For real? 'Otherwise would not have got one'
Imagine you not buying them and genuine customers actually being able to.
This is why these ('non'?!) limted runs are super sucky. Clearly there is demand. Especially after years of c0ck teasing.
DAN C4-SFX
- Thread starter dondan
- Start date
Imagine you not buying them and genuine customers actually being able to.
This is why these ('non'?!) limted runs are super sucky. Clearly there is demand. Especially after years of c0ck teasing.
Imagine me buying them from a shop that does not even ship to Australia and reselling them to someone located in Australia, going through the shipping effort that the other shop was not willing to take.
Also, in the market where I bought mine (Germany), you can seemingly still get them at MSRP, so I don't actually feel like having stolen anything from anyone
Silver (in stock):
Black (estimated in 3 weeks):
Thank you for your feedback.
Proshop said sold out for the silver one some days ago and now it appeared back in stock - that's why I was thinking they manually re-added it.
Hi @dondan,
Sorry for the left field question, but I don't suppose you know if Lian Li does anything special with their anodizing?
I ordered a silver model from PCCG but due to their ordering mix up it seems I will be getting sent a black one. I'm just trying to investigate whether it's feasible to remove the colour without damaging the case. I'll likely try and find somewhere that can do it for me professionally, however I'm a little out of my depth on what I need to research.
I really appreciate any pointers you might have, thanks!
Sorry for the left field question, but I don't suppose you know if Lian Li does anything special with their anodizing?
I ordered a silver model from PCCG but due to their ordering mix up it seems I will be getting sent a black one. I'm just trying to investigate whether it's feasible to remove the colour without damaging the case. I'll likely try and find somewhere that can do it for me professionally, however I'm a little out of my depth on what I need to research.
I really appreciate any pointers you might have, thanks!
Hi Dan
I really like the look of the more angular design of the v2 and the foot makes it look pretty interesting but its hard to form a proper opinion until we've seen it in the flesh so to speak!
A few questions regarding the v2 if you don't mind.
I really like the look of the more angular design of the v2 and the foot makes it look pretty interesting but its hard to form a proper opinion until we've seen it in the flesh so to speak!
A few questions regarding the v2 if you don't mind.
- Will the front IO be the same on as the v1 with just a single usb C? A second one would be nice
- Any plans to support wider 280mm radiators on the side mount? 141mm is very restrictive on the v1 regarding radiator compatibility.
- Is there any concerned that the flat pack nature of the case could impact the rigidity and general quality feel of the case?
Mine arrived yesterday. The bead-blasted finish feels lovely. Here it is next to an Ncase M1 v5 (raised on hi-fi feet) for comparison:
Mod break:
I've removed the post violating our trade rules, (all trade must be conducted in the appropriate subforum), and deleted the discussion around that post and the user's intent.
I've removed the post violating our trade rules, (all trade must be conducted in the appropriate subforum), and deleted the discussion around that post and the user's intent.
With all due respect, I also think V1 looks way better than V2. Everyone is doing fine mesh nowadays, and I personally think it looks cheap and tacky. No thanks. I haven't really kept up with this thread in the past couple months, but I really hope US buyers have a chance to purchase a V1 from NewEgg before V2 drops.
Edit: OK I just read the past couple pages regarding no more V1 availability. This is extremely disappointing. I have no interest whatsoever in the V2 design...I, along with others, were waiting for Newegg to stock it. I only waited for Newegg because I'm in the US and I didn't need the case until later in the year (and I also would rather not be in the very 1st wave of a production run, to allow potential QC issues to be ironed out). I had no idea there would only be 1 production batch. And this news to be unveiled after stock is basically depleted everywhere. I've been following this thread since the beginning. To wait this long in anticipation for this case, only for production to be ceased out of the blue...just wow.
Dan, please reconsider doing another run of V1, there will be enough demand for it to exist along with V2, you can be sure of that.
