Computer Reviews

This is a very nice looking tower and definitely a great value. I was looking for a case for a new PC I was building, and I didn't want one of those cheap, dull, white cases. Luckily I stumbled upon Antec's cases and decided to check them out. This case had everything I needed. Sure it's a little expensive, but I believe it was totally worth the money. It has plenty of space, a solid 330W PSU, room for 3 fans (1 front, 1 back, & 1 side), side panel, and a cool metallic gray style. Now for over 3 months I've been using this case with a Asus P4C800-E motherboard, Pentium 4 2.8Ghz processor, and Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card and have had no problem. The temperatures inside are steady at around 27-32ºC. I must say that the side fan is very useful for cooling a monster graphics card like the 9800 Pro, although the fan tends to run a little loud. The side panel can slide off to gain easy access to the goodies inside, and can also be locked for security. This is a great case and would reccomend to anyone willing to spend the money.

...I have purchased three Antec cases /PS and have been please with all three. Features mentioned in the other reviews work well, though I have added larger power supplies in the last two purchased cases for overclocking. You can't go wrong with Antec cases.

The Antec power supplies have always been rock solid for me. The same now goes for their cases. I have 3 of these cases with 2 running 2.5GHz P4 and one with an Athelon 2200 (all ASUS). The case has several great features: easy open side panel, removable hard drive and fan combo with a nice locking clip, quick slides for optical drives, the hard drive gets a blast of cool air blowing from a fan directly in front of it, and it is easy to install fans. The case is beautiful inside with great finishing touches. What's not to like: little small when I have both hands inside swapping CPU chips, the side fan needs to be unplugged when removing the door, the fan needs to be unplugged for the hard drive enclosure removal, there is no slide out tray for the mobo, and it uses some unusual slides to attach the optical drives( they do supply a lot tho).
The power switch is nice, no doors to contend with, and the front connectors are handy and not in the way of my mouse. Very quiet fans.

Put a LED colored fan into the side vent for a beautiful effect.
Enough power and space for a normal system. A big thumbs up.

Boy did I look long and hard for the perfect case when I undertook building my latest system, and I almost found it with the SX1030. It's obvious that Antec did not cut corners on this model. This case has just about everything you could want, with a few nice little extras thrown in for good measure. Sure, it's big and heavy, but in my mind that's a good thing. It means plenty of room to work, route, install, cool and protect. If you want small and light, you shouldn't be in the tower section.

The front door is great for hiding your hideous beige and mismatched components. The 5 fan locations (with nice little fan holders included) along with the flow design make for excellent cooling potential, including 2 intakes mounted right in front of the drive bays to keeps your platters nice and frosty. My setup actually has 8 fans, which seems to make the tower double as an air-purifier that I have to clean every few days. The (left) side opening makes it easy to do a quick check or jumper adjustment, or just to take another admiring peek at your lovely cabling work. The 5.25" bay rail install system is great for device swapping (if that's what you're into). Everything is lockable, and the looks are sleek and stylish. The few cons I can report are the lack of a front accessible USB port and MB tray. These are minor inconveniences. All in all, I believe this line is the best currently available, with excellent design and construction.

This case is fantastic. It has plenty of room for fans and is super easy to work with. Compared to other steel cases this is the best. I was so happy with this one that I just bought the new one. It's the Antec Plus 1080 AMG which is gray. The big difference is that the new one has a 430 watt Power supply, a side fan for the video card, and 2 USB and one FireWire in the front of the case. The 1030B case is worth the money and for those of you who are like me and like the best you will get this case!

Let me give you three reasons:

1. It has plenty of room for future upgrades. If you are planing to install a motherboard with a EIDE interface It can hold 3 hard drives. If u think 3 hard drives will take up room from the rest of your hardware guess again!

2. The case supports four "3 1/2" inch ballbearing fans to keep all of your hardware nice and cool. Two fans in the Up-per back of the case next to the power supply that will act as the air out-take and two fans in the lower front part of the case act as the air in-take.

