Phanteks Eclipse P400S Chassis Review

STRUCTURE AND INITIAL THOUGHTS

Taking the P400S out of the box you notice it has a little weight more to it then your usual chassis of this size, this has to do with the complete steel make-up. Sturdy and strong our chassis came in black. Grey and white are the other two options as well as you can get have different variations including sound dampening and with or without a window. The front panel is smooth from top to bottom with no openings for OD installation. The front panel also pops off simply with a tug on the bottom.

In doing that you’ll see on the chassis skeleton there is no space for OD installation and the front is set up completely for cooling.  You can fit up to three 120mm fans on the front, one is included. The ability to install two 140mm fans instead is an option. At the base you’ll see an RGB LED strip. On the inside of the front panel you’ll see the sound dampening material from top to bottom as well as two removable dust covers, one at the top and one at the bottom. Making your way to the top panel you’ll see the power button in the center, RGB LED lit as well. To the right you’ll see the rest of the I/O panel which consists of two USB 3.0 ports and your standard audio (mic & headphones). Looking across the front of the top panel you’ll see three illustrations. On the under side of these are buttons; from left to right they are the three-speed fan controller, LED colour changer and reset button to round out on the right.  Making your way to the rear of the top panel there are also two magnetic plastic covers which can both or individually be removed to customize for your top cooling options.

Around to the cable management panel, you’ll unscrew the two thumbscrews, which were rather tightly put in, and you’ll see a slightly different look than usual. the left hand side is lined with removable covers which allow you to house additional expansions, they are sold separately. Beware though the addition of these expansion bays.  You’ll see that the bottom is open allowing easy access to cable management, the PSU and two additional bays at the bottom for up to 3.5″ drives. These clip into place and are self-reliant as they use no tools to click your 3.5″ drives in. Simply undo the side and click them back into place if you so choose to use them.

Under the window for CPU cooler installation you’ll see two 2.5″ slots, these are different then the usual as they clip into place and require no tools to secure them to the chassis. Along to the window panel, remove that you’ll see the abundance of space the P400S gives us. The PSU cover completely separates the PSU compartment from the main area. There are two grommets for your two main pass-throughs. There are also three pass-throughs along the base of where the motherboard will set. Advertising told us we could fit a 360mm AIO liquid cooler in the front which at first seems impossible until you notice the removable panel at the front of the chassis on the PSU cover. The addition of a 120mm exhaust fan at the rear bring the total included fans to two 120’s. You’ll also see along the top side where the top fans will go if chosen for installation. There is also a removable dust cover along the bottom  side of the chassis and seven PCI expansions available. That wraps up our look around lets get the build set up.