Cerberus X radiator/fan options?

altano

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
New User
Nov 21, 2018
9
15
alan.norbauer.com
There seems to be extensive info on here about cooling the Cerberus but I was wondering what exactly was different for the Cerberus X (which I have on the way!).

I have an RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition which is only 268mm long so I theoretically have enough room for an AIO cooler on both the front and bottom. I'm only going to get an AIO to cool the GPU if I'm unsatisfied with the fan noise/cooling performance of the Founders Edition card.

The Cerberus X page says:
Two 140mm x 280mm x 30mm radiator in front / bottom with 25mm fans on front and 15mm fans on bottom
and
120mm x 240mm radiator in front + 120mm x 240mm radiator in bottom (with SFX rear plate or ATX rear plate)
and
Maximum of 480mm of radiator possible.

Don't these all contradict each other? What is actually supported?

Regarding the top fan(s):
One 120mm x 15mm fan on top fan bracket (120mm x 25mm possible but depends on motherboard)
That's only with the handle bracket, right? If you get the top fan mount you can install two fans, right? 120mm or 140mm?

Before getting these questions answered, here's my conservative guess as to what I can do:

Code:
+-----------------------------------------------+
|  +-------------(top|fan mount)--------------+ |
|  |       120mm     |      |      120mm      | |
|  +-----------------+      +-----------------+ |
+-------------------+                     +--+  |
|                   |                     |  |  |
|                   |                     |  |  |
|      SFX PSU      |                     |  |
|                   |                     |  |120x
|                   |                240mm|  |25mm
+-------------------+                rad  |  |fans,
|                                    (cpu)|  |intake
|                                         |  |  |
|                                         |  |  |
| +-----------------------------------+   +--+  |
| |           240mm rad (gpu)         |         |
| +-----------------------------------+         |
|        120x15mm fans, intake                  |
+-----------------------------------------------+

And to summarize all the questions:
  • Can I use 2x280mm rads or should I use 2x240mm rads?
  • Can I use 140mm fans in the top fan mount or is it just 120?
  • Can I use two fans in the top fan mount or just one?
  • What are some good 15mm tall fans for the bottom rad?
 
Last edited:

KSliger

King of Cable Management
Sliger Designs
May 8, 2015
855
3,186
Code:
+-----------------------------------------------+
|  +-------------(top|fan mount)--------------+ |
|  |       120mm     |      |      120mm      | |
|  +-----------------+      +-----------------+ |
+-------------------+                     +--+  |
|                   |                     |  |  |
|                   |                     |  |  |
|      SFX PSU      |                     |  |
|                   |                     |  |120x
|                   |                240mm|  |25mm
+-------------------+                rad  |  |fans,
|                                    (cpu)|  |intake
|                                         |  |  |
|                                         |  |  |
| +-----------------------------------+   +--+  |
| |           240mm rad (gpu)         |         |
| +-----------------------------------+         |
|        120x15mm fans, intake                  |
+-----------------------------------------------+

And to summarize all the questions:
  • Can I use 2x280mm rads or should I use 2x240mm rads?
  • Can I use 140mm fans in the top fan mount or is it just 120?
  • Can I use two fans in the top fan mount or just one?
  • What are some good 15mm tall fans for the bottom rad?

You can do 2x 240mm, you have the layout depicted right. (nice drawing lol)
A 280mm will fit in the bottom, but it is a tight fit.
I would recommend 1x 240mm for CPU and then air cool or hybrid cooling for the GPU.

With handle bracket one 120mm or a 140mm with 120mm hole pattern.=
With top mount bracket you can fit 2x 120mm or 2x slim 140mm but depends on the motherboard. I would suggest 2x 120mm.

I would look up benchmarks for 15mm fans on radiators to pick one - I'm terrible at recommendations on those other than to get one with the rubber gasket inserts. If you only have one GPU you should be able to use 25mm fans on the radiator.

Builds on these pages, I need to get these linked on the product page.

https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...-the-18l-matx-usa-made-enclosure.454/page-234
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...-the-18l-matx-usa-made-enclosure.454/page-243
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...-the-18l-matx-usa-made-enclosure.454/page-261
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...-the-18l-matx-usa-made-enclosure.454/page-262
 

junglist724

Minimal Tinkerer
New User
Aug 4, 2018
3
6
I did a custom loop in mine and it's kind of messy, but with no side panel window it doesn't bother me. There were definitely some clearance issues I ran into with the parts I picked.

  • My bottom rad is basically touching the front panel connectors and that also made using the usb 3.0 header impossible for this motherboard(C7H). If the header wasn't at the bottom of the mobo or if the cable had a low profile right angle connector it might have worked.
  • Because of the GPU IO, I have to insert it at an angle and the rear IO runs into that protrusion right below the side hinge and I end up with the gpu scraping against my bottom front fan as I try to get it slotted in.
  • My front rad is also practically touching my 2 sata ssds.
  • There's also no way I could fit 120x25mm fans on top, my nf-a25x15 fans are only a couple mm away from the VRM heatsinks on my Crosshair 7 Hero.
  • Of course with all the tubing going there's not a lot of room to stuff cables so custom length cables would certainly help keep things tidy.
  • Everything has to go in and come out in a certain order.
 
Last edited:

KSliger

King of Cable Management
Sliger Designs
May 8, 2015
855
3,186
I did a custom loop in mine and it's kind of messy, but with no side panel window it doesn't bother me. There were definitely some clearance issues I ran into with the parts I picked.

  • My bottom rad is basically touching the front panel connectors and that also made using the usb 3.0 header impossible for this motherboard(C7H). If the header wasn't at the bottom of the mobo or if the cable had a low profile right angle connector it might have worked.
  • Because of the GPU IO, I have to insert it at an angle and the rear IO runs into that protrusion right below the side hinge and I end up with the gpu scraping against my bottom front fan as I try to get it slotted in.
  • My front rad is also practically touching my 2 sata ssds.
  • There's also no way I could fit 120x25mm fans on top, my nf-a25x15 fans are only a couple mm away from the VRM heatsinks on my Crosshair 7 Hero.
  • Of course with all the tubing going there's not a lot of room to stuff cables so custom length cables would certainly help keep things tidy.
  • Everything has to go in and come out in a certain order.

This is a first, 600mm of radiator? Damn!

Despite the clutter the fit is incredible! How are the temperatures? Airflow still have room to move, or is everything blowing outward?

How did you fill this up?

Could you use a USB 2.0 cable in the front with how small those 10 pin headers are?
 
  • Like
Reactions: fabio