The Lower Budget Helped // Phanteks Eclipse P200A D-RGB review

After a seriously long... intermission, I'm finally back in the business of reviewing cases again! This review has been in the works for about 3-4 months, so this better be worth it (I've not spent 3-4 months working solely on this, don't worry, I'm not that unstable).
So the Phanteks P200A review, hopefully this answers all your questions, unless they relate to lighting control, in which case I refer you to the manual which does a pretty good job of explaining how to use it (I'm not a fan of going into the minutely different ways ARGB fans are implemented in cases, it's just a headache, and requires a pretty decent level of explanation before getting into how they should work - at least when explaining to someone who knows nothing about ARGB lighting). Am I lazy about it, probably, but then again I have written this explanation about why I haven't, so not lazy in all regards.
Anyway, to the 2 people who will have ready this, please consider using the Amazon Associate link below if you were thinking of getting this case. Much appreciated :)
Amazon Associate Links (I will earn from sales bought through this link):
amzn.to/3dUYtaX
Support AV Techy on Patreon! - / avtechy
All the links:
Facebook - / avtechy
Twitter - / av_techy
Discord - / discord
OVERVIEW
00:00 - Start
00:14 - Intro
00:36 - Packaging
00:46 - Exterior Overview
04:03 - Fan and Radiator Support
05:45 - PSU
06:44 - Motherboard
07:19 - CPU Cooler
07:50 - Drive Support
09:02 - Graphics Card Install
10:07 - Cable Management
11:13 - Part box and Manual
TESTING
11:54 - Testing Hardware and Setups
13:21 - P200A Only Results
14:27 - P200A compared to other cases
15:01 - P200A Score
16:42 - Price and Price vs Score
CONCLUSION
17:30 - Final Thoughts
Other components used in this video:
CPU - Intel i7-6700K (1.28V, 4.50GHz)
CPU Cooler - Scythe Mugen 5
Motherboard - ASRock Z270M Pro4 (mATX)
PSU - SilverStone Strider Gold S Series (750W)
GPU - EVGA GTX 1060 SC (1835MHz)
RAM - 2x 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws 4 DDR4 (3000MHz)
Fan Controller - NZXT Grid+ V3
Tags:
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[@AVTechy]

In classic style, forgot to mention the Amazon Associate link is you're looking to get this case. Please consider using it, and supporting the channel. As always, I will earn through sales purchased through this link: Amazon Associate Links (I will earn from sales bought through this link): amzn.to/3dUYtaX Thanks for the support, and I hope you enjoy many more reviews to come! ALSO, if you have any suggestions for future videos, please let me know. I'm always on the lookout for ideas! Thank you! :)

[@TheSickness]

Got to pin your comment so it stays at the top 😉

[@AVTechy]

Errgh, I thought I did. So rusty at this KZbin thing :D

[@p0krawczyk]

Hello, is it possible to fit 3.5" HDD without blocking side vents?

[@DeVRJB]

You don't have any idea that how much happy i am to see a video of yours.

[@AVTechy]

Haha, glad to know they're wanted at least :D Thanks for the ongoing support, I'm surprised anyone's still waiting for them!

[@DeVRJB]

@@AVTechy In the world of paid advertisements and false reviews i am at least glad that i found your video about 11 months ago. And i bought a perfect case for me. Otherwise i feel like could have wasted so much more upon buying anything stupid. If people are not waiting for your video then it's their loss. At the same time i really wish KZbin algorithms work towards exactly what you deserve. I will see you February next year on patreon. Excuse me for bad English if there is.

[@qT_p13]

I like how you set up the the scoring system. As a football fan who loves looking at stats charts, i thoroughly enjoyed the math. I dont have any comment on how it can be improved/simplified as yet though, maybe as time goes by it will need an update who knows. I like the arctic cooler in the back is pretending to be a plant. I have also never seen a type c to c cable in my country before...ever! Good to see you still around and still going. Your reviews are always very in depth and your build notes tell a story of what users can look out for or may experience with the products.

[@AVTechy]

Thanks for the feedback! I think there's a little tweaking to do with simplifying it, but most of the graphs will be "pause if you want to know more" kind of info, so hopefully that will cut down the video time a little without losing the crux of the points being made. Arctic cooler = best plant, no need to water it :D Yeah I've not encountered a lot of c-c cables either. I imagine it's great for people with really fast external drives or similar, but that's not most people I imagine. A nice to have though for "future-proofing".

[@korezako3930]

Thanks for the video. Everybody else is using AIO, but i'm planning air cooler build so your video really helps.

[@forthenext]

Welcome back.

[@AVTechy]

Thanks for sticking around, great to some back to good support :)

[@LastSecBloomer]

When I first saw the volume, I though to myself "oh, 29L is pretty good for an mATX case"...but then I saw it's ITX. Oh, dear... Anyway, an overly ambitious case. Stuff they tried to do there is fine in cases like P400A but there is not enough room for it here and they should have gave some of the stuff up and streamlined the features. Top mounted PSU is something Silverstone did long ago, along inverted mobo layout, to save space for mATX boards, but P200A doesn't have it so...why? To gain room for 3-slot GPUs, most likely. But they should have made the top ventilated, with filter, and had the PSU draw air from there. Instead, they turned it into auxiliary exhaust device, heating it up...bad design. So is that cooler depth issue. Case this big should have atleast 1 3.5" HDD mount by default, instead of making you buy those separately. In general, that "DLC" approach to case features can go fuck itself. All in all, the ventilation is good but Cooler Master NR200 does things better at a much lower volume.

