

Best Mechanical Design: Lian Li O11 Dynamic XLįind the Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL on Amazon We’ll talk about the Phanteks P400A again in a moment, but let’s first cover some cases that were even better in specific areas.
#2019 BEST COMPUTER CASE FOR AIRFLOW ATX SOFTWARE#
We also appreciate small features, like the external physical button controls for LEDs, rather than forcing reliance on software that no one wants.Ĭonstruction is overall thin and nothing special, but it’s heavily vented, and that’s a major upside. The P400A can also fit E-ATX motherboards as it lacks a cable management bar, although you’d face some cable routing restrictions in such a configuration.

The case offers about 2.5cm of clearance between the motherboard tray and steel side panel, including built-in velcro straps for cable management with greater depth. We’ll talk more about the case’s thermals in our Best Out of the Box Thermals section later.Īs for build quality, the P400A is one of the most basic cases possible, but that’s not a bad thing. Provided sufficient static pressure, the P400A does excellently while maintaining a mesh that is fine enough to stop a good deal of dust.

In our exhaustive review of the P400A Digital, we found that performance was functionally equivalent with both the white and black front panels, debunking some earlier theories that the paint might inhibit airflow, and also found that the CPU thermal improvement from panel-less results had minimal gain over the stock performance. Thermal performance with the Digital’s three intake fans, price, and the mesh front panel are what make the P400A our winner, as on the inside it’s an inexpensive steel chassis that Phanteks has used in multiple products-but at the same time, reusing that chassis is part of what makes the P400A so cheap.

It’s not hard for a mesh-fronted case to excel in the thermal category, but the P400A in particular uses a fine metal mesh rather than having an extra filter layer to catch dust. Our review and our thermal measurements focused on the Digital version of the case with a mesh front panel and three RGB intake fans. We’ll start off with this year’s overall winner: The Best Overall award goes to Phanteks for its $90 P400A enclosure. This article will continue after the embedded video.īest Overall (Thermals & Design): Phanteks P400A (Digital)įind the Phanteks P400A Digital on Amazon With the prevalence of several bad cases this year, we can narrow the list further to focus on only the most deserving of recognition. Fortunately, that list instantly gets whittled-down to, well, just 2019’s data, which is still populous. With over 220 rows of case data now - or maybe more, we haven’t really checked too recently - there’s a lot to consider in our round-up of the best cases for 2019. This year’s award nominees pick up from where we left off, starting with the lackluster Thermaltake Level 20 MT in December of 2018. Last year, the Lian Li O11 Dynamic took the prize for Best All-Around, and the Silverstone PM02 and Fractal Define S2 took home the “Best Worst” Trend award for the unforgivable sin of being pointless refreshes. It’s that time of year again where we decide which case manufacturers deserve our praise and a GN Teardown Crystal, and which deserve eternal shame and have to pay $19.99 for their own Teardown Crystal from.
