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

yoyo55 said:
I also want a Kimera Habanero!!
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The Kimera Habanero has a nice ring to it! And it completely justifies making it a bright red/orange default color. As for quantum-mechanical names, the Bra-Ket or Dirac might kind of make sense, since Dirac bra-ket notation greatly simplifies and condenses calculations into a more compact format without sacrificing expressiveness, which sums up the spirit of the Kimera project nicely.

In other news, I just finished helping a friend build his first PC, and he quickly noticed the noise coming from the front-panel audio compared to the rear port which is super quiet with headphones. I have the same issue with my NCASE, which got me thinking. Are there any cases with nice shielded wires going to the front panel? Is this something that even exists? I know the inside of a PC case is swimming in EM noise, so it seems like shielded cables for the front-panel audio should be an industry standard benefiting from economies of scale by now. If it exists, would it be possible to put in the Kimera "TBD"?

(Specs for the curious: Corsair Air 240, Fatality X99M, i7-5820k @4.4GHz, 2xGTX 970 TURBO (with the bi-directional intake), 2x8GB DDR4-2400 (room to grow) )
 
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Kawi said:
The Kimera Habanero has a nice ring to it! And it completely justifies making it a bright red/orange default color. As for quantum-mechanical names, the Bra-Ket or Dirac might kind of make sense, since Dirac bra-ket notation greatly simplifies and condenses calculations into a more compact format without sacrificing expressiveness, which sums up the spirit of the Kimera project nicely.
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Habanero is popular, so I'm going to use it as the codename for the next case project :p

Dirac is a Japanese computer parts distributor and they're starting to make a name for themselves even outside Japan by coming out with strange SFF PSUs so I wouldn't want to use that.

Kawi said:
Are there any cases with nice shielded wires going to the front panel? Is this something that even exists?
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iFreilicht did some research into this for his case and we've talked about it and if possible I want to get front panel audio with proper EMI filtering per the Intel specification. Practically every case manufacturer doesn't bother with this and just wires the audio connector straight to the motherboard header.


There's finally some good pics of the Asus X99M-WS and boy it looks nice:

zj14NTE.jpg


http://www.gdm.or.jp/crew/2015/0603/117917
 
Aibohphobia said:
iFreilicht did some research into this for his case and we've talked about it and if possible I want to get front panel audio with proper EMI filtering per the Intel specification. Practically every case manufacturer doesn't bother with this and just wires the audio connector straight to the motherboard header.


There's finally some good pics of the Asus X99M-WS and boy it looks nice:
[...]
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Jup, that's the problem. It's of course a lot cheaper to do this but when a case costs 150€+ you've got to wonder why they couldn't afford .60€ for the EMI filter.

To the original question: I don't think any audio cabling except for the very high profile studio stuff is even shielded in the first place. I know good XLR cables do it, but I've yet to see consumer-grade headphones or such with shielded cables.

I just noticed how nice the internal layout of the Nova is to allow the angled SATA ports to be unobstructed, I never really thought about that.
 
CGd1e0aUQAAA5K6.jpg


https://twitter.com/EVGA_JacobF/status/605581864380735489

Well this is unexpected. This is not just taking the X99 Micro and tacking on a Type C conector either. The caps are blacked out, CMOS battery is moved to a very convenient location. M.2 supports a useful length SSD, hopefully the M.2 has the lanes to be worthwhile without gimping the bottom slot.

If this keeps the 3.0 x8 support on the bottom slot and the Asus is really 2.0 x4 on the 4th slot I may have found my new motherboard :)
 
I was not expecting EVGA to bother with a refresh. Interesting.

Asrock threw a Type-C on the full X99X ATX, but opted for 2x Type-A on the X99M/3.1.
 
Thanks for the link!

No price set yet but release in July!

Let's play spot the difference!

CGaEh8A.jpg


Relocated CMOS battery allows longer M.2
Blacked out capacitors, very nice
Looks like they removed the voltage checkpoint breakout header but I didn't find it that useful anyway
More Sata
Bottom of the RAM slots don't have tabs, so RAM can be installed/removed without taking the video card out
CPU socket is still way too close to the top slot so limited air cooling options, that's a bummer
Right-angle USB 3.0 header!!!

I'm running out of exclamation points :p
 
You're missing the right angled 4-pin fan connectors at the bottom!

