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

Only the case body itself is 0,25L smaller. But you can't use the Sentry without feeds and with feeds for horizontal usage or the stand for vertical usage it is bigger.

Partly true. If compared side by side, the size of sentry allows you to use longer, up-to 305 mm GPUs, and two types of standing positions + bigger NAS options...while having similar volume and option to travel with it in a 17" laptop bag or backpack.

But those two cases are so different, that i think we shouldn't make such comparisons.
In other words: if you have a place for "cube" under your TV, then go with DanA4. But if you prefer console-sized cases, similar to Xbox or PS4, then you should wait for SENTRY. Comparisons "apples to apples" are pointless here.

DanA4 is in my opinion a great SFF PC case (almost the smallest one with such configuration possibilities on the market), and if there won't be any problems with ultra-long , custom pci-express riser, then i think this case could take a bigger piece of market's cake, than only those orders on kickstarter.

Great work Dan, and I'm waiting to see A4 in my local computer store :)
 
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Backed!

I never thought in all my life I'd spend nearly $300 on a PC case, but the lack of good, SMALL ITX cases are virtually nonexistent and this one clearly appears to be the best.

Exactly! The reason it was clear this case would sell out in 48 hrs or so was because it filled a vacuum, i.e. there has been strong demand for something like this from the SFF community, that for some reason no company has addressed until now. Even at the steep price of $280 (including shipping), people are so frustrated with the lack of options and the plethora of bad and bulky designs out there, that they're willing to pay a premium for a simple, high-quality, no bells and whistles SFF frame. Though of course, you're also voting with your wallet and you're supporting Dan and the product, which is an additional incentive to spend the money. I think the fallacy of the case companies is that they see SFF cases as an enthusiast product, and as such they think it has to feature things like water cooling and 3.5" drive support. But there are lots of people for whom low profile CPU air cooling is enough, and who feel much more enthusiastic about space efficiency than about getting 200Mhz more off of their CPUs and running it at 10C less (and consumer 3.5" HDDs will be dead in a couple of years, if they're not already). Normally, however, the sacrifice you have to make with ITX is a cluttered interior, bad air flow, and difficult-to-access components -- all of which the A4-SFX completely solves.
 
Gah ... I've never been so undecided about a case before in my life, lol. This really is a great achievement in SFF cases.
 
Can someone confirm if the ASUS ROG Strix will fit into this case? I realize it's on the compatibility list Dan posted, but this is literally the deciding factor for this case. I'm sure it'll be a very tight fit, but yeah. Just double-checking. The Kickstarter backing page is taunting me.
 
Can someone confirm if the ASUS ROG Strix will fit into this case? I realize it's on the compatibility list Dan posted, but this is literally the deciding factor for this case. I'm sure it'll be a very tight fit, but yeah. Just double-checking. The Kickstarter backing page is taunting me.
Dan's word is the most concrete you'll get, and he's the only person who can really confirm/ deny fitment until people start getting theirs and experimenting.
 
NOBODY has a strix yet. going by what dan says is is your only option right now. not to mention that nobody has a case to test in yet...
why don't YOU buy both, wait for the case and find out in sept/oct...
 
I am curious which PSU people will be getting for their Dan A4 case especially between the SFX and SFX-L psu form factors.
 
NOBODY has a strix yet. going by what dan says is is your only option right now. not to mention that nobody has a case to test in yet...
Some people do have the Strix. And it's been tested. Was just wondering what basis Dan was going by if he actually tested it in a prototype or if he's going by measurements. Because on his website he says only reference 1080s will fit, and the Strix is a HUMONGOUS card.

JL8yd0r.png





Edit:

I mean ... it looks like it'll just barely fit:

ASUS Strix:
297 mm x 134.112 x 39.878 mm

DAN Case:

b1WhsYM.png




Sigh ... guess I'll just wait and find out.
 
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one ty review guy got to look at it IN THE ASUS OFFICE says so at 12 seconds in. dan is going by the spec asus release. no its a two slot, look at it. you posted the vid, did you even watch it?! nobody has it yet, nobody has a case yet. wtf is so hard to understand?! why am I pissy? because noobs.
 
