Enclosure Dan A4 SFX

[Dawelio]

Heya guys,

So I have a few questions that I want to ask this community regarding this specific case:

1. Will a Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 chromax.black be enough to cool a Ryzen 7 3700X at stock speeds?

2. Would a Noctua NF-A9 PWM chromax be better than the slim 92mm that comes with the cooler? Does it fit with the side panel on?
Would I need other screws for that fan in this case? And what kind of screws would those be?

3. Will/does a slim 120mm Noctua NF-A12x15 actually make a difference under the motherboard in this case?

4. Is the PCI-E riser cable in the 4.1 black or not? As according to my retailer it is black, as this is the picture shown on the item page:

Thanks everyone,
Dawelio

 

[Frenzy]

Hiya. DAN A4 + 3700x and NH-L9a user here.

1. Depends. Normally 65W TDP on paper by AMD means that's relative cool. But actual is around 90W on load. I just wrote some of my experiences in another thread, ill copy paste it:
I'm using a 3700x with the NH-L9a inside DAN A4 case. I can't speak much about the difference to 3600. The L9a is definitely taxed. What disappointed me the most was the idle power requirement behavior, which makes the core temp fluctuate constantly +/- 5 degrees, even with a delay my fan used to ramp up and down constantly. With slight undervolt and fan duct, this is solved now. I had to re-apply thermal paste several times, turned out i wasn't using enough. For gaming (say RDR2, PUBG), remember CPU in the ~75 region. Cinebench r20 would quickly go to 92 and on to thermal throttle. The games are not as taxing for the cpu like cinebench is. Cinebench would be 100% on all 16 threads obviously. Gaming say on average 30% on 12 threads and 15% on remaining 4.

2. NF-A9 is 25mm thick, does'nt fit. It would be better ofcourse. When you buy the NH-L9a you get screws for 25mm fan included additionally (apart from the preinstalled low-profile fan). You do know there is a normal and chromax verion of the NH-L9a, you dont need to buy chromax slim cooler separately. I didnt think the additional cost warranted it, i'm ok with the Noctua colors.

3. What motherboard are you using? In any case, i was checking to install a 120mm with adapter vs fan duct. I went with the fan duct, and got good results. I had read some ppl installing 120mm with only minimal difference.
I installed 9mm fan shroud:

92mm Fan Shroud - 9mm H - For DANCASE by theHACK

Available for sale at the official J-Hack storefront: https://j-hackcompany.com/ Simple fan shroud for use with 92mm fan and sized for Dan A4-SFXUse 9mm size for NH-L9Use 5mm size for LP53 + Fan AdapterThese designs may be scaled height wise to fit as needed.

www.thingiverse.com

Adapter 90 --> 120 is this one:

Noctua NH-L9 120mm Fan Adapter by theHACK

Official J-Hack Storefront at https://j-hackcompany.comAllows you to install 120mm fan with your NH-L9i/a heatsink. Adds 6mm height. Requires 4x M3x4mm screws, and 2x M3x20mm screws to install slim fan.

www.thingiverse.com

To note you need to adjust the screws for either the shroud or adapter. I cut the spare 25mm screws to around 16mm.

4. I believe its the 3rd PCIE iteration in the Dan series. I have DAN A4 from November Rev 4? It's black, like the picture.

As side note. Was seriously considering to go for Asetek AIO 645 but the fan duct really helped getting the idle noise down. During gaming i'm not too bothered with my headset on. At first i was also regeretting now going for the alpenfohn. But now i'm happy with the L9a. The AIO would be taking the place where i have now a 4TB 2.5" drive. And it's crammed enough as it is underneath the PSU.

Hope it helps Happy building

 

[Frenzy]

I can't edit my post anymore. Checked my CPU temps while gaming. After ~20 minutes, RDR2 60 to 65, PUBG 65 to 70. (GPU 1080, 1440p)

 

[tripmaster]

Hiya. DAN A4 + 3700x and NH-L9a user here.

1. Depends. Normally 65W TDP on paper by AMD means that's relative cool. But actual is around 90W on load. I just wrote some of my experiences in another thread, ill copy paste it:
I'm using a 3700x with the NH-L9a inside DAN A4 case. I can't speak much about the difference to 3600. The L9a is definitely taxed. What disappointed me the most was the idle power requirement behavior, which makes the core temp fluctuate constantly +/- 5 degrees, even with a delay my fan used to ramp up and down constantly. With slight undervolt and fan duct, this is solved now. I had to re-apply thermal paste several times, turned out i wasn't using enough. For gaming (say RDR2, PUBG), remember CPU in the ~75 region. Cinebench r20 would quickly go to 92 and on to thermal throttle. The games are not as taxing for the cpu like cinebench is. Cinebench would be 100% on all 16 threads obviously. Gaming say on average 30% on 12 threads and 15% on remaining 4.

2. NF-A9 is 25mm thick, does'nt fit. It would be better ofcourse. When you buy the NH-L9a you get screws for 25mm fan included additionally (apart from the preinstalled low-profile fan). You do know there is a normal and chromax verion of the NH-L9a, you dont need to buy chromax slim cooler separately. I didnt think the additional cost warranted it, i'm ok with the Noctua colors.

3. What motherboard are you using? In any case, i was checking to install a 120mm with adapter vs fan duct. I went with the fan duct, and got good results. I had read some ppl installing 120mm with only minimal difference.
I installed 9mm fan shroud:

92mm Fan Shroud - 9mm H - For DANCASE by theHACK

Available for sale at the official J-Hack storefront: https://j-hackcompany.com/ Simple fan shroud for use with 92mm fan and sized for Dan A4-SFXUse 9mm size for NH-L9Use 5mm size for LP53 + Fan AdapterThese designs may be scaled height wise to fit as needed.

www.thingiverse.com

Adapter 90 --> 120 is this one:

Noctua NH-L9 120mm Fan Adapter by theHACK

Official J-Hack Storefront at https://j-hackcompany.comAllows you to install 120mm fan with your NH-L9i/a heatsink. Adds 6mm height. Requires 4x M3x4mm screws, and 2x M3x20mm screws to install slim fan.

www.thingiverse.com

To note you need to adjust the screws for either the shroud or adapter. I cut the spare 25mm screws to around 16mm.

4. I believe its the 3rd PCIE iteration in the Dan series. I have DAN A4 from November Rev 4? It's black, like the picture.

As side note. Was seriously considering to go for Asetek AIO 645 but the fan duct really helped getting the idle noise down. During gaming i'm not too bothered with my headset on. At first i was also regeretting now going for the alpenfohn. But now i'm happy with the L9a. The AIO would be taking the place where i have now a 4TB 2.5" drive. And it's crammed enough as it is underneath the PSU.

Hope it helps Happy building

What temp changes did you see post shroud?