The Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Tempered Glass MATX case is a very premium case that takes the good points of the previous version and adds tempered glass side panels and interior improvements too. But is it worth the extra price?
Design
The case is lovely, its easily one of in not the nicest looking MATX case out there at the minute. Its modern and with its tempered glass side panels and the Satin Black Aluminium body, its a real looker. On the front you have a small LED section that illuminates and can be changed via the case, this is also MSI Mystic light and Asus Aura compatible too. There are 10 different colours to choose from and they all look very nice, especially when its dark. Plus its not overly bright so its not too distracting. At the side there are slits to allow the included front 140mm to pull in air. At the top is the front IO. You get two USB 3.0 ports, headphone and mic and finally a button to toggle the illumination. The front is also easily removable via a cut out at the bottom and removing it reveals a large dust filter and options for mounting. Plus there are no cables to worry about. Its really well thought out.
On the top sits the solitary power button, again this is subtly illuminated to match the section on the front. Its very nice. Continuing on the top, which again is easily removable via a rear mounted thumb screw has cutouts to allow air flow or to exhaust out can easily accommodate two 120mm or 140mm fans. I have two 120mm Corsair HD120s and there is even plenty of for bigger fans and a rad, but I’ll talk more on that later.
Round the back is the usual cutouts for the rear IO, options for either a 120mm or 140mm exhaust fan. The later of which is included. But I opted to move it to the front as an intake and instead have added another HD120. You have four PCI expansions slots, so SLI or crossfire maybe doable if you have a thinner or single slot GPU. But you can always have a single GPU and say a sound or wifi card. You then have the mounting for your PSU. On the underside there is a large removable dust filter and there’s actually decent amount of clearage under the case to allow the PSU to breath easily.
Both the side panels are magnetic and are removable, which is quite easy. You open the doors fully and carefully lift them off the hinges. I didn’t need to do this during my build, but the option is there. Both side panels are tempered glass and look gorgeous. The main window is clear to allow a perfect view of your internal system and even the edges are tinted so that you can’t see finger prints as easily. The other side panel is almost fully blacked out apart from a clear section so that you can see any installed SSDs. Downsides of the design are that the finish attracts finger prints easily. The glass is simple to clean, I use Mr muscle glass cleaner and a microfibre cloth and that works great. The Aluminium is trickier and again I’d advise using a microfibre cloth, but don’t use any cleaners as it may stain the finish. All in all its a stunning case, I love how it looks and its really well designed and built.
The build
Onto actually building in it and it was a joy, even for a MATX case there is plenty of room to work in and building in it was a enjoyable experience. There is plenty of room up top to route your CPU power, fans and anything else you need. There’s conveniently placed cutouts for the 24pin power, for your SATAs and PCI for your GPU. There’s also a decent amount of room for the cables at the bottom as well. Also on the plus side is that they all have rubber grommets which makes everything look tidier. Only slight issue I found is the the USB 3.0 header on my motherboard is in a tricky location and the cutout didn’t quite allow me to have it where I wanted, but other than that its great. There is also plenty of room to install a LED strip on any of the inside surfaces and I even found space for a fan controller on the inside too. Pretty surprised just how spacious this case really is for a MATX form factor.
I also really like the PSU shroud, its great for hiding away cables and makes managing them a lot easier. Plus there is a cutout so that you can show off your PSU if you have a fancy one. Back to cable management and on the other side there are four included points to tidy the cables, placement is great and they work very well. Plus there is plenty of room to hide away all the cables at the bottom. One small issue is that because the side panel is glass there is no give in it, so you have to a good job at keeping the cables as flush as possible.
While we’re round this side there is options to install 2 x 3.5” HDDs and 2 x 2.5” drives. You get two included SSD brackets that are part tool-less. You will need to screw your SSD to the bracket, but installation into the case is tool-less. Onto fan, GPU, rad, PSU support and this case can accommodate a lot. In the front you can have either three 120mm or two 140mm fans. The front also has options to have up to a 360mm rad (but the HDD cage will need to be removed for this) smaller rads like a 280mm will fit without removing the cage.
The top can house either two 120 or 140mm fans or up to a 280mm rad and there is a good amount of clearance too. Just make your sure you route your cables first as a thicker rad may block the cable management. The rear can house a 120 or 140mm fan or rad. GPU support is good too and you can fit cards up to 319mm (12.5inches). CPU cooler max height is 192mm and you can fit a full size ATX PSU in it.
Cooling and noise
Cooling and noise now and the built in fans are great, they do a brilliant job of keeping your system cool and there are more than likely all you’ll need to get started. If you want to add more fans then that’s easy too, even after you’ve built the system. Noise levels with the included fans are low as the fans a really impressive. I’ve since added three more fans and the noise is more noticeable. It still does a decent job though. Its not the quietest case out there but its respectable.
Summary
To wrap up, this is the best case I’ve ever owned and its almost flawless. My only slight criticisms are the finish is difficult to clean, its really lovely but a pain to keep clean, so I’d advise wearing some sort of latex gloves to build if you don’t fancy cleaning it afterwards. Its a little loud too, but that’s my fault as its full of fans. So that’s not really a fault of the case. Also the front panel illumination isn’t very bright and a little inconsistent, but that really isn’t a huge deal to me and there seems to be no way to turn it off, unless I’ve simply overlooked it.
The case is quite heavy, this isn’t really a flaw but its something I thought I’d mention. So just be careful when handling, its quite deceiving. But again this is testament to the awesome build quality of this case. Again not an issue, just be cautious. Lastly is the price. For a MATX its not cheap. But if you want, in my opinion the best MATX case, then this is probably it.
Score 8/10
Purchase one here via Amazon UK
Phanteks Enthoo Evolv mATX Tempered Glass Midi Tower Case USB 3.0 – Black
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