• Save 15% on ALL SFF Network merch, until Dec 31st! Use code SFF2024 at checkout. Click here!

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

PlayfulPhoenix

Founder of SFF.N
Original poster
SFFLAB
Chimera Industries
Gold Supporter
Feb 22, 2015
1,052
1,990
Just an FYI, reviews are stating that the new OCZ RD400 is a rebranded XG3 for the consumer...

Pricing seems to be in line with the 950 other than the 1TB option :/

$740 for 1TB is just soul-crushing. It's an example of owning the market if I've ever seen one :( And frustratingly, even as I am undecided on whether or not to build a desktop for myself, I'm not even sure what I'll be doing for the storage now, if I elect to pull the trigger. I personally value performance much more than capacity, and not having to install 2.5" drives and wire them up is fantastic, but at the same time... I mean, I can have four 500GB EVO 850's in striped RAID, and get twice the storage for over $100 less. (Not that I would do that, but still - I shouldn't be able to, that's just ridiculous).

With Computex on the horizon I was hoping to see more updated X99 mATX/ITX motherboards but thus far, every press release has been for ATX/E-ATX.
Unfortunately, my dream mATX board with three PCIe 3.0 slots, m.2 PCIe x4 (and/or U.2 in place of SATA Express) and USB Type-C Gen 2 WITH Thunderbolt 3

...still escapes me.

You and me both! I'm sure there will be board announcements, but we can only hope that they include such a product with those specific features. We shall see.
 

alamilla

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Feb 11, 2016
120
114
I want the same board... That's why there are people asking for an ATX version of the Kimera Cerberus, because manufacturers aren't focused on mATX X99 boards anymore it seems.
I think a big problem stems from this mentality amongst manufacturers that users interested in SFF products aren't power users, which is why historically most mATX offerings have been cut down or compromised versions of their larger siblings.
So far, Asrock are the only ones who seem to be innovating whether it's there X99e-itx/ac, triple M.2 Z170, or 10 gigabit Ethernet (even if their aesthetics leave a lot to be desired).
I'm banking on them refreshing their X99 line up
 

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,947
4,953
I personally love ASrock's current Z170 mATX lineup and I find their color scheme to be refreshing amongst a sea of red and blue:


I wish they gave the same features and look to their current/old X99M Extreme4:


That's the only X99 board I'm considering but I'm not sure if I didn't wind up with the Z170 board because of the major price difference. Or maybe AMD can get Zen out in time or atleast something concrete to know if an AM4 board is a good investment.
 

jeshikat

Jessica. Wayward SFF.n Founder
Silver Supporter
Feb 22, 2015
4,969
4,783
i linked before a method that allows you to engrave with a cnc quickly and through powdercoat.

We probably won't offer engraving like that due to the production plan we have planned.

I think a big problem stems from this mentality amongst manufacturers that users interested in SFF products aren't power users, which is why historically most mATX offerings have been cut down or compromised versions of their larger siblings.

It's also sales. Raja from Asus said that the X99-M WS was only developed to "keep up with the Joneses" and he'd be happy if they even sold enough to just cover development costs.

So it's a chicken and egg problem, not many power users go mATX because the board options are limited, but manufacturers don't spend as much development resources on mATX because they're not popular with power users :\
 
  • Like
Reactions: Commissariat

TheInternal

Trash Compacter
May 27, 2016
53
13
Clean design. The infinite vents idea is wonderfully brilliant in it's simplicity. What's the max allowable CPU heatsink height on the ATX PSU version?
 

jeshikat

Jessica. Wayward SFF.n Founder
Silver Supporter
Feb 22, 2015
4,969
4,783
That's one of the problems with the ATX variant, because the standoffs are fixed in place it won't be very suited to using microATX boards in it. The upper 6 standoffs will still work but the lower 2 will be too far down so the lower part of the board will be unsupported.

Could be worked around I suppose, so ignoring that issue, with a microATX board in the ATX variant of Cerberus you'd have about 97mm from the bottom edge of the motherboard to the bottom of the case.
 

Lehani

Minimal Tinkerer
May 22, 2016
4
0
I want the same board... That's why there are people asking for an ATX version of the Kimera Cerberus, because manufacturers aren't focused on mATX X99 boards anymore it seems.

well they do make em but it isnt a high consumers market for mATX... its more of ITX and ATX / E-ATX.
mATX always come with a few months of delay.
 

Pat-Roner

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Feb 18, 2016
140
103


I think this goes to show that Cerberus unfortunately lost a lot of the EU market due to the extreme shipping cost. :(
 

jeshikat

Jessica. Wayward SFF.n Founder
Silver Supporter
Feb 22, 2015
4,969
4,783
Perhaps, but Dan is shipping the cases from Germany so we can't match his shipping costs, it's a much smaller box, and he's been heavily promoting the case on German forums and review sites.

Not to say we shouldn't work on lowering our international shipping, but the logistics for the DAN A4-SFX and Cerberus for Europeans is much different.
 

jeshikat

Jessica. Wayward SFF.n Founder
Silver Supporter
Feb 22, 2015
4,969
4,783
Sometime between now and the release of Half-Life 3*!

*Also probably before the end of the year
 
  • Like
Reactions: Roger