During CES 2017, Phanteks unveiled two prototypes which went by the name Project 217 and Project 217S. Now, several months later, the company is ready to launch an improved version of these two new cases. The Evolv Shift and the Evolv Shift X are meant to house systems to put into your living room and therefore feature a small footprint. Although the Evolv Shift X might look quite big, both cases are built for mini-ITX motherboards.


Looking at a few pictures over at Bit-tech we see that both cases might be made from steel. Nevertheless it will depend on where on the market Phanteks is going to position these cases. If those are supposed to be marketed in the high-end bracket at any time, a combination of steel and aluminium will be used. One thing that’s kind of striking is the similarity to Corsair’s ONE gaming PC. When we took the pictures of the Corsair ONE, everyone kept asking me if the case was sold separately. Although these two new cases from Phanteks are not that identical, at the moment this is the solution that comes the closest to the Corsair ONE.

Although the shape might be similar, there are still several differences between these two models. Corsair placed all the ports at the back of the PC like, as you would find it on any normal gaming PC. The Evolv Shift cases, on the other hand, features a completely different internal layout. The motherboard is rotated and all the ports are facing upwards. On the rear panel there is a pass-through for all the cables. The top features a thick black grill that helps with the airflow.

The Evolv Shift and Evolv Shift X can use mini-ITX motherboards and "full length" graphics cards. The graphics card connects to the motherboard via a riser cable and it’s placed behind the motherboard tray. The bottom chamber of the Shift can house three 2.5" SSDs and one 3.5" HDD, while the Shift X is compatible with four 2.5" SDDs and a pair of 3.5" HDDs. Either case can take three 140mm or 120mm fans in the front and another of either size in the bottom.

Another difference between the ONE and the Evolv Shift series is the side panels. While on the Corsair ONE both side panels are used as intakes for two massive radiators, on the Evolv Shift series you can't do that since the side panels are made entirely out of tempered glass.

So far Phanteks has not revealed details on pricing and availability regarding the Evolv Shift series but we are sure we will know more during the upcoming months. Both models look quite interesting and we hope to see more details as soon as possible.





Source: Bit-tech