Natural airflow in a computer case isn't as straightforward as you make it sound since it is active airflow, and doesn't really give time for heat to rise naturally. Unless your case is the size of an aircraft hangar, air goes where you want it to, rather than "naturally out of the top". In my case, I've opted to avoid hot air circulating inside the case, and directing it out immediately. Essentially, I've sacrificed one intake in an effort to reduce the hot oven effect.

Though I should mention that saying the bottom has A LOT more air to use is false. If either one has more air, it's not by "A LOT". As I already stated, neither has much space. Both are highly obstructed. This is why I've decided to focus on ways of getting the hot air out, rather than getting cold air in.

 

Hi,
I agree, but if you are water cooling the components than all you are really interested is the cold air entering, going through the radiator and what happens later inside is not really that significant. The heat will rise. I have that setup and can even feel the hot air stream coming from the top. I have a regular Shift and 2x140mm Noctua in the front and a 120mm in the bottom cooling a R7 1700 with 2 new Noctua 120mm (push-pull).

In reality. The only thing (other than 1 cm to each side of the case because it will be a nuisance to add a water cooled GPU block) that I would like to see is a simple slim 120mm or 140mm fan on the top the have one active exit point. Otherwise. My temps are OK and the 1700 is working @ 3.8 GHz without any trouble rendering 1-2 hour long CPU renders.

 

Wonder if anyone tried to make a cut on the back of shift X just above the PSU to try mounting a gpu AIO. Most hybrid GPUs don't have the tubes long enough to place them in the bottom and this option would allow a 280+120 in a nicer way, not the way I currently have them with the 120 sitting inside the case blowing upwards.

 

That's one part of the Shift design that puzzled me. The slots on the rear metal panel are mirrors of the front, and are even filtered for intake. But the interior frame is completely closed off. There's a cutout on the top half, but I believe that is covered by the SSD plate anyway. Even removing that, airflow would still be significantly obstructed by the GPU ribbon cable.

 

Thats just for aesthetic symmetry and the psu

 

New vented side panel finished and some interior parts finally mounted.

The reservoir looks like it's touching the motherboard tray, but thankfully it's not! Hah. There is about 15mm of clearance between the standoff end, and the reservoir. I just can't get a motherboard with the 24-pin connector close to that corner because then those would touch.

 

Hi Guys,

Im planning to replace the side panels of my shift so Im planning to have one made out of 2mm thk laser cut acrylic. I developed a cad design that I attached below. Any comments would be great.

How did you guys install and remove the mounting system?

 

It looks like you have the 4 holes already in your CAD file. Just unscrew the brackets from the glass panel, and rescrew it onto the acrylic one. I do recommend trying to get it cut out of thicker material though. 2mm won't match the thickness of the glass panel, and the threads on the screws will bottom out before sitting flush, making the bracket wobbly. 3-4mm is ideal. The original glass panel is 4mm thick for reference.

An alternative method is magnets. I used magnets to hold the custom panel on my smaller Shift case. This looked a little bit cleaner and just pops on and off.

 

That looks amazing ! What material did you make that side panel from and where did you attatch the magnets ? Do the vents on the side actually help with cooling the case ?

Could you provide some more pictures ? Thumbs up for that build.

 

Yes getting cold air in is important, I just wanted to get hot air out immediately and avoid having excess heat blown over the motherboard half of the case. It seemed like a heat trap on top with the IO plate, wiring, and the mesh. I will still keep the 140mm fan in the front top portion of the case to keep air flowing in the top half.

Whether or not the temperatures work out isn't too important for me. The big reason I did the interior layout this way is for aesthetics.

 

Aesthetics is as always a personal thing. I have the top Noctua vent cooling the VRMs so I'm happy about that portion of the build. My only conundrum will be if the 140mm to 120mm bracket will fit. if it does I can put a 120mm radiator for GPU and I'm a happy camper hahaha

 

Any suggestion on improving air flow. Would removing that top filter make a noticeable difference?

 

The top of the case is what holds the IO of the computer. Removing that won't help.

I like what the guy in this video did:

He basically removed the SSD drives in the back and made a hole in the back to fit an extra 120mm fan. With the existence of M.2 drives, I won't be using SATA anymore so this is a great solution.

