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DAN A4-SFX v4.1

Dawelio

Awesomeness
SFFn Staff
Dec 17, 2017
524
440
I've given my AM4 board with everything on it together with my dear SF600 Platinum (I'm not even see it available anymore) in a build with a 3.0 case and a 2060 Super that I snatched from the used market to a close relative for Christmas. It turned out so nice, I was having second thoughts.





Even though my build is in a Velka 3, I was not able to part with my black 4.1 case, so now there's two A4's in the family. I will defeinitely use it again should I want to use a full-sized card in the future.
And it's great to see that dual slot gpu's are still made in the form of the 4070's. I hope that Gigabyte will have a 3-fanned Windforce rev.2 and rev.3 later that will be dual slot. Their first 3060Ti was too thick, but made their rev.2 and 3 with 41mm thinness, so let's hope the same will happen with their 4070's too.
What's exactly the difference between rev 2 and rev 3 then?... I have an Gigabyte 2080 Windforce III as well, albeit I'm staying away from Gigabyte due to their notoriously bad warranty support.
 

nightshift

Airflow Optimizer
Jul 23, 2020
295
197
What's exactly the difference between rev 2 and rev 3 then?... I have an Gigabyte 2080 Windforce III as well, albeit I'm staying away from Gigabyte due to their notoriously bad warranty support.
This is a used gpu, it had like 6 months of warranty left with a local shop - although it's in perfect condition. I even took the A4 with me upon sealing the deal for a test fit, general inspection. We even played 10 min of Cyberpunk to see it work properly. This seemed ideal due to 3 silent fans and cool operating temps and an actual backplate made of metal. Gigabyte is the only manufacturer I had experience so far, my ITX gpu is from them as well and my experience is very positive. Never had to use the warranty for either (yet the ITX gpu was loud - I switched the fan to an NF-A9x14).

The following RTX 4070 will fit:

Palit RTX 4070 dual
Gainward RRX 4070 Ghost
MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 2X
Nvidia RTX 4070 FE
Inno3D RTX 4070 Twin X2
Zotac RTX 4070 Twin Edge

Now there's an X3 (three fanned version) if the Inno3D 4070 and it's perhaps the only card in a dual slot form that has 3 fans and fit in the A4-SFX making it a very enticing option.. It's like their 4070Ti, but instead of the 285w tdp of that, this is a 4070 with 200w for all that cooling:)
 
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Mitohondri

Caliper Novice
Dec 14, 2021
30
26
@dondan man, you now have 4 new concept cases, each better then the other so much, that I cant decided which one I would love to get on the market first


You need to hire bunch of people to speed that and pump them all out, like right now, I want them all 😀
 
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nightshift

Airflow Optimizer
Jul 23, 2020
295
197
What's exactly the difference between rev 2 and rev 3 then?... I have an Gigabyte 2080 Windforce III as well, albeit I'm staying away from Gigabyte due to their notoriously bad warranty support.
Oh forgot to answer this: the difference is that rev.2 has a singhle 8 pin, while rev.3 needs two 8pin pcie connectors (so more cables) but it als ohas an additional heatpipe, so probably somewhat better cooling. But both are dual slot unlike rev.1.



As for the redesign of the A4, the frontal jack is welcome but it should stick with 2.25 gpu thickness - maybe 2.5 at maximum. 3 slot cards don't run comfortable in such small cases, it's best to just stick with what's supposed to be used within this size and also forget aio's. This is the A4 case. The H2O is 11L, there's no point in
making the same case just for -2L. Also there's the FormD T1, Iqunix ZX-1, Ghost S1, Evolve Shift XT, Lian Li Q58... While there's only one 7L case that has case fans as well.

I know where the 3 slot comes from, since you plan 120mm fans on top due to the aio idea, that makes the case wide enough to have 3 slot cards.
But how about actually keeping the original width, but reducing the cooler headroom to 38mm? There's really no performance difference of 37 or 47mm coolers when they both reach the side panels, might as well do that. Could run on an X36 or L9a - perfect for 65-80w cpu's. Then that extra 10mm would contribute to extra 10mm over the gpu side. With two STRICTLY 92mm slim fans on top for a little airflow and that's it.
EDIT: I realized this probably won't work as the SFX psu thickness grants the 48mm... Still, no need for AIO's, only just slim case fans is enough and the case can be 8L-ish.

AIO cases are way too many already, while this one would be without equal and actually what most people want yet don't have ANY options (only with dual slot). You could reap everybody with a Velka 5-7 and Dan A4-SFX. Gaming cpu's are best at 65w and the A4 was always a gaming case that understood that. Quality psu, gaming cpu and an actual regular-sized gpu. That's what it was all about. Now 8 years later when 65w cpu's are more efficient but 2.25-2.5 slots are a thing, it adapted to new conditions with better space optimization regarding headroom for components.
 
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Dawelio

Awesomeness
SFFn Staff
Dec 17, 2017
524
440
Yes and like 1000 other things in this world...

Btw Fractal just jumped on this older trend:


Even i had this on my wall long before the North:


It's so ridiculous how some people will say that "X looks a lot like X". Well... everything looks like something. It looks like it, sure, but it's also different in other ways. Except for it being vertical lines, it looks very different imo.

Wow, okay, not sure why everyone got so jumpy over my post for simply stating that I think some part of it resemblances another cases part...
 
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Kaji

Average Stuffer
SFFn Staff
Jun 1, 2020
82
136
Wow, okay, not sure why everyone got so jumpy over my post for simply stating that I think some part of it resemblances another cases part...
A valid response to a relatively unconstructive comment perhaps.

There are only so many styles a square box can have, I am all for incorporating ideas that are proven to work well.

Wonder if there could be a version without the headphone jack, or instead, with an SD card slot. Not sure what the vote would be on the latter but it's something we've missed out on a few times on here.
Hanging out to see these in the flesh, keep up the good work @dondan
 

wertzius

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Sep 13, 2022
102
70
@nightshift DAN hinted that you can choose between 2-3slot GPU or more headroom for CPU coolers - so i guess he uses a system similar to the FormD T1. So you can stay with 2 slot GPUs but could use a 55mm-67mm cooler.
 

nightshift

Airflow Optimizer
Jul 23, 2020
295
197
@nightshift DAN hinted that you can choose between 2-3slot GPU or more headroom for CPU coolers - so i guess he uses a system similar to the FormD T1. So you can stay with 2 slot GPUs but could use a 55mm-67mm cooler.
Loosing AIO is the most important, case thinness is very much preferred and to reduce cpu cooler height to the minimum - at least in my opinion. Not in general, just when it comes to this particular case. 67mm cooler clearance is a bit wasteful to me, then again, new gen cpu's, neither Intel and Amd is famous for running cool, so maybe that's going to be helpful in the future for anyone wanting to have i7's or 5800's in an A4-SFX case for some reason...
 

rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,669
2,793
67mm gives you both the option of the NH-L12 GE and the BS3 which honestly are about the best coolers you can get at that height.
 

Arboreal

King of Cable Management
Silver Supporter
Oct 11, 2015
819
814
A lot of comments on R/SFFPC about this concept, including at least one misguided suggestion that it should use a Flex ATX PSU...really?
Flex is fine for the nano, but unquestionably the kit in a bigger A4 needs SFX power.