The Apex series from Chieftec has been available for a bit with the Apex sporting a glass front and three RGB fans as well as the Apex Air, with a mesh panel and triple intake fan setup. The Apex Q take their straight and edgy design and closes things off with a focus on sound dampening. Priced at around the equivalent of roughly 80 US dollars before tax, it is quite affordable overall for a case that has the potential to be both understated and quiet.

That potential is not readily apparent out of the box. Chieftec tries its hand at offering the upward air flow component on the shroud, which is something that other brands like Antec have tried before and have abandoned. Not because it is completely ineffective - there is some benefit to having this type of airflow - but because that fan will provide a much higher performance benefit virtually anywhere else within the case. Further stumbling blocks of the Apex Q's default configuration is the fact that the 140 mm intake fan is installed at the very bottom front out of the box. This feels counterproductive as the Apex Q struggles with the exact same issue every other sound dampening focused case does: a restrictive front that is in direct conflict to potential air flow. As such, whatever air the fan can draw in should be focused directly at the GPU, which is at the mid-height of the case, not the bottom. The unique fan setup continues with the rear fan pulling air into the case, which does benefit the CPU.

Overall, the case is actually on the quiet side in idle, but not quieter than traditional cases without sound dampening that sport glass sides. Under load, the CPU manages to keep cool and thus allow the CPU cooling fan to run at low RPM, however, unsurprisingly, the GPU starts to struggle and runs the fan at 100%, which ends up being the source that breaks through the sound dampening noticeably in our testing.

Chieftec should have configured the Apex Q with two 140 mm fans in the top two front positions and one 120 mm exhaust fan in the rear. For additional value-add, Chieftec could have gone with an all 140 mm configuration and used that as a further marketing USP as well. That would give the user an overall better balance between noise and temperature. Luckily, you can get this setup yourself by moving the already present fans around to achieve that result - as such while the out-of-the-box setup is annoying, it is resolvable.

Once you look past that weirdness, the case does have some potential with the ability to throw a 420 mm radiator in the front without any compromise to the components - including using an E-ATX board. That configuration alone at the price bracket could be the reason people would want this case, even if that ends up being a bit of a niche setup. It feels solid, has functional cable management and while none of the assembly steps are anything groundbreaking, the Apex Q is consistent across the board in how to put your system together.

It is a bit of a struggle to confidently decide if the Apex Q deserves a recommendation. The Chieftec case does offer a good, quiet basis, with a bit of rearranging of your own, and could even just be a good, subtle alternative to glass and RGB covered enclosures. As such, while having to fix the out-of-the-box setup does feel a bit weird, we do lean towards a recommendation.