Anandtech Mislead me!!!

[The Internal]

Greetings,

After reading the favorable review of the Soltek QBIC EQ3801 by Anandtech, I decided to go ahead and buy it for my SFF TIVO and video center computer. Sadly, no one ever mentioned in the review that YOU CAN'T USE A PCI CARD WITH TWO OPTICAL DRIVES!!! GRRR!!! I'm very dissapointed that anandtech did not mention this in their review. I ordered two optical drives to go in this little ah heck (anandtech said it could handle two optical drives) only to realize when it got here that I couldn't have two optical drives in the case with my sound card, HDTV tuner card, or my ethernet card. This is the first time I've felt betrayed by an anandtech review.
Does someone make a good SFF that I CAN fit two optical drives and a PCI card in as well? I'm hoping I'll be able to return the damn thing. I highly suggest Anandtech make note on the review that you can't do two optical drives and a sound card or any card that is 4" tall or 5 and 1/2" tall (unless the new creative labs card is 2 inches shorter and new optical drives are at least an inch shorter.... which I highly doubt).

Dissapointed,
Kev

 

[Bateluer]

Meh, in my experience, Shuttle makes the best SFFs regardless.

You might want to ask around at Sudhian, they've got a lot of dedicated information on SFF systems.

 

[Desslok]

Originally posted by: The Internal
Greetings,

After reading the favorable review of the Soltek QBIC EQ3801 by Anandtech, I decided to go ahead and buy it for my SFF TIVO and video center computer. Sadly, no one ever mentioned in the review that YOU CAN'T USE A PCI CARD WITH TWO OPTICAL DRIVES!!! GRRR!!! I'm very dissapointed that anandtech did not mention this in their review. I ordered two optical drives to go in this little ah heck (anandtech said it could handle two optical drives) only to realize when it got here that I couldn't have two optical drives in the case with my sound card, HDTV tuner card, or my ethernet card. This is the first time I've felt betrayed by an anandtech review.
Does someone make a good SFF that I CAN fit two optical drives and a PCI card in as well? I'm hoping I'll be able to return the damn thing. I highly suggest Anandtech make note on the review that you can't do two optical drives and a sound card or any card that is 4" tall or 5 and 1/2" tall (unless the new creative labs card is 2 inches shorter and new optical drives are at least an inch shorter.... which I highly doubt).

Dissapointed,
Kev

Doesn't that motherboard have both sound and ethernet onboard?? Why not just use them?

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: Desslok
Doesn't that motherboard have both sound and ethernet onboard?? Why not just use them?

Would think the easier solution would be merely eliminating one of the optical drives. Recent drives are very versatile, and unless performing a multitude of 1:1 copies (and even in this case, one need only create an image, and burn the image instead), two optical drives - while certainly a nice luxury - is unnecessary.

 

[Tiamat]

Yeah... sell the opticals and grab a NEC 16x dvd burner or Pioneer 16x16 burner for less than 90$

 

[trexpesto]

Waaaaaaaaaah🙁 Ahem sorry.
Disclaimer: you better check to make sure they will fit in the below mentioned cases



$45 too much for the SimpleMax w/PSU?
Got good reviews.
Make sure that the CasEdge PSU has the proper connectors.

Check out this thread for more case mentions.


This one probably will BE TOO SMALL:
$42 Silverstone GD98LED is a mATX case with 240W PSU. Tiny: 5.8"W x 14.75"D x 13"H Used to be ~60 when it first came out. Not the prettiest, but Silverstone makes good stuff; good chance the PSU is superior to any other $30 case/w PSU out there. 16A on the 12V rail.
Review

 

[Mik3y]

Originally posted by: The Internal
Greetings,

After reading the favorable review of the Soltek QBIC EQ3801 by Anandtech, I decided to go ahead and buy it for my SFF TIVO and video center computer. Sadly, no one ever mentioned in the review that YOU CAN'T USE A PCI CARD WITH TWO OPTICAL DRIVES!!! GRRR!!! I'm very dissapointed that anandtech did not mention this in their review. I ordered two optical drives to go in this little ah heck (anandtech said it could handle two optical drives) only to realize when it got here that I couldn't have two optical drives in the case with my sound card, HDTV tuner card, or my ethernet card. This is the first time I've felt betrayed by an anandtech review.
Does someone make a good SFF that I CAN fit two optical drives and a PCI card in as well? I'm hoping I'll be able to return the damn thing. I highly suggest Anandtech make note on the review that you can't do two optical drives and a sound card or any card that is 4" tall or 5 and 1/2" tall (unless the new creative labs card is 2 inches shorter and new optical drives are at least an inch shorter.... which I highly doubt).

Dissapointed,
Kev

how is that anandtech's fault? anandtech does us all favors in doing reviews. it's the buyer's responsibility to know what he/she is buying, so technically, its your fault.