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

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Original poster
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
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Start of my Cerberus-X Odyssey (Update : 01st May 2017)
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Hi all,

As some of you know I've the chance to be one of the first owner of awesome KI Cerberus-X, bigger ATX brother of standard Cerberus.
My case appeared in @Josh | NFC video on Cerberus-X..:D


KI Cerberus-X dimensions are 364 x 170 x 354mm (21.9l)..whereas the smallest ATX I know is Fractal Design Define C 399 x 210 x 440mm (36.9l)..that's somehow 50% gap (depending of calculation base).

My case is still a pre-production sample, with some minor flaws...but it was 100% worth to go for it...this KI Cerberus-X is simply gorgeous, amazing...:)

This build is still a prototype (not functional). I wanted to know what was I was able to integrate in it.

First let's compare size versus Node 202, mini ITX case from Fractal Design. This case is pretty small while in horizontal stand (10.2l), however in vertical stand (due to large base), its dimensions become 125 x 385 x 332mm (15.9l)..be careful...you will be shocked with comparison with Cerberus-X vs Node 202 (vertical stand) :



Let's continue with prototype build.

Due to its increased height vs standard Cerberus, Cerberus-X is more friendly with watercooling. Thanks to infinite vents, i can place 240mm rad at the bottom with the maximum offset possible! I'm going to use Swiftech Apogee Drive II to finish my watercooling loop.

However placing tubing on front panel will cause some proximity with a sfx-l psu...so I need to go for SFX psu (corsair 600W I guess).

One important to check was also GPU height compatibility. I'm using one of the tallest, 140mm, (but quiestest) gpu : MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X...that has NO offset on power connector (dislike newer version like GTX 1080 ti gaming x). Using low profile extension from Moddiy.com, it works just fine. There is also enough space for SLI bridge.

Now, my biggest concern begins : what will I put inside this wonderful case...It's pretty hard for me to resist on Ryzen...I'll try to resist...but for how long?..:D


O...I nearly forgot...here are photos lol :

GPU clearance :










ps : Please note that black panel was a pre production mistake...but I love this mistake : mixing red & black is gorgeous!

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Very first build with Ryzen 7 1700X (Update : 09th May 2017)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

This build is 100% functionnal, not perfect, but still great...and here is the summary.

Here are photos of the build:





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Adopting Best Air cooler for Cerberus : Noctua C14S (Update : 15th May 2017)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

Well, well, here is a major update of my "sweet" Ryzen 7 1700X setup..:)

Clearly Noctua C14S, with dual 140 PPC @2000rpm is bulky..:D
Good news is that I have enough high clearance to still use Flare-X with dual fan! Without saying that RAM is pretty damn cooled!
On back panel I'm still using NF-A9 as it has short cable, very handy for cable management. Also its brown color is not too disturbing as side bracket is masking it..:)

I've put 140mm fan on side bracket for 2 reasons :
  1. Side bracket is stiffening the whole case steel frame (without it I found case a bit too flimsy)
  2. Side bracket is perfectly aligned with side panel vents (maximasing intake flow)
Here is the result with MSI GTX 1070 GAMING X installed :

I've a lot improved cable management compared to previous build. Now case is cleaned, and I like final result.

There is also enough space to do any sli setup, even with SFX-L psu.


Complete tour : Front

Back panel :


As a direct result, I was able to improve my overclocking completely stable up to 4.02Ghz @1.45v and RAM 3520mhz @ 1.40v (Ok, ok, I'm unable to cold boot with this OC..:))...but one mystery remains is CPU temperature. Between t°j or tCTL, I'm seeing all kind of informations..:) My next goal is now chasing this damn CPU temperature.

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Managing Ryzen Temperature & RAM Overclocking (Update : 22th May 2017)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)
(Obsolete since AMD opened RAM overclocking and Bios monitor proper CPU temperature, by late 2017)

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Building 240mm Customed AIO (Swiftech Apogee Drive II) (Update : 09th August 2017)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

Here is long awaited major update of my KI Cerberus-X..:D

Aim of this upgrade was mainly to use reverse side panel as it's the best cooling setup for my GPU : MSI GTX 1080ti gaming X that exhauts its hot air on the side of the case.
However, while placing side panel with vents on bottom, this is removing all intake of fresh air on aircooled CPU.
Thus I've decided to try again my original setup (at least the one planned before my pump failed), using watercooling and a 240 radiator located at the bottom of the case to cool cpu.