I hope Phanteks watches that video and implements that fan and other improvements on a revision of this case.... if they ever do revise it. It still is the best looking case in my eyes, but the lack of ventilation is too much for me to pull the trigger.

 

Here's my new PC. I've loved building in this case and it's so nice to have something smaller than the Caselabs S8 haha.

I'm at the stage where I need to refine the cooling as it's not as cool as I feel it should be. Currently all fans are set to pull air in, hoping to use hot air naturally rising and it does to a degree as the top of the case where the I/O lives is definitely warmest area.

I plan to play around to develop a better setup but I wanted to see what you guys recommend? This is a productivity PC more than a gaming PC so I can't have it offline too long and making changes to this case takes some time as you guys probably know.

Note, the Pop Vinyl doesn't live in there it was more for the photo.

 

Forgot the pic...

 

I'm playing around with cooling and getting improvements. The next step - which was going to happen regardless - will aid in air flow as well as the aesthetic. I'll add some mesh filters and addressable LEDs to really make it pop after the CNCing is done.

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

 

No problem for dual AIO with normal Shift case

I'm very happy with the normal Shift case.
I'm using 2 AIO, one for CPU and one for GPU, it fits just fine.

My config:
Core I7 8700K
Asus Strix Z370-I Gaming
16Go RAM Gskill Aegis 3000Mhz CL16
Samsung SSD 970 EVO M.2 PCIe NVMe 500 Go
Corsair H80i v2 for CPU cooling
Corsair H75 for GPU cooling with Kraken G12 cutted in half to fit my MSI 1060 Aero ITX
Corsair SF600 (but not satisfied with the stiff power cables)

Fan used:
- for CPU rad as intake => 2x Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 120mm PWM (@1450RPM max)
- for GPU rad as intake => 1x Noctua NF-A12X15 FLX 120mm (@1400RPM max)
- for the outake of hot air => 1x Corsair Air Series ML 140 Pro (used @1400RPM to keep it silent)

Temp and noise are quite acceptable for idle and in game.
CPU: 32°C to 60°C
GPU: 35°C to 72°C

I'm thinking to swap the 2 Be Quiet fans with 2 Noctua Sterrox NF-A12x25 PWM to have more airflow for the GPU rad.
Do you think that it's worth it ?

I will also add a small Noctua NF-A6x25 PWM (60x25mm) to cool down the GPU VRM which heats a lot the glass panel.
I'm waiting for the release of the new RTX 2070 with hybrid cooling to upgrade the GPU part.

 

I'm very happy with the normal Shift case.
I'm using 2 AIO, one for CPU and one for GPU, it fits just fine.

My config:
Core I7 8700K
Asus Strix Z370-I Gaming
16Go RAM Gskill Aegis 3000Mhz CL16
Samsung SSD 970 EVO M.2 PCIe NVMe 500 Go
Corsair H80i v2 for CPU cooling
Corsair H75 for GPU cooling with Kraken G12 cutted in half to fit my MSI 1060 Aero ITX
Corsair SF600 (but not satisfied with the stiff power cables)

Fan used:
- for CPU rad as intake => 2x Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 120mm PWM (@1450RPM max)
- for GPU rad as intake => 1x Noctua NF-A12X15 FLX 120mm (@1400RPM max)
- for the outake of hot air => 1x Corsair Air Series ML 140 Pro (used @1400RPM to keep it silent)

Temp and noise are quite acceptable for idle and in game.
CPU: 32°C to 60°C
GPU: 35°C to 72°C

I'm thinking to swap the 2 Be Quiet fans with 2 Noctua Sterrox NF-A12x25 PWM to have more airflow for the GPU rad.
Do you think that it's worth it ?

I will also add a small Noctua NF-A6x25 PWM (60x25mm) to cool down the GPU VRM which heats a lot the glass panel.
I'm waiting for the release of the new RTX 2070 with hybrid cooling to upgrade the GPU part.

How did you fit a H80 and a H75 inside the smaller Shift? Care to share some pictures? I have a H80i v2 and was thinking about purchasing the Kraken G12 but was thinking about buying 2 H55 since I thought my H80i for being too thick wouldn't make it work. Your GPU is smaller than mine though (I've got an EVGA 1080 Ti SC2).