3. I purchased the retail version of this model it comes with 2
of the "3 1/2" inch case fans and a 350 watt power supply. I purchased and installed the 2 missing case fans to complete the four fans the PC case supports, and I replaced the 350 watt power supply that came with the case with a Antec 430 watt smart power supply to satisfy my power hungry Pentium 4 processor, Xtasy ti 4600 and my Audigy sound blaster platinum, Sound card. Would you belive all four fans and the power supply fans run practically Noise-less!

The only flaw this case has is SIZE! It stands at "21 1/2"inches tall, "8"inches and a quarter wide and "19" Inches from the lockable door plate that rest's over the CD Rom bays to the chassis. If you are willing to ignor this one flaw, this Antec Performance case is for you. It comes with 4 CD rom bays and 2 floppy bays and the case's chassis supports seven expansion card slots and It comes with more features you can look up at the Antec home page ...
I'd recomend you dont buy the OEM version instead buy the retail version that comes not only with what I mentiond in Reason number 3, It also comes with a generous amount of motherboard screws! :) The retail version of this case goes by the name: Antec Soho file server. When you look up the retail version here in Amazon or at the antec web site you can choose it with the specific power supply that will meet your computing needs.

There is nothing better than this video card except for the new GeForce 6800 Ultra, Radeon X800 Pro, and Radeon X800XT. This card beats the Radeon 9800 Pro and it even beats the new GeForce FX 5950. My very close friend works in the CyberPower Inc. so I have whole bunch of computer stuff and I get new video cards about every two to three months. I have tried many video cards and I have to say this card beats it all. It beat all cards (except for the three cards mentioned on the top) on 3D marks and frames per seconds on games like FarCry, Unreal Tournament 2004, and Call of Duty. There is nothing that can go wrong with this card. Believe me, I might not know everything about video cards but I know what I know. Only problem that I have with this card is the price. It's about $450 on Amazon.com but the new Radeon X800 Pro will be also $450 and there is no point of buying Radeon 9800XT unless you think that the new Radeon X800 Pro will perform worse than the Radeon 9800XT. If you do think that, then you really deserve a slap because Radeon X800 Pro will beat Radeon 9800XT in everything that you can think of. Wait until this card drops its' price or if you are looking forward to pay $450 then buy the new Radeon X800 Pro. You can even pay $50 more to buy the new Radeon X800XT or GeForce 6800 Ultra. I highly recommend this card when it's like $350.

I bought this card to replace a Gforce 4200ti which I loved. This card didn't run smoothly at first because It sucks so much power. I had to up the voltage to my cpu, ram etc. Now it runs perfectly. Hit 6500 on 3dmark and 47k on aquamark. with a pentium 2.6c and 1gig of golden dragon pc3500.

Can't compare it with the geforce but i'm thinking those other guys didn't configure their system properly.

I just upgraded from the 9800 Pro to the 9800 XT and what a difference. Enough to make me replay "FarCry" to get more "eye candy"!!! And you also get a coupon for "Half Life 2"!!!
My only complaint is that I have to wait until next week when "Painkiller" is out!!!

Very clean sound, beautiful Vu meters (with backlights), direct input for cd players (preamp is not necessary), and speakers can be bi-wired, bi-amped directly from the back jacks (double jacks left and right). Wow! Sounds more powerful than 80 watts, conservatively rated. Excellent value!

i like this product, but i dont knows it, how many features i can enjoy with it

I bought this along with the Pre-Amp. In one word: mind-blowing. The quality of the sound, matched with the killer speakers from Edge Audio, quickly excelled my old Nakamichi/KEF set-up. Wow. Just the best investment for the money, bar no others.

It is a best phone i have ever used. Really good features. Sound is great and battery is awesome. I recommend that phone.

