Phanteks Builds Its First Micro-ATX Case, The Enthoo Evolv

Phanteks is a relative newcomer to the world of case manufacturing, and so far it has only built three enclosures. Today, the company revealed a fourth case, a Micro-ATX number that deviates from Phantek’s short history of ATX-only cases. Meet the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv, (which, yes, has a purposefully misspelled product name).

Phanteks built the Enthoo Evolv with an all-aluminum exterior that comes in black or white and has room for up to Micro-ATX size motherboards with accommodation for plenty of additional hardware.

You'll be able to house a graphics card up to 318 mm long, an ATX PSU up to 218 mm long and CPU coolers up to 192 mm tall. If you prefer liquid cooling to air cooling you'll be able to mount plenty of radiators; the Enthoo Evolv supports up to a 240 mm radiator up front, a 280 mm radiator on top and a rear 140 mm radiator. In the lower area of the case you'll be able to mount two 3.5" hard drives or a dedicated water pump. In total, the case has room for up to three 3.5" drives or five 2.5" drives.

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Oddly enough, while you can't see it at the front of the case, there is room for a 5.25" optical drive. Rather than placing it at the front, Phanteks has located it at the back of the case in such a way that the disc tray will come out the rear. We like this solution, as it gives you the option of installing an optical drive if you need it, but won't hinder the clean look of the front panel if you don't need one.

Front I/O is accessible on the right side panel and consists of two USB 3.0 ports and the standard pair of HD audio jacks. One point of concern are the side panels; one has a window, and the other has the I/O. Considering that many users position their case with one side against a wall, this can pose a serious inconvenience or render a side window useless.

Phanteks has priced the case at $129.99 for the black version, while the white variant costs a little more at $139.99. They are available immediately.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.