Apevia X-QPack

Apevia X-QPack

Apevia is possibly a name you will not have heard before. That's because it's the new name for Aspire corporation, which has been making cases since, well, ages. With a re-brand under the belt, we're taking a look at the new Apevia X-QPack today, which is a small form factor system designed for the DIY market.

It's slightly larger than your average SFF, thanks to the fact that it is based on the Micro-ATX standard. This means standard sized components will fit in, making for the possibility of an unusually powerful LAN gaming box.

This is combined with the fact that the front fascia houses a flip-up handle, which allows you to grab your box and go with the minimum of hassle.

The case is consequently wider than you might expect, and the case windows across the three surfaces give it an unfortunate look that is rather reminiscent of a microwave. This is added to by the fact that the front fascia of the case is chunky plastic although, to be fair, there are a variety of colours available.

Let's get inside this bad boy and see how it holds up.

The version of the case we saw was decked out in plastic grey and black, which we have to say is not the most appealing decorative scheme, although it is understated enough to be nondescript. There are big windows on each of the three surfaces, which allow you a good look at the full size components in side. Since the hard drives mount side-on on the left hand side of the case, anyone brave enough to stick a hard drive window in will have a nice view of the action.

The rear of the machine is interesting, since you can see where the real estate has gone in this case - housing the Micro-ATX motherboard and, above it, a 120mm fan. A 120mm fan in a SFF! Nice work.

Here's where we first started to get worried about the case. It includes a couple of thermal probes, and the output from those probes are displayed on this LED segment readout. But the clear plastic covering the readout was sealed in by the plastic around it, and trying to pull it off resulted in a mess of ragged plastic. We generally see this kind of fubar on cheaper products, and it doesn't bode well.

What you can see, however, is the power button on the top right of the box and the front-mounted ports underneath the segment readout - two USB, firewire and audio, headers for which are wired in ready for motherboard connection.