[@reposedbear5831]

It might be worth changing the configuration to negative pressure so that airflow comes in from the bottom. That could help GPU temps a little bit at the cost of CPU. Overall great review, thanks for the content!

[@AVTechy]

Yeah I would have played around with that, but I've generally found negative pressure setups aren't overall better than positive pressure unless the case is well setup for it. Saying that, if I could have got a couple of fans in the base, maybe one in the back, and turned the CPU cooler's fan around it might have been a good setup. There's a limit on the fans I can add to a case though regarding my test method, so I'd need to mess around with the existing fans. I'll keep it in mind for future testing.

[@reposedbear5831]

@@AVTechy Makes sense. There's really only so much time you can realistically spend on each review and I feel like you can really go down a rabbit hole of configurations if you let yourself. Picking the ones you think are going to be most common is the most time efficient way of going about things. Also in all fairness I cannot say I'm 100% impartial as well. I do own the case and use it for my main rig.

[@gonzomiller1720]

Welcome back :)

[@AVTechy]

Thanks very much, glad to be getting videos back out in the world! :)

[@dariusz6601]

8:10 What magnetic storage are you using?

[@Marty_NZ]

Welcome back dude. Missed your in depth case reviews! Perhaps a missed opportunity to compare it with the Metallic Gear Neo-G Mini you did a few years ago? It's basically the same case, but a few changes and the front mesh panel.

[@AVTechy]

Thanks man, good to be back. I did mention the Neo G Mini in the video, even added a card to lead people to it. I could go into more of a comparison, but that would only add to the too long 19 minute review already :D One day I'll get videos down to 15 minutes regularly. I guess that's one reason to stick around haha

[@Marty_NZ]

@@AVTechy Yep saw it in the video. Was more meaning compare it thermally etc to see how much difference in thermals there are since its obviously meant as a newer revision of some sorts. I did buy the Neo-G Mini a year or so ago based on your video (Also a few Silverstone PS15s) , so don't underestimate the influence you have with these videos, even if it's bad product.

[@Marty_NZ]

Actually Silverstone LD01 too! ...I have too many cases.

[@SDAspra]

Really appreciate you going through the parts box to find the bit where the riser cable is meant to sit. Question: could I use a Riser cable other than a Phanteks one? Coolermaster makes a "universal" gen 4 cable, whilst the Phanteks gen 4 cable is not sold in Australia *facepalm*

[@JayzBeerz]

Just did a build in this case and it's ok. Not being able to hide some of the cables is annoying.

[@AVTechy]

Agreed, the cable management features that are there are good, but it's lacking a few key features to make it great as a whole. I think I gave it 4/10 for cable management which I think is fair all things considered - it's a pretty small case after all.

[@BenXCIV]

Shorts in December? Madness.

[@AVTechy]

With lights like those it's shorts all year round 🤣

[@caml1720]

Hey I'm considering this case and I'm having some conflicting info come in. Does the side on this case also take 280mm rad, or max out at 240? Just wanted to double check. Thanks for the review!

[@TLM-Nathan]

The side is 240mm. Front is 240mm or 280mm. Also you can run two 240mm rads (front & side).

[@Hathal_98]

it would have been interesting to see slim fans under the gpu 🤔

[@davidjohn3710]

This guy is just not getting the amount of attention and views he deserves :(

[@dorientjewoller113]

It's aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive :)

[@AVTechy]

Very much so, still kicking :D

[@rubenschilling]

long time no see lol

[@AVTechy]

I know :D

[@dominic.h.3363]

8:54 - Wrong. You can pass the tubes through the 140 front cutout and install the radiator at the outer side of the front panel, to which you screw the fans from the inner side. So essentially, you can have 4 hard drives and a dual 120 AIO. I came here to learn about the case, unfortunately I am correcting you on it as its owner, so that doesn't bode well for the rest of your information...

[@AVTechy]

I was going off some rough measurements, and for those I err on the of caution with my recommendations. It likely some radiators will work in that configuration, but some might not and may be a little too bulky. You might be able to make it work with the hardware you have and owning two sets of 3.5 inch drive brackets, but if we're getting down to very tight tolerances my advice would always be to buy and measure the case yourself with your own hardware, much like any complicated water cooling build which I would say this is heading towards. More complicated than a clean run anyways. You never know, I might measure something with the hardware I have, and it's a little longer or wider than the hardware you have, and nobody is essentially wrong, there's just nuance to the issue. But yeah, I'm just being cautious and conservative about my estimations. If you're detmined enough I'm sure you can work around many elements that may seem like limitations. I think we've all done that for the right water-cooling build. I'd rather stay cautious than say I think it could be done, only for the opposite of you to come along and call me an idiot for saying the opposite. But there we go, sometimes everything can't be accounted for, and mistakes are made. I'm just another imperfect human. I wonder if there's a major industry that thrives on this common aspect.

[@ferdinandbardamu3945]

All 3+ slot ITX cases should just be MATX.