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Darin A.

Darin A.

Joined on 06/18/08

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 14
Most Favorable Review

Fantastic

Antec TRUEQUIET 140 140mm Case Fan
Antec TRUEQUIET 140 140mm Case Fan

Pros: Sleek, modern look. Extremely quiet yet moves a respectable amount of air. Feels like a quality product; i.e. the plastic is thicker and denser than most fans, and it has a nice solid, weight to it. Feels like a fan should. Could not have been easier to install. The nice rubber feet grip your case and the clips slide right into place.

Cons: I wish Antec would make their TrueQuiet line in more sizes.

Overall Review: I was surprised at the quality, low noise, and performance for a fan at the same price as competitors. A must for someone needing new fans.

Most Critical Review
Noctua NF-A14 iPPC-3000 PWM, Heavy Duty Cooling Fan, 4-Pin, 3000 RPM (140mm, Black)
Noctua NF-A14 iPPC-3000 PWM, Heavy Duty Cooling Fan, 4-Pin, 3000 RPM (140mm, Black)

Pros: Installed in a mini-ITX case as the stock case fan just wasn't cutting it. This thing is pushing out nearly 160CFM at max and it lowered CPU temperatures nearly 10 degrees for my build. Very powerful and direct airflow, could feel it being forced out the vent holes (there is no exhaust fan).

Cons: This fan isn't just loud at max, it makes a horrible higher pitched droning noise, almost like quadcopter motors. Even turning it down to 50% in the BIOS doesn't get rid of the whining noise. It is very noticeable.

Overall Review: The normal whoosh of a fan I can stand, and I didn't buy this fan for a silent build, but even with it's fantastic airflow and quality the droning of the bearings or motor or whatever is causing it was enough for a refund on it.

Dell 18.1" 75 Hz LCD Monitor, Off Lease 1280 x 1024 D-Sub, DVI 1800FP
Dell 18.1" 75 Hz LCD Monitor, Off Lease 1280 x 1024 D-Sub, DVI 1800FP

Pros: Cheap working monitor for a spare computer. Arrived nicely packaged and without any cosmetic damage. Even included a power cord and VGA cable. I needed a monitor with DVI and this fit the bill.

Cons: Like others, I also received a wimpy stand that doesn't hold the monitor up. For what I needed, it wasn't an issue, but that's pretty lame.

Overall Review: I was hesitant to buy a refurbished monitor but it works without any issues and I hope to get a long life out of it and for $50, nothing else could touch the price. I would knock off some eggs because of the bad stand, but I bought it knowing that and the monitor was what I really needed anyways. Worth the buy!

Pleasantly Surprised

EVERCOOL RVF-2F Ever Lubricate Replacement Fan for VGA Cooler
EVERCOOL RVF-2F Ever Lubricate Replacement Fan for VGA Cooler

Pros: - Easy attachment - Slim - Includes molex adapter - Sleeved cables - Good balance between airflow and noise

Cons: - Fans are pink, not red - Awkward attachment method - Fans not compatible with video card's PCB header - Only one axis of movement for the clamps

Overall Review: I bought two sets of these fans for my two 6950's that I bought used and both had fans that were failing. I didn't want to shell out $40+ per card for a whole new heatsink and fan setup for used video cards. Idle temperatures are around 35C and load temperatures are about 65C and 75C (second temperature is much higher because of the CrossFire set up). As you probably guessed, there is just enough clearance with this fan on for a CrossFire setup, another bonus as mentioned in the pros. By the way, I contacted Evercool and each fan's output it about 25CFM. Like another suggested, plug it into a fan header on your motherboard and you can change the speed to fit your needs. Overall this is probably the most cost effective way to cool your graphics card. Keep in mind it is NOT an upgrade so you probably won't have an increase in cooling performance; it is just a cheap replacement option. Like others pointed out it could use another pair of clamps, but it still does the job well enough that it doesn't matter. It would also be great if you could move the clamps horizontally as I also have a heatsink with the indents so I had to mod it a little bit for the clamps to secure properly.

Very Impressed!

ARCTIC Accelero TT II VGA Cooler - nVidia & AMD, Dual Quiet 92mm PWM Fans, SLI/CrossFire
ARCTIC Accelero TT II VGA Cooler - nVidia & AMD, Dual Quiet 92mm PWM Fans, SLI/CrossFire

Pros: -Fans are PWM ready and plug right into the video card's 4-pin fan header -Includes a molex adapter just in case your card's fan header isn't 4-pin -Extremely quiet -Feels like a solid, quality product (it's heavy!) -Easy installation, despite all the negativity about that (see other thoughts) -Fits many cards, I have a GTX670 -Came with plenty of heatsinks to fit a variety of forms, sizes, etc. -Looks awesome -Feels very secure on my card To give you an idea of it's performance, I have it on an EVGA GTX670 Superclocked 4GB w/ the backplate which I moderately overclocked to hit that 1GHz mark. Stock fan was loud and droned, and would idle around 40C, with the Accelero TT II it idles about 35C, not that impressive at only 5C, BUT load temperatures are very impressive, never getting above 60C while previously it easily hit 80C AND it does this while remaining dead silent. I would highly recommend!

Cons: -Heavy and large Other than that, it's a solid product. I can't think of any other cons. Be prepared for it to take up 2-3 slots and hopefully your card came stock with a backplate. I'm not sure I would feel comfortable with this pulling on just the circuit board 24/7, it's that heavy. Luckily, the backplate that came with my card holds most of the weight.

Overall Review: I don't know why there's so much negativity about the installation instructions. They're a little lacking, but no worse than any other VGA cooler install. It's very straight forward and I had it all put together within an hour and then gave it the hour curing time the instructions called for. I didn't use the insulation tape it includes as it didn't really fit where it was intended to go and think it's more of a 'just in case' thing. Double check the little heatsinks aren't touching anything and installed neatly and you're good to go. It's a shame I had to buy this, considering the price of a GTX670, but it's been a great buy so far and I got it on sale to boot. Don't pass this up if you need one.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler, 4 CDC Heatpipes, 120mm PWM Fan, Aluminum Fins for AMD Ryzen/Intel LGA1200/1151
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler, 4 CDC Heatpipes, 120mm PWM Fan, Aluminum Fins for AMD Ryzen/Intel LGA1200/1151

Pros: Easy installation, cools my overlocked i5-3570k nicely, an awesome cheap heatsink and fan that's quiet as well!

Cons: None.

Overall Review: i5-3570k overlocked to 4.5GHz loads at around 75C with this thing, awesome!