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

[lomskat404]

My Cerberus has finally arrived! I'm therefore the proud owner of the very first Cerberus case in Poland.

First impressions:

It's pretty tiny. It blows my mind. It's even smaller than I expected it to be.

I was wondering if the texture and finish is going to be at least on par with my previous NZXT case, which has beautiful black steel all over. While the texture is not as smooth as NZXT, it's definitely on par. Good job!

The sides are a bit hard to take off, but having no thumb screws is quite a novelty.

Gonna post pics when I'm done with the build, although it might take a while (busy schedule).

 

[Sancus]

FWIW, the sides of my case were pretty hard to take off the first time, but after ~10-15 repetitions it got much easier and now it's no problem. Not sure if there's a way for @KSliger to fix this, short of having someone take the panels on and off a bunch of times before shipping(which is a little silly).

If they were easy to take off at first I suspect they'd end up being too loose after 'breaking in'.

 

[axtran]

Anyone know the maximum amount of drives that you can mount in a Cerberus? I'm thinking of a mATX platform for a NAS, and I want it to be sexy...

 

[Soules]

Anyone know the maximum amount of drives that you can mount in a Cerberus? I'm thinking of a mATX platform for a NAS, and I want it to be sexy...

I would imagine 6-7 standard HDD is all, probably should be looking a the lian li pcq25/26 they are just better equipped to handle the drives and cables. So better thermals overall. The pc-q25 is a mitx 7x3.5 (5 hotswapable) case and the pc-q26 is a mitx 10x3.5 (2 hotswapable) case and both are decently small.

My ¢2 about it.

 

[MarcParis]

Anyone know the maximum amount of drives that you can mount in a Cerberus? I'm thinking of a mATX platform for a NAS, and I want it to be sexy...

I would imagine 6-7 standard HDD is all, probably should be looking a the lian li pcq25/26 they are just better equipped to handle the drives and cables. So better thermals overall. The pc-q25 is a mitx 7x3.5 (5 hotswapable) case and the pc-q26 is a mitx 10x3.5 (2 hotswapable) case and both are decently small.

My ¢2 about it.

In fact here what can be achieved, at first guess :

• 2x2,5"/1x3,5" between motherboard tray and SFX front psu
• 2x2,5"/1x3,5" front panel, below SFX psu
• 2 times 2x2,5"/1x3,5" on bottom panel
  
• 2x2,5"/1x3,5" on side bracket (if no big aircooler installed)

Total : around 12x2,5"/6x3,5"

 

[VegetableStu]

anyone knows how do I tell if my order's on its way...? :c

 

[MarcParis]

anyone knows how do I tell if my order's on its way...? :c

mp @KSliger?

 

[VegetableStu]

mmmnnn i'll go do that on the weekend. or the next time they update. don't wanna impose if they're busy ,_,

 

[hiepphotog]

Woohoo, finally ordered the case. Anyone here has done a custom water loop with this puppy? I'm going to put the 1950X in this to run my CFD and it's going to be my first custom loop. Thank you!

 

[Solo]

I keep recommending both versions of this to my friends knowing damn well that they can't afford it or have no interest in spending more than usual on an enclosure lelelelelel.

 

[MarcParis]

Woohoo, finally ordered the case. Anyone here has done a custom water loop with this puppy? I'm going to put the 1950X in this to run my CFD and it's going to be my first custom loop. Thank you!

As it will be your first custom loop, in order to avoid any frustration, keep it simple..
What do you want to cool? CPU? GPU? both?

 

[hiepphotog]

As it will be your first custom loop, in order to avoid any frustration, keep it simple..
What do you want to cool? CPU? GPU? both?

Just the CPU, and I don't plan to overclock those 16 cores any time soon but likely will after summer. Thinking of going copper/brass tubing since I already have the tools to bend and cut. For a front radiator placement, what reservoir and bump would you recommend? And the placement as well... Thank you.

 

[MarcParis]

Just the CPU, and I don't plan to overclock those 16 cores any time soon but likely will after summer. Thinking of going copper/brass tubing since I already have the tools to bend and cut. For a front radiator placement, what reservoir and bump would you recommend? And the placement as well... Thank you.

Well Enermax TR4 AIO are a very good choice indeed.
How many GPU will you use?
My advice is to stick on front SFX-L psu and use bottom panel for radiator.
To be honest, right now, we didn't see a lot of full custom loop inside Cerberus/Cerberus-X. If only Apogee Drive ii was available in TR4 socket I would have advice it to you..

