Alright, let’s have a look at thermal numbers. To stress the CPU I was running a Blender and at the same time, I was stressing a GPU with MSI Kombustor. For quite some time I had in mind getting Phanteks P400A. And here we are. It’s an ATX Mid-Tower, very affordable PC case with a mesh-type front panel. And today I will be unboxing and having a closer look inside as well as running a thermal test so you guys could see how it performs. An unusual amount of effort has gone into the cable management system behind the motherboard tray. Towards the front of the case, the wide cable management channel is covered with extremely long velcro straps that are screwed into the case. This channel has 3cm of clearance for cables, while other areas behind the motherboard tray have just over 2cm. The screws divide each strap into two halves, each of which loops around a hook built into the chassis. Critically, these hooks are open, so the straps can be slipped on and off without having to painstakingly thread them through tiny holes, one of the most frustrating aspects of normal cable tie points. The straps are placed both at the front of the case and the top edge of the PSU chamber, which covers almost every location that power cables must be routed. Credit is due for a really exceptional job here. The power supply shroud is also extremely roomy since the HDD cages aren’t installed out-of-the-box, but even when they are installed they can be positioned forward to leave plenty of cable room. Obviously the 500DX and 4000D are both strong competitors here as winners of the previous category, but the overall winner for noise-normalized testing is the Phanteks P500A Digital. Two of Lian Li’s cases scored better in CPU temperature, especially the Lancool 215 with an exceptionally good average, but the P500A had the best balance of CPU and GPU temperatures without exceeding 36dBA at 20”. The Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 also came close, with the lowest GPU temperature we’ve seen thus far in this test thanks to its height, fans, and the amount of open space in the bottom of the case. 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'.

We requested the old P400 panel as well because that’s the real benchmark for the P400A: how much better it performs than its sealed-off predecessor. We couldn’t simply seal off the vent holes in a P400A front panel because the P400 actually has filtered ventilation strips at the top and bottom that aren’t present in the P400A, so that air will be directed through the front panel instead of behind the top and bottom of the panel as it was in the older case. The P400A has no filters at all, and we like to see this on cases with fine mesh fronts--plenty of dust gets caught in the external grille, and adding another layer of filtration behind it only serves to kill airflow and defeat the purpose. The old P400 has bad airflow, and the new front panel design of the P400A is the reason we chose to review it in the first place. 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. Including only one fan in the case makes the P300A relatively quiet, but thanks to some audible vibration, we measured the noise level to be 36.7dBA at max fan speed, just slightly above the threshold for our noise normalized testing. Lowering the fan to 90% speed, or approximately 1270RPM, quieted this vibration, but the thermal results were predictably terrible. The bottom filter is unusually large for a case that has a PSU shroud, covering the entire floor of the case at approximately 40cm x 16cm. For the most part that’s a positive, but there are two problems with it that other cases have already solved: first, it’s a rear-eject filter, so taking it out for cleaning will require pulling the case out at least 40cm away from whatever is behind it. Secondly, the rails for the filter are bulky and extend the full length of the case. They work well for their intended purpose, but they also form a skirt around the edges of the case that restricts airflow. The case legs are already stumpy at just under 2cm, and the plastic rails cut that space in half, so there’s a less-than-1cm gap for air at the bottom edges of the case. There’s a reason this matters: the PSU shroud is fully ventilated and has two 120mm fan mounts on top (one of which is unusable because of the power supply, but still), the case floor is fully ventilated, and even the HDD bay has perforations in its surface. The intent here was clearly to allow bottom intake, but the execution leaves something to be desired. For any users who want to try installing fans on the surface of the PSU shroud, we’d recommend finding a way to boost the case legs. Lian Li’s own Lancool II Mesh takes a similar approach with fan mounts on top of the shroud, but it has both more room for airflow underneath the case and plenty of ventilation along one side of the shroud.

Top 5 Gaming PC Cases

It includes almost none of the noise-damping features that be quiet! is known for other than slow-spinning fans, so this case won’t suppress an already-noisy system. That said, cases with good ventilation tend to be quieter anyway, since cooling fans don’t need to spin as fast, with the one downside being the loss of suppression for higher frequency noises. That, however, is afforded by higher-end be quiet! cases, it’s just that the base volume is higher at a given temperature on those. 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 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. We loved the tempered glass side panel, so you can see everything going on inside, turning this into a bit of a statement piece. Although, it’s not all looks. The roomy interior allows for 280-360mm radiator up front, and vertical GPU mounting. Not to mention room for up to an EATX motherboard also available.

So, Phanteks Eclipse P400A was one of those PC cases I wanted to review myself as I’ve seen quite some praises from other content creators. As I’ve used it in one of my recent PC Build, I have a chance to deep-dive and present P400A features and thermals to you guys.For the last configuration, fans were running at full speed but the front mesh panel was removed. An so, the temperature dropped by 5 degrees on a CPU and 2 degrees on a GPU side. That’s also a decent temps improvement. I’ve tested some other PC cases where mesh panels were affecting temperatures less, but this is not a bad result by any means. It’s sort of an average temp drop you can expect when removing a mesh front panel. And compared to non-mesh PC cases, it really shines.

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). 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. At the top, there is a magnetic dust filter, but most likely, it will be not so useful as the top fans should be mounted as exhaust ones. IO PanelAlthough the Phanteks P400A is a good chassis, the level of included features are the same as what launched in 2016 with no exciting improvements: no USB C, vertical GPU mount, smarter cable management solutions, better paint finishes or even a dual fan/RGB controller. That’s not to say that it's a bad case, just that it could do with an update. Unless you’re a die hard Phanteks fan, or you don’t mind about the missing modern features, the Phanteks P400A just doesn’t quite hit the mark. After all performance is only one metric as to which you should measure a good case. P400A has really decent motherboard support as you can fit ATX, micro-ATX and mini-ITX motherboards. Even E-ATX motherboards are supported (up to 272mm wide) but you will not be able to use those rubber grommets.

Ask our experts tohelp you find just the right material or material combination for your application. The Beneq P400Acan go from room temperature up to 550°Cand easily handle gaseous,liquid,and solid precursors, including toxic, pyrophoric, and corrosive precursor materials. That said, this level of choice is nice to see. With Phanteks introducing two separate models at two different price points, one with, and one without RGB, not only does it give the company valuable insight into just how much the RGB craze has its fingertips in the marketplace, but it also gives consumers the option to invest in a slightly more affordable chassis one light free, or of course to indulge all of their RGB fantasies and opt for the slightly pricier RGB variant instead. Front Panel IntakeWith the same configuration but medium fan speed, CPU temp dropped by three degrees and a GPU by two degrees celsius. There are some cable management cutouts at the top, bottom and the ones in the midsection are covered with rubber grommets. And on the other side, we have a few hook and loop straps that make a sort of a cable routing channel and some zip tie points. Load testing is conducted using Prime95 LFFTs and Kombustor “FurMark” stress testing simultaneously. Testing is completely automated using in-house scripting, and executes with perfect accuracy on every run. 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. Using the GPU to render raised GPU temperature to 21 degrees Celsius over ambient, the lowest result on the chart so far, ahead even of cases with direct GPU cooling like the SL600M. The P400A was two degrees warmer in this test; the CPU temperature here was also cooler than the P400A’s, although the TD500 Mesh has them both beaten in that category. Firestrike