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KitGuru posted their review of the Phanteks Enthoo Mini XL

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When Phanteks released the video preview of the Enthoo Mini XL , many were excited about this case ( http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/159645-phanteks-previewed-their-new-mini-xl-and-evolv-case/ ) . But in Kitguru's review, they found there are some problems with the case and the dual-motherboards-supporting-system.

 

 

In a sense this sums up the confusing nature of the Mini XL. It would make little sense using this case with a single Micro-ATX motherboard (the way the case is supplied) yet you have to buy the ITX conversion kit as an optional extra to unlock its unique feature. In the same vein, you really cannot imagine using the Mini XL with all those drive bays installed as they get in the way of the cooling hardware. Phanteks might as well strip out the 3.5-inch drive bays, cut the price and focus on the essential nature of the Mini XL which is the support for dual motherboards.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WREdESESL_4

 

http://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/leo-waldock/phanteks-enthoo-mini-xl-chassis-review/

 

 

Prices

£149.99 inc. VAT for the case
£22.99 for the ITX conversion kit
£5.99 for the HDD bracket
£13.99 for 1 metre lighting
£16.99 for 2 metre lighting

 

http://www.phanteks.com/Enthoo-MiniXL.html

 

manual: http://www.phanteks.com/assets/manuals/Enthoo%20Mini%20XL%20Manual%20Western.pdf

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Posted

So basically

 

Too big for a mini system, too small for a dual motherboard system (AND you have to buy extra stuff)

 

Seems a silly design IMO and its not even very attractive, not really sure I understand this case

Desktop - Corsair 300r i7 4770k H100i MSI 780ti 16GB Vengeance Pro 2400mhz Crucial MX100 512gb Samsung Evo 250gb 2 TB WD Green, AOC Q2770PQU 1440p 27" monitor Laptop Clevo W110er - 11.6" 768p, i5 3230m, 650m GT 2gb, OCZ vertex 4 256gb,  4gb ram, Server: Fractal Define Mini, MSI Z78-G43, Intel G3220, 8GB Corsair Vengeance, 4x 3tb WD Reds in Raid 10, Phone Oppo Reno 10x 256gb , Camera Sony A7iii

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Posted

It's massive (that's what she said lol)

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Cool idea, ugly like rest of their cases. On the sfx PSU cable length complaint, extensions. 

muh specs 

Gaming and HTPC (reparations)- ASUS 1080, MSI X99A SLI Plus, 5820k- 4.5GHz @ 1.25v, asetek based 360mm AIO, RM 1000x, 16GB memory, 750D with front USB 2.0 replaced with 3.0  ports, 2 250GB 850 EVOs in Raid 0 (why not, only has games on it), some hard drives

Screens- Acer preditor XB241H (1080p, 144Hz Gsync), LG 1080p ultrawide, (all mounted) directly wired to TV in other room

Stuff- k70 with reds, steel series rival, g13, full desk covering mouse mat

All parts black

Workstation(desk)- 3770k, 970 reference, 16GB of some crucial memory, a motherboard of some kind I don't remember, Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI, CM Storm Trooper (It's got a handle, can you handle that?), 240mm Asetek based AIO, Crucial M550 256GB (upgrade soon), some hard drives, disc drives, and hot swap bays

Screens- 3  ASUS VN248H-P IPS 1080p screens mounted on a stand, some old tv on the wall above it. 

Stuff- Epicgear defiant (solderless swappable switches), g600, moutned mic and other stuff. 

Laptop docking area- 2 1440p korean monitors mounted, one AHVA matte, one samsung PLS gloss (very annoying, yes). Trashy Razer blackwidow chroma...I mean like the J key doesn't click anymore. I got a model M i use on it to, but its time for a new keyboard. Some edgy Utechsmart mouse similar to g600. Hooked to laptop dock for both of my dell precision laptops. (not only docking area)

Shelf- i7-2600 non-k (has vt-d), 380t, some ASUS sandy itx board, intel quad nic. Currently hosts shared files, setting up as pfsense box in VM. Also acts as spare gaming PC with a 580 or whatever someone brings. Hooked into laptop dock area via usb switch

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Posted

Holy balls, imagine the amount of rads you could fit in there

waffle waffle waffle on and on and on

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I was excited about this case but after seeing this...

SFX PSU should be where ATX is and the ATX should be on bottom.

Everything should be included WITH case ... what the hell? Why do I have to get everything separately? If I am going to get this case it is just for the reason what it can do.. so why not include things that makes this case what it is?

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OH MY GOD what a failed opportunity. This is such a great idea, and they cocked it up by making the real feature (which I would buy no questions asked) an optional extra.

 

FAILTEKS.

 

No I'm kidding, Phanteks are mostly alright. But this. This. Is facepalm territory.

In case the moderators do not ban me as requested, this is a notice that I have left and am not coming back.

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Posted

I expected something completely different from a case with the word "Mini" in it's name.

 

I don't really play many games for gameplay anymore honestly. I play most games just for the graphics.

 

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I expected something completely different from a case with the word "Mini" in it's name.

 

But it's called Mini XL, but I get your point. I hope they make a Mini without the XL (a regular mATX tower).

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I can see the attraction of this case tbh, I can imagine that someone who lives in a small flat wanting this for a HTPC that's quiet and low power and also have a pretty beast gaming rig without wanting the added space of having 2 seperate systems (I wouldn't mind this tbh) but there has to be a more elegant solution than this.

