Joined on 02/27/06
Runs cool and quiet
Pros: 500Gb! Cool. Quiet, occasional head noise. 16Mb cache. Bumped my performance rating on a Vista number from 5.2 to 5.9, for whatever that is worth.
Cons: none
Overall Review: If you could get a decent sized SSD with good write speed and very low energy use I would have gone with it for the laptop battery savings. But in lieu of that, I ordered my laptop with an 80Gb drive. Migrated the image over to this massive beast. For $140. Less than half of what the laptop manufacturer would sell their largest (320Gb/8Mb cache) drive for.
If you must have a 478 replacement board
Pros: Low cost. PCIx16, PCIx1 slots. 2 x SATA/150 connectors. 24 + 4 power connectors. Decent overclocking in BIOS. Floppy controller will support two drives with appropriate cable. BIOS up to date (Aug07). Onboard USB2.0, 3-pin S/PDIF out., front audio panel, LPT, CPU + (only) 1 x Sys. Fan headers. http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en-us/mb/content.php?S_ID=283
Cons: Flimsy rear IO panel. Skimpy manual. Better online manual, but USA site worthless, use link to go to Taiwan site. S3 graphics driver good, LAN and USB driver works fine but Microsoft installs equivalent. Chipset driver bad, fortunately Microsoft's installed driver seems to work so stick with that. Online audio driver defective, use disk supplied driver. Memory is single channel (boo-hiss) so I recommend a single 2G DDR2-667 stick (which works) for performance. USB standby voltage must be set by 2 jumpers (not default). Will support 400FSB (per manual) but does not support a Northwood P4 processor. Floppy connector at bottom of board.
Overall Review: My Intel D845 motherboard failed, so for about $100 I replaced it with this motherboard with 2G memory stick. I didn't think the P4 would work. It didn't, but I exchanged it with a faster Prescott P4 (2.8Ghz @ 533) from another motherboard which did. If you are trying to repair a failed motherboard with an old P4 these may be your only hope. However, if your P4 is a 400FSB I do not think this board will work. With the bad chipset driver I cannot really recommend this motherboard. If repair will cost more than $100 it is time to scrap your system (see below for what $163 can buy from Newegg). No Firewire header. Don't trust the temps. Fans run full speed. Foxconn A690GM2MA-8KRS2H AM2 AMD 690G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Processor - Retail A-DATA Extreme Edition 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory (CAS 4-4-4-12) $163 after rebates
Trackball heaven!!!!
Pros: Almost perfect trackball. Inconspicuous radio freq. dongle. What the "wireless" trackball should have been all along.
Cons: Occasional screen page ups or downs not quite as many lines as expected though this may be due to the web site encoding I am visiting. Not sure. Either way I can live with it and didn't take off an egg for it.
Overall Review: expensive to be first but worth it. 1 month daily use
Inexpensive reliable solution
Pros: TP-Link extraordinary security updates (hello other makers I pay attention). Low cost! Works. Simple. I did manual setup so I cannot speak to their automated setup app or WPS (which I disabled). Decent documentation. Not much I can say, up and running in less than 5minutes. Tweaked the way I like within another 10 minutes. Been working ever since.
Cons: Only a 0.6A AC/DC transformer. I prefer a generous 2A to drive the transmitter. Runs cool (efficient) however with decent range through multiple walls, so I cannot dock for that. No guest account setup possible (multiple SSIDs). That unit costs more than twice as much.
Overall Review: Owned now for 2 1/2 months. Installed to give my laptop speedy Internet access at my father's place while he recovered from surgery.
Sexy bargain
Pros: No problem with included screws and standoffs that others reported. There is space for ($$$) a 92mm (rear) and 80mm fan (front) if your u-ATX MB has 3 system fan headers (otherwise need a controller or run off the PSU). The 120mm included front fan is 3-pin. It looks to me that the 120mm fan will block the mounting of the 80mm fan unless you move the 80mm to the inside (other side) of the case. As noted mounting holes for a 2.5" SSD at case bottom provided. With both side panels off routing wires streamlined was not too hard. I too would recommend a modular PSU to eliminate clutter, but I was able to tuck away a non-modular bundle in the empty second from the top bay. Flashing from a corner rivet prevented the PSU from sliding into place. I was able to force it otherwise I would have to file it off a tad which would have necessitated me taking it all apart so filing bits would be inside the case. For the price nice case. 19-pin USB3 header cable for front USB3. Blue front LED that is tastefully discrete. Power and reset button recessed (and really hidden by being same color as case).
Cons: Case is flimsy but braces up solidly and is quiet once components are in place. Weighs nothing. I removed and replaced the stamped knock out expansion slot covers with ($$$) 3 third party slot covers (and one open for the GPU card). It will be a bear otherwise later to add cards. This case will most certainly fit long cards, unlike others reported. It is a somewhat tight space. I recommend after installing the rear I/O panel that the MB be the FIRST component placed. And that while the RAM and CPU can be pre-mounted leave the HSF off. It will be tight getting any hard drives into the internal bays otherwise if using stock...impossible with a larger 3rd party HSF. Mount the HSF towards the end. If the drives are in place before the MB there is little to no room to slide the MB in. So best mounted first.
Overall Review: Inexpensive case so you get what you pay for...flimsy and some fit issues. Stamped expansion slot covers sucked. But it worked, felt good post-build and looked good. Silverstone has designed a modern inexpensive, stylish, BLACK!!!! case with 2 USB3 ports up front. 120mm fan was quiet. Case sides did not rattle. I would buy again.
Blown away by picture quality
Pros: Be sure to download all instructions before purchase. They are far more extensive than what accompanies the TV. So, what can I say? WOW!!!! That just does not cover how good the OTA picture is. Every pore in an announcer's face, every blade of grass on a football field. Speaking of football, the only slight movement pixelation I detect ever is on a few NFL quarterbacks whose arm strength is such that they rifle that football at speeds the TV just can't quite keep up with. That is impressive! My brother finds excuses to come over and watch games. So the picture is fantastic. The sound as expected less so; this TV really deserves a soundbar that can accept a digital input. Packaging is pretty good. This TV replaced a 99 pound 27" CRT and was easy to manipulate and assemble. Don't over tighten screws. Pretty good base. I don't care much for TV, but I believe in buying serious quality. I am quite happy with my now 6 week old purchase. If anything it has tempted me to watch more options than are good for me I suspect. My Netflix account is set up and goes at the push of a button. The wifi setup is pretty good. I have the TV working on a 2.4GHz guest account. If I figure out how to copy and paste a password from a USB drive I will switch it over to my main account and see how the 5GHz band works. Remote control feels like the Mercedes of remote control buttons.
Cons: Now if I could just watch 4 channels at once....
Overall Review: There was a factory refurb available from Samsung for $300 less with same 1 yr warranty. Kind of wish I had looked before the leap. This TV was to replace a failed TV so I couldn't wait for shipping with college football and got it at local BB...sorry Newegg. I may not watch much TV but I am a college football addict. This TV puts the Def in HiDefTV! You won't be sorry.
Most pleased
Item arrived the next day on a FedEx Home Delivery shipping (3-5 day)! Item was as described.