APEX DM-387 Black Steel Micro ATX Media Center / Slim HTPC Computer Case w/ ATX12V TFX 275W Power Supply

Pros: This case is great for such a small size and a great price. I had been looking for a sleek-ish case for my HTPC build but everything I looked at that I liked was in the $99-$199 price range and most didn't have a power supply included. This one is SMALL but has pleanty of room to work with. This case is designed to stand verticle with a set of two stands, however if you want to lay it down it also includes adhesive feet (that don't move once attatched either) to lay it flat and still be able to operate the door. The door is also a nice magnetic latch instead of a mechanical one, meaning it's going to be hard to damage the latch side of the door.

Cons: This case has only a few minor issues that I feel you should know about before buying this case. None of them were bad enough to knock off an egg but might be seen differently by other people. 1) The front door hinge is not very strong, I can see it being broken with a little extra force in the wrong direction if you're not careful. 2) There are NO motherboard standoffs in this case, the motherboard plate simply has raised screw holes that you screw the motherboard directly into. 3) When using the rubber feet for using this case horizontally the front door still doesnt swing open all the way. It's enough to access the drives and reset button without obstruction but it still is pushed up at a slight angle by the surface the case is sitting on. 4) The USB ports ARE upside down, I thought I could remove the USB ports and flip them over, but the sound jacks are a little off center and so won't flip.

Overall Review: Again, none of the cons were bad enough for me to not love this case. I would buy it again for any other small form factor build. For reference, the power supply includes the following connectors: 20+4 pin main power connector 4-pin CPU power connector 1 SATA power connector 1 floppy drive power 2 molex power Notice that there's only 1 SATA power adapter, so make sure that if you're using both SATA DVD and HDD you have some sort of Molex to SATA power adapter. Also make sure your video card doesnt require extra juice to run. The front panel connectors are also extremely long for such a small case. They can run to the back of the case then halfway back to the front again with some slack between. As a side note, I dont know if this was my case or my motherboard's back panel but I had trouble putting the panel protector in place. It took a little wrestling to get it in. Not really a con, but I was worried that I was putting too much force and that I would bend the case

Pros: Good build quality (one exception, see cons), easy installation of hardware, good price, small, 270 watts is plenty

Cons: The button that presses the power button on the front door started malfunctioning after six months (solved by removing front door), fans are a little noisy, but they are replaceable.

Overall Review: Why are people complaining about 270 watts? That is more than enough for what you should put in this case. I have an Athlon X3 720, mobo, two 7200rpm hard drives, DVD burner and an ATI 4650 GPU running off the power supply and even under peak load it is okay. Anyway, I've had a great experience with this case, I will buy another when I'm building a new computer.

Pros: Very Cheap Price, Small Size, Attractive, Made to work upright or on its side, Perfect for HTPC. Removable HDD/Optical Drive Cage - Mixed its a pro because it makes working inside the case easier but just be careful with it so you can get it in and out property (dont block it with wires)

Cons: No real cons so far, its a very cheap case so I cant compare it to the likes of my $200 P182SE, so things like the thin metal insides, or sharp edges are not really cons because it should be expected. Do note that this is like a $30 case considering it has a PSU in it so don't compare it to $100+ cases.

Overall Review: I built a HTPC with this case, I needed something small, good looking, cheap, and that world work on its side. This was not only about the only match I found but a perfect match! I am very happy with it. I do not trust cheap cases with built in power supplies, I built computers as a hobby and I would never use this thing for a gaming rig. However since its a HTPC I used ultra low power parts. I have the 45w AMD CPU, a "Green" HDD and I am just using intergrated grapics so my system only draws like 90w of power under load, so that cheapo 250w PSU should handle it no problems. I would not put any kind of high power build in here though. Comes with everything you need, has the AC97 & HDaudio front panel connections. Comes with the fan on it already (fan is a bit loud for a silent HTPC setup, I used software on my mobo to slow it down) Bottom line for the money its unbeatable and I highly recommend it for a low power build like a HTPC or a websurf/word processing machine.

Pros: Case itself is fairly nice. Most edges rounded nicely. Drive cage lifts out for ease of access. Fairly good layout for cooling.

Cons: The power supply is a piece of cheap junk. Have had *3* of *5* die in the last 3 years, 1 in warrenttee the other two somewhat out. The case fan is badly positioned, blocks some access to the 3.5" slot and if you upgrade the PS to a GOOD ITC power supply you have to remove the case fan entirely to fit the PS.

Overall Review: There is no excuse for using SLEEVE BEARING fans for the case fan or in the PS - one PS appears to have died after the CHEAP fan froze up due to rapid wearout of the bearing, have had to replace 2 of the case fans so far due to rapid wearout. If I could get JUST the case with no PS at half the price I'd like this case a LOT better.

