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Mark A.

Mark A.

Joined on 11/23/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 5
Most Favorable Review

Great balance of quiet operation and airflow

SilenX EFX-08-12 80mm Effizio Quiet Case Fan
SilenX EFX-08-12 80mm Effizio Quiet Case Fan

Pros: * Very quiet with better airflow than most other 80mm fans I tried running at about same RPM. * No unusual or irregular motor or bearing noise * Pliable rubber fan mounts don't tear as easy as others that are don't stretch as well * Fans are so smooth new that rubber vibration isolation mounts didn't make any difference when mounting to rear case mount.

Cons: * Aren't made to run at 5v if you want to slow them down to make them even quieter (operating range 6-12v).

Overall Review: Overall these are great value. They have a great balance of airflow to noise. Ordered two and since they are barely louder running at their stock 12 volts than some other fans I have stepped down to 5 volts I plan on buying two more to run them exclusively in my ultra quiet home server/HTPC.

Most Critical Review

Questionable long-term reliability

Rosewill RX81U-ES-25B 2.5" IDE to USB 2.0 External Enclosure
Rosewill RX81U-ES-25B 2.5" IDE to USB 2.0 External Enclosure

Pros: Pros: - Economical - Easy access design - Comes with everything you need to get started - Good performance when working

Cons: Cons: - Has corrupted volumes on two different drives - Shiny, attractive case is hard to keep free of fingerprints

Overall Review: Within the first few days, a previously used drive I had installed installed in it and formatted for storage was suddenly unrecognizable by Windows 7 - with Windows 7 stating: "You need to format the disk in Drive D: before you can use it." I figured it could be the disk so I placed an older drive in it, formatted it and used it daily for the past month without issue until three days ago when I received the same message when I plugged the drive into the same system. I have never had this problem with any of the other models of Rosewill enclosures I have including two of their similarly styled RX81U-ES-25A SATA models or their RX234 2.5" IDE enclosure. I would have to recommend the RX234 over this model based on my long-term experience with each.

Disappointing considering price compared to others

Noctua NF-R8-1800 80mm Case cooler
Noctua NF-R8-1800 80mm Case cooler

Pros: * Adapters to step down voltage to fan for quieter operation than at 12v * Pleasant deeper tonality to fan's operating noise * No irregular motor noise or tick * Startup voltage below 5v so they can be reliably run at very low voltage for near silent operation

Cons: * Stepped down to 7v for reasonable silence the fan is no quieter than other made for quiet computing 80mm fans but seem to have worse airflow * Voltage step down adapters get hot - I would recommend getting fan connectors that go to the 5v feeds on a molex power connector instead of using these * Rubber mounts are not as soft or stretchable as others - tear easily if you need to remove and remount fan * High price compared with other quality quiet fan option by other brand

Overall Review: Overall these seem to be quality fans, and may last longer as a result, too early to tell, but given that they must be stepped down to really be quiet enough for an HTPC, if you are looking for an ultra-quiet case fan there are more affordable quality options.

Poor layout and not great if you want a quiet media center/ HTPC

SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum / Steel Lascala Series SST-LC13B-E-USB3.0 ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum / Steel Lascala Series SST-LC13B-E-USB3.0 ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: * Good looking and fits well with other audio/video components * Deep so it can be placed under most A/V receivers * Reasonable build quality

Cons: * Poor design for bottom vented power supplies - the opening on side of case is nothing close to the size or shape of a power supply that has the fan on the bottom * No rubber isolation for drives or way to easily implement your own system due to poor drive carrier design. * Tons of metal-to-metal surfaces that transfer vibration and noise from drives to case * Non-quiet rear case fans. * Useless features such as a fan mounting in front of the middle drive cage - useful only if you plan on removing the middle drive cage.

Overall Review: Bottom line: This case is overpriced and a far cry from the intelligent layout present in some of their cases - like the GD05B. It is almost as if they figured, we will make it big so it holds more and that will be enough to make it good.

Good value - bad support if something isn't right

Foxconn A7GM-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Foxconn A7GM-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: Inexpensive. Good BIOS options for controlling fan speeds. HDMI output.

Cons: HDMI output on my board not working over HDMI beyond 1280x720. When trying to use 1920x1080 on a display capable of that screen goes black. Foxconn tech support has been totally unresponsive when help has been sought regarding problem. No digital out bracket or connector provided on this model.

Overall Review: Given the total lack of response from Foxconn support regarding the issue this will be the last product of theirs I consider. Others have gotten full resolution with this board so mine is likely defective. It would be nice if Foxconn would stand behind their product.