Phanteks Eclipse 400p Owners - Fans/airflow?

[nerp]

Ordered this case to complete my build. I'm getting the white S (silent) version. Reviews are all very positive but I'm wondering about airflow. One reason I'm upgrading my case is my current case, a Lian-Li PC-A05B gets a bit hot when I'm gaming. It's a great case but the inverted mobo and reverse airflow layout makes heat pool at the top of the case since the video card is pointing up to the top and there's not a lot of space there. Plus, it's an older design so nothing is removable, the drive cages are empty but blocking air and I'm not going to start drilling and cutting holes in the case.

So the Phanteks Eclipse 400p will give me a nice clear interior with no obstructions, plus it has a basement for the PSU and stuff, not to mention it looks good. But reviewers have mentioned some airflow concerns though nothing severe. I can't seem to find a concrete answer about what exact fans come with the case.

I feel like I will need to address airflow somewhat. I am not water cooling and I don't think I plan to. My CPU is not overclocked, the front and rear rad mounting areas aren't ideal (there are other better cases for watercooling) and I don't feel like putting a block on the GPU.

That said, I'm thinking of yanking the included fans and replacing them with noctuas. Would 2x140mm mounted on the front and one 120mm on the back be sufficient? I could also use one of the two 140mm mounts up top for exhaust. Or would the single rear exhaust be enough?

My gpu is an EVGA GTX1070 SC, so it blows heat when the fans are running while gaming into the case. I'm using the stock intel cooler so that too blows air all around. I suppose I could upgrade the CPU cooler with a tower cooler and a fan lined up with the exhaust fan to force air out from the CPU that way. But I'd like to stick with the stock cooler if I can.

I'm interested in hearing from other owners about what they're doing for fans and cooling. I believe that I might be overthinking this. And even when my Lian-Li is very hot to the touch I've been gaming for hours, the CPU never gets overly hot, nor does the GPU. But it's warmer than I'd like. What I'm trying to avoid is putting everything into a new case only to find it gets just as hot or even hotter.

In short, are the included fans decent? And is the top exhaust necessary?

I'm also thinking about whether I should run everything via the mobo fan control/pwm or if I should just get silent high airflow noctuas and let the case fan controller run them. I figure if they're quiet and pushing tons of air, why slow them down if I can't hear them, right? But PWM is nice and costs like $1 more per fan.

Thoughts?

(pics to come)

Should we make an owners club/thread? This case is very popular.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Ordered this case to complete my build. I'm getting the white S (silent) version. Reviews are all very positive but I'm wondering about airflow. One reason I'm upgrading my case is my current case, a Lian-Li PC-A05B gets a bit hot when I'm gaming. It's a great case but the inverted mobo and reverse airflow layout makes heat pool at the top of the case since the video card is pointing up to the top and there's not a lot of space there. Plus, it's an older design so nothing is removable, the drive cages are empty but blocking air and I'm not going to start drilling and cutting holes in the case.

So the Phanteks Eclipse 400p will give me a nice clear interior with no obstructions, plus it has a basement for the PSU and stuff, not to mention it looks good. But reviewers have mentioned some airflow concerns though nothing severe. I can't seem to find a concrete answer about what exact fans come with the case.

I feel like I will need to address airflow somewhat. I am not water cooling and I don't think I plan to. My CPU is not overclocked, the front and rear rad mounting areas aren't ideal (there are other better cases for watercooling) and I don't feel like putting a block on the GPU.

That said, I'm thinking of yanking the included fans and replacing them with noctuas. Would 2x140mm mounted on the front and one 120mm on the back be sufficient? I could also use one of the two 140mm mounts up top for exhaust. Or would the single rear exhaust be enough?

My gpu is an EVGA GTX1070 SC, so it blows heat when the fans are running while gaming into the case. I'm using the stock intel cooler so that too blows air all around. I suppose I could upgrade the CPU cooler with a tower cooler and a fan lined up with the exhaust fan to force air out from the CPU that way. But I'd like to stick with the stock cooler if I can.

