Antec NSK3480 Mid Tower Review

***All the components i talk about here can be found at Newegg.***

The case my computer is currently housed in is an Antec New Solution NSK3480 MicroATX Mid Tower Case, (pictured.) I bought it nearly two years ago to upgrade my crappy dell 531s computer that my oh so gracious parents had bought be, even though I could’ve built a way better one for less and saved them money -_- (and wouldn’t have had to deal with the stupid slim case it came in.)  Mostly I got this case because I was in the process of ordering an XFX 8600 GT (hey, it was good back then) and it wouldn’t fit in the stupid slim case my dell came in. I looked for a while, and with the guidance of my friend, who also is a computer builder and programmer, found this Antec, and it has served me very well over the past two years.

What I love about it:

• This case is ridiculously durable. It’s made out of .8mm cold-rolled steel, so it’s ridiculously strong and can withstand all the bumps and bruising that occurs when you have idiot friends who aren’t careful around your computer. (only part that isn’t steel is the front cover, which is plastic, but I’ve never had that crack or scratch or anything)
• It comes with a three speed 120mm fan in the back, which keeps everything cool really well. I’m not saying this is a performance case or anything, but if you’re not running anything ridiculous, it will work for you.
• It’s a great looking case as long as you like nice plain computer cases and you’re not into those ridiculous cases that have, like, windows on the side and LEDs everywhere, and a giant sword on the side you can kill people with.
• The power supply it comes with is very strong. It may not sound like it, because it’s only 380W, but because it’s designed by Antec, it has better output than a lot of 500W power supplies out there.
• This thing is super small. Whenever i want to go to a friend’s house and want to bring my computer, it is really easy to transport because it is so compact.
• It was about $100 when i bought it, which may sound like a lot for a MicroAtx case, but considering i got a steel constructed case, with a brilliant power supply, I think it was definitely worth the price.
• You can install two more 92mm fans in the front, for added airflow.
• It’s an Antec, which means you can count on it being a quality product.
• You can fit three hard-drives in here, as long as you only have one dvd-drive. You can fit one in the 3.5″ bay, one in the spare 5.25″ bay, and one at the bottom of the case (not recommended if you have a video card, because the hard-drive will be cut of from a lot of the air circulation)

What I hate about it:

• Ok, so the size is also a bad thing (look at how small it is inside! –>). While i have been able to fit all my components in this case, and organize them reasonably well, doing so was no walk in the park. I took a lot of planning to manage all the cables into the most efficient configuration. However, once i had achieved that, i never had to worry about them, so it’s not so bad.
• It’s nice that it’s plain, but it’s a little too boring looking for me at times.
• The Power Supply is kinda ridiculously close to the dvd drive, it’s very hard to organize the power cables when the drive is in, so you pretty much have to take it out if you’re doing anything with the power supply.

So, if you’re looking for a really good, affordable MicroAtx Mid Tower that comes with a good power supply, this is the case you want to buy.

If you’re looking for all that, but just want an Atx compatible case, then this case’s larger counterpart would be what you’re looking for. It’s called the Antec NSK6580 (pictured left), it’s $30 more expensive, but it comes with a lot more than this case, which include:

• A 430W power supply.
• Two more 5.25″ drive bays

• 5 internal 3.5″ internal drive bays, space enough for 5 hard-drives (that’d probably be overkill)
• About 1300 cubic inches more space to work with than the NSK3480
• It can actually fit MicroAtx motherboards, so if you want to spend the extra $30 for the extra space, you can.

This is a side by side of their interiors. If you’ll notice, the power supply is much more reasonably spaced from the drive bays, which, in itself, pretty much makes this case worth the extra $30. I would have this case if it were not for the fact that it was not available when i bought mine.

Now, if you’re one of those fortunate souls who doesn’t can afford it, i would advise getting one of these:

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This glorious thing is a Lian Li K60B Mid Tower Case, and this is the next case i am getting. Lets talk a little bit about the features.

It has:

• 5 5.25″ Drive Bays
• 4 3.5″ Drive Bays
• 1 120mm fan in the back, 2 140mm fans on the top, and 1 140mm fan in the front. This keeps your computer as cool as is physically possible, short of installing a liquid cooling system.
• It’s freaking BEAUTIFUL
• The power supply is bottom mounted, which i prefer to top mounted, but it’s really down to preference
• It has even more room than the Antec NSK6580 (the big one.) About 400 cubic inches more i believe.
• It can hold up to three graphics cards
• Space behind the MoBo to run cables
• It’s tool-less, so you can pretty much install everything without having to even grab a screwdriver.
• Did i mention it’s GORGEOUS?!
• Oh yeah, it can fit both MicroAtx and Atx, as if it needed to get any better.

