3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Creality Ender-3 V3 KE vs ELEGOO Centauri Carbon
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Creality Ender-3 V3 KE comparisonsMore ELEGOO Centauri Carbon comparisons
| Property | Creality Ender-3 V3 KEBEDSLINGER | ELEGOO Centauri CarbonCOREXY |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Creality | ELEGOO |
| Class | BEDSLINGER | COREXY |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Creality Ender-3 V3 KE[1] | ELEGOO Centauri Carbon[2] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Not documented | Listed on the ELEGOO US store from 17 February 2025 (Shopify publish date)[3] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | $259.00 on store.creality.com, Aug 2026; Creality's own product page shows $279.00 on the same day[4][1] | $419.99 on us.elegoo.com, Aug 2026, with the compare-at price also $419.99 (no discount running)[3] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Sits between the SE and the V3 in the Ender-3 V3 family. Against the SE: linear rail on X instead of wheels, 500 mm/s instead of 250, 300 C ceramic hotend instead of 260 C, 4.3-inch touchscreen instead of a 3.2-inch knob screen, Wi-Fi instead of SD-card only. Against the V3: the KE keeps the conventional bed-slinger layout while the V3 is CoreXZ and reaches 600 mm/s. Build volume also differs subtly - 220 x 220 x 240 mm on the KE against 220 x 220 x 250 mm on the SE and V3[1][5][6][7] | Superseded by the Centauri Carbon 2, which raises the nozzle ceiling to 350 C and swaps the nano mineral crystal filter for a HEPA plus coconut-shell carbon stack, adds clog detection, a smart exhaust grille and part-cooling-fan drop detection. The non-carbon Centauri and Centauri 2 are open-frame-oriented machines with a different filament list. Machine size 398 x 404 x 490 mm is shared with the Centauri 2, so body dimensions alone will not identify the model[8][9][2] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Not documented | Superseded within ELEGOO's own line-up: the US store's Centauri section in Aug 2026 lists the Centauri Carbon 2 Combo, Centauri 2 Combo, Centauri Carbon 2 and an emoji collaboration edition[10] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 220 x 220 x 240 mm - 10 mm shorter than the SE and V3, a difference that is easy to miss[5] | 256 x 256 x 256 mm; printing platform 260 x 260 mm[2] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 433 x 366 x 490 mm (Tom's Hardware)[5] | 398 x 404 x 490 mm[2] |
| Net weight (kg) | 7.8 kg[5] | 17.5 kg net, 21 kg gross[2] |
| Frame construction & material | Not documented | Integrated die-cast aluminium construction, which ELEGOO credits for reduced vibration at speed[2] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open frame, no enclosure[1] | Fully enclosed with a tempered glass door and top cover; a nano mineral crystal air filter, an auxiliary part-cooling fan and a chamber temperature regulator fan are fitted[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | Cartesian bed-slinger with a linear rail on X[1] | CoreXY[2] |
| X-axis guide type (rods / linear rails / V-wheels; size) | Steel linear rail on the X axis with a ball-bearing carriage; Creality Lab quotes a 0.04 friction coefficient[1] | Not documented |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Not documented | Three lead screws with three linear guide rods[2] |
| Belts (type, width, e.g. Gates?) | Not documented | Semi-automatic belt tensioner[2] |
| Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?) | Not documented | "Silent Drive (All Axes)" is all that is published; no driver part number is given[2] |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 500 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim, Creality Lab)[1] | 500 mm/s or less, with 250 mm/s given by ELEGOO as the recommended speed[2] |
| Recommended/typical print speed | Not documented | 250 mm/s recommended printing speed (manufacturer figure)[2] |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | Not documented | 20000 mm/s2 maximum acceleration; default acceleration 10000 mm/s2[2] |
| Max volumetric flow claimed (mm³/s) | Not documented | 32 mm3/s claimed flow rate (manufacturer figure; no test conditions published)[2] |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Direct-drive extruder paired with the ceramic-heated high-flow hotend[1] | Dual-gear direct extruder with one fan[2] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Hotend with a 60 W ceramic heater, a bi-metal copper/titanium-alloy heatbreak to resist thermal creep, and a copper nozzle[1] | Brass-hardened steel nozzle, 0.4 mm, with a titanium-alloy heat break; a heatbed nozzle wiper cleans it before each print[2] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 300 C claimed max nozzle temperature (Creality Lab test at 25 C room temperature)[1] | 320 C claimed max nozzle temperature (the Centauri Carbon 2 raises this to 350 C)[2][8] |