I'm interested in hearing from other owners about what they're doing for fans and cooling. I believe that I might be overthinking this. And even when my Lian-Li is very hot to the touch I've been gaming for hours, the CPU never gets overly hot, nor does the GPU. But it's warmer than I'd like. What I'm trying to avoid is putting everything into a new case only to find it gets just as hot or even hotter.

In short, are the included fans decent? And is the top exhaust necessary?

I'm also thinking about whether I should run everything via the mobo fan control/pwm or if I should just get silent high airflow noctuas and let the case fan controller run them. I figure if they're quiet and pushing tons of air, why slow them down if I can't hear them, right? But PWM is nice and costs like $1 more per fan.

Thoughts?

(pics to come)

Should we make an owners club/thread? This case is very popular.

Actually, that's not a bad case. I see what people might say about airflow. Of course there are ways to squeeze blood out of a stone or beef up airflow in a case with a modest design for it.

Usually, the fans shipped with cases are "decent." They could be too limp for your liking, or they could be too noisy, or both. And what I do with a case and the choice of fans may not appeal generally.

You might be satisfied with a 140mmx25mm model like the Akasa Viper, which has a 100 or 110 CFM top-end airflow spec at something under 1,800 RPM. they won't cost as much as Noctua fans. Or you might want to "invest" in a pair of Noctua 140's. Personally, I always buy the model in the line with the highest RPM and CFM output potential, of which I may use to a limit of 2/3 or 3/4. I never make up my mind about that detail until I've tried the fan. There is a Noctua 140mm NF-A14 "iPPC" model line that offers various speeds up to 3,000 RPM. These would be pricier, as I said.

It really depends on how much you want to front-load airflow intake with much of the exhaust going through the CPU cooler. If you have multiple exhausts, then you might want to manage higher intake airflow and/or RPM, but you can also restrict or level exhaust airflow to suit a purpose.

 

[UsandThem]

That said, I'm thinking of yanking the included fans and replacing them with noctuas. Would 2x140mm mounted on the front and one 120mm on the back be sufficient? I could also use one of the two 140mm mounts up top for exhaust. Or would the single rear exhaust be enough?

My gpu is an EVGA GTX1070 SC, so it blows heat when the fans are running while gaming into the case. I'm using the stock intel cooler so that too blows air all around. I suppose I could upgrade the CPU cooler with a tower cooler and a fan lined up with the exhaust fan to force air out from the CPU that way. But I'd like to stick with the stock cooler if I can.

Running your components at stock, you will be fine. While the stock Intel heatsink/fan will never win any awards for performance, it does the job it was designed to do: Keeping your CPU from overheating. Since you are not overclocking, a 120mm exhaust fan will be enough. Since you bought a 'quiet' case, I would avoid using a fan on the top of your case as that adds noise. You can always add a better performing 120mm fan in the back if needed, like the Nidec Gentle Typhoon 1850 or Artic F12 PWM. There are several really good choices if the included case fan doesn't cut it.

http://www.overclockers.com/pwm-fan-roundup-twenty-four-120-mm-case-fans-tested/

I have 'quiet' case as well, the Fractal Design R5. I value absolute silence, so I put two Noctua NF-A14 FLX in the front, and use the low-noise adapter on them, which each give me 62 CFM through the filter and around 17 dBA. I am unable to hear them with my door closed.

I had hoped to keep the stock Fractal Design fan as my exhaust, but since it was only a 3-pin, my motherboard would only run it at max speed, and I wanted a PWM fan. I originally put another NF-A14 FLX as a exhaust as well, but I could hear it and I just didn't like its sound profile back there. I ended up buying a Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 14 and a riser back there. They are odd shaped, so two of them wouldn't fit next to each other in the front, but it is a great fan. 9-18 dBA and 98 CFM.

So I would just see how the included fans work out for you, because I don't see any specs listed for them.

