Joined on 12/11/05
Excellent Value
Pros: The instructions were easy to follow and each adapter came with a LAN line to connect. In my case, I connected an adapter to my wireless router and plugged another adapter in my son's room (connected it to my kids' 360) and yet another adapter in my daughter's bedroom so her computer will have internet. Everything works just fine. For what I paid, I am getting better than what I expected and better than the USB WiFi I had hooked up to my daughters puter, which by the way, was a long shot on reception any way. My house isn't huge, so I was well within what I call "Line" limits. It is a great way of getting internet to every room in the house (although I haven't actually tried it) without running lan lines all over the place, or having USB WiFi or having to by WiFi cards.
Cons: I had my doubts about this type of technology and was willing to lose the money if it was a rip-off, but to be honest, I can't think of any cons. Oh, how about: It isn't free?
Overall Review: I bought 2 sets (2 in each set) which will sync to each other so you do not have to have a direct connection to the router for each set. 1 Adapter is connected to the router and the other 3 are connected to user devices. I haven't checked the impact if 3 devices are online at the same time, however.
Not a good case
Pros: Relatively cheap. Probably only good for Motherboards that have Video, Audio and Lan integrated.
Cons: The expansion slots in back are recessed about 7/16" and the top slot for video is right against the recess. No room for the DVI adapter for my AGP ATI Video Card. The quick-clamps on the expansion slots and drive bays are useles. I can't secure AGP card because screw holes on the slots are placed wrong. The HDD bays are sideways, ugly fit for IDE cables. Lousy for RAID unless actively cooled. Optical Drive panel is pretty and useless, didn't work with my CD-Rom.
Overall Review: Waiting for 2 new "old" FX 5200's because they don't require an adapter for my CRT's. Even then, I am not sure that will work, after all, there wasn't any room for the adapters. I hope I don't have to modify the mounting brackets on the cards so I can secure them to the expansion slots.
i5-2300 Doggedly slow
Pros: Cheap
Cons: When I received the CPU, it wouldn't fit flush in the socket. I discovered there were 3 bent pins which I was able to gently staighten out. About 20% slower at decrypting DVD movies for backup than my old AMD Athlon 64X2 4200. Seems to be some incompatibility with my Logitec HD Webcam, both issues could be software related. Have to fire up WoW before I can start DVDFab, or else it locks up the computer until DVDFab is done. The CPU doesn't mulitask well at all. I'm thinking of just going ahead and getting the i5-2500K, should have done that in the beginning.
Overall Review: I'm running XP-Pro 32-bit. Tomorrow, going to do a fresh load of Win7 64-bit. See if that improves anything.