My first Phanteks case was the famous Evolv ATX the last 3 years that I modified heavily for airflow as well as for looks and its been a great case the past 3 years. But I've had the upgrade bug lately due to the COVID lockdown and needed a new case project to keep myself busy and sane.
After months of researching, I decided on the very sexy looking new P500A that was shown at CES 2020 while the world still made sense. But with the covid situation, it was a very long wait waiting for shipments to arrive from China via ship but at long last, my patience paid off and I couldn't be more happy to retire my Evolv ATX with the sexy new white p500A to get finish my "Blizzacron" case project to get ready for Cyberpunk 2077!
PROS:
1. Fantastic air cooling thanks to the new metal mesh as many websites like HardwareCanuk and Gamers Nexus will back up.
2. Metal mesh does a dang good job of dust/hair filtration and is so easy to clean with no filter to remove, just wipe with a damp paper towel. Cat owners like me rejoice!
3. Built in RGB with DRGB model is very well done all around and was a major selling point for me. It can also be controlled via mobo 5v RGB header. The "Knight Rider" strip I call it looks slick as hell in motion
4. Side panel wire management built into the case all around is fantastic and so easy to do
5. White color paint job looks amazing
6. USB 3.1 Type A ports and USB 3.1 gen 2 type C are very nice future proofing
7. PSU installation via rear with PSU bracket mount is SOOO much easier!
8. Airflow from rear and top of case is great with open grill design built into case metal. Watercoolers will love this case
9. No more thumbscrews for glass panel access!! Thank God!!! The hinged glass door is so very nice and the magnets are very strong to keep it closed against the case.
CONS:
1. Stock RGB Phantek fans are 3 pin and NOT 4 pin
2. Stock RGB Phantek fans get very noisy at above 60% RPM speed. KitGuru/Hardware Canuuks reviews confirms this as well
3. No included fan controller? Cmon Phanteks, that is just not acceptable for this price point. Most buyers would gladly spend the extra $5-10 to have this included, especially since stock intake fans are 3 PIN and mobo fan headers are limited. Boo hiss for this penny pinching decision
4. Paint quality control. My first P500A had really poor white balance on the rear panel, like the factory painted over a "faulty" paint job and it looked like hell and needed to be returned. YMMV
5. Plastic cable cover sliders are a total joke and can VERY easily pinch/damage fan cabling if you don't watch what your doing. I much rather have the silicon openings like my EVOLV ATX had
6. No PSU silicon/foam mounting points on bottom of case? Again, cmon Phantek, this is total penny pinching again. I had to add my own to keep PSU vibration down into the case
7. No HDD/SDD activity light? Ung...... cmon Phanteks, seriously?
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
