Phanteks previewed their new Mini XL and Evolv case

[Nuds]

If an all-aluminum case that nice comes in at about $80, I think A LOT of people will consider making that switch. I'd be ecstatic if it's under $150.

 

 

Looking at what Phanteks have been doing, I bet it is going to be less than $150 but not less than $100. They're not spending much money on marketing, they're letting the users spread the news for them. Which is working of course... at those prices for the features and build quality is a no brainer.

 

 

I think if the entire thing is all aluminum, it'd probably retail around the same price as the mini cases from Lian Li - so if it is sub 150usd, I'd guess probably around 120-130usd for the Evolv and around 160usd+ or so for the mini XL. But this is also Phanteks so no telling what the price will end up on these things. If it is all alu, I highly doubt it'd retail for sub 100 dollars. I mean, even if it were 160+usd like the more expensive mini cases from Lian Li, it'd still be good value considering the overwhelming amount of consideration the engineers put into this thing! Lian Li on the other hand has almost always had such terrible internals that it's a crying shame how the insides are so bad vs the outsides. (My Lian Li cube is sitting in the garage ffs)

 

Yeah the $80 is a dream price point for the Evolv if its aluminum but I have been surprised by Phanteks pricing before, just look at the Enthoo Pro (

)

More realistically I expect it to be $120-$110 and compete with the h440 for the squeaky clean looking build with lots of space for water cooling.

[addref.release]

As an Enthoo Primo owner, all I can say is "all aboard the Phanteks train!" These guys rock.

[Mooshi]

Glad to know from a mATX user itself, the only con I could think of the Evolv is the 4 pci slots instead of 5. 

 

Since I'm a single GPU user anyway, this isn't much an issue, but it might be for someone using really thick cards or those who have a board with wide spacing between the PCI-E x16 slots. That said, most matx cases usually only have 4 pci slots and several Matx boards are like mine when it comes to spacing.

 

My board:

 

 

Note the spacing. While it'd be really tight, you can use multi cards and get by with only 4 pci slots.

 

Now if you have a board where the second pci-e x16 slot is on the far end of the board, you're going to want a case with 5 pci slots.

 

However, some board makers will make something that I find neat like this Gigabyte board:

 

 

I really like how this gives you the option to use SLI/Crossfire in both cases with 4 and 5 pci slots. If you have one with 5, you could take advantage of wider spacing to give more breathing room between cards.

[Accursed Entity]

-snip-

Yeah, I guess a single 780ti is enough for most of the games at 1440p, that or do sli with both cards being water cooled. At least they've given us options, which says a lot, Phanteks is surprising a lot of folks.

[Kamina]

Damn, pretty innovative cases. 

[daemonowner]

I think I mentioned this earlier. These two are probably going to be more than $120 to cover R&D and the Aluminium construction. These are the mATX and mITX Primo's. Next up I would expect the Pro's -the cheaper plastic ones with that brushed aluminium look at a fraction of the cost.

[Simenr2812]

Okay, I LOVE what phanteks is doing with the computer case industry (playing;)

But I have a noob question... can you power two computers with one psu???

[Simenr2812]

sorry, didn't see the micro psu mounting option until I saw the video twice. (guess I was to blown away;)

[D.LT]

corsair sells because of its quality imho. They are all jacked up on that clean look (well mainly the obsidian series). The 800d was what started it all (modern case design)...... The case deserves credit, the 900d however was a dissapointment (wayy too massive, kinda like the cosmos 2)

 

With respect to these cases,,,,,EH

I Mean the mini xl is ugly as fuck with the plastic front and the fanholes in the sidepanel and also from the first video with the closeup of the case, the front looked cheap. The design of the inside was pretty amazing. To be able to fit all that functionality into such a small formfactor. I do believe that if the case was wide enough to fit an itx board with enough space for an expansion card all ontop of the psu then they should've made this case an atx formfactor and have 2 separate compartments like the corsair air 540.

 

The evolv reminds me of the silverstone ft-03 but with actual functional while still remaining beautiful like the ft-03 

Quality? Sure. Flexing side panels, scratched up side panels, flexing chassis. What else? Oh and grommets that will dirty your fingers and anything after time (Carbonization)

I don't know why you think the mini xl is ugly as fuck. It's good looking. And cube cases are not appealing unless you bought a caselabs. what part of it looks cheap? It looks even more premium than the 900D!

