Apevia X-Telstar Case

Today I'm reviewing the Apevia's new X-Telstar full tower computer case. You might know Apevia from their many other products or particularly their very nice X-Navigator cases. The X-Telstar's prominent features are: large see-through side window panel; and a front LCD display; twelve drive bays; solid aluminum chassis; and three 120mm (large) fans. It is marketed as a gaming case, however it could be used for many other purposes. Several of Apevia's cases feature readouts on the front for temperature, etc.. The X-Telstar continues this tradition.

In the box the case is nicely packaged in styrofoam so the case is not banging around in the box.

The case is wrapped in plastic, too:

The window is covered with plastic to protect it during packaging and shipment:

It comes with five rail sets, keys, a manual, and three screw and mount kits:

About Apevia

Apevia Corporation is the new name for the Aspire International Corporation, established in March 1999. Due to much confusion between Aspire cases, Acer's Aspire notebook systems, and Aspire Credit Cards, we decided to change our name to the Apevia Corporation in June 2006. With an increasing demand for our products the world over, "Apevia Europe" was established June of 2005 to better serve the needs of our European market.

Apevia's goal is to keep up with the challenges of an ever-changing PC industry while providing innovative, state-of-the-art technology at fair, affordable prices. Our strategy is to stand behind our customers to ensure their total satisfaction. Apevia works closely with the consumer; focusing on providing quality PC products and services while striving to keep up with the rapidly-changing market. Apevia designs, markets, and imports PC equipment including: Corporate and Gaming Computer Cases, Case fans and cooling accessories, Color-matched Multimedia Keyboard/Mouse/Speaker Kits, Power Supplies, and Wire/Cabling solutions.

Today, Apevia is a leading manufacturer of PC cases. We are proud to be the first company to debut aluminum cases with acrylic side-panel windows in assorted colors, and one of the pioneer companies to offer pre-modded gaming cases. Over the past 8 years, in addition to our corporate and traditional PC cases, Apevia has launched several successful gaming series chassis such as the: TurboGamer, X-Pider, X-Dreamer & II, X-Alien & X-Superalien, X-Gear, X-Infinity, X-Cruiser, X-Discovery, X-Navigator, and X-Pleasure series.

Features & Specifications

Closer Look: Exterior

Front of case

The model I got is the all black version. There are four solid color models and four dual colored ones. For many people I think it's going to boil down to a simple question. Is the case front appealing? It's a more squared off design than the X-Navigator series.

Front of case: Visual comparison and aesthetic analysis

When powered off here is what it looks like straight on:

I feel the need to express my subjective opinion. I'll come right out and say that I like this case, but the front isn't particularly appealing to me. Specifically, it's the large lower LCD circular panel that just doesn't fit my taste. Comparatively, Apevia's X-Navigator I find has a much nicer look. The front round LCD panel looks maybe like a 1960s car headlight or perhaps the navigational deflector array on the Enterprise-D from Star Trek TNG, or it looks a little like HAL-9000 from the movie Space Odyssey 2001 (alright the HAL-9000 similarity is cool).

When the computer is turned on, the LCD looks as follows:

The front LCD display is not as impressive as I had hoped for. The voltage readings are confusing to me, as it's not a numerical digital readout like the temperature.

Too bad the LCD doesn't have a single red light in the middle on an otherwise black background. That would really make it look like HAL9000.

The top chrome-like Apevia logo (led off) looks as follows:

There is an LED behind the Apevia chrome logo insert, and it lights when the computer is on and you've connected the internal wires correctly to your motherboard. The case comes with a two port connector but the motherboard I used has a three port power connector. I stole the old connector from the old case and that worked. The first thing I noticed is that the LED behind the Apevia logo is dim and also too is the power LED by the power button. Perhaps since there are two LEDs on this one circuit that there is not enough juice to power both fully? I'm not certain. Either way, both LEDs look dim on my setup.

Apevia's Response:The Power LED behind the logo is supposed to be a bit dim, with a slight glow rather than being brightly lit. Customers have been doing lots of complaining about LEDs being too bright to sleep with and whatnot! The other LED however should not shine dim. It doesn't on the models I've tested. With the HDD LED connector plugged to the motherboard, one way will cause the LCD to register HDD activity. Reversing the polarity of the lead will cause the yellow HDD LED located next to the PLED to register activity instead.

