Question 1

Can the vertical stand be removed to use it on its side ?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the stands can be removed. In fact, they are not fastened to the case. But the side that you would probably consider the bottom has most of the ventilation holes, so that is probably not an optimal arrangement. (There are no ventilation holes on the other side, so if you don't mind the case looking like it is upside down, you should be good to go.)

Question 2

What color are the power & HDD LED's on this case?

Accepted Answer

Power is blue and hdd is red.   I used my motherboard to turn off the power led since this is an htpc.

Question 3

Will this case support up to thee standard size hard rives? I plan on using a SSD, one WD Green, and perhaps another WD in the future.

Accepted Answer

It only has two bays, I don't know how else you would find a way, perhaps if you found a way to use the optical drive space, but you would have to custom rig that up on your own.

Question 4

how many fans can you put into this case?

Accepted Answer

There aren't any dedicated fan mounting points. And there's not really room at all anyways. You have the one with the built-in PSU and your CPU heatsink fan. Right above the motherboard are some ventilation holes. Unless you want to try and squeeze a tiny 60mm or 80mm fan somewhere above the heatsink (ill-advised solution) or mount one outside of the case, I'd say you are pretty good without extra fans.
If you really need extra cooling, either get a aftermarket low-profile heatsink or try and and keep the case near a cool air source (an external air cooler).

Question 5

Do the 2 USB 2.0 ports use a single motherboard connector or two separate connectors?

Accepted Answer

Cases with two USB 2.0 ports will always connect to a single port on the motherboard; this one is no different.

The only time this may not be true is on cases with an integral card reader or other such device that needs its own USB channel.  Then you may see two USB connectors, in which one may have half the number of conductors, which implies that it's only using one of the two USB channels available from that port on the motherboard.

Question 6

What size fan does this come with and what size is it?

Accepted Answer

It's an 80mm. Just checked the details for the item.

Question 7

Does anyone know the max video clearance length?

Accepted Answer

I don't remember the exact clearance length of the video cards, but if I remember correctly, the length isn't the issue.  The height is the real problem.  The card needs to be a "low profile" card such as the AMD FirePro 2460.
A lot of the low profile cards come with different size brackets to fit in a regular case or a slim case such as this.  I bought the case and it works really well for the most part.   It's strong, fits a lot in it, and very affordable. It's hard to find power supplies and graphics cards that fit tho.  But other than that, the case is strong and powerful!

Question 8

I would like to use a small case like this one but the power supply is too low (275 watts). The system I want to build in it will include a micro ATX MOBO, an 8 core AMD CPU, 16 gig of memory, a CD drive, a SSD, and various fans. This would be pushing or exceeding the PSU capabilities. Has anyone ever taken an ATX PSU and just set it on top of the computer case at the rear and ran the wires into the case through the back? Do you see any problem with this? As the computer will be sitting inside a desk enclosure it would not be noticeable and should make the case run even cooler. What do you think? Thanks
 Jan 19,2015

Accepted Answer

I own this case with a bluray drive, 1TB samsung evo 840,  ASUS itx mobo, intel i5 3+ghz, and 2 small fans.  Havent had any problems.  I forget the brands, but there are a few 400 watt powersupplies with this form factor.

Question 9

can his case be used with a mini itx board?

Accepted Answer

Without opening up my case and removing the motherboard (the "bottom/side" of this case is riveted on), I can say this: Most mini ITX motherboards will fit into most mATX cases. The four screw holes on a mini ITX motherboard are supposed to match the four screw holes around the CPU area on mATX and ATX motherboards.

Hopefully someone else who has an unused case can answer this definitively.

Question 10

anyone having trouble with the usb3.0? i only get one port to work. the other one gives me broken device messages

Accepted Answer

Some of my ports flake out every once in a while.  But usually come back.  More of a software issue than hardware.

Brand	APEX
Model	DS-539

Type	Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
Color	Black
Case Material	Steel
Power Supply	Flex 275W
Motherboard Compatibility	Micro ATX/Flex ATX
Side Window	Yes

External 5.25" Drive Bays	1
External 3.5" Drive Bays	1
Internal 3.5" Drive Bays	2
Expansion Slots	4 Low-Profile Expansion

Front USB Ports	2 x USB 2.0 + 2 x USB 3.0
Front FireWire Ports	2 x HD Audio Port
Front Audio Ports	Yes

Height	13.25"
Width	3.9"
Depth	17"
Weight	11 lbs.

APEX Black Steel DS-539 Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

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Item#: N82E16811154115