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Matt J.

Matt J.

Joined on 05/13/12

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 2
Most Favorable Review

Not too bad, could have had a little more care

Corsair Carbide Series 200R Black Steel / Plastic Compact ATX Mid Tower Case
Corsair Carbide Series 200R Black Steel / Plastic Compact ATX Mid Tower Case

Pros: - Cheap. Got it for $60 and coming from Corsair, that's pretty good. - Relatively spacious for my Asus 7850 and Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo. - Front panel audio ports. Why does this matter? I have a stereo receiver set up with my laptop (old Toshiba satellite) and the audio cord always gets somewhat unplugged and makes a lot of disturbing noise. My point being, the audio ports get a good grip and won't let the cord go without using force. Just a little thing I like, not too important. - SSD cage. It's nice that Corsair includes this because it expands your HDD space, seeing as how you won't need a bay for your SSD. And, there's 4 slots for SSD's - Tool less design. As Corsair says, "The only time you'll need a screwdriver, is when you need to install the motherboard." I don't want to call this a lie, but you may need a Phillips head to remove the 5.25" covers. They're kind of a pain. More pro than con for it's well designed HDD and SSD cage. You can also screw them in if necessary, but not entirely needed. - Front panel USB 3.0, is a must on modern cases.

Cons: - Slight wobble on feet. I suppose you could just put some black paper underneath, to fix it and so it won't be noticeable, but to me, this is a sign of lack of care in the build process. - Mine had a scuff on the front. not too big, but bugs me a little knowing it's there. - Front panel grille. Or lack thereof. The front doesn't have a full grille, but a flat surface and mesh on the sides for airflow. The reason this is a con is because of the airflow, also lack thereof. At least the 900D has a shroud to improve airflow. And, the dust filter isn't removable, which I would have liked to have. - No side panel window. Also more of a personal preference, but not worth an egg.

Overall Review: Overall, This case is pretty solid for a budget builder looking for a sleek look without breaking the bank, and sacrificing features. The thing that made me knock off an egg was a combination of the lack of care put into this case, but for the price, you can't complain much.

Most Critical Review

You're better off with another board

GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-UD3H LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-UD3H LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Pros: -Looks good -Widely universal as far as compatibility -Best looking BIOS

Cons: -Loses recognition of my drives (more on that below) -Occasionally won't shut the board off when I turn off my computer -Gigabyte has not yet contacted me about my RMA request

Overall Review: I got this in August at a local retailer for about $30 cheaper than Newegg, and was excited to bring it home and tinker with it. After about a month of use (albeit somewhat strenuous use, but just some gaming and rendering), the motherboard wouldn't recognize my hard drive and/or my SSD at any random moment after i turn it on (BTW I turn it off every night and when I'm not on). The hard drive I can somewhat deal with because I can just restart my system and it's there again, but it's still fairly annoying. But, when my SSD isn't recognized, then my whole system crashes and that really annoys me beyond belief. tl;dr system crashes occasionally due to lack of recognition of drives In short, I most likely won't be getting such a board from Gigabyte anytime soon. I'm looking forward to my new Maximus IV Hero to come in the mail to replace this nuisance.