From my research and googling the
LP53 with the noctua fan is probably the best heatsink combo for the A4 atm - if OCing a delid and lapping the CPU is probably essential if you were hoping to put a 6-core+ CPU in there. No need for that though if using a 4-core CPU as dondan already did so with an ivy bridge overvolted to 1.2V @ 4Ghz.

Dondan if you still have the Cooltek is the heatsink base flat or concave/convex? Have to see if I should practise lapping a few heatsinks in the meantime.

Cannonlake with the node shrink should be something special in this case (pun)!

And chill with the GPUs the case is coming later in the year so by then there'll be plenty of measurements and stuff done to be 110% sure - if all else fails buy a reference card and some nice closed headphones :)
 
one ty review guy got to look at it IN THE ASUS OFFICE says so at 12 seconds in. dan is going by the spec asus release. no its a two slot, look at it. you posted the vid, did you even watch it?! nobody has it yet, nobody has a case yet. wtf is so hard to understand?! why am I pissy? because noobs.
What's with the attitude? Did you detect any hostility in my post whatsoever? If not, then why are you reacting to it like that? It's an honest concern. Going by the specs of the case and the specs of the card, it's an incredibly snug fit. The case is not cheap, so before laying down 300 bucks, I just want to be sure. Was the noobs comment really necessary? I made a mistake regarding the 3-slot comment. Is that enough to get berated for it? You could have simply and politely corrected me. That's the general course of action that mature adults take. I was just wondering what methodology Dan used to determine this if it was just by numbers alone or if he managed to get his hands on one by chance. I wasn't sure how available it was yet. Another mistake on my part. I didn't watch the full video, I was just looking for a way to gauge the size, and it looked ginormous with him holding it. It was to show people here just how big the thing is and nothing else. You don't need to act so harshly if someone is merely asking questions. You could have easily responded without all that unnecessary rudeness. I'm sorry if you're having a bad day or something, but get a grip. We're all excited about this case. I've been eyeing this case for a year now. We're all trying to share excitement here and we're all just making sure the case is right for us. You don't need to come in here like that. Nobody is attacking you or your character or something.
 
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For me it looks like the Gigabyte GTX 1080 G1 will fit. On my site I wrote 295mm but this is with 8mm of clearance. So in total you have 303mm. So it could be very tight. Maybe I buy a Gigabyte GTX 1070 G1 and test it by myself ;).
Hello Dan,

I dont want to bother you too much, but it may pay to post a photo of a tape measure against the case showing exactly how much room is available for these long GPUs, such as the strix (that or a render). Perhaps one photo showing length avialable including the bracket, and one of the length minus the bracket. Then we can (hopefully) put all these questions to rest about gpu compatibility.

And as a note to people getting excited over the strix, at least one review found that the overclocking capability is somewhat limited, casting doubt as to whether these oversized coolers/pcbs will be beneficial (although bigger cooler should = less noise). It is possible a custom BIOS may help improve OC capability, or that this was merely a poor sample.
ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1080 offers poor overclocking | VideoCardz.com
 
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Be that as it may, one of the videos for the card shows the clock boosting to over 2 GHz out of the box, which is pretty cool. Maybe I'll just remove all the concern I have for the case and just stick with a third-party reference card like the MSI Aero OC, which I know for a fact will fit into this thing. The STRIX is comically huge. But that $640 price tag is really nice.
 
What's with the attitude? Did you detect any hostility in my post whatsoever? If not, then why are you reacting to it like that? It's an honest concern. Going by the specs of the case and the specs of the card, it's an incredibly snug fit. The case is not cheap, so before laying down 300 bucks, I just want to be sure. Was the noobs comment really necessary? I made a mistake regarding the 3-slot comment. Is that enough to get berated for it? You could have simply and politely corrected me. That's the general course of action that mature adults take. I was just wondering what methodology Dan used to determine this if it was just by numbers alone or if he managed to get his hands on one by chance. I've seen several videos of the STRIX already for benchmarking purposes, so some people do have them, I just wasn't sure how available it was yet. Another mistake on my part. I didn't watch the full video, I was just looking for a way to gauge the size, and it looked ginormous with him holding it. It was to show people here just how big the thing is and nothing else. You don't need to act so harshly if someone is merely asking questions. You could have easily responded without all that unnecessary rudeness. I'm sorry if you're having a bad day or something, but get a grip. We're all excited about this case. I've been eyeing this case for a year now. We're all trying to share excitement here and we're all just making sure the case is right for us. You don't need to come in here like that. Nobody is attacking you or your character or something.

