Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Top Fan Cavity Mod

[lawyered]

I found an easy way to do the bracket mod that others may find useful:

 

You'll need a dremel, a grinding stone bit (8193 is what I used) and a cutoff bit. You'll more or less use up the grinding bit, but not use the wheel much, aftermath of the bits (cut off bit was already used some before I started):

 

 

First, take the grinding wheel and go around the outside of the 90deg bend holding it at a 45 to the lip. You don't have to go very deep, but go a bit deeper in the corners than on the straights, it will make your life easier later. This should take only 1-2 minutes, end result should look like this:

 

 

Then take the cutoff bit and slice the lip in one spot:

 

 

Now take a pair of needle-nose pliers and 'peal' the lip away. Getting it started can be a bit of a pain so I started it a little bit with the needle-nose then snipped the bend with a pair of diagonal cutters. Once started you just twist the needle nose pliers to remove the lip. You do need to go a bit slower in the corners and will  have to unravel the pliers and start again to get better leverage a couple of times, if in doubt, unravel and cut the excess lip off, it's better than it breaking and having to start the twist again.

 

***WARNING*** The remaining lip on radiator mount will be EXTREMELY sharp at this point, do not touch it until you've finished an entire cutout then take the grinding bit and flatten the edge.

 

 

End result should be pretty clean and only take ~5 minutes per cutout, my middle cutout is a little screwed up in places as I tried a couple different approaches before landing on this one:

 

 

Also I think this was confirmed previously in this thread, but using Noctua NF-A12x15 fans you don't need to modify the top frame of the case, although I would imagine the same approach would work on it.

 

 

[JettaGetUpandGo]

Not going to lie, the 45 degree grind on the bend is genius.

[carlosriosness]

On 9/23/2017 at 10:41 AM, lawyered said:

I found an easy way to do the bracket mod that others may find useful:

my question, what was your method of installing the fans/radiator/radiator tray?

 

some say to mount the fans and rad to rad tray first. then slide in the tray. BUT, you cant just slide it in, since the top panel has a "wall" that blocks the fans from sliding in.

[lawyered]

46 minutes ago, carlosriosness said:

my question, what was your method of installing the fans/radiator/radiator tray?

 

some say to mount the fans and rad to rad tray first. then slide in the tray. BUT, you cant just slide it in, since the top panel has a "wall" that blocks the fans from sliding in.

1) Take the top panel of the case off (10-12 screws around the top, remove the power switch PCB). 

2) Mount fans / rad to the bracket, also block off the extra slots in the rad bracket as this point, I just used black gorilla tape on both sides.

3) Attach rad bracket to top panel, you don't have to slide it in, the guides it fits into are flexible, just bend one out a bit and pop it in from the top. 

4) Reattach top panel / rad bracket assembly to the rest of the case.

 

 

[carlosriosness]

11 hours ago, lawyered said:

1) Take the top panel of the case off (10-12 screws around the top, remove the power switch PCB). 

2) Mount fans / rad to the bracket, also block off the extra slots in the rad bracket as this point, I just used black gorilla tape on both sides.

3) Attach rad bracket to top panel, you don't have to slide it in, the guides it fits into are flexible, just bend one out a bit and pop it in from the top. 

4) Reattach top panel / rad bracket assembly to the rest of the case.

 

 

perfect, this is what i thought, but didnt want to try unless it was confirmed. right now i have about 5 screws in my h100i. i figure one day soon i will put the other 3 in and install it again.

[lawyered]

7 hours ago, carlosriosness said:

perfect, this is what i thought, but didnt want to try unless it was confirmed. right now i have about 5 screws in my h100i. i figure one day soon i will put the other 3 in and install it again.

 

Also to clarify, the L-brackets the rad mount slides into aren't very flexible when the top is attached to the case so you most likely do have to completely remove the top panel to do this. Kind of hard to explain but there are 'sleeves' on some of the mounting screws for the L-brackets that slot into the rest of the case which give them more rigidity when it's all assembled but when taken apart they are very pliable.

[carlosriosness]

34 minutes ago, lawyered said:

 

Also to clarify, the L-brackets the rad mount slides into aren't very flexible when the top is attached to the case so you most likely do have to completely remove the top panel to do this. Kind of hard to explain but there are 'sleeves' on some of the mounting screws for the L-brackets that slot into the rest of the case which give them more rigidity when it's all assembled but when taken apart they are very pliable.

i think i know what you mean. there are 2 rails the bracket slides into. 1 in front and 1 in back. your saying when the top panel is mounted, these 2 rails are stiff in place. but when the top panel is off you can bend the rails outward a bit. so instead of sliding it in, you are putting it straight into the first/front rail then bending the back rail outward to push the bracket into place.

