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Efrain J.

Efrain J.

Joined on 09/01/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 3
Most Favorable Review
nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 6000B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 6000B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: You can't beat the price. A lot more room inside than you would think. Comes with three case fans, including a 120mm fan on the side with room for an additional 120mm on the other side. Good amounts of vents. Front e-SATA.

Cons: Somewhat flimsy tray for accessing the front ports. Not a fan of the big DVD logo over the one external drive...Especially when I have a Blu-ray drive in my machine. Huge power button makes you want to spin it. REALLY tight fit for PCI-E cards and cabling. Warning to some...Installing an optical drive is a bit weird. Screws go on the underside of the drive, not the side.

Overall Review: The first time I built this case out, I had to move a HDD because the power connector for the HD 4870 wouldn't fit with the HDD where it was. I have this computer set up as a gaming machine connected to m HDTV. If I want to upgrade to Crossfire, I'm going to have to either find a card with power connectors in a non-standard location or I will have to go at one of the HDD mounts with a pair of shears. Really though, the tight fit for the large PCI-E cards is my only real complaint. I'm quite happy with the case.

Most Critical Review
APEX MI-100 Black / Mirror finish Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply
APEX MI-100 Black / Mirror finish Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply

Pros: Inexpensive. 5.25 and 3.5 external bays for the size is quite nice. Shiny @_@

Cons: No side vent on the PCI/-E side of the case. The plastic front is a bit flimsy. Pressure on the top of the case, can sometimes get in the way of the optical drive from opening properly. Also, it's a bit tough getting at the optical drive if you need to force it open with a pin.

Overall Review: If you have a PCI/-E video card installed, the fan is going to blow right into a solid wall leading to some heating issues. There is a side vent on the HDD side which is nice, but it would have been better on the other side. I put together an Atom 330 machine with PCI video for dual DVI output. Though everything should run cool, the lack of breathing room for the video card actually leads to the entire thing heating up more than I would prefer for such a low powered computer.

JATON GeForce FX 5200 128MB DDR PCI Low Profile Ready Graphics Card VIDEO-228PCI-XS
JATON GeForce FX 5200 128MB DDR PCI Low Profile Ready Graphics Card VIDEO-228PCI-XS

Pros: Very small card for dual DVI.

Cons: Could not boot into Linux with this card. Pricey for the GPU. Runs hotter than I would like.

Overall Review: Bought this card for a Linux nettop with dual monitors. I couldn't get the machine to boot with this card installed. Went with Windows XP and things seem to run fine. Great card for the size. Could be a bit cheaper for an FX 5200.