Enclosure CaseLabs Bullet BH4 VS. Cerberus KIC11U for mITX Build

Howdy

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Mar 30, 2018
16
9
Hello All!

I've been looking at the forums for some time and am just now posting!

I've have recently gotten into PC building and am looking to transplant my mITX build into a SFF case. Excited about options available for beautifully designed USA made cases!

My requirements for space are an AIO cooler (240 Radiator) and a full size graphics card. I also decided to go with a case that can accommodate mATX boards for longevities sake in case I need a larger board down the road. I'm a freelancer who occasionally takes my rig with me to studios so easy transportation with handles is a big deal.

I purchased a Caselabs BH4 a couple of days ago but now realize that the Cerberus KIC11U is available. Does anyone have experience with one or both cases and can lend some help in deciding which of the two would be the better option? I don't see many posts regarding Caselabs around here and I wonder if there is a reason for that.

The main areas I have questions on are:

-Soundproofing
-Build Quality
-Easy to build in/access hardware
-Flexibility for future unknown hardware
-Size - (the Caselabs BH4 is 3.3 Liters larger. Is that space put to good use or wasted)

Prices after shipping:

Cerberus KIC11U - $315.33 - Ships in 2 days
CaseLabs Bullet BH4 - $224.10 - Ships in 7 weeks

I've read some negative reviews for Caselabs customer service so I'm taking that and the speed of shipment as a way to justify the price difference.

Thanks so much for the help and hope to eventually contribute here once I know a bit more!
 

confusis

John Morrison. Founder and Team Leader of SFF.N
SFF Network
SFF Workshop
SFFn Staff
Jun 19, 2015
4,129
7,057
sff.network
The reason you don't see any Caselabs stuff around here is that they aren't SFF. We see SFF as 20 litres in volume and below - even the Bullet is 10% above that.

The Bullet also has a pretty mediocre design for a M-ATX case compared to the Cerberus and is 20% larger for no real gain (and a loss IMHO for aesthetics). I say this as the Bullet has the basement for the PSU and drives, which means alllll of that space under the motherboard is wasted!
 

Solo

King of Cable Management
Nov 18, 2017
855
1,422
My first ITX case was a Mercury S3 from CL. I loved it. It was industrial looking, built better than basically everything, and had many options for customization.

But then I realized I could go even smaller and sold it! My first true venture into SFF was the M1. I couldn't believe how abysmal the construction was compared to the S3, so I got rid of it. Now I have a Sentry, which is even more robust than the S3 but tinier.

Confusis is right, btw. There is hella empty space at the bottom of the Bullet series cases.
 

Howdy

Chassis Packer
Original poster
Mar 30, 2018
16
9
Thanks so much for the replies and insights! Seems that my takeaway will be that the BH4 has a poor layout but is well built.

@confuses Thanks for the SFF size definition. That explains why Caselabs doesn't make frequent appearances (seems they specialize in whatever you would call the opposite of SFF).

I believe I will see if I can cancel my order and go with the Cerberus (though now I'm eying the ghost S1).

Thanks again for the responses and your patience with what must be often repeated quandaries.
 
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confusis

John Morrison. Founder and Team Leader of SFF.N
SFF Network
SFF Workshop
SFFn Staff
Jun 19, 2015
4,129
7,057
sff.network
Happy to help :) Everyone has a different use case - we're happy to help everyone decide on what suits them best :D