cover
Tyler S.

Tyler S.

Joined on 03/18/08

0
0

Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 8
Most Favorable Review

Bravo

SilverStone SG06BB-LITE Black Aluminum front panel, Steel body Mini-ITX Desktop Computer Case
SilverStone SG06BB-LITE Black Aluminum front panel, Steel body Mini-ITX Desktop Computer Case

Pros: Price - in my opinion this case has the highest quality for the price range. It's just about as small as it gets for a high performance Mini ITX gaming machine. See "Other thoughts" for more details.

Cons: Size - I'm water cooling mine and I was able to fit a single 120mm rad (25mm thick), fan and pump/reservoir combo but it's a tight fit and I had to remove the drive bays. Also, it fits one 2.5" drive and one 3.5" drive. So don't look to this case if you're looking to build a NAS or have more than a couple drives.

Overall Review: Bravo to Silvestone on this one. I liked this case but up until this "lite" version they all came with power supplies. I have a 600W power supply and the largest offered by Silverstone was 450W. The front of this case is metal and feels very solid (there is some plastic mounted to the front to connect it to the case). I love that the 5.25" slim drive and 3.5" bays are removable. Makes it very easy to install all your components. There is plastic grommets to protect cables from sharp metal (I personally wouldn't expect this for a case in this price range). When I had taken everything out of the case (bays, fan, front cover, etc.) the frame is still very solid. It does not bend or twist. Stand-offs are mounted to the base. Screws for the standoffs fit perfectly. Fan comes with grill. If there was anything I would change about this case, I would make it 1" longer. That's just so I could fit a thicker radiator in there. Air cooling, I think this case hits it out of the park. What's inside: ASUS Maximus VI Impact Intel i7 4770k Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD ASUS GTX 760 (beware water cooling as there is no water block for this card) Athena Power 600W SFX power supply Alphacool NexXxos ST30 120mm Radiator Bitspower AIZ87M6IITX Water block Nickel/Red Alphacool DC-LT Pump/Top/Rez combo

Most Critical Review

RMA Expected with OCZ

OCZ Vertex 3 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) VTX3-25SAT3-120G
OCZ Vertex 3 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) VTX3-25SAT3-120G

Pros: Very fast. I have a Mobo with a SATA II controller and my Windows 7 experience score is 7.5. I had 2 SATA II drives in a striped raid set and I was getting 6.9.

Cons: After 7 Months it quit working. Windows just shut down and it couldn't find boot device. I have purchased 3 SSDs from OCZ and this is my 2nd that has failed. They have been good about the RMA process which is why they get a 2nd egg. Beware!

Overall Review: I have been told that Solid State Drives last longer and are more reliable than Hard Drives however I've had 2 out of 3 fail within 1 year of owning them. I have been in IT for 10 years and I haven't seen this kind of failure since the 2003 silicone capacitors. Same company? I will keep purchasing SSDs but I will not keep anything important on them. You can be sure my next one will not be OCZ. Sorry OCZ there's an old saying that goes "fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

I recommend!

ASUS MAXIMUS VI IMPACT LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard
ASUS MAXIMUS VI IMPACT LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard

Pros: RAM Disk - turn your memory into storage OC - so incredibly easy to over clock your system. My 4770K is running at 4.6GHz Looks Fantastic - With my custom water loop you get to see everything. mITX fanboy dream.

Cons: It seems to have the same issues that seem to be inherent in the newer ASUS motherboards... USB - My Corsair K70 Keyboard will only work if the keyboard is plugged into the bottom USB 2 port. My external Seagate hard drive will only be recognized in the bottom USB 2 port. My Canon printer will only work in the bottom USB 2 port. See the issue with this? I have tried other devices and keyboards and most things seem to work in the other USB ports. for this I had to dock the egg. Other Minor complaints... The m.2/wifi daughter card seems to shift around even when bolted to the motherboard. Once installed it doesn't get touched so not a big deal. SATA port placement - It's packed between the PCIe slot and the Memory so I had to get imaginative with the cable management and still couldn't hide the SATA cable as much as I would like. With how much they packed on this board how can I complain?

Overall Review: Runs hot, but that's to be expected when overclocking! I have a custom water cooling loop in this one and I can keep the temperature down to below 60C under full load, but I did so by dropping the over clock to 4.2GHz. I was running fairly stable at 4.6 but the temps were getting upwards of 79C so I didn't push it any higher than that. Still not too concerning but beware, if you want to max out the OC make sure you have the proper cooling in place.

Love it, but...

RAZER Naga Hex Wired USB Gaming Mouse - Red
RAZER Naga Hex Wired USB Gaming Mouse - Red

Pros: I love this mouse custom DPI, looks, feel, quality, it's weight, it has a braided cable which has become a must for me. I also like the synapse software. It's easy to use and it works soooo much better than Logitec's hack software which would frequently crash my pc.

Cons: The buttons on the side. I thought this would be a big improvement playing games like dota 2 and league but they're just not for me. This is completely my personal preference. Sometimes I will accidentally hit one of those buttons and drop a ward where I don't want it. I have just turned them off completely

Overall Review: This is my first Razer product but it won't be my last. This is a great mouse I love using the top buttons to change the dpi settings in games like battlefield 3 and splinter cell. My next mouse will be Razer but I'll probably go with one that has fewer buttons on the thumb. Then again, maybe I'll just work on getting better at using them.

Don't buy if you are water cooling.

ASUS GTX760-DC2OC-2GD5 G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
ASUS GTX760-DC2OC-2GD5 G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Pros: IMO, best video card for the price above $200. Very fast, Small PCB.

Cons: ASUS redesigned the layout of some capacitors so it will not fit any water blocks built for gtx 760s.

Overall Review: I'm building a small form factor machine in a custom case and I need a video card with a small form PCB. I wanted the ASUS gtx 670 but it was sold out and discontinued. This GTX 760 is built on the same specs as the 670 and should fit the same water blocks (according to EK's website). I found out after all the products arrived that ASUS moved some parts around on the board and thus the water block won't fix. Very disappointed that this build will need to be redesigned around this card. Love ASUS but why would you do this to me?

Almost there

Athena Power AP-MP4ATX60FEP8 600W MicroATX / SFX12V / EPS12V / ATX V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply
Athena Power AP-MP4ATX60FEP8 600W MicroATX / SFX12V / EPS12V / ATX V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply

Pros: Most power out of a SFX power supply. 80 plus rating. Tons of connections.

Cons: Power cable seems loose. I'm worried it will fall out at any time. Tons of connections... Too many wires and it's not modular.

Overall Review: I'm building a mini ITX power house in as small of space as I can fit it. I love that there is finally a small form factor power supply over 500W. This gives me some head room for over clocking without a large atx power supply. Downside is it's got more connectors than I know what to do with and so now they are bundled into a giant pile behind the power supply. I'm not docking an egg for that though. I am docking an egg for the connection to the power cable. it seems loose and I'm worried that it will fall out if it gets even the slightest bump. I have just recently purchased this so I haven't had any problems yet but I will keep this comment updated if that changes.

12/31/2013