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In this day and age the products many businesses (across all industries) push out are bound by financial constraints in order to make investors happy. Bigger profits is the name of the game ...
A result of this, concepts and prototypes are scaled down in feature set and so to are the quality of materials used. Reuse of technologies across different product lines and even across businesses in the same industry are the order of the day ... all this translates in a rather cookie cutter product being offered. A store bought pizza as opposed to those coming out of colcaccio
Well that's why I feel I need to write about this ...
the Phanteks Evolv X .... it's just a case. But a damn good product ...it has been a long time that I've bought a product where the customer was at the centre of its design as opposed to some board member looking at costs and margins. For R2600 odd the case feels like an absolute steal
Having replaced my Evolv ATX, this case on the surface feels like an incremental update. But boy is this so far from the truth (and the original Evolv was R2500 at launch)
Here is why I think it's amazing
and with all this is the price ... I think it's an absolute bargain at R2600 odd. it's 199USD in the states and 199 UK pounds in the UK. How wootware managed to sell this for less than the retail abroad is just amazing ...
it's a long time since I've bought a product where I felt I got an absolute bargain and one where I as the customer was heard. Props to Phanteks and props to wootware for bringing this into SA
Phanteks, you have a new fan
The Evolv TG was an already impressive and beautiful clean looking case .... the Evolv X just perfected that recipe. 10 out of 10. Its all the case id ever need (unless people go changing form factor standards )
A result of this, concepts and prototypes are scaled down in feature set and so to are the quality of materials used. Reuse of technologies across different product lines and even across businesses in the same industry are the order of the day ... all this translates in a rather cookie cutter product being offered. A store bought pizza as opposed to those coming out of colcaccio
Well that's why I feel I need to write about this ...
the Phanteks Evolv X .... it's just a case. But a damn good product ...it has been a long time that I've bought a product where the customer was at the centre of its design as opposed to some board member looking at costs and margins. For R2600 odd the case feels like an absolute steal
Having replaced my Evolv ATX, this case on the surface feels like an incremental update. But boy is this so far from the truth (and the original Evolv was R2500 at launch)
Here is why I think it's amazing
- it's not much bigger but has so much more space - I'm running an extended ATX motherboard (RVE which is bigger than many EATX boards) ... sli strix cards and it all fits without any compromise ... heck i could put a radiator ontop as well and I'd still have space and all this while being very similar in size to the original Evolv. Phanteks designers have really hit it out of the park with space considerations which I'm sure will meet even the most demanding of enthusiasts
- Quality of materials - The feel of the doors, the metal, the perfectly polished glass, the attention to detail on the straps; every single part of this case was well thought out both in terms of material use (which feels a big step up from the original Evolv) and to the way everything is laid out. There is a reassuring "thud" when closing the glass door. It's like closing the door on a Merc S class ... just oozes quality. Including a GPU anti sag bracket and a small magnetic piece to close off extra gaps in the top cavity so that hot air does not recirculate in the case are small details that are very welcomed. The case comes in a nicely secured package with padding including a big ass canvas cover for the case which just makes the whole experience from start to finish a great one
- Freedom and flexibility to choose - can I throw radiators at this case and have a multitude of SSDs ?... it's all possible. Top mount front mount ?... yeah however you want it, it's up to you ... we all different and this case caters to everyone. The possibilities feel endless. Heck they even demo-ed a dual system in this chassis. This all whilst sitting ontop a desk and not looking like a metal lmonstrousity
- Cable management a breeze- yup that's the back of my case with everything installed ... not a single wire visible. There are gaps in the right places to push through those small fan cables and power cables. Everything neatly tucks away. I was even able to add the extra molex power cable to the bottom of my board (for SLI apparently) which wasn't possible before
- Tool- less where it matters- With the previous Evolv I use to remove my top bracket and front fan mesh pretty often to do some spring cleaning. This required me pulling out my screwdriver and undoing the top bracket and remove the front panel... whilst not a biggie, it needed some careful prying to prevent myself from flying back ontop something .... that's all gone; with a magnetic air filter mesh and a thumbscrew release mechanism ... releasing those pieces of the case are an absolute breeze and the doors as well are on hinges as opposed to the screw-on pieces the previous model had. Just makes life that one bit easier and one less thing for me to stress about
- Better cooling - Early days but the cooling is much better than the previous Evolv. I don't see my radiator soaking the heat from my GPUs ... and is running very cool. Air flow in the top chamber with two 140mm fans are more efficient with the magnetic piece blocking off the glory hole on the radiator bracket and with more ventilation on top I can feel the case doing its job
- Lighting - I am not a big RGB person. in days to come I will be going for a very muted "warm white" (think old school yellow light bulb) colour theme with red accents. The implementation of "RGB" in this case is "proper" (as my personal trainer likes saying ) ... not loud ... it's just right. They have used high density LEDs and you can see it; once again it just adds to the class and premium feel of this case
- Extras - a screw piece kit with extras screws, anti sag bracket, a vertical mount for your GPU, extra hard drive bays, the magnetic cover for gaps in the top mount ... all welcomed extras that will be used ... again very well thought of
and with all this is the price ... I think it's an absolute bargain at R2600 odd. it's 199USD in the states and 199 UK pounds in the UK. How wootware managed to sell this for less than the retail abroad is just amazing ...
it's a long time since I've bought a product where I felt I got an absolute bargain and one where I as the customer was heard. Props to Phanteks and props to wootware for bringing this into SA
Phanteks, you have a new fan
The Evolv TG was an already impressive and beautiful clean looking case .... the Evolv X just perfected that recipe. 10 out of 10. Its all the case id ever need (unless people go changing form factor standards )
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