 

does any one know if the stock 140mm case fan is the PH-F140MP fan ?

thx

 

Hi guys

I'm planning on buying the Shift X. Anyone know if my Corsair AX850 will fit? It has the follwing dimensions: W: 150mm, D: 160mm H: 86mm

 

Should fit, 160mm is the limit. Will not be able to use the cover bit though, only works with SFX/-L units that.

 

aircooling the shift

Hi guys,
Yesterday i tried something: adding 3 140mm fans and air cooling all components in the shift, and you know what it's probably better than all AIO setups i tried.
Air flow is what this case needed and 3 140mm fans really gives you the airflow. Not to mention it looks really clean!

Mine is the Thermal Take Riing premium triple 140mm RGB fans, they responds to cpu temp, when i do stress test they purr up like a little beast. I usually only have the bottom fan light up to have a stealth look, but that's just me.

In the past i tried AIO bottom (h80i v2) + asus strix gtx1070, the GPU gets choked and also fueled by warmed aio air.
Now i gone all air cooled, with a 1070 blower card + big scythe 2 cpu cooler. And with those 140mm fans the case really comes alive!
CPU temp (i5-7600k at 4.4GHz) maxes at 80 under intel burn, not the greatest, but considering the cleanness of the case and awesome airflow i take it any day.

The only problem with 140mm fan is the bottom side fan screws doesn't fit with the side panel, i had to mod the side panel plastic a bit to allow the 140mm screw position to fit. (took like 5 minutes with a small drill)

Anyway i now really think air cooling this case is the best option if your cpu and gpu doesn't produce extreme amount of heat. If they do, probably go with the taller shift.

 

By the way, I've finally upgraded my Shift to dual AIO. I'm still using my 1080 Ti, but now with a Kraken G12 and 2 Corsair H55, since they're basically the only ones I could find that would fit the case. I have to say, assembling 2 AIOs, with one of them being a Kraken is a nightmare that I hope I'll never have to deal again when building a PC. This case is so ******* small that I'm still amazed by the accomplishment. Temps as expected are absurdly better - before I didn't take more than 10 minutes gaming at full load to reach the 85 C threshold and consequently, throttling. Now, I've been playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey for 2 hours straight and the max was 61 C, a remarkable difference given how tight this case is.

The case still heats up way more than I has the right to, but we can't have all the nice things at once, I guess.

 

Guys just got myself a phanteks evolve shift x and mounted a black ice GTX240 in the front and GTS120 in the bottom I currently have the radiator fans in pull and the top fan by the motherboard in exhaust but my temps are not great and the case itself heats up quiet a bit. would having all the fans in push config drawing air from inside the case (negative air pressure) be better?


My specs are:

8700k @5GHZ 1.4v
GTX1080ti @2.37ghz +300 on memory
phanteks glacia 350i cpu block
EK full cover gpu block
Corsair vengeance pro rgb 3200
2 x 500gb nvme ssd
Silverstone 800w sfxl psu

 

Hey all completed my mini Shift Skittles machine (non X)

8700k at 5ghz
1080 FE
Kraken 22


Temps are better than I thought 68c playing COD for 6 hours today

GPU temps at 79c but I was getting roughly the same temps on a NZXT Manta before

Recommend the case if you have patience because building itx is an experience (not the best) but rewarding.

I just with there was better cable management areas for Motherboard psu cables.

 

Hi guys,i d like to build up in a shift x,since i already own a 30mm 360 and a 30mm 420 rad and dont want to buy a 240+120 i m asking you a question.
do you think it s possible to place a rad between the chassis and the front panel like in pic1, placing the 3 fans inside the case?i assume there's not enough space for a rad there,so the idea is to mod the front panel and crate the space to fit the rad .Or place a rad like in pic 2 is phisically possible ?

 

Hello all! I have had my Shift build for quite some time now but I just stumbled upon this thread.

Here is my current build. I am planning on switching to the X and upgrade to an 8700k and a 240mm AIO in hopes of cooler CPU temps.

