DAN A4-SFX v4.1

Scuph

Chassis Packer
Feb 14, 2019
17
1
Any word on temps for 3080 FE in Dan A4? Saw an H1 + 3080 review but I figured temps could be wildly different for A4 since the rear fan isn't covered and would have the PSU helping it exhaust.
 

joconnell

Average Stuffer
Jul 23, 2019
58
8
I'm very interested in this. I went with the a4 and asetek 645 with two noctua n9-a4's and a corsair sf 600. If I need to change cpu coolers and fans so be it, I like the size of the a4 and will ideally stick with that. Also waiting on a 3rd party card as I want to get a card with more memory.
 

Dawelio

Awesomeness
SFFn Staff
Dec 17, 2017
524
439
I'm very interested in this. I went with the a4 and asetek 645 with two noctua n9-a4's and a corsair sf 600. If I need to change cpu coolers and fans so be it, I like the size of the a4 and will ideally stick with that. Also waiting on a 3rd party card as I want to get a card with more memory.

Do keep in mind that due to the pump is higher than the radiator in the A4, that will cause damage to the AIO over long term and will significantly decrease it's life span unfortunately.

@dondan I've got the official dimensions for the EVGA XC3 Black (no backplate version) from EVGA

Dimensions: 285 x 111 x 44 mm (L x B x H)

Will it fit???
If you can't be bothered to check the official website as it has the dimensions covered, atleast take the minimal effort to scroll upwards as there's a compatibility list WITHIN this very page (177) containing your answer.

I gotta agree with @nightshift here, especially when knowing that dan doesn't reply all that much. This isn't due to him being rude, but simply cause he's so busy.
 

joconnell

Average Stuffer
Jul 23, 2019
58
8
Do keep in mind that due to the pump is higher than the radiator in the A4, that will cause damage to the AIO over long term and will significantly decrease it's life span unfortunately.

I'm totally okay with swapping it out for whatever passive cooler will fit too, I haven't had to push my system as far as I'd have thought with personal projects and I'm not bothered with overclocking to squeeze more out of the 3950x, if anything I'd be happier with a bit less performance for the sake of a quieter build!
 

Dawelio

Awesomeness
SFFn Staff
Dec 17, 2017
524
439
I'm totally okay with swapping it out for whatever passive cooler will fit too, I haven't had to push my system as far as I'd have thought with personal projects and I'm not bothered with overclocking to squeeze more out of the 3950x, if anything I'd be happier with a bit less performance for the sake of a quieter build!

That's not the issue, the issue is the orientation of the AIO in this particular case itself.

Watch this video from GamersNexus below, where they explain why this positioning of the AIO is bad for it:

 
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dondan

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
DAN Cases
Feb 23, 2015
1,977
8,378
@Dawelio

Sorry for being lazy and not realizing this post was here. My bad! Thought I had enabled email notifications ?

I'm one of his sources for information on why AIO orientation matters.
That being said, I think that there's a level of "drama" added to the content piece (and obviously the title) - but it's probably needed to drive clicks. That being said, there are of course merits to the claims made. Having the "wrong" orientation won't kill your AIO for any forseeable future unless it was constructed horribly and/or without sense of Quality & Control.
You are however likely to experience "gurgling" as I'm sure most SFF builders are aware of. It's not damaging (in any real or measurable way) unless you get to a point where evaporation through the tubes has allowed the pump to run completely dry (or maybe use a manufacturer that leaves 10% air in there - nearly choked on my coffee, there ?).

I would assume this mostly relates to the 645LT.
As I've mentioned on here a few times, it's fine to run it in its natural position in the Dan-Cases A4-SFX. Absolutely fine! You may experience the pump gurgling - because it's vertically above the radiator/hex. Now, there's a relatively easy (as if anything is easy in SFF, lol!) fix, which is flipping the rad 180 degrees, having tubes at the bottom of the case. This will allow air bubbles to stick in the rad/hex rather than the pump/block combo.

As always, happy to discuss further and/or get more in-depth :)
 

bahdom

Case Bender
New User
Sep 16, 2020
2
1
Noob here, should I prioritize getting the version with the backplate? I'm not sure what the benefit of it is and if's preferred or not in an A4.
 

SiKiaTriK

Cable-Tie Ninja
Mar 28, 2019
166
146
Noob here, should I prioritize getting the version with the backplate? I'm not sure what the benefit of it is and if's preferred or not in an A4.
Regardless of being 20 or 30 series or the teorical thermal benefits claimed by having one, certain backplate thickness interferes with routing the riser over the GPU side on a DanA4 (v4.0 in my case). For instance, I have a Gigabyte 2070GOC with backplate and it was not possible for me to route the riser cable behind that GPU. It didn't lay back enough to insert onto the pciE slot and get screwed properly. Luckily I could route it behind the MoBo side, but that's something you can't do with all motherboards, especially if you plan to use the rear M2 slot.
 
