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

Aibohphobia

It is enough where an AIO with a thin fan could potentially work, but you'd have to check the thickness of the radiator to be sure. Frankly, though, you'll pretty much always have a better option: in the current configuration, the side bracket can hold a thick 120mm or 140mm radiator and fan, and even if we do end up supporting rear-mounted ATX/SFX power supplies, you'd be able to put a 120mm AIO at the top of the case (with much improved clearances that would easily fit most fans and radiators).

 

I suppose it would be a bummer if you wanted to fit a 240mm radiator at the front, though? You'd have to use a thin fan for the bottom half? (And that's assuming you populated all four PCI slots and couldn't fit the 240mm radiator on the bottom.)

 

I wonder if there is space for 2x 120mm fans at the top of the case, instead of the current single 120mm. My theory is that, more ventilation options you got, the merrier.

 

Since the carrying handle idea has been scrapped - adding a second fan cutout is more feasible since you do not need that top bracing.

Scouring the interwebs, one page at a time. 

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The gap between the PSU and the rear of the case is both for the rear 92mm fan but also the AC inlet. The 3.5" HDDs won't really fit with the connectors facing forward except with a SFX (not SFX-L) mounted directly to the rear of the chassis.

 

I believe you misunderstood my description of the rotation, I was wondering if you rotate the HDD bracket about it's yaw and scoot it further away from the PSU.

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my thought on the hdd bracket would to either make it removable or if it adds to the cost of machining to much just sell it as an addon and the people who want it will purchase it and the people who want the dual graphics setup wont i also have a question and i apologize if it has already brought to light and that is the the question of front IO are there any plans or idea to maybe make some usb headers or headphone and mic jacks just wondering all in all i would definitive be interested in purchasing one of these cases whe it comes into production 

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If you plan an ITX Case, I would rather go like this:

 

08HqOk6l.png

 

There would have to be about 20mm above the PSU for the angled power cord to fit and your depth dimension seems to be measuring to the rear side of the 120mm fan. Taking both those corrections into account would bring your layout up to ~10L. 

 

 

 

I wonder if there is space for 2x 120mm fans at the top of the case, instead of the current single 120mm. My theory is that, more ventilation options you got, the merrier.

 

Since the carrying handle idea has been scrapped - adding a second fan cutout is more feasible since you do not need that top bracing.

 

Not necessarily, according to the thermal testing the top fan isn't really that effective when there is adequate intake pressure: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SANU6ZF73ckIyd7x8_OXqy8hvEDqieL0pVGSTfIM5Ck/edit?usp=sharing

 

Which is why we decided to ditch the top fans and put the space saved to other parts of the case.

 

 

I believe you misunderstood my description of the rotation, I was wondering if you rotate the HDD bracket about it's yaw and scoot it further away from the PSU.

 

You mean having the bracket mounted to the front of the case? That's in the works, if the ATX bracket makes it to production there will be 120mm mounting holes at the front of the case where the SFX PSU normally goes that the 3.5" bracket can mount to.

 

 

my thought on the hdd bracket would to either make it removable or if it adds to the cost of machining to much just sell it as an addon and the people who want it will purchase it and the people who want the dual graphics setup wont i also have a question and i apologize if it has already brought to light and that is the the question of front IO are there any plans or idea to maybe make some usb headers or headphone and mic jacks just wondering all in all i would definitive be interested in purchasing one of these cases whe it comes into production 

 

The HDD bracket is a pretty simple piece and would be included by default. The plan is to have 2 x USB 3.0 headers and headphone + microphone jacks for production.

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Great questions, everyone  :)

 

What about external rads?

 

The final design will have WC cutouts below the 92mm fan mount (where the "NOVA" cutout is on the prototype), so any external watercooling setup should work just fine.

 

 

I wonder if there is space for 2x 120mm fans at the top of the case, instead of the current single 120mm. My theory is that, more ventilation options you got, the merrier.

 

Since the carrying handle idea has been scrapped - adding a second fan cutout is more feasible since you do not need that top bracing.

 

We're actually going in the opposite direction, and scrapping the top fan entirely. We've done some very thorough thermal testing of a variety of different configurations, and the subsequent analysis of the results has demonstrated that the top fan had a negligible effect on temperatures - in most instances within the margin of error for our measuring instruments. With a case so small, and with other fans laid out as they are, the airflow and positive pressure exerted by all the other fans overwhelm any air that a top fan (or fans) could draw out.

 

(We've posted all of this data for the public to access on a Google doc located here, if you're interested).

