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Ziji H.

Ziji H.

Joined on 03/01/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 16
Most Favorable Review

Best mid sized ATX case. Designed better than Lian Li 215 X.

Antec Dark League DF700 FLUX, Mid Tower ATX Gaming Case, FLUX Platform, 5 x 120mm Fans Included, ARGB & PWM Fan Controller, Tempered Glass Side Panel, Three-Dimensional Wave-Shaped Mesh Front
Antec Dark League DF700 FLUX, Mid Tower ATX Gaming Case, FLUX Platform, 5 x 120mm Fans Included, ARGB & PWM Fan Controller, Tempered Glass Side Panel, Three-Dimensional Wave-Shaped Mesh Front

Pros: * Airflow is very good, with three 120mm A-RGB fans in the front and one (non-ARGB)120mm fan at the rear preinstalled, and one reverse fan in a box (not preinstalled). * The fan hub is a huge help for cable management. The front panel is uniquely designed and looks beautiful. * The build quality and material used are well above its price level. The tinted tempered glass panel is thick with captive screws. * The interior room is large enough to fit a full-size GPU easily. The clearance from the top of the motherboard is also enough for installing most radiators and fans. * The top of the PSU shroud is also vented, with mounting holes for 2 120mm fans. * There is a button on the top panel to control the LED color pattern, ON/OFF of A-RGB effects of the fans connected to the hub, no need to use any software. * It also has mounting positions for 3 SATA HDD, AND 3 regular HDD. * A generous amount and kinds of screws are included in the accessory bag, very handy. Here are Antec DF700 better than Lian Li 215 x (I have both cases in use): 1) The height of case feet is tall, while that of 215 x is a little low restricting the air intake from the bottom of the case for PSU since the PSU can only be mounted with the fan facing downwards on 215 X, (PSU can be mounted with the fan either facing down or up in DF700). 2) The mounting positions for 120mm fans on the top panel are a lot more flexible on DF700 than those on 215 X. 3) The front fan positions support 3 x 140 mm ones if you want more airflow on DF700, while only 2 front 140mm fans are supported on 215 x. (Since Lian Li 215 x does not support 30mm thickness 200 mm fans, such as Noctua NF-20 PWM, the airflow upgrade options are very limited). 4) The included reverse fan on DF700 is very useful. When installed, it cools down the discrete GPU temperature by 4 degrees Celsius. 5) The front side of the case frame on DF700 is newly designed to open wider for better airflow. The front frame of 215 x is still an old PC case design, which does not have large enough opening thus blocking the airflow partially of the large stock 200mm fans.

Cons: There is no place for hands to easily hold the case, especially since the back of the case is quite flat. Most ATX cases have an indented area at the back, which helps to grab when moving the case.

Overall Review: This case with preinstalled fans is excellent for most system builds, with plenty of SATA and HDD mounting positions. It has many features that are missing from PC cases sell for much more, even named brands.

12/10/2021
Most Critical Review

A case with clean design and roomy inside, but there are issues blocking my build

Fractal Design Focus G Gunmetal Gray ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Fractal Design Focus G Gunmetal Gray ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: -- Designed for a modern build of PC: bottom mounting position for PSU, supporting front and top mount of 120, 140, 240, 280 (front only) AIO, supporting full-length GPU, front mesh panel for great ventilation -- Lightweight material in a good quality finish. The lightweight helps to bring the price down in a good way. -- Fan openings behind the front panel are cut open with size fitting 140mm fans, so there is no blocking of airflow if 140mm fans are installed -- Relatively easy cable management for a new build without using old components (DVD, 5.25 HDDs, etc.)

Cons: I am not able to complete my build due to the following issues: -- Holes for mounting metal standoffs (hexagonal in shape) for the motherboard are drilled with uneven sizes that two standoffs are impossible to screw in. I will have to drill the holes again at a later time, otherwise, the motherboard cannot be installed. -- Stock 120mm fans pre-mounted on the front frame cannot be installed on the rear exhaust fan position. The holes for the rear exhaust fits standard computer case fan screws, but those screws are not included in accessories. The mounting holes in the front frames for stock 120mm fans have smaller sizes, thus the screws on the 120 mm fans cannot be used for rear mounting. -- The holes on the front frame does not accept standard computer case fan screws. They only accept screws come with the stock 120mm fans. Further, the length of those screws is about a quarter-inch short for thicker 140 mm fans, therefore I cannot replace the stock 120 mm fans with thicker 140 mm fans I bought. I will have to go to a hardware store to find fitting screws.

Overall Review: Wishes: - 2 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0 ports at the front - Make the 5.25-inch mounting box to be removable. - Make holes at the top vent to be round, rather than hexagonal, and the same size as standard case fan screws, and make more top holes towards the front. That way, the top mounting positions can be much more flexible. - Use a little heavier material at the bottom for a better balance as most components are installed at the upper part, especially when an AIO is top-mounted. I really like the design, size, weight, overall quality for the price. Unfortunately, I cannot use it to build my PC without manually fixing some issues first.

Very good mid sized PC case. Built with quality materials.

LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 X Black Steel / Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 X Black Steel / Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Airflow is very good, with two huge A-RGB fans in the front and one (non-ARGB)120mm fan at the rear, all preinstalled. An A-RGB hub is also included with 6 connectors (3 occupied by preinstalled fans) of 3 pins fans. The hub is a huge help for cable management. The build quality and material used are well above its price level. The tinted tempered glass panel is thick with captive screws. The interior room is huge, easily fits a full-size GPU. The clearance from the top of the motherboard to the top panel is around 60mm, enough for installing most radiators (up to 280mm in length) and fans. The top of the PSU shroud is also vented, with mounting holes for 2 120mm fans. The back panel is vented everywhere for air to go out easily. There is a button on the top panel to control the color pattern, ON/OFF of A-RGB fans connected to the hub, no need to use any software. A generous amount and kinds of screws are included in the accessory bag, very handy.

Cons: (1) The height of case feet is a little low, restricting the air intake from the bottom of the case, especially for PSU since the PSU can only be mounted with the PSU fan facing downwards. (2) The front side of the case frame is still an old PC case design, which does not have a large enough opening thus blocking the airflow partially of the large stock 200mm fans. (3) The mounting positions for 120mm fans on the top panel can be more flexible by extending the length of the mounting slots. For example, mounting a 120mm AIO and another 120mm fan is not possible now because the length of a 120mm AIO is longer than 120mm. (4) Does not support 30mm thickness 200 mm fans, such as Noctua NF-20 PWM, the airflow upgrade options are very limited. Also, only 2 (not 3) front 140mm fans are supported if you want to upgrade to use PMW 140 mm fans. (5) The two USB3 ports on the top panel are good, but adding 2 more USB2 ports will be better, as all motherboards have at least USB2 ports available (handy for connecting wireless KB & mouse).

Overall Review: This case with preinstalled fans is excellent for most system builds, with one GPU and one or two SSDs. There is no need to add/upgrade fans for normal usages. It has many features that are missing from PC cases sell for much more, even named brands.

12/10/2021

Rich in back IO plate, weak at front ports support. PCI-E layout can be better

ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming (WiFi 6) AMD AM4 (3rd Gen Ryzen) ATX Gaming Motherboard (PCIe 4.0, 2.5Gb LAN, BIOS FlashBack, HDMI 2.1, Addressable Gen 2 RGB Header and AURA Sync)
ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming (WiFi 6) AMD AM4 (3rd Gen Ryzen) ATX Gaming Motherboard (PCIe 4.0, 2.5Gb LAN, BIOS FlashBack, HDMI 2.1, Addressable Gen 2 RGB Header and AURA Sync)

Pros: Solid performance. Rich ports in back IO plate. A lot of PWM fan ports. Wifi 6 is great

Cons: Not convenient for overclocking, especially on memory and missing the debug code LED (Q-LED is too limited for overclocking).CPU power plugs are hard to reach once installed. Also, there no need to use 8+4 pins for the CPU power. When using a 3 slot or 2.7 slot GPU, the second PCI-E x16 (x4 mode) slot becomes useless, because it is too close to the GPU fans. It would be better to place it one more slot down. Missing a Type-C front-panel connector

Overall Review: Many features are missing from B550-F while available on B550-E (SLI enabled model). Considering SLI is dead, there is less meaning to take those features away from B550-F.

Small size, good material. Very good price.

EnLabs ADUSB20M29F Motherboard USB 2.0 9Pin to USB 3.0 20pin Adapter Coverter Cable - USB 2.0 9pin Female to USB 3.0 20pin Male- Black
EnLabs ADUSB20M29F Motherboard USB 2.0 9Pin to USB 3.0 20pin Adapter Coverter Cable - USB 2.0 9pin Female to USB 3.0 20pin Male- Black

Pros: The cover on the USB3 20 pin side is soft, so it is easy to plug on and remove. Shipping is relative fast, from China.

Overall Review: My PC case has more USB3 plugs (for the front panel) than that motherboard provides. I use this to utilize USB2 ports on the motherboard.

Light weight, easy to setup. Performance is fine.

TP-Link N300 WiFi Extender (TL-WA855RE) - WiFi Range Extender, up to 300Mbps Speed, Wireless Signal Booster and Access Point, Single Band 2.4GHz Only
TP-Link N300 WiFi Extender (TL-WA855RE) - WiFi Range Extender, up to 300Mbps Speed, Wireless Signal Booster and Access Point, Single Band 2.4GHz Only

Pros: It is lightweight and relatively small in size.The internal web interface is clean and easy to use.It is a low-cost solution to add wireless to printers, old PCs, etc.Wake on Lan works.I bought it new, and it works without the need to fresh any firmware.

Cons: The width can be narrower to make it even more compact, taking less space when plugging it on a power bar.

Overall Review: The network speed I get from it is 100Mb/s (wireless N), Since I placed it very close to my home WI-Fi router, that is most likely the maximum speed. The price is right when it is on sale. However, If you want faster speed, you will need to get a Wireless AC one, which will cost double.