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DANIEL L.

DANIEL L.

Joined on 07/30/02

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 17
Most Favorable Review

Satisfied

iStarUSA D-214-MATX Black Steel 2U Rackmount Chassis 2 External 5.25" Drive Bays
iStarUSA D-214-MATX Black Steel 2U Rackmount Chassis 2 External 5.25" Drive Bays

Pros: Compact, 2U, micro ATX rack-mountable case with full ATX PSU capability, which seems like a new or new-ish concept. 2 "advertised" 3.5" drive bays, but actually the two internal drive cages have holes for a total of four 3.5" drives. Four 3.5" drives won't fit but I'm using 2.5" drives with 3.5" adapters. I'm also using a shorter depth mATX board. With my adapter I was able to put four 2.5" drives in one cage, leaving the other free for four more 2.5" drives! I don't plan on doing that though. Your results may vary, as your motherboard must not be the longer type, and may also depend on choice of drive adapter.

Cons: Like another reviewer mentioned, there are a lot of screws involved in installing or changing the front fans! I'm not taking any eggs off but will just say it was a test of my dexterity for sure. Edges not rolled, but not nearly sharp enough to cut me (*whew*). I tested two motherboards and both seemed to barely line up with the screwholes. Seems like the PCI slot grooves (which hold the motherboard side of a PCI card backplate) protrude just a hair too much. MINUS 1 EGG for that.

Overall Review: I initially installed an AMD FX8320E with AMD's included OEM heatsink/fan which is very weak (no heatpipes). I skipped installing front 80mm intake fans (MISTAKE #1! LOL). I placed the rig on a wooden shelf and closed the case (Mistake #2!). The whole thing got pretty warm LOL.... as did the shelf! The motherboard mounts right to the bottom of the case, not like many cases which have a mobo tray of some kind, and then a back or bottom cover. Not necessarily a bad thing, but don't skip the front fans!!! A PSU which has an exhaust fan on the back might be preferable also, as there's no actual exhaust fan locations on this case. Again, not docking any eggs for any of this. I got this on sale and overall I'm satisfied. I'm using this as a dedicated FreeNAS box (AMD single core Sempron 35watt CPU, 4 x 320GB 2.5" drives, FSP 350watt PSU which has an 80mm exhaust fan). I put two 80mm fans in front. Plenty of perforated holes in the back; I can feel air coming through. System runs fairly cool.

Most Critical Review

I dunno...

SeaSonic SS-350SFE 350 W SFX12V V3.1 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
SeaSonic SS-350SFE 350 W SFX12V V3.1 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: It works, mostly.

Cons: I moved my system from an ATX case with a 400w PSU to a microATX case with this Seasonc 350w PSU. Before, I could put the PC to sleep and it would resume with no problem. Now, when I resume, my second hard drive doesn't wake up. The PC resumes fine, but the sound of a device uninstalling comes a few seconds after resume, and no 2nd drive. I have to shut down/restart. I docked 2 eggs for this. Also, this has 2 SATA power plugs, 4 molex plugs and 2 floppy power plugs. WTH. Another egg docked.

Overall Review: This is my first seasonic PSU and I expected top notch stuff given their reputation. Not sure what to make of this. Like others mentioned, the fan is a tad loud as well, and hardly even pushes much air for the noise it's making. I didn't dock any eggs for this, though maybe I should have.

Very good for the price

Rosewill RMS-16002 - Dual Monitor Gas Spring Arm Desk Mount, LCD Screens 13" - 27", VESA: 75 / 100mm, Tilt: +90 / -45 deg., Swivel: 180 deg., Rotate: 360 deg., Max. Load: 13.2 lbs. (Per arm)
Rosewill RMS-16002 - Dual Monitor Gas Spring Arm Desk Mount, LCD Screens 13" - 27", VESA: 75 / 100mm, Tilt: +90 / -45 deg., Swivel: 180 deg., Rotate: 360 deg., Max. Load: 13.2 lbs. (Per arm)

Pros: Price! It works well once you figure out how to adjust the springs! I've been wanting something like this for a while and happy with this product.

Cons: The cable management covers made it difficult to fit power video and USB cable. It has a center "spine" on the plastic cover that holds the cables, that I think I may try to cut out. I don't like cables being squished. I'm also not crazy about glossy black, but fortunately the arms are mostly hidden in my arrangement.

Overall Review: I was afraid of wobbly monitors because my desk only has two legs (Ikea Jerker). I've found that typing just slightly lighter than I'm used to, no wobble. Even when it wobbles, it's really nothing crazy, and not a deal breaker. I think if you have a typical four legged desk you won't get any wobble at all, should be rock solid.

It's doing its job!

TOSHIBA PH2100U-1I54 1TB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive Retail Kit
TOSHIBA PH2100U-1I54 1TB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive Retail Kit

Pros: It works! No issues or SMART warnings. I use this at work as a second drive in a system with SSD for the OS. Its about 50% filled. I partitioned so that commonly accessed stuff is on the outer edge of the platters, and large files (windows images) are on the inside.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: Can't speak for performance of this disk as a primary OS disk as it's a second drive for data.

9 years of good service

ENERMAX Liberty ELT400AWT 400 W ATX12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply
ENERMAX Liberty ELT400AWT 400 W ATX12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: Bought in 2006. Worked consistently and flawlessly for 9 years, across several platforms.

Cons: It didn't last forever!

Overall Review: Finally stopped working, unable to boot an 8-core 125 watt AMD Vishera on an Asus Crosshair Formula-Z. Might still work on a less demanding system but no longer able to play with the big dogs lol...

Reliable!

Brother HL-2280DW Wireless Monochrome Multifunction Laser Printer
Brother HL-2280DW Wireless Monochrome Multifunction Laser Printer

Pros: Had this unit for 9 months and hasn't given me a problem yet. At first, the LCD display didn't work, but at some point it just started working! LOL... I occasionally print and scan stuff, nothing heavy duty.

Cons: Scanning is slightly awkward since the top left corner of the page is near the back left of the glass, rather than the front right as I would have preferred. Of course I have the unit on a shelf 6 feet up so that doesn't help! Not a deal breaker considering I rarely scan stuff.

Overall Review: Very happy with this unit which I got on sale, so much that I bought a second one (also on sale) for my niece who is a student. Decided to get away from inkjet printers because the last two models I had seemed to suck more ink to clean the nozzles more than anything else. I do not print often, which is not good for cheap inkjets which dry up or something. I've had this unit for 9 months and it has never failed to print perfectly, and still have 80% toner left. Drum Life remaining is 100% lol... Sweet.