Phanteks P500A Mesh Airflow Case, P300A, & Triple-System Enthoo Pro 2
video description
Date: 2020-05-06
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 10
Inareth
Case fans are kinda for me. In a midrange case, I assume there will be decent fans that are decently useful. They won't be on par with Noctua fans or anything, but they'll be basically effective fans. Good enough, if you don't need RGB. At the high end, cases sometimes include good RGB fans, or cost a little less to not come with fans at all. That's fine, if I like the way the fans look (or will once I replace the unicorn vomit with something a little more tasteful) If I don't like the look of the included fans, I'm likely to buy a different case. Maybe the non-fans-included SKU of the same case, but a different case. At the < 60 range, I just assume the fans are garbage. Fans won't be lit, with possible exception of a front single-color LED if the case has something that passes for mesh in the front. These cheap cases are typically older designs, often still have ODD bays which are structurally necessary, I/O screwed to the front bezel, little cable management room unless the case sides are stamped (which is also structural since the sides are a shade thicker than tinfoil, and basically the whole thing is pretty much garbage even if it has a major brand's logo on it. I'll use these fans in the short term because cheap, but my goal is always to replace them as soon as possible. Any case that still has blue LED fans probably should be avoided. I do still have a Rosewill which came with one, but the blue LED fan went straight into the Free Geek pile without plugging it in even once. Replaced with a cheap Arctic 120mm fan, which fits the definition of plenty good enough for a budget system.
reply
Case fans are kinda for me. In a midrange case, I assume there will be decent fans that are decently useful. They won't be on par with Noctua fans or anything, but they'll be basically effective fans. Good enough, if you don't need RGB. At the high end, cases sometimes include good RGB fans, or cost a little less to not come with fans at all. That's fine, if I like the way the fans look (or will once I replace the unicorn vomit with something a little more tasteful) If I don't like the look of the included fans, I'm likely to buy a different case. Maybe the non-fans-included SKU of the same case, but a different case. At the < 60 range, I just assume the fans are garbage. Fans won't be lit, with possible exception of a front single-color LED if the case has something that passes for mesh in the front. These cheap cases are typically older designs, often still have ODD bays which are structurally necessary, I/O screwed to the front bezel, little cable management room unless the case sides are stamped (which is also structural since the sides are a shade thicker than tinfoil, and basically the whole thing is pretty much garbage even if it has a major brand's logo on it. I'll use these fans in the short term because cheap, but my goal is always to replace them as soon as possible. Any case that still has blue LED fans probably should be avoided. I do still have a Rosewill which came with one, but the blue LED fan went straight into the Free Geek pile without plugging it in even once. Replaced with a cheap Arctic 120mm fan, which fits the definition of plenty good enough for a budget system.
reply
Adam
Finally found where to post AskGN questions. I just needed to listen more closely at the beginning of your videos. I have two questions (hopefully for your next video when you're back from CES 2020): 1. Is there is a performance difference between using liquid metal vs thermal paste when doing a direct die cooler mount (say perhaps with the i9-7980xe? I'm curious how much of the thermal improvement is due to simply removing the IHS and how much is due to liquid metal. 2. I have not found any videos online that state a good pressure (in psi or Pa) to apply to a cpu or gpu die when mounting. Obviously, the amount of pressure you get is a function of the amount of torque you use to drive the mounting screws (excluding springs in spring-loaded mounting systems. You don't want to use too much torque so that you break the screws (a big problem on GPUs) and you don't want too much pressure or else you'll crack the die (both cpus and gpus. I like that you used Fujifilm Prescale pressure paper in previous videos having cooling mounting. Would you consider doing a video quantitatively showing cooling performance for given amounts of measured torque and/or pressure. For torque, you could use a Capri Digital Torque Screwdriver (or something nicer) and to measure pressure, you could program with Python and OpenCV to measure the pressure off the Fujifillm paper based on the intensity of the color (probably V in HSV color space. There is so much grief over application and amount of thermal paste, but pressure and surface flatness is just as important. Thanks!
