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Written by [t0rc]
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A PSU, and a case. The two basic needs to start a good mod. If you have
a sturdy base case to start out with, you'll have a great cornerstone
to base your whole project upon. Black cases make many appearances on a
regular basis in the mod community, lets see how this one fairs.
The TU-150 came in a nicely padded box; well protected from any shipping hazards.
After opening the box and getting through the packaging, I immediately
noticed a few things. The case was nicely painted, completely black.
From the front the case resembles a server case, especially with the
key-lock. There were a few more honeycomb's on the left side, which I
later found out were for the air flow guide; it was right over where
your CPU/HeatSink would rest on the inside of the case. The guide
itself is fairly deep, so if you have a larger heatsink, you may end up
removing it. I also noticed that the front of the case, the mesh in the
door, could present some possibilities for modding...
The back of the case is a usual setup, coming with a rear 80mm fan
already mounted (silent I might add), 7 expansion slots, and the I/O
backplate. What I found a bit unique towards the back panel is that the
thumbscrews are made so they stay attached to the panel when you
unscrew them; making losing them something you'd have to try to do.
Back to the front side, it looks very nice. It's nice that it locks,
but the door itself could be mounted much better. It wouldn't take much
from anyone to just rip the door from the case. After opening the door,
you'll see some out of place buttons. The blue tone doesn't sit right
with the rest of the case; they should've been silver. You also get a
view of the drive bays, 4x 5.25" bays and 2x 3.25" bays. Also seen in
that picture is the other half of the magnet/key lock mechanism that
allows the door to stay shut. I do like the design of the airflow
guides, though there could be more.
Also on the front of the case, are two USB 2.0 ports, not to mention a
spot for the addition of a FireWire port, allowing easy connectivity
and access. Unfortunately, it's closer to one port. While they are
accessible both with the door closed or open, they are mis-aligned and
the top one is about 19% covered, successfully rendering it
inaccessible. These pictures also give you a better look at the mesh on
the front door.
On the inside of the case, you're greeted with a 400w power supply. On
the 5.25" drive bays, there's the black vertically-sliding latch to
secure the drives, using special (included) screws for mounting. You
have to remove the front bezel to mount new drives, but thats not very
difficult, as you just pull it off from the bottom up. Behind the front
bezel you can see that there are two spots for 80mm fans to be mounted,
but as usual cutting out the metal surface grills before mounting fans
will increase the airflow. Again, we encounter the non-removable
motherboard tray, which would be an asset. Although inside this case
you do have a fair amount of room to work, making it less of a
detriment.
Overall the Apex TU-150 isn't that bad of a case. Coming with a 400w
PSU, a key locking door, an airflow guide, and a simple yet agreeable
overall aesthetic appeal does give this case some value. Unfortunately
a few minor things degrade the rating, such as the USB 2.0 port that is
slightly inaccessible and how the door could be easily ripped off if
someone wanted inside your case. This case does present great potential
for modding and for $79.99, it's a fairly good deal. The Apex TU-150
receives a rating of 84% and is worthy of a low Silver Award.
Thanks to Apex Computing Technology for making this review possible.
*
We've been notified that at the time of this review, you can only
purchase the case at a Best Buy store. It's a slightly different
version with an acrylic window, 500W aluminum power supply, and with a
MSRP of $119 USD.
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