Good or not Corsair cases do sell a lot, because of its branding? probably, at least I'm not into their cases, I don't find them that great for the price, just my opinion.

 branding.

[Mooshi]

Branding is right. After Corsair captured the chassis market, they had the nerve to release this ugly piece of crap that looks like a "gaming" PC from some OEM like Gateway that had a baby with something out of the Cm Haf X line.

 

 

Someone out there bought this case because it was a Corsair and are trying to convince themselves they bought a premium case. :mellow:

[greenroost1445]

His name shall be mini and he shall be mine...

[VulsaviiK]

That dual system upgrade for the Enthoo Mini XL is interesting, and I must admit, I'm a little bit impressed. Although the name is a bit off, I guess it is still probably a bit bigger than most mATX cases, so maybe the name makes sense. Imagine, a BYOC Lan machine for you AND your friend

 

Thus far, Phanteks seem to be the company that can do no wrong. They offer great products, nice build quality, nice features, and they're extremely user friendly, at a great price. I love the hell out of my Enthoo Primo (Which cost me like, $150 less than a Corsair 900D, although I think the 900D was more expensive when I was shopping for cases), but it's just too damn big if you aren't going to watercool. It's nice to see similar feature sets on smaller form-factors that appeal to more people.

 

Can me a fanboy, and I'm probably going to get a tonne of hate for this, but I think Phanteks are maybe a little ahead of the market right now in terms of cases.

[shizngiggles]

Phanteks is really starting to step up their game. I never really even considered their cases, let alone any of their products before but with their recent cases I'm definitely adding them as a brand I'll consider for future builds. The flexibility in their cases looks amazing!

[TheDigitalRealm]

Loving the competition Phanteks are bringing back into the market, I love my Enthoo Primo and love the Mini XL.

 

If they can get the Evolv down to ~$120 and the Mini XL down to ~$150, they'll sell'em like hotcakes. 

[DLM_012]

I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON IN THIS THREAD BUT EVERYONE IS TYPING IN CAPS AND LARGE

[nicholaswillems]

That's nice

[TheDigitalRealm]

I really want to see a water-cooled dual system inside that Mini XL. Gaming rig and game server in one. That'd be so freaking awesome.

[HerEscutcheon]

Over at cowcotland.com, I found a few interesting things about the Evolv.

 

1- The white version has a black interior. Looks very nice.

2- That is definitely a 200mm fan in the front.

3- According to them, it will be priced at a ridiculously low $129 (US) !!! 

 

[Accursed Entity]

Over at cowcotland.com, I found a few interesting things about the Evolv.

3- According to them, it will be priced at a ridiculously low $129 (US) !!! 

 

$129? in Phanteks we trust!

[Mooshi]

$129? Not too bad, now to decide whether I want the black one or the white one..

 

#firstworldproblems

[Accursed Entity]

I didn't notice that the Evolv has a rear 5.25" drive bay... or I'm hallucinating?

[Mooshi]

I didn't notice that the Evolv has a rear 5.25" drive bay... or I'm hallucinating?

 

I think it does, which is kinda odd. But, not many people use ODDs that often anymore. My Samsung blu ray drive is a 40 dollar paper weight basically. The fan hub also allows pwm which would eliminate the need for a fan controller..I guess you could stuff an NZXT Hue in the rear since this thing has a decently sized window.

[HerEscutcheon]

I didn't notice that the Evolv has a rear 5.25" drive bay... or I'm hallucinating?

It does have a 5.25" bay in the rear. Detachable by screws if you don't want it. They mention it in that video at about 47 seconds in.

 

Edit: Sorry, tried to post the vid at that point, but bookmarked videos do not seem to embed using [ media ] vid [ / media ] like normal videos do.

 

[daemonowner]

That's pretty a pretty respectable price and a very peculiar 5.25" drive bay. I'm still waiting for a ridiculously cheap "Pro" version of this and the XL.

[daemonowner]

 

Oh and I forgot to mention. HardwareCanucks has confirmed they are first in line for samples of these cases. Hell yeah.