reply
Finally found where to post AskGN questions. I just needed to listen more closely at the beginning of your videos. I have two questions (hopefully for your next video when you're back from CES 2020): 1. Is there is a performance difference between using liquid metal vs thermal paste when doing a direct die cooler mount (say perhaps with the i9-7980xe? I'm curious how much of the thermal improvement is due to simply removing the IHS and how much is due to liquid metal. 2. I have not found any videos online that state a good pressure (in psi or Pa) to apply to a cpu or gpu die when mounting. Obviously, the amount of pressure you get is a function of the amount of torque you use to drive the mounting screws (excluding springs in spring-loaded mounting systems. You don't want to use too much torque so that you break the screws (a big problem on GPUs) and you don't want too much pressure or else you'll crack the die (both cpus and gpus. I like that you used Fujifilm Prescale pressure paper in previous videos having cooling mounting. Would you consider doing a video quantitatively showing cooling performance for given amounts of measured torque and/or pressure. For torque, you could use a Capri Digital Torque Screwdriver (or something nicer) and to measure pressure, you could program with Python and OpenCV to measure the pressure off the Fujifillm paper based on the intensity of the color (probably V in HSV color space. There is so much grief over application and amount of thermal paste, but pressure and surface flatness is just as important. Thanks!
reply
Mythricia
Talking about the front panel pixel art stuff at 11: 15 onwards, I do have a suggestion you can pass on maybe; front panel lights like that can easily be (and, in this example, already is) controlled by a simple microcontroller. If this microcontroller is connected via a USB header, it can be re-programmed on demand from the PC. This is different from a live link currently used by a lot of RGB software. Because the PC is not actually controlling anything - all it does is literally upload new firmware to the microcontroller. This can be then be made user-friendly by just creating some simple tools that allow easy configuration of the LED's patterns etc, which is then packaged up and uploaded by the tool. It will then continue to run independently, as long as it has power. It's not as flexible or fancy as controller software running on the PC; but that's not the point, as you said - the point is to avoid having shitty software eating CPU, running in the background, etc. And with the above setup, the software doesn't even need to be installed. It could literally just be an. exe that you run, customize the LED's, upload the packaged firmware, and that's it. The user can delete the. exe if they wanted at this point.
reply
Talking about the front panel pixel art stuff at 11: 15 onwards, I do have a suggestion you can pass on maybe; front panel lights like that can easily be (and, in this example, already is) controlled by a simple microcontroller. If this microcontroller is connected via a USB header, it can be re-programmed on demand from the PC. This is different from a live link currently used by a lot of RGB software. Because the PC is not actually controlling anything - all it does is literally upload new firmware to the microcontroller. This can be then be made user-friendly by just creating some simple tools that allow easy configuration of the LED's patterns etc, which is then packaged up and uploaded by the tool. It will then continue to run independently, as long as it has power. It's not as flexible or fancy as controller software running on the PC; but that's not the point, as you said - the point is to avoid having shitty software eating CPU, running in the background, etc. And with the above setup, the software doesn't even need to be installed. It could literally just be an. exe that you run, customize the LED's, upload the packaged firmware, and that's it. The user can delete the. exe if they wanted at this point.
reply
Patrick
I'm in the 'I'll supply my own fans. ' camp. Even if the included fans aren't garbage (which they usually are, I've got my build planned out from a performance and aesthetics perspective. I'd rather the manufacturers bring the case to market at a lower price point than include something that's just going to sit on my shelf. Now, with that said, there are many people out there who will be in the 'Please give me some fans. ' camp. For them, why not have an option to add fans. At the time of purchase, at a slightly discounted price per fan (discounted in relation to retail pricing, they could add some of the manufacturer's fans? I think that would be a pretty well rounded marketing strategy.
reply
I'm in the 'I'll supply my own fans. ' camp. Even if the included fans aren't garbage (which they usually are, I've got my build planned out from a performance and aesthetics perspective. I'd rather the manufacturers bring the case to market at a lower price point than include something that's just going to sit on my shelf. Now, with that said, there are many people out there who will be in the 'Please give me some fans. ' camp. For them, why not have an option to add fans. At the time of purchase, at a slightly discounted price per fan (discounted in relation to retail pricing, they could add some of the manufacturer's fans? I think that would be a pretty well rounded marketing strategy.
reply
Rocky12345
I prefer fans come with the case if you decide to replace them later that is up to the end user. I am sure if every case started coming without fans they would not lower the price of the fanless cases so they mau as well have the check box marked off and let the end user decide if they want to replace the included fans or not. Besides that there are to many first itme builders out there that have little clue when it comes to building a PC and most would just think oh I guess I don't need any fans the case is sold fanless so it must use magic pixie dust to keep everything nioce and cool.
reply
I prefer fans come with the case if you decide to replace them later that is up to the end user. I am sure if every case started coming without fans they would not lower the price of the fanless cases so they mau as well have the check box marked off and let the end user decide if they want to replace the included fans or not. Besides that there are to many first itme builders out there that have little clue when it comes to building a PC and most would just think oh I guess I don't need any fans the case is sold fanless so it must use magic pixie dust to keep everything nioce and cool.
