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Brian C.

Brian C.

Joined on 07/08/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 9
Most Favorable Review

It's okay, but only just...

areca ARC-1882I PCI-Express 2.0 x8 Low Profile SATA / SAS 8 Ports 6Gb/s SAS/SATA RAID Adapters
areca ARC-1882I PCI-Express 2.0 x8 Low Profile SATA / SAS 8 Ports 6Gb/s SAS/SATA RAID Adapters

Pros: I use it in my MythTV server and it has proven to be very reliable with my 5x WD Red 3.0TB drives in a RAID5 configuration. I love having direct access to the controller via network connection/web browser.

Cons: Doesn't seem to perform nearly as fast as my old Areca ARC-1220 controller.

Most Critical Review

Started Out Well, Ended in Frustration

Plextor M6e M.2 2280 256GB PCI-Express 2.0 x2 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) PX-G256M6eA
Plextor M6e M.2 2280 256GB PCI-Express 2.0 x2 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) PX-G256M6eA

Pros: Very fast. Supports legacy booting.

Cons: Locks up.

Overall Review: At first, this SSD ran flawlessly for about 4-5 months. All of a sudden I started getting 2-3 lockups per day. I'm running Ubuntu Linux and when the problem occurs linux tells me it cannot communicate with this SSD. I have tried updating the SSD firmware and my motherboard's BIOS with no success. I guess I'll have to find a replacement SSD.

Disappointing

AsRock Rack ROMED6U-2L2T Micron-ATX Server Motherboard AMD SP3 (LGA4094) EPYC 7002 and 7001 series
AsRock Rack ROMED6U-2L2T Micron-ATX Server Motherboard AMD SP3 (LGA4094) EPYC 7002 and 7001 series

Pros: + A lot of features in a small form factor. + Four PCIe X16 slots available in a uATX form factor for future expandability. + Dual 10G Ethernet ports. + Capability of attaching a lot of SATA drives. Great for NAS duty.

Cons: - IPMI keeps crashing to the point where it is almost useless. - BIOS log complains about random PCIe bus errors. - Performance varies/not consistent. (Maybe this is a result of the PCIe bus errors.)

Overall Review: It had a lot of potential. I wish it was more stable. AT this point I am looking for a replacement for this board.

Works great.

Rocstor Y10A198-B1 DVI-D to VGA Active Adapter - Resolutions up to 1920x1200 M/F
Rocstor Y10A198-B1 DVI-D to VGA Active Adapter - Resolutions up to 1920x1200 M/F

Pros: Self powered and allows the use of older VGA equipment on newer computers.

Overall Review: I use it to connect a remote monitoring box to a new home server.

So Far So Good

ASRock X470 Master SLI/AC AM4 AMD Ryzen 3000 Series CPU Ready ATX AMD Motherboard
ASRock X470 Master SLI/AC AM4 AMD Ryzen 3000 Series CPU Ready ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: I am running this with an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, 32GB of G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3400 memory, GeForce GT640 video card, Samsung Pro 960 512G M.2, Samsung SM951 256G M.2, 3x 6TB drives as software RAID5, TI IEEE1394 Firewire card and an Aquantia 10Gb network card. No problems so far. The system booted up first time, without issue. It also had no problems utilizing the 3400MHz memory as soon as I enabled DOCP in the BIOS. I am running Linux Mint 18.3 and haven't had one ounce of trouble. Have not tried the wireless (don't need it) or Bluetooth yet. I have no problems recommending this board.

Cons: None so far.

Overall Review: This review for ASRock review rebate program.

It's okay, but poor range.

Microsoft 5SH-00001 Black USB RF Wireless Standard Desktop 800 for Business
Microsoft 5SH-00001 Black USB RF Wireless Standard Desktop 800 for Business

Pros: Mouse tracks well - even on shiny/semi-reflective surfaces. Keyboard feels as good as any "non-mechanical" keyboard can.

Cons: Poor wireless range.

Overall Review: I bought this as replacement to my old Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse combo that died. While this keyboard/and mouse seem to work okay, its range is terribly small. Once I am more than about 4 feet from the receiver, the signal gets "choppy" and some keystrockes get dropped and the mouse seems jerky. At more then 5 feet from the receiver, it just refuses to work at all. This is disappointing as my old Logitech worked flawlessly up to about 12-14 feet.