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Phanteks Evolv Shift 2

Darksaber

Senior Editor & Case Reviewer
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The Phanteks Evolv Shift 2 is an updated version of the now over 3-year-old Evolv Shift. With a lot of subtle but functional, evolved elements, it will be interesting to see how a case from that era holds up in the well-established niche market of SFF enclosures today.

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FreedomEclipse

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Benchmark Scores (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Definitely a PC case for you if you live in North Pole or Siberia
 
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Never got around to buying one but if I ever upgrade from my MINIX U2 home theatre for a horizontally placed desktop it's gonna be this sleek Phanteks Evolv Shift. Best design aesthetic on the planet if you ask me. For my gaming/rendering rig nah i'll pass!
 

deu

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100 C for GPU; im not liking it :/ I would feel that I am breaking my hardware. (Which would be somewhat true)
 
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i own this beautiful case and I live in Saudi Arabia, literally in the middle of the desert.

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Joined
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Apologies for bumping with this being an old thread, but I'm curious why the article didn't test with an intake fan at the bottom to see what kind of difference that would make? I know the case didn't come with one, which is a mark against it, but I think it would have closed the gap significantly for the glass side panel tests so it would have been worth knowing. My guess is the cloth sides are just letting more air get in which is the problem with the glass sides where the one exhaust and the CPU cooler are both oriented the wrong way. But if you're putting a full sized card in this case you're going to want an intake fan either way.

Personally I'm thinking of getting one of these as I like really the small footprint and vertical GPU mount. I'm curious whether it might be possible to squeeze slimline (15mm thick?) fans onto the outside of the chassis (to fit under the rear panel) so a radiator will fit into the top fan slot? I already have a 120mm radiator, so I figure if I can either get a 140mm slim fan, or a bracket to put a slim 120mm onto the 140mm holes that will make it easy to mount them this way (rather than having to get screws of just the right length). Not sure if a slim fan on the radiator is an option as well or not, seems a bit tight (my radiator is 27mm, so it'd be 42mm total in theory, probably 43-44mm in practice), so I could see that fouling on the chassis.

But if I can do that, I figure I can put a full ATX PSU at the bottom since I already have one of those, an open fanless one that should let air straight through. I kind of wish they'd thought about these as options but I can understand why they wouldn't.
 
Joined
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Apologies for bumping with this being an old thread, but I'm curious why the article didn't test with an intake fan at the bottom to see what kind of difference that would make? I know the case didn't come with one, which is a mark against it, but I think it would have closed the gap significantly for the glass side panel tests so it would have been worth knowing. My guess is the cloth sides are just letting more air get in which is the problem with the glass sides where the one exhaust and the CPU cooler are both oriented the wrong way. But if you're putting a full sized card in this case you're going to want an intake fan either way.

Personally I'm thinking of getting one of these as I like really the small footprint and vertical GPU mount. I'm curious whether it might be possible to squeeze slimline (15mm thick?) fans onto the outside of the chassis (to fit under the rear panel) so a radiator will fit into the top fan slot? I already have a 120mm radiator, so I figure if I can either get a 140mm slim fan, or a bracket to put a slim 120mm onto the 140mm holes that will make it easy to mount them this way (rather than having to get screws of just the right length). Not sure if a slim fan on the radiator is an option as well or not, seems a bit tight (my radiator is 27mm, so it'd be 42mm total in theory, probably 43-44mm in practice), so I could see that fouling on the chassis.

But if I can do that, I figure I can put a full ATX PSU at the bottom since I already have one of those, an open fanless one that should let air straight through. I kind of wish they'd thought about these as options but I can understand why they wouldn't.
Firstly: The Radiator in an AIO should ALWAYS be above the CPU, example given above by "Pjokerxp_" and their pictures.

Air will always find its way to the top of a water loop, but the pressure and flow rate means that if an air pocket is close to the CPU block, the CPU block will constantly have air being pushed into it, this is bad for many reasons, and that will not be fixed by an intake fan, it will be fixed by using an air cooler or turning the case upside down.

