Phanteks Enthoo Pro Review

Performance Analysis

As we suspected, with the drive cages removed, there was a massive boost to cooling, mainly for the GPU that sits directly behind it. The GPU delta T here of 42°C is the best on test and with the cold blast of air being directed straight towards the graphics cards, it's not an unexpected result. Replace the drive bays, however, and the GPU delta T rises to 49°C - a decidedly mid-table result.


The CPU, meanwhile, didn't see much improvement from the drive cage removal, although its delta Ts of 48°C and 49°C, with the latter being with the drive cages in place, were stillcompetitive, with 48°C being the sixth best result on test. Corsair's Obsidian 450D is slightly cooler out of the box, with better GPU cooling, although the Phanteks case beats it with the drive cases removed. With the CPU delta T stuck at 48°C, Corsair's Graphite 760T and SilverStone's Fortress FT04 were the only cases to beat the Enthoo Pro by a noticeable margin.


At full speed, it's not deafeningly loud and you can also attach the case fans to a PWM fan header to quiet them down, but most of Corsair's recent cases in the similar price bracket are much quieter at fixed 12V speed. That said, there's a definite market here for the Enthoo Pro to be used as an effective home for a water-cooling system, and in this light it's likely the stock fans will be replaced with radiators and high performance/low noise fans anyway.

Conclusion

At £89, the Enthoo Pro isn't just a great case for the money, it's actually a case that makes us want to build an awesome PC inside it too. There's loads of space for water-cooling gear and even dual fan all-in-one liquid coolers look lost in the gargantuan roof. The fact you can use a triple 140mm-fan radiator in the roof and still have room for a 5.25in bay device is remarkable but there's plenty more here to like including the excellent cable routeing, split side window and nifty PSU cover.

Cooling is excellent too, especially with the drive cages removed, and it's still competitive with them installed if you need more than two storage drives. Our only real issue is the noise made by the stock fans, although this could be alleviated by a cheap fan controller or resistor cables. Coupled with good looks and a very reasonable price tag, Phanteks is on a roll with awards as the Enthoo Pro, much like the Enthoo Primo, is an awesome case for the money.