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

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I really liked the deal for this case. It is cheap, and has everything I wanted. In order to make it better for me, I had to buy an extra fan, some fan filters, and a DVD player that is ok being verticle since I have to set this case on it's side. This is a small case, and some video cards may have problems with it. Overall it is working really well.

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It is the type of case I was looking for to make my HTPC(price). It is tricky getting things in to the case. IDE harddrive and dvd drive cables may block air flow. It comes with two fans on rear. But i added another fan on side because of high temperature from Pent4 Prescott. At first I was getting shocked each time I tried to press the eject button for dvd drive. Not sure if that is because of case. I wish the power supply was in the back(it is in front and power button hidden). You will need to switch power supply on before closing case. You will have to take face plate off in order to put power supply on and insert dvd drive. The faceplate removal is tricky as well. Premade dvd drive slot did not work out for me. So I used bottom slot. Airflow through system is questionable, because of small space. Recommended so far.

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Unit looks pretty good, but came with a defective power supply. I had to replace with one of my own due to the fact that I had to have it up and running quickly. If you do not put in the optional fans in the side location the unit will run very hot. The fans that come with it are very noisy, I can hear them even with the TV turned up and the doors on my entertainment cabinet closed. If you are ok with these issues then it should work for you. I had no problem getting everything inside that I needed.

Comment:
its worth the extra money for this case. the psu was great and is powering my amd quad core. cones with two back fans and too more can be added on the sides. the only con is the blue light on the front. have to put a tape on it, too bright

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Power supply does not have an EATX 8 pin plug. I Loaded a micro atx mb which recommends the 8 pin vs 4 Pin EATX plug for a quad core cpu. Had to flip the 6 pin EATX on the included PSU to get the 12 V yellow wires on the correct rail and use half of the 4 pin P4 plug to get the other 2 pins.Had to file the plugs so they would fit together into the 8 pin socket. After that all was good. Case looks great and airflow is good as I added 2 120MM fans to vent out on the sides. They should include an adapter for the PSU as that was a pain in the buttox.

Comment:
Great case under $100.00. I have bought other cases for over $100 and they were not of this high quality. Solid case for standing up or laying down. Plenty of fans come with it and a bonus of a hefty 500 watt power supply. Plan on using a micro board if you want to use two hard drives. A full size ATX board prevents second hard drive from pluging cables in it. Other than that.. this is a great looking and super Quiet case. Have bought 4 and ordering more.

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I built my first HTPC. Wanted something nice but not too expensive. This case has a lot of room and seems to be of pretty good quality without breaking the bank.

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You only have 8.5 inches for your graphics card so forget about any high end cards. Tight Fit all the way around. Looks nice.

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I used this case recently for my first new PC build. Everything came together really well but the case got scratched slightly while moving it around to build it and the cables coming out of the PSU were difficult to manage, especially with a large video card that dissecting the interior. The cables needed some extra securing to keep them off the CPU fan. Other than that no issues! Great price

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I recently built my own HTPC and wanted something that would fit in well. This case with its large size yet ability to lie flat was the perfect fit. The case is feels very sturdy and scratch resistant. The front ports work very well and I was able to put together the PC in a couple of hours.

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Works as expected, Very fast delivery, So far no problem. Thanks.

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This case is perfect if you dont mind the size It runs very cool and quiet I have an Athlon II x 2 processor in it

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For the price, it is a decent product. However, for me I found that the case did not come with enough stand offs or screws to secure my ATX motherboard (which it claims to be compatible with), even though it does fit. Also, the required plastic slides flat out do not work for installation of a DVD burner. I totally had to modify the slides by carving the ends down and drilling countersink spaces for the screws to slide past the locking part of the chassis. Even with that, the DVD burner does not lock in place like it should, so beware. As long as you are good with building things and fabricating your own components, then this is a good buy for you.

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This case is really good. It worked out awesome for my media center build

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Th ecase looks great adn one the inside alot of room. Only problem is Airflow. I have a Phenom X4 adn added to 120mm fan to increase airflow which the case provides adaquete space for. The Only Problem is that the ps wire run every where around the inside which causes some turbulanet airflow but my system is still super cool. A little loud due to having 2 122mm pushing 90 CFM air around.

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Like several other reviewers, I bought this case for an HTPC because it actually fits in an entertainment center. Also, it came with its own 500 watt PSU. CONS: The case is indeed small - don't plan on cramming a bunch of cards in here because you'll run out of space fast. The power cords come out of the PSU right in line with the PCI-e on my XFX mobo, so larger cards will come close to touching it if you're not careful. Air flow inside the case is tricky, especially with a large video card. PROS: Slimmer profile than most of the massive cases you see. PSU works fine. It's a tight squeeze when putting it together, but once you do its a nicer case. Would buy again for building another HTPC.

