Joined on 02/23/19
Forget about the rest
Pros: - Easy to build in. Phanteks carefully though about the whole process of building a computer, and they did what they could to help you bring your hardware to life. - Great RGB! If you don't want to overspend on a set of 6 RGB fans to brighten the interior, this case will save you from that. The RGB in it is not overly done, and brings a tad of class to the looks of your system. - Excellent cable management. Zippers and panels that open and close to hide that clumsy cable management of yours are here to stay. - You're able to have a mini ITX system on the top grid, if having 2 systems in a case turns you on for whatever reason. - Mount your graphics card vertically. - Side TG panels can be open without taking them off (although you can if you want).
Cons: - Aside from the RGB trend, many people are more interested in building a Micro/Mini system nowadays. This case won't be for you if you fit the description. - Although you are allowed to mount a Mini ITX system on the top grid, you need to purchase separately the accessory to do so. The same applies if you want a cable to mount your graphics card vertically. Being a pricey case, those two accessories might as well be packed with everything else. Note that the price is not a con, it simply rightly reflects the quality they've put into the case. - To have the Mini ITX system, I suppose you'd need a special power supply to drive it, or even 2, though I have no idea how you'd manage the latter.
Overall Review: I've been using Corsair cases for a long time now. I was between the Evolv X and the Corsair Obsidian 500D SE for my new build, but after putting up my rig and seeing the final result, I'm happy to have chosen Phanteks. The RGB is great, with a set of presets that you can choose from by the press of a button, the TG looks classy, and cable management is neat and easily done. If you've come across this case in your search, you might as well stop here and buy it. I'm very picky and finicky in a way that bothers even me, but I can wholeheartedly recommend the Evolv X. As of March, 2019, this is likely to be the best you'll get out there in this form factor. Well done Phanteks, you've done it.
MSI could had done better with the MEG Ai1300P
Pros: - The unit itself looks attractive to me, and is reasonably well made. It goes well with the rest of my hardware. - Very good performance that puts me at easy with the safety of my components. - It's the only 3.0 ATX model with an 80+ Platinum rating in the market as of Dec 2022. - Great amount of cables to address most PC enthusiasts' needs. - Great cable length in general. - 10 years warranty (assuming MSI honour it in a timely manner).
Cons: - The colour scheme could conflict with the rest of your hardware depending on what you have in your build. MSI could have provided black magnets as alternatives for the golden ones to address that issue. - The magnets are VERY weak, and will easily fall off when moving things around if you don't add a dual sided tape between the unit and the magnet. - For what it is, this PSU is extremely overpriced, with MSI unjustifiably relying on their MEG branding for the cost. - The cables are individually braided but extremely stiff, making it hard to handle. Once you have it all in place, you won't bother with cable management too much, but if you are constantly swapping parts, then it could become a bigger issue. - It BARELY reaches the platinum efficiency rate under advertised load brackets. - At higher loads, the PSU can get noisy. There's no reason to make the unit so compact and sacrifice a 140mm fan in favour of a 120mm one. I could understand the decision being made for the Ai1000P model, but not on MSI's flagship PSU. I'd much rather have a lengthy but silent PSU. - The CHK number required for product registration is only available in the unit label, not in the box or manual. You will likely only realize it after you've installed everything and needs to pull off the PSU just checking the number. - If you ever need MSI's support to help you, good luck with that. My most recent experience (still ongoing) was sending an RTX 4090 SUPRIM X for RMA in Canada because their support didn't have any knowledge of no image displayed when swapping between HDMI and DP monitors being a driver issue. They could had checked with NVIDIA, but didn't, and just suggested the card could be defective. Their troubleshooting is laughable at best. After calling and sending web tickets, all I'm told is to wait 35 business days (you read it right, 2 months wait for testing a driver fix).
Overall Review: If you don't need a high end ATX 3.0 PSU in 2022, and you are willing to wait for other brands to come out with ATX 3.0 models, I'd seriously wait on those, particularly the Seasonic Vertex Px-1200. The MEG Ai1300P is very capable, just too many cons in my opinion. You're not just buying a unit here, but you're buying into the brand and the value it brings to you and your system. MSI's price is absolutely unjustified in this case. If you are using the unit constantly at higher loads, noise can be a problem. My experience with MSI's support can be resumed into constant frustration, and I hope nobody would need to count on them and that MSI's products would all be great, but that's not how things go. It would be much easier to recommend the Ai1300P if MSI had made stronger magnets, less stiff cables, a bigger unit to hold a 140mm fan, and charged about CAD120 less.