 

 

my thought on the hdd bracket would to either make it removable or if it adds to the cost of machining to much just sell it as an addon and the people who want it will purchase it and the people who want the dual graphics setup won't.

 

Firstly, to be clear, the cage is certainly removable - it was already to be included for those who wanted to mount a stack of drives on the bottom, but Aiboh wanted to make it compatible to mounting on the side as well.

 

Regarding its inclusion, the cost of the bracket itself would be low enough that it would be expedient to include it for all people. Plus, even for a dual-GPU configuration, certain design changes we're looking at would still enable support for the drive bracket. The side-bracket solution Aiboh shared earlier being one of those, actually.

 

 

I also have a question and i apologize if it has already brought to light and that is the the question of front IO are there any plans or idea to maybe make some usb headers or headphone and mic jacks just wondering all in all i would definitive be interested in purchasing one of these cases whe it comes into production 

 

The prototype only included the power switch to simplify manufacturing, but we intend to have a row of two USB 3.0 ports, and HD audio ports (headphones/microphone), beneath it.

 

EDIT: Ah, Aiboh snuck in just before me  ;)

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Beat you to it  :P

 

Except for the external rad question, forgot about that one.

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It was bugging me so I went ahead and modeled it to see if the frame was doable with the dimensions I mocked up. Turns out it is, here it is with 2mm thick aluminum panel and 1mm steel frame. Panels would just screw on, it's simpler and takes up less space.

 

Fm7f5UA.png

 

It'll be a very tight fit but I think it's even possible to have a hinged bracket that'll fit a 140mm rad  :P

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I really like that, because my biggest problem with sff cases is that often the psu is in front of the cpu cooler blocking the airflow, but you eliminated that but kept it really small 

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Wow! I love this build, sff builds are the best.

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Why isnt there any 240mm rad support on the hinged side bracket? seems like something that allot of people want. Although I would still by it without, but just wondering.

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Why isnt there any 240mm rad support on the hinged side bracket? seems like something that allot of people want. Although I would still by it without, but just wondering.

 

It unfortunately wouldn't fit with the existing component layout, since the SFX power supply would be in the way.

 

Really, the only method to make it work would be to rotate the SFX power supply (a-la-NCASE M1), but that would require a tremendous increase in case length and volume. A lot of that space would be allocated in places inconvenient to mount or provide room for other hardware, too... So instead, we support certain 240mm radiators on the bottom, or potentially the front (if we end up supporting rear-mounted PSU's) - alongside the 120mm/140mm radiator support that already exists on the side bracket.

 

Save for people who want 2x240mm, this strikes us as an ideal balance, especially since so many different things can be mounted to the bottom and front this way. If you want dual-GPU (air cooled) and an AIO for the CPU, you can use a thick 140mm rad or (again, potentially) a 120/240mm AIO on the front (with a rear-mounted PSU). And if you want to WC everything, graphics waterblocks would give you enough vertical room on the bottom to hold a 240mm radiator, as well as the thick 140mm one on the side.

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j3YgTBX.jpg

Here's the bracket installed with a 180mm ATX PSU. The X41 is on top because I forgot to grab some double-sided tape so I could stick it to the front.

 

NiCHHGd.jpg

Here you can see why the PSU is so far forward, it has to clear the AC inlet

 

UoXUo6a.jpg

Not much room between the PSU and the board

 

 

Wybk3wk.jpg

Went ahead and test fit the Alphacool ST30 in the front

 

TLU4F7Q.jpg

 

6CzTaMK.jpg

You can see here that this configuration will limit the card length.

 

kRshCrC.jpg

For fun here's a pic of my growing collection of SilverStone PSUs :P

 

 

Even with the fairly heavy ST1000-G the side bracket held up just fine, I don't think that having an ATX on the hinged bracket would be a problem in the long run.

 

That said, it really doesn't leave much space up front with a longer PSU like this one so we'll probably be looking at the PSU mounted to the frame rear.

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lovin' it. keep it coming! :)

Just a guy who peaked at building back in the days of the GTX 980. If you see me here, assume i have technical knowledge akin to a committed hobbyist builder back then. If something's changed, you'll need to tell me(nicely plz). I'm probably asking for help with the modern build scene since I have no clue what's going on.

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It unfortunately wouldn't fit with the existing component layout, since the SFX power supply would be in the way.

 

Really, the only method to make it work would be to rotate the SFX power supply (a-la-NCASE M1), but that would require a tremendous increase in case length and volume. A lot of that space would be allocated in places inconvenient to mount or provide room for other hardware, too... So instead, we support certain 240mm radiators on the bottom, or potentially the front (if we end up supporting rear-mounted PSU's) - alongside the 120mm/140mm radiator support that already exists on the side bracket.