It would make an epic watercooled case though, you could have a 80mm thick 360 rad in the top in push pull and another 280 in the front in push pull and a slim 240 in the back with a single set of fans and still have room for your pump and res and a hard drive + SSD, so I dunno, even if the KitGuru guy thinks a W/C system in this case doesn't make sense, I think it would for some people, especially if they like the looks of this case.

CPU: Core i5 2500K @ 4.5GHz | MB: Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P | RAM: 16GB Kingston HyperX @ 1866MHz | GPU: XFX DD R9 390 | Case: Fractal Design Define S | Storage: 500GB Samsung 850 EVO + WD Caviar Blue 500GB | PSU: Corsair RM650x | Soundcard: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium
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Well, one figures that Phanteks will at least screw up a case at least once...

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  • 1 month later...
Posted

I recently got this case. At the moment I've fitted my Rampage Gene with 360 + 240-rads, and wow, this case is epic. Got a A10-7850k ITX system on the way, and my current mock up will let me have following rads:

 

360mm, 30mm - Top

280mm, 30mm - Bottom

240mm, 60mm - Front

240mm, 35mm - Front-side

 

And storage capacity is very good as well. 2 x 3.5" plus 8 x 2.5".

 

The PSU will be shared by both systems. ;)

CPU: i7-3960x @ 5GHz Motherboard: Rampage IV Gene ​RAM: 32GB HyperX Fury 1866 STORAGE:  WD Green 3TB + Crucial BX100 250GB + 16GB Primocache


GPU: 7990 + 7970 @ 1190c, 1515m Case: Phanteks Enthoo Mini XL PSU: AX1200i Monitor: Qnix QX2710 @ 110Hz


Cooling: D5 + X-RES 140CSQ, Supreme HF Cu, EK-FC7970/7990, 10xSP120 QE, RX240 + RX360

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Posted

Mini..... XL....

 

wat?

 

Seems like it would be great for a ZFS box, massive storage and a bunch of space to have SSDs while still getting decent airflow.... but other than that i just feel like therea are enough mATX cases out there that do better.

Primary:

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HTPC:

Intel NUC i5 D54250WYK | 4GB Kingston 1600MHz DDR3L | 256GB Crucial M4 mSATA SSD | Logitech K400

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Posted

Not sure I see the point of this case, the Evolv on the other hand  :wub:

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I hate - no DESPISE - companies' products that appear to have had literally 0 hands-on testing. It's not hard to crack open a case and have a look at what's in there. Come on guys, you BUILT the damn thing...

 

I mean come on, it's not like these faults were hard to miss. I bet some dude just designed this on CAD, gave it to the marketing team and never looked back. 

This is what I think of Pre-Ordering video games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp98SH3vW2Y

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Posted

So does anyone know an eta for the evolv revisions that hardwarecanucks previewed a while back at CES I believe it was.

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Eagerly waiting for the Evolve Mini ITX... :)

My Systems:

Main - Work + Gaming:

Spoiler

Woodland Raven: Ryzen 2700X // AMD Wraith RGB // Asus Prime X570-P // G.Skill 2x 8GB 3600MHz DDR4 // Radeon RX Vega 56 // Crucial P1 NVMe 1TB M.2 SSD // Deepcool DQ650-M // chassis build in progress // Windows 10 // Thrustmaster TMX + G27 pedals & shifter

F@H Rig:

Spoiler

FX-8350 // Deepcool Neptwin // MSI 970 Gaming // AData 2x 4GB 1600 DDR3 // 2x Gigabyte RX-570 4G's // Samsung 840 120GB SSD // Cooler Master V650 // Windows 10

 

HTPC:

Spoiler

SNES PC (HTPC): i3-4150 @3.5 // Gigabyte GA-H87N-Wifi // G.Skill 2x 4GB DDR3 1600 // Asus Dual GTX 1050Ti 4GB OC // AData SP600 128GB SSD // Pico 160XT PSU // Custom SNES Enclosure // 55" LG LED 1080p TV  // Logitech wireless touchpad-keyboard // Windows 10 // Build Log

Laptops:

Spoiler

MY DAILY: Lenovo ThinkPad T410 // 14" 1440x900 // i5-540M 2.5GHz Dual-Core HT // Intel HD iGPU + Quadro NVS 3100M 512MB dGPU // 2x4GB DDR3L 1066 // Mushkin Triactor 480GB SSD // Windows 10

 

WIFE'S: Dell Latitude E5450 // 14" 1366x768 // i5-5300U 2.3GHz Dual-Core HT // Intel HD5500 // 2x4GB RAM DDR3L 1600 // 500GB 7200 HDD // Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon

 

EXPERIMENTAL: Pinebook // 11.6" 1080p // Manjaro KDE (ARM)

NAS:

Spoiler

Home NAS: Pentium G4400 @3.3 // Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 // 2x 4GB DDR4 2400 // Intel HD Graphics // Kingston A400 120GB SSD // 3x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200 HDDs in RAID-Z // Cooler Master Silent Pro M 1000w PSU // Antec Performance Plus 1080AMG // FreeNAS OS

 

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Posted

This case shoulda been ATX tbh.

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So basically

Too big for a mini system, too small for a dual motherboard system (AND you have to buy extra stuff)

Seems a silly design IMO and its not even very attractive, not really sure I understand this case

Yep, I considered it briefly but my mini tower and a separate htpc itx case just makes more sense

-------

Current Rig

-------

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  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

Im still interested in this case, the size might be killer though. Think I may just stay with an arc mini.

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