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Maciek K.

Maciek K.

Joined on 09/05/03

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Great board

ASUS P5M2/2GBL ATX Server Motherboard LGA 775 Intel 3000 DDR2 667
ASUS P5M2/2GBL ATX Server Motherboard LGA 775 Intel 3000 DDR2 667

Pros: This is an Asus board, and I've never been disappointed with the brand. Great bios features, many fan controllers, good spacing of mobo slots and components, built-in VGA port, all passive heatsinks. Works great in my server running Linux (FC6).

Cons: The CPU socket is a bit oddly placed. It ends up being right up against the drive bays of an ATX tower case. Expect to bust up your knuckles trying to get a big heatsink onto it.

Overall Review: Impressed with the board. I will likely switch all my systems to ASUS server-grade mobos in the near future.

Most Critical Review

Good hardware, BAD software

Logitech diNovo Edge 2-Tone 84 Normal Keys 9 Function Keys Bluetooth Wireless Mini Keyboard
Logitech diNovo Edge 2-Tone 84 Normal Keys 9 Function Keys Bluetooth Wireless Mini Keyboard

Pros: The diNovo keyboard feels nice -- a lot like a high-quality laptop keyboard. Works right out of the box.

Cons: The driver software an amazing piece of doo. The Logitech SetPoint driver is bloated and buggy, and conflicts with a lot of other peripherals. After some tial-and-error, I opted to use the keyboard with built-in Windows drivers, thus sacrificing some configurability. Get it together Logitech!

Overall Review: Keyboard is a dirt magnet. The slick surfaces gunk up.

Awful experience

SUPERMICRO MBD-X8STE-O LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Xeon Server Motherboard
SUPERMICRO MBD-X8STE-O LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Xeon Server Motherboard

Pros: Lots of expansion slots (if they work).

Cons: I got this board with the sole purpose of driving my Adaptec 5805 controller. It doesn't. The system freezes under any OS/driver combination I tried with PCI errors logged in the BIOS. I tried multiple Adaptec cards to no avail. At this time, it seems like the PCIe implementation of this board isn't up to snuff. Oh, and it hates most of the DRAM DIMMs you'll truy to plug into it. It took me three tries to find a compatible type.

Overall Review: I wish I could get this working, as I like the specs of this board. And I wish I could get the days of my life that I wasted trying to make that happen.

Very bad experience (and wasted money)

SUPERMICRO MBD-X8STI-O LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Xeon Server Motherboard
SUPERMICRO MBD-X8STI-O LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Xeon Server Motherboard

Pros: Roomy board layout, easy access to everything, plenty of fan headers, good bios upgrade utilities, lots of integrated capabilities.

Cons: This board is very finicky about the memory that it will work with. I had to go through three memory types before I found one that would be stable. But that's not the end of it. The PCIe bus is very flaky, and (even after a bios flash) continues to issue NMIs to the cards that are plugged into it. The board's error logs are useless at helping debug the problems. I'm ordering a different board, and eating the loss on this one - I spent so long trying to stabilize it that I went over the time I had to return it. Lesson learned.

Overall Review: If you want to run this board without using the PCIe slot, then it may be a solid computer.

Intake, not exhaust

Thermaltake TMG SL1 A2414 80mm Blue LED Dual PCI Slot Fan
Thermaltake TMG SL1 A2414 80mm Blue LED Dual PCI Slot Fan

Pros: Quiet. I power it via a speed-varying potentiometer, because I was worried about making my box too noisy, but even at full speed, this fan is whisper quiet.

Cons: I thought this was an EXHAUST fan. It is not. It's INTAKE ONLY. Reversing wires does not reverse the fan's direction. Also, people talk about flipping it over to blow this way or that. It doesn't work. When I flip the fan over in its bracket, it hits the PCI slot. So, really it only blows air in, and only in one direction.

Overall Review: The LED light is dumb.

Good drive for the money

SanDisk Cruzer Micro U3 4GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) SDCZ6-4096-A10
SanDisk Cruzer Micro U3 4GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) SDCZ6-4096-A10

Pros: Nice drive once you remove the U3 features from it. Very fast. Fairly compact. Retractable USB plug is nice. Nice orange glow when plugged in.

Cons: Cheap plastic casing. Feels flimsy. Not nearly at durable as the Cruzer Titanium that I'm upgrading from. I hope I don't step on it.