On top of that, I've upgraded my Corsair SF600 SFX psu to Silverstonetek SX800-lti SFX-L. This upgrade was mandatory as my SF600 was too loud while gaming, where full system can use 450w+. My previous tweak on airflow was pretty effective while using GTX 1070, but it's far from being enough while using GTX 1080ti.

1st Step : Create watercooling setup

My approach of watercooling has been always towards compact system, with good maintenance capabilities. Thus I dislike using standard components with separate elements. I didn't want to use AIO as, from my experience, their pump power, noise & efficiency are not really good...not even speaking of their radiator with aluminium fins
Hopefully, Swiftech Apogee Drive II survived this Asetek/Swiftech legal conflict..because this is my masterpiece! Indeed this represents the exact combination of Apogee HD waterblock AND full Laing DDC pump with PWM customised by Swiftech (MCP35X). This is bringing one of the best watercooling components in a compact form factor!
Reservoir has always been space consuming...but vital when you need to remove air bubbles from a loop. That's why Swiftech combo Radiator/Reservoir are so great for compact watercooling.
For my setup I've recycled my old Swiftech MCR H220 (out of stock), but you can use Swiftech MCRx20-QP, that @Aibohphobia tested inside Cerberus.

Normally I'm using some quick disconnect from Koolance...I wanted to stay simple. My only aim was to be able to remove my GPU while keeping watercooling setup in place...

Globally my choice of watercooling components is leading to the best of two worlds : compact with high end performance.

When creating a customed loop with compact watercooling loop, the most difficult part is to bleed air bubbles out of the system. To do this, you need both an air trap and a powerful pump..:D

With MCP35X + reservoir, it was quite fast and effective..:D (about 10minutes at pump full speed, ie 4500rpm)

2nd Step : Replace PSU

This step is straight forward, except if you don't have a long and thin philips screwdriver (my case..:)). To replace SFX PSU, i need to remove front PSU bracket (1 screw on side, 1 screw on front, on each side).
Not too complicated either way...:)



3rd Step : Full assembly

Now it's time to put back all components inside Cerberus-X..:D
I've placed 240mm radiator on bottom with dual Gentle Typhoons AP15 in pull configuration. This is best setup for dust cleaning..:)
Thus bottom radiator is acting like air intake, and GPU that is located above is acting as exhaust.
Rear 92mm fan is placed as an intake. I still wonder if I'll put some dust filter on it, as my cats don't go often behind the case..:D

As expected (and required), I can remove/add GPU while CPU watercooling setup is in place..:D

All fans are managed through Corsair Commander Mini, located on front panel.









4th Step : Optimize CPU area airflow

As I have freed a lot of space about CPU, using watercooling, I discovered that SFX PSU is generating quite a lot of heat on its back side. This hot air needs to be cooled or/and exhausted.
Currently I've tried several possibilities :
  • Noctua NF-A14 PPC or standard fan on side bracket

However this solution is putting too much stress on tubing
  • Noctua NF-A9x14, either 15mm thick 92mm fan from Noctua on side bracket
This is my current solution, but I'm not completely satisfied, due to color scheme and fan orientation (it's not fully horizontal..:))

So I'm still working on this area, and I will keep you informed..:D

5th Step : Let's play!

Well I've run some intense CPU benchmarks...and they are all disappointing...almost...:D
With my new setup I'm able to reach a stable and safe OC of 4.025Ghz with vCore @1.525v (set in Bios)...By comparison, with my Noctua C14S i was able to reach only 3.900Ghz stable and safe (I was able to get higher clocks but not safe enough on temperature).

What about temperature then?..:) Well CPU temperature is reaching a maximum of 68°C under Prime 95 (large FFTs, 10min), X265, 4K compression.
This temperature is achieved while MCP35X pump is spinning @1200rpm (really, really, really quiet) and Gentle Typhoon @1000rpm (really quiet also)

Such, computer is really cool & quiet under heavy CPU load..:D

Silverstonetek sx800-lti PSU is pretty impressive also, and it's clearly quieter than SF600 under load..:D No coil whine to report on my sample.

