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Jeremy J.

Jeremy J.

Joined on 09/26/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 9
Most Favorable Review

Low Price Compact

GIGABYTE GA-B85M-DS3H (rev. 3.0) LGA 1150 Intel B85 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-B85M-DS3H (rev. 3.0) LGA 1150 Intel B85 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Compact, 6 SATA ports, great bios, overclock capable. Far cheaper than anything else this powerful, other similar priced boards lack the 4 ram slots. Great for my G3258, haven't overclocked yet.

Cons: Too short, dual slot PCI-E card covers up all additional expansion slots.

Overall Review: Initially wouldn't boot - didn't notice a lack of onboard speaker. Online support responded near-instantly to my question and their suggestion solved my issue. USB short halted boot - the ASUS board I just replaced gives a bios message for the same problem before powering off.

Most Critical Review

These brackets are stupid

APEVIA X-FIT-200 Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply
APEVIA X-FIT-200 Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply

Pros: Tiny, comes with a PSU.

Cons: The optical disk drive mounting bracket is too big. Mounting a 2.5" SSD underneath makes cable management very difficult. Smash everything together. If the optical disc drive mounting bracket was slim instead, everything would fit. The 3.5" could mount underneath it too. The HDD mounting bracket goes on the wrong way, the stock power cable doesn't reach when using an SSD in conjunction. Mounting it backwards works though, uses 2/4 mounting screws just be careful of cables stopping your CPU fan. This case is a lot better when you just pull out the ODD mounting bracket and mount the HDD there. Nice ventilation just above the CPU instead of the little oven they designed.

Overall Review: I didn't like the temperatures or bothering to mount an awful 60mm fan against the PSU. Mounted a 120mm fan above the CPU where the HDD is supposed to be. Everything runs much cooler now! 80mm fan would work too but 120mm fans are cheap so why not? Mounted a 120mm PWM fan ARCTIC F12 PWM Fluid Dynamic Bearing Case Fan, 120mm PWM Speed Control, 74CFM at 22dBA For the price, it's ok. I'd rather buy a silverstone HTPC for twice the price at the same size. Who knows how good this PSU is either? Before mounting my fan HOT air comes out of that PSU, after mounting that 120mm it's a cool breeze. ASROCK ITX mobo with a g3258 and 2x4gb mushkin DDR3. With aggressive cooling you could even fit a low-profile graphics card in this case. Just be prepared to drill some fan mounts.

Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard CherryMX Red Switch USB
Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard CherryMX Red Switch USB

Pros: Mechanical, n-key rollover, Lights up!

Cons: Wobbly keys, flimsy, noisy, wearing out after 2+ years.

Overall Review: Just after warranty period the backspace key sometimes fails to register - other keys may be functioning the same way. Not sure if it's the switch. Bought this as a replacement for my Rosewill with cherry reds - I like the rosewill a lot better even with the USB port falling off(re-soldering is not hard). At least the rosewill failed within warranty, now I'm wishing it hadn't so I'd still have it instead of this.

Rosewill RK-9000RE - Mechanical Keyboard with Cherry MX Red Switches
Rosewill RK-9000RE - Mechanical Keyboard with Cherry MX Red Switches

Pros: Durable keys, durable casing, comfortable to use, good font, wrist support.

Cons: USB input falls off easily - stiff cable stresses port from being plugged in.

Overall Review: RMA gave me a refund, bought a cooler master with reds instead - I liked my rosewill better.

Cheap.

Rosewill R102-P-BK 120mm Fan MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Rosewill R102-P-BK 120mm Fan MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Small, cheap, efficient.

Cons: Comes with 1 standoff, board doesn't fit with standoffs installed.

Overall Review: Tin snips required.

Don't Bother

ASUS RT-N10 802.11b/g/n Wireless Router up to 150Mbps/ 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Port x4
ASUS RT-N10 802.11b/g/n Wireless Router up to 150Mbps/ 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Port x4

Pros: It seemed to work out of box fine

Cons: DD-WRT doesn't support Wifi yet (listed), tomato didn't work even though all the docs claimed it did, login doesn't work when newest default firmware flashed.

Overall Review: Maybe the RT-16 isn't garbage like this one?

10/18/2010