DAN C4-SFX - old

[dondan]

"The only limit is your own imagination"

Introduction

DAN Cases is back and this is our next tribute to the SFF community.

I am proud to introduce you the C4-SFX. The name comes from the German envelope norm for A4 papers and the possibility to mount a SFX power supply inside. With this new product I like to address three disadvantages of the A4-SFX – limited cooling, limited front I/O ports, long production time and price tag. With the C4-SFX I like to expanse my product portfolio so it will be available next to the A4-SFX.

The result is a 9.85L SFF gaming case with the possibility to use with high-end standardized components while keep them cool and quiet.



How it works

The new design used a sandwich based hardware layout and offers space for full-size graphics cards, mITX motherboard and SFX power supply. Instead of mounting a flexible riser cable the new design comes with a hard riser. Therefore the graphics card will be above the motherboard.

To provide enough air for the CPU heatsink the case has two mount points for 120mm fan in the “bottom” area. In this area it is possible to mount a 240mm AIO. The fans sucking air from the inside and push hot airt out on the bottom side. Fresh air comes in through the topside. This creates a continuous airflow in the inside between the components.


The case allows for easy mounting of either SFX or SFX-L power supplies. The PSU is located in the front of the chassis. Depending on the size of the PSU, up to two 2.5” HDDs or SSDs can be mounted in the drive bay. This drive bay could potentially be mounted with rubber spacers to reduce vibration. A third drive can be mounted behind the front cover.

To increase the count of accessible front I/O ports, it features USB3.0 Type-C, USB3.0-Type-A, Line-Out and Microphone jacks.

Just Flip it

It is possible to flip the case 180°. Rotate the front, mount the case feets on the opposit side and flip the side cover. Now the fan area is on the top side. The allows for switching the front I/O from the right to left side.

Specification

Case Dimensions (H x W x D): 239,8 x 127,3 x 322,8mm, 9.85L
Overall Dimensions: 250 x 127,3 x 322,8mm (including case feets)
Weight: ??? Kg

Graphic cards support: Dual-Slot and 2.5 Slot GPU up to 295mm length
Motherboard support: Mini-ITX
Power Supply support: SFX, SFX-L
CPU Heatsink support: Up to 62mm height
Water cooling support: 240mm AIO
· radiator thickness 38mm with 2x 16mm thick fans
· radiator thickness 30mm with 2x 25mm thick fans
· radiator thickness 27mm with 2x 25m thick fans
· radiator thickness 22mm with 2x 25mm thick fans

Drives: 3 x 2.5" HDD/SSD

Front ports: 1 x USB 3.0 Type-A & 1x Type-C (internal 20pin plug), 1x Microphone, 1x Line-Out
Power button: Premium-grade button

Material: 1.5mm aluminum (outer parts), 1.5mm aluminum (inner parts)
Side panels: Easily clipp able with Lian Li Push Pin technology
Colors: Anodized sand blasted black or silver exterior, matte black painted interior

Risercard: Includes PCIe 16x hard riser

Price tag: 160-180€




Gallery

FAQ

Coming soon





Thank you for reading and your support. Please let me know what you are think!

MOD EDIT: Removed clickbait title

 

[loader963]

Looks pretty slick. Not my cup of tea but there has been a demand for sff water cooled cases. I'll give you credit dondan, you make slick products, with great communication, reliability, and solid launches. Btw how's the CPU cooler coming along?

 

[Lyne]

beautiful

 

[nxrUK]

Damn, I'm loving it already

 

[Ambushes]

Looks like it'd be amazing for a compact custom loop, that isn't constrained like the NCase.

Edit: Misinterpreted the pictures. No custom loops happening here. Looks like a great case nonetheless.

 

[odeniz]

I love design and price range, please do not exceed 160 euro.

 

[gunpalcyril]

Sigh. Guess I'm getting this as well, these designs are so good.

Im still looking for that ultimate small footprint itx case, like a dan a4 flipped on its smaller face side so its like a tower case like the phanteks shift, but with cable routing options for the back io too so its hidden. Another day perhaps.

 

[Necere]

Looks very nice @dondan, a slick little package for sure.

Looks like it'd be amazing for a compact custom loop, that isn't constrained like the NCase.

That's a strange thing to say, since there's clearly even less room in this for a pump and res, and only slim fans/rads can be used, as opposed to full thickness fans and at least somewhat thicker rads in the M1.

 

[Ambushes]

Looks very nice @dondan, a slick little package for sure.

That's a strange thing to say, since there's clearly even less room in this for a pump and res, and only slim fans/rads can be used, as opposed to full thickness fans and at least somewhat thicker rads in the M1.

Yeah you're right, for some reason I thought the GPU had it's own compartment

Although I haven't seen an Ncase M1 build with non-slim fans + rad in the conventional spot below GPU, would be interested to see one.

 

[Necere]

Although I haven't seen an Ncase M1 build with non-slim fans + rad in the conventional spot below GPU, would be interested to see one.

You haven't seen it because full thickness fans+rad won't fit on the bottom. I designed the M1 to support a rad on the side bracket only; the bottom wasn't meant for a rad, and comes with caveats if you attempt it (slim fans only, limited airflow, often the front I/O ports need to be removed). If built out as it was intended, it can support a decent water loop.