ONE last point to note is that I was able to put back on ALL my GPU overclocking setup (Power +117%, core +60Mhz, vram : +350Mhz), and I prepared you some 4K60 sample videos of gameplay, with a tons of informations about system...:D
Please pay attention to GPU power usage...:)
  • Classical 3D gaming load at 4K : Doom Vulkan, max settings
  • Extreme 3D gaming load at 4K : Mass Effect Andromeda, Havarl (GPU power ~320W)

Enjoy!

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AMD R7 1700X & G.SKILL FLARE-X OVERCLOCKING (Update : 14th August 2017)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

Thanks to Intel Burn Test v2.54, I managed to figure out that my R7 1700X can reach (stable) a frequency of 4014Mhz @1.525v vCore. I'm staying on this 1.525v because my watercooling setup is able to maintain cpu temperature under T° die of 70°C (Threshold before throttling and potential damage on long run).

Edit : Finally my R7 1700X is only stable @4000Mhz @1.525v...:)

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Here it comes : Noctua NF-A12x15 (Best slim 120mm fan) (Update : 18th August 2017)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

New update on hardware side of my setup.
Based on my last setup, CPU area of the case was missing a bit of air cooling to my taste. I could also add that it was not really pretty.


Thus I've decided to :
  • Replace rear Noctua NF-B9 Redux by Noctua NF-A9 PWM (to match color theme) + dust filter
  • Replace Side Noctua NF-A9x14 by its bigger brother Noctua NF-A12x15
  • Add new Noctua NF-A12x15 fan on top, in exhaust mode
I found final result gorgeous..:D Finally I'm getting used to Noctua Brown theme..:D





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Aircooling strikes back! This setup is providing BEST GPU cooling through maximizing hot air exhaust! (Update : 10th September 2017)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

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 of the keys..:D (main exhaust source remains side fan)


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..:D
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...:D 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 @1.435v 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..:D

Thus as a conclusion, to all Cerberus owners, 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 owner) but also I found this cooling setup by "chance" as I was planning to make a full watercooling loop..:D

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Finding better 240mm watercooling compromise (Update : 19th November 2017)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

You already know that I love with my Apogee Drive II. Somehow it was a pain to keep it in a carton box as I struggled a lot to get it and make it work...:)
I had also the feedling that Cerberus-X could offer a great cooling capability...and I felt satisfied with my noctua C14S but not satiated...

I also wanted to know if my customed AIO was really a AIO..:D

Serial release of Cerberus is inspiring me..:D

For all these good and bad reasons, i went back to watercooling on CPU..:D

This time I will fight hard to keep GPU temperature and fan speed at lowest as possible whereas I'm using a watercooled CPU...with a radiator located at the bottom.
Let's call this watercooling 2.0 as I applied quite a lot of changes.

But first here some pictures :




As you can see, airflow setup vs my first attempt is really different.

DIFFERENCES
  • Side Panel : Vents oriented on the top (vs bottom on first setup)
  • Side Fan : Noctua a12x15 (slim 120mm fan) placed in exhaust (vs intake vs plain panel...)
  • Front panel : Addition of a 120mm LEGENDARY Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP15 (1850rpm, managed through DC). This addition is completely new!
  • Corsair Commander mini : It is now located on the motherboard panel, just below bottom radiator and front fan

Here are results : GPU is reaching 80°C with fan spinning at 2150rpm. Notable progress compared to previous watercooling setup (85°C with fans spinning at 2500rpm).

However Aircooling (in exhaust mode) remains GPU cooling king with temperature at 76-77°C with fans spinning at 1700-1900rpm.

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Moving to Gentle Typhoon AP-60 (2150rpm) : best watercooling fans (at that time) (Update : 16th December 2017)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

My precious arrived!!
Here they come : Dark Side Gentle Typhoon 2150rpm (DC control)...

  • Noise, even at 2150rpm...and I'm a bit ashamed for Noctua PPC 2000 pwm...as for comparison, Noctua fan are really noisy!
  • Cooling efficiency : of course, these sweet gentle typhoon are the best on radiator (only EK vardar, Fractal HP12 are reaching this kind of level of performance but with higher noise level)


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Upgrade of my pre-production unit to serial standards (New Panels, Front USB 3.0) (Update : 28th April 2018)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

4 Months without noticeable update...that's a feat for me!
While resisting to update my Ryzen R7 1700X with a Ryzen R7 2700X (maybe R7 2800X will have me..:)), I've received some gifts from @KSliger ! (thanks again!)

Thus I decided to honor them by assembling them today!

