The monster component that is Threadripper is our processor of choice.

1 FAN-TASTIC

Phanteks’s Evolv ATX TG has exceptional cooling support. Designed with liquid cooling in mind, it features a unique sliding radiator bracket in the roof, along with a whole ton of support for additional fan mounting. The front of the case allows for the external installation of up to three 120mm fans, between the chassis and the front fascia panel, typically used when installing a radiator. If you’re installing fans without a rad in the front, to save space (for example, if you have two 3.5-inch hard drives installed below the PSU cover), you have to mount the fans from the rear instead of the front, as you would traditionally.

2 CABLE CONUNDRUMS

We knew going into this that, by default, the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX TG is only meant to support ATX-sized motherboards. It can accommodate the larger form factor, but only with careful planning. Because the motherboard will cover the rubber grommets used for cable management, it’s important in this scenario to install both the power supply and the cables you’re going to need first, before installing and securing the motherboard in place. This actually gives us a good opportunity to work on our cable management ahead of time — important, given the Evolv ATX TG’s clear rear glass panel.

3 TRIUMPHANT THREADRIPPER

Installing the 16-core beast is daunting. Upon purchase, you receive an Asetek bracket for your AIO and a torque screwdriver. Using the screwdriver, you undo screw three, screw two, then screw one. Let the first retention bracket lift up, then gently pull the two blue tabs up at the top of the socket. With the second retention bracket, slide out the plastic cover, then carefully remove the additional cover protecting the socket. Slide Threadripper into the second retention bracket until it clicks into place, then gently lower it on to the LGA socket, finally resecuring the top retention bracket by tightening each screw until the included screwdriver clicks, going from screw one, to two, to three.

5 PCIE PROWESS

Although we now have access to a couple of beautiful Titan Xps, we’ve decided to stick with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti — it’s a beauty, and although it doesn’t quite reach the pinnacles of performance that the Titan does, it’s more than good enough for all our rendering and lunchtime gaming needs. We’ve also decided to pull out an old favourite — Intel’s 1.2TB 750 PCIe SSD — for our primary storage drive and scratch disk. Although we’re not massive fans of PCIe add-in cards like this, particularly for storage, the performance is exceptional, and that extra capacity is going to work wonders for us.

4 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE CABLE KIND

This was always going to be a tight build, given the meaty mobo and the 280mm Kraken X62 wedged into the top of the chassis. Fortunately, thanks to the Evolv’s removable radiator bracket in the top, this stage of the build is less stressful, especially when installing the multiple cables going into the Kraken X62 CPU block and routing fans into the motherboard. Slide the bracket out halfway, and you can easily reach around and gain access to the top of the board. It was also convenient when we first booted the board, because the stock BIOS on our review sample didn’t support all 128GB at any frequency — one slide out, four sticks removed, a BIOS update and reinstall of the RAM later, and we’re all good.

6 SMART MOUNTING SSDS

Any opportunity to use a magnetic LED strip and we’ll take it. Given the nature of this build, it doesn’t really need the extra lighting inside — if anything, it’s just adding additional power draw. That said, because power draw isn’t a primary concern for us here, and it’s going to be sitting on our desk, why not? We’ve also routed the cables for the Crucial MX300 around the right-hand side of the SSD, to ensure that we can retain the label in the correct orientation. It is a little snug to plug those cables in, but once installed, they’re not going anywhere.