APEX MI-100 Black / Mirror finish Computer Case

Comment:
Would be a nice searching case if the mirror finish front panel was not currently scratched up upon opening up the box. Mirror finish front panel was already scratched up. It's strange that the case comes with all surfaces obtaining protective sticky wrap like the bottom portion of the front BUT doesn't have any protective sticky wrap on the actual mirror finish portion of the front panel. But the box was definitely newly sealed, so I guess that's how it's packaged...regrettably.

Comment:
Cheap. 5.25 and three.five external bays for the size is very nice. Shiny @_@ No side vent on the PCI/-E side of the case. The plastic front is a bit flimsy. Pressure on the top of the case, can at times get in the way of the optical drive from opening correctly. Also, it's a bit difficult obtaining at the optical drive if you require to force it open with a pin. If you have a PCI/-E video card installed, the fan is going to blow correct into a strong wall leading to some heating issues. There is a side vent on the HDD side which is good, but it would have been much better on the other side. I put collectively an Atom 330 machine with PCI video for dual DVI output. Though anything ought to run cool, the lack of breathing space for the video card essentially leads to the complete issue heating up a lot more than I would prefer for such a low powered laptop.

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Compact case that nevertheless has a single single card slot.Readily available slot can hold most cards minus the really lengthy ones.Case now has air holes on each sides.PSU removes quickly which is a must. Don't even waste the time trying to set up the board with the PSU in spot. PSU over the CPU location eliminates several heatsinks when utilizing higher finish boards.Spring on the CD door can pop off on occassion but easily bends back if so.Extended Optical Drives fit extremely tight.PSU could use far more sata plugs.Not the strongest metal but for the value/weight it works excellent. As long as you don't brute force it almost everything is fine. I now have 4 of these cases. All of them operating Intel ATOM boards. These instances are excellent for what they are intended to be. A simple server or desktop box.The newest method I received now has vent holes on each sides and not just one.I use these for servers so I do not set up Opticals and I location the HD in the floppy spot alternatively of on the side. I then location an 80MM Fan in the side to pull a small much more air.Using reduce power/heat components permit these instances to actually shine. If you want a game rig then I would suggest seeking elsewhere at a thing a small bigger with much better cooling.Presently mine server as an NFS, SAMBA, BIND, APACHE server and are running great.

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Small, plenty of room for drives, I got 3 three.5" drives in [one below the drive bays sideways], and just about all of the much less deep 5.25 drives will match, Mini itx, tons of possibility modest amount of airflow, had to cut a window to place mesh in, in all probability voided my warranty, too...http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t� Ended up placing a micro atx PSU I bought right here awhile ago, the logitech 350 Watt a single. I had to use motherboard standoffs to get it to match, the fan interfered with a metal assistance, just needed 1ǚ" of clearance to match.

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Tiny - Adore mini-itx stuff (just want nano-itx could catch up... I know, it's "coming soon", but at what value?)! Following installing an Intel D945GCLF2 (adding a Microcool Southsink to the SB just before firing it up) I noticed considerably additional heat coming out of the PSU than side vent, and this was full with a full three.five" WD Green 500GB SATA HDD. Leaves adequate space for ventilation (IMnsHO).Every thing fits in tight, but keeps items compact (see Cons).Decent lil' box. Front "doors" seem a bit flimsy, and are really prone to fingerprints, and most likely scratches easily (had a minor, but visible srape out of the box). Floppy port should be set up specifically for (multiple) really hard drives, since incredibly handful of seriously uses floppy any a lot more. Could use thumb screws instead for quicker/easier top rated removal.Maybe a con just for me (and other individuals with major hands/fingers), incredibly difficult to manuever inside box. You truly need to set up just about every thing Just before fully tightening down the motherboard. had to put mobo in position , and back it off just a bit, to install a wireless PCI card. Built as an Xmas gift for my mother. Wanted to hold it compact. Instantly switched the fan on mobo from CPU to Technique, runs at 50% in BIOS, but seems quite cool. Also, installed a Microcool SouthSink (Southbridge Passive Heatsink) to the SB chip prior to even firing this factor up. Case nevertheless appears really much cooler than what I study here & elsewhere (still had plastic fil on, no extra heat). 2GB Kingston RAM, installed XP, and it was ready to go! (Got all parts a bit less costly [at the time] elsewhere [#b@y], but really like & buy from NewEgg [whenever they're the lowest i can find], and I read & TRUST solution critiques right here ahead of anywhere else:)