  • Second Update : New Panels & Color Scheme
As some other Cerberus users, i received Windowed panel. I took this opportunity to try a new color scheme.
I let you discover it..:)
Top & Front panels : Black

Side panels : Red




I would like to know your point of view.
  • Third Update : Refill watercooling loop & cleaning
I also decided to refill my watercooling loop and clean the cas as it was required.
Now tubes are transparent again and liquid is truly RED..;)


Here is final look, on my desktop!




And of course, CATS are not far away...


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Make good use of ATX form factor : increasing storage through m.2 (Update : 10th February 2019)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

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Cerberus-X Horizontal stand (Update : 17th February 2019)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)



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Zen 2 Ryzen 7 3800X & Audio quality of Crosshair VI & Noctua NF-A12x25 (Update : 9th August 2019)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

With arrival of zen 2 processor, I've finally made up my mind to switch my Ryzen 7 1700X with a Ryzen 7 3800X, keeping the same motherboard, Asus Crosshair VI Hero (X370 Chipset).

Several factors influenced this choice, but the main one is simple : I just realized lately that this crosshair VI hero has awesome features..:)
AUDIO : I own a pair of speakers gigaworks t20 since more than 10 years. I always thought they were quite BS as I always plugged/used them with motherboard audio (mostly mini ITX boards)...since I watched this video :

I was shocked as my speakers sound so badly. I just understood that my speakers were simply badly driven...just a decade after buying them... I plugged them to the C6H...and I was astonished how well they sounded. Afterwards I look at C6H specs and it appears it has a very good DAC ESS® ES9023P.
I'm a bit ashamed especially I love my home cinema setup (marantz amplifier and klipsch speakers)...anyway, from now, I need a good DAC for my audio..;)

PS : On average mini-ITX motherboards are too small to offer good separation between audio tracks and others electronic. Thus you can have from terrible to decent audio quality output. Asus, with very specific mini ITX or DTX motherboards (very crammed also), was able to reach good audio quality.

Let go back to my update.

Here is a list of what has been done :
  • With Ryzen 7 1700X, update C6H motherboard to Bios 7304 (lastest release)
  • Replace Ryzen 7 1700X with Ryzen 7 3800X (no bios update to keep best Agesa so far, 1.0.0.2)
  • Remove Front usb 3.0 extension cable. I replace it with an usb 3.0 hub from my keyboard passthrough. More useful in practice, and save a lot of internal space inside Cerberus-X
  • Drain, clean, refill my customed AIO (Apogee Drive II and MCR 220 radiator/reservoir combo)
  • Replace all Gentle Typhoon AP60 to Noctua NF A12x25. Use full frame grommet on radiator. (by the way, now all my fans are from Noctua..;))
  • Remove Corsair commander mini as it's replaced by Bios and Fan Xpert
  • Replace Startech expansion card PEX2M2 with integrated Asmedia pcie/sata controller to Startech expansion card PEXM2SAT32N1 that hold 2 sata and 1 pcie 3.0 4x m.2 slots with 20 cm sata cable. This saves around 10-15sec on bios boot as there is no additional controller to handle. On top of that, it's also better for gpu cooling as new expansion card is smaller, by far.
  • Please note than windows 10 is booting after CPU replacement...however it's far from being perfect. Thus I decided to RESET Windows 10 (good news, my licence is still valid, as it's linked to motherboard..;))

Here is a gallery of pictures of my build :





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When watercooling is failing...back to air cooling with improvments (Update : 18th August 2019)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

10 days after previous update, computer froze suddenly. After investigations, it appears that I got a very tiny (hopefully) liquid leak on my Swiftch Apogee Drive II.


Thus I moved to Noctua C14S as CPU cooler.


My setup is still very silent. Here are the changes vs Apogee Drive II setup :
  • (-) I lost around 25-50Mhz on mid-high cpu load (4.250~4.300Ghz on typical workload instead of 4.300-4.350Ghz with Apogee Drive II)
  • (-) On all cores/threads loads (Da Vinci Resolve 16) R7 3800X is hitting 80°C witrh Noctua C14S versus 75°C approx.
  • (+++) MSI GTX 1080ti Temperature has decreased by around 8-10°C, leading to lower noise also during gaming workload (already noticed back to August 2017)
  • (+) Without bottom radiator, I've put my M.2 extension card on PCI 2.0 4x slot...that means I can easily add another nvme m.2 ssd..;)

