Chimera Industries Cerberus: The 18L, mATX, USA-made enclosure

[Wyd4]

@KSliger when the Cerberus is available on NewEgg, will it be using their shipping? I find that NewEgg shipping rates are decent value on most things. Just hoping that the NewEgg partnership may help a little on the NZ$530 plus taxes (NZ$133) it's going to cost me to get the Cerberus I want!

This is indeed exciting.
I was considering a Cerberus to upgrade from my ncase (so I can have a bit more air flow for my radiators really and because I love the look of both), but the shipping was making it not viable for me. I could buy 2 itx cases (albeit not nice ones) for the price of shipping to Australia haha.

 

[giraffesinmybalcony]

@KSliger seeing that SM550 has been launched on your site, do you have an estimate of when it will also be available on Newegg alongside the Cerberus? It seems that it might be delayed again by the looks of it.

Also, will customisation/options be available when purchasing through Newegg?

 

[Taswegian]

So...i "modded" my Cerberus build and it dropped 5C on the GPU LOL

I had plans to 3D print a bunch of parts to route air inside the case, in particular shrouds for the GPU and C14S to exhaust hot air from the case rather than dumping it to mix inside. And maybe some ducting to get nice flow over secondary heat sources like VRMs, drives etc.

I also wanted to create a concertina air filter to get much more surface area = low restriction and long cleaning intervals.

Unfortunately I thought about it a bit too long and now the project has got waaay out of hand.

 

[kecoal2]

Not Sure if anyone knows on this. I should be fine if I get 2 x 16GB sticks of the same type of memory right? I currently have 2 x 8 sticks. If i get the same model/speeds it should be fine right?

I am working on shortening my PSU cables and I was wondering what AWG I would need for the Seasonsic Titantium PSUs. This entire reduction of wires will make the airflow much better.

Also Scythe Fuma B(triple fan) + my zip tied ATX psu in the SFX slot is still doing fine. I was considering picking up the new dual 140MM top piece to see if I could mount some screws over it to suspend the PSU. I think I'll need to mount a exhaust at the top to accelerate the hot air removal. Any 15mm fan suggestions for the top?

@KSliger do you have any renders of how the new front I/O extension stuff would work? I would love to see how/where the USB C goes.

 

[KSliger]

@KSliger seeing that SM550 has been launched on your site, do you have an estimate of when it will also be available on Newegg alongside the Cerberus? It seems that it might be delayed again by the looks of it.

Also, will customisation/options be available when purchasing through Newegg?

Cerberus and Cerberus X we are trying to get up on NewEgg Friday. Will be in three combinations; black with handle and no window, black with handle + window, white with black top + handle + window.

SM550 stuff is not delaying the Cerberus, really excited to get it on NewEgg.

I had plans to 3D print a bunch of parts to route air inside the case, in particular shrouds for the GPU and C14S to exhaust hot air from the case rather than dumping it to mix inside. And maybe some ducting to get nice flow over secondary heat sources like VRMs, drives etc.

I also wanted to create a concertina air filter to get much more surface area = low restriction and long cleaning intervals.

Unfortunately I thought about it a bit too long and now the project has got waaay out of hand.

If you do make some of these I am happy to share them on the Cerberus page as downloads!

Not Sure if anyone knows on this. I should be fine if I get 2 x 16GB sticks of the same type of memory right? I currently have 2 x 8 sticks. If i get the same model/speeds it should be fine right?

I am working on shortening my PSU cables and I was wondering what AWG I would need for the Seasonsic Titantium PSUs. This entire reduction of wires will make the airflow much better.

Also Scythe Fuma B(triple fan) + my zip tied ATX psu in the SFX slot is still doing fine. I was considering picking up the new dual 140MM top piece to see if I could mount some screws over it to suspend the PSU. I think I'll need to mount a exhaust at the top to accelerate the hot air removal. Any 15mm fan suggestions for the top?

@KSliger do you have any renders of how the new front I/O extension stuff would work? I would love to see how/where the USB C goes.

If you have 2x 8GB and 2x 16GB your system will only use 8GB of each at the slowest ones speed.

The USB C is waiting on the Chinese vendors to finish samples - apologies on delays on this.

Was hoping to get the USB C and the unvented tops ready for Friday with NewEgg release, looks like we will just be doing unvented tops and NewEgg.

 

[giraffesinmybalcony]

@KSliger lovely to hear that! would you mind considering white with black top + window + vented + top fan brackets?

 

[isabirov]

The USB C is waiting on the Chinese vendors to finish samples - apologies on delays on this.

