DAN A4-SFX: The smallest gaming case in the world

I use my optical drive on a daily basis. An external doesnt even make sense since it makes for another encloser and extra wires.
 
Increaaing size for an ODD will go against the philosophy of the case. It's designed around high gaming power in the smallest enclosure possible.
 
rawrr said:
Increaaing size for an ODD will go against the philosophy of the case. It's designed around high gaming power in the smallest enclosure possible.
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I agree with this sentiment. The Ncase M1 (have this case, it's awesome btw) was a little different in that it was more of the smallest, but most versatile case that gave the user tons of flexibility/options: watercooling support, an optional ODD slot, multiple storage configurations (could use as a NAS box), etc.

This case from the start was aimed at being the smallest as it started with a power brick/powerboard solution to the smallest SFX/SFX-L case.
 
True SFF shouldn't include ODD, it's just a superfluous space eater. But that's only my opinion of course.

Slim drives are crap compared to full size anyway, so I don't really see why people who have a real everyday need for optical discs go for SFF at all? But yeah, slim crap drives work ok for movies of course. The A4 isn't supposed to be an htpc though, as far as I know.
 
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I demand it fit a full-height 5.25" drive bay!

Or was that fit in a 5.25" full-height bay...
 
I'm about to buy a GTX 980 and I was wondering what you guys would recommend for this case? I was thinking about buying one with the Nvidia reference cooler, though they seem a little more expensive. Is it worth the little extra?
 
Not sure if dondan has tested with non-reference cards. At one point he tested some reference cards and the idle and load temps were only ~1°C hotter in the case than sitting outside of it.

Generally non-blower cards run a bit cooler at the expense of making the rest of the case hotter, which isn't ideal for SFF builds, but the design of this case should mitigate that a bit. Still, at least until I see more test results I would lean towards the reference cooler because while the GPU cooler is very beefy, we'll only be able to use small CPU coolers so I would want to keep the inside of the case as cool as possible.
 
readeh said:
I'm about to buy a GTX 980 and I was wondering what you guys would recommend for this case? I was thinking about buying one with the Nvidia reference cooler, though they seem a little more expensive. Is it worth the little extra?
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I think only testing will prove anything but my idea is that the reference cooler is the best for this case. Considering there is no case fans and you're only relying on the heat to rise naturally.
 
I don't think it will matter much with this case. There is enough mesh opening along the top for hot air to escape and along the sides for cool air to move in, coupled with the fact that the GPU and CPU are divided by a wall, that any gtx980 should have no issues staying properly ventilated in this case.
 
readeh said:
I'm about to buy a GTX 980 and I was wondering what you guys would recommend for this case? I was thinking about buying one with the Nvidia reference cooler, though they seem a little more expensive. Is it worth the little extra?
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you absolutely, positively want a really good stock blower cooler (like the one on the GTX 980) for a case like this. that blower is PART of this case system. the compact size is right too.
 
Hanakuso said:
I think only testing will prove anything but my idea is that the reference cooler is the best for this case. Considering there is no case fans and you're only relying on the heat to rise naturally.
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You're not relying on convection.

When you suck air into a case, you create excess pressure and the same amount of air you force INTO the case will be forced OUT.

The same thing works in reverse. If you only have exhaust fans, the same amount of air you exhaust will be forced in.

Strategically placed intake/exhaust fans are employed to create an airflow, to make sure certain hot spots are properly ventilated.

In the case of the A4, that's totally unnecessary. The airflow from the CPU fan covers the entirety of that little ITX board. The PSU has it's own fan and fresh air intake, as does the GPU.

There is absolutely NO need to employ exhaust fans anywhere.
 
I think that non-reference gpu should be just fine as some have already mentioned that there is fresh air for the psu, gpu, and cpu cooler. The biggest positive this design has is that all three of these components are not fighting for air. The gpu has such close access to fresh air and since a non-ref will be touching close to the top panel (where there's plenty of ventilation holes), exhausting out the hot air should be less an issue. As for the cpu cooler, I don't know if there's a cpu cooler small enough in height that can cover most of the motherboard and cool the capacitors and what not.

My only concern I have right now are the overall noise levels as all three of these components are so close to the ventilation holes.
 
Hello guys,

here is the update that I promised.

I reconstruct some parts of the case completely new.
Now we have a inner frame and a outer one. The advantage is, that you can remove the outer frame to have a much more better access to the components to do the cable management.