Since I've also applied those improvments to aircooling setup :
  • Place TOP fan as intake
  • Move NF-A14 below heatsink and put NF-A12x25 on side bracket
To sum up on my experiments on NH-C14S inside Cerberus-X :
  • Switching top fan from Exhaust to Intake : CPU max temperature reduced by 1,9°C (from 93°C to 91,1°C)
  • Replacing top fan of NH-C14S from NF-A14 to NF-A12x25 : CPU max temperature reduced by 0,5°C (from 91,1°C to 90,6°C)
  • Adding a bottom NF-A14 fan on NH-C14S :
    • CPU max temperature reduced by 1,6°C (from 90,6°C to 89,0°C)
    • RAM sticks temperature dropped by 3,0°C (from 45,5°C to 42,5°C)
    • Noise level on max load is still on same range as with only one fan (remains quiet on load, silent on idle)
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Testing Watercooling 92mm (Asetek 645LT) (Update : 3rd January 2020)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

As you have noticed I'm currently playing a lot with my Sliger SM550+. In order to complete my SM550+ with proper PSU I've replaced Corsair SF450 by SX800-LTI (picked from my Cerberus-X).



Now it's time to rework my Cerberus-X and start thinking of its new life.

Thus I've decided to test Asetek 645LT (92mm AIO) inside Cerberus-X. For me it's a great choice for CPU cooler in Cerberus-X as it has access to fresh air and doesn't harm GPU temperature at all (like a 240mm radiator at bottom/front).
I also wanted to test again my SF600 Gold in optimised airflow to see if there is any good coming from those Corsair SF PSUs.

Here is final setup on this build
  • At the end I removed side bracket and put top fan as exhaust. I also put only one 25mm fan as pull.
  • I replaced terrible fan from SF600 with Noctua NF-A9x14 (You just need a pretty robust Philips 1 screwdriver)
  • I undervolted Asetek 645LT (Gen 6) pump to 5v, leading to a speed of 1350rpm (monitored as 2700rpm by motherboard as pump has 8 poles vs 4 expected. For information Asetek Gen 6 pump is spinning at 2800rpm at 12v and 1800rpm at 7v. It's only at 5v that pump is becoming quiet.
    I've created a Youtube playlist with my videos on pump noise :

Now it's time of benchmark...and results are quite good in terms of performance :


My R7 3800X OC 4.3Ghz all cores (1.31v) is reaching 81.8°C in Intel Burn Test 2.54 with NF-A9s reaching 1700/2300 rpm (their max speeds are 2000/2500rpm).
Asetek 645LT is beating my setup with Noctua C14S placed in full exhaust mode (mode that focus on best performance/temperature of GPU over CPU).

I won't insist again on Corsair SF with its fake fanless mode...well yes I will insist. SF600 never came back to fanless mode after cpu burn test (30min of rest)...pfff. At least my SF600 does not suffer of parasite noise..but it's so noisy under load...it's louder than my GTX 1080ti...

In conclusion, Asetek 645LT is really suited to Cerberus-X case as it can access fresh air (providing its best performance) without increasing GPU temperature/noise. Outperformancing Noctua C14S in Cerberus-X is also great achievement!

@KSliger & @shadowfear don't hesitate to promote Asetek 645LT for Cerberus owner's club..:D

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Advanced testing on 92mm Watercooling inside Cerberus-X (Update : 12th January 2020)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

As I was impressed by cooling efficiency of Asetek 645LT, using rear 92mm slot inside my Cerberus-X, I decide to build customed loop using best 92mm radiator (Hardware labs Nemesis M92 GTX)


IHere it is in the all-mighty Cerberus-X :


I found final result gorgeous!

Now it's time to pump noise test, as you know, I'm pretty sensitive to noise, especially from pumps..:D

From start I was a little bit sad as I was expecting near silent operation, like my Apogee drive II @1200rpm.
However, to be honest, while at 5v (1100rpm) Alphacool DC-LT is not distractive. I will qualify as very quiet at idle/low load.
While gaming, GPU is taking the lead on noise (fans & coil whine) leading to Quiet area (I can play with speakers with no issue. Headphones are far from being mandatory)

I'm planning to continue trial for several weeks/months to see how customed AIO will behave (evaporation, noise, etc..)

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Watercooling 92mm inside Cerberus-X : Pushing the limit (Update of 29th January 2020)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

I decided to test push/pull on my 92mm watercooling setup.



