APEVIA Black SECC Steel / Aluminum X-MASTER-BK/500 ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: It's a nice case if you are willing to fix it a bit.

Cons: Front-panel USB failed after we started plugging an iPhone 5 into it. Examination showed that the printed circuit board traces on the little board that connects the USB cable from the motherboard to the USB sockets had burned up in the +5v line. (I presume they couldn't handle the increased power draw for the iPhone.) I soldered in wires in place of the defunct traces and it works fine again. I would think this part is underdesigned.

In addition, the front-panel power switch came loose. I had to glue it to its mount on the back of the front panel.

Other Thoughts: This is an update to my previous review of 10/25/2010.

Note that I've also replaced the power supply after all.

Pros: Looks nice on the outside. Lids fit well with easy access to both top and bottom. Few sharp or rough edges.

Cons: Only 5 standoffs in box, had to find my own. Power supply is not equiped with 2x4 CPU connector, had to use a different one. Blue power light on front panel is brighter than most research lasers, (poor idea for entertainment center in dimmed lighting). Space for primary hard drive is eaten up if you wish to have an extra front panel USB available. Seconday mounting location for hard drive is on it's side behind power switch with minimal ventilation. Dual fans supplied in back of case have 4 pin molex connectors only, can't utilize controlled ouputs on mother board.

Other Thoughts: If you have the spare parts to make it work, it's not a bad looking case. But if you are expecting to assemble a system with little extra effort, forget it.

Pros: Sleek looking, decent price. Would work great with a mATX or anything smaller than a ATX. Front placement of PSU is interesting, though I'm not sure it really matters where it's at. Good ventilation.

Cons: Cheaply made. If you replace the junk PSU, you better make sure its the same size. No room to hide cables. If you actually want to use an ATX board, you better be a cable wizard, otherwise you'll hate your life.

Pros: Nice looking, good cooling potential, and roomy

Cons: PSU is low quality, 80 mm fans at the rear are next to useless

Other Thoughts: Upon opening the box I was greeted with an attractive, very glossy black case. Opening the case itself though, showed a very substandard PSU which I replaced with a Corsair 430. I also replaced the 80 mm fans in the rear with a 120 mm on the right side which helps keep the Trinity A8-5600K CPU at under 60C at full load.

The result is an incredibly quiet and cool case with decent room to work in and the capability to mount second optical and hard drives.

Pros: great case if using a full size psu. for the price it is hard to ask for more.

Cons: after the first install i broke the wire to the power button. wires could be longer to help prevent this. just be careful pulling the front cover off.
I do not like the way the psu bay is set up. you need to pull the front case cover off to access the back of the psu due to it being set in backwards. this is done prbly to save space but i still dont like it. have owned it for over 3 yrs and everytime i tweak the hardware i have to remove the front cover which is not fun.

Pros: A couple of pros: The case has a re-positioned PSU, which makes this case much smaller, if you don't mind the sacrifice of HDD space.

Cons: Many more cons. The price wasn't prohibitive in my choice for buying this case, but it's still more than I paid for a CM 690 II, but the cases aren't really comparable, so it's not fair. The case couldn't fit a 4870. To accommodate my 4870, I had to bend and break and spend half an hour remodeling the PSU cage so that my 4870 could fit. Barely. Very, hardly, just so barely. It hurts to look at the strain that the cables are put at with how little space there is, but it does fit.
This case has terrible ventilation, when stock. The two-80 mm fans that sit in the back acting as exhaust have very poor air movement, and have only molex connectors with (obviously) two pins. My case only arrive with 7 of ten standoffs and 8 screws. It works, but i'd still like to have them.
There are only two places to put an HDD as stock: in the front where there is almost no air flow which is under the front 5.25 in drive bays. This area happens to be the place where all of the spare cables from the PSU s

Other Thoughts: It took me 30 minutes with my leatherman multitool to pull all of the aluminum of the PSU case out and allow the PSU to move a very slight bit. It was a hassle, but it worked, so i'm pleased to have a slightly higher-end card.

All in all, this case isn't that bad, it just costs a lot for a small decrease in height. The width of the case is a little constricting. It *JUST* barely fit my 4870, in both height of the case, and width, making friends with the (now inch farther away) PSU.

Pros: Compact design for a ATX case, glossy paint.

Cons: Did not fit my 8800GTS video card, system power cables coming out of the power supply blocked card installation. Once motherboard is installed the lower hard drive bay is blocked unless you bend the metal tabs wide enough for the drive to slip in and bend back. My case came with only 7 motherboard mounts instead of 10, and only 6 screws to mount the motherboard with instead of 10. Power supply only had one 4 prong power cable for secondary motherboard power instead of the two my motherboard requires. The extension cable from the power supply to the back of the case was slightly too short and puts tension against the motherboard. The front case power / reset cables were too short to reach my motherboard without rerouting them across the lower hard drive bay. Overall, not happy with the case and returning it for something better.

Other Thoughts: Don't buy anything from Apevia, spend your money with a company that cares about the quality of their products.

Pros: Fans are super quiet and effective. Power Supply location prevents power supply from heating case.

Cons: Thin metals. Difficult to put motherboard in: it takes some maneuvering. The trick is to place the front of the board in and push it under the drive bays, then drop the back. Case fans need mobo plugs as well as P/S plugs. Would like P/S supply to have fan hookup so system can monitor it. Not enough stand offs for my micro-ATX mobo.

Other Thoughts: Its bigger than it looks, be sure to use a ruler to visualize it.

All in all a good deal for a $215.00 media server (not including hard drive)

Pros: Reasonably compact, but not to where you have to try to shoehorn everything in, or feel limited because it lacks the room to add a hard drive or normal graphics card. Very quiet, including the power supply and 2, temperature-regulated rear case fans. Top removes easily for access with 2 thumbscrews, well-built, and designed for adequate cooling. Room to add a card reader with extra USB port in front, along with up to 2 CD/DVD/BD drives if you want.

Cons: A bit pricey if you pay full list price, but it's been so nice to work with that I haven't regretted paying almost full price for it.

Other Thoughts: I got fed up with trying to run a HTPC on an Intel Ion dual-core ultra-compact that just barely had enough power to run 1080p or Netflix HD if everything was perfect...which it seldom is. With a healthy quad-core AMD and solid ASUS micro-ATX board, and an SSD system drive, this runs everything while multitasking, always stutter-free and without hesitation. Much nicer than trying to squeeze in underpowered components with frustrating results.
While the built-in fans do a reasonable job, mine was inside a cabinet, so I added a quiet, low-volume 120mm fan on the right side, blowing outward (trial and error proved it best). (the left side vent is covered by my 1TB storage drive) Once I replaced the stock noisy AMD CPU fan/heatsink with a quiet one from Newegg, the whole system stays cool and silent, barely audible on a warm day when it's working hard. This case has been worth the extra space it uses many times; no more worrying if things will fit or if a HD movie will overload it.

Pros: Better looking in my entertainment center than a standard case.

Cons: Cheaply made, too deep for many entertainment centers, yet narrow. Worst part is the PSU was DOA. Pulled it and replaced with an Antec 400w PSU and all was well. The PSU that comes with this case is a junk and weighs about half what the Antec does.

Other Thoughts: Spend the extra cash and buy a decent Antec case. I'd return this garbage, but I already have all the components in and working with a decent Antec PSU. I will never buy another Apevia product again, the savings are not worth it.

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.