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

[Poster]

I realize it is probably too premature, but what ballpark would this be priced at?

[tyson.b]

OMFG! This is the king of Mini Cases! Dual, reference, top of the line cards and a watercooled i7? What did this cost you, 3k?

[Kabini]

 

Personally, I'm hopeful that we'll be able to provide a few different colors for both the panels and the internal frame, since you'd get a degree of customization that isn't very common.

 

I don't think spending resources on a contrasting interior colour will be worthwhile. 

 

Everyone is going to stuff this case to the brim with components(which are usually black/grey), and since there will be likely be no windows/internal lighting, you'd barely notice the coloured internals from the outside  .

 

I think a tasteful dark grey interior will be perfect for all cases.

 Since this case has a very small visual footprint - it's a great idea to make the outside brightly coloured, to give it more presence . It's kind of like painting your hot hatch bright orange  .

[Neemil]

I have a totally irrelevant question, will the power button be available in different colours?

[Kabini]

I have a totally irrelevant question, will the power button be available in different colours?

 

They seem to use a standard Anti-Vandal switch for the power button.

You can get replacements from PC modding stores.I believe Performance PC carries quite a wide selection.

[Aibohphobia]

I realize it is probably too premature, but what ballpark would this be priced at?

 

We're aiming for ~$250 but it could be more or it could be less.

 

 

OMFG! This is the king of Mini Cases! Dual, reference, top of the line cards and a watercooled i7? What did this cost you, 3k?

 

The case or the parts? Case was $2600 for engineering and manufacturing. Not sure on parts, I've bought it piece by piece. Probably around $3k.

 

 

I don't think spending resources on a contrasting interior colour will be worthwhile. 

 

Everyone is going to stuff this case to the brim with components(which are usually black/grey), and since there will be likely be no windows/internal lighting, you'd barely notice the coloured internals from the outside  .

 

I think a tasteful dark grey interior will be perfect for all cases.

 Since this case has a very small visual footprint - it's a great idea to make the outside brightly coloured, to give it more presence . It's kind of like painting your hot hatch bright orange  .

 

I like the bright colors too, black will be the default option but past that I'd rather have something splashy and out of the ordinary.

 

 

They seem to use a standard Anti-Vandal switch for the power button.

You can get replacements from PC modding stores.I believe Performance PC carries quite a wide selection.

 

Yup, the prototype uses 22mm anti-vandal switches but the production version will probably use 16mm to save space.

[tyson.b]

We're aiming for ~$250 but it could be more or it could be less.

 

 

 

The case or the parts? Case was $2600 for engineering and manufacturing. Not sure on parts, I've bought it piece by piece. Probably around $3k.

 

 

 

I like the bright colors too, black will be the default option but past that I'd rather have something splashy and out of the ordinary.

 

 

 

Yup, the prototype uses 22mm anti-vandal switches but the production version will probably use 16mm to save space.

Oh my goodness. 6k in a computer? Good concept, this needs to be crowd funded. Anyway, can you tell me what the temps are on both gpu, cpu, and the mobo? Me and my bud are really trying to figure out what the temps would be. Thanks!

[Blackie Sheen]

Oh my goodness. 6k in a computer? Good concept, this needs to be crowd funded. Anyway, can you tell me what the temps are on both gpu, cpu, and the mobo? Me and my bud are really trying to figure out what the temps would be. Thanks!

This can be fine in the on the kimera industries website on the thermal testing section of the blog. Here's the link: http://www.kimeraindustries.com/blog/2015/2/13/thermal-testing-announcement

The thermal testing graph also appears at some point in the thread but its much easier to just go on the blog

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Anyway, can you tell me what the temps are on both gpu, cpu, and the mobo? Me and my bud are really trying to figure out what the temps would be. Thanks!

 

This can be fine in the on the kimera industries website on the thermal testing section of the blog.

 

At the end of the blog post Sheen references, there's a link to a publicly-available workbook we published that contains all of the thermal testing data, and analysis results, that we've collected and calculated. If I recall correctly, we've tested nearly thirty builds (across synthetic and non-synthetic tests), so the data is very robust. You should get a very good sense of Nova's performance 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Sorry for the radio silence, everyone - Aiboh and I have both been very busy as of late :rolleyes:

 

That said, we want to do a repeat of the last poll we posted, but this time we're limiting it to a consideration of a 15mm depth increase. After looking at the range of video cards, radiators, AIO's, and other hardware that's available, we've concluded that ~15mm would be the necessary length to add, in order to provide the greatest utility from such a change. Any less, and you begin to quickly reduce component flexibility; any more, and you only really benefit a small minority of builds that use the longest of cards.

 

So, what do you think: Is it worth it to add around 15mm of depth to Nova?

 

After playing around with this change, we can confirm the following about it's implications:

• Super-long cards (R9 295x2, or rediculous-length non-reference cards/coolers) will now be "comfortably" supported, and would be easier to install. Pretty much all cards will be supported length-wise, actually, that we know of.

