Joined on 05/12/03
Nifty little case
Pros: If you're looking to build a mini-ITX build with full size optical, floppy, and hard drives, this case is the best buy. Considering how small it is, everything goes together very smoothy. Case is of very good construction.
Cons: Unless you use a very low profile heatsink and fan, you're not going to fit it under the power supply, which acts as the only exhaust fan, there is no intake fan. I wish this was stated somewhere in the description, but better yet, I wish the power supply was wider so it could use a fully 120mm fan, which would sit completely above any normal size heatsink with factory fan removed. Then there would be few issues with keeping a low power cpu and the rest of the system cool. Power supply only provides one Sata connector, could really use two as using an IDE cable in such a small area is a bad idea anyway.
Overall Review: Bezels. Not specific to this case. I just don't see the use for them. The case would be better off without any. Hope Rosewill comes out with a similiar mini-ITX case with my previous revisions designed for a 2.5" hard drive and a slim optical drive (and has all the necessary cables to no one has to go searching for such nonesense).
Optical Madness
Pros: Very well designed and highquality case other than what is posted in the cons section.
Cons: The power button circuit board is snapped in position in a completely terrible place. It's bad enough that the optical bezel is covering the drive strangely (or IMHO is that at all), but getting a dvd drive into a case shouldn't require disconnecting and reconnecting the power button and led circuit board from the case, espeically when the area under the external 3.5" drive is completely unused anyway.
Overall Review: A very minor redesign of the power button/led and front bezel would turn this case into a five-egg allstar.
Pretty Decent
Pros: For reasonable AMD mini-ITX board, does pretty good for itself. I've been very happy with it so far, using it for a basic office PC.
Cons: If the board used Laptop 200pin RAM, that would open up some room for a few more SATA and USB ports. If a PCIe X16 slot was on the board instead of the PCIe X1, it would be compatable with a lot more products, and even allow for a reasonable mid-range gaming build, making for one heck of a powerful, yet still small package.
Overall Review: Seems like a lot of people from every manufacturer have DOA issues here. Sometimes I really question if anyone bothers to reset the CMOS before building a computer anymore....
Great Idea Albatron
Pros: Itx format with almost modern tech.
Cons: Why release a socket 754 board late into 2006?
Overall Review: Albatron had a great idea here. Problem is, 754 has been replaced by S1 and AM2. They would not have had to chance much at all to make this an AM2 board. And then CPU's would be easier to find, better performing and cheaper (IE win-win).
Great Card for Money
Pros: Plays Oblivion on 1024 by 768 with highest settings
Cons: Runs hot, not recommended for 1600X1200 whatsoever
Overall Review: Great budget card. Can't beat price/performance