I could not get the traditional HDD LED to work (it is next to the power button). It seems that the HDD wires go to the LCD display HDD animation instead.

Besides the all the chrome work on the front, I do like the look of the case front. The vertically grained black metal on the left and the black plastic on the right are nice and I like the S curve between them. So it's just the LCD panel and fan adjust knob (more on this below) that I don't like. I like the idea of readouts on the front of cases, sure, but this one is just, not for me. Also if you are like me and keep your computer case on the floor, the LCD panel is far too low to see. Desk space is at a premium for many of us.

Front of case: Behind panel door #1

Opening the front panel reveals the power button and reset button besides the drive bays. The panel opens 180 degrees, no more. I like the power button but the reset button is designed to inhibit accidental pressing so much that just pressing it requires a pen or other object. My little pinky finger can *just barely* press it.

Each drive bay has finger slots on each side so because they are rail mounting bays. For example if you have a CD drive, you can remove the drive out easily using these finger slots. I like rail mounted drive bays. They save time and headache.

If you want to remove the front panel, you can if you use a screwdriver. There are eight screws holding it.

Front of case: Fan Adjustment

Also there is a chrome-like knob on the front of the case. It's not labeled and I think most people at first glance would think it is a volume knob for audio control or a power button since there is no power button on the front (without opening the front panel door). It isn't either. It adjusts the fan speed.

I'd rather a power button be on the front, and a fan adjust knob be behind the panel door. The knob sticks out too far for my taste and I think it may be knocked off in an accident, like when moving the computer or walking by the computer if its on the floor. I would prefer the knob at least be much shorter or embedded somehow, be black colored, and give some indication that it is for the fan (fan shaped?).

When the knob is turned, the fan readout on the LCD appropriately shows that the fan speed is changing. There is a little fan animation on the LCD and it either simplistically animates at one speed, or doesn't animate at all.

Exterior: Sides of case

There removable side panels on both sides of the case. The left side panel has the window and is very nice.

The clear plastic of the window is flush with the metal frame of the panel so it looks professional. If you like side window panels, this case has you covered. The window panel side also has a nice pull-lever to quickly open the case. Removing the side panels and putting them back on is easy. They aren't too tight or too lose. There are large thumb screws to secure the panels. They are optional for the left panel but the right panel needs them if you want it to stay on.

The fan that is in the window panel is the only fan with LEDs. There are four LEDs in this fan. The LEDs shine down the fan blades to make a nice pattern if viewed from upwind (the default) direction. However the white fan grille that covers the fan obscures this nice feature.

The good news is that it is not hard to remove the white metal grille and put the fan back onto the window panel. The window panel has a grille too so if you remove the white grille, there is still some protection from the blades.

In the above image I have the fan exhausting air from the case (fan reversed) so the nice pattern on the fan blades from the LEDs is not there. If you have the fan inhaling air into the case, you'll see the pattern on the blades as previously shown. It may be true that this grille filters some dust but there is another intake area under the front of the case that is not filtered anyway.

The reason I have the fan exhaling air here instead of blowing air onto the video card is because I like to have air flowing over my hard drives but the internal hard drive cages do not have room (more on this later) for fans. There is a single air intake hold underneath the front of the case so if I have the side window fan exhaling air, that air comes from the front of the case and over hard drives, cooling them.

Exterior: Rear of case

The single large 120mm fan stands out here. It is not lit with LEDs but I think that would have been a nice feature for this fan because it is visible from both the window and the rear. The power supply slot shows some room above it.

Exterior: Top of case

The top of the case is flat and has a air intake grille in the middle with a fan under it.

You can of course manually reverse the fan. I noticed a high pitched whine from this intake grille and when I put my hand on it the whine disappeared. This fan is my first candidate for not plugging up or using, unless you can find a better replacement grille.

The grille is aesthetically fine but significantly interferes with air flow enough so as to create this noise. If you use your computer for one or two hours a day, it's no big deal but if you use your computer more than that, the whine starts to wear on the brain (for me anyway).

Closer Look: Interior

The interior of the case I like much more than the exterior.