Edit: OK I just read the past couple pages regarding no more V1 availability. This is extremely disappointing. I have no interest whatsoever in the V2 design...I, along with others, were waiting for Newegg to stock it. I only waited for Newegg because I'm in the US and I didn't need the case until later in the year (and I also would rather not be in the very 1st wave of a production run, to allow potential QC issues to be ironed out). I had no idea there would only be 1 production batch. And this news to be unveiled after stock is basically depleted everywhere. I've been following this thread since the beginning. To wait this long in anticipation for this case, only for production to be ceased out of the blue...just wow.
Dan, please reconsider doing another run of V1, there will be enough demand for it to exist along with V2, you can be sure of that.
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Correct. Unless Dan, who is supposed to be good at taking advice from the community, changes his mind.
Really disappointing to hear about the single v1 batch after having waited for so long. Obviously I'm going to get over this (and I'm not that upset), but allow me a post to vent my frustration and provide some constructive feedback based on what little I know of your situation/the facts. I have worked in mechanical engineering design for production for well over a decade, in multiple industries (defense, consumer electronics, automotive), and I can say this situation sounds like a failure in either sales forecasting or production management. What I can say for sure that this has been a failure of communication.
Clearer and proactive communication may have avoided a lot of the disappointment: how many units were planned in the batch, what the predicted sales rate was before production, what the actual sales rate was (and based on this, the estimated sell-out date). Obviously you're not obligated to share any of these details, but I don't see how it would hurt you to do so. Most importantly, it would have been nice to communicate the potential for only a single batch of v1 cases. At some point, you considered/decided to not produce any more batches but waited to tell customers/forum that if they had not purchased a case in the first 4 weeks of availability, that they are now no longer able to get one (at least outside of a 2nd-hand market). On top of this, you canceled your plan for a Q4 Newegg release after advertising it to your would-be US customers, who now have to purchase another case/brand if they want to build in 2023 and likely in 2024. All of this, for a v2 which you say isn't better than v1, just different?
From a business standpoint, this does not make a lot of sense. You are forgoing profit from additional batches on a completed v1 design, a design that is very popular (your biggest batch of cases ever, sold out in 4 weeks), and a design for which Lian Li already knows how to manufacture and assemble. Your comparison to Nvidia is not fitting, because sold out Nvidia GPUs is temporary and goes away once demand reaches equilibrium with supply (assuming Nvidia is not creating artificial scarcity). With the C4-SFX v1, there is no equilibrium because now your supply is zero and there is no additional batches. Instead of the v1 profits you could be making with additional batches, you are shifting focus to develop a v2 case that "does nothing better than the v1". There must be something that convinced you to immediately drop v1 and start v2. I suspect you are considering the greater sales/profit resulting from more color options, mATX support, and flat packing which will decrease distribution/shipping/cargo costs.
As a designer, you must know that a v2 is not without its own risks. You said the interior will be similar to v1, but designing for flat packing can quickly and significantly change that. The exterior design is quite different, different enough that its design comes with potentially large development risks, like unknown unknowns that will lead to delays. You have already experienced first-hand the difficulty and delays of v1, but now you believe a potentially very different v2 will release in 9 months? This is wishful thinking. In those same 9 months, competitors can release directly competing SFF cases.
What I don't understand is: why not partner with Lian Li to continue building the v1? Even if they take a portion of the profits, you would still profit from sales, and I bet there will probably be a lot of sales. They're aren't a lot of cases like the v1 currently, so until competing companies release competing cases, the C4-SFX has a large advantage. You could hand off all v1 effort to Lian Li so that you are free to develop v2 in parallel. Focus on design (your personal core strength and differentiator, and probably your passion) and outsource the planning, manufacturing, production, logistics, marketing, etc to someone else. In fact, and this is more of a personal option, it may be worth it to work for Lian Li as a design lead. Maybe they would hire you to be the head of their "Dan" line of cases. While working for them, you can observe how their other departments operate and use those learnings to one day build up your own production company with mass produced, wildly successful cases. Just a thought, and again, may make no sense because I have no idea about your situation.