I was expecting 2-3°C of improvement versus pull only...but I got 4°C of improvment!! My Ryzen 7 3800X overclocked to 4.3Ghz @1,3125v was sitting at 78°C maximum on Intel Burn Test 2.54 (Very High profile) (vs 82°C with 1 fan in pull)


On addition I'm very pleased with my barbed fittings and hose clamps as they are preventing any rotation of tubing (thanks hose clamps in contact with fan or screws..;)) Mayhems tubing 10-16mm were pretty easy to bend also.

I will replace my NF-B9 by another NF-A9 (brown and 25mm)...but I don't expect any noticeable temperature gain (max 1°C)

Overall my 92mm watercooling experience is really positive, even better than my expectations.

Guess who is happy now, as he can lay peacefully on Cerberus-X?...:D


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Return of the king : Noctua C14S (Update of 21st February-16th May 2020)
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(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

For installation I tried to install Noctua C14S with heatpipes orientated towards top of the case



However, heatsink was slightly touching top fan (NF-A12x15)...so I was forced to stick to traditional orientation..;)



Here is fan setup :
  • Noctua C14S :
  • Top : NF-A12x25 intake, put on side bracket
  • Bottom NF-A14 intake
  • Top & Rear : NF-A12x15 & NF-A9 exhaust

Conclusion time :
  • Noctua C14S Push/Pull (intake) is beating by 5°C my customed 92mm watercooling with no noticeable impact on GPU temperature.

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Update 20th December 2020 : Taming RTX 3090 FE!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

At last, I managed to have enough time to finally test in details my RTX 3090 FE, inside my Cerberus-X.

My first trial was to keep previous setup, with front SFX PSU & C14S CPU cooler setup as intake (top & rear fans as exhasut) :



With those settings, RTX 3090 FE is delivering its full potential (GPU temperature is reaching 71°C during long gaming session with 350W power usage), however its fans never stopped to speed up till 1800rpm which is loud. This is clearly translating that GPU is exhausting more hot air than my setup is able to remove from case.


Thus, like back to 2017 (nothing new, even before serial release of Cerberus..:)), I'm back to full exhaust mode on CPU cooler!




With this setup, RTX 3090 FE is stablizing at 1600 rpm @70°C.
R7 3800X@4.3Ghz fan curve needed some tweaks but it's sitting @70°C during heavy gaming load..;)

Like usual, here is a first draft performance from RTX 3090 FE in Gears 5 (Hive busters DLC is pretty good..:))


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 22nd December 2020 : Taming RTX 3090 FE part II, upgrade!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(It's just a sum up, please check link above to have more details)

Based on those experiments, I decided to try again 92mm rear AIO.

Thus I tried Asetek 645 LT...I powered it on outside the case to check & shake it..:) Shaking proved to HUGE benefit as I heard air bubbles moving from cpu block to built-in reservoir (included on radiator)...at my BIG (& pleasant) surprise 645LT pump noise (I was reporting previously) is no longer a issue.

Here is final result :



Issue with 645LT is that side bracket rivets (back side) are bumping into radiator, by default (you can see on previous photos scratches of paint on 645LT radiator). Side panel is not fitting.

Thus I decided to file all 4 rivets back side.


With this small mod, I was able to put back side bracket with no issue!



Best news with this mod is thermal & noise results :
  • RTX 3090 FE is sitting 95% of time at around 1300rpm @67°C in benchmark passage (chap 1 hive buster Gears 5)
  • R7 3800X OC 4.3Ghz & RAM @3800MTS : CPU is clearly in the sixties °C!

On top, here is updated pure CPU cooling benchmark :
  • Overclocked R7 3800X 4.3Ghz @1.3125v RAM @ 3800MTS (Asetek 645LT Intake, Side Exhaust) :
    • IBT 2.54 Very High : 915.72sec
    • Max temperature : 78.9°C
    • Max CPU Package Power : 120.03W
  • Overclocked R7 3800X 4.3Ghz @1.3125v RAM @ 3800MTS (Noctua C14S Push/Pull Intake) :
    • IBT 2.54 Very High : 915.80sec
    • Cinebench R20 (multi) : 5120
    • Max temperature : 73.9°C
    • Max CPU Package Power : 119.23W
  • Overclocked R7 3800X 4.3Ghz @1.3125v RAM @ 3800MTS (customed 92mm watercooling, push/pull) :
    • IBT 2.54 Very High : 917.12sec
    • Max temperature : 79.5°C
    • Max CPU Package Power : 118.33W

Asetek 645LT is not beating "Intake" C14S...obviously...but it's only 5°C hotter vs overclocked R7 3800X! (I did run 2 times IBT VH profil twice to make it sure)
As annoying pump noise is today removed (thanks to gentle shaking while powered on), I have to declare this setup as best gaming setup for Cerberus case, providing best GPU cooling (almost as if it was on open bench table with RTX 3090FE & strong CPU cooling either under gaming load or pure processing!

