Log SMALLEST ATX CASE : CERBERUS-X (Complete build log)

[Tachy]

Hmm... I'm thinking 140 on side panel, with pump/res on the back, using the tubing routing holes as a fill/drainport? Tip the case onto front or back as appropriate. I want to keep the bottom front clear for drives (simple SATA cable routing)
I think the side radiator is the most "liveable" configuration.

Will a 280 fit in the bottom? I've not seen any information regarding this. A 320mm long one like the EKs specifically.
Thanks for all the help.

 

[MarcParis]

No 280mm radiator on bottom, either on cerberus or cerberus-x..

 

[MarcParis]

I wanted to share some experience I've faced, actually today, while OC my Ryzen R7 1700x and Flare-X RAM.

Let's sum up experience :

• Previous days :
  • Standard OC : R7 1700X @4Ghz and Flare-x @3600Mhz cas 16
    
  • I'm using Sleep mode between 2 gaming session
  • perfectly stable (~10hours+) on Pillars of eternity
• Yesterday evening :
  • I tried to hibernate (instead of sleep mode)
  • While in hibernate mode, RAM is no longer powered
• This Morning :
  • When Cerberus-X woke up this morning, RAM OC failed and I needed to reboot my PC to reapply my standard OC...PC booted and resume previous sessien of hibernation with no apparent issue.
  • In Pillars of eternity, after 10-15 of gaming, in a specific area (everytime) I experienced the following
    • Game crashed and it went back to windows 10
    • I relaunched the game and this time, at the same location I got a marvellous blue screen.. (apparently driver IRQ failed)
    • I reboot with same OC, launched again the game...and, for a second time, blue screen...
    • I reboot applying 3900Mhz OC on R7 1700x, still 3600Mhz on RAM, launched again the game...and, for a third time, blue screen...
    • I reboot and resetting all parameters to default (Standard R7 1700x and RAM @2400Mhz), launched again the game...and...and...and...no more issues..
    • PS : I could have clear CMOS to clean the bios.
• Day after :
  • I cleared CMOS, reapplied my standard OC (required 2 reboot as warm-up..)
  • In Pillars of eternity i went straight to place where crash/blue screen occured...but I experienced no crashes/blue screen. I did several trials...nothing wrong happened
  • I tried to put PC in sleep mode and woke it...load the game...but I expercienced no crash either..

Here are my current conclusion :

• Apparently Hibernate (with failed boot up) corrupted somehow bios/ram
• On Ryzen, currently, it's impossible to OC RAM (I mean massively) while using cold boot or hibernate.
• When Ryzen setup is shut down (but still powered), you have to "warm up" your RAM with first boot that will lead, almost 100% of time, to failed RAM OC...you have to enter bios, reboot...and only after RAM OC is working fine.
• After in windows, if you don't want to redo all "warm-up" process, you have to put your computer on sleep mode (as RAM is still powered during sleep mode)...and based on my experience, it's working just fine.

Please also note that you should follow this simple rule : DO NOT UNPLUG your Ryzen setup...otherwise you will face a really long bios post (rebooting 3 times in my case)...and of course, after this initial long bios post, you need to do some "warm-up" to OC your RAM..

I've the feeling that OC Ryzen properlly currently (mid 2017) is like driving a car with mechanical gearbox car whereas on Intel side, OC is like driving an automatic gearbox car..

At the end it's working...but you need more efforts..

 

[MarcParis]

I've just completed my experience on Ryzen RAM OC with additional tests, using my standard OC.

As expected, while using sleep mode, no bug/crash/blue screen to report...

 

[Reckless5040]

Any idea when these will be available?

 

[MarcParis]

No ETA.but good hope it should be released in the next 6 monts...fingers crossed

 

[MarcParis]

After discussion on main Cerberus topic about radiator capability of Cerberus-X (here) I've started to look to upgrade my setup to fully watercool my setup (R7-1700 and MSI GTX 1080ti gaming X).

I'm at early stage of my reflexion and several roadblocks are still on the way.

I'll keep you informed, as usual..

