Joined on 05/23/04
Great for low power router or server
Pros: Almost all of the onboard sensors have lm_sensors drivers for Linux servers, the only exception being the BMC driver. But even without the driver for the BMC sensor you've got motherboard temp, CPU temp by individual core, and all voltage, fan speed, and intrusion detection sensors. I don't know what else the BMC sensor could include.
Cons: This motherboard has no front panel USB header. No worries, I won't be needing one on a router anyway and it would just hurt cable management, but if you need front panel USB your only option is the standard USB port that's directly attached vertically to the motherboard. They really should better highlight that you don't need to use the 20+4 pin AND the 4 pin 12V power connections. I found out by complete accident while reading an unrelated page in the manual because it was included in some fine print notes. I'd never have found it if I was looking for instructions on the motherboard's ATX power connections. I'd originally intended to knock off an egg because of the horizontally placed 4 pin 12F plug hanging off the edge of the board because it makes it extremely difficult to fit into a small case. But since you can use either or depending on your case and cable layout, it's a huge plus. ASRock (and other IPMI board makers) really needs to get with the times and come up with a remote console for the browser which does not require Java. Java in the browser is dead. The NPAPI has been removed from Chrome and will soon be removed from Firefox which will make these remote consoles extremely difficult to use.
Overall Review: It would be really nice if ASRock and other small server board manufacturers would start including additional I/O shields for 1U server cases. A standard I/O shield will not fit in a 1U case and must be cut. That's no tall order for anyone with a dremel and a cutting wheel but it would be a nice convenience. All in all the cons were not enough to give it anything less than five stars. I highly recommend this board to anyone who needs a low power server which doesn't need ECC RAM support. I'm using mine as a router via the two Intel GB interfaces. I plan to expand that with a PCI-E 4-port NIC later. I wanted a CPU with AES but the next Intel SoC after this one is the Avaton which is much more expensive. There's a big gap to fill between the J1900 and the quad core Avaton but for now the J1900 does the job really well. This board could run at 100% load 24/7, stay cool, and suck up almost no power. It's a lot of machine in a very small package.
Sturdy case ruined by poor quality control
Pros: It's small, it's relatively cheap, the metal at least sturdy.
Cons: The front panel wires are awful. The HDD LED connection is three pins wide and the power LED is two. This is supposed to be the other way around. Or like many manufacturers make the power LED two individual leads. So I either cut and splice the connections on the proper wires or I use the power LED as my HDD LED and vice versa. That wouldn't be so bad if the lights weren't labeled on the front. This is VERY sloppy quality control.
Overall Review: I went into this knowing that as a 1U case I was going to have to make some slight modifications to make it work. I used a dremel to cut and grind the I/O shield for my motherboard down to a size that would fit the 1U case. It worked for the most part, but the standoffs on this case are shorter than normal so it sits 2-3mm lower than the I/O shield expects. That's no problem for most of the jacks as they have some wiggle room but I had to grind down the hole for the server ID button as it was pushed up against the I/O shield causing it to be stuck down.
They don't suck
Pros: Comfortable. Light. Voice clarity is very good.
Cons: The cord is very long. Might be a pro for some but it gets tangled up and catches on stuff around my desk constantly. I've had to tape up tears in the wire sleeve from getting caught under my chair wheels.
Not bad
Pros: Great colors, crisp, thin. Very bright for sunny rooms. Nice and straight forward OSD.
Cons: I know not to expect much from built-in speakers but it's like they actually took the speakers out of a PSP and built them into the back of the monitor facing straight backwards. They're beyond horrible. The dynamic contrast isn't that great. Being an LED it should have better control over the lighted and darkened zones. The whole thing goes dark when you bring up a dark web page making multi-tasking annoying.
Overall Review: I picked this up at a pawn shop for $95. I highly recommend it if you can pick it up on sale and you're looking for a deal. For $160 (current Newegg price after discount) I would probably go with something else.
Highly recommended
Pros: Easily among the best graphics muscle for the money. I can run most games at 1920x1080 on maxed graphics on my 37" screen. XFX lifetime warranty is nothing to laugh at either.
Cons: Runs HOT! I have great airflow in my case. With the stock cooler it was ~60C idle and over 95C under heavy load. Slapped a Zalman VF700 on it. It's not supported but it will fit. However, it just doesn't have the cooling power to satisfy this card. The heat issues got even worse. Didn't deduct eggs because of the XFX lifetime warranty and modern chips are hard to overheat. ATI cards can be quirky with some games.
Overall Review: Buy a good aftermarket cooler with RAM syncs for this card if you have any hopes of overclocking. I'm going to get a Zalman VF1000 with some copper RAM syncs to put on this card and bring the temps down to a reasonable level.
Great until the wheel died
Pros: Very smooth. Easy to move with fingertips for perception movements in games and design apps. On-the-fly DPI adjustment is more useful than I ever realized before having it. The heartbeat like blue glow is beautiful with a match backlit Saitek Eclipse II keyboard.
Cons: The mouse wheel died after about a year. Eventually I took it apart and cleaned everything out and it worked for about another month before giving out again. Tried it again and didn't work.
Overall Review: It was a fantastic mouse until the wheel died. Probably wont be buying another RAZER. Going back to Logitech and MS mice.