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

[sn0man]

Well, well, RTX Ampere (and upcoming RDNA2 Big Navi) GPU are considerably impacting SFF world with their high power consumption, heat generation & card size.
(something already started with Turing vs Pascal)

Positive point from it was to made up my mind related to my 2 main setups.

Cerberus-X :

• Once again, Cerberus-X is proving its versability and future proof concept
• This setup will be focused on my personal gaming (4K 60, ultra details, some competitive), family storage & office

First decisions from RTX 3080 release & my personal experience :

• Motherboard, RAM and CPU (& cpu coolers) setups will remain unchanged. Even R7 1700X is perfectly fitted for 4K gaming with RTX 3080
  
  • Cerberus-X:
    • CPU : AMD R7 3800X OC 4.3Ghz
    • MB : Asus X370 Crosshair VI Hero
    • RAM : 2x8Go G-Skill Flare-X, 3800 MTS (Samsung B-dies)
    • CPU COOLER : Noctua C14S with Noctua NF A12x25 (Top, Intake), NF A14 (bottom intake)
• RTX 3080 (and upcoming enthousiast) GPU will be more and more power hungry...even 600W PSU (SF600) will start suffering (check comment on below video. Youtuber Dave Lee is experiencing hard reboot with SF600 Gold edition on Aida 64 psu test)
  

Thus, as a global conclusion, here is my current plan for my setup :

• Cerberus-X :
  • GPU : currently GTX 1070, moving to Nvidia 3080 or AMD 6900K?? Wait for release of both (Christmas). Not yet decided if GPU needs to be compatible with SM550 (size)
  • PSU : currently modded SF600. Will switch it by SX800 LTI
  • m.2 SSDs:
    • Samsung 950 Pro 512Go (boot disk)
    • AData SX8200 Pro 2To (Gaming)
    • Samsung 860 EVO 2To (Storage and video rendering)
    • Currently none. Will move Crucial MX500 1To (Storage duplication) from SM550

I will let you informed how things will happen..

1st: i'm thrilled you will keep at it with a Cerberus setup. I saw you were considering maybe going away from it and that worried me as I love using you as resource.


2nd: I'm loving my Cerberus X and am Considering hand-me-down it to my wife and building a Cerberus MATX 3080 Ryzen setup for myself.
My SF600 Gold is probably DOA with my 3600.... though that may be low end enough to play with a 3080FE for a few months till I do a second build but I'm a little leery of that. My current EVGA 1080 FTW + 3600 seems just fine.

I wonder if the SF600 would be okay if it had no add-in cards, had very few fans, and an m.2 SSD but I won't push it.


Now if only that Chromax U9S would show up then I could star the inevitable fan arrangement considerations.

Are you going to stay air cooled + 3080FE or are you considering liquid?

 

[MarcParis]

1st: i'm thrilled you will keep at it with a Cerberus setup. I saw you were considering maybe going away from it and that worried me as I love using you as resource.

Thanks a lot. I definitely love my Cerberus-X, especially on horizontal stand as it's pretty easy to maintain and upgrade.

2nd: I'm loving my Cerberus X and am Considering hand-me-down it to my wife and building a Cerberus MATX 3080 Ryzen setup for myself.
My SF600 Gold is probably DOA with my 3600.... though that may be low end enough to play with a 3080FE for a few months till I do a second build but I'm a little leery of that. My current EVGA 1080 FTW + 3600 seems just fine.

I wonder if the SF600 would be okay if it had no add-in cards, had very few fans, and an m.2 SSD but I won't push it.


Now if only that Chromax U12 would show up then I could star the inevitable fan arrangement considerations.

Are you going to stay air cooled + 3080FE or are you considering liquid?

Well I assume that my SF600 is definitely damaged. Even with fan at 1500rpm I got some random crashes.
I'll try using alternative psu from today. If I need to upgrade it will be SFX-L, and most probably SX800-LTI.

For my future GPU (either nvidia or amd) I'll go for aircooled version. Decision will be made by late 2020 or Q1 2021. Other personal project could delay gpu upgrade.
For CPU upgrade, if my motherboard is not damaged I'll update for Zen 4 with DDR5.

 

[sn0man]

Noctua U9S Chromax Black in stock now. Just ordered one for my Cerberus X!

 

[MarcParis]

Noctua U9S Chromax Black in stock now. Just ordered one for my Cerberus X!

lol..
Did you actually own a "non chromax" U9S?..

 

[sn0man]

lol..
Did you actually own a "non chromax" U9S?..

Nope. I had a wraith stealth that i got with my 3600. a friend gave me the unicorn barf wraith prism. it's nice enough but the processor gets hot enough that my motherboard bios spins up the fans quite a bit. i'm hopeful that the U9S will do a better job of keeping the 3600 cool.

 

[MarcParis]

Nope. I had a wraith stealth that i got with my 3600. a friend gave me the unicorn barf wraith prism. it's nice enough but the processor gets hot enough that my motherboard bios spins up the fans quite a bit. i'm hopeful that the U9S will do a better job of keeping the 3600 cool.

Well not really sure...but you will see..

 

[sn0man]

Well not really sure...but you will see..

I know you have moved on to bigger and better coolers. I plan to not overclock and may get a 5600x or the 8-core version (forget the name). In each case I'll just let precision boost do its thing. I'll post pics once I've assembled in case anyone is interested but may not get to it until thx giving week.

 

[MarcParis]

I know you have moved on to bigger and better coolers. I plan to not overclock and may get a 5600x or the 8-core version (forget the name). In each case I'll just let precision boost do its thing. I'll post pics once I've assembled in case anyone is interested but may not get to it until thx giving week.