I was on the quest for my match - my phone match that is. And I finally found it. I was very frustrated, since I went through one phone after another. Would take it out of the package, read the booklet, get the battery charged and then - nothing but dissapointment. Tried the VTch and Uniden and now this Panasonic phone. Even though I thought it was a little pricy I decided to give it a try. Does not have an answering machine, but that did not matter to me, since I have Voice Mail. Right from the start I was excited, since I just had to charge the phone for 6 hours and not 16 like the other phones. Excellent clarity and reception. Another feature I love is, that I am using the 10-10 phone #'s for cheap long distance and this phone can store phone # 36 digits long. So you plug all the numbers in and just hit "phonebook" and "dial". Great! Bought the phone in the blue/purple color. It also has a battery indicator like you know it from your cell phone. So, when the battery is getting low - put it back in the charger. I would recommend this phone to anybody.

I've been looking for a decent cordless phone that doesn't cost a lot and will handle CID/Call Waiting...but, I also wanted something that doesn't feel like a pile of plastic in my hand and look like a cheap stamped out generic device. This phone, so far, has exceeded my expectations. Everything about it is quality. The packing..the included ear piece headset...the built in speakerphone...the manual. The one thing I wanted to find out in the manual was how to treat the battery and it defined that perfectly. I kind of knew this already, but it was great to see that they spelled it out in print. To achieve maximum memory/charge, it's important to let the battery discharge all the way before charging it again, at least for the first few cycles. Amazingly, this manual pointed that out.
The ear piece was, at first, hard to put on, but, duh, I read the manual and am now wearing it with great pleasure and fit...as well as great audio. It even has a volume and mut control on the cord.

Anyway...I'd recommend this phone highly. Comes in blue or red...I got the red..different and flashy.

This is an excellent product from Allsop, who has a similar CD organizer system. This product will stack together with that one as well! Very cool. (Although the CD organizer won't stack horizontally with these, if you have identicle stacks of CD & DVD organizers they will connect with each other) As the other reviewers have said it's slotless. This product is pretty durable for plastic... not much else to say about it, one of a kind.

This organizer is great! Even if you have two or three DVD's in it, they won't fall out or you won't need spacers. They fit snug in each slot. The best part is that you can also stack them on top of each other and it's not flimsy. I recommend it for you DVD's or Playstation 2 games.

The Allsop DVD/VHS Slotless MovieStore Organization System is exactly what I was looking for to shelve my growing DVD library. I wanted something I could add on to inexpensively, but which would also make transporting easy if I needed to move the DVDs or tapes stored. I also wanted an interlocking system, so that individual components could be added to vertically or horizontally. Many tapes and DVDs come in two, three, four or more item sets; so a slotless system was required. Allsop's system met all of my requirements. I can add to the system as I add to my collection. When I need more components to house new additions to the collection, I can acquire them individually as required. If I want to take some DVDs to a friend's, I simply take one component from the shelf, slip in the titles I want, and they are held securely for transport. I would like to see a floor base for the design. This would make floor-to-ceiling shelving possible without resting the bottom row of a collection directly on the floor, but I've found resting the bottom row on the flat side of a rough-cut 2 by 4 trimmed to the width of the shelf row I want works adequately to place a 2" space between the floor and the bottom of the component shelving.

It's been my experience that Altec Lansing makes good computer speakers. In this case, not only do they make good speakers, they make them affordable too. Unless you have real high expectations.

Considering that these are a low cost option, they sound real good. The sub unit has enough punch to add a nice bass line to your music. The satellites are small but produce good sound. Even at some higher levels they don't get real nasty and distorted like lesser computer speakers.

I would have liked to see a headphone jack on these, but considering the cost, I guess features have to suffer. Perhaps more money could also get a sub level control on one of the satellite speakers. As most might, I placed the sub under the back of my desk, thus it's not real easy to access the level setting. At least it has one though.

Overall, I'd say this set is a good buy if you're not concerned about having surround sound or a bunch of settings at your disposal. I'm sure people have paid more and gotten less. Picky audiophiles may want to pass on this and look up other options, but for most, this should fit the bill.

