Phanteks EVOLV SHIFT XT PC Case Review

A Closer Look – Interior

This case isn’t really like most of the ones I’ve reviewed in the past, and I’ve gotten through hundreds of them over the many years I’ve been doing this. The magnetic front panel pulls away, revealing a pair of sliding locks that lock the top panel in place.

The top panel can then be lifted away, revealing a set of 120mm fan mounts at the top.

However, these can’t really be used in the smallest configurations, but in the largest, you can even get a 240mm AIO up here.

There’s a thumbscrew at the back, release that and you can remove the bottom part of the case too. As you can see, it’s just two large parts, that are each pretty heavy on their own. Again, the engineering and build quality here is of a very high standard.

The case looks pretty neat and tidy, it’s obviously very small in here, with just enough room for the mini-ITX motherboard at one end and an SFX PSU at the other.

Obviously, there’s not a lot of room to move in here, so the top panel actually swings open and can be entirely removed too if you so desire, allowing easier installation of components and general maintenance tasks.

There’s a built-in PCI-E Gen 4 riser cable though, which is very nice, and it makes installing the GPU in the other side of the case possible. There’s even a rubber lining on the diving wall, which may help reduce noise and vibrations through the case.

Located at the bottom of the case, there’s a removable SSD mounting bracket. It’s tucked into the corner, so it takes up very little space overall.

The PSU mount uses a pass-through power cable from the rear of the case. It’ll handle an SFX or even an SFX-L unit too, and with a large cut-away in the side wall and some Velcro straps, routing your cables shouldn’t be too difficult.