Introducing Cerberus, The SFF mATX Chassis From Kimera Industries

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What started out as sketches and mockups in our forums almost two years ago, has blossomed into a fully functional mATX small form factor chassis. The crew at Kimera Industries just announced Cerberus, an 18L mATX enclosure designed for the enthusiast crowd. Follow the link for a complete list of specifications and features as well as information on the upcoming crowdfunding campaign.

Originating in a thread on HardForum, Cerberus was at first a build log and project created by a frustrated enthusiast, who found existing cases on the market to be bulky and poorly designed. Although Cerberus's humble beginnings included little more than sketches and mockups, the enclosure would eventually transform into a collaboration between designer and audience, as more and more people began following and contributing to the project. Eventually, the collection of comments and feedback from an engaged enthusiast community would yield Cerberus's final design: a mATX enclosure that was portable, yet remarkably flexible; beautiful, yet completely functional.
 
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Very slick. Would there be grey as well? Would be cool to have a full pexi side panel too. :)
 
It's about the size of the Rosewill Ranger-M, which is a great form factor. Obviously much higher quality. Good to see.
 
@Squizzles - It would be really cool but it would need to have stamped out holes for air to flow if you choose to have a radiator that could be mounted using that swingout bracket in the 2nd picture. I like that you can use a full size ATX power supply or a SFX power supply according to their website. Just wondering about the cost.
 
Very slick. Would there be grey as well? Would be cool to have a full pexi side panel too. :)

Case designer here, I have powder coat samples in grey and they look good but to keep the number of SKUs under control it'll only be black, white, and as a stretch goal, red.

A full side window would interfere with the hinges and the side vent is needed for most configurations so it won't be offered. But that's what dremels are for right :D

It's about the size of the Rosewill Ranger-M, which is a great form factor. Obviously much higher quality. Good to see.

It is, I hope we'll see more mATX cases in this size that aren't just really cheap basic stuff.

@Squizzles - It would be really cool but it would need to have stamped out holes for air to flow if you choose to have a radiator that could be mounted using that swingout bracket in the 2nd picture. I like that you can use a full size ATX power supply or a SFX power supply according to their website. Just wondering about the cost.

We're aiming for $250.
 
Looks really great, I own a Silverstone SG03 and this is even smaller than that while supporting longer GPUs.

Although you might want to reconsider which colors are standard vs stretch the red is so much more interesting to me than the black or white. You can get cases in black and white anywhere.
 
Case designer here, I have powder coat samples in grey and they look good but to keep the number of SKUs under control it'll only be black, white, and as a stretch goal, red.

A full side window would interfere with the hinges and the side vent is needed for most configurations so it won't be offered. But that's what dremels are for right :D



It is, I hope we'll see more mATX cases in this size that aren't just really cheap basic stuff.



We're aiming for $250.

First and foremost, some well deserved praise...Beautiful looking case, freaking awesome logo...I'm looking forward to your Indiegogo campaign. Seeing the $250 price goal is nice too...not bank breaking by any means, and certainly fair for a quality product made in the US. ^_^

A question for you; one of the biggest limitations of mATX cases is the number of internal drives they can support...what is the recommended number of 2.5" and 3.5" drives the Cerberus can handle? I'm sure with the modular design, you could shoe-horn plenty in, but I'd like to know what you think the best number of drives for the system is, while still having plenty of room for good cooling.
 
Although you might want to reconsider which colors are standard vs stretch the red is so much more interesting to me than the black or white. You can get cases in black and white anywhere.

Yes, but they're everywhere because they're popular ;)

A question for you; one of the biggest limitations of mATX cases is the number of internal drives they can support...what is the recommended number of 2.5" and 3.5" drives the Cerberus can handle? I'm sure with the modular design, you could shoe-horn plenty in, but I'd like to know what you think the best number of drives for the system is, while still having plenty of room for good cooling.

It really depends on the other components, what kind of build (# of GPUs, cooling, etc.) did you have in mind?

For a single aircooled GPU then 2x3.5" and 2x2.5" is easily doable.
 
