By: Hai Wang
January 6, 2017
Happy New Year! As a big time Honda fan, owning a Type-R has always been my dream. Comparing with other car manufacturers in the world, Honda is a unique engineering orientated company. Their products including cars, bikes, and even generators can always deliver a high level of perfection. Meanwhile, the Type-R engineers bring those already perfected products to a whole new level. Take my favorite model, the Integra DC 5 Type-R, for example. The engine output is increased from the base model's 160HP to 220HP, despite the fact both engines have the same displacement. This, in combination with the four piston Brembo brakes, 17-inch wheels with Bridgestone Potenza tires, and the leather wrapped MOMO steering wheel make the Integra DC 5 Type-R drive and feel like a dream. Most importantly, the price is affordable for young people -- well, at least for the young people in Japan, since the car was only sold in Japan domestic market. In my opinion, Type-R models define a standard of how a company should develop a better version of an existing product. Enough for cars, let us just focus on the review unit of today, the Phanteks Eclipse P400S Tempered Glass Edition. As the name suggests, the most significant change from Eclipse P400 or the Eclipse P400S to Eclipse P400S Tempered Glass Edition is the upgrade to the glass side panel. Can it be considered the "Type-R" version of the Eclipse series? Keep on reading and find out!
Today’s review unit was shipped from Walnut, California, USA to us here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Walnut is the location of Phanteks’ office in North America. Although you may see a beat up on the bottom right corner of the parcel, there is actually no sign of unacceptable damages on the shipping box itself that can make you nervous about the safety of the glass panel. After more than a thousand miles of transportation via the Standard service, I can take one beat up on the corner -- well done UPS. Please note this is just the shipping container of the case. Some scratches and dents are acceptable, since there will be another box to open before you can see the product.
Usually, a good retail package design can draw people’s attention, and make the product itself stand out among hundreds of other products on the shelf. However, the realm of computer cases is different. Most of the time, the dealer will either directly put sample cases on the shelf, or just demonstrate some fully built computers using those chassis. Therefore, it is mostly unnecessary to have a fancy retail package for a computer tower. At least for me, I would not buy a computer case just because it looks great in photos. The retail package of Phanteks Eclipse P400S Tempered Glass Edition, which is protected by the shipping package, is simply a brown cardboard box. It shows a nice sketch of the product. At the front side, the company’s name is present on top of the box with dark background. The model name "Eclipse P400S Tempered Glass Edition" is located at the bottom of the front side, as you can see from the above picture. Critical information such as the color of the case, product features, and specifications are also provided at the side panel of the package. The clean look of the retail package may suggest the product itself will be compact and clean as well.
Upon opening the box, you will see the case is wrapped inside a big plastic bag. The plastic bag is strong enough to prevent the relatively fragile tempered glass panel from getting scratches. You can keep the plastic bag, since it can be reused if you want to take your computer to some other places. An extra layer of protection has always been a good thing. Since the whole chassis is supported by two pieces of foam brackets around the case, there is no direct contact from the shipping package, thereby no damage is found on the case.
For you to know the Phanteks Eclipse P400S Tempered Glass Edition a little bit more, the specifications of the mid-tower from its official website is listed below:
Specifications
- Dimension: 210 mm x 465 mm x 470 mm (W x H x D); 8.3 in x 18.3 in x 18.5 in
- Form Factor: Midtower
- Materials: Steel chassis, Steel/ABS Exterior, Tempered Glass Side Panel
- Motherboard Support: ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ITX, E-ATX (Up to 272mm wide, cannot use rubber grommets)
- Front I/O: 2x USB 3.0, Mic, Headphone, Reset, LED Control, 3-speed Fan controller (Only available for P400S)
- Side Window: Yes, Tempered Glass
- Expansion slots: 7
- Internal 3.5" / 2.5" 6X (2X included)
- Internal dedicated 2.5" 2X (2X included)
- Cooling (120 mm fan): Front: 3X (1 included); Top: 2X; Rear 1X (1 included)
- Cooling (140 mm fan): Front: 2X; Top: 2X
- Liquid cooling (120 mm radiator): Front: up to 360; Rear 120
- Liquid cooling (140 mm radiator): Front: up to 280
- Graphic card: 395 mm
- CPU cooler: 160 mm
- Cable management 25 mm
- PSU (including cable) 270 mm
- Net weight: 7 Kg
- Gross weight: 8 Kg
- Package dimension: 300 mm x 555 mm x 520 mm
- Color: satin black; glacier white; anthracite grey; special edition black/red; special edition black/white
- Soundproofing panels: yes, front/top/sides
All the accessories, including hardware and zip ties, are contained inside a plastic bag. There is a small cardboard box provided by Phanteks, in which two pieces of dust filter are nicely fitted. The cardboard gives nice protection to the relatively soft items like the dust filters. You can also find a quick installation guide in the package. To my surprise, instead of providing a book-like user manual, the one piece of paper is all you get to help in your installation. The benefit is this saves the earth by using less paper or wood. However, the downside is still obvious in that it cannot provide a comprehensive enough guidance to less-experienced users. I would like to apologize for the dark and yellow-ish picture I put in this review. The story behind this picture was that the camera flash just went out before I took the photo. Fortunately, the broken flash light did not affect the rest of our pictures, since it was taken before the flash died.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
