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Robert A.

Robert A.

Joined on 09/23/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 18
Most Favorable Review

Smooth setup, still a few nits

ASRock Rack C236 WSI Mini ITX Server Motherboard LGA 1151 Intel C236
ASRock Rack C236 WSI Mini ITX Server Motherboard LGA 1151 Intel C236

Pros: Lots of SATA connectors, good amount of USB 3.0, ECC support. Despite being a two year old product, they updated the BIOS for the Spectre/Meltdown stuff.

Cons: Windows 7 event viewer complains of memory corruption coming out of sleep. It seems like it is supposed to be harmless, but might be sloppy bios code. Initial board eventually had to be replaced due to issues returning from sleep. William was quite helpful and responsive for me too. Power LED output does not seem to work on my board.

Overall Review: Upgraders note that ITX confines mean no USB 2.0 header, only USB 3.0. Also, after about a year developed instability. Magically, about that time a new BIOS came out and returned it to the usual rock solidness.

Most Critical Review

Good but loud

FSP Group FSP220-60LE(80) 220W Mini ITX/ Flex ATX 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply with Intel Haswell Ready
FSP Group FSP220-60LE(80) 220W Mini ITX/ Flex ATX 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply with Intel Haswell Ready

Pros: Fits in place of custom Inwin case power supply that died.

Cons: Fan was really loud despite loading of only about 130watts. Replaced with quieter one and I am much happier.

working nice with i3-9100

AsRock Rack C246M WS Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1151 Intel C246
AsRock Rack C246M WS Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1151 Intel C246

Pros: Works with N82E16820242559 8GB ECC DRAM

Cons: Seems to lack Platform Trust Tech support, maybe a shameless attempt to sell the extra TPM2 module.

Overall Review: Upgraded a storage/backup server to this board, with i3-9100 and two sticks of 8GB 2667 ECC DRAM. It generally works great. I did have an issue with an older SSD intermittently running extremely slow. It was only 256GB, so I upgraded to a M.2 stick (for almost nothing) and left that problem in the dust. With Win 11 looming, I looked to turn on Intel PTT, but that does not seem to be an option with this board, even though Intel says it is supported for this chipset (C246).

10/28/2021

Looks impressive when built

Pros: clear and 3D nature challenges you to devise a new way of solving a puzzle (can't sort by edge pieces or by colors).

Cons: Turns out to be a little easier than it looks due to the symmetry in the puzzle pieces (I could be clearer, but that would spoil the fun).

When will MS give me blu-ray?

Corel WinDVD Pro 2011
Corel WinDVD Pro 2011

Pros: Plays blu ray disks.

Cons: Gives me an error immediately upon startup: Create Overlay failed. Then it tells me to reduce resolution! Duh! I want to play blu ray at full resolution, not 720p. Knowledgebase at Corel was no help. I got it to work at 1080p once, by switching back from 720p at a good time.

Overall Review: It seems like I got what a paid for (free after rebate).

12/27/2011

Didn't last

SMC LG-ERICSSON SMCWGBR14-N 802.11b/g/n Barricade N ProMax Broadband Gigabit Router up to 300Mbps
SMC LG-ERICSSON SMCWGBR14-N 802.11b/g/n Barricade N ProMax Broadband Gigabit Router up to 300Mbps

Pros: Worked fairly well for about 6 months.

Cons: After 6 months, it is locking up multiple times a day. Unacceptable.

Overall Review: My Actiontec DSL/Wifi/router lasted longer than any of the name brand wifi routers I have burned through...