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Apevia X-Telstar


Date
: 09/15/07 – 05:32:48 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
Apevia

Price:
$155 at Amazon.com

Apevia has already made it's computer chassis debut on Overclockers Online with the X-QPack2. The next case we'll look at is the X-Telstar; a new full sized tower case Apevia brings to the table.

Apevia, formerly known as Aspire International, was established in 1999, so they are fairly new to the game. With a very impressive line of cases, and a handful of power supplies, we expect good things from this company.

A computer chassis is the first thing one sees when looking at a computer. It serves a very important purpose as the computer's structural exoskeleton. Computer cases should be built strong, tough, and user friendly. Nobody enjoys working with a case that is hard to work with; features such as motherboard trays and hard drive racks make life easier. The X-Telstar appears to be a very top notch case when looking at the specifications, yet they mean nothing until it goes through the hands of a reviewer at Overclockers Online to see first hand how the cooling performance is, and if the quality of the case is indeed excellent.

Page 2 : Package and Contents

The X-Telstar comes in a rather nice cardboard box and it has a carrying handle!

With the box, Apevia is obviously putting emphasis on the LCD screen that the X-Telstar features.

On the other side of the box, like most of Apevia's cases, the X-Telstar is available in a variety of colors, and also comes with an option of not having a side window. On the front, the box lists the many features the X-Telstar holds.

The case comes completely wrapped in plastic, and protected by two Styrofoam guards.

Included with the case are a bunch of stand-offs, various screws, and two sets of keys. They all come in individual zip-lock bags, also labeled, and were all enclosed in a bigger zip-lock bag, which was protected by a small cardboard box! Talk about attention to detail when satisfying their customers.

The manual is also very impressive; full color pictures along with a very detailed walk through the installation process. Another point for Apevia!

Before we unveil the case, let's have a look at the specifications.

Page 3 : Specifications

As on the Apevia website, these are the specifications:

The features listed are:

The specifications show that this case is really "fully-loaded". It has many features that are convenient for installation as well as features that are not necessary, but useful to some. The side panel window is attractive to enthusiasts who enjoy showing off their parts. The locks are great to protect your brother who would steal your RAM out of jealousy, or to keep other people from turning on your system.

Now that we have covered specifications, let's move on to seeing the case.

Page 4 : Exterior

Straight out of the box, you can tell Apevia really cares about the case's condition when it arrives in the hands of the customer; there is plastic wrap protecting the side window on the outside and the inside, as well as the chrome logo on the front. The case is pretty tall and big, and that's where the fold-out stabilization feet come in handy.

The front resembles the Yin Yang symbol, which some may find stylish. The red portion is a brushed chrome finish, while the black is plastic. The ring surrounding the LCD screen on the bottom, the logo on top, as well as the fan control knob are all chrome finished.

The rear has nothing out of the ordinary, except maybe the "Made in China" sticker at the top.

The top of the case is vented and holds a 120mm fan.

The front of the case is equipped with two USB ports, a FireWire port, as well as Audio jacks.

I expected the screen to be an LED screen, but upon closer inspection, I was wrong. The screen shows absolutely nothing when off, indicating an LCD screen.

Opening the front panel reveals the power and reset buttons, as well as the drive bays. The hinges are metal, and they are very smooth. The clips that hold the door closed are plastic, and are actually harder to close than most cases with doors, and to top it off, it is very loud when closing. Magnetic clips may have been a better idea!

The bottom of the case holds the fold-out feet. They lock in place when folded out and give the case a much more sturdier feeling.

Now that we are finished inspecting the exterior, let's move onto the insides.

Page 5 : Interior

The opening of the side panel requires the removal of two thumbscrews and a push at the handle, which would allow the side panels to be removed by lifting the rear away from the case. Think of it as a car door applied to a computer case.

The inside of the case is very organized, with most of the wires being twist-tied in groups.

The fans at the rear and the top are both 120mm exhaust fans, while the side panel fan is intake.

There are five rail-mounted 5.25" bays available, two external 3.5" bays…

…and five internal rail-mounted 3.5" bays available.

There are power connections for the fan controller as well as power for the LCD screen.

There are two temperature probes provided for the LCD screen, which you can place wherever you see fit.

USB and FireWire connectors are standard across most cases nowadays, and of course the front panel connections are also very handy.

Now that the full interior has been explored, let's see how the installation process is like.

Page 6 : Installation

The whole installation process for the X-Telstar case should be fairly simple thanks to drive rails and a motherboard tray.

The removal of the motherboard tray requires the removal of two thumbscrews, and sliding the tray out.

Installing the motherboard is very standard and should not be a problem at all.

The power supply goes in quite easily also.

The hard drives mount using a rail, which have to be secured using two screws.

The CD drive installation is pretty much the same. Apevia is quite creative by placing all of the rail mounts inside each of the drive covers.

PCI and video card expansions are standard procedure; by securing with one screw.

The LCD screen reads out temperatures, voltage deviation, sound level, and fan control. This can be quite useful for some enthusiasts, especially the temperature and voltage readings. The sound level meter actually seems pretty useless, as the needle barely jumps when you change the volume of your speakers.

Now that the system is up and running, let's see how it performs.

Page 7 : Testing

The testing is set up to test thermal cooling performance of the case. The specifications of the system are:

The system will be put under load by Prime95 for three hours, and temperatures for CPU, PWMIC, and the chipset will be recorded from MBM5. The system will then be on idle for three hours with minimal processes running. Temperatures will then be recorded in the same manner. This process will be first used in the Coolermaster 531, then the system is removed and put on a table top without a case and the testing process will repeat. The system will then be placed in the final case, the X-Telstar, and the testing process will be used a final time.

The ambient temperature remained at 28 degrees throughout testing. Here are the results:

The Apevia X-Telstar performs satisfactory in system cooling. With the three included 120mm fans, the expectation is that the case should perform well compared to a table-top setup, as well as the Coolermaster 531 with no fans running at all. The X-Telstar only lowered the temperatures by approximately 2-4 degrees compared to a table-top setup, which is not very impressive considering the extra noise the three fans produce. The case allows the control of only one of the fans, and if even when turning the fan off, the amount of noise generated still seems the same. Overall, the X-Telstar could have improved the case's cooling system by introducing more efficient fans or by considering a better case layout to improve airflow efficiency.

Page 8 : Conclusion

Apevia has impressed us with the aesthetics and features of the X-Telstar, but the cooling performance can be a drawback to buyers. The X-Telstar has all of the features you would expect from a top notch professional case; security locks, drive rails, motherboard tray and side panel window.

However, due to the nature of the case layout and the included fans, the cooling performance of the X-Telstar is satisfactory. With the many selections of computer cases on the market, the X-Telstar does not shine as bright as the more efficiently cooled cases. But with a large selection of useful features, quick and easy installation, and a very cool LCD screen on the front, the X-Telstar is definitely worth a shot.

Advantages

• Stylish exterior (available in many colors)

• Motherboard tray
• Included fan control
• Bottom fold-out feet
• Security locks
• Somewhat useful LCD screen
• Three included 120mm fans

Disadvantages

• Lacking cooling performance

• A rather loud case

Overclockers Online would like to thank Apevia for making this review possible.