Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ATX Review

Performance Analysis

Despite the relatively closed off panels, the trio of 140mm fans work well to keep temperatures in check. The exhaust fan is usually the most important one as far as CPU cooling goes, and it does a decent job of removing hot air from this important area, keeping our CPU at a delta T of 50°C.

The graphics card, too, is well looked after by the dual intakes, especially as there's uninterrupted airflow from front to back. The delta T result of 43°C is the lowest we've seen from a case using the new test gear. Admittedly, the differences aren't massive, but it does indicate that the Enthoo EVOLV ATX is more than capable of cooling a single GPU system, and we'd wager that with appropriate spacing between cards it wouldn't do too bad with SLI or CrossFire set-ups either.


As the case doesn't have manual fan control, we ran the fans at full speed only, as PWM control would interfere with the results. Even at full speed though, noise isn't really an issue. You will hear the fans but they're not distracting, and given the decent out-of-box cooling results you have leeway to lower their fan speed, even when running overclocked hardware.

Conclusion

We almost want Phanteks to make a bad case, just so we have something negative to say for once. But the truth is that it consistently produces top notch chassis, and now that it's demonstrated its abilities in everything from mini-ITX to full towers, other manufacturers should really be taking note and stepping up their game. In fact, Phanteks has rapidly established itself as one of our favourite case makers, which is not bad at all given it only started making them in late 2013. In fairness, its cases do tend to be on the premium side and out of reach for the mass market (not all of them though), but there's no denying their appeal.


At £140, the Enthoo EVOLV ATX is another premium offering – it's definitely on the more expensive side of cases for what is essentially a mid-tower. That said, the 3mm thick quick release aluminium panels are a sight to behold, rock solid and dead simple to work with. They go a long way to justifying the cost, as does the typically generous set of accessories and extra features like the PWM hub. It's well-catered for water-coolers too for its size, and though we do have our concerns about the roof design (both the bracket and the solid panel) we can't deny that it makes installation much less fiddly. All that remains to be said is that if you have this much to spend on a case, the EVOLV ATX should be a very strong contender for your money.