Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
While on the subject of cable cut-outs, another feature that Phanteks has implemented well in the Enthoo Pro II, there are additional cut-outs with grommets along the side of the top motherboard tray, towards the front of the case for managing fan/SSD cables, as well as above and below the top motherboard tray. With no optical drives, Phanteks has focussed on making the Enthoo Pro 2’s interior friendly to a wide range of high-end builds. As with most full towers, users can choose to focus on airflow, water-cooling, or storage, but the Enthoo Pro 2 can also be used for dual-system or dual-PSU builds. Some choices will require upgrades (which Phanteks is happy to accommodate, naturally), but as you’ll see there’s plenty you can do from the outset. There is so much going on inside the Enthoo Pro II, it is difficult deciding where to begin. The Interior of the Enthoo Pro II is based on the Phanteks Enthoo 719. It shares the same motherboard compartment which means that dual systems or dual power supplies can be installed inside, as well a vast amount of options for placement of storage devices and water cooling components.
Alternatively, the bottom of the case can be used to house a second system. The Power supply shroud doubles up as a motherboard tray where a mini-ITX motherboard can be installed and a separate rear panel with a rear I/O cutout and three PCIe slots is used.KitGuru says: The feature-set of the Phanteks Enthoo Pro II makes it one of my favourite cases of the year so far. The modular design of the case means it can be configured for various usage scenarios and should please anyone looking for an affordable full tower chassis. The Phanteks Enthoo Pro II doesn’t come with any fans included, which isn’t too surprising given that you’re getting this much chassis at this price point. Every system built in this case will undoubtedly be totally different from another, and the enthusiast who dares take on this case will probably have their own ideas for how to cool their system. With fan mounts in the front, rear, bottom, roof, and side, users can install up to 15 fans (or up to 14 if you prioritise 140mm). The massive cutout in the front panel gives ample space for air to enter, and it’s covered by Phanteks’ High-Performance Fabric mesh, said to offer superior airflow compared to typical metal mesh designs.
Since the Phanteks Enthoo Pro II is designed to house two systems inside a single chassis, the best way to find any limitations with the case is to build a dual system inside. That is exactly what we will do, with a high-end desktop AMD Ryzen Threadripper build as the primary system in the top half of the case, accompanied by a mid-high end Intel Core i7-10700K mini-ITX gaming system in the compartment below. Inside the top section of the case is enough space for the installation of E-ATX motherboard which is the form factor chosen for our primary system build. Manoeuvring the motherboard into position is easy since there is plenty of space to the right-hand side, at the top of the case and a healthy gap to the PSU shroud. The major negative consequence of rotating the PSU is that vertical space is bizarrely limited given the size of the case. The O11 Dynamic cases deal with this problem by moving the PSU behind the motherboard, but the Enthoo Pro II must fit the full height of an ATX motherboard and the full width of an ATX PSU and shroud into a body approximately 55cm tall (minus legs), leaving whatever’s left over for fans, radiators, and cables. There’s only 3cm between the top edge of the motherboard and the roof of the case, and about 1.5cm from the bottom edge of the motherboard to the PSU shroud. Fan mounts at the top of the case are offset away from the motherboard to mitigate the problem, but it’s a jarring limitation to hit in one of the largest cases we’ve ever reviewed. Routing CPU power cables and fan connections to the top edge of the board isn’t any harder than it would be in a mid tower, but it’s a far cry from the huge wide-open space above the motherboard in the O11 Dynamic cases and even the Anidees AI Crystal. Conversely, space at the front of the case is wide open from top to bottom. For once, the full advertised length of the front radiator mount can be used easily, up to 480mm.We will compare the system’s thermal capabilities with a liquid-cooled solution for both CPUs, using NZXT Kraken Z63 and Fractal Design Celsius+ S28 280mm AIOs. To cool the Intel Core i7-10700K CPU in the secondary system, a Fractal Design Celsius+ S28 Prisma closed-loop AIO cooler is used. Again, this is a 280mm unit which fits into this position without problems. Using a 280mm AIO in the front panel does restrict access to the side-mounted SSD covers and means another radiator cannot be installed in place of the SSD covers either. Dutch manufacturer Phanteks adds a new model to its high-end Enthoo range of PC cases. Now there is an Enthoo case to suit multiple requirements and price points.