I already said my prob was noobs, not you directly.
to me yes because like others, in multiple threads, Im tired of people just randomly showing up, asking q's that are already answered or impossible to answer, making suggestions when its too late or telling them how to do things. all the little do this, do that, change this, change that, why this, why that's are f'n ridiculous. nobody f'n reads or even searches before suggesting/asking/posting. "i dont want to bother you" but... im going too anyway so do this, show that, what about this...
if you guys are really that concerned about spending this type of money and whether shit is going to fit/work, WAIT UNTIL YOU CAN ACTUALLY HAVE ONE IN HAND.
you didn't watch the video but used it as proof... right... this all adds up to why I'm tired of noobs.
nope, nobody attacked me and I'm not attacking you. I am stating how I feel about noobs and the bs postings.
 
And as a note to people getting excited over the strix, at least one review found that the overclocking capability is somewhat limited, casting doubt as to whether these oversized coolers/pcbs will be beneficial (although bigger cooler should = less noise). It is possible a custom BIOS may help improve OC capability, or that this was merely a poor sample.
ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1080 offers poor overclocking | VideoCardz.com


Honestly, in this type of case oc'ing isn't a thing I think many are worried. Also all those tests are at 4k res, but I don't know if that means anything. I'd think the gpu might oc better on 1440p or 1080p?

And the main reason I'd go for the Asus Strix ROG ( Jesus I am PISSED they named it that ) is mainly because of the LED placement. It will look fucking amazing through the side of Dans case. I was originally going to get the 980 ti from Gigabyte Xtreme ( The one with three led halos behind the fans ) just for this reason.
 
I am curious which PSU people will be getting for their Dan A4 case especially between the SFX and SFX-L psu form factors.
Corsair SF450 - the reviewer on Tom's said that they had to crank it up way high to even get the fans to spin.
 
I already said my prob was noobs, not you directly.
to me yes because like others, in multiple threads, Im tired of people just randomly showing up, asking q's that are already answered or impossible to answer, making suggestions when its too late or telling them how to do things. all the little do this, do that, change this, change that, why this, why that's are f'n ridiculous. nobody f'n reads or even searches before suggesting/asking/posting. "i dont want to bother you" but... im going too anyway so do this, show that, what about this...
if you guys are really that concerned about spending this type of money and whether shit is going to fit/work, WAIT UNTIL YOU CAN ACTUALLY HAVE ONE IN HAND.
you didn't watch the video but used it as proof... right... this all adds up to why I'm tired of noobs.
nope, nobody attacked me and I'm not attacking you. I am stating how I feel about noobs and the bs postings.
I mean, I can understand where you are coming from, but you can also choose to not let it bother you that much. You're the only one in here that's bothered by any of this. If everyone else is fine and you aren't, maybe you need to rethink your reaction to things. And honestly, none of this is any of your business anyway. We're not here to cater to you and your emotional and intellectual needs ... or whatever this is. We're just here to support Dan and his awesome work. Questions are bound to be asked a few times in a thread of 128 pages.



Honestly, in this type of case oc'ing isn't a thing I think many are worried. Also all those tests are at 4k res, but I don't know if that means anything. I'd think the gpu might oc better on 1440p or 1080p?
Yeah, I don't think many here are going to be doing much OC'ing with this case. Although some are asking for water-cooling mods. It'd be really awesome if someone could create some kind of water-cooling device specifically for tiny cases like this. Dunno how they'd work, it's just a nice thought.