Support for matx is perfect and that is what is keeping me away from the Ncase. But the Ncase does have support for a slot load DVD player. Does this case support one?

No. The M1 has it because the space between the front panel and the frame wasn't being used for anything, the chamfered front panel is mostly just for looks. Here though, that space is used for intake for the SFX PSU and/or front fans.
 
This looks great, you guys have done a great job. I've been following the development since the original thread came out.

I'm curious though, do you have any preliminary numbers of how quiet we can expect the case to be (both ATX power supply and non?) like? I know that's largely a "it depends on configuration" question, but a rough estimate would be nice based on typical quiet configurations with an AIO water cooler.
 
Case looks great.

I would buy one today except for two issues.

I don't have an mATX mobo.

I don't need a new mobo.

I use a Lian Li PC-343B so this is like the full other extreme of the spectrum almost.

But I do like this case, maybe if I talk my kids into buying me a birthday gift, (I can subsidize it some), then I could convince Moma I need a case to fit the new motherboard :D
 
Case designer here, I have powder coat samples in grey and they look good but to keep the number of SKUs under control it'll only be black, white, and as a stretch goal, red.

A full side window would interfere with the hinges and the side vent is needed for most configurations so it won't be offered. But that's what dremels are for right :D



It is, I hope we'll see more mATX cases in this size that aren't just really cheap basic stuff.



We're aiming for $250.

Thanks for the reply! Ah I understand. Yeah more colors can just make things harder. I was only asking as I just love the grey Compact Splash case. I have a black one, and I just wish I could get a grey one. In the end though, I'm not afraid to use a dremel if I do pick one up and move my rig to mATX. Though at $250...it's incredibly appealing. Not bad at all!

Love the design btw!
 
I'm curious though, do you have any preliminary numbers of how quiet we can expect the case to be (both ATX power supply and non?) like? I know that's largely a "it depends on configuration" question, but a rough estimate would be nice based on typical quiet configurations with an AIO water cooler.

Basically it'll be as quiet as your components. It's a small case with lots of vents so you can't rely on the case to muffle the sound much at all like you would with a Fractal Design R4 or similar.

I am extremely sensitive to noise though (the backlight whine from my second monitor is bugging me right now for instance) and I'm mostly happy with the noise level. I don't have any pics but for a while I was running the Noctua C12P on the CPU with the SilverStone SX500-LG power supply and an ASUS Strix 780 that I had removed the shroud from and cooled with two Noctua P12s attached to the bottom of the case.

At load the system wasn't silent but it was still decently quiet. At idle the problem I ran into is my SX500-LG makes a clacking noise and I find it annoying hence why I'm looking forward to the new PSUs.

I use a Lian Li PC-343B so this is like the full other extreme of the spectrum almost.

But I do like this case, maybe if I talk my kids into buying me a birthday gift, (I can subsidize it some), then I could convince Moma I need a case to fit the new motherboard :D

Oh wow, that's a big case. You could fit multiple Cerberus's in there :p

Thanks for the reply! Ah I understand. Yeah more colors can just make things harder. I was only asking as I just love the grey Compact Splash case. I have a black one, and I just wish I could get a grey one. In the end though, I'm not afraid to use a dremel if I do pick one up and move my rig to mATX. Though at $250...it's incredibly appealing. Not bad at all!

Love the design btw!

In that case you'd probably be more interested in Project mATX: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1881783

It's basically a mATX Compact Splash, available in grey and with a full window.
 
Case designer here, I have powder coat samples in grey and they look good but to keep the number of SKUs under control it'll only be black, white, and as a stretch goal, red.

A full side window would interfere with the hinges and the side vent is needed for most configurations so it won't be offered. But that's what dremels are for right :D



It is, I hope we'll see more mATX cases in this size that aren't just really cheap basic stuff.



We're aiming for $250.


Your timing is impeccable. :) I've been thinking about upgrading my current portable mITX socket 1155 gaming system to an mATX based rig so I can go SLI, but I hadn't found a single mATX case that I liked that was small enough until now. :)
 
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