My Specs:
CPU: Intel 8600k. Delidded. OC to 4.8GHz @ 1.31v.
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i v2. (2) 120mm fans in a pull push config. CPU Temps are around 41c Idle, 70c under load.
MB: Asus ROG Srix z370-I
RAM: 2x8GB TridentZ RGB 3200mhz
Storage: 512GB WD Black M.2 & 500GB Samsung 850 EVO.
GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 Ti iCX Gaming
PSU: 500W Silverstone SFX-L
Case Fans: (2) Corsair LL140 RGB with Lighting Node Pro

 

Hello all,
I'm planning to buy shift (non X) and build my first itx pc but I've read about some problems so I'm counting that most experienced people here would be able to help me.

First question is about PCI riser cos I've read that for some people it doesn't work in 3.0 mode and they need to force gen 2 in BIOS. So do any of you experienced that issue?
Second is about airflow and GPU temps. I just want to know if this case fit RTX2070 for example this one https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N2070GAMING-OC-8GC#kf
Did somebody tried to fit RTX in this case?
And last question is about CPU cooling. Is it better to buy AIO or some air cooler for i5-9600k (not planning to OC at this point).
EDIT: I've looked at Kraken X42 and it looks nice so the question is will it fit inside?


EDIT2: So I've checked RTX prices and I'm pretty sure that I'll stay with my current GTX1070 for now. Aslo I've found this reddit topic with answer to my question bout X42 https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/72w9wj/got_my_kraken_x42_to_fit_n_the_phanteks_shift/ so can you give me some X42 alternatives? I do not take M22 into account.

 

Howdy!!

i was wondering if my GPU can fit

http://sapphirenitro.sapphiretech.com/en/vega64le.html

I recently move from GTX 1080 since im dual booting Hackintosh Mojave for working & Windows 10 For gaming
this card detects with mac seamlessly... but Apple not releasing nVidia webdriver mojave for GTX 10XX up thats why im moving revently to Vega

the card is massive even compared with strix 1080, it takes 2.5 slot of PCI and 54mm of thickness

anyone can help me? i dont want spent a fortune to get the case and Motherboard but in the end i cant use the GPU

 

It will fit in width probably, but most definitely not in height if it's 2.5 slots. If you watercool it, that's another story.

Hey guys, I am looking at getting this and was wondering.. with a bit of modding or without... would a Kraken X72 360mm AIO fit in the shift X? I am downgrading from a thermaltake view 71... and well hope that i can get it to fit...

Thanks

Not really, you'd need to mod it heavily to fit a 360.

Hey guys, I am looking at getting this and was wondering.. with a bit of modding or without... would a Kraken X72 360mm AIO fit in the shift X? I am downgrading from a thermaltake view 71... and well hope that i can get it to fit...

Thanks

240+120

Guys just got myself a phanteks evolve shift x and mounted a black ice GTX240 in the front and GTS120 in the bottom I currently have the radiator fans in pull and the top fan by the motherboard in exhaust but my temps are not great and the case itself heats up quiet a bit. would having all the fans in push config drawing air from inside the case (negative air pressure) be better?


My specs are:

8700k @5GHZ 1.4v
GTX1080ti @2.37ghz +300 on memory
phanteks glacia 350i cpu block
EK full cover gpu block
Corsair vengeance pro rgb 3200
2 x 500gb nvme ssd
Silverstone 800w sfxl psu

Remove the dust filters, put top as intake and rad fans as exhaust, get REALLY good fans (EK Vardar, Noctua Industrial, Delta's), and ramp up fan speed if all of this is still not enough.

 

I want to build my first liquid cooling. Just in this housing. And here's the question for you, in relation to your exhauster.

What coolers to sow for the best effect.
1x 280mm or 1x 240mm + 1x 120mm.

 

Hey guys, I am looking at getting this and was wondering.. with a bit of modding or without... would a Kraken X72 360mm AIO fit in the shift X? I am downgrading from a thermaltake view 71... and well hope that i can get it to fit...

Thanks

 

Hey guys.

I'm thinking of using this case horizontally with an EVGA GTX 1080Ti FTW3, with no glass panel on the bottom to let the card suck in fresh air.
Beyond dust, does anyone foresee problems with this configuration?

The rest of the case will be straight-forward: VIPER Patriot RAM and some sort of AIO. Still haven't picked a mobo, but I'm sure someone's covered that in an earlier post.