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andrew m.

andrew m.

Joined on 12/13/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Nice cheap board. Docs aren't great

GIGABYTE GA-H110M-A (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel H110 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-H110M-A (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel H110 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Nice cheap DDR4 board

Cons: Docs don't tell you what the BIOS beep codes are.

Overall Review: If you get 5 long beeps followed by a restart that is a RAM issue, not a CPU issue as indicated elsewhere on the infowebs. Gigabyte should include those POST beep codes in the docs

Most Critical Review

keyboard=junk

Adesso AKB-110B EasyTouch mini USB Keyboard with PS/2 Adapter (Black)
Adesso AKB-110B EasyTouch mini USB Keyboard with PS/2 Adapter (Black)

Pros: Small

Cons: This keyboard totally sucks. You have to hit the space bar DIRECTLY in the VERY center of the space bar or it won't work. I have no idea what they were thinking when they made this thing? Apparently nobody who made it bothered to type on it or they would have noticed how useless it is.

Overall Review: If you want a decent keyboard this size get the SIIG one.

Install mostly broken. Won't display WAN interface IP address.

Linksys EA7500 MAX-STREAM™ AC1900 MU-MIMO Wireless Router
Linksys EA7500 MAX-STREAM™ AC1900 MU-MIMO Wireless Router

Pros: Got decent price on a factory refurbished one here. Seems to work (eventually).

Cons: When you first connect you're given the option to go through their helpful setup wizard or just click manual setup. Obviously I was clicking manual setup. If you skip their helpful wizard the WAN port will not acquire a DHCP address from the cable modem or accept a static one and complains of errors. After lots of messing with it I accidentally started the wizard and after a few more weird errors like the router insisting I disconnect the "TV Cable" from my cable modem (which was working fine) it did finally enable the WAN port however not quite because it still won't display the DHCP assigned IP on its public interface (see image) so if you want to login to your cable modem, good luck guessing its address. And the web admin GUI is slow as balls to do even the simplest thing.

Overall Review: Decent price for the hardware. It

didnt work.

TOSHIBA USB 2.0 DVD±RW SuperMulti Portable Drive Model PA3834U-1DV2
TOSHIBA USB 2.0 DVD±RW SuperMulti Portable Drive Model PA3834U-1DV2

Pros: Didn't explode or catch fire.

Cons: Doesn't work.

Overall Review: Why do I continually fall for the 'recertified' bargains? Who recertifies these things? One day I'll learn.

IcePak is stupid

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive Bare Drive
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: good specs.

Cons: Stupid IcePak makes the drive incompatible with both 3.5" and 2.5" RAID sleds. Didn't realize this before I ordered. I guess I assumed WD wouldn't design something boneheaded like this. my bad. Of course you can remove it easily, but that'd void your warranty. great.

Using PCIe disables onboard video!

ASUS M2NBP-VM CSM AM2 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 210S Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
ASUS M2NBP-VM CSM AM2 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 210S Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: it works.

Cons: Installing a PCIe video card disables the onboard video. MSI's board has the same chipset and does not do this, thus allowing 4 displays. The DVI connector is physically DVI-I but only carries a DVI-D signal so you can't run 2 analog monitors, etc.