DAN C4-SFX

[AlexTSG]

Here are some colour mix:

Haha, love the Noctua version! I think you nailed the right shade of pink too, it has to match the Razer Kraken Quartz gaming headphones.

Even if this finish and various colour options aren't available in the final product it would be nice to see a finish that's more paint friendly for those who want to do a custom paint job, or a wrap. Hopefully, this would also result in this version being less expensive to produce.

EDIT: Just showed it to my girlfriend and she wants one now, with the white top. I'm thinking there's going to be a custom paint job in my future. @Arboreal mentioning car respraying makes me think that might be something to investigate. It's unlikely to get moved around much, but I'd still like something that won't scratch or chip too easily.

 

[Arboreal]

I would be wary of paint finishes on aluminium myself.
I bought my M1 used with 2 previous owners.
A couple of the panels have noticeable marks and scratches; they are not a problem, especially as I (used to...) take it to LAN night regularly.
The frame had a lot of scratches and missing paint, which didn't look good at all. I have a client who sprays cars, so he repainted the frame and inner accessories in a VW metallic graphite colour while he was set up to paint a van panel.
It was clearcoated, and looks really good, not that you can see much of it other than the rear face. It does go well with the silver panels,, although a lighter grey would have been better in hindsight.
Great work @Burnin, an eye catching array of colours. Coffee 'n' Cream looks pretty good for the followers of the original Noctua Way

 

[VegetableStu]

ooh nightshade and orange o_o

 

[thelaughingman]

Yeah ! My thought exactly.
Giving that some people have been pointing that the case was some sort of a mix between the Ghost S1 and the Ncase M1 (which to me is a good thing when looking at the quality of these products), why not give yours something more ? Something that other brands doesn't offer ?

Although I would understand that the extra steps and risks coming with the process and logistics could be a pain.

Here are some colour mix:

Noctua version is lit! This is the way. I have spoken.

 

[E T]

Some customers in a Germany forum does not like the vent hole design on the backside. What do you think?

VS

Hi Dan... one of the backer of the original Dan A4 SFX v1 when it was launched in Kickstarter. I don't mind paying a premium for it and it was indeed one of the smallest mini ITX i have ever built and the quality is superb. I still have it with me for my mini theater/4k gaming setup siting side by side with my Xbox One X & PS4. When the time comes for the release for the much awaited C4 (ideal premium workstation unit), I think I needed to join this forum to provide feedback on the design as I would most likely be inline to buy it when it is released :-)

1) Classic layout - 2.5 slots design is really forward thinking seeing how much after market (non-founder edition) RTX cards are based on that dimension

2) Sandwich layout - 3 slots design is god-send especially for those after market 2.75 slots card ie. Gigabyte Aorus Geforce RTX 2080 Ti Xtreme card. I modified my current ITX case to allow this giant to sit inside my 2 slots GPU bay. My personal opinion is to provide at least the 2nd GPU slot cover as some card manufacturer ie. Gigabyte tends to lay all display ports in 1st slot and all HDMI 2.0 at the 2nd slot. Without access to 2nd slot, you are limiting your audience to 1st slot access. Hopefully you can find a better way for structural integrity while giving full compatibility to your C4 users in terms of GPU layout for both. Go to https://www.gigabyte.com/my/Graphics-Card/GV-N208TAORUS-X-11GC and you will see what I meant by the GPU slots arrangement for Video Output ports.

3) Vent holes design - I'm impartial to both design as I don't really like either one. Have you thought of other shapes ie. hexagon instead of small square.

4) Top hole vent - On paper, the long rectangular design looks unique but on skin (your prototype sample), it looks weird. Perhaps your original round dot design looks more uniform. The long rectangular design looks kind of out of place vs your side panel (which is round circular hole).

Apologies if I sounded

 

[Burnin]

EDIT: Just showed it to my girlfriend and she wants one now, with the white top. I'm thinking there's going to be a custom paint job in my future. @Arboreal mentioning car respraying makes me think that might be something to investigate. It's unlikely to get moved around much, but I'd still like something that won't scratch or chip too easily.

Haha that is the colour match I had in mind when I launched the render. It's actually a RAL standard (except for the Noctua'ich colours). I can provide you the references if you want.

I would be wary of paint finishes on aluminium myself.
I bought my M1 used with 2 previous owners.
A couple of the panels have noticeable marks and scratches; they are not a problem, especially as I (used to...) take it to LAN night regularly.
The frame had a lot of scratches and missing paint, which didn't look good at all. I have a client who sprays cars, so he repainted the frame and inner accessories in a VW metallic graphite colour while he was set up to paint a van panel.
It was clearcoated, and looks really good, not that you can see much of it other than the rear face. It does go well with the silver panels,, although a lighter grey would have been better in hindsight.
Great work @Burnin, an eye catching array of colours. Coffee 'n' Cream looks pretty good for the followers of the original Noctua Way

Thank you ! Some sort of powdercoating have an industrial look and resist well to scratches but I can't remember what type it was. I'll try and look for it.

Noctua version is lit! This is the way. I have spoken.

I knew the Noctua version would have success haha

 

[Burnin]

Last version of the day with some Era ITX vibes

 

[dondan]

@Arboreal: You are right normal painting does not work very well on aluminum. The connection between the metal and the paint is not as strong as with steel.
I got some color examples from Lian Li how it does look with metallic car painting. The quality is very good but I do not like the look of the glossy look of the clear coat on an electronic device. So, I think I will stay with a mix of anodizing and powder coating (top panel). I am unsure if I should use brushed or glass blasted parts, because my manufacturer showed me a picture of a blasted sample that looks very good.

