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Christopher H.

Christopher H.

Joined on 11/05/07

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Outstanding sound for the price.

Energy Take 5 Pack 5 CH Home Theater Speaker System
Energy Take 5 Pack 5 CH Home Theater Speaker System

Pros: I honestly don't know a whole lot about highs or lows, etc, but for $130, these speakers are outstanding. Easily comparable to a $300-400 set of speakers. The next step up from these would be a good set of 4 bookshelf speakers and a larger center, which would run you around a grand.

Cons: Nothing worth complaining about considering the pricetag.

11/30/2012
Most Critical Review
Pioneer VSX-821-K 5.1-Channel 3D Ready A/V Receiver
Pioneer VSX-821-K 5.1-Channel 3D Ready A/V Receiver

Pros: Great sound quality. Ton of features/hookups.

Cons: Died after 5 months.

Overall Review: Purchased 03/2012 .. just died on me with light usage after 5 months. I use it for maybe an hour or two a day when I work out.

Good board

SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIE-O LGA 1156 Intel 3420 ATX Intel Xeon X3400/L3400 series Server Motherboard
SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIE-O LGA 1156 Intel 3420 ATX Intel Xeon X3400/L3400 series Server Motherboard

Pros: It's Supermicro.. enough said. Cheap and relatively high quality products all around. Take note that you need a server processor (X3400 series) to run ECC ram. (I only buy server grade hardware so this wasn't an issue for me.)

Cons: It states that you need Registered RAM to support 32GB of ram.. but apparently you can't even use the last two RAM slots without registered ram. I had 6 sticks of 2GB KVM ram and I could only use 4 of them. If I put ram in the last two slots, the board won't boot.

Overall Review: I constantly get random beeps from the board. I'm running temp monitors on Ubuntu and my temps look fine, so I have no idea what's causing it. Someone mentioned on another SM board review that IPMI causes these beeps.. but this board doesn't have IPMI, so I'm not sure what the deal is. (I really haven't looked into the issue that deeply yet.)

Awesome little cooker

Black & Decker RC436 White 8 Cups (Uncooked)/16 Cups (Cooked) Rice Maker
Black & Decker RC436 White 8 Cups (Uncooked)/16 Cups (Cooked) Rice Maker

Pros: I love this thing.. cooks a decent amount of rice pretty fast. You can cook just about anything in this. I like to make a little stew with random things in it, chicken, broccoli, etc. The non-stick pot is the best I have ever used. Literally nothing will stick or burn to the thing. The "warming" feature on this thing is also amazing. I'll typically cook something in this in the afternoon, eat it for lunch, and leave the warmer on and have the rest for dinner. Food doesn't dry up and stays nice and warm.

Cons: Even with the smallest amount of rice/water in the cooker, this still bubbles over slightly. It's not a huge issue, but some of that crusty rice water gets all over the top. I may just be putting in too much water, but the rice seems to be rather mushy/soft. I'm going to have to experiment to get the rice a little firmer.

Overall Review: Can't beat this for the price.

Cheaper Separately

Biostar BBSG411U 1U Rackmount Server Barebone LGA 775 Intel G41 DDR2 667/800/1066(OC)
Biostar BBSG411U 1U Rackmount Server Barebone LGA 775 Intel G41 DDR2 667/800/1066(OC)

Pros: you don't have to put it together yourself?

Cons: This has the Biostar G41-M7 motherboard in it, according to the specs on BioStar's site.. quick search on Google will tell you that the board is only $50. You can probably find it somewhere for $40.. and get yourself a Mini Supermicro chassis for ~$90 and save yourself $70. Plus, the Mini Supermicro chassis support 2 drives.

Amazing Case For The $

NZXT GAMMA Classic Series GAMA-001BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
NZXT GAMMA Classic Series GAMA-001BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Definitely the best case I've ever purchased. I picked up two of these.. and for $40/each with free shipping, you just couldn't beat it. The case is not flimsy at all, like others have mentioned (I was stood on top of it.. thought i probably wouldn't recommend doing that lol). Case comes with motherboard mounts and just about anything you could possibly need in a case. I'm still waiting for my PSU's to come in, so I don't know how loud the fan is, but that can be easily replaced.

Cons: none, this case is awesome.

Overall Review: I work at a datacenter, so I've seen my fair share of computer components.