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I mated this case with a Asus HDMI motherboard with optical audio out. This was a perfect match for a HTPC. The case has a few quirks. Extra drives mount to the sides where the 120mm fan can be added. This is not clearly pointed out in the manual. While it is suggested to be a gamers case. I think its more for HTPC. For the price it is an excellent value. I was able to install all the drives and MOBO in about 1 hour. One other note. The fans are very quiet. This might be impart to Asus MOBO fan control software. In any case this combo of case and MOBO has turned out to make an excellent HTPC with HD HDMI and optical 5.1 surround audio.

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Its a great high quality case but ended up returning due to a bad PCU that died in 24 hours. I put a full ATX motherboard (EVGA 790i SLI, a 8800GTS, and a q9550 into this case. The PSU only had a 4-pin CPU power plug but worked in the 8-pin board, it also has 1 6-pin power plug for graphics. The chassis had to be slightly spread apart to cram the video card in. After getting it all in the video cards power plug was smashed against the PCU. After the PCU died I tried replacing with another PCU but come to find out the PSU incluced is a special one that isn't as long as the standard ones, so my video card would no longer fit. I decided to just go with a different case (GMC R2 Toaster case, 13.?" depth) that looks weird, but fits my 16" standard AV space 61" tv stand that this one did not. All in all if super video card isn't needed or used this case would be great even with a different PSU. If your building a HTPC this would work great but limited GPU space, and bad PSU, k

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Buying this I was sure I would rate everything 5 stars. The case was cheap, had lots of fan mounts, came with a 500w PSU... and was *supposed* to be ATX. The inside of the case is prohibitively cramped. My 650i nvidia ultra barely fit with IDE port beyond the threshold - no space for a 2nd HD. Not only could I not fit all the components that fit in an ATX case, but the stuff I was able to jam in blocked airflow. With my modest 8600GTS the southbridge-PCI area had almost no air flow - low celing means that air must travel through the card. And the strange PSU location meant that the PSU fan was unable to suck air out - the thing demands extra fans. Lack of airflow aside, the front panel is removed by brute force (not screws) and the CD mount didn't fit. PSU power switch is hidden behind the case. Sad thing is I would recommend the product because its the only under 100$ horizontal ATX case I found - even though the case was clearly not designed with use in mind :-(

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I received this product yesterday to build a home thearter PC. Pros: Suprisingly roomy, comes with fans, comes with 500W power supply,alot of places for fans, very good construction. Cons: stock fans are quiet but move absolutely no air, wierd power supply location if you have a modular powe supply and an ECS board your mother board 24 pin connecter gets in the way of the pci-e slot ( i just bent my card alittle and it works fin. Overalll this case is a great starting point for any HTPC highly reccomended]

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Gigabyte MA78G-DS3h motherboard, AMD Phenom X3 processor, 3 SATA Hard drives, 2 TV tuner cards, 6GB ram, Vista 64, DVD/RW drive, and a card reader. I don't have a video card and use the stock fans that came with the case. I have never had a problem with anything. It's hard to go wrong with this case.

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Over all this is a great case for the price. However I had some complaints. Front 2 usb do not work. I read some reviews about this but since this is the best case I could get for my price range, I dicided to order it anyways. Also I put a 9800GT video card and It barely fit, however If I dicide to put another psu in there VC wont fit. The psu the case has its slightly smaller than any other psu I've owned. My set up: E5200 @3.0Ghz, MSI 9800GT, 4GB 1066 RAM, 1TB HDD, Gigabyte p31 ATX mb, 3.5 card reader, LG Blu-ray Reader and a cheap media center remote control. Running W7 RC.

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This was the first computer I,ve ever built. Everything went together well. Just think about what goes were and in what order. It will all come together. The only complaint I have is the blue led. Man that thing is bright. A good thing the HT rack is in the other room.

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Wanted a new HTPC case, but also wanted an uATX board...Asus M4n78 Pro GeForce 8300 and aAMD Phenom x4 9600 95W processor...Something basic but alot of ability to do what I wanted. Was amazed at this case, it had all of the power cables I needed. Fits full sized PCIE x16 cards and that tall AMD Phenon heatsink and fan. The 120mm case fan is needed for proper air flow and case temperature..Beautiful shiny Black case, perfect to be displayed. Quiet running Power supply fan and dual rear case fans..Plenty of room to work in, just have a flashlight handy for those case to motherboard cables. All in all a wonderful case for An HTPC. ATTEN: Be careful with the Power switch not the best setup....dont push in to hard. Minor problem.

Comment:
I am not that great with "confined spaces", but with a little patience, you CAN do it!! I have always dealt with Towers, but, when it came time to build my first Home Theater PC, I looked around for a long time. I bought another case at a "computer show", was a display model. I did not know till 3 wks later, was missing the DVD rails and screws, etc. I worked for weeks to modify and it was NOT what I wanted. So, I came back and found this one. After I decided on color, I placed my order. It came in 3 days and the day after it came I started on it!! I put in an ASUS MB, a DVD-ROM and DVD-/+RW, 2 SATA Hard Drives, and it ALL fit no problem!! You DO have to be careful with SATA cables, but there are places to store the extra!! I would also recommend the 120mm fan, will keep it a lot cooler!! All in all, a GREAT CHOICE!!