[lawyered]

1 hour ago, carlosriosness said:

i think i know what you mean. there are 2 rails the bracket slides into. 1 in front and 1 in back. your saying when the top panel is mounted, these 2 rails are stiff in place. but when the top panel is off you can bend the rails outward a bit. so instead of sliding it in, you are putting it straight into the first/front rail then bending the back rail outward to push the bracket into place.

Exactly.

[lawyered]

Thought I'd share my results: 

 

Components are:  8700k, Gigabyte Z370 Gaming 7, G.Skill Trident 64GB CL14 3200, evga 1080TI Founders. 2 x Hardware Labs Nemesis 360GTS rads do fit in this case, but just barely. Rest of the bits are probably clear from the pic but I'm happy to answer any questions.

 

Outside the top cavity mod, I had to cut the front mounting bracket a bit to expose all the holes with the front rad. I also repurposed the pump mount that comes with the case to push the pump/res off the backwall a bit to better align fittings. This only required drilling a few holes in the pump mount and case. This can be seen here:

 

 

I've heard complaints about temps in this case but I've had no issues, both front and top rad fans are intake and single exhaust on the back (15mm fan required on back to clear rad/fittings). 3hr Furmark at 120% power and a mild overclock levels off around 42C on the GPU, overclock doesn't seem to matter here as the GPU is throttling due to the power limit. Unfortunately I lost the silicon lottery on the 8700k and can barely keep 4.9Ghz stable at high voltages, though the temps are fine. At stock clocks with prime95 AVX big FFT I see low 60's, low 50's without AVX. 20C ambient. I think most of the thermal problem in this case come from trying to exhaust out the top instead of using it as an intake, it's not well designed for exhaust. Torture tests were done at 100% fan/pump speed. With my day to day fan curves 3 hours of BF1 has the GPU running at 42C with rad fans running around 1200rpm which is pretty much silent (max for them is 1850rpm).

 

 

 

[carlosriosness]

i ended up buying both a modded front and top from modmymods. hopefully they ship sometime this month. the owner is a bit slow to respond. it seems like this is his side business. only downside each panel is $80, and his cheapest shipping option is almost $20.

https://modmymods.com/custom-services/phanteks-case-mods.html 

 

 

[MrRavens]

oh interesting. Didn't even know these existed. xP

[MkaiL]

13 hours ago, carlosriosness said:

i ended up buying both a modded front and top from modmymods. hopefully they ship sometime this month. the owner is a bit slow to respond. it seems like this is his side business. only downside each panel is $80, and his cheapest shipping option is almost $20.

https://modmymods.com/custom-services/phanteks-case-mods.html 

Why not modify your own panels? Would've probably cost you less and given you more design options.

Here is the design I came up with:

[carlosriosness]

57 minutes ago, MkaiL said:

Why not modify your own panels? Would've probably cost you less and given you more design options.

Here is the design I came up with:

 

1) i was having a hard time finding someone who had access to the proper tools (and knew what they were doing).

 

2) i now have the stock plates to sell with it in the future. im sure i could get AT LEAST 50% back selling these plates by them selves. 

[lawyered]

> 1) i was having a hard time finding someone who had access to the proper tools (and knew what they were doing).

 

Not sure where you are located but google for 'waterjet cuttting' in your area. In my area there are 5-6 shops and I preemptively talked to a few given how much I'd heard about temps in this case. They estimated ~$20-25 a panel depending on what design I came up with. I'm not going to bother with it though.

[carlosriosness]

24 minutes ago, lawyered said:

> 1) i was having a hard time finding someone who had access to the proper tools (and knew what they were doing).

 

Not sure where you are located but google for 'waterjet cuttting' in your area. In my area there are 5-6 shops and I preemptively talked to a few given how much I'd heard about temps in this case. They estimated ~$20-25 a panel depending on what design I came up with. I'm not going to bother with it though.

I am not familiar with designing CAD or whatever program these jets work on. I live in San Jose. We do have a tech workshop that has the tools. but you have to be a member, i tried on craigslist and next door to see if someone could help with both the design and if someone had a membership and the tech shop. no bites. either way, i like the idea of having an unmodded option to either change back to, or to have when i sell. 