Also, the audio circuitry seems to be isolated (better?) now.

Less USB 2.0 ports, but not a big loss at all.
 
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theGryphon said:
Also, the audio circuitry seems to be isolated (better?) now.
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It's pure marketing, one brand started drawing a line where the audio components were and now it's considered relevant to audio quality somehow. It's as useful as the Nvidia SLI logo in practice.
 
theGryphon said:
You're missing the right angled 4-pin fan connectors at the bottom!
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Ah, missed that. Though I'd rather have right-angle front panel headers (power button, power LED, etc.), that caused me more problems than the fan headers.

Ended up filing down the plastic part of the connector so I could bend the wire over more.
 
Wow that angled USB3 header is pretty important when you want to use a GPU in the bottom slot, didn't even think about that.
Will a USB3 front cable be able to bend around in the Nova with the header angled like that? Those cables are pretty stiff and have a stupidly large mold on the connector, so there could be problems, I reckon.

And I think it's pretty forward thinking of EVGA to just ditch the second PCIe slot for a full-length M.2 one. Nobody who has the need for X99 will not have a GPU in the top slot, so why even bother with PCIex1 like ASUS does?
 
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iFreilicht said:
Will a USB3 front cable be able to bend around in the Nova with the header angled like that? Those cables are pretty stiff and have a stupidly large mold on the connector, so there could be problems, I reckon.
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It'll be very close. Will just have to try it and see.
 
Qrash said:
If it doesn't work consider the Low Profile USB 3.0 Header Extender from EVGA. It's all black and can help manage those stiff USB3 cables that all cases have.
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Why haven't I seen that one before? I only know the ugly one from moddiy, but this one looks pretty sleek. I'm wondering whether one could source a front USB3 cable with this type of connection, that would be very useful in a lot of cases.
 
iFreilicht said:
Why haven't I seen that one before? I only know the ugly one from moddiy, but this one looks pretty sleek. I'm wondering whether one could source a front USB3 cable with this type of connection, that would be very useful in a lot of cases.
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I learned obout this one and the one form moddiy last month in a nother forum and ordered one from each site. The one from moddiy has multi-coloured (think rainbow) wires, but the one from EVGA was all black.
 
theGryphon said:
Another site with more pics of the new EVGA board: http://www.fashaoyou.net/Article/1543/81525.html

I can read the PCIE_x8 for the last slot ;)

And a video: http://hexus.net/tv/show/2015/06/New_X99_and_early_Intel_Skylake_motherboards_from_EVGA
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With an i7-5820k, would the last slot only have access to 4 lanes, like with the gigabyte X99M? I'm wondering if this is a limitation of the CPU in general to have this problem. If so, it seems like having an 8-lane card taking advantage of the Kimera's extra slot will require at least the pricey i7-5930k. Bummer.
 
Kawi said:
With an i7-5820k, would the last slot only have access to 4 lanes, like with the gigabyte X99M? I'm wondering if this is a limitation of the CPU in general to have this problem.
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It's a hardware limitation, I asked this question when Jacob from EVGA was on PC Perspective: https://youtu.be/bQlHyeeICYA?t=1h11m42s

I read the Intel spec sheets back when I first got the original EVGA X99 Micro and a 5820K and it looks like it has something to do with the way the 28-lane CPU can split its blocks of lanes.

I think it's possible to run a x16 / x4 / x8 configuration but the board would be hardwired to it.
 
Aibohphobia said:
It's a hardware limitation, I asked this question when Jacob from EVGA was on PC Perspective: https://youtu.be/bQlHyeeICYA?t=1h11m42s
...
I think it's possible to run a x16 / x4 / x8 configuration but the board would be hardwired to it.
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Unlikely that'll happen since the Nova 5-slot case is pretty special. Awesome job catching the live stream and asking about this all the way back in September!
 
I'm looking into purchasing a mobo for your case (ill be sticking it in a full atx case while i wait for nova) while this question might be more suitable for /r/buildapc, I'd like to ask the maker himself...how do i quickly determine if the pci slots in the 1st and 4th position of an matx board are crossfire compatible? Is there a list somewhere? Ive been stalking pcpp for a while and some are using the gryphon series, but iirc, the spacing on the gryphon is sub-optimal for non water cooling gpu solutions.