Was hoping to get the USB C and the unvented tops ready for Friday with NewEgg release, looks like we will just be doing unvented tops and NewEgg.

@KSliger Hi, Kahlin.
The USB C panel will include only USB C port or USB C plus standart A type?
It would be nice to transfer top USBs to side panel and leave just power button on top, same as SM550. You know, my custom order is still waiting for USB C Sad that unvented top without USB cutouts didn't get a chance.
By the way, great work on SM550, really like the case design. Congrats

 

[AMv8-1day]

So I finally got around to loading a few shots of the 13" x 12" Z9PE-D16 NOT fitting in my Cerberus X.
Apologies if the pics are annoyingly large. Still getting familiarized with IMGR.

Top down shot of the board eating up every mm of vertical space.

The only way to insert the GPU was to take off the bracket.

The board was fully flush with the front and back of the case, preventing me from even lining up the standoff screws.

Even the RAM slots were locked in place inside the case.

 

[AMv8-1day]

So the Z9PE-D16 SSI-EEB was obviously not going to work, nevermind the non-removable standoffs that I would've had to sheer off and replace.

Soooo take two!

A shot somewhere along the way between playing with HSF compatibility and motherboard swapping.

This worked out a bit better and bonus: actually ran! Sidenote, the SFX PSU in the top right wasn't available originally, so this was running on just the EVGA 650 GQ. This was just a decent shot I found while I was test fitting the new SFX PSU.
Obviously the PSU was temporary while I was waiting for the SF750 to be released, but it was impressive how well it fit. Although the case panels couldn't be put on.
I was also having issues getting dual CPUs to work, necessitating a 3rd CPU purchase, and then a 64GB of ECC RAM purchase.

Good shot of the work in progress, although I eventually rerouted all of the power cables.

I love these coolers and the hilariously tight fit, but running the fans this way posed heat issues for the 2nd CPU.

Much better cooling this way, but it's time for some real cooling...

Basically operating spec for the moment.
Pretty unimpressed with the current gen GPUs, but may give in and pickup a triple fan RTX 2060 just to balance it out and fill in some space.
The Gigabyte Gaming GPUs are triple fan, but still only 280mm long, giving me space to fit up to 30mm radiator + fans down the road.

Thoughts?

 

[VegetableStu]

WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA DAT CLOSE FITTING PAIR OF HEATSINKS O_O

 

[MarcParis]

So the Z9PE-D16 SSI-EEB was obviously not going to work, nevermind the non-removable standoffs that I would've had to sheer off and replace.

Soooo take two!

A shot somewhere along the way between playing with HSF compatibility and motherboard swapping.

This worked out a bit better and bonus: actually ran! Sidenote, the SFX PSU in the top right wasn't available originally, so this was running on just the EVGA 650 GQ. This was just a decent shot I found while I was test fitting the new SFX PSU.
Obviously the PSU was temporary while I was waiting for the SF750 to be released, but it was impressive how well it fit. Although the case panels couldn't be put on.
I was also having issues getting dual CPUs to work, necessitating a 3rd CPU purchase, and then a 64GB of ECC RAM purchase.

Good shot of the work in progress, although I eventually rerouted all of the power cables.

I love these coolers and the hilariously tight fit, but running the fans this way posed heat issues for the 2nd CPU.

Much better cooling this way, but it's time for some real cooling...

Basically operating spec for the moment.
Pretty unimpressed with the current gen GPUs, but may give in and pickup a triple fan RTX 2060 just to balance it out and fill in some space.
The Gigabyte Gaming GPUs are triple fan, but still only 280mm long, giving me space to fit up to 30mm radiator + fans down the road.

Thoughts?

Pretty impressed by your dual tower u9s setup..

What about cpu thermals?

 

[mark94delta]

Hi guys
I have recently finished a build with this case and have one problem that I can't shake and I am hoping for some suggestions . Whatever fan I use for intakes makes a humming sound on the grate , top , bottom , front the position doesn't matter . I have 2 insignia 120mm and 1 80mm fans and these are tolerable but the only thing that really helps is a enclosed dust filter in a plastic cage . I also tried to use 2 120mm noctua slim fans but they make my pc sound like a lawn mower even around 1000rpm , it seems the stronger the fan the worse the noise . It is pretty quiet right now with the insignia 120mm fans , one at the top to exhaust and one front intake with a dust filter but it would be nice to use better fans .

 

[AMv8-1day]

Pretty impressed by your dual tower u9s setup..

What about cpu thermals?