I bought these primarily for watching DVDs on my PC and they haven't dissapointed me. These are excellent speakers, and the subwoofer is great. They provide an excellent 3-D effect. The subwoofer has a separate volume control---- perfect for when you want to adjust how much the room will shake as you watch a movie. The only problem this set has is that it doesn't have a jack where you can plug in your headphones. Oh well. I solved that by buying a small extension cable, so I don't have to reach behind my desk to plug the headphones directly.

Bottom line: these are great for movies, games, music--- and they won't ruin your budget.

This speaker set is a very good product for one's computer or small stereo system and also for using less room for BIG audio as the speakers have very good audio quality. The only thing that is missing from these is a plug to put in my headphones!! Other than that, this is a worthy product.

not exactly snagless--lacks protective tubing

I purchased this with a Linksys 4 port router and both worked great, I had Xbox live(beta) up and running in no time and the snagless feature is great. and while the blue is very nice i wish they had a greeen to go with my box:(

Has a nice smooth feel to it, good solid connectors that won't break quickly. Belkin makes great cables.

Littly pricy, but a great cable. You will plug this in and never get another, so why not get it? You may want a longer one though, I just use this from my cable modem to my router.

I bought these Belkin cables. They are very nice quality. They seem heftier than a lot of the other cables. My system analyst neighbor mentioned that he prefers to buy the 1000 foot roll. He runs them to wall outlets, then uses the 7 foot or 14 foot snap in cable from the wall to the PC. That way, you don't have to buy a 40 dollar crimping tool.
You can't solder these cables. They require a metal to metal contact, and lead-solder doesn't qualify. Also, it is critical to keep them spiraled, all the way up to the end. Even when attaching, instructions call for twisting them right up to the connection.
Since the tech instructions, tell you to keep them down to under 350 feet, these cables, whether they are long or short, are in the right lengths.
I know Amazon doesn't print prices in their reviews, but they have the local major chain office supply stores beat hands down. The 50 foot roll was half again as much locally.
These are the Category 5e cables. They give you a better return feed, which results in better overall performance. So insist on 5e instead of just 5. I initially bought some wall plates from (a nation wide electrical supply store) that were Category 3, then I returned those for the snap in option Category 5. Those were returned also, when I went to (a nation wide building supply center)... (of all places to go networking) and they had the complete Leviton line of 5e accessories.
If I had to do it over again, I would still buy the Belkin 50 footers. I don't want to have a 500 foot roll of ethernet cable hanging around.
These are tops. Gold plated connectors, Snag free ends, that protect that little lock in tab on the ends. You know the frustration of unsnarling a phone wire, out of a wiring mess, and the little tab bends over backwards, never to work properly again. Well Belkin built twin arches over the sides to prevent just that. Way to go. Highly recommended, good stuff, for a good price.

No problems so far; does its job.(if you are setting up a wireless network, get windows XP. 1 click and you're set up.)

I had this working perfectly right out of the box using a Microsoft MN-500 802.11b wireless router. Wireless printing is the cat's meow by the way. (The printer can then be put away in a cabinet for example, which really makes the house/apartment look less like an office.)

Then I took it to another house which had a D-Link 524+ 802.11b/g wireless router, and it simply would not recongnize the Belkin at all. This is obviously a D-Link issue, but can anyone tell me how to determine which wireless products will work with other wireless products BEFORE buying them?

The Belkin unit is very nice though, and recommended.

Great, right out the box. Very easy to figure out and printing within minutes.

I spent lots of time with old ethernet/parallel print servers that wouldn't quite work with GDI and other low cost printers.
I was skeptical that this would work.

I was impressed that this print server worked with an easy 5 minute guided setup on my Minolta 1250W GDI printer.
The range of the wireless (Im using B, not G) is fine (covers whole floor of large home).

This device is an excellent solution for putting 2 USB printers anywhere you want them without dealing with the 16ft limitation of USB, or having to run any ethernet or parallel wires.

(I don't have to cut and run any wires in my new home). Plus
you get added bonus of having a normal cheap ($100~) printer
become a networked printer for all to share. (and you don't
have to have the original host computer on to print, as you
would with USB.)