 

Save for people who want 2x240mm, this strikes us as an ideal balance, especially since so many different things can be mounted to the bottom and front this way. If you want dual-GPU (air cooled) and an AIO for the CPU, you can use a thick 140mm rad or (again, potentially) a 120/240mm AIO on the front (with a rear-mounted PSU). And if you want to WC everything, graphics waterblocks would give you enough vertical room on the bottom to hold a 240mm radiator, as well as the thick 140mm one on the side.

seems reasonable.

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You can see here that this configuration will limit the card length.
 
 

 

I'm assuming that the thickness of the 120mm fans associated with the rad will also come into play. 

 

Im curious if this configuration restricts GPU choice to those short ITX GPUs? 

 

For full length GTX 970s at least, it seems to be the MSI Twin Frozr V & EVGA ACX are the shortest of the bunch.

Scouring the interwebs, one page at a time. 

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I'm assuming that the thickness of the 120mm fans associated with the rad will also come into play. 

 

Im curious if this configuration restricts GPU choice to those short ITX GPUs? 

 

For full length GTX 970s at least, it seems to be the MSI Twin Frozr V & EVGA ACX are the shortest of the bunch.

 

The internal length of the case (available to graphics cards and anything mounted in front of them) is 314.4mm in the current design. So almost all cards, including flagships from Nvidia and ATI, will fit just fine with a fan mounted to the front.

 

With a fan and radiator, however, this gets tricky. Using the GTX 980/Titan X as an example, that reference design (which is 266.7mm long) leaves only 47.7mm of clearance. Which means you can either use the thinnest of sealed AIO's with regular fans, or most AIO's with thin fans.

 

You'd be much less restricted if you wanted to mount a 120mm rad + fans at the front-top, though.

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You could also mount an ITX GPU and have way more room for watercooling.

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You could also mount an ITX GPU and have way more room for watercooling.

 

Sure. Hopefully someone comes out with blocks for the ITX 970s, in theory you could fit 3 of them (or even 4 if a mATX motherboard ever comes out with the right slot arrangement).

 

 

YM9043j.png
 
Finally got around to testing SLI 980s with the dust filter. So this is with just the front 120mm, no other case fans. Doesn't make much difference in temps but the GPU fans are working much harder with the dust filters installed.
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This is, without question, the most beautiful PC I have ever seen.  I've been blown away by some ridiculous stuff in the past, but Nova combines wonderful aesthetics, top-end functionality, and extremely efficient design.  This thing is just gorgeous.

 

A million thumbs up sir, superb job.

Case: HAF XBCPU: 4690kCPU Cooler: NH D15Motherboard: Gigabyte Gaming 7 | RAM: Hyper X FuryVideo Card: G1 Gaming 970SSD: 850 EVO |  PSU: Supernova 550 G2 | 

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So it says that this computer can use a 3.5" drive as long as their isn't a card in the 5th slot. What exactly the 5th slot? GPU, Ram? Would it still support SLI or Crossfire? Still a noob to all of this. Thanks

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If you guys manage to come in at production before caselabs announces the new series of cases, I'm in.

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Are there already anything size wise know about them?

 

EDIT: Just looked it up, the microATX variant still looks way bigger then the Nova but does support more wc options

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So it says that this computer can use a 3.5" drive as long as their isn't a card in the 5th slot. What exactly the 5th slot? GPU, Ram? Would it still support SLI or Crossfire? Still a noob to all of this. Thanks

 

The 5th PCI expansion slot. It would still allow dual cards but they would be right next to each other, the 5th slot allows there to be a space between the cards for better airflow (though this only is possible on a few motherboards).

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The 5th PCI expansion slot. It would still allow dual cards but they would be right next to each other, the 5th slot allows there to be a space between the cards for better airflow (though this only is possible on a few motherboards).

Thanks for your quick response! This is good to hear and is acceptable design concept imo. 

 

On another topic. I noticed that you did the thermal tests but didn't have any temperatures for GPU 2. When do you plan on doing an SLI or Crossfire thermal test?

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On another topic. I noticed that you did the thermal tests but didn't have any temperatures for GPU 2. When do you plan on doing an SLI or Crossfire thermal test?

 

Most of the testing was with a single card since that's what I expect most people to have. There are a few tests with the SLI GTX 980s though, all the test data can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SANU6ZF73ckIyd7x8_OXqy8hvEDqieL0pVGSTfIM5Ck

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