Comment:
- Very good energy provide.- Size of a show box.- Resonable amout of room inside. - Flimsy building of internal frame.- Poor drive rail attachments (see beneath.)- Style isn't that good looking. General I'd say this case is so-so. The best component (and the explanation I purchased it) was the energy supply. It appears to be high quality, no troubles with it, and reasonably quiet (but not silent).1 clear mistake I see with this case even though are the difficult drive rails that let you to place a second hardrive vertically in the side panel of the case. The rails attach to the tough drive fine, but the screw holes to secure the rails to the case are not threaded, so you're unable to totally safe the drive. This isn't a key issue as the drive can sit in place and be ok long as you're not carrying the case about all over the spot. Just worth mentioning though.

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Small size, decent airflow/room inside whenD945GCLF is installed, solid construction. Energy provide fan is noisy. I solved this by unplugging it from the internal header inside the supply case (voiding the warranty, of course) and running the fan off a 5V supply derived from an adapter cable plugged into the supply's IDE provide connector. A bit of a hack but it silenced the fan and nevertheless offered adequate case cooling for the D945GCLF Atom board I employed. Excellent tiny case, great cost (with supply). It's not tiny but if you want tiny (MiniBox MI-200 and so on) you will commit โ on the case and another โ on a PicoPSU. So for half the money, I can live with a slightly bigger case with a lot far better airflow and space for an optical drive.

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Sleek hunting, great value. Mine arrived with a big dent on the back edge along the side that the motherboard rests on. This was rather appalling at first: given that the shipping box had no sign of damage, it indicated the case left the manufacturer with this dent. The dent was large sufficient to protect against the motherboard from resting flat against the side of the case like it's supposed to.Luckily, I was capable to bend it back into serviceable condition working with a set of pliers, my knees, and fairly a lot of force. It's not in perfect condition, but it operates, and the only cosmetic evidence left is a slightly bent lip beneath the I/O ports. I thought about exchanging this for a new case, but it was a lot less hassle just to fix it myself. Due to the fact the cosmetic proof is in the back, I'm a satisfied customer.

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Strong Building, excellent match and finish, Properly laid out. 250w Energy Supply. All round, I'm pleasantly surprised with this case. Wants vent holes on each sides (I'm being picky here). I was a little hesitant to decide to buy this case since I wasn't certain if the stock Core two Duo Heatsink would fit. I paired this case with the ZOTAC NF630I-D-E and a Pentium E5200. The heatsink fit, but the fan frame does make speak to with the power supply, but thats not a big deal. The stock HS was a bit noisy so I bought the Dynatron P12 heatsink, its a solid copper 1U heatsink. I paired the HS with a 70x70x10mm fan running at 1300rpm and its close to silent. I use the method as a HD-DVR (MythTV). The CPU temps at 100% load are around 56C which is acceptable (using the Dynatron P12). Just for good quality measure I added a PCI Slot cooler, and volt modded it to 5v, works perfect.

Comment:
Affordable but you get what you pay for. I can run my intel atom in it and a hard drive but that is all. A number of challenges. Very first the leds on the front panel don't work. The wires had broken off and this is the second time I have observed this on this model -- poor design and style. The worst challenge is that there is a five.25 external slot and a regular cd/dvd will NOT fit at all. Still have not found a cd/dvd drive that will match. Took off the front panel off of a regular drive and pushed all the way back. The back of the cd pushes the wires from the energy provide flush and of course this is dangerous. I had hopes that my intel atom along with a hd/cd would work in this case but nope. Won't get this again unless it comes with a cd/dvd that fits. The directions are non existent about what cd/dvd will fit.

Comment:
- Economical- Contains power provide- Effortless to work with- Decent high quality- Rapid shipping - Some sharp edges- A bit cramped- Older CD drive did not fit Purchased it for a committed music server running XP on an Intel Atom board. Only real problem was that a CD drive I'd planned to recycle into the machine would not fit. Anything over 7.25" or so in depth will push up against the power provide. Perhaps much better that I left it out so air circulation would be enhanced. If you fill both internal slots, it would be a bit crowded. Note that your hard drive truly mounts to the frame vertically subsequent to the mainboard employing supplied plastic rails. The mirror finish on the front is essentially extremely nice as soon as you eliminate the plastic film covering. It's not really clear that there is in reality a covering on there, but there is. It's tough to get off, but have patience and you'll be capable to lift the film from a corner.