Anyway, this is off topic, let's talk about dondan's new case. I'm thinking it's going to be mainly only useful for AIO coolers, and in particular very slim AIOs. I think the only AIO that would work stock is the Silverstone TD02-Slim. Anything else is going to need slim fans to replace the stock full-thickness fans that most AIOs come with.

Is there any possibility of a custom loop? The one possibility I see is using a short GPU, and utilizing the space it would open up at the front of the case for a pump or pump/res combo. It looks pretty tight though. @dondan, how much space is there between the PSU and the right side panel? Also, how much space is there from the bottom of the chassis to the ground?

 

[Ambushes]

You haven't seen it because full thickness fans+rad won't fit on the bottom. I designed the M1 to support a rad on the side bracket only; the bottom wasn't meant for a rad, and comes with caveats if you attempt it (slim fans only, limited airflow, often the front I/O ports need to be removed). If built out as it was intended, it can support a decent water loop.

Anyway, this is off topic, let's talk about dondan's new case. I'm thinking it's going to be mainly only useful for AIO coolers, and in particular very slim AIOs. I think the only AIO that would work stock is the Silverstone TD02-Slim. Anything else is going to need slim fans to replace the stock full-thickness fans that most AIOs come with.

Is there any possibility of a custom loop? The one possibility I see is using a short GPU, and utilizing the space it would open up at the front of the case for a pump or pump/res combo. It looks pretty tight though. @dondan, how much space is there between the PSU and the right side panel? Also, how much space is there from the bottom of the chassis to the ground?

Well, it's not entirely irrelevant. I'm aware you can mount a rad on the side mount in an Ncase M1 but I'm sure you can imagine why that'd be inconvenient for a custom loop since there would be very little space between the mobo / PSU and the rad to make tubing runs. There was a nifty mod where someone modded the case and shifted mobo down so he could have a rad w/ full sized fans on top.

As for this case, main troubles for a custom loop would be the fact that the GPU is sitting right infront of the CPU, would make routing a loop w/ both CPU and GPU pretty difficult since the specs say you've got about 60mm clearance to work with tubing runs.

If you don't mind me asking, is there anything wrong with the layout of that mod (shift mobo down slightly to make room for top mounted radiators)? It seems like it would be comparable in performance for air cooling / AIOs but better for custom loops.

The mod in question can be seen here:

 

[Necere]

If you don't mind me asking, is there anything wrong with the layout of that mod (shift mobo down slightly to make room for top mounted radiators)?

There's are a lot of things that make it infeasible for a production case. I won't get into specifics - don't want to derail the thread - but I can speak more generally: basically, you can do things with a custom build that wouldn't make sense for a production case, because you don't have to worry about broad parts compatibility or adhering to standards. You can select every individual part such that it only takes up as much space as it absolutely needs to in a custom build.

For example, I can tell you that judging by the amount he lowered the motherboard (~40mm), the top rad/fans must be overlapping the top of the motherboard by a few millimeters, and impinging on its keepout zone in the process. That might not be a problem for that particular motherboard, but take something like the ASUS Maximus VIII Impact with its VRM daughterboard at the top and it's going to conflict. That's just one issue, but there are more like it.

It's tricky to design a case so it's both broadly compatible and highly flexible, and especially so with SFF. You have to find the right balance that will satisfy the majority of people, and that's not even taking into account trying to forecast future trends in hardware development (case in point: the proliferation of tall GPUs after the M1's release, and the angst that has resulted for a lot of users when they realize their brand new $600+ video card won't fit).

 

[dondan]

@Necere: There is 43mm free space in height.

You can use three different radiator thickness:

22mm thick 240mm radiator + 2x 120mm fan with a thickness between 12 and 20mm.
List of 22mm thick radiators: List

27mm thick 240mm radiator + 2x 120mm fan with a thickness between 12 and 15mm.
List of 27mm thick radiators: List

30mm thick 240mm radiator + 2x 120mm fan with a thickness of 12mm.
List of 30mm thick radiators: List

So you can select between 43 different AIO solutions.

The case is designed to suck air from inside the case and push the out of the bottom. The space between bottom side of the case and groundis 5mm. I know your test where you find out the a fan has to be 25mm from the bottom to suck enough air in. This principle is only valid for sucking in. For pushing out you need much less space between fan and ground.

 

[AleksandarK]

This is amaizing,

I think that you should allow a bit more room for the fans, in case someone wants to use a 30mm rad with new noctua slim fans which are 15mm.

I think this will be a real sucsess!

 

[3lfk1ng]

@dondan You've done it again! This is another amazing case to look forward to.

 

[dondan]

@AleksandarK: The Noctua fans has a thickness of 16,5mm. You have to add the rubber pads that are attached on the fan in the calculation.
I will think about this

 

[Nanook]

Very nice, but too limiting in terms of AIO radiator and fan space. Hopefully you can increase the 43mm space to 55mm.

 

[ondert]

wow! another great case again. Dan, you're really so professional in sff world.

 

[dondan]

@ALL: I add a new section in the first post (Just flip it)!

To make it clear, also bigger GPUs will fit:

@Nanook: Please let me know why 55 mm?

 

[wywywywy]

Hi Dondan, do you have very high resolution versions of these images available?

@Nanook: Please let me know why 55 mm?

I guess to fit most common rads (30mm) with common fans (25mm).