And the main reason I'd go for the Asus Strix ROG ( Jesus I am PISSED they named it that ) is mainly because of the LED placement. It will look fucking amazing through the side of Dans case. I was originally going to get the 980 ti from Gigabyte Xtreme ( The one with three led halos behind the fans ) just for this reason.
It's a name they've stuck with for a while. The RGB set up they have for the card is certainly cool. But the fact that it OCs to over 2 GHz right out of the box is even cooler.
 
Yeah, I don't think many here are going to be doing much OC'ing with this case. Although some are asking for water-cooling mods. It'd be really awesome if someone could create some kind of water-cooling device specifically for tiny cases like this. Dunno how they'd work, it's just a nice thought.


It's a name they've stuck with a for a while. The RGB set up they have for the card is certainly cool. But the fact that it OCs to over 2 GHz right out of the box is even cooler.

I'm already planning on a AIO to feed through the rear IO panel and attach to the side panel to push air through it.

They've used Strix and ROG separately and it should STAY separate. ROG is their top line stuff and their Strix stuff while still great stuff is still under anything ROG. Branding choices piss me off man XD. It is like the whole Vette vs Camaro, anything ford makes in Europe vs the Mustang, or The Z vs The Skyline ( Also known as the GT-R ) you gotta have lines of performance. Not a Mustang Camaro Vette SS GT-RS. Just doesn't work >_<


Also dondan the Gigabtye Xtreme 1080 WILL not fit. Triple Slot cooler. Figured you'd want to up date that.

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 XTREME GAMING is designed for VR | VideoCardz.com
 
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I'm already planning on a AIO to feed through the rear IO panel and attach to the side panel to push air through it.
That should be cool (pun intended).

They've used Strix and ROG separately and it should STAY separate. ROG is their top line stuff and their Strix stuff while still great stuff is still under anything ROG. Branding choices piss me off man XD. It is like the whole Vette vs Camaro, anything ford makes in Europe vs the Mustang, or The Z vs The Skyline ( Also known as the GT-R ) you gotta have lines of performance. Not a Mustang Camaro Vette SS GT-RS. Just doesn't work >_<
Yeah I know what you mean. Sometimes the names just kind of blur together.
 
Hey does anyone know the size of the vent holes this case has? dondan ?

Because I am currently wondering if I can fit the screws used for the Corsair AIO's through them. I believe the screw size is 9/32 for the longer ones.
 
I am curious which PSU people will be getting for their Dan A4 case especially between the SFX and SFX-L psu form factors.
I'm going to use the SX500-LG, since it's what I've got.
If I determ
Some people do have the Strix. And it's been tested. Was just wondering what basis Dan was going by if he actually tested it in a prototype or if he's going by measurements. Because on his website he says only reference 1080s will fit, and the Strix is a HUMONGOUS card.

-snip-

-snip-


Edit:

I mean ... it looks like it'll just barely fit:

ASUS Strix:
297 mm x 134.112 x 39.878 mm

DAN Case:

-snip-



Sigh ... guess I'll just wait and find out.

I'm really interested in the 1080 strix, Some modification to the LED lighting would fit it in with my current build super well. :)
I told myself I have to wait for Polaris/ maybe vega before upgrades though, even if the 1080 strix is almost double my FS:E score. (5607)
 
Honestly, in this type of case oc'ing isn't a thing I think many are worried. Also all those tests are at 4k res, but I don't know if that means anything. I'd think the gpu might oc better on 1440p or 1080p?

And the main reason I'd go for the Asus Strix ROG ( Jesus I am PISSED they named it that ) is mainly because of the LED placement. It will look fucking amazing through the side of Dans case. I was originally going to get the 980 ti from Gigabyte Xtreme ( The one with three led halos behind the fans ) just for this reason.
Well if you refer to the first page, open air coolers, temp wise perform almost as good in this case as without a case, and therefore OC potential may be similar to larger cases. This can be explained by the fact that the fans are very close to the air vents, pulling air from directly outside the case (instead of recirculating hot air), and because the hot air does not have very far to rise before it escapes the case.

If more people realised the OC capability of this case (gpu wise at least) perhaps more would be willing to give it a shot, as I am sure most people here wouldn't mind a free performance boost. Heck, even CPU wise the C7 allows to overvolt to around 1.25v, allowing for a modest overclock for some CPUs.