You are right I tested U9S with early version of Ryzen 1.. (May 2017)
As far as I remembered I was forced to replace standard fan with redux version as fan was peaking at max way too often.

Since, things changed a lot..

Please keep us informed how U9S is handling R5 3600. Maybe you will upgrade to R7 5800X.. (Maybe I'll do too...or R9 5900X.. with second gen of B550/X570 MB.. I'm looking for strong CPU as it proved really helpful on loading times on Baldur's Gate 3 or Solasta..)

 

[integer]

I really love the high airflow design of the SM580, but need also need mATX.

Anyone know if it's possible to have a Cerberus with this style of of side vent?

 

[Uruk]

Testing the 5800X atm, and temps with the NH-C14S are definitely in the warm side. Maybe is time to play with liquid again ?

 

[MarcParis]

Testing the 5800X atm, and temps with the NH-C14S are definitely in the warm side. Maybe is time to play with liquid again ?

How is setup your c14s? Fan on bracket? Dual fan ?
What is your ambiant temperature ?

Going with water on cpu (240mm or higher) will head to higher gpu temp.
Only 92mm watercooling or full cpu+gpu watercooling won’t impact gpu temp...

 

[Uruk]

Push-Pull intake, with the second fan in the side bracket and room temperature around 19-20ºC.

 

[MarcParis]

Push-Pull intake, with the second fan in the side bracket and room temperature around 19-20ºC.

Those 81°c are reached just after one cinebench r20? Fans are spinning at 100% before benchmark? Just wanted to make sure that issue is not coming from slow ramp up curve.
Are you using standard Noctua a14?
No dust on heatsink?

 

[Uruk]

Those 81°c are reached just after one cinebench r20? Fans are spinning at 100% before benchmark? Just wanted to make sure that issue is not coming from slow ramp up curve.
Are you using standard Noctua a14?
No dust on heatsink?

Its all ok, no dust, fresh thermal paste, two A14s and good fan curve that starts at 1100rpm. Those are normal temps for this chip in multicore workloads.

Going with water on cpu (240mm or higher) will head to higher gpu temp.
Only 92mm watercooling or full cpu+gpu watercooling won’t impact gpu temp...

I have somewhere here the SFX back bracket, maybe is time to put it in use and experiment with 280mm front AIO ?

 

[integer]

Testing the 5800X atm, and temps with the NH-C14S are definitely in the warm side. Maybe is time to play with liquid again ?

Thanks for update on the new AMD Ryzen chips. My 5800 on the way too.

Also you might want to consider an undervolt if you haven't already.

EDIT: nm, I see undervolting is currently temporarily suspended on 5000. Should be coming with an AGESA update though in the future.

AMD Robert Hallock promises Ryzen 5000 undervolting with new functionality - VideoCardz.com

AMD Director of Technical Marketing – Robert Hallock – provided more details on Ryzen 5000 series compatibility, upcoming features, and upgrade opportunities for users with AMD 500 series motherboards. AMD lifts the curtain on Ryzen 5000 series Yesterday AMD released its Ryzen 5000 series...

videocardz.com

 

[integer]

Anyone rocking an mATX board in the cerberus?

I'm hoping to pull of a dense system. So a 5950x and a 3080 using ASrock X570M board to keep it together. CPU prob water, and GPU maybe air? Wondering where to place things, and even if it can be done. Like can you have a side 240 Rad with an mATX board?

On the fence whether to just order a Cerberus X cos it's my first SFF build as that would prob be easier to build in I'm guessing.

 

[MarcParis]

Its all ok, no dust, fresh thermal paste, two A14s and good fan curve that starts at 1100rpm. Those are normal temps for this chip in multicore workloads.
I have somewhere here the SFX back bracket, maybe is time to put it in use and experiment with 280mm front AIO ?

For sure front AIO could be tested. Be careful on tubing orientation (better to have tubing at the bottom to max performance/reliability....but difficult to rout due to GPU or too short tubes..)

 

[Uruk]

Thanks for update on the new AMD Ryzen chips. My 5800 on the way too.

Also you might want to consider an undervolt if you haven't already.

EDIT: nm, I see undervolting is currently temporarily suspended on 5000. Should be coming with an AGESA update though in the future.

AMD Robert Hallock promises Ryzen 5000 undervolting with new functionality - VideoCardz.com

AMD Director of Technical Marketing – Robert Hallock – provided more details on Ryzen 5000 series compatibility, upcoming features, and upgrade opportunities for users with AMD 500 series motherboards. AMD lifts the curtain on Ryzen 5000 series Yesterday AMD released its Ryzen 5000 series...

videocardz.com

The beta BIOS Im using still gives you the option to undervolt, and with -0,05v temperatures drop from 81ºC to 77ºC. My plan atm is to wait and see what AMD brings in terms of undervolt with new AGESA, and decide then what to do with CPU cooling, because none of the alternatives convince me. Bottom AIO is noisy and affects negatively GPU temperatures, and front 280 AIO limits greatly the space for big GPUs (love new Asus TUF lineup).

 

[MarcParis]

The beta BIOS Im using still gives you the option to undervolt, and with -0,05v temperatures drop from 81ºC to 77ºC. My plan atm is to wait and see what AMD brings in terms of undervolt with new AGESA, and decide then what to do with CPU cooling, because none of the alternatives convince me. Bottom AIO is noisy and affects negatively GPU temperatures, and front 280 AIO limits greatly the space for big GPUs (love new Asus TUF lineup).

ahah..
C14S or Rear 92mm AIO are best suited CPU cooler for Cerberus family..

 

[Uruk]

ahah..
C14S or Rear 92mm AIO are best suited CPU cooler for Cerberus family..

Did you ever tried in your tests a 140mm AIO mounted in the side bracket? Could be another option ?