DAN A4-SFX v4.1

[kvn1351]

Seems like the reason for the EVGA delay is this..

EVGA's statement:
"During our mass production QC testing we discovered a full 6 POSCAPs solution cannot pass the real world applications testing. It took almost a week of R&D effort to find the cause and reduce the POSCAPs to 4 and add 20 MLCC caps prior to shipping production boards, this is why the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 series was delayed at launch. There were no 6 POSCAP production EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 boards shipped.

But, due to the time crunch, some of the reviewers were sent a pre-production version with 6 POSCAP’s, we are working with those reviewers directly to replace their boards with production versions. EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 series with 5 POSCAPs + 10 MLCC solution is matched with the XC3 spec without issues."
Source

While most of the other manufacturers built below the reference spec and cheapened out by using 6 POSCAPs instead. Thus, leading to all the game crashes people are seeing.

So, good news: the EVGA card that sort of fits is also a very good one spec-wise.
Bad news: More people will now buy EVGA because of the inevitable VBIOS updates other manufacturers will issue to throttle the cards due to bad component use.

Good move by EVGA

Here's a video about it:

Article:

EVGA Says Nvidia RTX 3080 Cap Issues Caused Crashes, Confirms Stability Issues

Capacitors seem to be a contributing factor to recent reports of crashes

www.tomshardware.com

 

[nightshift]

I've been using the dan v4.1 case for the last year, since released actually, I had first the 642 AIO then switched to black ridge.
I wanted to see if I'm the only one who wasn't impressed with the Asetek 642 ?
It wasn't dissipating the heat effectively
Motherboard temps were high, and the bottom of the case was scorching.
Black ridge took care of all these issues with more room for fans and easier setup and cheaper.
Both had them with noctua fans.

That's nice to hear. Then again, with the b550i boards featuring much better VRM might solve the heat issue of the mobo. I mean I consider air cooling to be a cleaner and overall superior solution than watercooling in the long run. The whole aio set do take up more space in the case, reduce the airflow inside and require more maintenance (still I will attempt to make a custom 120mm aio later - already having the main components). Between the Blackridge and the L9a + fan duct combo, I would prefer the latter but that is just personal taste I think it should provide at least the same performance and is just more aesthetically pleasing.
I will go for the 3700x and underclock it as much as necessary to get by, until I set up the aio and then will unleash it to realize it's full potential. One last question remains:


Since b550i motherboards feature compatibility with PCIe 4.0 M.2 ssd's which should one go with? I'm leaning towards Corsair's MP600, but it has a heatsink of it's own, and it would be a shame to remove the one from the motherboard because of it. What do you people use?

 

[Dawelio]

That's nice to hear. Then again, with the b550i boards featuring much better VRM might solve the heat issue of the mobo. I mean I consider air cooling to be a cleaner and overall superior solution than watercooling in the long run. The whole aio set do take up more space in the case, reduce the airflow inside and require more maintenance (still I will attempt to make a custom 120mm aio later - already having the main components). Between the Blackridge and the L9a + fan duct combo, I would prefer the latter but that is just personal taste I think it should provide at least the same performance and is just more aesthetically pleasing.
I will go for the 3700x and underclock it as much as necessary to get by, until I set up the aio and then will unleash it to realize it's full potential. One last question remains:


Since b550i motherboards feature compatibility with PCIe 4.0 M.2 ssd's which should one go with? I'm leaning towards Corsair's MP600, but it has a heatsink of it's own, and it would be a shame to remove the one from the motherboard because of it. What do you people use?

How big does it need to be for your personal preference? If 1TB is enough, then take a look at Samsung's new 980 Pro M.2 NVMe SSD. Faster than Corsair's MP600 and cheaper as well. Only downside is that it currently doesn't have an 2TB version, which Corsair does.

 

[thomaddox4]

That's nice to hear. Then again, with the b550i boards featuring much better VRM might solve the heat issue of the mobo. I mean I consider air cooling to be a cleaner and overall superior solution than watercooling in the long run. The whole aio set do take up more space in the case, reduce the airflow inside and require more maintenance (still I will attempt to make a custom 120mm aio later - already having the main components). Between the Blackridge and the L9a + fan duct combo, I would prefer the latter but that is just personal taste I think it should provide at least the same performance and is just more aesthetically pleasing.
I will go for the 3700x and underclock it as much as necessary to get by, until I set up the aio and then will unleash it to realize it's full potential. One last question remains:


Since b550i motherboards feature compatibility with PCIe 4.0 M.2 ssd's which should one go with? I'm leaning towards Corsair's MP600, but it has a heatsink of it's own, and it would be a shame to remove the one from the motherboard because of it. What do you people use?