Secondly, it would be super awesome as you near completion of this build to supply potential buyers with an assortment of optimal partslists: ie best dual gpu config, best custom loop config, etc. Just so that we dont mess up on something basic like buying the wrong size atx psu, or a mobo which doesn't allow adequate space between gpus. For instance, i have no clue which psu to buy for a crossfire 290x build. dealing with basic clearances is tricky to visualize within such an efficiently spaced case...is there some tool that i can use?

Lastly, can you please straw poll color options? And any plans on a special edition windowed version?
 
top_hats_and_gas_mas said:
how do i quickly determine if the pci slots in the 1st and 4th position of an matx board are crossfire compatible?
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I'll let Aiboh answer that :p I have to ask him every time haha. But sometimes the speed of PCI slots is indicated on the board, and you can usually find it recorded in specs pages or (better yet) manuals for the product (if it's out already).

top_hats_and_gas_mas said:
Secondly, it would be super awesome as you near completion of this build to supply potential buyers with an assortment of optimal partslists: ie best dual gpu config, best custom loop config, etc. Just so that we dont mess up on something basic like buying the wrong size atx psu, or a mobo which doesn't allow adequate space between gpus.
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We'll provide detailed guidelines that should make checking component compatibility pretty simple. For part dimensions, we'll have maximum clearances (max video card length and height, for example). We'll also have explanations for what hardware you can put where, and what that would preclude (if anything). As for power, it's really a matter of arithmetic (does the combined TDP of your parts fall under the rating of your power supply), so we'll just make clear what the cutoff is before you really need to go with ATX (>700W).

Example builds are an interesting idea, but some of the product images will incidentally show some of those, so the more visual-oriented can get guidance from those.

top_hats_and_gas_mas said:
Lastly, can you please straw poll color options? And any plans on a special edition windowed version?
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We're pretty dialed in to the precedence of the colors we'll offer at this point. In terms of what will be available, from the number of color options, to something like a windowed version, that depends heavily on MOQ's with a manufacturer.

Anyway, we'll have specifics on these alongside the slew of other announcements we can share, in a few weeks' time.
 
thanks for the reply! psu "size" was ambiguous, i meant the physical dimensions, not the wattage, but I'm sure your website will be updated with the appropriate info soon enough. of course your approach of listing dimensions is necessary...but i must reiterate on the psychological comfort of knowing that a specific partslist is operational at x temps. there are a few atypical variables in your build (ie is the psu front or rear mounted) which will directly interfere with cpu cooling options, (if i understand your blog.)

a simple "gamer" build, an "htpc" build and a "rendering workhorse" build, perhaps with air/water cooling variants would be valuable for people who aren't 100% confident in their own ability to choose parts. also, working within this case will be on a higher level of difficulty, and a video build guide series which incorporates those 3 categories of pc would be worth it.
 
@top_hats_and_gas_mas

CrossFire doesn't have the x8 limitation that SLI has so more motherboards will work compared to SLI. The best thing to do is check the manual, the spec page usually isn't detail enough, on what PCIe revision and how many lanes the bottom slot has.

If you want to stick to PCIe 3.0 x8 on the 4th slot in case you want to SLI in the future that pretty much leaves the EVGA X99 Micro and Gigabyte X99M Gaming though only with 40-lane CPUs like the 5930K and 5960X. There's the Rampage IV Gene (X79) from last gen and also last-gen is the Gigabyte G1.Sniper M5 (Z87).

Skylake is coming though and it has 20 lanes off the CPU instead of 16 so that may change things.

There really isn't a limitation on ATX PSU length. The longer, heavier units will probably require a little support bracket that attaches to the side hinged bracket though.
 
There's also the 2011-v3 Xeons. The Xeon E5 16xx series are multiplier unlocked, unlike the E5-26xx and E7 series. Generally single-socket Xeons on Xxx series chipsets can be overclocked, while multi-socket (i.e. have QPI) Xeons cannot, nor can consumer-socket Xeons (E3 series).
 
Hi,

I'm planning a new build based on the following specs, and am hoping to use a Nova (or whatever the new name turns out to be):

Core i7-4970K
Corsair H100i water cooler (or similar)
ASUS Z97-M Motherboard with M.2 SSD
Single GTX 980 Ti (hopefully the ASUS Strix version if it's out and will fit, otherwise a reference board)
I'm also going to wait for the new Silverstone SFX-L 700W PSU.

