** PHANTEKS P400 & P400S SERIES - A TOTAL ECLIPSE OF YOUR HEART **

[cactusweasel]

remind me of the Fractal Define S I own. Very similar in design internally.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Just to clarify, here's a full statement from Phanteks on this point: -



Whilst I appreciate the disappointment that a 240mm radiator will not fit, I just want people to know that Phanteks would never knowingly 'gimp' a case, it's not in their ethos or interests. Maybe Phanteks will offer a product around the £65 mark that has better watercooling support but maintains the Eclipse looks further down the line.

What they have said isnt correct though. 10mm is more than enough to clear the mosfet coolers on the Formula (and they are pretty huge) Case width adjustment isnt needed.
Comment about pressing tolerances is also incorrect. I used to manage a factory that bent, pressed sheet steel that ended up on the london underground so annoyingly I have a lot of experience with this kind of engineering, on the offchance that is not enough though Ive shown the case to the metalshop manager (at the huge cost of loads of doughnuts for the boys) and making the press wider would not have effected the ability to have the bend in the outside of the case at all. (assuming these are the engineering tolerances they speak of)

Long and short of it is there is enough room in the roof of the case to have expanded that grill enough to have accepted an AIO fitted without making any other changes to the case.

Users who are looking for more water-cooling flexibility we offer other alternatives such as the Enthoo Pro M from the Enthoo Series, which is available for a price that’s not a lot more expensive than the Eclipse P400.

That in itself speaks volumes though.

 

[cactusweasel]

TTL - maybe they didn't want to pay for the cost of retooling? They maybe using a tooling set that is already available to them, and that's just their public explanation? As many people wont understand the work and efforts needed to create a new tooling set.

 

[tinytomlogan]

TTL - maybe they didn't want to pay for the cost of retooling? They maybe using a tooling set that is already available to them, and that's just their public explanation? As many people wont understand the work and efforts needed to create a new tooling set.

Quite right dude, but the quote above shows that this was a conscious choice. Id have preferred that no retooling was needed and Id not need to be here explaining my thoughts at all. But they have had to manufacture tooling to create that roof and when doing so they decided that an offset roof wasnt required even though there is clearly room and no valid engineering based reason not too.

I have spoken to several people about it today including a case designer all of whom have agreed there is no valid reason why they cant do it more that they have chosen not too.

 

[ChugNorris]

What they have said isnt correct though. 10mm is more than enough to clear the mosfet coolers on the Formula (and they are pretty huge) Case width adjustment isnt needed.
Comment about pressing tolerances is also incorrect. I used to manage a factory that bent, pressed sheet steel that ended up on the london underground so annoyingly I have a lot of experience with this kind of engineering, on the offchance that is not enough though Ive shown the case to the metalshop manager (at the huge cost of loads of doughnuts for the boys) and making the press wider would not have effected the ability to have the bend in the outside of the case at all. (assuming these are the engineering tolerances they speak of)

Long and short of it is there is enough room in the roof of the case to have expanded that grill enough to have accepted an AIO fitted without making any other changes to the case.




That in itself speaks volumes though.

The Enthoo Pro M is £7 more than the entry level Eclipse and is in the same price range as the Eclipse series. There really isn't a hidden agenda from Phanteks here, it's a shame that's the general feeling though. As for your other points, I'm hardly an expert on that front, but I'll pass on your feedback to Phanteks.

 

[pastymuncher]

Excellent pricing and it look's like they have actually thought about cable management too. If Phanteks can turn out quality case with decent features at this price point why do other manufacturers either want more money or cut back on features?

 

[tinytomlogan]

The Enthoo Pro M is £7 more than the entry level Eclipse and is in the same price range as the Eclipse series. There really isn't a hidden agenda from Phanteks here, it's a shame that's the general feeling though. As for your other points, I'm hardly an expert on that front, but I'll pass on your feedback to Phanteks.

Ok dude thank you, Id genuinely like to talk to them about it.

This has become a far bigger issue that it needed to be though. The case is cracking for the money and I only have one point that I wasnt entirely happy about.

I think we all know these are going to fly out of the door.

 

[sweols]

Each to their own, case looks stunning never the less. Both thumbs up.

 

[archer_dan]

Excellent pricing and it look's like they have actually thought about cable management too. If Phanteks can turn out quality case with decent features at this price point why do other manufacturers either want more money or cut back on features?

This is what I'm thinking. I understand the points above about rad support in the roof, but to be honest this case already offers so much at the price point that really we should be asking other manufacturers to step up. I can't see anything from the likes of Corsair, BitFenix, Antec or Silverstone offering as much as this case does at this price point .

 

[OracIe]

Looks like an Enthoo Pro M but with less flexibility!

 

[LLBDTiberio]

That's a great looking case at an excellent price point, me likey!
A lot of users like me may only be interested in having a single AIO cooler for the CPU and front mounting keeps it out of the way.
Loving the white one .

 

[flowrider99]

For those of us that couldn't care less about a top rad the Eclipse is a great case. I ordered one as soon as OCuk opened up to pre-orders. I read quite a lot of reviews on the case and only OC3d and Gamers Nexus had any issues, GN's issue was that this budget case didnt include all the optional extra's for the low price, i really cant understand their reasoning and i cant understand OC3d marking down the case because of a feature Phanteks designed it not to have.

 

[Krakin]

I totally agree with TTL @ OC3D. It puts me off not having space to mount a 240 AIO cooler up top, it is an oversight and to repeat what TTL said, "it IS a great case - but it could be an epic case if the top panel could fit a 240 AIO".

I personally wouldn't buy it as I'd be forced to mount my AIO in the front rendering the hard drive mounts redundant (yes, I know there are 2 mounted in the bottom, but I have more than 2x 3.5" hard drives).

The only thing I would add though to TTLs points - if you could add a 240 up top and 1 or 2 hybrid graphics cards with the rad(s) mounted in the front, you're really going to spend more than 60 quid on a case (well, I would).

 

[TeknoJunkie]

So what exactly are we saying here guys, we can still fit a 120mm AIO up top?

 

[Legend]

That's a great looking case at an excellent price point, me likey!
A lot of users like me may only be interested in having a single AIO cooler for the CPU and front mounting keeps it out of the way.
Loving the white one .

Yes, and for those people it's a no brainer case, perfect in almost every way... for anyone else, it could rule it out entirely, which is a shame. Personally, I would like the option, simply as it makes the case more restrictive knowing that I could NEVER do this in the future were the need to arise.

 

[LLBDTiberio]

Aye, that's a fair point, but there will be a lot of people who simply don't need that level of cooling potential for their build and may only have a simple heatsink + 2 Case fans and that can be fully adequate in most cases.