First thread, first proper build log, yay! (I hope I don't mess this up)
After over a year of stalking this project, I'm glad to say that I'm the happy owner of a Kimera Cerberus mATX case! As my setup is only as old as Black Friday 2015, this was a relatively simple component transplant of a modest system but lacks the pretty pile of boxes of an all new build.
Setup:
Overall impression:
Cerberus is everything I'd hoped it'd be! Its pop-off panels made access extremely simple from all directions, the Infinite Vents allowed easy micromanaging of fan and hard drive placement, and the carrying handle is easily attached and removed from the outside. This was also my first SFF build so I can now fully appreciate part layout and cable routing gymnastics; I didn't run into much of a personal learning curve due to having small and thin fingers/hands which made things significantly easier to navigate.
The washi tape decoration was a fun tangent to explore, as it's easily removable and there's a ton of color and pattern options available.
The pre-production status of this case also meant that official instruction manual documentation does not yet exist, which posed a little bit of a challenge for a novice builder such as myself due to being spoiled with the excessively detailed documentation included with the Cooler Master. Figuring out the 3.5" hard drive bracket was the most difficult task but with a bit of trial and error I think I managed to arrive at the correct (or an incorrect but functional) solution. Not really knowing each type of screw and its typical use case(s) made for a lot of counting and magnified thread examination.
TL;DR - It was so easy, even a clueless beginner with a few critical thinking skills could succeed!
As can be seen in the slideshow, I accidentally installed one of the two bottom intake fans upside-down; this did (of course) have an effect on internal temperatures. Correcting the problem reverted temperatures to similar but slightly higher numbers than in the old case, which was what I expected to find.
Future plans for this case include more decorating shenanigans and mounting a slim ODD on the front panel for either convenient storage until called into action, or outright disk access via the side openings.
*** Update 2017/06/24 ***
Optical drive proof of concept test was a success, with just enough room to hit the eject button by hand. Now I just need to decide how I'd like to securely mount it.
*** Update 2017/06/30 ***
Borrowed one of the sides of the 2.5" bracket to use as a bottom support and rubber coated twist ties do the rest. I wanted something that would be stable but easily removable, and I think I've succeeded enough for my own purposes.
Designing a more elegant solution like a 3-D printed custom bracket might be fun to try as a side project!
*** Update 2017/12/29 - Cable Management (sort of) **
Finally! Also featuring right-side-out ODD, rearranged hard drives, and robot ears while flexing the top panel in the other direction for a while.
*** Update 2018/06/19 ***
I wound up getting a good price on a new GPU, secondhand unopened. It's comically big compared to the trusty GTX 960; there's also completely unnecessary but admittedly pretty lights and it's now one less thing to be concerned about for quite a while! There's also one more fan in the case, added in a moment of "eh why not?" after retrieving it from a resurrected Dell headed back to closet retirement.
After over a year of stalking this project, I'm glad to say that I'm the happy owner of a Kimera Cerberus mATX case! As my setup is only as old as Black Friday 2015, this was a relatively simple component transplant of a modest system but lacks the pretty pile of boxes of an all new build.
Setup:
- CPU: Intel Core i5-4590
- Motherboard: Gigabyte H97M-D3H
- GPU: Zotac - Nvidia Geforce GTX 960
- Storage: 250 GB Samsung 850 EVO | 1 TB Seagate Barracuda
- Old Case: Cooler Master N200
- New Case: KI Cerberus - beige
Overall impression:
Cerberus is everything I'd hoped it'd be! Its pop-off panels made access extremely simple from all directions, the Infinite Vents allowed easy micromanaging of fan and hard drive placement, and the carrying handle is easily attached and removed from the outside. This was also my first SFF build so I can now fully appreciate part layout and cable routing gymnastics; I didn't run into much of a personal learning curve due to having small and thin fingers/hands which made things significantly easier to navigate.
The washi tape decoration was a fun tangent to explore, as it's easily removable and there's a ton of color and pattern options available.
The pre-production status of this case also meant that official instruction manual documentation does not yet exist, which posed a little bit of a challenge for a novice builder such as myself due to being spoiled with the excessively detailed documentation included with the Cooler Master. Figuring out the 3.5" hard drive bracket was the most difficult task but with a bit of trial and error I think I managed to arrive at the correct (or an incorrect but functional) solution. Not really knowing each type of screw and its typical use case(s) made for a lot of counting and magnified thread examination.
TL;DR - It was so easy, even a clueless beginner with a few critical thinking skills could succeed!
As can be seen in the slideshow, I accidentally installed one of the two bottom intake fans upside-down; this did (of course) have an effect on internal temperatures. Correcting the problem reverted temperatures to similar but slightly higher numbers than in the old case, which was what I expected to find.
Future plans for this case include more decorating shenanigans and mounting a slim ODD on the front panel for either convenient storage until called into action, or outright disk access via the side openings.
*** Update 2017/06/24 ***
Optical drive proof of concept test was a success, with just enough room to hit the eject button by hand. Now I just need to decide how I'd like to securely mount it.
*** Update 2017/06/30 ***
Borrowed one of the sides of the 2.5" bracket to use as a bottom support and rubber coated twist ties do the rest. I wanted something that would be stable but easily removable, and I think I've succeeded enough for my own purposes.
Designing a more elegant solution like a 3-D printed custom bracket might be fun to try as a side project!
*** Update 2017/12/29 - Cable Management (sort of) **
Finally! Also featuring right-side-out ODD, rearranged hard drives, and robot ears while flexing the top panel in the other direction for a while.
*** Update 2018/06/19 ***
I wound up getting a good price on a new GPU, secondhand unopened. It's comically big compared to the trusty GTX 960; there's also completely unnecessary but admittedly pretty lights and it's now one less thing to be concerned about for quite a while! There's also one more fan in the case, added in a moment of "eh why not?" after retrieving it from a resurrected Dell headed back to closet retirement.
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