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DANIEL B.

DANIEL B.

Joined on 09/13/11

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Excellent for an HTPC

AMD A6-5400K - A6 Series Trinity Dual-Core 3.6 GHz Socket FM2 65W AMD Radeon HD 7540D Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic - AD540KOKHJBOX
AMD A6-5400K - A6 Series Trinity Dual-Core 3.6 GHz Socket FM2 65W AMD Radeon HD 7540D Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic - AD540KOKHJBOX

Pros: Runs fantastic for my Ubuntu 13.04 HTPC.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: I highly recommend this for an HTPC or NAS box. Inexpensive to run 24/7. Works flawlessly with Linux.

No issues for me (Ubuntu 13.04)

ASRock FM2A85X Extreme4-M FM2 AMD A85X (Hudson D4) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
ASRock FM2A85X Extreme4-M FM2 AMD A85X (Hudson D4) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: Works great for my Ubuntu 13.04 HTPC build. A lot of fan headers for a mATX board. Good amount of SATA ports for a NAS box. The heat sinks on the chip sets seemed very sturdy (I've often had issues in the past with them being loose). It lined up perfectly with the case screw holes and I/O panel.

Cons: Front panel headers were difficult to read, but that's always the biggest pain of any build, so no loss of an egg there. The socket didn't have an protective covering on it, which I thought was odd...no big deal though.

Overall Review: I highly recommend this for a Linux build. I'm sure it does just great with Windows too.

Very quiet, cool, and looks great

Noctua NH-C12P SE14 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
Noctua NH-C12P SE14 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

Pros: I got this solely because it matched very well with the redwood case it was going in (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204039) It's completely silent. Very easy to install for AMD (the Intel looked to be kind of a pain though). Relatively low profile for a 140mm fan.

Cons: I just wish the heat spreader and pipes where copper, but I didn't take an egg off since it keeps my CPU very cool.

Overall Review: Overall a great heat sink fan. Quiet, cool, easy too install, and attractive. I highly recommend it.

Great keyboard for an HTPC

Logitech K400 2.4GHz Wireless Touch Keyboard
Logitech K400 2.4GHz Wireless Touch Keyboard

Pros: Nice, lightweight, and compact for "couch surfing". The track pad is very responsive and comfortable. I can't attest to how well it works from a distance as my HTPC only sits about 10 ft from my couch. It has many keys that work well for an HTPC (volume, play/pause, etc).

Cons: None.

Overall Review: I couldn't really put these in the "cons" section because they're indicative of being a compact key board: some of the buttons are smaller than normal. For example, the right shift is only half size to make room for the up arrow which I often hit instead. But I can't complain, if they made it differently, it would be as compact.

Beautiful on the outside, shoddy on the inside

nMEDIAPC Red Wood Wood/Steel HTPC 8000 ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
nMEDIAPC Red Wood Wood/Steel HTPC 8000 ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: Looks great sitting in the living room for an HTPC. Exceptionally quiet. 4 HHD slots for a NAS box. Being made out of wood, could easily be modified to fit more. Surprisingly good air flow.

Cons: All that holds up the the drive tray is two wood "ledges" glued to shallow slots on either side, both of which were broken off when I received them. The upper drive cage was also wedged on the inside. This was most likely UPS's fault though. This was fairly easy to fix though. I just slathered on some JB Weld and cut two dowel rods to wedge in between them while it cured. The upper drive cage screws directly into the wood so it was a very inaccurate fit so that it took much "fine tuning" to get the optical drive tray to open and close without catching.

Overall Review: Overall, I'm very happy with this case. It was a HUGE pain in the rear to get it set up just right with a lot of frustration and cursing. Once I got it set up just right though, I was very please with its aesthetics, air flow, and quietness, even with the stock 140mm rear fan. I should probably knock another egg off for the shoddiness, but now that it's all set up, it won't be causing me anymore problems.

Could survive nuclear holocaust

LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model iHAS124-04
LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model iHAS124-04

Pros: When unpackaging, it accidentally flew out of my hand about 5 or so feet and slammed on my ceramic tile floor. I just finished installing Windows without a hitch.

Cons: None yet

Overall Review: If you are clumsy, this is the one for you.

11/30/2011