Comment:
Extremely great style inside, lots of space. Looks okay. Is my mini linux server. none genuinely... Would have liked situation fan mount holes, in the frame, rear correct side where the case holes are. It's hard to see the power LED on the front unless your straight in front of it. you can get 4 3.5 HD inside. One in the 3.5 bay, a different in the five.25" bay (need 5.25 to 3.5 brackets) one more beneath the 3.five bay, (dual sided taped). Then one particular on it's side. Running all the cables is tricky. These is alot of heat develop up with 4HD's so i set up a Fan exactly where the pci port is. Got the temp down by 25 deg !

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Relativity quiet fan on the power supply, case feels nice and solid, looks wonderful. The glossy black finish makes this case looks a lot better in person. Like quite a few other folks have mentioned, this thing runs pretty warm. My intel atom motherboard idles around 50C. Installing a pci slot fan aids a lot, so that is a low-cost answer if you don't have a thing else hogging the pci slot. Taking out the energy supply prior to installation assists immensely. After you do that, it is easy to reach inside to install and work on the laptop or computer.

Comment:
At the time of when I bought this case it was one particular of the least expensive ITX situations newegg sold. I discovered that it fit all my wants. - Strong case- No sharp edges- Includes power supply. Some instances I can hear the energy provide fan humming, but not recently.- extremely tight for cable management but what do you expect for an ITX case. In this case I have a DVD-RW, mini-itx motherboard, 1 stick of ram, and a IDE-CF adapter with a CF card. So the only fan in this case is the power provide. I use this personal computer as a almost fan-less front end for mythTv. Good case for the value.

Comment:
awesome come to assume NONE THIS IS CONTINUATION TO Earlier Evaluation ------ so i mounted two hd in case and 120mm fan on the side panel and loaded cpu, ram ,and hd's to one hundred% for3hours temperatures have been --- cpu/chipset idle 31cኌc same beneath load 46኎. (NOT SO Undesirable HAH? complete time hd solid 40's C no matter the load)so i fingered to attempt with no 120mm fan and here is a shocker (i addes aditional HD that blocked the vent holes) the puter imediately went practically entirely silent and temps followed cpu/chipset idle 35኎ total load 50ና shocked ????? i was so now vents are oped two hd's in the box, e7200, 4gb ram, zotac MB and only cpu fan and psu fan exhaust is warm BUT temps are stable and GOOOOOOOOODso to men and women possessing temp challenges i dont know what to tell you mount your HSF propperly and then mount it againQuite Strong CASE Purchase IT

Comment:
None. Energy supply died in one particular day. I've owned this for two months. Mobo was backordered so I didn't get to try it out. Turns out it had a undesirable power supply and I was beyond the return window. Believe Apex stands behind a DOA item? ------------------------------------------------Thank you for employing our items.Unfortunately, given that you did not buy directly from Apex, and Apex does not sell to ____, we are not able to challenge an RMA for you. We can only provide RMA for distributors who acquire straight from us, we do not issue RMA for third celebration resellers. To claim the warranty on the defective item, you require to go via ____. Our corporation only processes warranties for our distributors. Sorry for an inconvenience.Customer ServiceApex Pc Engineering

Comment:
Smaller, Shiny, Quiet, Nicely-Developed Normal-sized DVD-RW will really not fit into the case, you will have to order a thing a tiny bit smaller to have some space to plug the wires. If you want to place fill just about every doable hard-drive slot, you will have use your personal individual ingenuity

Comment:
Smaller footprint, mirror finish looks good. Supports full-size DVD drive. Complete-height PCI slot. As another reviewer stated, this thing is HOT! I place an Intel Atom 330, 2Gb stick of RAM, and a WD 400gb Tough drive into this box, and it was idling at 60c. I did what one more user suggested, and stuck a 120mm fan exactly where the challenging drive must be. This cooled it down somewhat, to 45c. I'm confident if I added a PCI slot fan, it would get cooler, but by that time, I may possibly as well buy a new case. Overall, not a negative case, if the elements you place into it don't make substantially heat. Not suggested for the Intel Atom 330 board or a WD tricky drive.