Interior: The front

There are twelve drive bays. That's a lot. Five 5.25" front facing drive bays and two more 3.25" is nice. On the back side of each bay cover are two plastic rails for mounting devices. There are finger slots on the front so that the device can be pulled out via the front bay. I like this.

Interior: The rear fan area:

120mm fan - check! No LEDs on this particular fan.

Interior: The internal drive bays:

These internal drive bays are a more unique feature of the case so I'll dive into it a little. First off, yes, I like them. Great idea, thank you Apevia. It's much easier to install and remove hard drives this way or to change HD jumpers! So many times I've had a hard time accessing hard drives because they usually face perpendicular to the side, so this is a welcome feature. They utilize railed trays.

You mount the hard drive onto the tray, then slide the tray back into the cage. Here is a PATA hard drive installed:

Detailed Interior Features

There is one compromise to having the internal hard drive bays facing out like this. There is no room for fans in front of the hard drives to blow air across them like many cases allow. Instead you'll need to rely on air coming from the front air intake hole (hidden underneath the front of the case) to bring air across the hard drives and out the rear 120mm case fan. This is not as good of a solution but it works. Also, as I did, you can reverse the side panel fan to exhale air so that more air is being pulled across the hard drives. Also, you could place a fan directly on top of a hard drive to blow air on it but that only gets the top of the hard drive, not the underside circuit board. The circuit boards on the under side of hard drives are heat sensitive and fail often enough to cause HD data loss.

The plugs to enable the case front USB/audio/firewire ports:

Interior: The top air intake fan:

Here is the case with the Hiper HPU-4M730-SS Type M 730W PSU installed and still plenty of room to spare:

A motherboard installed on the tray:

I like the motherboard tray a lot. It doesn't slide out the back of the case but rather it has two large thumb screws holding it in place. After unscrewing them, it slides sideways a little and then comes out easily. Also I found that once the motherboard was installed that the tray didn't get in the way of putting the thumbscrews back in to lock the tray down.

Final Thoughts

The Apevia X-TELSTAR came to my door in its original box, and the box clearly displays what is inside. I have mixed feelings about the X-Telstar. Overall does it look fabulous? No. Does it look nice? Yes. Could it look better? I think Apevia's other nice case offerings are more aesthetically appealing, but this case is very well builtl, especially the innards. I like the window but feel Apevia came short of offering a more complete and thought out LCD panel and LED lighting setup. I don't like the side and top metal fan grilles. The case is easy to work with, inside there is plenty of room. Is it a good value considering it costs a little more than Apevia's X-Navigator series? Not especially, no.

X-Telstar Conclusion

There's a lot to like about the Apevia X-TELSTAR computer case, and a lot to not like. It seems to be a revision of an earlier well designed case but what was added on wasn't thought through very well.

Would the Apevia X-Telstar be my first choice when shopping? No. Is it a good case? Yes it is.

Pros:

+ Lots of upgrade room - twelve drive bays
+ All drive bays are rail mounting type
+ 120mm fans look nice, are quiet and move air well
+ Side window panel is well implemented
+ Two temperature monitors on front LCD panel
+ Excellent internal design
+ Safe to work with (very few sharp metal edges inside)
+ Metal window fan grille can be removed
+ Front audio/USB/Fire-wire access
+ Convenient access to the internal hidden drive bays
+ Full tower aluminum framed case

Cons:

- Front LCD display doesn't appeal to my tastes
- HDD access feedback on the LCD panel is subtle and not real-time
- Very long PCI/AGP/PCI-E cards will not fit due to non-removable hidden drive bays (max card length is about 10.6 inches)
- Top case fan grille interferes with the fan to cause a high pitched whine
- Must open front panel door to get to power button
- Side metal fan grille blocks aesthetically pleasing LED fan (easily fixed)
- Fan adjust knob sticks out far enough that it may accidentally be broken off by some
- Drive bay cages don't have any noise reduction features (hard drives are getting quieter though)
- Internal hidden hard drive cages are not well situated for direct fan-on-hard-drive placement

Notes:

* Know that your audio card or motherboard might not support the three front panel USB/firewire/audio plugs. Check the online X-TELSTAR manual for plugs configuration.

Ratings:

• Presentation: 8.25
• Appearance: 8.25
• Construction: 8.5
• Functionality: 8.75
• Value: 7.25 ($160 currently)

Final Score: 8.2 out of 10

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