If you don't plan to OC this beast 1950X, simply go to Noctua U9S TR4 edition..

 

[hiepphotog]

Well Enermax TR4 AIO are a very good choice indeed.
How many GPU will you use?
My advice is to stick on front SFX-L psu and use bottom panel for radiator.
To be honest, right now, we didn't see a lot of full custom loop inside Cerberus/Cerberus-X. If only Apogee Drive ii was available in TR4 socket I would have advice it to you..

If you don't plan to OC this beast 1950X, simply go to Noctua U9S TR4 edition..

Thank you Marc. Thank you for the suggestions. I made the decision and bought custom parts the loop. Will go the non fancy way with copper tubing and local hardware fittings. I'll post something up when I get it done within 2 weeks. Wish me luck!

 

[MarcParis]

Thank you Marc. Thank you for the suggestions. I made the decision and bought custom parts the loop. Will go the non fancy way with copper tubing and local hardware fittings. I'll post something up when I get it done within 2 weeks. Wish me luck!

sure, please share picture of your setting once it's complete and working..

 

[Taswegian]

In fact here what can be achieved, at first guess :

• 2x2,5"/1x3,5" between motherboard tray and SFX front psu
• 2x2,5"/1x3,5" front panel, below SFX psu
• 2 times 2x2,5"/1x3,5" on bottom panel
  
• 2x2,5"/1x3,5" on side bracket (if no big aircooler installed)

Total : around 12x2,5"/6x3,5"

As I was swapping some parts around on the weekend I noticed the pair of 2.5" drives I have on the side bracket seem they could mount on the rear vent instead of a 92mm fan. I plan to put a fan there so I didn't test the fit but measured with Mk 1 eyeball seemed it would work.

 

[jackfrost]

sliger.com supports neither paypal nor amex?

 

[MarcParis]

As I was swapping some parts around on the weekend I noticed the pair of 2.5" drives I have on the side bracket seem they could mount on the rear vent instead of a 92mm fan. I plan to put a fan there so I didn't test the fit but measured with Mk 1 eyeball seemed it would work.

You are right, there are some infinite vents overthere too..

 

[MaskedNozza]

Okay. So it's time for me to order a Cerberus to Australia. However, I have a couple questions trying to squeeze my build into this small chassis. I really, really, REALLY want to watercool since I can push the envelope with performance on my CPU and keep my high-powered GPU fairly cool. The GPU is NVIDIA reference length 980ti, but might upgrade to 1180ti once that comes out. With watercooling, this case only has so much space for rads, and I'm wondering if there's any possible way that a 240 rad could fit on the side bracket with an internal-mounted SFX crammed over to the side? If not, my second question is can a rear-mounted SFX be shifted away from the side bracket by flipping the PSU bracket?

EDIT: FYI this build is SUPPOSED to be a custom loop but since I plan on getting the 9700k for dem OCTOCORES and probably the next gen nvidia card, I might be sticking with my 7700k and h105 for a while. WHEN I do the custom loop, it's planned to be sexy with lots of RGB/UV, a UV-reactive decal on the side-panel window and an illuminated reservoir on the bottom. Unfortunately I do need a single mechanical for mass storage (games that i play and build tend to be on the large side) and I can't think of a way to hide it, so maybe I'll just slap a nice decal on it?

 

[MarcParis]

Okay. So it's time for me to order a Cerberus to Australia. However, I have a couple questions trying to squeeze my build into this small chassis. I really, really, REALLY want to watercool since I can push the envelope with performance on my CPU and keep my high-powered GPU fairly cool. The GPU is NVIDIA reference length 980ti, but might upgrade to 1180ti once that comes out. With watercooling, this case only has so much space for rads, and I'm wondering if there's any possible way that a 240 rad could fit on the side bracket with an internal-mounted SFX crammed over to the side? If not, my second question is can a rear-mounted SFX be shifted away from the side bracket by flipping the PSU bracket?

EDIT: FYI this build is SUPPOSED to be a custom loop but since I plan on getting the 9700k for dem OCTOCORES and probably the next gen nvidia card, I might be sticking with my 7700k and h105 for a while. WHEN I do the custom loop, it's planned to be sexy with lots of RGB/UV, a UV-reactive decal on the side-panel window and an illuminated reservoir on the bottom. Unfortunately I do need a single mechanical for mass storage (games that i play and build tend to be on the large side) and I can't think of a way to hide it, so maybe I'll just slap a nice decal on it?

If you want to maximize cooling, you can choose to use hdplex or similar dc/dc unit...and place a ac/dc brick outside.