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adam f.

adam f.

Joined on 02/06/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 3
Most Favorable Review

Great Case for the Price, Don't expect to use the PSU

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

Pros: Great looking Case for the money (blindingly bright blue power LED included at not additional cost!). Solid enough construction, Good airflow, especially if you add 120mm fans, but even without I haven't had any heat issues, even after unlocking my 4th core and overclocking my Athlon II X3 and GPU with the stock cooler. Customer support was also spectacular, responding to my emails in a day or less. Installing my mobo took only a few minutes, everything was together in less than an hour, I am very happy with the ease of install.

Cons: You are not buying a power supply, forget about it. As others have mentioned (and I foolishly disregarded) the power supply will give you trouble- the likely reason there is a rebate. The power supply would not run my ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO. It was giving very odd OS problems, it would boot and be missing random components. I tested the PSU and found the +3.3 was running at 3.68 and the +12VDC was running at 12.73, both outside of the accepted tolerance. I emailed Apevia and they responded immediately, I had a replacement in less than 2 weeks (I had to pay for shipping in the bad PSU, which adds another $10 to the price of this unit). I couldn't wait, so I purchased a new PSU and everything was up and running like a champ. When I received the new PSU from Apevia I tested it and verified everything is within tolerance. I am guessing they were clearing out PSU's with this case that didn't quite make the cut. It may or may not work, depending on how picky your mobo is, you have been warned.

Overall Review: If you have a PSU, want to take a chance, or want to spend an extra $10 and 1-2 weeks mailing in your (most likely) defective PSU for a replacement, go with this case, it is very much worth it and Apevia Support is a pleasure to work with. The paint does chip easily, but I have seen much worse for more money. I personally don't like how 3 out of the 4 HDD mounts will have them vertical (if the case is horizontal), but that might just be my vertical HDD superstition kicking in.

Most Critical Review

NEVER RECEIVED REBATE

Telex Electro-Voice EV Sonic XS 4.1 5-Piece Powered Hardcore Multimedia Speaker System-A Grade Refurbished
Telex Electro-Voice EV Sonic XS 4.1 5-Piece Powered Hardcore Multimedia Speaker System-A Grade Refurbished

Pros: Sound quality for the money (had I received my rebate) would be outstanding, however see cons...

Cons: Connections are a little touchy, especially the main proprietary connection from the sub to the right front speaker which houses the volume control. The style is outdated but I don't really care. Th BIG issue is how many suckers bought these solely because of the rebate and never received anything. I am out $120, that is unacceptable!

died within 2 weeks

CASIO Green Slim XJ-A230 WXGA 1280x800 2000 Lumens DLP Projector Mercury Free Light Source
CASIO Green Slim XJ-A230 WXGA 1280x800 2000 Lumens DLP Projector Mercury Free Light Source

Pros: Compact design, LED lamp

Cons: Rainbow effect is horrible. Demensions are no good for home theatre, perhaps okay for office use. Fan was extremely loud and had a high pitched whine that drove me crazy. After two weeks of 2 hours per day of use, the projector won't start, power and temp lights go red on start up, most likely fan problems. Luckily I bought from costco so back to the store it goes. I would recommend the optima hd20 over this, it is a about $100 more, but well worth the price, although you don't get the LED light source.