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Joche87

Chassis Packer
Mar 22, 2020
15
4
Whatever you do, DON'T go with selling your GPU only. 400 USD is laughable offer for a 2080 that is on par with the 3070 in performance. I mean that would translate to you selling something that's kinda like the 3070, but with tried and tested compatibility, possibly better thermals and lower power usage for 400 USD. Because of this, having a 2080 might be the better deal if it's cheaper than a 3070 FE in my opinion when you have a Dan-A4, because it's more compatible. Your 2080 is ALL GOOD. 120 fps in Warzone, you're good to go for years. And also if you're without a gpu you still can't use the computer, it's the same as selling it alltogether.

So either sell it completely or better yet, keep it (especially if you're fond of it) and just use it, that build is the current TOP tier for christ sakes. You're set! Just recently built your rig I presume, take time to enjoy it. Also, my main reason for anyone with a 2070 or 2080 to not upgrade is that you can't even justify the difference in perofmance with the current games. Warzone as you said, will run above 100 fps with both gen, so why buy anything now that will only matter much later? The games where you could acutally see what difference the ampere cards make are not here yet, they're yet to come, right now these gpu's don't matter and just degrade with time. The games when they will become relevant with will only arrive later and by then, maybe these 3000 cards will be cheaper.

So just lay back and let the consumer fanatics ahead, give it time for the amprere-craze to wear down and when the purple dust settled and the competition (big navi) arrived, we'll see how things are. Who knows, maybe we will find a more DAN-A4 friendly ampere card by then. OR: with a 2080 you can also skip the whole ampere line alltoghether and wait for the upcoming gen. I don't see the reason to upgrade gpu or cpu for just a single gen anyway. There's literally no point. So my vote: KEEP IT.

Thanks, this is what I need to hear. By the looks of it I will not be able to get a hold of any cards from EVGA anytime soon. Nobody seems to be importing this here yet for some reason. But after seeing the benchmark tests I still want it, when it will give me 47% increase in FPS performance on average. I think thats enough to justify selling and adding around 400 bucks. Although I will wait until one of you guys have bought it and tested it, so chillin with my 2080 for a few more months :)
 

NIGEL

Efficiency Noob
Sep 4, 2020
7
10
At the moment I have a Ryzen 5 3600 in it and the cooling is just a bunch of Noctua fans. I’m afraid it’s nothing fancy like water cooled etc!
FYI, at the mo it’s running a RX 5700XT.
 
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Nichronos

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jun 22, 2018
129
65
I managed to grab an EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 BLACK to shoehorn into my Dan Case A4.
Once / if it arrives I'll post some pics up to see what's what.

I did the same, hope it fits tho... the other XC3 variants that have a backplate definitely wont fit, they're gonna be 47 mm. in total. (44 mm. card + 3 mm. backplate)
The Fit list that @dondan have posted its not accurate tho :)
 
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scishock

Cable Smoosher
Sep 3, 2020
9
3
Most likely air cooling, seeing as they just launched today and I personally haven't heard of any waterblocks made for them yet. Not to mention any of the AIB cards.

Heh, sorry, I meant for his cpu. Wanted to know if the evga will fit with the asetek 645lt tubes in the way.
 
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L34FS

Efficiency Noob
May 5, 2019
5
0
I did the same, hope it fits tho... the other XC3 variants that have a backplate definitely wont fit, they're gonna be 47 mm. in total. (44 mm. card + 3 mm. backplate)
The Fit list that @dondan have posted its not accurate tho :)
According to this post by EVGA it's 45.1 mm with backplate (XC3 Ultra/XC3) and 40.9 mm without (XC3 Black) - that's a bit above both limits listed in specs.

What about the Zotac RTX 3070? The specification says it's 41.5 mm and on the images it appears to have a backplate (?). Is it going to fit?
From the back of the PCB to the MB-Tray you have 5mm. From the back of the PCB to the side panel you have 42mm.

So it should fit :)
I did the same, hope it fits tho... the other XC3 variants that have a backplate definitely wont fit, they're gonna be 47 mm. in total. (44 mm. card + 3 mm. backplate)
The Fit list that @dondan have posted its not accurate tho :)

@Nichronos you're info doesn't match what's stated by EVGA in the link above. It looks like all variants will fit - I'd hope that Dan knows his stuff :p