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Gerald E.

Gerald E.

Joined on 03/13/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 13
Most Favorable Review

Pleasing to the eye and wallet

hec Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC 7K09 Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case with 270W FLEX Power Supply
hec Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC 7K09 Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case with 270W FLEX Power Supply

Pros: There's plenty of room for an optical drive, two hard drives, and a mini ITX board. The front panel looks great - especially the power switch/light ring. The case fan helps keep the inside cool.

Cons: The included power supply fan is very noisy (too noisy for a lower power unit). The power supply is missing a power connection for a second SATA drive (you'll need to buy a split power connector if you have two SATA drives).

Overall Review: I'd give this case 5/5 stars if the power supply fan wasn't so loud (again, for a low power PSU).

It works

G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model F2-5300CL4S-2GBPQ
G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model F2-5300CL4S-2GBPQ

Pros: It works.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: FYI: I'm not overclocking this memory.

Great board for specific applications

Intel BOXD945GCLF2D Intel Atom processor 330 Intel 945GC Mini ITX Motherboard / CPU Combo
Intel BOXD945GCLF2D Intel Atom processor 330 Intel 945GC Mini ITX Motherboard / CPU Combo

Pros: Great board for your next server - low power and decent data throughput. Runs Ubuntu 9.04 flawlessly.

Cons: BIOS won't allow you change voltages, memory timing, or clock frequency. The graphics are not setup for intense 3D acceleration.

Overall Review: Under clocking (to save power) isn't an option in the BIOS, otherwise I would have given this board 5/5 stars.

Great drive for a server or always on computer

Western Digital WD Green WD10EADS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Western Digital WD Green WD10EADS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Low power and quiet.

Cons: To save power this drive stops spinning after a short period of inactivity. As a result, there's a slight delay when accessing the drive after brief periods of inactivity.

Overall Review: This is a great drive for a server or computers that stay on for extended periods of time.

Cheap and noisy

LITE-ON Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model iHDP118-04
LITE-ON Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model iHDP118-04

Pros: Inexpensive.

Cons: This drive is extremely noisy while performing reads. It becomes fairly quiet when it's just spinning.

Overall Review: Even with the noise, 4/5 stars is earned because it's a good value for the money.

A big heatsink for my northbridge

Thermalright HR-05-SLI Copper Heatsinks only
Thermalright HR-05-SLI Copper Heatsinks only

Pros: It's big and appears to be keeping my northbridge at ~15C above room temperature.

Cons: Attaching the "optional" fan is done through cable ties and not nuts/bolts/brackets. Also, the manner in which the heatsink attaches to my northbridge ASIC does not leave it as secure as I would like. Under a little pressure it can wiggle and that's why it only gets 4 out of 5 stars.

Overall Review: This would be an amazing heatsink if Thermalright would engineer a better fan mount and board bracket.