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Micah C.

Micah C.

Joined on 06/07/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 9
Most Favorable Review

Great XBMC/NAS Box

ASUS C60M1-I AMD Fusion APU C-60 (1.0 GHz, dual core) AMD Hudson M1 Mini ITX Motherboard / CPU Combo
ASUS C60M1-I AMD Fusion APU C-60 (1.0 GHz, dual core) AMD Hudson M1 Mini ITX Motherboard / CPU Combo

Pros: Fantastic, lots of sata connections, just the right amount of power for a NAS and Media Center. I have Archlinux running with a software raid and XBMC, and this thing has been able to play every single video I have thrown at it (including a 13GB mkv wrapped in a rar file).

Cons: CPU Not powerful enough to decode movies without the onboard video - ie you need to make sure AMD video card drivers are installed and video acceleration is enabled, otherwise you will get low framerates. I also don't like the newfangled bios, sometimes it isn't obvious that you need to scroll down for additional options, but thats really a preference. HDMI Out would be nice. Optical Audio out would also be nice.

Overall Review: Perfect for a behind the TV computer, since it doesn't require fans, it can take quiet a few hard drives and with enough video processing to play hi-def movies. My TV has an HDMI port labeled DVI that also has an external audio port. So I go Computer->DVI->HDMI->TV, then run the audio separately. Its a great setup, would highly recommend.

Most Critical Review

Eh, works, but wouldn't buy again

IOGEAR GCS1762 2-Port DVI KVMP Switch
IOGEAR GCS1762 2-Port DVI KVMP Switch

Pros: Well it switches pretty well, most of the time.

Cons: 1. Cables were long enough for me, but for some reason the audio cables and usb cables have the same length as the DVI cable, so if you have a setup where the cables have to go down from you KVM (like most) the audio cables get pulled out of the back of the KVM from the weight of the main cable (since the weight is on the audio cables and not the big honking DVI plug). 2. When I switch back between linux and windows (I don't know if this happens for 2x windows) windows eventually stops detecting my mouse. I am not sure why. 3. I have yet to find a USB keyboard that works through this. I have had 2 rosewill keyboards and a kingston. I do have a preference for "low profile" keyboards so it might be something with that, but it is irritating.

Overall Review: I wouldn't buy it again, but it gets the job done for the most part. I have heard that the switching hotkeys are long, but since I just have 2 keyboards, I couldn't use them anyway.

The Best

Logitech G500 10 Buttons Dual-mode Scroll Wheel USB Wired Laser Gaming Mouse
Logitech G500 10 Buttons Dual-mode Scroll Wheel USB Wired Laser Gaming Mouse

Pros: I used to prefer wireless mice because cheap cables will push back against the mouse in certain configurations. However, the braided cable completely eliminates that problem for me. I just bought another one to replace a wireless G700, which never seemed to perform as well as my other G500. Anyway, I love thise mouse.

Cons: Can't really think of any, I do still miss the G7 laser mouse if only because - in the middle of a game - I could yell RELOAD as I swapped batteries as quickly as possible.

Manual Configuration Required

HyperX Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX16C10B1BK2/16X
HyperX Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX16C10B1BK2/16X

Pros: Good RAM, seems to perform well, with pretty good timings (better than listed on the store page actually).

Cons: I had to alter the speed manually because the default one when I plugged them in was set to DDR3-1333. According the the HyperX spec sheet there are two possible settings: JEDEC: DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9 @1.5V XMP Profile #1: D3-1600 CL10-10-10 @1.5V my motherboard actually had an XMP Profile 1.3 with settings of DDR3-1600 9-10-10-27 which I used. This seemed to work fine with memtest.

Overall Review: For DDR-1600, set the speed to 1600 (800Mhz Bus), then set the timings to 9-10-10-27, and that will probably work, just be ready to bump up the CAS and tRAS to 10 and 28 if there are any problems. As always run memtest86 whenever you buy new ram, to ensure stability. (On a side note, be wary of Ubuntu 12.10's memtest utility, it misreported errors which caused me a lot of confusion... I switched to the one packaged with ArchLinux and had no problems.

Best Keyboard

Kensington K64365 Black USB Wired Keyboard
Kensington K64365 Black USB Wired Keyboard

Pros: Favorite keyboard of all time. Perfect feel.

Cons: Chrome eventually wears off.

Overall Review: I have had two of these. One I had to buy from a shady dealer 6 months ago because they have been discontinued. Its only small places with old stock that sell them.

Didn't Last

DN-ENEL9 1-Pack 1100mAh Li-Ion Digital Camera Battery Replaces Nikon EN-EL9
DN-ENEL9 1-Pack 1100mAh Li-Ion Digital Camera Battery Replaces Nikon EN-EL9

Pros: None really.

Cons: Lasted couple cycles, now its only good for about 5 pictures.

Overall Review: I got it for free with my camera so it was "worth it", but now its not even worth carrying with me for the extra 5 pictures I can take.