Edit

Now that I think about it, that Vortex 14 fan might work for you. Its a 140mm fan, but installs onto 120mm mounts.

http://www.prolimatech.com/en/products/detail.asp?id=1906

 

[nerp]

That does look like a good fan. And thanks for the thoughtful replies, everyone. I did end up just going for the Noctuas. They are decently priced on Newegg. The Eclipse 400p supports either 3x120 or 2x140mm fans on front for intake and 1x120mm back so I got 2x NF-A14 PWM 140mms for the front and a NF-512A PWM for the rear. I'm going to use the motherboard to control fan speeds. I particularly like ASUS's QFan controls on my board and think they'll probably be pretty much inaudible all the time. I'm hoping at full blast, they will make a nice subtle air sucking sound but be silent otherwise. And my hunch is that they'll never run full blast with my config. I have to say, Skylake chips and Pascal GPUs are damn cool running in general. Things have come quite a ways.

I think that once complete, the one fan with the greatest potential for noise at load will be the CPU fan and that can easily be eliminated with a tower cooler with yet another Noctua, if I so choose. The test will be in the Phanteks' soundproofing claims. The paneling and steel construction has it going for it. I'll report back and try to photograph the build log.

I'm transplanting the rig in my sig to this new case. Then my trusty PC-A05B is gutted and in search of a new purpose. They apparently have some value on the market but I dread packing and shipping it, let alone listing it for sale. Perhaps I'll wait for some shell shocker sale on Newegg and grab some budget board/cpu/ram combo when it comes around.

Just realized I'm going to have a pair of spare Phanteks 120mm fans once I strip them out of the case when it arrives. I'll see if I can make a definitive ID on them.

 

[nerp]

Hey, here's a question -- will the Thermalright Grand Macho fit in this case? Manual says CPU cooler height is max 160mm. And the Grand Macho appears to be just that. Am I going to be scraping the side panel?

 

[UsandThem]

Hey, here's a question -- will the Thermalright Grand Macho fit in this case? Manual says CPU cooler height is max 160mm. And the Grand Macho appears to be just that. Am I going to be scraping the side panel?

The CPU lists its height as 159mm, and the case lists the clearance at 160mm. So yes, it will likely touch your side panel. That's as close as close gets.

 

[nerp]

The CPU lists its height as 159mm, and the case lists the clearance at 160mm. So yes, it will likely touch your side panel. That's as close as close gets.

Yes, I can't seem to find anyone who has the setup either. I might just need to look for something a bit smaller. I am looking at one of the hugest monsters of an air cooler on the market. It would occupy so much space inside that it kind of defeats the purpose of having a side window. I'm not even overclocking but I'm beginning to think I want something better than the Intel stock cooler, especially with these Noctua fans in there.

 

[UsandThem]

Yes, I can't seem to find anyone who has the setup either. I might just need to look for something a bit smaller. I am looking at one of the hugest monsters of an air cooler on the market. It would occupy so much space inside that it kind of defeats the purpose of having a side window. I'm not even overclocking but I'm beginning to think I want something better than the Intel stock cooler, especially with these Noctua fans in there.

I don't know what you want to spend, but Noctua has one that is only 115mm tall:

http://www.overclockers.com/noctua-nh-c14s-review/

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Noctua/NH-C14S/

I didn't check many sites for prices, but it's about $76 on Amazon. I looked up the CM Hyper 212 Evo specs, and even it is 159mm tall. That case is just a little too narrow for most tower coolers. Luckily, my Fractal Design R5 accommodates up to 180mm coolers, so I had many choices (went with Noctua NH-U12S).

 

[nerp]

So I discovered the Cryorig H7. Ordered it and will report back. Looks to be better than the Hyper 212 and it's just $30 and not so massive at all. Reviews show this to be quite a great product. Might replace the fan with a Noctua fan down the road, but we'll see. I've give the one they provide a shot.

 

[nerp]

Built the system today. Will have to swap out cooler when it arrives (Cryorig H7). Cable management was a breeze. No drive bays is just the bomb. Temps are much lower than in my Lian-Li PCA05B thanks to no restrictions, no drive bays, no wires. Any place you wish you had a hole, you have a hole. I even removed the drive rails in the basement to give me more room to work down there. I realize now I need to take pics of the other side.

