPU idles around 50C max, fans never have to spin up unless gaming.

I don't recommend using the case fan as exhaust. I also don't recommend putting NVME in the back slot of the motherboard, as it often reached 70C under load and would idle at 60C. Don't think shroud makes a big difference but I just used cardboard wrapped in electrical tape. A proper one may give better results.

Cable management:
Don't try squeezing 3 hard drives into this thing unless you absolutely need the local storage. I was barely able to close to the case on the first attempt but it is possible if you're patient. Otherwise everything works well enough.

General thoughts:
This is a great case for travel but not very fun to build in. I dread having to open it up and replace anything. For example if your case fan needs replacing you will need to take out everything except the drive bay to get to it. The drive bay itself is also frustrating to access, there's no window for back mounted m.2, etc. I hope future revisions are toolless or at make it easier to swap components, then it'd be perfect. It's nice having something this portable also be capable.

Couple pics below.



 
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Reactions: conmanique and thelaughingman
Dawelio

Dawelio

Awesomeness
SFFn Staff
Dec 17, 2017
524
440
motherofass said:
Been using this case for around 8 months now and wanted to share some thoughts on what works or doesn't.

AMD Ryzen 3700X @ 3.6ghz (turbo off)
Noctua L9a + Noctua case fan (intake)
Gently used MSI GTX 960
Gigabyte Aorus X570
Corsair LPX 32GB @ 3200mhz
1x Corsair Force NVME 1TB
1x WD Blue 2TB
2x Seagate 5TB
Corsair SF450

Total weight:
Pretty dense at 4.9kg (10.8lb), but good enough to carry on if you travel and not bad for the size to performance ratio. For reference the fat PS3 and upcoming PS5 are around 11 lb.

Temps:
Firstly, turning off turbo on the 3700X dramatically improves temps, at least on air. It's a 10% performance loss but I can live with it. Idles at mid-high 40's on a hot summer day with fans cranked but not overly loud. High 50's or 60's under a good CPU load (running RPCS3). Similar temps during winter but fans are virtually silent. Your HDD can be the only audible thing in this build while still maintaining good temps. GPU idles around 50C max, fans never have to spin up unless gaming.

I don't recommend using the case fan as exhaust. I also don't recommend putting NVME in the back slot of the motherboard, as it often reached 70C under load and would idle at 60C. Don't think shroud makes a big difference but I just used cardboard wrapped in electrical tape. A proper one may give better results.

Cable management:
Don't try squeezing 3 hard drives into this thing unless you absolutely need the local storage. I was barely able to close to the case on the first attempt but it is possible if you're patient. Otherwise everything works well enough.

General thoughts:
This is a great case for travel but not very fun to build in. I dread having to open it up and replace anything. For example if your case fan needs replacing you will need to take out everything except the drive bay to get to it. The drive bay itself is also frustrating to access, there's no window for back mounted m.2, etc. I hope future revisions are toolless or at make it easier to swap components, then it'd be perfect. It's nice having something this portable also be capable.

Couple pics below.



Click to expand...

Nice build you got there!

Have you tried running your 3700X at 4GHz? I'm running mine at 4GHz @ 1.130V.

Another tip for you, those included PSU cables are short yes, but they are very wide. I'd recommend getting these custom cables, I purchased the 24 pin and dual 8 pin and 6 pin PCI-E cables. They are all perfect lengths for the A4 SFX and they are much easier to cable management. The amount of space that you free up/get from going with these cables are rather impressive.

www.pslatecustoms.com

DAN A4-SFX Cables

Custom length cables for the DAN Cases A4-SFX. These cables will also fit well in the Lian Li Q58 and Thorzone Mjolnir! Need help choosing the correct cables for your build? Click here! --
www.pslatecustoms.com www.pslatecustoms.com
 
nightshift

nightshift

Airflow Optimizer
Jul 23, 2020
294
197
Having a 3700x cooled by a L9a and keeping temps barely even reaching 70 celsius with the turbo off sounds really awesome.
I now searched after builds using a 120mm aio's in this case and seeing how efficient can the above low profile air cooler be made me wonder if using only a fan in the side bracket on it's own might help reduce temperature or improve airflow in any way, and if so, in what orientation for users with itx gpu's.

As for aio's, most radiators feature a thickness of 27mm - completely using up all space when combined with a NH-12x15 fan. However now I recently found out about a radiator which is only 20mm thin and I wonder if the therefore gained clearance of 8mm behind the psu would make any difference if used in a custom aio. Can anyone shed some light on this?
 
C

conmanique

Chassis Packer
Jun 18, 2020
16
8
I suspect it all comes down to the current level of services that Taiwan Post offers. I really hope PC Case Gear gets some units....
 
qaz

qaz

Chassis Packer
Feb 11, 2020
14
6
conmanique said:
I suspect it all comes down to the current level of services that Taiwan Post offers. I really hope PC Case Gear gets some units....
Click to expand...

figured there might of been another reason as ncases ship from Taiwan to aus still.

The price will be interesting at pccasegear.
 
  • Like
Reactions: conmanique
nightshift

nightshift

Airflow Optimizer
Jul 23, 2020
294
197
Too bad caseking itself doesn't get some sooner, only it's partners... Sep. 18 is still 1,5 months ahead, but maybe those new get Ryzens will be in sight by then.
 

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