Enclosure How can ITX cases work?

[Tilltech]

Phanteks Evolv ITX is supposed to be one of the best SFF cases but, yet again, it leaves almost no room for GPU cooling, nor does it have any kind of noise isolation - like Define Mini C does.

And that's the best case scenario, latest MSI 1080ti Lightning Z is much thicker so it would almost touch the PSU shroud - no airflow whatsoever!

 

[grumpyrobin]

I think they shrunk it too much.
They should have clearly made it bigger.
I don't understand this trend for making smaller cases when you can buy regular cases that are so much better at everything.


In seriousness though,
This is not an sff case that uses space wisely. It is just a regular case hit with the shrink ray. Of course it will have shortcomings.
I don't understand the kind people that buy it.
But that's just me.

 

[matt3o]

that is a very very silly case design if you ask me.

I feel like they want you to put a fan on the bottom before the PSU. That would give some airflow to the GPU. The red cage on the bottom could be actually an air conduct.

That being said I would not use that case even if it was free.

 

[jØrd]

Phanteks Evolv ITX is supposed to be one of the best SFF cases

You will be hard pressed to find anyone here who shares that opinion in the slightest.

 

[Arboreal]

that is a very very silly case design if you ask me.

I feel like they want you to put a fan on the bottom before the PSU. That would give some airflow to the GPU. The red cage on the bottom could be actually an air conduct.

That being said I would not use that case even if it was free.

Tell me about it! I did get one for free, and don't know what to do with it...

It is wrong in so many ways; as has been said above, it it too big, and yet too small at the same time.
Things that are not right:
* It's HUGE at 36L, 1/3 more volume than my TJ-08 and unable to take an mATX board without surgery - could be worse mind you, errr Manta

* Allow room for a full ATX PSU at the bottom - SFX would have allowed the case to be smaller.
Putting the PSU elsewhere (bottom mounted PSUs are asking to be rapidly clogged with carpet fluff IMHO) would have left more room for the GPU to breathe and not starved of airflow above a mid plate.

* Massive lack of airflow from the front - despite room for a 200mm fan, the air intake is massively limited by the lovely solid metal clad front panel

* Wasted space in front of the PSU and towards the front of the case.

* Room for radiators at the top by poor ventilation for them, and not enough room for a full water cooling system without moving stuff around.

I am sure that a properly shrunk Evolv would be fantastic; especially if they made it in aluminium like the mATX and ATX versions.
Think EVGA Hadron Air, but with a more angled look to it - that would do the trick for me.

Although I don't like them as they are too big, and have too many unused slots, if an ATX board could be fitted into an Evolv ITX, it would then start to make sense size wise, so long as you could cool it.

 

[ignsvn]

This is SFF forum, where it's (mostly) about performance / liter. Layout arrangement is very important so users can pack the highest performing components in the smallest volume possible (while at the same time taking care of the limitations, like temperature or cable routing).

That thing is twice the volume of Silverstone SG08 that I currently use, so..

https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

 

[Arboreal]

Yes, I'd forgotten about the nicely compact SG08.
Maybe it was, take a mATX/ATX case and modify the backplate and motherboard tray to do ITX, but not make the whole thing usefully smaller.
It is unforgivable that something that large can only take an ITX board, where there is clearly room for something larger.
I'm just thinking of my Evolv stored in the attic, crying...

 

[grumpyrobin]

Guys. At first I thought this was a /sarcasm thread.

 

[AleksandarK]

Guys. At first I thought this was a /sarcasm thread.

Lol, basic undersanding of SFF is that it is anything under 20 liters. Then you get into more smaller cases that are like 3-5l and you realize that your old tower was like an airport where SFF cases can land.

 

[Phuncz]

This case is what happens when the design department of a random case manufacturer is asked to make a smaller case without them thinking about efficient design first.

 

[grumpyrobin]

Come on guys.
Give it some credit.
It's eye candy to most people who have never had an sff case before at least.
And it..
...
It...
....
....
Sorry I can't, I just can't honestly praise it.


But hey.
Because it's eye candy it's bringing much wanted attention to sff in general.
And I would like to believe that system builders in general are smart enough to google"sff" before buying their case. So that they can all be enlightened.

 

[benjiro]

Just a bad design. Custom cases here are all focusing on placing the CPU or GPU fans in such a way, that they can draw in fresh air directly from outside the case. Case designs like this, simply pull in already heated air so, then you need to invest more money in extra fans, more noise and more volume. And the lack of space between the Graphics Card and PSU is a instant disaster for air draw ( and sound ).

The future are cases like the S4 or CustomMod Mini, that do away with 90 degree angled Graphics Card ... The moment you go down that path, you start being able to give your GPU fresh air intake.

And you do not need Watercooling, when your CPU can draw in fresh air from the outside. Dell does a good job at using ducts to get the same effect. Water cooling vs direct air, is only useful if you start going 240/360mm radiators and not those small 120mm radiators.

Edit: and maybe its me but does it look like that Graphics Card is sagging. Another issue that can be solved by doing away with 90 degree Graphics Card tower placement. Got the same issue on my old tower where the Graphics Card is simply so heavy that it starts to bend the board.

 

[CC Ricers]

Problem is in placing the PSU in a traditional location in a mini ITX case which increases a lot of volume by making it taller, plus the added problem that you described about choking ventilation on the GPU (unless you go for blower designs only).

NCASE M1 doesn't have this problem. Neither does the Fractal Design Node 202. These all place their PSUs away from the back wall, requiring a pass-through power cable to route to the back.

Before the Evolv ITX came out, the Bitfenix Prodigy was the go-to case for people casually getting into ITX builds for the first time. I thought that was a better layout. Its horizontal mobo placement is great for both GPU and PSU air intake, and no GPU sag. The windowed version toasted the GPU, though. Still, it left a lot of ample room for big tower coolers and water cooling loops, things that overclocking enthusiasts will be all over.

 

[Necere]

what i really want to know is
how can mirrors be real if our eyes aren't real

 

[kenrico]

This case is better but so many MiniITX cases are actually seem fairly big compared to a NCase -.

Seems all the youBoob reviewers got their Phantek Shift and Shift X reviews posted yesterday and I was curious what the point was besides the novel shape .

NZXT although crushing it with AIO marketing lately , their ITX stuff is like BIG .. my first thought was I think its the same size as a Lian Li A05FNA .

Kenny

 

[JERRYHZE]

This case is better but so many MiniITX cases are actually seem fairly big compared to a NCase -.

Seems all the youBoob reviewers got their Phantek Shift and Shift X reviews posted yesterday and I was curious what the point was besides the novel shape .

NZXT although crushing it with AIO marketing lately , their ITX stuff is like BIG .. my first thought was I think its the same size as a Lian Li A05FNA .

Kenny

Really interested in the Shift as well. Just waiting to find out if the front bottom can host 140mm rad. Website spec says no, website manual says yes... But if it is indeed a yes, then in for me!

 

[jØrd]

Phanteks Evolv ITX is supposed to be one of the best SFF cases

Out of curiosity, whats your source for this?