Secondly: Please revisit "Firstly" and fix that... The only obvious fix is to literally turn the PC upside down, which creates new problems. Sadly, this case was designed by a "college design student" and released to the market without ever being considered, tested, or used by an engineer, or a PC enthusiast. There is no "Thirdly" considering all of the better options on the market (at the time) and currently.

The most bizarre thing about this case is that it was made by Phanteks who make (and did at the time) some of the best performing and most innovative cases on the market, this stands out like a real nugget, the public bathroom type.

PS: I love my Phanteks P500A.
 
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Firstly: The Radiator in an AIO should ALWAYS be above the CPU, example given above by "Pjokerxp_" and their pictures.
I'm confused; I'm not talking about mounting an AIO below the CPU, I'm talking about using the top fan slot (literally the highest point you could mount an AIO in this case).

Pjokerxp_'s pictures show the exact opposite; their radiator is at the very bottom of the case meaning the CPU/pump are much higher than the radiator is, the only factor to stop air building up around their pump will be the AIO hoses looping upwards, but if air gets trapped at that point it's still going to impact cooling performance. I don't think turning this case upside down is an option as the top panel isn't flat; while it might be possible to balance it (without the top panel?) it would mean the GPU is venting air downwards so it's cooling will be poor unless you get a radiator for that as well.

While Phantek suggest mounting the AIO in the lower slot (below the motherboard), I'm pretty sure a radiator would fit in the top one (to the right of the pump in Pjokerxp_'s first picture) but there's no space internally for a fan as well (the motherboard frame limits the space to about 30-35mm by the looks of it). However, the rear panel seems to have empty space inside it, so it should be possible to put a fan outside the chassis as an exhaust and still have it be covered by the rear panel. My thinking is a 120mm radiator inside the chassis, with a 140mm slimline (15mm thick) fan outside the chassis (under the rear panel), either that or both 120mm using either longer screws (to secure both fan and radiator) or a bracket so the 140mm fan screws can be used.

The radiator will still need to have its hoses to one side (no room at the top) but unless the CPU is weirdly high up on the motherboard, the top of the radiator should still be the highest point in the loop, so the air should gather there. It's not ideal, but Mini-ITX cases always need to have some kind of compromise in order to be as small as they are, there's no sense comparing to a P500A which is a behemoth; you could fit two or three Evolv Shift 2's in the same area.
 
Joined
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I'm confused; I'm not talking about mounting an AIO below the CPU, I'm talking about using the top fan slot (literally the highest point you could mount an AIO in this case).
Apologies, I simply didn't read your previous post beyond the first sentence about adding an intake fan at the bottom, and simply jumped into a mini rant, partly based on the pictures from Pjokerxp_

I think that your only real option here is to get a response from an existing user, or perhaps the best option for you, contact Phanteks directly.

Whilst I commend your desire to mod this case, and to reuse existing components, I truly wonder whether the time and effort put into this would be better spent with different options. The primary purpose of this case is to be small, and with that they made compromises that I think went too far, like so many "high performance" ITX cases.

Unless you absolutely need something this size/shape, you might simply be better off getting something like the Fractal Meshify 2 Nano, or the Fractal Torrent Nano that can use your existing ATX PSU and your 120mm AIO without compromising on the cooling/noise. there are now many great options out there for really tiny ATX cases with no real compromises, except the price, and build difficulty due to the size. e.g. the new Fractal Terra, I havent read/watched any reviews, but it is supposed to be pretty awesome, and although I have just named 3 Fractal cases, there are some great ITX cases that have all come out in the last 2-years from other companies such as Coolermaster, and some new small companies. Most of the problems have been fixed with these new designs as they are truly designed around modern hardware, but they all exclusively use SFF Power Supplies.

I only mentioned my P500A so that it didn't look like I was unfairly attacking Phanteks as a company, they make excellent products, but this for me is an awful cludge, and only exists for it's looks, rather than it's practicality or performance.

Good luck, and again, apologies for jumping the gun previously.
 
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