Gadgetory

hey everybody this is Steve from gamers Nexus tonight and today we're looking at an apex D m-387 black home theater PC case that is a mouthful this is an HT PC enclosure meant for a super tight budget home theater PC check the description for the full review if you want more information on this but moving on this case was 35 bucks when we picked it up it is 45 now on Newegg it includes a 225 watt PSU and is sadly lacking in other features but that's somewhat expected at this price of course so do keep that in keep in mind that if you have extra money to spend any more at all you should definitely consider spending it because it will probably pay off to have a case that will be more future proof but we will go over why this case may not work for you and maybe some options as to how you could improve it through some trickery so alternative case choices will be included at the end so if you do have money ranging from 60 bucks to all the way up to 200 really I'll have options there for you first off just glancing over the specs we see that this apex HTPC case accommodates micro ATX and flex ATX form factor nut motherboards with no specific love for mini ITX options it is large though and it is actually very large it is 17 inches deep 13 inches high and 3.9 wide so fairly small other than the depth the depth is the killer here and it may not fit on some shelves because of that but for the same reason if you are a mini ITX user obviously you can't use this motherboard but you should be looking elsewhere anyway because it is pretty large and won't take advantage of mini ITX boards the case has three drive bays one external optical one external floppy and then of course an internal 3.5 there is no SSD bay included so you'll either need an SSD cage to adapt your drive or you'll have to be creative like I was and use velcro tape and twist ties to tether here SSD to the bottom of the removable drive cage which can be removed that is pivoted on screws so that means that you can take it out and clean or whatever it makes installation a little bit easier on the note of installation I found that the case was very easy to build with considering its affordability it was pretty straightforward though put the things in the slots and then apply screwdriver easy mode kale management is non existent but it is also a non-issue because the nature of minimalistic HCPCS means that you have almost no cables going throughout the case so I wouldn't worry too much about that you'll also notice that the case ships with an 80 millimeter fan however the fan is very loud and unbearable in my opinion for most living room uses this is a result of the grill the fan grill vibrates when fans reach higher rpms so do consider going for a lower rpm or lower CFM fan the RPM is important though because the air force through makes a lot of the noise so do go for a lower fan it's just worth the eight bucks preferably hydrodynamic or something like that so you have an infinitely quieter system the overall build quality of the case is decided the average the case doesn't try to achieve anything fancy in for an extreme example in the way the switch 810 does which blew us away in our last review but it does serve its purpose and the the case is a little bit lacking on some features as mentioned it it's quality is mediocre the plasticky front panel feels flimsy and the buttons feel like they're fragile but I haven't had any any huge problems with that no cracking or anything like that the PSU is of questionable quality but everything works I have put the PSU under under very extensive stress testing 24/7 benchmarking for the last three weeks and it has remained stable I have not been able to provoke a failure in that PSU but your your mileage may vary so do keep that in mind that it is a weak PSU of a not particularly strong spec like the rest of the case nothing feels like it's exceptional and nothing feels like it's going to snap into pieces either so it's all pretty simple it does what it's advertised but don't expect much more than that and all in all everything is very mediocre it's 40 bucks and gets what you want it to do done a 275 watt PSU and functional case make it a reasonable choice for ultra budgeted htpc builds actually one of the better choices if you're on a super strict budget but if you have some extra money since you are already spending money on a fan if you buy this case do consider some of these other options Silverstone's su G series especially the SG 0 8 and SG 0 5 make perfect sense for HCPCS though they are on the upper price range more affordably Silverstone's ml 0 3b micro ATX case makes for a good slim option and the XT is a Vulcan reign supreme with its design but it is larger and more closely resembles a traditional rig so it's reasonable but it might not fit fit the htpc style that you're going for Thermaltake makes an $80 h CPC case that accommodates most video cards with the reasonable ability their land box of light is what it's called it's a little bit shiny but probably one of the better options out there for micro ATX boxes they also have an armor box which tends to be great for FAT FAT gaming systems that have larger cards you'll find that the apex case is one of the most affordable of all of these if only for the fact that it includes a 275 watt usable PSU so it should get you started if you're on a budget overall the case is good it does what it's advertised to do it holds a small system it is not phenomenal if if you're looking to do anything with video cards this is not your put your way to go if you are looking to put it on a small shelf you should consider it 17 inch depth it will stand upright but you know keep that all in mind if you have room for that kind of thing do not keep this on the floor because it will collect dust pretty quickly with no dust management try to keep it elevated as much as possible on a shelf is where I would recommend it but again you may have fitting issues so with all of that said if you have questions please post them below please like comment and subscribe subscribe subscribe check the description for the full review and we'll see you guys next