The only bad parts i can think of are:

• It doesn’t come with a power supply (i’d recommend an Antec BP550 or if you’re doing some mad SLI/Crossfire, an Antec TruePower New TP-650)
• With the power supply it would come out to between $160 and $210, which is not cheap
• Um…it only comes in black?
• It…can’t be comfortably used as a hat.

So, there you have it. If you want a cheap Micro Atx Mid Tower, that comes with a power supply, you should get either the Antec NSK3480, or the NSK6580.

If you’re looking to get one of the best cases there is, and only spend a little bit more money, you should get the Lian Li…just don’t tell me when you get it if you get it before me, because i just might kill you and take it.

Acer x213h 1080p Monitor Review

This is a review of my Acer x213h high definition, 1080p monitor. I would link to where i bought mine from, but newegg.com, where i bought mine, stopped selling them, and i’d feel bad linking to a different retailer’s site when i bought mine from Newegg. Here’s a picture of it, in all it’s glory:

It’s huuuge

Ok, it’s really not that big, but it’s a decent sized monitor. Oddly enough, my friend has one that’s a little bit bigger than this, but it only displays in 1680×1050, whereas this one displays in 1920×1080, otherwise known as true HD.

Now, lets start off with what i don’t like about this monitor, just cause i started with what i liked in my last review:

• The stand is a little wobbly, so if your desk is bumped a lot, your monitor will move along with it.
• The plastic enclosing the monitor, somehow, just doesn’t feel that great, it just feels a little cheap.
• The buttons are a little annoying to push when you want to change any of the display settings or anything.
• The back-light bleeds a little if you’re displaying a mostly dark screen, but it’s not even noticeable unless you’re looking for it (at least, not to me)
• The HDMI port is a little hard to find when you’re just feeling around for it.
• If you want to put this on a wall mount, i think you have to deal with part of the stand sticking out from the bottom, because only part of the stand comes off, pictured here:

Yes i know it’s a little dusty, my bad…

And here’s the good things about this monitor:

• It’s small enough to carry places, like to a friend’s house or whatever, but the display is beautiful, True HD
• The monitor is small compared to a lot of 1080p monitors, which generally run between 23 and 27 inches measured diagonally. This one is only about 21, so it has more pixels per inch, meaning it has a sharper picture.
• Standard 5ms response time is good for pretty much everything. I use it for gaming, movies, etc, works perfectly for everything.
• Has HDMI, which is a huge plus.
• It’s a good looking monitor, acer has a great design for their monitors without integrated speakers (i don’t much like the ones with speakers because the plastic used is shiny, kinda like a Samsung, but not as good)
• No dead pixels, and none have shown up in the months that i’ve been using it.
• Comes with monitor presets for gaming, text viewing, movies, and one called standard, which works well for just about everything.

Now, this is a great monitor, i love it and am glad i bought it. I bought it at a very good price, i think i paid 170 for it, which is phenomenal for a 1080p monitor. However, given the chance, i would not buy it again, because for the same price you can buy one of these:

which can be found at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236051.  This monitor is now sold for the same price as the Acer (at the time i purchased the Acer, the Asus was more expensive, so i didn’t buy it…that was a mistake), but unlike the Acer, it has an audio out port, so you can use the HDMI cable for your Xbox 360 or PS3, and still be able to use your computer speakers. It also has an audio in so you can run your computer sound to it, and get both the sound from the HDMI, and the sound from your computer. Small sidenote: the monitor control buttons on the 21.5″ Asus are regular buttons, which is great because the monitors bigger counterpart, the 23″er has touch sensitive buttons, which never work right in my experience. You even get a mail in rebate on the Asus, dropping down to 150 for a 1080p monitor, which is a great price given that it’s an Asus. And yes, i know what i’m talking about with the audio features on the Asus, my friend has two of this monitor and i’ve used them many times.

The only bad things about the Asus are:

• The contrast ratio is a little bit lower. But, it makes up for that by having a 2ms response time, which is ridiculously fast and great for gaming.
• The stand, like the Acer’s, juts out if you want to use it on a wall mount.
• The power button is always orange, which is weird. On the Acer, when it’s in standby, the light turns orange, and when it’s on it turns blue. On the Asus, the button itself is orange and there’s a light next to it that is blue when it’s on. Small thing, but it’s always annoyed me.

So, overall, the Acer is a great monitor, but if you’re looking for a good, affordable, 1080p monitor, you should go with the Asus. Even the stand is better, you don’t get the wobblyness of the Acer…although the plastic is a little shinier, so, if you hate shiny plastic, and don’t mind not having an audio-out port, then you can still get the Acer, but you’d have to look around on the internet because Newegg stopped selling them.

Google is amazing

Google never ceases to amaze me. Now they’re talking about gigabit internet. GIGABIT! That’s ridiculous. That’s potentially download speeds of 128 megabytes a SECOND! That’s about five hundred times faster than the average person’s high speed internet. The possibilities are endless i tell you, ENNNDLESSSS O_O

Here’s a link to the article about it:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html