A number of creative ideas were needed to create the case. Using a PCIe extender allowed for the most prominent design feature of this case, which is the location of the GPU behind the motherboard. The A4-SFX will come with the highest quality PCIe extender on the market, made by 3M, which allows for PCIe Gen3 and Gen4 support.

dyonoctisVRM wise Buildzoid was pretty satisfied with the current offering, if you are going high-end you get 10 phases at the minimum, and the mid-range got 8 phases.Buildzoid's VRM analysis of the various mITX boards was indeed reassuring. Without trying to patronise, silicon temperature isn't related to how much heat is dumped into your case by the CPU, it's the power draw in Watts. A 15W CPU can run at 95C and a a 230W CPU can run at 60C and yet the hotter 15W chip will result in far, far lower case temperatures because it's only the Watts that are transferred out of the heatsink. If anything, a CPU operating at much higher temperatures is able to extract greater efficiency from the cooler because the larger temperature delta between the air and the heatsink results in a faster energy transfer from hot metal to cool air. In other words, more energy is extracted by the cooler for the same amount of fan RPM and noise. Every component is able to cool itself by getting fresh air directly from the outside. Hot air in the case will move to the top and then outside without the need of an extra fan. This principle works perfect and results in an amazing cooling efficiency compare to other cases.

Awards

TheDAN A4-SFX V3was designed by Daniel Hansen, his vision was to create the smallest possible gaming PC case, without compromising on performance or looks. The result is theDAN A4-SFX V3, an ultra small form factor casewith a sleek. minimalist design. This case is still unique and awesome many years after the first revision. It's a work of art and design. Great quality too. Made me a LL fan as well. You shouldn't be worried about your silicon temperature because that's what the boost algorithm and silicon health agent are for; Unless you have an excess of cooling, they will get the maximum performance out of the available cooling while keeping the roasty-toasty silicon at a safe temperature for its long-term health.

The next step is to do the test that is described in the norms. You have to do only the test that is necessary. You need special test equipment to do some of the test: For example let fall a standardized iron ball on you case or do a fire test and so on. I think it is impossible to do the test by your own if you aren’t a larger company, but there are accredit companies in every country that can help you to do the test. In Germany for example TÜV Süd, Tüv Rheinland. It will cost between 2000-5000€ that they will do the tests for you.

Technical Details

Really the best small form factor case money can buy. Whilst expensive the Dan Case proves you do not to spend 300 for a ghost s1 or similar. My case was constructed to a very high standard with no sharp edges, everything aligned perfectly and it was a dream to build in. Worth mentioning the case itself is relatively light which means transporting my final build has been a breeze. Well worth it. We let the chassis sit at idle until temperatures reached equilibrium. Next, our stress-testing load is started, and it continues to run until temperatures are stable. The temperature result for each section of the case is the highest value measured during the test run. All reported temperatures are normalized to 20°C room temperature. While Real Temp offers excellent and repeatable temperature results, we employ a REED Instruments SD-947 Data Logging Thermometer with four K-Type sensors that have been placed as closely as possible to the benchmarked areas of the CPU, GPU, M.2 SSD, and motherboard chipset. A fifth sensor is used to monitor the room temperature for an accurate delta T result. All images and descriptions are for illustrative purposes only. Visual representation of the products may not be perfectly accurate. All specifications are subject to change without notice. Although we endeavor to present the most precise and comprehensive information at the time of publication, a small number of items may contain typography or photography errors The clever cooling design of the case is similarly spartan in outlook. A separate fan is not needed as the case takes advantage of the integrated cooling of the installed hardware, thus saving valuable space here as well. To ensure that all components are exposed to fresh air the two side panels and the top of the A4-SFX V4.1 have been provided with round air holes over a large surface area along with elongated holes on the bottom to ensure a continuous supply of fresh air.

Without trying to patronise, silicon temperature isn't related to how much heat is dumped into your case by the CPU, it's the power draw in Watts. A 15W CPU can run at 95C and a a 230W CPU can run at 60C and yet the hotter 15W chip will result in far, far lower case temperatures because it's only the Watts that are transferred out of the heatsink. If anything, a CPU operating at much higher temperatures is able to extract greater efficiency from the cooler because the larger temperature delta between the air and the heatsink results in a faster energy transfer from hot metal to cool air. In other words, more energy is extracted by the cooler for the same amount of fan RPM and noise.I'm not worried about heat dumped into the case. My point is that with less surface area, you need a more capable cooler with more airflow to keep your silicon temperature low. MethodologyWe measure several temperatures and the system noise level across all cases. Every test is performed with the same set of components installed. The out-of-the-box fan setup is used, connected to the motherboard, with the board adjusting fan speed automatically. This puts the onus of noise and performance on the case manufacturers and motivates them to actually care about thermal performance instead of simply using active cooling as a marketing bulletin point. The front USB type C port delivers power on my ASUS ROG Strix B550-I with its USB 3.2 Gen 1 connector, but does not transfer data at all. My Oculus Quest 2 stays dead. But I can charge my phone. Great. Daniel has also thought through the practical aspects, such as cooling, connections and power supply, to make sure the DAN A4-SFX V3 is easy to setup and use. The DAN A4-SFX V3has an extremely compact chassis, measuring a mere 112 x 205 x 327 mm with a volume of just 7.2 litres, that's roughly the size of a shoe box. Through excellent engineering the interior space has been perfectly laid out so that essential hardware only takes up the minimum space required.The new V3 edition features quality Lian-Li components including a new PCIE 3.0 riser module,optional AIO mount for CPU water-cooling support with both a 92mm and 120mm radiator configuration plus mounting points for theHDPLEX 400W HiFi DC-ATX. The A4-SFX case is a one-man project with the goal of creating the smallest case possible while still using high-end standardized components, such as Core i7 processors and powerful full-length GPUs such as the GeForce GTX 980 Ti. Other than that, I agree - configurable TDP is probably the greatest invention in modern CPU technology. Daniel put considerable thought into the installation process, which means that unlike most other mini-cases, installing components is straightforward and simple. We believe SFF computers are the future for PC builders – whether you like it or not – and expect to see more and more PC builders turn to the mini-ITX form factor from ATX and look to build smaller, compact systems with equal performance to ATX systems.