The build quality on the Phanteks P500A case is good, and it’s bigger than the P400A, which is a simple advantage. A bigger case means more room to work and more room to install parts; the downside is in finding a place to put it. Phanteks has sprinkled in some features that we previously saw in the Evolv X to make this a premium case, some of which we like and some of which we don’t, but they’re toppings on a solid base. Thermal performance is just as good or better than the P400A Digital’s, which was already at the top of most of our charts. The RTX 40-series is ‘notorious’ for its size. The RTX 4070, like its siblings, is a large graphics card, and doesn’t fit all cases. It does, however, fit all the cases we’ve listed above. At the end of the day, chosing your case for your new RTC 4070 is a case-by-case decision (pun intended). Each person has different priorities and different budgets. If you’re looking for more of a showpiece we would recomment the Hyte Y60. If you’re looking on a budget though, the Phanteks Eclipse is probably the better choice. Frequently Asked Questions The Metal Mesh Front Panel is first and foremost designed for use on the Eclipse P400A, it can however also be used on the Eclipse P400 to help provide improved airflow. What needs to be taken into account here however, is that the replacement front panel cannot be centred precisely in the middle on the Eclipse P400 (See Images). Prior to load testing, we collect idle temperature results for ten minutes to determine the unloaded cooling performance of a case's fans and air channels. Thermal benchmarking is conducted for 1400 seconds (23 minutes), a period we've determined sufficient for achieving equilibrium. The over-time data is aggregated and will occasionally be compiled into charts, if interesting or relevant. The equilibrium performance is averaged to create the below charts.

We’ll start CPU thermals with just the Phanteks P400A, then we can move on to comparative results versus other cases. The case is one of the hottest we’ve ever tested, and yet it has 12 included fans -- among which are custom-molded fans that not only increase cost, but decrease efficacy. The case is a veritable oven for components, and we remarked in our review that we cut some of the testing passes short because we didn’t want to permanently damage our testing equipment. The increase in average temperatures was therefore fairly small, with the CPU delta up from 45 Celsius to 47. Compared to the other noise-normalized results, the 215 is extremely strong in CPU temperatures, besting the previous coolest average of 50 degrees scored by the Lancool II Mesh. This is still a relatively new test, so we don’t have cases as old as Cooler Master’s H500 Mesh included on this chart--we’d expect it to do very well here. In terms of silent CPU air cooling, the 215 is hands down the best case on this chart, beating out the Digital variants of the P400A and P500A. With the same configuration but medium fan speed, CPU temp dropped by three degrees and a GPU by two degrees celsius. If your product develops a fault outside of the manufacturer warranty or PB Tech warranty period, we offer a full repair service and are an authorised repair agent for leading brands such as Samsung, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo and more.

As you can see here, the top I/O remains relatively unchanged compared to the original Eclipse. You get 2x USB 3.0 ports, headphone and microphone passthroughs and a large illuminated power button on top, and that’s it. Located at the front, on the underside of that top panel, you’ll find push buttons for both reset, and illumination control (or fan control on the non-RGB version).

With the GPU render, average GPU temperature was 23.4 degrees Celsius above ambient, a slightly more favorable average compared to the rest of the chart than was seen in the torture and firestrike tests. The P400A was within error and tied at 23.2 degrees, while the Lancool II Mesh retained champion status at an impressive 20.8 degrees average. Standardized Fans The other side panel is a standard one and is held by two captive thumbscrews so you do not have to worry about losing them. Who knows what would've happened with CPU temps if it was possible to place the AIO on top and compare 240AIOfront vs 240AIOtop, different placement. And, as a side note, with front placement we also have the AIO blowing warmer air into GPU too. This last one isn’t really an award -- and we’re not committing to the cases being good. We always have more going on, and currently, we’re working with the NR200P, Lian Li O11 Mini, Fractal Meshify 2 XL, and a couple other cases that won’t get posted for a while. Out of all the many cases that we’re working on behind-the-scenes, the one we’re most interested in right now is the Cooler Master NR200P. The GPU temperature was 48 degrees Celsius over ambient baseline, down to 46 degrees with the front panel removed, another sign that the Phanteks single-layer front panel design is working. Adding the exhaust fan behind the CPU got GPU temperature rounding down to 47 degrees, but the temperature reduction was less than one degree, well within error. The average for the non-Digital layout was still just 49 degrees, although GPU frequency does fluctuate a bit more. It’s proven to be difficult to make the thermals bad in this case at all, even with one of the fans taken out.

The rear-ejecting power supply frame is good, the rear-ejecting power supply filter, not so much. Because the filter is relatively short, it’s not a big deal, but having filters that are easily accessible encourages regular cleaning. The 3DMark Firestrike Extreme stress test resulted in an average GPU temperature within error of the baseline result of 47 degrees. That result is just as impressive in this test, again nearly equalling the performance of the SL600M, which has two 200mm fans at the bottom pointed directly into the GPU cooler. The TD500 Mesh and P400A tied here at 49C. The P500A is great at both CPU and GPU cooling, but GPU cooling is where it pulls ahead of Phanteks’ own older case. Standardized Fans I was hesitant about upgrading my current rig with a new case because in the end aesthetics don't matter and it's 'just something to hold the parts'. As for the form factor support, the usual statement about so-called “EATX” cases applies: this case will support motherboards that line-up with the CEB form factor, but not SSI-EEB, so it’s not really appropriate to say it supports “E-ATX,” since that’s a made-up form factor that doesn’t mean anything. SSI-CEB is the motherboard support.