Furthermore I could add a third mount point for an 2,5" drive in front of the PSU. This means 3x 2,5" drive with an normal SFX PSU and 2x2,5" with an SFX-L.

The front I/O has a single USB 3.0 port now.

I increase the stability of the SFX-PSU holder.


Meanwhile the CAD-drawings where send to the Lian Li engineering-team. I will get the results of them next week.

Tomorrow I will offer you the results of the two polls.

Here are the new pictures:





















By the way:
Thread post number 1337 (leet) :D
 
good god!!! you made it fit an extra ssd in there
1 usb made the cut i see, looks good in perspective
now that is a l33t update
 
Not a deal-breaker per se, but have you looked into eliminating the screws from the top? Maybe add a bend at the back of the top cover and have two screws on it?
 
vipz said:
Not a deal-breaker per se, but have you looked into eliminating the screws from the top? Maybe add a bend at the back of the top cover and have two screws on it?
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I have to agree with this.
I know dondan you're thinking doing so will make the top cover too flimsy but here is what you can do:

1) Add a bent lip to the top cover to screw from the back.
2) Add two push pins (one on each side) to the top cover on the top.
3) Extend the curve on the bottom front (of the cover), so that it can be screwed to the frame from the bottom.
4) Accordingly extend the side covers a bit at the bottom to properly cover everything.

I hope it's clear. You would have the top cover embracing the frame and screwing on it from the top back and front bottom. It would make the front of the case even more sturdy. Now it seems only pushpins on the front...
 
@theGryphon: You have to rethink your ideas because they are physically not possible.
To get the power switch in the cutout of the front cover you have to push it directly on the front clips but with the bent lip it will not be possible without bending the top plate. Look at my picture:
frameyosr2.jpg


3) and 4) are good idears i add it :
)
 
dondan said:
@theGryphon: You have to rethink your ideas because they are physically not possible.
To get the power switch in the cutout of the front cover you have to push it directly on the front clips but with the bent lip it will not be possible without bending the top plate. Look at my picture:
*snip*

3) and 4) are good idears i add it :
)
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You're right, 1 and 3 are not compatible :eek:
Or, rather, 1 was a bad idea :)
 
This thing is soo beautiful. Dondan, award yourself a good pat on the back:D Front I/O solution looks great too. I might actually buy one if I can spare the money at the time, even though i have no idea what to use it for atm:)
 
Agreed, this really is a beautiful design! I really like the compromise with just one USB 3.0 port. Any thought of including a power/drive activity indicator LED in the power button like what is done with the Ncase M1?
 
Wow. Just, wow. I have owned the Ncase M1 and currently own a Compact Splash...but looking at this...I want to trade up for this beauty. Well done!! ;)
 
every time I come to this thread, it gets harder for me to look away from this beautiful case.
 
So, what's the price estimate like? (I mean within ~$50 not 150-250). Edit: Facepalm!
I'm planning my build (in the A4-SFX hopefully) and I'd like to know how much I should add as "custom part price" in PCPartPicker. :)
 
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This is magically good! :D Been waiting for a super compact case specifically built for the SFX-L with some kind of smart solution for the GPU. The normal SFX is just too noisy and the regular way of mounting a GPU wastes to much space. The Compact Splash demands special components and is pretty ugly and the N1 is too large (yes).

Two things though...
It's sad there is no room for an slim optical drive. Lots of stuff is delivered on DVD, not to mention old backups. I'm not ready to get rid of it for probably another 5-10 years. It would look good to have it mounted vertically (slot-in) between the motherboard and GPU. But since the width would probably increase by ~1 cm and rids the front HDD it's totally ok to connect an external USB-DVD when needed. So not a big issue.

More importantly is the space for that front HDD. It seems to me the space would fit a 3,5" disk since there is no connectors or anything above the power button? The most common setup I think is a 2,5" SSD for system and a 3,5" HDD for huge storage space. Personally I would be ok with the added depth of ~1 cm. Added depth doesn't affect the visual appearance of the case as much as an increase in width and height would.

And a question... it's not possible to have it laying down? Would mess with the heat right?
 
It may be too late in the design stage to suggest this, but won't it be better for the holes on the GPU side to be as wide as the CPU side?
I'm sure that blower is recommended but more holes may mean non-reference might possibly work without frying.
And aesthetically, it's like how the Ncase M1 is almost symmetrical.
Also, I'm wondering if it has enough height to support extra tall GPUs that are common nowadays, something that M1 (and the Nova) isn't able to do.
 
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