@Burnin: Thank you for your input but I am not a fan of the chosen colors. Furthermore, every color aside from Black & Silver will create noticeable extra costs. I think Silver version with black top panel is set in stone but i am unsure if i should use black or a dark gray for the second version.

 

[AlexTSG]

Even if the case is only available in a silver and black/gray colour scheme, I think there’s probably a market for optional coloured top panels (in the same way that people may pay extra for a tempered glass side panel).

If the extra cost doesn’t seem worth it, then perhaps you could make a file/template available for the panels to allow people to cut an accurate vinyl wrap for their C4.

 

[Burnin]

@Burnin: Thank you for your input but I am not a fan of the chosen colors. Furthermore, every color aside from Black & Silver will create noticeable extra costs. I think Silver version with black top panel is set in stone but i am unsure if i should use black or a dark gray for the second version.

Yeah that's no surprise for the extra cost.
The silver and black version is the best looking one anyway. Dark gray is a nice colour and is less of "fingerprint magnet" compared to a black version.
If you want to try out some material / color combination I'd be happy to help out !

@Arboreal: You are right normal painting does not work very well on aluminum. The connection between the metal and the paint is not as strong as with steel.
I got some color examples from Lian Li how it does look with metallic car painting. The quality is very good but I do not like the look of the glossy look of the clear coat on an electronic device. So, I think I will stay with a mix of anodizing and powder coating (top panel). I am unsure if I should use brushed or glass blasted parts, because my manufacturer showed me a picture of a blasted sample that looks very good.

I'd be curious to see a glass blasted version because it feels like 90% of "premium" computer cases out there are brushed alu, which might sounds weird but (to me) made the brushed aluminum loose its premium feel and look.

 

[Arboreal]

Yeah that's no surprise for the extra cost.
The silver and black version is the best looking one anyway. Dark gray is a nice colour and is less of "fingerprint magnet" compared to a black version.
If you want to try out some material / color combination I'd be happy to help out !


I'd be curious to see a glass blasted version because it feels like 90% of "premium" computer cases out there are brushed alu, which might sounds weird but (to me) made the brushed aluminum loose its premium feel and look.

I'm with you on both counts, @Burnin
Silver with black top looks great, a light graphite gray would look good too IMHO.
I'm up for glass blasted too, and would pay a premium for it. Dan said some time ago that LL charged a hefty amount extra for that over brushed.

 

[Jetpack_Maniac]

What's the max dimensions on a GPU that will fit in this? I'm mainly looking at if GPU waterblocks will be able to fit inside the case with the portion that sticks off for fittings.

 

[Arboreal]

What's the max dimensions on a GPU that will fit in this? I'm mainly looking at if GPU waterblocks will be able to fit inside the case with the portion that sticks off for fittings.

The OP in this thread says the following:

"For the traditional layout you can install 2.75 slot GPUs with a length up to 300mm. Two 120mm fan mount points at the bottom of the case allows for indirect GPU cooling if you remove the preinstalled GPU fans." 2 slots

"With the sandwich layout the focus is shifted to GPU cooling. GPUs up to 3 Slot and a length of 300mm can be installed in the PCB based riser. A 240mm radiator with slim fans installed at the bottom of the case takes care of the CPU." IO available in 1 slot only

HTH

 

[AlexTSG]

What's the max dimensions on a GPU that will fit in this? I'm mainly looking at if GPU waterblocks will be able to fit inside the case with the portion that sticks off for fittings.

The sandwich layout is likely to be able to accommodate most cards with watercooling as this orientation allows for both 3 slot cards, and has the most extra space available above the card, which would allow for your connectors and tubing. Do note that in sandwich layout you would only have access to the IO on the first slot at the rear of the card though, so it's worth checking for a model where that wouldn't be an issue.

 

[dondan]

@Jetpack_Maniac: Here is a list of water blocks that will fit in classic layout. In sandwich layout every water block will fit:

Classic Layout:

• Watercool Heatkiller IV (classic Waterblock)
• XSPC Razor Neo (classic Waterblock) ! only with Koolance NZL-LXG2 fitting
• Alphacool NexXxoS GPX (classic Waterblock with integrated pump)
• Alphacool Eisblock ES Acetal (special block)
• EK-Quantum Vector Direct RTX RE (special block)

Sandwich Layout:

• every water block will fit

@All: On Friday I will get new pictures and you will get a new update.

 

[teajanky]

I much prefer blasted over brushed. It looks more premium to me. I love black but a dark Grey with black top might be the way to go. That would keep the two tone design language and would be dark enough to fit with an all black setup, I think. @Burnin Do you want to to a mock up with blasted anthracite and painted black top?

 

[Burnin]

​

I much prefer blasted over brushed. It looks more premium to me. I love black but a dark Grey with black top might be the way to go. That would keep the two tone design language and would be dark enough to fit with an all black setup, I think. @Burnin Do you want to to a mock up with blasted anthracite and painted black top?

Here you go (RAL 9005 for the top panel):

RAL 7011​	RAL 7015​	RAL 7016​
RAL 7021​	RAL 7024​	RAL 7043​

Understand that I did not use the exact same material and according to the environnement used the color tone might change a lot.

 

[Burnin]

Edit (sorry for the upload bug)

RAL 7011​

RAL 7015​

RAL 7024​

 

[teajanky]

I have to say, I like it a lot. Thanks for the effort @Burnin
@dondan do you think the dark grey / black top could work?

 

[Woxys]

@warspitebattleship Yes I know these feets I used them on the first revision of the A4-SFX. But on later revision I switched to rubber ones because the aluminum ones had zero grip. So the case will slide over the desk while press the power button.

You promised upgrade kits or alternatives for those feet, I have the v1 and asked about them many times on [H] forum but got no answer from you till this day.
I support the decision of non-slippery feet for any future case you wish to make.