Happy with how it came out. I could probably make the cables coming out even more elegant but whatever. Maybe someday I'll get that bracket EVGA sells so I can feed the power from the bottom and eliminate the appearance of the wire coming out and up.

With the Noctua fans, the ample room, temps are a solid 5-10 degrees cooler on the stock intel cooler. The gpu is maybe 2-3 degrees lower. Fans are inaudible except while gaming. Using PWM normal settings not even silent in ASUS QFan and the machine is silent. When under load, there is a lovely whooshing sound from air being sucked up from the front intake. A surprising amount of air goes in so I think ventilation with this case is a non issue unless you mount front rads. Honestly, I think this is really purely an air cooling case. The air coming in from the top grill and up the bottom snout is pleasant in tone and just sounds like air being sucked up with zero whine or whistle. Like it's breathing. I could probably dial the fans back and not suffer any cooling at all but I considering it only whooshes under load, it's a non issue since I normally wear headphones. Otherwise during the day and while working, it's dead silent. This is the S model with the sound dampening material on the panels.

Some more pics:

The setup for now. At right is my ThinkPad x260. Sorry the photos are crap. It's just an iPhone 6s. Someday I'll get a real camera.

 

[lehtv]

Looks great! And this is just AT Forum, not a photography enthusiast site - the photos are fine

I think a LED strip in the ceiling would complement the white exterior, as it stands there seems to be a lot of contrast between the exterior and interior. For example, a 30cm magnetic strip from Cablemod.

 

[nerp]

Looks great! And this is just AT Forum, not a photography enthusiast site - the photos are fine

I think a LED strip in the ceiling would complement the white exterior, as it stands there seems to be a lot of contrast between the exterior and interior. For example, a 30cm magnetic strip from Cablemod.

Thanks, man. I'll try to take some more bright and clear shots at some point, plus I want to work on the cables in the back a little more. And I agree with you some lighting would be nice. I ordered the Phanteks 400mm LED strip that works with their cases. I can cycle through about 10 colors with it and the light from the bottom of the front matches, so that's pretty cool. It was a mere $7 with free shipping.

 

[UsandThem]

Looks great. I always start out wanting my cabling to look like that, but halfway through I always say "screw it" to get it done faster.

 

[nerp]

So I discovered a trick, or at least figured out how the Phanteks integrated LED controller functions. While it's on, a single press switches between all the colors. I knew that you could hold the button down long enough to turn all the lights off. Well, there's also two additional modes.
If a full hold/press=turn off, a hold press of 2 seconds or so switches through the two modes. One is a "breathing" mode where the lights fade in and out. The second is a constant steady light but the colors gradually bleed across the spectrum. I can't find anything about this in the manual and no review that I've seen mentions it. Maybe the same hardware comes with other Phanteks products and is documented? Either way, sharing it here since this is one of the first links that pops up when you look for the case on google.

 

[nerp]

Got the Cryorig H7. Installation was simple and effortless, really. Even with the mobo in the case (thank god for exposed CPU mount on the back of this case). Gotta hand it to them for making it painfully easy. Place the plate on the back, insert the pins from the back, put on the tube cover things on the other side, plop the CPU on and tighten. Done.

So I almost installed the cooler with the protective plastic still on the heatsink. Whoops! I put it on and started to tighten up when I saw that I failed to connect the CPU fan and the cable was still woven around the heat pipes, so I took it back out and saw that strip and thought "woah, disaster averted."

So far temps are waaaaay lower than the stock cooleDuckinr. The big white fan that it came with is super quiet. I loke how the blades catch the light from the case LED strip. It fits like a glove in this case with room to spare and it's not so big and overwhelming to look ridiculous.

I'm idling in the mid 20s which is a solid 5-10 degrees cooler than the stock Intel unit. Load has not broken 60 yet but I've only done some basic stuff to get that reading. I'll run some stress test later.