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Michael M.

Michael M.

Joined on 08/18/09

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 27
Most Favorable Review

Despite What Others Say - I LOVE This Case!

LOGISYS Computer Area 51 CS51WBK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 480W Power Supply
LOGISYS Computer Area 51 CS51WBK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 480W Power Supply

Pros: - Perfect for First-Timers - Nice Design - See-thru Window - Spacious. - Room for 1 Rear 120mm Fan, 1 Front 120mm Fan, 1 80mm Fan on the Side (included), and 1 75mm Fan on the bottom of the case as well.

Cons: - Can't turn off LED lights with a switch. - Crummy Power Supply Included (what did you expect? It's a 50 dollar case) - ONLY ONE SATA POWER CABLE ON THE POWER SUPPLY. (If you plan on having more than one hard drive, or a nicer dvd burner, then you'll need 4-pin molex to sata power cable converters) -

Overall Review: Replace the Power Supply. I bought this in August, and I've finally ordered my new power supply this January. You don't have to replace it immediately, just make sure you know it's on your to-do list sometime down the road. I've read a lot of reviews saying that their side window was cracked when the received it. Jot down another tally mark for "NO CRACKS, FINE CONDITION". Mine had nothing of the sort. If you're worried about front ventilation, take note that under the case near the front, there's a vent on the bottom, as well as a good sized "slit" under the LED 'eyes' that will intake massive air when hooked up with a 120mm fan.

Most Critical Review

Worked well for a month!

NETGEAR WNDR3700-100NAS V.5 Wireless Gigabit Open Source Router/ USB port Rangemax 2.4/5 GHz Simultaneous N600 Dual Band IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.3/3u/3ab
NETGEAR WNDR3700-100NAS V.5 Wireless Gigabit Open Source Router/ USB port Rangemax 2.4/5 GHz Simultaneous N600 Dual Band IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.3/3u/3ab

Pros: -Great Distance when working -Excellent speed

Cons: Dies after a few short months. Common problem with the wireless. The range magically dies to about a distance of 3-6 feet in the same room, confirming the death of the wireless.

Overall Review: Common problem. Avoid this unit. Wish they would replace it, but it appearantly isn't covered. What the crud is all that about? *sigh*

11/18/2011

Died 4 months after the Warranty was done.

Rosewill ARC Series 650W Modular Gaming Power Supply, 80 PLUS Bronze Certified, Single +12V Rail, Intel 4th Gen CPU Ready, SLI & CrossFire Ready - ARC-M650
Rosewill ARC Series 650W Modular Gaming Power Supply, 80 PLUS Bronze Certified, Single +12V Rail, Intel 4th Gen CPU Ready, SLI & CrossFire Ready - ARC-M650

Pros: At least it made it to its warranty date. Worked well the entire time.

Cons: Disappointing it didn't go a little longer than 3 years.

Overall Review: I don't think I'll buy this brand again. Nice that it made it 3 years, but was hopeful for more.

Incredible Low-Power Mini-ITX Windows 2012 Server

GIGABYTE GA-J1900N-D3V Mini ITX
GIGABYTE GA-J1900N-D3V Mini ITX

Pros: - Installed with Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition to run my home server on. - All drivers are, indeed, compatible with Server 2012. - Able to hook up PCI adapter for 4 Sata ports, AND perform software mirror/stripe/raid5. - Incredibly quick (installed with M500 SSD) - With a solid state drive, a Corsair CX430 PSU, and wireless USB Keyboard/Mouse, the total cost (as per my kil-a-watt measuring tool) is roughly $0.94 per month. Costs go up ~$0.48 per 3.5" hard drive I add to the system. ~$15 a year to run 24/7. That's fantastic!

Cons: This isn't so much regarding this particular board... but if you're looking to install server 2012 (or windows 8 for that matter), it gets tricky. Here's why: - Cannot boot from DVD drive due to DVD drive being read as a "legacy device" instead of UEFI. - Cannot boot from NTFS usb drive due to NTFS drives not being "bootable". - FAT32 drive required to boot and install an OS, however, Windows 8 nor Windows 2012 Server are under 4gb (maximum size for images on FAT32). Solution: 1) Create a bootable thumb drive for your OS on a FAT32 drive, BUT, remove the install.wim (the huge file). 2) Then, do the same thing on an NTFS drive, but LEAVE the install.wim file on there (allowable, because NTFS can hold over 4gb images). 3) Boot to the FAT32 drive, and before you click on "Install Now", swap the two jump drives (so the NTFS one is plugged in now), then click Install. Tada! Installing OS from NTFS drive that wasn't bootable.

Overall Review: I've bought 2 more of these boards, because of the low power consumption, yet rigorous processor. You can get even more mileage out of this board if you hook up a USB 3.0 to Esata Adapter Support Port Multiplier (like the U3esata) to each of the USB 3.0 slots, and use a whole bunch of Exterior drive bays via eSATA for insane RAID action.

Lowest Power Consumption on Newegg - Period.

Foxconn D270S Intel Atom D2700 Intel NM10 Mini ITX Motherboard / CPU Combo
Foxconn D270S Intel Atom D2700 Intel NM10 Mini ITX Motherboard / CPU Combo

Pros: Works great on 32 bit systems. VERY low power consumption (lowest on newegg, even with all the new technology released in the last 3 years).

Cons: No 64 bit support when it comes to video. (bad news for those running PLEX (server does the work), but XBMC users (end-point device does the work) will not suffer from it).

Overall Review: I've had this for over a year now, and haven't had a lick of trouble. Even runs Windows 8 in 32 bit mode.

Allows Prodigy Case to Keep Hard Drive Cage!

PowerColor Radeon HD 7770 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card AX7770 1GBD5-DH
PowerColor Radeon HD 7770 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card AX7770 1GBD5-DH

Pros: - Powerful - Allows for 3 monitors on ONE card using Eyeinfinity (and a Displayport to HDMI adapter). - Allows the Prodigy Case to retain the Hard Drive Expansion bays due to the AMAZINGLY short form factor of the card.

Cons: No cons. Since the prodigy case comes prepared to install a Mini-ITX, one cannot assume they'll be able to crossfire anything on such a small board. (Unless you had a Mini-ITX board with two PCI-E slots right next to each other, and you used a PCI-E extension to get the 2nd card into a different part of your case... and... *passes out*

Overall Review: Overall, I was just hoping for a card that I could use three monitors with. I didn't expect to be able to play Batman on crazy high settings or anything (although, it punishes Halo 2 PC settings at maximum with 3 screens). Batman plays at Medium settings at full speed.