They're running like a dream!
Really surprised how cool they run actually considering the 130W CPUs. Been running 24/7 Fold@Home CPU clients to push them and even slowed down the fans because of how cool they're running. 16 cores running flat out and they rearely peak 60° AFTER installing low noise adapters. Haven't played with the fan curves at all yet.
Already have the Z9PE-D16 mounted in an NZXT H500 with plans to cram in a pair of NH-U14S'.
Those will have to cool laterally though. Only a single 140mm vent up top and the heat sinks won't clear each other otherwise. May still run into RAM clearance issues, but server RAM is pretty low profile.

 

[MarcParis]

Hi guys
I have recently finished a build with this case and have one problem that I can't shake and I am hoping for some suggestions . Whatever fan I use for intakes makes a humming sound on the grate , top , bottom , front the position doesn't matter . I have 2 insignia 120mm and 1 80mm fans and these are tolerable but the only thing that really helps is a enclosed dust filter in a plastic cage . I also tried to use 2 120mm noctua slim fans but they make my pc sound like a lawn mower even around 1000rpm , it seems the stronger the fan the worse the noise . It is pretty quiet right now with the insignia 120mm fans , one at the top to exhaust and one front intake with a dust filter but it would be nice to use better fans .

Have you tried fan outside the case?
You need to see if vibration is coming from the case or the motor fan?
Have you tried to apply some foam or soft fixations like on noctua?

Benchmark 120mm fan in terms of cooling/noise ratio in noctua nf a12x25 (Along with gentle typhoon 2150rpm). With noctua you can also apply foam on the whole frame. You can try one

 

[VegetableStu]

going back to the spine thing. turns out Amazon sells steel angles (for the absolute worse case scenario in the event I can't find leftover cuts in my area ,_,)

looks a lot less crowded than the Plan-B design of a full D5 watercooling loop ,_,

so what I'm aiming to do is the make a right-angle bend with them and screw them in pace directly to the panel faces. the rad will be mounted directly to the spine (so that the stock angle doesn't bottom out) and the side hinge

left with looking at hole alignment with the front panel vent and the rear panel vent. plus mounting strategy (I really want to avoid rivets there, because otherwise that'd mean the motherboard will be trapped inside for a long time)

as for the interference with the fans and the rad in the drawing, it's not a mistake. I plan to buff out a bit of the frame to seat 120mm fans in there directly on the fins (it's meant for 140mm fans, but I might be able to shave out the unnecessary bits and not lose the 140mm mounting points)

(gonna still work with a terribly oversized and overweight rad I have in the name of Whye Knott)

pasting the steel angle links here to save tab space:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002CU1KEQ/?tag=theminutiae-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002B7S0NE/?tag=theminutiae-20
(unslotted because I get the feeling those slots are 10mm in diameter o_o) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002CTZJIK/?tag=theminutiae-20

EDIT: not pictured: gonna mount the 2.5" SSDs with the adapter frame between the front vent and the aluminium panel. will be shaving it and making new holes for it to work. solves a lot of disk access headaches down the road

 

[vseddie]

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone has/has pics of a 240 radiator on the Cerberus side bracket hinge?

Currently got an itx 9900k build in the Cerberus with a 280 aio at the bottom. Thinking of upgrading to the 2080ti kingpin that uses a 240 aio and just wondering if it will fit.

 

[MarcParis]

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone has/has pics of a 240 radiator on the Cerberus side bracket hinge?

Currently got an itx 9900k build in the Cerberus with a 280 aio at the bottom. Thinking of upgrading to the 2080ti kingpin that uses a 240 aio and just wondering if it will fit.

issue of 240mm radiator on side bracket is psu location.

For me it's doable if you are using dc-dc or relocate psu somewhere else in the case.

 

[KSliger]

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone has/has pics of a 240 radiator on the Cerberus side bracket hinge?

Currently got an itx 9900k build in the Cerberus with a 280 aio at the bottom. Thinking of upgrading to the 2080ti kingpin that uses a 240 aio and just wondering if it will fit.

I have only seen this work with a MiniITX board and an SFX power supply mounted in a modded position. By default Cerberus will not work with this. 120mm or 140mm AIO would work though!

 

[MarcParis]

https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...x-complete-build-log.2007/page-24#post-140218

@KSliger Cerberus is now fully certified by cats, either it stands vertically or horizontally! Congratulations!

Looks good, I think the real question is do the cats like it?

YEAH!!
Here is my cat's king (small baby of 12kg..) :

 

[Windfall]

https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...x-complete-build-log.2007/page-24#post-140218

@KSliger Cerberus is now fully certified by cats, either it stands vertically or horizontally! Congratulations!


YEAH!!
Here is my cat's king (small baby of 12kg..) :

They're cute.. but cat hairs in your fans is not.