reply
Brian
I never consider fans when buying a case. I only consider the merits of the case itself. I have always bought fans on their own merits too. Fans which come supplied with cases always end up donated to friends or a charity recycling centre when friends don't even want them for free. Included fans are awful for the most part but if decent fans were included the price would be high and would only make a good buying decision if they were the exact fans you would buy otherwise, which would rarely be the case (excuse pun. Best to concentrate on making the best case possible. Forget the fans.
reply
I never consider fans when buying a case. I only consider the merits of the case itself. I have always bought fans on their own merits too. Fans which come supplied with cases always end up donated to friends or a charity recycling centre when friends don't even want them for free. Included fans are awful for the most part but if decent fans were included the price would be high and would only make a good buying decision if they were the exact fans you would buy otherwise, which would rarely be the case (excuse pun. Best to concentrate on making the best case possible. Forget the fans.
reply
Lawrence
Case manufacturers should just take advantage of the bundling options on Amazon and Newegg. Offer all your cases without a case and include a purchase bundle for fans, that could allow you to clearly offer the fans to those who want them (while potentially offering something better than the cheap commodity grade fan in the case) and allows users who have their own fan to buy the case. That said, cheap fans don't cost alot and I doubt it would have an appreciable difference to the price, it would really be more about avoiding the waste of those cheap fans that go into the trash
reply
Case manufacturers should just take advantage of the bundling options on Amazon and Newegg. Offer all your cases without a case and include a purchase bundle for fans, that could allow you to clearly offer the fans to those who want them (while potentially offering something better than the cheap commodity grade fan in the case) and allows users who have their own fan to buy the case. That said, cheap fans don't cost alot and I doubt it would have an appreciable difference to the price, it would really be more about avoiding the waste of those cheap fans that go into the trash
reply
XFourty7
The Matrix case is a great idea, and would probably sell well, but it could really use customization in some way. If you could add a cheap enough chip to convert an animation (eg; .gif maybe even video formats) from a USB device plugged into the front USB ports when named something specific might work, but making a. gif isn't so easy either, and the front USB port in question would require a Y junction let alone the chip / PCB to do this conversion's price would add to the case's cost. You could have the conversion done on Phanteks' website, and save the file for you.
reply
The Matrix case is a great idea, and would probably sell well, but it could really use customization in some way. If you could add a cheap enough chip to convert an animation (eg; .gif maybe even video formats) from a USB device plugged into the front USB ports when named something specific might work, but making a. gif isn't so easy either, and the front USB port in question would require a Y junction let alone the chip / PCB to do this conversion's price would add to the case's cost. You could have the conversion done on Phanteks' website, and save the file for you.
reply
Austin
The only case manufacturer that I can think of off the top of my head that doesn't have a terrible set of fans pre-installed is NZXT but they only ship with 2 as far as I know and they are pretty basic. But they are very solid in construction and move a good bit of air. I just built a system for a friend with them and we took them out because he used some fans I had laying around that matched the build better. I'm now using those two fans for a 120mm AIO and they do really well. Super quiet and great temps on the cou right now.
reply
The only case manufacturer that I can think of off the top of my head that doesn't have a terrible set of fans pre-installed is NZXT but they only ship with 2 as far as I know and they are pretty basic. But they are very solid in construction and move a good bit of air. I just built a system for a friend with them and we took them out because he used some fans I had laying around that matched the build better. I'm now using those two fans for a 120mm AIO and they do really well. Super quiet and great temps on the cou right now.
reply
TryingHisBest
Of course they know better than I do but I fail to see how the P600S could be as bad as they seem to be making out cooling wise when you can just remove the front and top panels? The mesh is supposed to be very breathable too. Also a lot of room for water cooling and can fit NH-D15 for the high end air cooling side of things. I don't have the case myself but would be interesting to know why they believe it would be so bad. There's not as much mesh of course as the P400a but still seems like it should do decent enough.
reply
Of course they know better than I do but I fail to see how the P600S could be as bad as they seem to be making out cooling wise when you can just remove the front and top panels? The mesh is supposed to be very breathable too. Also a lot of room for water cooling and can fit NH-D15 for the high end air cooling side of things. I don't have the case myself but would be interesting to know why they believe it would be so bad. There's not as much mesh of course as the P400a but still seems like it should do decent enough.
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
