APEVIA X-QBOII X-QBOII-NW-BK/500 Black SECC Steel MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply

Pros: Appearance, space, tooless assembly, airflow, Original PSU still alive and well.

Cons: Cable management

Other Thoughts: I originally posted on this case on December 9, 2010.

The unit has performed flawlessly since put to work over 2 years ago.
Power supply furnished in case is still kicking, never skipped a beat or a single glitch.

This PC has run at least 10 to18 hours per day for over 2 years. I routinely play PC games such as ALL of the Call of Duty series, "Spacemarine" (a personal favorite), MS FlightSim, "IL-2 Sturmovik 1946".

The CPU (Intel core I5 quad) and Radeon 5670 HD stay cool under load. This is precisely why with the upgrade/rebuild about to commence, I opted to continue using this case vs getting a new one.
Although not a "Super Enthusiast" capable PC, it has been worked hard both in game play (on and offline games), productivity (Office-Work related), and just plain old "Surfing" ;-)

I am rebuilding with Radeon 7870 LE Tahiti "Myst" graphics card, a new 630W single rail 12v, 80 PLUS Certified PSU, 12 GB DDR3, Win 7 Home Prem 64bit WD "Black" 64 mg cache, 7200 RPM, replacing/adding fans for greater Negative pressure.

I will be using the Apevia PSU in another build of a "Give-Away" PC, largely using components replaced in new build for one to give away for a more than capable home PC.

I still give this case high marks, even moreso given it has run a great many hours per day since built and has shown no signs of wear, age or efficiency.

Definitely recommend for the budget minded builder, adding an additional fan or two improves it's cooling capabilities.

Pros: Good price
Easy screwless installation for drives

Cons: PSU does not have 8 pin connector for new mobos which was not documented in the item description. This required purchase of a molex + 4 pin to 8 pin adapter to power the mobo.

Other Thoughts: Overall, I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Great price for a case with PSU included. We'll just have to see how long the PSU lasts - can't expect too much from it. All 500watt PSUs are NOT made equal, but I'm aware of that going into this. Figured I'd take a chance and maybe save some $$$.

Pros: Does it's job well enough; contains a computer! The included 500W PSU is a nice bonus.

Cons: The plastic tool-less drive attachments are very brittle. Four of them are shipped in a small box insert. The packaging was fine, they were bound tightly with a rubberband. However, they all arrived completely destroyed. The lower drive cage is essentially useless without them.

Some of the aluminum pieces of the case do not fit together well (particularly the upper drive cages) so removing and reinstalling them can be difficult. Beware of stripped screws.

Other Thoughts: Regardless of its shortcomings, this is a great case. It looks quite nice (black, basic, minimal design, blue LEDs) and the included case fan is fairly quiet.

As long as you don't need the lower drive cage, this case is a good buy!

Manufacturer Response:

You can contact Apevia's customer service at service@apevia.com or call at (909) 718-0789 for support regarding the broken drive rails. We try to reply to all calls and e-mails as soon as we can.

Pros: Cost, Ease of use.

Cons: Standoff screws, PSU fan exhaust direction, cable management

Other Thoughts: I argue that the thing would be better if the front panel was flipped upside down, and if there was some kind of rudimentary cable management system. But for the price, it's tough to beat.

Pros: Tool-less drive bays.
Nice appearance.

Cons: Motherboard mounts upside-down which is weird.
Comes with no front or back fans, only a side fan. Whose idea was that?
Idiotic drive cage placement (see below)

Other Thoughts: There's two 5.25 drive bays on top, and two 3.5 bays below that. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to squeeze my hard drive into one of those 3.5 bays, so I had to put it in the 3.5 cage mounted on the bottom of the case. There's a problem with this, however - The power supply only has two SATA connectors and they're on the same cable. It won't simultaneously reach the DVD drive at the top and the hard drive at the bottom. I'm forced to order a SATA extender cable and wait another week or so for it to ship, before I'll be able to complete this build.

Pros: Hard to go wrong for $40.

Tool-less drive bays.

Side vent.

Roomy for a mATX case.

Front 1394 port.

Cons: Completely devoid of cable management features.

Poor quality for a case that normally retails for $75. This case feels like it's a $50 case.

Front 1394 port.

Other Thoughts: The motherboard is mounted upside-down. Because of this and the absence of any cable management features, it is almost impossible to make the inside of the case look neat. Not much of an issue as there is no side window.

Just like every other cheap case/PSU combo I have ever worked with, this PSU is your most basic PSU. Only 2 SATA power connectors. Normally, I wouldn't have issue with this but there are 4 Molex connectors and 2 Berg connectors. Yes, the same Berg connectors that you connect to floppy drives. Two of them! It almost redeems itself by including a 6 pin PCI-e connector. If they replaced even one of those Berg connectors with a SATA power plug, it would be worlds better.

Included is a 120mm fan on the side. It's quiet, lights up blue and moves air. Wish one for the front was included.

I love the hard drive cage. Tool-less. The drive rails snap right onto the drive and the drive slides into the cage. It's removable which makes installing the drives easier. If you have a larger mATX board with 4 RAM slots, be careful with your RAM height, it's tight. The rest of the drive bays are also tool-less, using a sliding locking mechanism.

Overall, if you grab this case for $40, after rebate, it's hard to go wrong.

Pros: Cost, ease of setup

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: Its not a high end, flashy case by any means but for a small build for the kids to use it is perfect.

Pros: good size for mATX, ok layout, good budget case

Cons: Power LED very bright, hdd led can barely see, long video cards are tricky to install when using upper drive cage (will fit but barely), allows a lot fan noise out of case, power supply not of good quality (gave errors to mobo with 125W cpu, four total drives and two ram modules + radeon 48xx video card)

Other Thoughts: Cannot use with any power hungry components - rebate not yet received

Pros: Looks nice, comes with a PSU(mine still going after about a year and a half). Simple, clean look. I got my rebate so the price wasn't bad.

Cons: There is a major design flaw with this case and it affects performance. The exhaust fans are at the bottom of the case... and heat rises. The psu exhausts some of the hot air through the psu, but having the two small fan slots at the bottom doesn't really get the hot air out. Not a problem if your system doesn't generate alot of heat, but if you try to OC or have any heat generated within the case, it doesn't get exhausted effectively. The side intake fan doesn't move very much air (but on the pro side - it's very quiet).

Other Thoughts: When I had a low power system in this case it wasn't really an issue. I upgraded some components and oc'd the proc and the heat sort of got trapped. I think there is a reason this case almost always comes with a pretty hefty rebate... it is not worth the normal price. Luckily I received my rebate so I only paid around 40 dollars, plus, my power supply has stayed strong thus far so I can't really complain - But expect to have heat issues if you plan on using any higher end components or oc'ing at all. I installed an intake fan in the front too which didn't help.

Pros: It's a very cool looking, small case. I like the blue LED's and the overall aesthetic is pleasing.

Cons: The PSU fried in no time. I didn't buy it because it came with a PSU so it wasn't a deal breaker when it fried, but it only took about a month to die on me. I wish cases could come with a good PSU. We would pay more for the case if it came with a good PSU, but the problem is that most consumers will just sort their search by cheapest price. They see case + 500w PSU, great deal!

Other Thoughts: I would still buy this case even with the PSU issue because I like the design so much.

Manufacturer Response:

You can do an RMA through us for the power supply to get an exchange on the PSU if you are still under our warranty period. You can contact Apevia's customer service at service@apevia.com or call at (909) 718-0789. We try to reply to all calls and e-mails as soon as we can.