[lawyered]

On 10/30/2017 at 6:55 PM, carlosriosness said:

I am not familiar with designing CAD or whatever program these jets work on. I live in San Jose. We do have a tech workshop that has the tools. but you have to be a member, i tried on craigslist and next door to see if someone could help with both the design and if someone had a membership and the tech shop. no bites. either way, i like the idea of having an unmodded option to either change back to, or to have when i sell. 

Mostly for anyone else reading along then: Just grab Inkscape, it's free (https://inkscape.org/en/) draw what you want and export as DXF which all shops should handle. You'll just have to tell them how to align it on the part but you can probably just do that in person when delivering the panel. 

[carlosriosness]

10 hours ago, lawyered said:

Mostly for anyone else reading along then: Just grab Inkscape, it's free (https://inkscape.org/en/) draw what you want and export as DXF which all shops should handle. You'll just have to tell them how to align it on the part but you can probably just do that in person when delivering the panel. 

why not upload your DXF file?

 

 

edit: nevermind, thought you were the other guy. 

[therealmckellar]

If anyone has designs, could you upload them? I am severely inept with any sort of CAD or drawing and really need to bring mine to a shop to be cut but they need the designs. I would greatly appreciate any help

[carlosriosness]

heres a pick of the modmymods top panel for $100 including shipping. i like it. i ordered their front panel as well. hopefully it ships this year.

 

[NillerXXX]

On 28/10/2017 at 6:01 PM, lawyered said:

Thought I'd share my results: 

 

Components are:  8700k, Gigabyte Z370 Gaming 7, G.Skill Trident 64GB CL14 3200, evga 1080TI Founders. 2 x Hardware Labs Nemesis 360GTS rads do fit in this case, but just barely. Rest of the bits are probably clear from the pic but I'm happy to answer any questions.

 

Outside the top cavity mod, I had to cut the front mounting bracket a bit to expose all the holes with the front rad. I also repurposed the pump mount that comes with the case to push the pump/res off the backwall a bit to better align fittings. This only required drilling a few holes in the pump mount and case. This can be seen here:

 

 

I've heard complaints about temps in this case but I've had no issues, both front and top rad fans are intake and single exhaust on the back (15mm fan required on back to clear rad/fittings). 3hr Furmark at 120% power and a mild overclock levels off around 42C on the GPU, overclock doesn't seem to matter here as the GPU is throttling due to the power limit. Unfortunately I lost the silicon lottery on the 8700k and can barely keep 4.9Ghz stable at high voltages, though the temps are fine. At stock clocks with prime95 AVX big FFT I see low 60's, low 50's without AVX. 20C ambient. I think most of the thermal problem in this case come from trying to exhaust out the top instead of using it as an intake, it's not well designed for exhaust. Torture tests were done at 100% fan/pump speed. With my day to day fan curves 3 hours of BF1 has the GPU running at 42C with rad fans running around 1200rpm which is pretty much silent (max for them is 1850rpm).

 

 

 

Not sure if you mentioned your complete fan configuration earlier. But as I understood you use 3x Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM at the top as intake fans and another 15 mm fan (Noctua?) at the back (because of space limitations) as outtake, and what about the front another 3x Noctua fans as intake but full sized fans?

Was thinking maybe 3x Noctua NF-F12 PWM? 

I'm planning out a build in my Evolv ATX and it seems that static pressure fans are the way to go. Btw you are the first that mentioned having the front and the top as intake.

 

[carlosriosness]

4 hours ago, NillerXXX said:

Not sure if you mentioned your complete fan configuration earlier. But as I understood you use 3x Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM at the top as intake fans and another 15 mm fan (Noctua?) at the back (because of space limitations) as outtake, and what about the front another 3x Noctua fans as intake but full sized fans?

Was thinking maybe 3x Noctua NF-F12 PWM? 

I'm planning out a build in my Evolv ATX and it seems that static pressure fans are the way to go. Btw you are the first that mentioned having the front and the top as intake.

 

his rear does not look to be a noctua.

 

in my last case i used all nf-f12pwm fans. but i saw a couple videos of noctuas both at one of the tech shows this year. the a12x15 outperformed it, while being thinner. so i have swapped all my fans out with them. (1) a12x15 performed the same as (2) nf-f12 in push/pull on a heatsink. 

 

i have 3 in the front as intake (note, that the top fan can only be set in place with 2 screws. the highest point of the top fan does not rest on againt a railing).

 

i have 2 on the rear as intake (push/pull) against my gpu rad. then i have the top 2 as exhaust pulling out of a h100i.

