NEW DAN, please help!

thecaptain277

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Apr 14, 2020
14
1
Hello everybody,

I have some maybe "dumb" questions to ask, sorry in advance! :)

I'm looking to build a Dan Case A4.
I'm planning to use the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X with the Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 and the included Noctua thermal paste.
Do you think it will be fine with thermals temps even on heavy workloads?
Also does somebody know if I can use the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X with the Noctua NH-L12S and also the included Noctua thermal paste?
If not, you recommend any other Cpu Cooler also from Noctua?
I heard something that maybe Alpenfohn Black Ridge will cool this processor effectively.
At last what about OC GPUs? I should choose a non-OC GPU or there is no problem with total thermals?

My planned build this far...

CASE: DAN Case A4
CASE FANS: ??? (can I use combined with CPU cooler or I have to choose?)
MOBO: Gigabyte Aorus B450 I Pro WIFI
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
CPU COOLER: Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 or Noctua NH-L12S (depends on the processor)
THERMAL PASTE: Noctuas' included
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX
STORAGE: Samsung 970 Evo 250gb
GPU: NVIDIA ??
PSU: CORSAIR SF Series GOLD

Sorry for all these questions. Any help is really helpful.
 

thelaughingman

SFF Guru
Jul 14, 2018
1,413
1,566
hi, welcome fellow A4. You can see my build in the signature
  1. Noctua NH-L9a would cool the 3700X fine. Though you're pushing it with heavy workloads then better coolers would give you more headroom:
    • Alpenfohn Black Ridge - designed by DAN himself, best cooler possible for the A4
    • Thermalright AXP-90 full copper - similar temps to BR but worse noise
    • Cryorig C7 - lesser performance than BR and very very loud
  2. Noctua NH-L12S is 70mm in height so it won't fit the A4
  3. GPU depends on whether it's open air or blower style. With open-air card you can add case fan at the bottom to push air out of the case and temps should be fine
 
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Gerold

Cable-Tie Ninja
Mar 19, 2020
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The BR and L12S are basically on par regarding the cooling of an R9, but only if you run the BR with a 120 fan on top and 92mm below. And that's not an option in the Dancase as far as I know. Also the L12S wouldn't fit anyways (way too high). You may have to undervolt using the BR with only a 92mm fan though, to get the "best" performance out of it. You could still try to to use the L9a, but you'd need to take some time and dial in the power targets.
Regarding the R7, you should be fine with an L9a. But also pretty sure there is not much headroom.
Here you can see a shootout of some coolers with an i5-8400 (same TDP as the 3700X). But keep an eye on the height of the cooler.


IMO the BR should be your go to option, as it was specifically designed for this case.
Also you could consider swapping the stock fan with a noctua one, to lower the noise.
 
Last edited:

thecaptain277

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Apr 14, 2020
14
1
Thanks guys of all this info! Really appreciate!
So if I get it right:
1) AMD Ryzen 7 3700X with the Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 it will be just fine as long as I don't overclock. (i don't want anyway)
2) AMD Ryzen 9 3900X will work fine with Alpenfohn Black Ridge but only in eco mode.
3) Open Air GPU like RTX 2080 should be no problem if I place 2 case fans at the bottom of dan a4.

Please correct me if I understand wrong cause my English is not that great.
Last noob question... Would a TITAN RTX work fine in such a case like dan with 2 fans at the bottom and without other modification?
 

dondan

Shrink Ray Wielder
DAN Cases
Feb 23, 2015
1,977
8,378
1) yes
2) yes and also on L9a
3) yes

Titan RTX will work

 

thecaptain277

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Apr 14, 2020
14
1
Great!
I see at the photo that you have no bottom fans to help exhaust. Will it work also fine without bottom fans?
 

thelaughingman

SFF Guru
Jul 14, 2018
1,413
1,566
if you look closely at the pic, there's a 120 rad behind that Titan RTX so CPU temp should be fine no matter what :) the case itself is very ventilated so exhaust fans help, but not critical