Everyone's needs are different in the end i know what i would need to keep my system cool when it's 87f+ in this room.To fully stress test the system, we will run AIDA64 for 15 minutes stressing CPU, FPU, Cache and GPU with the case in various configurations. With this data, we can compare how each scenario affects thermal performance. With so many options available, I expected there would be some limitations with the Enthoo Pro II. There are, but they are very minor and certainly wouldn’t stop me from parting with my own money to buy this case. The main area where the case could be improved is the width of the chassis. Adding maybe 20-30mm to the width would allow a little more breathing room for the vertically mounted GPU at the bottom, as well as a little more space for cable management behind the motherboard tray. Not only does the Enthoo Pro II offer an excellent opportunity for water cooling, but it also provides users with the option of installing two systems inside one case. In the top section of the case is a typical motherboard tray that can support up to E-ATX form factor with a total of eight PCIe slots available, while the bottom of the case can house a completely separate mini-ITX system mounted on the power supply shroud. Handling the cable management of both systems also went better than initially expected, the large cable cutout in the PSU shroud was perfect for threading all the cables through and looked quite neat.
You can get enough grip on the front panel to pull it off without having to lift the case, and this grants access to the magnetic front dust filter as well as the full-length bottom one, which slides out to the front and has a slot to make reinsertion as easy as possible. On the inside of the steel side panel, there are also magnetic filters covering the PSU intake area and the optional side fan-mount, and the external magnetic roof filter completes the picture – no area is left unguarded. Phanteks is using what it calls ‘high airflow dust filters’ for all locations except the roof, where a ‘regular’ (denser) filter is used to help combat dust falling in. Another feature of the case that I was very impressed with is the extensive radiator support. With four positions for mounting large radiators, custom water-cooling enthusiasts should love this case. Alternatively, if custom water cooling is not your thing, then the radiator mounts can be populated with up to FIFTEEN 120mm fans, which should be more than enough to keep everyone happy. For our thermal tests, we decided to focus on the front panel that Phanteks is so proud of. Since there were no fans included with the case, we used three of Phanteks’ own 140mm SK series PWM fans as front intake for baseline testing. We consider that a normal starting point for the target audience of this case. Again, we recognize that most users will install some form of liquid cooling in this case, so we’re primarily comparing the case against itself to test the front panel and various airflow configurations. Even with liquid cooling, air still flows the same way. Mounting the mini-ITX motherboard of the secondary system requires screwing four standoffs into the PSU shroud and swapping out the metal panel at the rear of the case for the mini-ITX cover. The motherboard then mounts to the PSU shroud in a vertical orientation and allows a graphics card to be installed vertically too. Since the shroud is entirely enclosed and only extends about two-thirds of the length of the case, there’s not really any more space inside than there would be in a typical mid-tower. The shroud is closed-up with a hinged metal cable cover designed to take some stress off of the steel side panel. This cable cover is necessary, but we found it annoying to work with: cables must be split up into small groups to fit through the cutouts in the cover, or else the edges of the cover will bite into cables and potentially cause damage. This problem was worse than it would usually be for our review system because we didn’t connect any of the front panel USB cables, and therefore had to route all that cable clutter behind the cover as well. In trying to arrange cables around the cutouts and mash the cover down into place, it’s easy to accidentally slide the cover off of its hinges and be forced to start all over again. The cable cover can also be ignored completely, but if someone is having difficulty putting the cover on, then they probably need the cover. It’s a frustrating experience having to carefully choose where to place cables in a case this gargantuan to begin with.Load testing is conducted using Prime95 LFFTs and Kombustor “FurMark” stress testing simultaneously. Testing is completely automated using in-house scripting, and executes with perfect accuracy on every run.
Related:
Great Deal 
New Comment