A Closer Look - Inside

To remove the panels, you will have to detach the previously mentioned thumbscrews under the hood. This allows you to take off all four sides for easy access. You may remove the base as well.


Looking at the front and rear, it becomes apparent that the interior of the Phanteks Evolv Shift is made out of steel. A unique element is the fact that many cables are routed along the exterior of this frame to keep the interior clutter free. Openings in the panels allow for clean routing.


Both sides are completely open as this is also where the window panels are placed. Phanteks sought to make sure you can see all the cool hardware within its most unique chassis to date.


Taking a closer look at the exterior of the frame, we can see that you may install a 3.5" drive on the outside of the front. Below that is a circular cutout that is supposed to give unobstructed access to clean, cool air for the PSU.


The top part in the rear is taken up by a large 140 mm fan that is set to push air out the back of the Shift. This means the motherboard area within the enclosure has an active cooling element, which is essential if you choose to go for a liquid-cooling setup. Below that is another opening with the means to add another 120 or 140 mm fan, while also being compatible with the many 120 mm AIO liquid-cooling units out there.


Taking a quick peek into the interior, the bottom half is devoid of any special bits and pieces. Instead, this area is solely intended for power and cooling purposes. Above that, though, are some cable-routing elements and the Mini-ITX motherboard tray - which should make assembly within this compact chassis quite easy.


Viewing things from the opposite side, the bottom half bears no further surprises from this angle either. However, the top half on this side holds the GPU bracket. A flexible PCIe cable is used to move the entire x16 slot from the motherboard to this area. Doing so allows you to install a graphics card of up to 350 mm in length, which is plenty for even the best cards out there.


The bottom PSU bay inside the Shift is pretty basic, but gets the job done. Here, you may place an SFX or SFX-L unit. Thanks to the power cable, it should make no difference how you choose to place the power supply. Above that, you will find two 2.5" drive trays, which brings the total number of possible storage devices within the Shift to three. This is good enough for a chassis of this size and caters well to most usage scenarios.


In the rear, looking at the interior from the bottom once again, the frame has multiple holes to add that extra cooling in this area. You may even install a second 120 mm fan or AIO unit to the floor of the Shift, which would allow you to cool both the CPU and the GPU with that more extravagant method. The 140 mm fan in the top has no LEDs or clear fan blades. However, it is of retail quality, which is far more important because it means that you can expect silent but potent performance.


All the cables within the Phanteks Evolv Shift are of the standard variety, with the exception of the LED lighting element. Here, Phanteks has employed a SATA connector as it not only powers the power LED, but any LED strips or fans you may choose to install.