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

KSliger

King of Cable Management
Sliger Designs
May 8, 2015
855
3,186
Thankfully I have not had any serious thermals to create any issues. My EVGA 2080 doesnt run very warm. I am aware of the panels wanting to slightly bend. Its annoying honestly and one of my only gripes about the case. I appreciate the firm connection all the panels have but man, its hard to pop them off at times lol. I'm getting some PSlate cables in a couple weeks so I will revisit my utilitarian cable management and update with some images.

One question for all users: I have 2 x 12x25 intake fans on the bottom of the case. One 12x15 intake on the lower front and an exhaust fan in the back. My Motherboard only has 2 fan connections, one the dedicated chassis fan connection and the other being the water pump connection. How would you wire these?? I have 2-1 and 3-1 splitters available. I think the water pump connection sets the fan speed at 1000 and it stays there if Im not mistaken. Should I use all intake fans with the 3-1 splitter and connect it to the chassis fan contact so I can adjust them and connect the exhaust fan to the water pump contact and just let it stay at 1000 rpm? Currently I dont recall how I have them set up, likely whatever was cleaner and easier to wire.

If you want to really loosen the panels up I would stick a screw driver into the ballstud clip, and bend the clips out a minuscule amount. This should make the panels substantially easier to remove. Any future revision of this case will drop to 4x ballstuds and a little more panel overhang on rear to pop them off from.

I'd get a SATA power fan controller and see if you can fit it in, run them all off of that.

Like this: https://www.newegg.com/p/376-001Y-0..._re=fan_controller-_-9SIACJF6HF8769-_-Product
 

Myscion

Minimal Tinkerer
Jul 30, 2019
4
6
Thanks for the advice. There's currently only one matx x570 board so it would seem your dead on. It'll be a shame to only be populate two slots in an atx case but looks like that's the best option.

I think I'll be order the red Cerberus x case. I can always use water cooling to fill up the space in the future!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bioforce

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
Thanks for the advice. There's currently only one matx x570 board so it would seem your dead on. It'll be a shame to only be populate two slots in an atx case but looks like that's the best option.

I think I'll be order the red Cerberus x case. I can always use water cooling to fill up the space in the future!
best choice by far..:)
I never regret my pre production Cerberus-x, bought 2.5years ago...;)
 

Myscion

Minimal Tinkerer
Jul 30, 2019
4
6
I chose the free option too. Hopefully it ships early this week. Just managed to get a 3900x so my build is underway!

How well will a 280 rad fit in the bottom of the case? If there any worry that it'll block the front panel connections or is there enough clearance to squeeze them in? Trying to figure out the best rad arraignment if I front mount my PSU.
 

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
I chose the free option too. Hopefully it ships early this week. Just managed to get a 3900x so my build is underway!

How well will a 280 rad fit in the bottom of the case? If there any worry that it'll block the front panel connections or is there enough clearance to squeeze them in? Trying to figure out the best rad arraignment if I front mount my PSU.
As general advice, I recommend to stick on 240mm on bottom as 280 is a real challenge to fit...:) (block most bottom i/o)
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheHig

Bioforce

Airflow Optimizer
Aug 31, 2018
251
116
I chose the free option too. Hopefully it ships early this week. Just managed to get a 3900x so my build is underway!

How well will a 280 rad fit in the bottom of the case? If there any worry that it'll block the front panel connections or is there enough clearance to squeeze them in? Trying to figure out the best rad arraignment if I front mount my PSU.

Somewhere on the forums somebody posted a picture of a Cerberus-X with two 280mm radiators AND a 120mm radiator on the side vents. It's definitely possible, but it can depend on your motherboard. With some boards it maybe necessary for you to use extensions or angular adapters for certain things like the USB 3.0 connector or other I/O along the bottom of the board.
 

variance

What's an ITX?
Aug 5, 2019
1
0
edit... just saw the front of the wallye tactik opens completely. I feel super stupid.
still the cerberus case just barely fits into it. had to remove the handle. it also takes up all the space inside.
 
Last edited:

VegetableStu

Shrink Ray Wielder
Aug 18, 2016
1,949
2,619
yeah i'm more concerned about newer boards going forward ,_, for buyers, the stuff from the previous generation makes sense, but it says a lot when people are saying "don't get the newer one"

especially when the only existing boards from this generation are crappily done ,_,
 

S7rike

What's an ITX?
Aug 5, 2019
1
4
Finished my first SFF build. Only had one problem with the top mount option. The bracket screw hole had popped out and couldn't be tightened. They sent me another one right away, so all was good.

