The Phanteks Enthoo Pro Case Review
by E. Fylladitakis on March 30, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Full-Tower
- Case
- Phanteks
Conclusion
Phanteks designed the Enthoo Pro to be "beautifully crafted, amazingly flexible, budget friendly and with maximized cooling potential". Of course, it is next to impossible for a product to excel at everything, such as appearance, versatility, quality, performance and value all at the same time. The balance of these five aspects is what actually matters. To that end, we feel that Phanteks hit the nail on the head with the Enthoo Pro, as all five of the main characteristics that define a case are in balance with each other.
Aesthetics are a subjective matter and each person should select a case based on his/her own preferences, in conjunction with the environment that the case will be installed. The Enthoo Pro is a large tower with fairly subtle, modern design; most people should find it sufficiently appealing for their gaming systems and workstations. Although the front panel is actually plastic, its metal-like appearance adds style that only an expert can spot without getting too close. Only the dual side panel window makes the Enthoo Pro a little too "aggressive", while its presence is questionable because of the front window being right on the metallic sidewall, but those seeking a more elegant appearance can select the solid side panel.
The thermal performance of the Enthoo Pro may not be stellar but it certainly is on par with the competition. With just its stock cooling fans, the Enthoo Pro can match and outperform other similarly priced and or sized cases. Even without extra cooling options, the Enthoo Pro can keep a very powerful system sufficiently cool and stable. Also, not only there are numerous slots for extra fans and radiators, but their installation positions are not fixed - they can be shifted on their installation rails, lifting compatibility and versatility even higher.
Finally yet importantly, the Enthoo Pro makes a good compromise between quality and price. Phanteks designed the case well, the materials are very good and the frame is very sturdy, especially if one considers that the chassis can be dismantled. The Enthoo Pro currently retails for $100 with a window, as the one presented in this review, or for $90 with a solid right side panel - shipped. For the features, quality and versatility of the case, its retail price is very competitive, making a high performance, spacious and modular case affordable to the advanced user and seasoned modder.
It is crystal clear that the Enthoo Pro is a great asset for Phanteks - not for its appearance, features or even performance, but for the roomy interior and its modular chassis. The Enthoo Pro is not too expensive, large or complex, yet it is spacious and versatile enough to be a modder's dream case. If the appearance of the Enthoo Pro pleases you and you want a spacious, adaptable and fairly priced case, it should easily find its way among the first places of your shortlist.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
50 Comments
View All Comments
mr_tawan - Monday, March 30, 2015 - link
This case has a (Samsung-designed) home button on the top :-).Babar Javied - Monday, March 30, 2015 - link
I really wish more cases would loss the 5.25 inch bays. Not only can you then add larger radiators but they will not interrupt the sleek design.Zak - Monday, March 30, 2015 - link
Not just that. I want more cases that completely ditch anything beyond 2.5" bays for SSDs.I know there are few like that but I happen not to like the designs overall.Samus - Monday, March 30, 2015 - link
Say hello to the ancient FT03-mini, ahead of its time in many ways.Impulses - Monday, March 30, 2015 - link
Or the Corsair Air 540, tho you could argue there could be a second 2.5" cage in the mostly empty right hand compartment (cause who doesn't want 8 or 10 SSD!). The current Silverstone Raven would've been brilliant if they just top mounted a single 5.25" bay instead of an oddball sideways laptop slot drive.Gigaplex - Monday, March 30, 2015 - link
Having a ton of SSDs in a single case is very niche. It's not cost effective and SATA based SSDs are going to be superseded by PCIe very soon.Samus - Tuesday, March 31, 2015 - link
But 2TB laptop 2.5" drives are pretty cheap (not as cheap as 3.5" but still relatively cheap) so unless you need a lot of space (in which case, NAS?) a pair of 2.5" bays made out of one 3.5" bay works quite well for an SSD+HDD. With most high end boards equipped with M2 now, only a single bay is necessary on higher-end builds. I think the days of people putting a bunch of drives in their case is nearing an end. Definitely niche. But at the same time, for some reason, so is ITX. And it shouldn't be. ITX is perfect for 90%+ computer users, most of which will likely never even use the PCIe slot (basic home and office PC's)Jorgisven - Tuesday, March 31, 2015 - link
NAS doesn't work as well with the gaming community. If you've got a slow connection, downloading those 40GB games (that you have a dozen or two of, plus 30-50 other smaller games) is a process you only want to do once. While it's theoretically possible to do with a NAS, it gets really complicated in a multi-computer network that shares a steam library via library sharing. Niche, to be sure, but not unreasonable.Haravikk - Wednesday, April 1, 2015 - link
How many of those games need to be installed at once? A 1tb 2.5" HDD costs what… £40? Or £65 if you opt for the slightly faster SSHD, that's enough for 20-25 games at 40gb each. I can't imagine anyone really needs all of those installed at once, and with digital downloads you can just clear some space and download a title overnight ready to play the next day, if your connection is too slow to handle that, then why is that the case?There are also 2tb drives coming soon, and if you still have to you could stripe two 2.5" disks together for extra capacity (and performance) and just use the NAS for backup.
NLD - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
Get an imagination, I have over 100 installed....But I do have 12 TB of storage...
Before you ask I'm a video editor and store GB of data in edit, 12TB is a puppy to me....