APEVIA X-Master AL/500 - Desktop - ATX - power supply 500 Watt ( ATX ) - silver - USB/FireWire/Audio Review

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(More customer reviews)Well, I have been wanting to replace my old worn out desktop, and home made NAS unit with an updated system that I can use to work with my Home Theater, as well as a family system to browse the internet, kids can do homework on etc. There arn't much out there for people that like a desktop platform. Everything is towers, mid towers etc. I ran across this case, and I am pleased for the most part. The only issue I have, is that I did have to do some modifying on it to work with my chosen mother board. I wanted a system that I could also do some gaming on, but not really a power gamer. I got a board that could use core 2, as well as quad core in case I wanted more power later. This case claims to support full ATX boards, which it does hold, but the included power supply does not provide an 8 pin CPU power connector. All it has is a 4 pin CPU connector. I used it on my core 2 duo, and it does work fine, but noticed in the Bios that only one of the cores were powered and working. This was, I assumed because only one rail was getting power due to the 4 pin connector instead of the correct 8 pin. I guess if I wanted to run like that, it would have done fine, but I bought a core 2 duo, so wanted the full core 2 duo power. I opted on an PCI-E NVedia graphics card that fortunatly does not require additional power, and noticed that the power supply does provide a 6 pin PCI-E connector. Hmm.. I didn't need that for my graphics adapter, and found that it had 3 12V leads, and 3 Gnd leads. My processor power needed two more 12V and 2 more gnds, to run the 2nd rail, so I just got an 8 pin Molex connector, cut the 4 pin CPU connector off, and used the power from it to power one rail. Cut off the PCI-E 6 pin connector and used 2 of those 12V and 2 of the grounds to finish the power for the CPUs in the new 8 Pin Molex connector. Guess what? Now, my power supply has an 8 pin CPU power, and the bios now shows both rails powered up and operating. Yeeppii.. But, the fact that I had to void warrantees, and have some soldering skills as well as computer hardware skills to use the box like I wanted to. If you are not comfortable with doing that, then you would need to purchase a new power supply that does have the proper connections to replace the one that comes with this case. But, other than that, I do really like this case. It looks good, and will look good with my home theater components, it has nice cooling, even tho I added a 120mm additional fan in mine. The case has provisions to add up to two additional 120mm fans. Kinda cramped in there, but, that is the trade off for something not as large as a full tower. It has provisions for 2 3.5" drives. I put a 1TB, and a 500GB drive, but if you plan to have a 3.5" floppy in it, that will take one of those spaces. I opted not to use a floppy drive. It has two full bays for CD Rom, or full sized drives, or adapters to put another 3.5" drive in that spot. By the way, another cool feature, is, if you choose not to use one, or two of the additional fan locations, it has holes there also where you can mount additional drives. That was nice I think..

Anyway, this is a nice case, for a reasonable price. I would recommend it with that CPU power connector situation in mind.

I will add to the review if things change..

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Product Description:
Apevia X-Master Desktop HTPC Case Consider building your new custom Media Center/HTPC in our stylish Apevia X-MASTER case. This ATX PC case can be positioned horizontally as a tower, or vertically as a desktop in order to conform with your available space. Its brushed aluminum front panel harmonizes with most of today's home theater systems. Its optimal cooling capacity (up to 4 fans) provides the best cooling solution amongst desktop and Media Center/HTPC cases. It can accommodate standard ATX/MicroATX/AT motherboards, and standard ATX power supplies. The installed 500W power supply comes with all cables sleeved to avoid clutter, improve air flow, and is more than enough to handle all your system needs.

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