What's your use case for this storage? The difference in speed won't be perceptible unless you're a serious power user, so you may want to just go with a standard m.2 NVME drive instead. Also, iirc b550i boards generally have one pcie 4.0 m.2 slot, and one standard nvme slot.

 

[Dawelio]

What's your use case for this storage? The difference in speed won't be perceptible unless you're a serious power user, so you may want to just go with a standard m.2 NVME drive instead. Also, iirc b550i boards generally have one pcie 4.0 m.2 slot, and one standard nvme slot.

Yup, top one (above the PCIe x16 slot) is 4.0 - straight to the CPU. Bottom one is 3.0 as that goes through the chipset. Only X570 has 4.0 on both slots.

 

[nightshift]

Thanks for the quick replies regarding the M.2. Acutally, I thought that I can install a 250GB ssd to the backside M.2 slot with the 3.0 that can function as a boot-drive, having only Windows10 and some other basic necessities. 3.0 is all I would need here. Planning to have these separated with rarely any writing or deleting later.
While the frontal 4.0 slot would hold everything else and would recieve constant readings and writings as this drive would be the place for downloads and where I would install and load games from, etc. I'm perfectly fine with a single TB here. Since the b550i features the 4.0 bandwidth, I hope to utilize it. Samsung 980 pro or even evo might be nice, still needs some time for it to be released though.

 

[DjentlemanZero]

looks like RTX3080FE thermals are not going to be great in the Dan A4


Will just have to try squashing an EVGA in there if I can ever get my hands on one!

 

[Tashi]

The power consumption when undervolted is such a massive improvement. A typical 2 slot cooler with undervolt would be within the thermal capabilities of the Dan A4. But all AIBs went 2+ slots

 

[unknownexception]

looks like RTX3080FE thermals are not going to be great in the Dan A4


Will just have to try squashing an EVGA in there if I can ever get my hands on one!

All XC3's work -- source: me

 

[ZTylerDurden]

I've had a V2 with an Asetek 645 92mm for years. I'm starting to think I'll have to switch to air cooling.

Besides noise which I don't mind, how would a black ridge handle an i7 8700k with sync all cores turbo no OC?

 

[thomaddox4]

Well, looks like I'll be going with the 3070 after all. I think the FE will look quite nice in the Dan A4, if I can somehow manage to get my hands on one. Should still be an excellent performer at 1440p.

 

[see4]

I've had a V2 with an Asetek 645 92mm for years. I'm starting to think I'll have to switch to air cooling.

Besides noise which I don't mind, how would a black ridge handle an i7 8700k with sync all cores turbo no OC?

I'm using black ridge with Noctua 120x15 fan, the noise from the Asetek was way higher, using Noctua 90x15 fan ran at full speed all the time.
And I have a very old build, i7 870 with OC to 3.5, so easily hitting 130w ( it is 95w CPU same as i7 8700k).

 

[snpwow]

Well, looks like I'll be going with the 3070 after all. I think the FE will look quite nice in the Dan A4, if I can somehow manage to get my hands on one. Should still be an excellent performer at 1440p.

3070 has the same cooling as the 3080. The difference is that both fans are on the same side. And the right fan still blows hot air inside the case.

 

[ZTylerDurden]

I'm using black ridge with Noctua 120x15 fan, the noise from the Asetek was way higher, using Noctua 90x15 fan ran at full speed all the time.
And I have a very old build, i7 870 with OC to 3.5, so easily hitting 130w ( it is 95w CPU same as i7 8700k).

This is good to know. I may need the space if I'm getting one of these new cards.

 

[SnakePlissken]

The Ghost S1 should perform much worse than the A4 with protective plastic removed and psu flipped so it exhausts the hot air coming from the card. Same goes for the T1 i guess which allows for the same setup as the A4

 

[thomaddox4]

3070 has the same cooling as the 3080. The difference is that both fans are on the same side. And the right fan still blows hot air inside the case.

I expect that with the much lower TDP and both fans blowing the same way, the 3070 FE will perform much better than the 3080 FE. Even if it doesn't, there's always the Zotac Twin Edge model.

 

[thomaddox4]

Will this 3070 fit okay? Seems to be a 2 slot, 3 fan standard design. May be the best option in terms of noise and thermals, over the FE and Zotac Twin Edge.

 

[Dawelio]

Will this 3070 fit okay? Seems to be a 2 slot, 3 fan standard design. May be the best option in terms of noise and thermals, over the FE and Zotac Twin Edge.

According to this picture from their website, it looks to be a normal 2 slot design, so I'd say yes:

 

[kvn1351]

Deshrouded EVGA XC3: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=MENRc3BjTjNvWXZBaXladkZIOV9LWVZZMVZfQmp3

 

[supremeMilo]

I fixed it!

Is there any extra noise/turbulence with the XC3 being as close to the side panel as it is in the Dan A4?