Also, I beleive the top LED lights on the strix would be a above the vent holes, but perhaps some light from the top LEDs may still be able to bleed through.
 
Well if you refer to the first page, open air coolers, temp wise perform almost as good in this case as without a case, and therefore OC potential may be similar to larger cases. This can be explained by the fact that the fans are very close to the air vents, pulling air from directly outside the case (instead of recirculating hot air), and because the hot air does not have very far to rise before it escapes the case.

If more people realised the OC capability of this case (gpu wise at least) perhaps more would be willing to give it a shot, as I am sure most people here wouldn't mind a free performance boost. Heck, even CPU wise the C7 allows to overvolt to around 1.25v, allowing for a modest overclock for some CPUs.

Also, I beleive the top LED lights on the strix would be a above the vent holes, but perhaps some light from the top LEDs may still be able to bleed through.
I actually didn't even think about that. The vents being so close to the components and the better airflow. Will be interesting to see benchmarks once people get a hold of these.
 
I actually didn't even think about that. The vents being so close to the components and the better airflow. Will be interesting to see benchmarks once people get a hold of these.

nvidia/AMD a 16/14nm dual GPU dual slot air solution based on Vega/Full Pascal please!!?

The main issue imo is going to be figuring out a bag to carry the case with a mouse/kb and a few cables.

Would be awesome for LANs, or using a fast machine that can outperform a gpu node at Uni and you don't have to share the nodes ;)
 
For me it looks like the Gigabyte GTX 1080 G1 will fit. On my site I wrote 295mm but this is with 8mm of clearance. So in total you have 303mm. So it could be very tight. Maybe I buy a Gigabyte GTX 1070 G1 and test it by myself ;).
hey thanks for the clarification dondan you the man man! cause I am really perplexed to snag a silver case of yours ASAP but being broke restricts me to do it (typical SOB STORY LOL)
I already got a mATX mobo, a 4690K and a 970 G1 thats a long arse GPU and could not scratch the itch about your case dang it!
hope to see this case go mainstream dondan !!
Congratulations once again man!
 
Backed - finally! :happy:

Still wondering about M.2 SSD cooling though (with mobos that have the M.2 slot on the back of the mb); Samsung 950 tends to run a bit hot apparently and I would like to avoid throttling alltogether, but the riser cable prevents any custom heat-dissipation solutions with the plate separating the motherboard and graphics card. Any thoughts..?
 
Backed - finally! :happy:

Still wondering about M.2 SSD cooling though (with mobos that have the M.2 slot on the back of the mb); Samsung 950 tends to run a bit hot apparently and I would like to avoid throttling alltogether, but the riser cable prevents any custom heat-dissipation solutions with the plate separating the motherboard and graphics card. Any thoughts..?
Not exactly sure what you're asking but Dan has stated that m.2 drives on the back of the mobo are fine.
 
Backed - finally! :happy:

Still wondering about M.2 SSD cooling though (with mobos that have the M.2 slot on the back of the mb); Samsung 950 tends to run a bit hot apparently and I would like to avoid throttling alltogether, but the riser cable prevents any custom heat-dissipation solutions with the plate separating the motherboard and graphics card. Any thoughts..?
I think Dan mentioned that you can thread the pci-e riser cable on the gpu side, instead of the motherboard side. If this is the case you may have the option to put a thermal pad between the m2 and the motherboard tray (also aluminum I beleive) to disperse the heat.
 
... Dan has stated that m.2 drives on the back of the mobo are fine.

Yes, generally they would be, but it's my understanding that 950 isn't fine in, uh, any configuration without a little help.

I think Dan mentioned that you can thread the pci-e riser cable on the gpu side, instead of the motherboard side. If this is the case you may have the option to put a thermal pad between the m2 and the motherboard tray (also aluminum I beleive) to disperse the heat.

If that's possible this solves it then :)
 
dondan you say that the maximum thickness of a GPU with backplate is 45mm. How much clearance is it between the gpu fans and side panel?

I have a 980 ti Gaming Extreme from gigabyte and it's about 55mm thick
 
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