Anyway, rant over. Good luck with the v2 development. I'll probably get a Q58 or SSUPD case in the meantime. Cheers.
Clearer and proactive communication may have avoided a lot of the disappointment: how many units were planned in the batch, what the predicted sales rate was before production, what the actual sales rate was (and based on this, the estimated sell-out date). Obviously you're not obligated to share any of these details, but I don't see how it would hurt you to do so. Most importantly, it would have been nice to communicate the potential for only a single batch of v1 cases. At some point, you considered/decided to not produce any more batches but waited to tell customers/forum that if they had not purchased a case in the first 4 weeks of availability, that they are now no longer able to get one (at least outside of a 2nd-hand market). On top of this, you canceled your plan for a Q4 Newegg release after advertising it to your would-be US customers, who now have to purchase another case/brand if they want to build in 2023 and likely in 2024. All of this, for a v2 which you say isn't better than v1, just different?
From a business standpoint, this does not make a lot of sense. You are forgoing profit from additional batches on a completed v1 design, a design that is very popular (your biggest batch of cases ever, sold out in 4 weeks), and a design for which Lian Li already knows how to manufacture and assemble. Your comparison to Nvidia is not fitting, because sold out Nvidia GPUs is temporary and goes away once demand reaches equilibrium with supply (assuming Nvidia is not creating artificial scarcity). With the C4-SFX v1, there is no equilibrium because now your supply is zero and there is no additional batches. Instead of the v1 profits you could be making with additional batches, you are shifting focus to develop a v2 case that "does nothing better than the v1". There must be something that convinced you to immediately drop v1 and start v2. I suspect you are considering the greater sales/profit resulting from more color options, mATX support, and flat packing which will decrease distribution/shipping/cargo costs.
As a designer, you must know that a v2 is not without its own risks. You said the interior will be similar to v1, but designing for flat packing can quickly and significantly change that. The exterior design is quite different, different enough that its design comes with potentially large development risks, like unknown unknowns that will lead to delays. You have already experienced first-hand the difficulty and delays of v1, but now you believe a potentially very different v2 will release in 9 months? This is wishful thinking. In those same 9 months, competitors can release directly competing SFF cases.
What I don't understand is: why not partner with Lian Li to continue building the v1? Even if they take a portion of the profits, you would still profit from sales, and I bet there will probably be a lot of sales. They're aren't a lot of cases like the v1 currently, so until competing companies release competing cases, the C4-SFX has a large advantage. You could hand off all v1 effort to Lian Li so that you are free to develop v2 in parallel. Focus on design (your personal core strength and differentiator, and probably your passion) and outsource the planning, manufacturing, production, logistics, marketing, etc to someone else. In fact, and this is more of a personal option, it may be worth it to work for Lian Li as a design lead. Maybe they would hire you to be the head of their "Dan" line of cases. While working for them, you can observe how their other departments operate and use those learnings to one day build up your own production company with mass produced, wildly successful cases. Just a thought, and again, may make no sense because I have no idea about your situation.
Anyway, rant over. Good luck with the v2 development. I'll probably get a Q58 or SSUPD case in the meantime. Cheers.
I'd find it quite interesting to know how many of us actually care for those 2 features. Might be a good time to raise a poll on that @dondan
I personally want the mATX (244x244mm support). Flat packing is very nice. I recently had that on my P-ATX case.
mATX would be welcome feature, much bigger pool of motherboards to buy from compare to itx.
Sub 15L mATX is epic, and something I'd welcome.
There are more boards to choose from and at more affordable prices.
The harder part is finding mATX with dual M.2 slots to minimise the cables in an undoubtedly tight case.
There are more boards to choose from and at more affordable prices.
The harder part is finding mATX with dual M.2 slots to minimise the cables in an undoubtedly tight case.
It's not that I would say no to mATX support. I don't particularly want it, but it doesn't hurt. I just have no interest in waiting around for two more years to buy just another mesh rectangle that never appealed to me in the first place.
