Phanteks Eclipse P300 Review
Category : Cases
Published by Luca Rocchi on 18.04.18
With the Eclipse P300, Phanteks has a case for ATX motherboards in its portfolio, which comes with a lot of features and at an attractive price. Apart from that especially friends of water cooling will love this case, since it offers good flexibility in that direction. In addition this model supports RGB illumination and it's compatible with ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte systems. For now, we're really curious to find out how this case is going to do in our review.
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Preview
Specifications
| Model: |
Eclipse P300 |
| Case Type: |
Mid tower |
| Dimensions: |
200 mm (W) x 450 mm (H) x 400 mm (D) |
| Material: |
Steel, ABS, Tempered Glass |
| Color: |
Black |
| Drive Bay: |
5.25": |
0 |
| 3.5": |
2 (up to 6, optional) |
| 2.5": |
2 |
| Expansion
slots: |
7 |
| Form factors: |
E-ATX, ATX, mATX, mini-ITX |
| Cooling: |
Front: |
2x 120mm / 2x 140mm |
| Rear: |
1x 120mm / 1x 140mm (included) |
| Top: |
1x 120mm / 1x 140mm |
| Bottom: |
/ |
| Side: |
/ |
| Watercooling |
Front: |
280mm / 240mm |
| Rear: |
120mm |
| Top: |
/ |
| Link to the product: |
Eclipse P300 |
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Features
PSU Cover
In order to hide all the cables connected to your power supply, there is cover hiding away the unit. This helps creating a neat and clean looking system. |
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Dust filters
There are washable dust filters covering all big openings of the Phanteks Eclipse P300. Thanks to a quick release system they are very easy and convenient to remove. |
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Watercooling ready
The Phanteks Eclipse P300 is also ready for watercooling gear. If you wish to create a custom loop, there is the possibility to equip this case with two radiators. One of them can measure up to 280 millimeters while the other one can be 120 millimeters. The top part of the chassis doesn't offer enough space to mount yet another radiator. |
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Product overview
Overview |
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| The Eclipse series from Phanteks is designed for a entry-level gaming systems, with the price of this case being noticiably below the 70 Euro mark. Despite it being a very attractive chassis, Phanteks did not sacrifice quality or features. Design wise Phanteks cases have always had and still have unique looks, while appearing aggressive to a certain extent and sleek at the same time. The Eclipse P300 comes with a large window made from tempred glass and at the moment isnt't available with classic solid side panels. In order to keep the lines as simple as possible, Phanteks placed the I/O connectors on the top and here we find two USB 3.0 ports as well as mini-jacks for mic and headphones. The back panel is simple and straight forward as we find the opening for a 120/140mm fan, space for the I/O shield and a total for seven slot bezels covering the motherboards expansion slots. The bottom part of the case features an opening for the ATX power supply and the removable and washable dust filter. |
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Installation
Overview |
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The Phanteks Eclipse P300 is compatible with ATX motherboards (and E-ATX motherboards measuring up to 272mm in width), which is placed vertically and thanks to the size of the case you will not run into any issues installing large heat sinks. The motherboard tray is made of solid steel, and it features a big cut out behind the socket, which allows the user to install aftermarket CPU coolers when the motherboard has already been installed. On the right side of the tray there is a plate, which allows for neat cable management. Between the motherboard tray and the right side panel there is enough space to hide plenty of cables. The case shares the latest features regarding internal layout. There is for instance is a big mid plate covering the power supply cables. In total, the Phanteks Eclipse P300 supports two 3.5" HDD and one 2.5" SSD, both in dedicated places and well hidden.
For testing purposes we used an ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming/Aura motherboard and a huge Phanteks PH-TC14PE tower cooler and we did not run into any compatiblity issues installing the components. Building a PC based on this case is very easy and quickly done no matter whether you're using a CPU tower cooler or an all-in-one liquid cooler, but if you want to enjoy all the benefits of this case you should use an AIO water cooling setup. The space dedicated to the graphics card is large enough to accommodate even the most powerful GPUs on the market. After having put our test system together the final looks were esthetically pleasing and we like the end result. |
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Ventilation options
Overview |
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| The Eclipse P300 offers plenty of spots for fans and inside the delivery you will find one 120mm fan with 3-pin header. Overall, the case is able to accommodate two 120 or two 140mm fans at the front, one 120 or 140mm in the top, and one 120mm or 140mm at the rear. As you could have guessed, this means there is enough space for a 280/240mm radiator. If you like CPU air coolers, you will be happy to know that this case according to its official specifications is compatible with high-end models with up to 160mm height. For our internal testing we have used a way bigger cooler though and didn't run into any problems. |
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Temperatures
Overview |
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For testing purposes we're using an MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC motherboard, an Intel Core i5-6600K CPU, which receives cooling through a SilentiumPC Fortis 3 HE1425 MCE cooler as well as a MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G graphics card. To put the CPU under full load, we're running prime95 for 10 min and in the case of the GPU we use Furmark also for 10 minutes. After these ten minutes, we're going to write down the temperatures. The ambient temperature is close to 24°C. |
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All noise dampening panels installed |
Idle (°C) |
Full (°C) |
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Intel Core i5-6600K |
28 / 28 / 27 / 28 |
56 / 55 / 54 / 53
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| MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G |
47 |
73 |
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Less is better |
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Conclusion
Rating |
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Cooling |
Features |
Layout |
Build Quality |
Value for Money |
| Pros |
+ Good
compatibility for watercooling
+ Numerous spots for
fans
+ Dust filters |
+ Available in black, white, black and red, black and white
+ RGB Lighting
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+ Interior
space
+ Velcro straps
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+ Good build quality
+ Midplate PSU |
+ Well priced |
| Cons |
- No radiator space on top |
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The Eclipse P300 is one of the latest cases from the American manufacturer Phanteks and it's available with tempered glass panel. This model is almost perfect in any aspect, no matter whether you're looking at it from a build quality, a ventilation or a layout point of view. First of all we want to mention that the price of this case is around 59 euro and therefore it's a great choice to build entry-level gaming systems. The steel and the ABS plastic that's been used for this case is of very good quality. The finish is just perfect and we simply cannot find anything to criticize.
The looks of a case are always matter of individual taste but when checking out the interior, we believe this layout is as close to perfection as it gets. If we have to find a downside we could say that it would be interesting to have the possibility to mount a radiator in the top part of the case as well. Everything is tool-free and therefore removing the front panel to access the dust filter for instance is as simple as it can be. Even the cable management is good although there aren't the expensive rubber grommets. Phanteks has placed several Velcro straps on the back of the motherboard's tray. One of the key aspects of this case it's the great compatibility with liquid cooling since it allows the installation of one 240/280mm radiator which sounds more than perfect for a good gaming rig.
The Phanteks Eclipse P300 is available on Geizhals at a price of 59 euro excluding shipping costs and you can buy this case in black, white, black and red, black and white color schemes. In our opinion the price matches the quality offered, the well-thought layout and the good bundle which includes one 120 mm fan. Last but not least, this case is compatible with AURA Sync, MSI Mystic Light and Gigabyte RGB Fusion. We award the Phanteks Eclipse P300 with
5 out of 5 stars.
