Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX Mini Tower

[Lawrence Lee]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Phanteks_Enthoo_Evolv_ITX

[quest_for_silence]

Thanks for another nice review, Lawrence.

[Das_Saunamies]

Nice to see more ITX case reviews, even if they don't turn out a winner.

By the way, the H440 link in the Conclusion is busted, it's

Code: Select all

http://www.silentpcreview.com/ww.silentpcreview.com/NZXT_H440

when it should be

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http://www.silentpcreview.com/NZXT_H440

.

[SebRad]

It does seem to be something that case designers don't quite get that for the quietest systems (I think) the best approach is not to contain noise but not to make it in the first place. So nice open free flowing cases where plenty of air can be moved through quietly is what's needed, then all the internal components don't need to work hard/noisily to cool themselves and the overall result is nice cool quiet system.
I guess that doesn't sell as well as the idea of a 'silent case' that's all you need keeping all the noise in!
I look at the amount of intake area many cases seem to have and compare with the area of the fans used and find it hard to see how they work at all! My case has more-or-less open 160x80mm, 80x80mm intakes, and a lot of holes in the floor to server just 3 x 92mm exhausts.

I've thought about how to build an in "ideal silent" case, both free flowing and noise containing, the best I can come up with is this: (please excuse the rough and read paint work!)

case gills.png

Gill type intake lined with sound damping material to provide a free flowing but noise blocking intake to large intake fan(s) that blow through unobstructed interior through the CPU and GPU coolers. Soft mount the drive(s) on the back of the motherboard try with the edge of the fan extending wide enough to blow down the back side for cooling with exhaust out the rear of the case. Key would be balancing the size/spacing of intake gills for noise blocking with out restricting air flow. Would also need nonrestrictive filter on the fan (err towards flow rather than dust trapping) and could line the rest of the case with noise damping too. The rear would allow noise to escape but this is typically away from the user, and could add non reflective (carpet) to wall behind.

Anyway thanks for the review, though quiet computers are far easier than ever to build there's still plenty of room for modification and "optimization" for best results
Seb

[JJAP]

The Thermaltake Core V1 mITX case also uses a 200m fan (included) in front, but with a front grill and cuboid shape, appyling SebRad's observations. I'd love to see a definitive silent review of it.

[Psycownage]

I have the Phanteks Enthoo Evolve ITX and an Asus 980 Strix OC and have to agree with the review but I found that removing the lower HDD cage entirely (I have a 1tb ssd and NAS so no need for it.) significantly improved things. I don't have access to any decent sound recording or quiet room but would love to know if SPCR could reproduce this.

I also tried to support the GPU and keep it as far away from the middle support as possible as I felt this could be choking it.

It would be interesting to test the case without the front panel as I agree that it is probably quite obstructive, I am now considering breaking out the dremel but don't think my skills are good enough for a decent finish.

[xan_user]

with the front bezel placed in the trash bin, and a little bit of blocking off the open spaces above and below the intake fan, this case seems like it would be very easy to keep cool... and quiet.
dressing up the filter with some moders mesh would be easy enough if looks are a concern.

[Joxx]

The ATX version of this case is simply gorgeous http://www.phanteks.com/Enthoo-EVOLV-ATX.html
but it suffers from the same stupid design flaws.
They have another ATX with the same interior https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zheXtXgpCUg
this one branded "budget", go figure.

[llisandro]

Bummer, I really like the look of this case.

I was wondering about using an SFX PSU and removing the PSU shroud to get some more air to a GPU, but it looks like the PSU shroud is a structural component of the bottom edge of the motherboard tray.