PC components manufacturer Phanteks showcased one of the most striking PC cases at CES this year. At first glance, the new Exo 626s looks like an open-frame case; however, it comes with dedicated chambers for the PSU, motherboard, graphics card, and a 360mm AIO liquid cooler for the CPU.
The idea behind this case is that with each component having a separate chamber, airflow is easier to manage, and heat from one part doesn’t affect the others. From what we gathered on our visit in Vegas, the GPU chamber can fit large-sized graphics cards going as big as 4-slots. It comes with an RGB LED strip and a mesh finish at the top and the bottom, allowing the card to breathe easily. The PSU chamber at the bottom features a similar RGB strip along with some I/O ports at the front, including two USB Type-A ports, a USB Type-C, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Unfortunately, the case is available as part of a pre-built only, as it is made in partnership with CyberPowerPC, with no confirmation on a standalone retail version at the moment. The pre-built will be offered with an Intel Core Ultra 285K CPU, an RTX 5080 GPU, an Asus TUF Z890 motherboard, 32GB of DDR5 dual-channel memory clocked at 6400 MHz, a 2TB WD Black SN8100 PCIe Gen 5 SSD, a Bitspower 360mm AIO liquid cooler with ARGB lighting, and a Corsair RM1000X 1000W 80+ Gold power supply unit. As for the pricing, it will be retailing at $3,500.
While the Exo 626s looks impressive, locking such an innovative case behind an expensive pre-built feels like a missed opportunity. This is exactly the kind of uncanny airflow-focused design PC enthusiasts would love to experiment with in their own custom builds. Hopefully, Phanteks takes note of the interest and considers releasing the Exo 626s as a standalone case for consumers and not just system integrators.
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