PS : Screenshot of IBT 2.54 VH test :


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photos Albums
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are link to photos albums :


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best cooling setup
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Based on my Cerberus-X I wanted to sum-up best cooling setups in it :
 
Last edited:

LocoMoto

DEVOURER OF BAKED POTATOES
Jul 19, 2015
287
335
I seem to have a few photos not available, getting a horizontal bar within a ring.. o:

But oh yeah! Looking forward to see more of the build!
 

LocoMoto

DEVOURER OF BAKED POTATOES
Jul 19, 2015
287
335
Only a few, randomly among the last batch of photos and both of the first ones (Comparison photos?)
 

LocoMoto

DEVOURER OF BAKED POTATOES
Jul 19, 2015
287
335
Still the same problem, both on my phone, desktop and laptop, cached and non-cached chrome, edge, firefox. :/
 

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Original poster
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
Ok tried on another web browser and noticed the issue.

I'll try to relink image
 

TheHig

King of Cable Management
Oct 13, 2016
951
1,171
The case looks awesome! Pre production or not, simply smashing it. Love the two tone panels and looking forward to seeing what you build in it.

thanks for sharing :cool:
 
  • Like
Reactions: MarcParis

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Original poster
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
Np...brainstorming on cpu to put inside is continuing and it's giving me headaches..:)

Wisiest choice will be to wait for 6 cores coffee lake..:)

For gpu, my gtx 1070 is enough right now and my need is somewhere on sli of gtx 1080 ti for true 4k ultra gameplay...however it's far too expensive for me...i guess i will need to wait vega 20 or volta...
....
So at the end 2017 solution could be simply put my mini itx config in cerberus-x...overclocking seriously everything..:)

To be continued..:)
 

IntoxicatedPuma

Customizer of Titles
SFFn Staff
Feb 26, 2016
992
1,272
There are a few ATX cases around that are about the same size or maybe even smaller:

Bubalus W1 - 20.1L
Jonsbo RM2 - 21.5L
Daotech X10 - 21.7L
Daotech Alu-500 - 21.7L
Jonsbo G3 - 23.3L
Bubalus WA - 24.5L
Streacom FC12 - 24.6L

But something the size of the RM2 with better mounting for Hard Drives and more fans would be a welcome addition! That case isn't so bad but leaves a lot wasted.
 

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Original poster
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
There are a few ATX cases around that are about the same size or maybe even smaller:

Bubalus W1 - 20.1L
Jonsbo RM2 - 21.5L
Daotech X10 - 21.7L
Daotech Alu-500 - 21.7L
Jonsbo G3 - 23.3L
Bubalus WA - 24.5L
Streacom FC12 - 24.6L

But something the size of the RM2 with better mounting for Hard Drives and more fans would be a welcome addition! That case isn't so bad but leaves a lot wasted.
Well I was referring to gaming case that managed to come to EU..:D
Jonsbo is not sold directly (only OEM) and its cooling capabilities are far to be compatible with high end gaming..:)
Bubalus/Daotech...I don't even know these companies
Streamcom : great for htpc...but not gaming..:)

But thanks for your support as you are aware of cases coming from Asia..:)
 

IntoxicatedPuma

Customizer of Titles
SFFn Staff
Feb 26, 2016
992
1,272
The Streacom has a lot of different setups it can accomodate so I wouldn't totally disregard it. The others are a bit difficult to find as you mentioned however. In fact, other than the Jonsbo and Streacom ones, i havent seen any of them for sale anywhere. I hope this case can make it to market, it's desperately needed.
 

VisualStim

Master of Cramming
Mar 6, 2017
431
211
WOW THATS SMALL, Ive been in contact with them to get a case :/

Ill most likely be moving to Taiwan to start a start up need something small like this