 

[MarcParis]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 10th September 2017
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is new update of my setup.
As I shared with several topics, I was trying to make a full watercooling setup (both cpu and gpu) in Cerberus-X. My main issue was related to temperature, rpm and noise from my MSI GTX 1080ti Gaming X used :

• Aircooling setup#1 (Noctua C14S as Intake, 1x140 fan on front, 1x140 on bottom)

• CPU watercooled (exhasut of cpu radiator is GPU intake)

Thus I dismantled the full case...and only motherboard and top fan remained in position.

I confirmed that it's perfectly possible to use dual 240mm radiators in Cerberus-X. One in front using 15mm fan outside the frame (using screws of 3/4" or 20mm), and second in bottom. However, due to tight size of Cerberus-X, tubing became major issue.
In my personal case, it would be difficult to use Apogee Drive II while using rear mounted PSU, even SFX/SFX-L...indeed it was too complicated in my allocated time and ressources.

Thus I decided to put back my Noctua C14S, but this time, in EXHAUST mode. Target of this new, rather simple, setup was to optimize at its maximum case airflow : intake at bottom (with no filter, infinite vents are enough there), Intake from rear (like WC setup), exhaust on side & top.
Final result is simple and straight forward.

This top & exhaust fan is one the keys..

What I didn't expect was cooling/temperature results...it simply impressed me.
Of course, i'm forced to get back to 3.9Ghz (even, there is only 5°C on cpu load between Noctua C14S and my customer loop...however customer wc is quieter on load...but louder on idle, even with its very quiet pump). However gaming performance was not harmed, especially @UHD/4K..
Compared to watercooled cpu, issue was related to GPU intake air was CPU hot exhaust air...This setup was great for cpu cooling, but really harmful on GPU side.

Globally, this setup is the best one I've produced.

Let's me prove my statement with 2 videos of Mass Effect Andromeda, in an area where GPU power usage is 300W+

• Video I've posted while using cpu watercooled : GPU @85°C, fan RPM @2500-2600rpm (pretty hot and noisy)...but have also a look at VRM (59°C), SSD 950 Pro (54°C), Flare-X (55,5°C)

• New video with new setup (optimized case airflow) : GPU @76-77°C, fan RPM @1700-1900rpm (fan noise is completely acceptable at this range)...and VRM (42°C), SSD 950 Pro (41°C), Flare-X (46,3°C)

I let you make the maths between before and after... Results are cristal clear.

Let's focus now on CPU cooling.
Here are intel burn test results with new aircooling setup

• Ryzen R7 1700X OC 4000Mhz @1.525v and Flare-X @3600Mhz : failure, black screen reboot with bios warning that max temperature reached. However T° die is reaching somehow 77°C during benchmark...that illustrates that Ryzen max temperature (when speaking of T° die) is 70°C. As a comparison with my watercooling setup, test was successful (double pass) and max temperature was 68-69°C with dual typhon spinning @1600rpm (still quiet)
• Ryzen R7 1700X OC 3900Mhz @1.4375v and Flare-X @3600Mhz : Intel Burn Test is successful, and max temperature reached is 68°C on peak, time for fans to speed up. Average temperature during testingh was 61-62°C with Noctua 140 fans spinning @1500rpm on average (noticeable). By comparison, on my watercooling setup, R7 1700X was reaching 60°C, just because fan started to spin faster @60°C..Gentle Typhoon fans were spinning @1000rpm (really Quiet)

Clearly watercooling setup was far better for cpu cooling, however, as a global cooling solution, aircooling is better..

Thus as a conclusion, to all Cerberus owner, forget CPU watercooling (except you are planning a workstation), and focus mainly to have the best airflow inside Cerberus-X.
I must admit that I'm still amazed by those temperatures and efficiency!
Also please note that I'm a lucky guy (ok I'm a rare Cerberus-X owener) but also I found this cooling setup by "chance" as I was planning to make a full watercooling loop..

Here is Imgur Album :

 

[MarcParis]

Extra bonus : World of Tanks in 4K 60 fps (full details..)

My best replay (mastery badge in AMX 30 prototype)..