| Heater cartridge power (W) | 60 W ceramic heater cartridge (manufacturer figure)[1] | Not documented |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | Not documented | 110 C max heated bed temperature at 25 C ambient[2] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | PEI-coated spring steel sheet, heated, removable[5] | Dual-sided spring steel sheet - textured PEI on one face, a PLA-specific surface on the other[2] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | One-tap self-test covering Z offset and auto levelling; Tom's Hardware records automatic levelling with automatic Z as well[1] | 121-point auto-levelling with full-auto calibration[2] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Filament run-out sensor fitted[5] | Filament run-out sensor, auto filament unloading, power-loss recovery and fan self-check; no clog detection on this model (the Centauri Carbon 2 adds it)[2][8] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Two part-cooling fans, one on each side of the printhead, cooling the freshly printed section from both sides[1] | Part cooling plus an auxiliary part-cooling fan and a chamber temperature regulator fan, with real-time fan self-checks[2] |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist) | Not documented | ELEGOO describes it only as a "Powerful Self-Developed Motherboard"; no board model or MCU is published[2] |
| Total rated power draw | Not documented | 1100 W at 220 V, 350 W at 110 V rated; 24 V output; 100-240 VAC input[2] |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Creality OS, which Creality states is "Based on the popular Klipper firmware", with open-source files published; the source is on GitHub as CrealityOfficial/Ender-3_V3_KE_Klipper, described as a clone of upstream Klipper, GPL-3.0. Input shaping and motion advance (pressure advance) are exposed as features[1][11][12] | ELEGOO OS with OTA updates; 8 GB of on-board storage. ElegooSlicer recommended, with Orca and Cura supported[2] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 4.3-inch touchscreen[5] | 4.3-inch colour capacitive touch screen[2] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Touch UI with a tab bar, real-time model preview, motion graphics for print parameters and a one-tap self-test[1] | Colour touch UI; LED chamber lighting fitted; OTA firmware updates[2] |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Wi-Fi and USB; LAN printing and cloud printing through Creality Print on PC or the Creality Cloud app, with multi-printer print-farm management[5][1] | USB and dual-band Wi-Fi for LAN transfers[2] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Not documented | Chamber camera fitted, with real-time monitoring and time-lapse; dual built-in LED strips[2] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU (95A) and ASA[1] | Carbon/glass fibre reinforced filaments, PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA, TPU, PET, PC, PA[2] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | Not verified directly. Creality states the Ender-3 V3 KE runs a Klipper-based Creality OS and publishes CrealityOfficial/Ender-3_V3_KE_Klipper (GPL-3.0) as a clone of upstream Klipper, which ships the verify_heater thermal-runaway check; the stock configuration was not checked here[11][12][1] | Not documented |
| Noise & Power Consumption | ||
| Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method) | Not documented | Operating sound published as 55 dB or less - a manufacturer figure with no distance or method stated, so not comparable with an independently measured dB reading[2] |
| Reliability, Support & Ecosystem | ||
| Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes) | Creality's US store states "Up to 12-Month Warranty", a 14-day return and refund window and "Lifetime Customer Support" on its printer product pages. The "up to" wording means the term is not uniform across parts[13] | 12 months on brand-new machines and parts, but ELEGOO's own table excludes a long list of parts from that: PEI plate / build plate / nozzle kit / PTFE tube / heater / thermistor / hot end / packaging / manual / tools carry no warranty at all, and the extruder, extruder kit and printhead kit get 6 months. Certified pre-owned machines carry no warranty[14] |
| Independently Measured Performance | ||
| Benchmark print times (source + settings) | Benchy in 19 minutes 48 seconds under Speed Boat Rules in ordinary grey PLA - independently measured by Tom's Hardware[5] | Not documented |
| Review scores from major outlets (list outlet + score + date) | Tom's Hardware rating 4.5 out of 5 in the page's structured data[5] | Not documented |
Manufacturer claims, independent measurements, packages and test conditions retain their source wording. FDM linear speed and resin vertical speed use different units and are not directly comparable. Unknown values are marked “Not documented”. Prices and source dates remain historical snapshots; check the linked guide for product details. Differences highlight text, not a universal winner.
Sources for this comparison
- Creality Ender-3 V3 KE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Centauri Carbon product page (full specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Centauri Carbon Shopify product JSON (price and store publish date) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality US store - Ender-3 V3 KE 3D Printer product page (live price) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 KE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 SE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- ELEGOO Centauri Carbon 2 product page (Centauri Carbon 2 vs Centauri Carbon side-by-side table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Centauri 2 product page (Centauri 2 Combo vs Centauri 2 side-by-side specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO US store 3D printers collection (current line-up, Aug 2026) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- GitHub API - CrealityOfficial/Ender-3_V3_KE_Klipper repository metadata ("clone from https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/", GPL-3.0) api.github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Refund & Warranty policy (warranty period table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor