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Rodney Y.

Rodney Y.

Joined on 04/03/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 7
Most Favorable Review

Great!

Rosewill RCHD-12003 10 ft. Black Ultra Slim HDMI Cable w/ RedMere Technology
Rosewill RCHD-12003 10 ft. Black Ultra Slim HDMI Cable w/ RedMere Technology

Pros: Very thin Easy to bend Light weight

Cons: None so far

Overall Review: Just remember when your going up to the new HDMI standard that there maybe some extra features you don't and will need to turn off. The HDMI's new remote control feature turns my HTPC on and off with the TV automatically that could potentially corrupt some files. Also I would rather the HTPC go into a S3 sleep state for much quicker start ups. It took me a bit to figure out it was the new standard of cable and to turn off the feature.

Great little board

BIOSTAR H81MHV3 LGA 1150 Intel H81 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
BIOSTAR H81MHV3 LGA 1150 Intel H81 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Great for a server board. Can fit a RAID card and a lan/wan/or tuner card. HDMI and VGA USB 3.0 ports. RAM slots are front to back for better airflow in small cases. Installed Haswell refresh CPU with no problem

Cons: Will not fit some ITX cases. At this price it is hard to fault it on anything. You can't expect more for the price. Best ITX non Z board you can buy right now. Just make sure you can fit the extra 20mm.

Overall Review: This is not a Micro ATX, this is an extended ITX board. It is an ITX board with just enough space to fit a second PCIe slot. 190mm x 170mm. (ATX specs for ITX boards is 170mmx170mm) Have this installed in a "Athena Power RM-2UD220S40" 2U short depth server chassis. With G3250, 8GB RAM, Dell H310, 6x 4TB, 2 x SSD.

11/10/2014

Get 8GB sticks it will save you later

CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M2A1866C10
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M2A1866C10

Pros: 8GB sticks are great. Run and stated speeds with zero stability or compatibility issues. Get 8GB sticks so that upgrading to a full 32GB is possible. Then use a RAMDisk for HDD cache or install your favorite game on it for instant loading.

Cons: My Z77 motherboard didn't detect the right settings for the RAM automatically. May be a missed function of the motherboard or the RAM.

Overall Review: BIOS sets these to 1333Mhz on auto. Switch it to XMP settings and it configures properly. Haven't overclocked them yet so no comments on stability. Glad I picked these up when I did seems like the price is more than double now. Is it the China plant fire? Ramping down of DDR3 to prepare for DDR4 or what.

It's a USB KVM

IOGEAR GCS72U 2-Port USB Cable KVM Switch with Audio
IOGEAR GCS72U 2-Port USB Cable KVM Switch with Audio

Pros: It works and works well. Switches fast enough to not be annoying. Powers off of usb.

Cons: My use didn't create any cons

Flying cursor

IOGEAR GKM561R Black 2.4GHz Wireless HTPC Multimedia Keyboard with Laser Trackball and Scroll Wheel
IOGEAR GKM561R Black 2.4GHz Wireless HTPC Multimedia Keyboard with Laser Trackball and Scroll Wheel

Pros: Works good. Range is not so bad. I use it with my media pc so the receiver is blocked some. It's easy to hold and the 3 people at my place don't mind using it. I like how it has a scroll wheel. Hold down "ctrl" and move the scroll wheel and easily get the webpages to a size you can read on the couch(ctrl and +or- works as well FYI) I like trackballs better than mouse pads. A pair of AA's works for months and months, when used lightly (Intermittent use, approx 5 hours a week). I changed the batteries maybe two or three times in a year. Because of the trackball I picked up a mini keyboard with a mouse pad to replace it for the most part, but use is pretty split between the two.

Cons: The trackball is my biggest qualm. It is a major pain when organizing folders. The cursor will jump around every other time you click the mouse button, or when you try to hold the cursor still. Seems like it always happens when I am trying to move a folder/file, I let go of the mouse to put it in one folder and the cursor flies across the screen and my folder/file is now in one of the hundreds movie folders I have. Thankfully undo does work for moving files. Oh and my last keyboard had dedicated media buttons that I miss, this one does have media buttons but would be impossible to see the tiny blue "FN" writing in a dim room. The "F" keys double as media buttons when you hold down the blue function key.

Overall Review: All in all it is a great keyboard. It's not the best looking keyboard but fits nicely. It has good placement of keys and mouse features but the trackball can jump around on you from time to time. Also note that I don't use this for all my tv use. I have an actual remote and only use the keyboard for when I can't find the remote right away or for playing web videos or surfing the web. My family would probably find it cumbersome to use all the time.

Works with SS4200

APEVIA ITX-AP250W 250 W Mini ITX Power Supply
APEVIA ITX-AP250W 250 W Mini ITX Power Supply

Pros: It matches the dimensions stated in the description. The case is of quality. Good price. This will fit the Intel SS4200. My power supply went out on it a month after I got it. I found out they have a big problem with them and it is a common occurrence. I didn't want to send it in. Wait 6 weeks and have them replace it with the same cra*py unit. This unit has very similar power ratings and will work just fine with a little tinkering. Has been running my SS4200 with 4 HD's for 3 weeks now non-stop.

Cons: Only has one 12v/5v component cord and has very few plugs. I don't like trusting so much current to a single 18 guage wire. I am just lucky I have all low power hard drives(4). The aux power cable for the CPU is rather short and had to be extended for my application(your mileage may vary).

Overall Review: Like I said, this fits perfectly in the same spot as the OEM screws and all. In fact it looks like they use the same casing. You will have to make a few mods though, but it should be easy for you if you have the skill to setup a server. First. Don't bother unplugging your old power cables to the HD's as we need them. Clip the wires going to the HD's, and the aux 4-pin cpu wire, close to the PSU. I had some spare FEMALE molex connectors lying around from some fan adapters that I soldered then used liquid electrical tape to seal, onto the HD power cables. You just made two "molex to 2 sata" power adapters(don't worry about the 3.3v wire, not needed for almost all hard drives but don't cut it out for future possible use). Now clip off the CPU aux power cable on the new PSU(This will most likely void the warranty so if you don't want to do that make or buy an extension). The cable is about 6-8 inches too short. Solder on the cable, plug everything in and you should be good to go!