I'm going to get the CPU and motherboard shortly and built it into an old case temporarily.

It's mainly for development and 3D image manipulation. Do you have any thoughts on the configuration? I'm also hoping to add 2 and preferably 3 3.5" drives for storage, will these be able to be mounted in the bottom of the case?

Thanks for your input, the case looks amazing so far!
 
The GTX 780 Direct CU II fits even with that stupidly tall bit of heatpipe so a 980Ti Strix should fit.

The Z97M-Plus only has a PCIe 2.0 x2 M.2 slot, which isn't that much faster that Sata 3.0. You may consider holding out for Skylake or using a different board if you were planning on using a high-end M.2 drive like the Samsung SM951.

With a single GPU installing 2 x 3.5" will be fine. Getting the 3rd drive will be tricky.
 
Oh great, thanks. I can probably cope with two drives plus some external storage as required.

Do you have any board suggestions with faster M.2 support? I'm hoping to stick with LGA1150 due to some software compatibility issues, and need a new machine sooner rather than later so probably can't really afford to wait for Skylake.

Alternatively, if I can solve my software issues, would you recommend the ASUS X99-M WS board with single GPU, 5820K and the Samsung SM951?
 
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Last I heard the X99M-WS is set to release in September in Japan, not sure on other markets.

The only mATX boards currently available that support Ultra M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4) that I know of are the ASRock X99M Killer and X99M Killer/3.1.
 
I don't think there are any LGA1150 motherboards having M.2 with more than two pci-e lanes?
 
Hmm, feel like either way I'm a bit crippled by Z97. I'm tempted to just pull the trigger on an X99 build with the ASRock board, but it's an extra $500-$600 plus cooler. I know I'll appreciate the performance, just not sure I'll $600 appreciate it.

Thanks for the advice guys.
 
backfeed said:
I don't think there are any LGA1150 motherboards having M.2 with more than two pci-e lanes?
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Asus Maximus VII Impact is quite literally the only Z97 board with M.2 PCI-E 3.0 x4

Note that it will drop the PCI-e x16 slot to x8 to compensate. Not relevant with current GPUs, but might be in the future depending on how long you intend to keep the build.
 
Ended up with the 5820K and Asrock X99-M. Bit of a dent in the wallet but feel like it will be worth it in the long run. Thanks again for your advice.

On another note, do you think the Cooler Master Nepton 240 cooler will fit in the front of the Nova?
 
Nepton 240 should fit on the front but the block on thing is pretty big so it'll be a tight fit with the ATX PSU.
 
OK good to know. If I instead stick with a front-mounted SFX PSU, what do you think is the best cooling option for LGA2011-3, preferably with a mild overclock?

I picked up the Nepton 240 yesterday but haven't opened it so can exchange it for a 120mm radiator or air cooler. Thanks!
 
I've been happy with the NZXT X41. Very quiet once the pump is run at 6-9V and temps are good.

But most decent 120mm water coolers should be fine.
 
Aibohphobia said:
Last I heard the X99M-WS is set to release in September in Japan, not sure on other markets.

The only mATX boards currently available that support Ultra M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4) that I know of are the ASRock X99M Killer and X99M Killer/3.1.
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Not sure if it has been mentioned in this thread but he Evga X99 Micro 2 that is being released in July has a proper Ultra M.2 slot. Other additions are USB 3.1 with 1 USB C port.
 
OK cool, thanks.. Alternatively if I stick with the 240 but put it in the bottom wtih SFX-L PSU in front, will there be any clearance issues if I do end up with the Strix 980 Ti? Sorry for all the questions but I want to "do it once, do it right."
 
tokyovigilante said:
Alternatively if I stick with the 240 but put it in the bottom wtih SFX-L PSU in front, will there be any clearance issues if I do end up with the Strix 980 Ti?
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The rad will fit but I'm not sure if the tubing is long enough. That's one of those things it's hard to say for sure without actually testing it.
 
Ok, I'll give it a go and cross my fingers. Am I right in thinking I could set the Nova up with either radiator in front and SFX PSU in rear or rad at bottom and PSU at front?
 
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