World of tanks is clearly a quiet 4K gaming on my last setup... (look at fans speed and temperatures)

 

[MarcParis]

Here are intel burn test results with new aircooling setup

• Ryzen R7 1700X OC 4000Mhz @1.525v and Flare-X @3600Mhz : failure, black screen reboot with bios warning that max temperature reached. However T° die is reaching somehow 77°C during benchmark...that illustrates that Ryzen max temperature (when speaking of T° die) is 70°C. As a comparison with my watercooling setup, test was successful (double pass) and max temperature was 68-69°C with dual typhon spinning @1600rpm (still quiet)
• Ryzen R7 1700X OC 3900Mhz @1.4375v and Flare-X @3600Mhz : Intel Burn Test is successful, and max temperature reached is 68°C on peak, time for fans to speed up. Average temperature during testingh was 61-62°C with Noctua 140 fans spinning @1500rpm on average (noticeable). By comparison, on my watercooling setup, R7 1700X was reaching 60°C, just because fan started to spin faster @60°C..Gentle Typhoon fans were spinning @1000rpm (really Quiet)

Clearly watercooling setup was far better for cpu cooling, however, as a global cooling solution, aircooling is better..

ps : I've updated the others posts.

 

[MarcParis]

New 4K video released on World of Tanks...I guess I caught again WoT fever..

 

[msystems]

Interesting, so the case is a little too cramped for a custom loop, but what about using one of those "hybrid" cards with the air cooling on them + aio cooler. Looks like there would be plenty of room below to mount the rad.

 

[MarcParis]

Interesting, so the case is a little too cramped for a custom loop, but what about using one of those "hybrid" cards with the air cooling on them + aio cooler. Looks like there would be plenty of room below to mount the rad.

Sure you can use double aio to cool cpu and gpu..

 

[MarcParis]

Lol, something odd happened to my cerberus-x..
In fact when i turned it on, i heard some friction noise, coming from one of my bottom gentle typhoon...i feared that my fan was dead...

In fact, some big dust block was blocked between infinite vents and fan motor...thanks to my cats most probably..

Conclusion : i put back my demciflex fan filters...with new airflow, it should work fine. I'll keep you informed

 

[3lfk1ng]

haha.

That @1.525v though...

 

[MarcParis]

haha.

That @1.525v though...

Yes my cpu is not a big overclocker.. 4.0ghz @1.525v is not a great achievement when some press reviewer got some sample that oc at 4.0ghz @1.4v..

 

[MarcParis]

New important update of my Cerberus-X setup.

I wanted to illustrate Ryzen Multitasking power, especially over my former core i7 4770K/6700K setup.

I simply run meanwhile the following :

• Encoding UHD video, 60fps, 100mbps using power director 12 (8 threads used at maximum)
• Playing World of tanks online, in UHD, 60fps, max settings
• Recording in UHD, 60fps, 100mbps my World of Tanks gameplay in live using shadowplay

Result is simply marvellous and is summarized in one simple video :

You can look at all monitoring in real time.

It was simple a perfectly smooth & quiet experience...AMAZING!
My Ryzen R7 1700X is staying @60°C while my dual Noctua NF-A14 PPC are spinning at 1200rpm smoothly..

ps : I have to thank also my sweet M.2 nvme SSD (950 pro) and Nvidia GTX 1080ti..

What do you think about that?

 

[Taswegian]

Cerberus dimensions are 381 (h) x 170 (w) x 364 (l)mm...

First, thanks for all your testing & posting, it's a massive help!

EDIT - disregard previous question, ignorance cured by more reading. Still looking for dimension'd diagrams of the X like the great ones for the regular Cerberus at the start of the thread if anyone has a link?

Excuse what might be stupid question, new here & trying to educate myself as fast as I can but a little unclear exactly how the 'X' variant differs (other that the obvious ATX support).

That cubes out at 23.6L, is that the difference between Cerberus (303 x 170 x 354 = 18.2L) and Cerberus-X ?

Is that height including feet?​

 

[MarcParis]

In fact, you can find all KI Cerberus details in this thread :
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...he-18l-matx-usa-made-enclosure.454/#post-7426

For dimensions, Cerberus-x is 61mm taller than standard Cerberus :
This is standard Cerberus dimensions (coming from above link)

Please subscribe to main topic of Cerberus to stay tuned about Cerberus release..

 

[Taswegian]

Thanks Marc, I should have just kept reading more but I couldn't help myself

After a lot a searching Cerberus-X is definitely the case that perfectly delivers what I want. The wait will be agonizing, I'll have to do a ghetto build in some regular junk case until then.