Pros: This was my first purchase of a Micro ATX case. Was worried there wouldn't be enough room or power for everything I wanted in it. This case was easy to put everything together and had plenty of room for everything.

Cons: Comes with limited cableing. Had to go get spear SATA cables as it only came with one.

Overall Review: CD Rom and Hard drive don't fit flushly in front case so it down't look as nice as I would like it to.

Pros: Well, here's just a recap on what I've found to be best and worst about this case over the last month that I had it. This is just an extension of my previous review so for more details go there... First off, I am loving the size, this is one of the better looking cases and it's also quiet and cool. Many people complained about the fan being too loud, however it's no louder than my PS3 when it's on and this thing moves a TON of air. I initially bought a replacement 80mm fan and tossed it to another rig because I like the stock fan better. Also, the door is nice (visually). I love how it's semi-transparant. I bought an nMediaPC Pro-LCD-B and modified it to fit in the 3.5" external slot while I had a hard drive in (basically the OEM LCD only) and now my media PC looks like a DVD player. You can actually see the LEDs very clearly through the front door and it reminds me of the nice samsung blu ray players. Other than this, nothing major that I didnt already specify.

Cons: I havent found anything major that I didn't list previously, however I did notice that the front panel (the whole panel, not just the door" seems weak in the middle. if you press your thumb down on it you feel it flex a little. Not enought to remove an egg still. I also still have trouble with getting the front door to open all the way. I tried raising the rubber feet a little, and adding the verticle stands (pulled apart to use with the case in a horizontal position) but nothing works. I guess I have to cope. I NEVER have to open the door for anything though, so I can live with it. it's only a minor setback in my book, but this case is still the start of a beautiful relaitonship with Apex and their products. The drive cage can be tricky as well. I had trouble with cable management under the drive cage and it makes pushing it down 100% some what tricky...

Overall Review: I've found a lot of people having trouble with the drive cage. Just as a tip, when you go to put it back in the case, put the drive cage verticle to the case (while the case is laying flat) and put the front pegs in the designated slot. Then you want to lay it flat so that the rear pegs sit flat just behind the cutout notch. You then want to slide the whole cage forward while pressing down on the back of the drive cage. This should help you get your DVD drive and anything you have in the 3.5" slot slide in flush without causing any damage. if you slide the drive cage forward while you're lowering it down, you may find your DVD drive grind against the front bezel and make it dificult to install the drive cage flush and also may cause the case's side panel difficult to re-attatch.

Pros: Relatively small form factor, well organized case, handle removable drive tray; solid build, decent power supply for a modest setup, quiet and efficient fan

Cons: tight fit, only one SATA power feed (you'll need a standard-to-SATA Y), front door is a little big

Overall Review: I was looking for a small case for a custom build I was doing to replace a Linksys DMA2200 extender BRICK. This was perfect. A Gigabyte dual-bios Mobo with on-board GigE, 7.1 sound and HDMI out, plus an LG Blue-ray drive, a big HHD, an MCE remote control and Vista HP...poof! I have an excellent media PC that could pull in all music, DVDs and video from my big HTPC server down in my theater, as well as play CD/DVD/Blu-ray natively. Plus access all VMC online content (secondrun.tv) Modest price, looks great, is quiet and performs very well. Just make sure you aren't planning to build a monster...275W power supply won't get you there.

Pros: Attractive, sturdy, compact. Fan is well positioned IMO. I didn't notice any sharp edges. The power supply seems reliable, and it has enough amps for my needs. The power supply has an 80mm fan, so it is probably cooler and quieter than other PSUs that have smaller fans.

Cons: No on/off switch on the power supply. Headphone/speaker jack at the front of the case has a lot of line noise (see my remedy below). The drive cage is hard to work with. This is partly due to the design, but mostly due to cable routing challenges. For example, if your motherboard is large (mine is 9.6" x 9.6"), the ATX power connector is underneath the optical drive and the cable rubs against the drive no matter how hard I try to bend the wires out of the way. As another reviewer noted, he couldn't get the faceplate of the drive flush with the front of the case, and I suspect it was because one of the cables was in the way--the drive cage probably would have locked into position properly if the cable was moved out of the way, but it's very hard to see what is going on under the drive cage when you're trying to put everything together. I finally figured out that the USB cable was slightly in the way, so I moved it over half an inch and then it was fine.

Overall Review: I replaced the 80mm case fan with a very quiet fan, as I planned to do before I ever used the case. My components stay cool with only one case fan when I keep the case in a vertical position (which puts the fan on top). The cable for the front headphone/speaker jack has two connectors, one for HD audio and one for AC'97 audio. Since there was so much line noise, I cut off the AC'97 connector and slipped a ferrite toroid over the cable, and that eliminated all of the noise. I knocked off an egg because an end user should not have to do something like this and an RMA would not have solved the problem.