 

my logic, is the basic, heat rises, so might as well exhaust out of the top. but the real goal is positive air flow. you want to make sure you have more intake then you do exhaust. this will ensure air pushes out of cracks and open vents. rather then (negative air flow) air being pulled in through cracks and open vents; which would lead to a dustier case. 

 

i taped up the top sliding tray around the h100i, as much as i could (to prevent the hot exiting air to circulate back into the case). i also used flat black tape to cover up any open vents on the back (taping inside the case). it cant be seen by the naked eye. this ensures all the air is being forced out of my h100i as much as possible.

[lawyered]

On 12/10/2017 at 3:38 PM, NillerXXX said:

Not sure if you mentioned your complete fan configuration earlier. But as I understood you use 3x Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM at the top as intake fans and another 15 mm fan (Noctua?) at the back (because of space limitations) as outtake, and what about the front another 3x Noctua fans as intake but full sized fans?

Was thinking maybe 3x Noctua NF-F12 PWM? 

I'm planning out a build in my Evolv ATX and it seems that static pressure fans are the way to go. Btw you are the first that mentioned having the front and the top as intake.

 

I used 6x Noctua NF-F12x15 fans for the rads (3 top, 3 front). The front could fit thicker fans but the performance specs for the 15mm thick version are actually better than the thicker fans from Noctua (not that you couldn't find other options, but I've grown to trust Noctua fans). I ended up using the FLX version instead of PWM because stock wasn't available for the PWM version and the fan controller that comes with the Evolv isn't PWM to the slave fans.

 

The back fan is a Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 140mm x 15mm. It needed to be 15mm thick to clear the rad / fittings, a thicker fan would not fit with this setup and it seemed to be the best reviewed high air flow 140mm slim fan. I have no complaints about it.

 

> I'm planning out a build in my Evolv ATX and it seems that static pressure fans are the way to go. Btw you are the first that mentioned having the front and the top as intake.

 

While I've not tested it and thus can't speak definitively, I think using both as intake is the reason I've had fewer issues with temps in this case than most. Exhausting out the top, even with taping off the gaps in the bracket, still is blasting air into a sold metal surface, turbulence will be an issue in on the edges where the outlets are. It just doesn't seem like a good idea. Most folks would say there is too much intake and not enough exhaust, but I think that is often based on a flawed argument of adding up the airflow of the intake vs the exhaust fans. In practice the intake fans never run near full load and the exhaust runs fairly close to it. Also there is a fair amount of open venting in the backpanel of this cases so there is plenty of air leaving it.

 

On 12/10/2017 at 8:39 PM, carlosriosness said:

his rear does not look to be a noctua.

 

in my last case i used all nf-f12pwm fans. but i saw a couple videos of noctuas both at one of the tech shows this year. the a12x15 outperformed it, while being thinner. so i have swapped all my fans out with them. (1) a12x15 performed the same as (2) nf-f12 in push/pull on a heatsink. 

 

i have 3 in the front as intake (note, that the top fan can only be set in place with 2 screws. the highest point of the top fan does not rest on againt a railing).

 

i have 2 on the rear as intake (push/pull) against my gpu rad. then i have the top 2 as exhaust pulling out of a h100i.

 

my logic, is the basic, heat rises, so might as well exhaust out of the top. but the real goal is positive air flow. you want to make sure you have more intake then you do exhaust. this will ensure air pushes out of cracks and open vents. rather then (negative air flow) air being pulled in through cracks and open vents; which would lead to a dustier case. 

 

i taped up the top sliding tray around the h100i, as much as i could (to prevent the hot exiting air to circulate back into the case). i also used flat black tape to cover up any open vents on the back (taping inside the case). it cant be seen by the naked eye. this ensures all the air is being forced out of my h100i as much as possible.

 

> my logic, is the basic, heat rises, so might as well exhaust out of the top.

 

While this is correct in terms of first principles, it has little to no real effect on a computer case. The temp difference + forced airflow easily overcome the minimal diffusion effect. 

[Graham D]

Have added  better photographs  of my Phanteks Evolv TG top cavity modded case

Edited February 14, 2018 by Graham D
Adding better photographs

[carlosriosness]

1 hour ago, Graham D said:

Have also managed to complete the top cavity mod in phateks evolve TG. I have fitted a magical 360mm in the top and a Alphacool 360x45 in the front.

and used 316 16mm stainless steel tubing. bought the modmymods front panels but changed the mesh to 18mesh stainless steel 

what batch was your front panel a part of. i am in batch 2, but it still says processing. i was hoping it would have shipped by now.

 

[Graham D]

I order in  late September  it took about 8 weeks  then a week in uk customs