Album

Last picture is when I first finished it before I bought a used 1080ti. The gpu in that one is a Titan X Maxwell with a 980ti hybrid cooler that is now sitting on top of the case.
 

TheHig

King of Cable Management
Oct 13, 2016
951
1,171
Moved to the 3900x and Meg Ace this weekend.


Running on stock air in Cerberus X with no issues so far. Next update will likely be cpu cooling but the included cooler is far from terrible.

High 60’s gaming at 1440p. Will post more details in my separate build log that has been going since purchasing the Case.

Specs:
3900x box cooler ,stock speeds
X570 Meg Ace by Msi
32g Team Dark Pro In 4x8 at 14.14.14.38 1.35v. 3200
Evga 2060 super Ultra
Evo 970 500gb nvme
Crucial 1tb SATA m.2
Corsair SF600 with sleeved cable kit
1 slim Noctua 120mm fan too exhaust
2 Noctua Nf F12s on floor exhaust
Cerberus X

Edit :fixed image.
 
Last edited:

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
Moved to the 3900x and Meg Ace this weekend.


Running on stock air in Cerberus X with no issues so far. Next update will likely be cpu cooling but the included cooler is far from terrible.

High 60’s gaming at 1440p. Will post more details in my separate build log that has been going since purchasing the Case.

Specs:
3900x box cooler ,stock speeds
X570 Meg Ace by Msi
32g Team Dark Pro In 4x8 at 14.14.14.38 1.35v. 3200
Evga 2060 super Ultra
Evo 970 500gb nvme
Crucial 1tb SATA m.2
Corsair SF600 with sleeved cable kit
1 slim Noctua 120mm fan too exhaust
2 Noctua Nf F12s on floor exhaust
Cerberus X

Edit :fixed image.
So what is your feedback on this combo msi meg ace and r9 3900x?...:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheHig

TheHig

King of Cable Management
Oct 13, 2016
951
1,171
Board is built like a tank and has a satisfying heft to it. That 6 layer Pcb is no joke. Little to no flex when installing ram or psu connectors.
I’m on the release bios and everything has been stable so waiting on the newest agesa to mess with flashing it.

I have only set fan curves , manually set ram (did not enable xmp) and fclk to 1600 in bios so far.

Letting the cpu do what it wants to see how it behaves before pushing it.

VERY satisfied and impressed with what AMD has done with Ryzen 2 so far.
 

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
Board is built like a tank and has a satisfying heft to it. That 6 layer Pcb is no joke. Little to no flex when installing ram or psu connectors.
I’m on the release bios and everything has been stable so waiting on the newest agesa to mess with flashing it.

I have only set fan curves , manually set ram (did not enable xmp) and fclk to 1600 in bios so far.

Letting the cpu do what it wants to see how it behaves before pushing it.

VERY satisfied and impressed with what AMD has done with Ryzen 2 so far.
I've made some experiments (you will understand soon) about my X370 chipset temperature.

While gaming with massive 3D load (Shadow of tomb raider, 4K, GTX 1080Ti at 81°C), my chipset temperature rose to 72°C...whereas at idle it's only at 40°C.
Nothing too dangerous as chipset max temperature is 100°C.

However, I understand now why X570 chipset have fan...Natively X570 are hotter than X370/X470...but if you add hot air for GPU, Chipset temperature can fly high..:)
As most of reviewers/journalists are using open air bench setup...this issue could go unseen...and this could lead to question why there is a fan on X570 (check interesting video from Der8auer .

 

Myscion

Minimal Tinkerer
Jul 30, 2019
4
6
I just called and got an update on my red Cerberus-X. Apparently they over sold the last few red systems but they are doing one last final run just for the over sold units. They would be well within there rights to just cancel the orders but The fact that they are taking time for just a few last orders is amazing!

I'm happy to wait knowing that a case will get to me eventually.

The X570 chip set fan debacle has been fascinating. I'll have my board set up soon so I'll get some first hand experience. If it's too bad hopefully I can just put a water block on it.
 

Bioforce

Airflow Optimizer
Aug 31, 2018
251
116
I just called and got an update on my red Cerberus-X. Apparently they over sold the last few red systems but they are doing one last final run just for the over sold units. They would be well within there rights to just cancel the orders but The fact that they are taking time for just a few last orders is amazing!

I'm happy to wait knowing that a case will get to me eventually.

The X570 chip set fan debacle has been fascinating. I'll have my board set up soon so I'll get some first hand experience. If it's too bad hopefully I can just put a water block on it.

Thank you for sharing. That would certainly explain the wait. Very kind of them to do a special run just for us.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Myscion