• For all but the longest of cards (again, R9 295x2-territory), a 25mm front fan will be supported as well.

• For 10.5" cards (most notably nVidia's current and last-gen flagships, 780(Ti)/970/980/Titan/Titan X/Titan Z, as well as many of AMD's cards at or below the 270X, though some 280s/290s can be near this length), there will be ~58-60mm of clearance at the front. That's enough for pretty much any AIO, and any discrete radiator around 30-35mm - which will be particularly useful for builds that rear-mount the power supply, or populate 4-5 PCI slots (either of which prevent mounting a radiator and/or fan in their respective locations).

• Since we're adapting "sliding" 120mm mounts/grooves at the bottom of Nova, the ~15mm of depth would be reflected in added range of movement for bottom-mounted components. This could be handy if you had hardware mounted to the front and bottom, for example.

• For builds with ITX-length graphics cards and PCI devices, front-mounting the HDD cage near the bottom would now be possible.

• Finally, this change would give additional clearance to any hardware mounted to the side bracket, when it is swung out. Currently, the X41 used in testing just swings past the 2x2.5" drive bracket, even with the mounts pushed all the way towards the back. The depth increase would thus alleviate concerns of clearance issues for practically anything you could mount there, when used in conjunction with the drive bracket.

• The "cost" of these changes would be a ~4.5% increase in Nova's depth (to 348mm) and volume (to ~17.7L).

I encourage everyone to both vote in the poll, and contribute their thoughts on the thread! We're still very much on the fence about this possible change, and look to you all for a better sense of what you'd value - and whether or not this would affect the sorts of builds you'd want to make inside Nova.

[Poster]

_{Like I said previously, I believe 15mm is the sweet spot.  4.5percent is less than 1/20th of an increase in overall size (aka it's still going to be very small), but the flexibility it adds will be very valuable.  I don't see a downside to this, like it almost seems mandatory (although clearly not).}

[ngaalex]

I think the extra length is definitely worth it - in the end not many people will notice too much, but the added hardware compatibility will be crazy. With ATX power supplies and multiple rads supported you've made a killer case.

[Aibohphobia]

Here's what I've come up with for the fan mounts on the front:

 

 

Should give complete flexibility for mounting fans and/or radiators.

[waggythegeek]

Voted no. Cuz no. Keep it tiny.

[willemdoom1]

you mentioned that you will be including front io in the final design but wouldn't the case be much cleaner without it.

[Aibohphobia]

Voted no. Cuz no. Keep it tiny.

 

Fair enough.

 

 

you mentioned that you will be including front io in the final design but wouldn't the case be much cleaner without it.

 

I've grown rather fond of the clean look of the prototype but front IO has been much requested.

[Poster]

What do you guys think about getting high-rise rubber feet on the bottom to help lift the case a bit for when it's seated on carpet?  It might not work for this case, but it's one of my favorite understated features on most cases that I find myself needing even though I don't actually need it.

[Aibohphobia]

I'm thinking 15mm tall feet for the production version instead of the 10mm feet on the prototype.

[Poster]

I'm thinking 15mm tall feet for the production version instead of the 10mm feet on the prototype.

It's like you guys are custom making this beauty just for me!

[PlayfulPhoenix]

you mentioned that you will be including front io in the final design but wouldn't the case be much cleaner without it.

  

I've grown rather fond of the clean look of the prototype but front IO has been much requested.

You know, I'm too curious to not put a poll up on this:

What do you think: Would you prefer that Nova have USB and audio ports up front (under the power button), or would you prefer that we eschew front I/O completely for a cleaner look?

I'm doubtful that we'll get rid of the I/O, since it's all but a requirement in any case that's to be sold (many would probably refuse to buy it if it didn't have front-mounted I/O ports), but there is definitely an understood correlation between shrinking case sizes and the acceptance of fewer (or no) I/O ports, as they become easier to access in the back. I'd love to know where Nova falls on that trend line.

[MourningSouls]

Front USB is handy, but not necessary. Front audio is generally just an annoying feature to me though.

 

Voted nope.

[ngaalex]

What about top IO? Having a couple of USB 3.0 ports on the top would be better than none, and it won't 'ruin' the front of the case.

[PlayfulPhoenix]

What about top IO? Having a couple of USB 3.0 ports on the top would be better than none, and it won't 'ruin' the front of the case.

Ports on the top would conflict with the power supply, or block its intake.

[WolfDeville]

Hey do you think you could send me the model for the case? I would like to try and 3D print it haha

[Aibohphobia]

Hey do you think you could send me the model for the case? I would like to try and 3D print it haha

 

There's a SketchUp file of the prototype here, though it's mostly meant for people to play around with build ideas and isn't completely accurate: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wb9kaddf8qqniq/Nova%20Prototype%202014-11-28.skp?dl=0

 

Nova is designed around formed sheet metal and printing it as it is wouldn't work. A 3D printed case really needs to be designed from the ground up with that type of manufacturing in mind. You can see an example of what I mean here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/298336-node-3d-printed-case/