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Michael R.

Michael R.

Joined on 06/04/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 5
Most Favorable Review

Nice, but not perfect

Habey EMC-800B Black Heavy duty 3mm aluminum Server Chassis with 12V DC Power Supply 60W
Habey EMC-800B Black Heavy duty 3mm aluminum Server Chassis with 12V DC Power Supply 60W

Pros: Case looks nice, solidly built. Pretty small for an ITX case.

Cons: Not a lot of ventilation in the case, few places to add fans. No front USB ports. Blue led on the power button is bright and annoying (although that is every case, it seems).

Overall Review: If you're using a Sandybridge mobo, there actually is enough space (contrary to another review here), although it is tight. I'm using the Intel DH67CF and a i3-2100T, along with a single 3.5" drive. If you don't install a CD drive, you can fit the 3.5" drive without any problem, but leaves less space than desired. Alternatively, you can fit a slim DVD drive in the bay with a 2'.5" drive underneath, although that is very tight. When I tested it out, it barely fit. Installing a pico power supply is great, but blocks the fan location on the drive tray. I solved this problem by rotating the drive tray since I didn't install an optical drive. My idle temps are around 29-34 with one 50mm fan for intake, and all seems good. Wish it was a little better ventilated, though - would probably go with a slightly bulkier case for that reason next time.

Most Critical Review

Quiet fan, at first

Scythe SY1225SL12M "Slipstream" Case Fan
Scythe SY1225SL12M "Slipstream" Case Fan

Pros: Initially very quiet Pushes a lot of air for it's sound level

Cons: Fan becomes quite loud after a few days of constant use

Overall Review: The stats on this fan are really great - and it lives up to it for the first few days. But after that, the fan will often make a grinding noise, making it far too loud. I purchased two of these fans on the recommendation of a popular website, but they both started to make loud noises after a week. Very disappointed.

G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B
G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B

Pros: Fast, runs cool.

Cons: The funky heat spreader on these things is pretty tall. It actually blocks part of the fan for my CPU by a few millimeters. Also, I had to manually set the timings to get the rated speed.

Overall Review: Make sure you check the height of the ram before buying.

Western Digital Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Western Digital Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Fast, and pretty quiet

Cons: Can run a little warm

Overall Review: It's a nice, fast drive. My only complaint is that it didn't come with any software to transfer data or clone hard drives. If you have some techincal knowledge, it's not hard to find that stuff online.

EVGA 896-P3-1265-AR GeForce GTX 260  Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
EVGA 896-P3-1265-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Pros: I upgraded to this card from an 8800GT SSC, and I'm quite pleasantly surprised. Everything is faster and smoother, and the card is quieter than my 8800GT. So far, I've increased it from the default clock speeds quite a bit - past the point of the more expensive SSC version. It performs very, very well. Power usage is pretty good as well - it lowers the clock speed when not in use, so it uses just as much power as my 8800GT when not in use.

Cons: The thing is HUGE. It's over 10 inches long. It fits well in my P182, but measure carefully if you have a smaller case. It also needs two PCI-E external power connectors, so make sure your power supply can handle it first.