Comment:
An elegant situation that's far more than capable of holding all your equipment. Side mounted hard drive rack is nicely planned, all wires are capable to be routed about for adequate air flow in this case. The tough drive mounts, even so, are a bit fragile for how substantially force you should apply into the self-tapping screws. Just be observant and it will come together nicely.In a position to home a complete size expansion card. A lot more than capable PSU.Good exterior finish.Clever size.A lot more than adequate provide of screws. No mounts for auxiliary fans. Mirror finish is delicate. Mine came slightly scratched out of the box, and though attempting to wipe the finish clean, it scratched far more. It is an excellent situation for a small desktop. It is about the size of two reams of A4 legal paper. Overall, I am quite happy with this high quality case.

Comment:
unknown Power supply is dead. Returning back for replacement. Also undesirable, simply because it expense income, that should be paid by the manufacturer. Disappointed!!!

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price, easy design, decent PSU for size, psu fan sounds quiet (at least compared to the CPU fan :-( ) difficult drive won't fit employing predrilled holes due to SATA cable hitting the fan. I had to use various screws to mount it forward so the wire could clear. tricky drive sits appropriate on top rated of one particular of the memory sticks. psu provides barely any clearance among cpu fan and psu box. i have about 1ǚ" clearance and the psu box covers half the cpu fan. following getting the drive in securely, it's a fine box for a 1st timer like me. running a 4850e and silverstone low profile heatsink/fan.

Comment:
this unit was somewhat uncomplicated to assemble. There was not considerably in the way of space however to get factors in an out. I know this is to be expected in a Mini-ITX situation, but you need to cease and consider the puzzle ahead of you start off putting things in. I have not had the probability to energy this up because the intel board i purchased for this was shipped with a three.5 floppy to install the bios. Stupid. On the case, it is horrible as far a placement of the energy supply. The size and placement of the energy supply make it practically impossible to do something. It is practically not possible to set up a CD Drive in this unit due to the fact of the size of the power provide but the biggest problem is the CPU. The power supply literally sits on prime of the CPU fan. There is maybe enough space amongst the two to get a piece of notebook paper. I do not know how this will affect the all round cooling of the unit. There is also no cooling fan other than the 1 on the CPU and the Power Supply. There is no fan to pull heat out of the unit. You should rely on passive cooling or install your own fan somewhere. Excellent luck.

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- - The power supply shows no indicators that it's going to throw in the ghost. The fan will most likely need to have to be replaced, but sooner or latter all fans do (sooner with this item), but what did you anticipate for the price tag? The dissatisfying element of the case was that the front cover was scratched up, and just usually messed up compared to what you would anticipate from a new situation.

Comment:
Sophisticated finish, smaller form issue but roomy adequate. My individual experience with this ITX case has been excellent. I can't hear the energy supply fan at all. I'm running a fanless develop that sits subsequent to my monitor at the moment. A Sata HDD sits on the floppy bay perfectly with no extra operate . Roomy in the front to hide all cables. The Energy Provide fan sits correct on top of the chipset's heatsink allowing to dissipate the heat from the chipset although it is blown all through the power supply unit. It is for sale and my consumer is picking it up tomorrow morning... Geeks suffer providing away what we construct with dedication no matter how well they pay for it. I guess it is the nature of the beast... Intel D945GCLF2 (Atom 330 Dual Core hyper-threading = four cores) I replaced the northbridge heatsink and noisy fan to make it totally fanless. 1TB WD Green Sata HDD, a Sata DVD Drive and 2GB RAM. Tiny foot print for a simple WSUS/ File Server. Honestly, I'll obtain it once again at this value mainly because I wanna create one particular of these beauties for myself. Time to upgrade my home Server and network.

Comment:
Situation holds complete size cd rom and difficult drive. Fantastic Smaller size. will fit stock cooler for an core i3 but hits the psu. If the external three.5 slot is used then the difficult drive has to go on the side. I wanted to place an 120mm fan there so i located space to put the challenging drive on the bottom in front of the motherboard. I took the face off and drilled holes to secure the side of the drive and utilised some foam in between the drive and the card reader i installed. Clear up some items from other posts. The cd rom eject button is adjustable. It slides left and proper to line up with diverse eject buttons. also there is protective film on the chrome parts. its seriously tough to see it but if you drag your nail near a corner it will begin to pull up.