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Jason N.

Jason N.

Joined on 12/22/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 8
Most Favorable Review
Fan Controller
Fan Controller

Pros: These work great! I used these on some server fans since FreeBSD doesn't work well/at all with fan speed controllers and just runs 100% the whole time. Finally my file server is reasonably quiet!

Cons: Nothing serious, but the included cables are insanely long... so if you're worried about being neat you will have to bundle and tie them up somewhere.

Overall Review: After getting these in the mail, I ran to a local computer shop and bought two more to keep on hand for taming loud boxes. I love them!

Most Critical Review

Beware!

ASUS Z97-PRO LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS Z97-PRO LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: I am required to write something here so... it turns on. Yay.

Cons: Microphone input for onboard sound is defective. Mic is inaudible at 100% volume and 30db mic boost. Upon further research, this is a widespread issue across high-end ASUS motherboards going back at least a year. I probably won't waste money trying to RMA with the whole bent-pin fiasco with Newegg and ASUS.

Overall Review: I've been avoiding ASUS for a long time, but figured they might be OK now since so many people recommend them. Does not appear to be the case. I was also surprised to hear that Newegg is starting to cut corners on their previously exceptional RMA service. I definitely won't be buying anything important here anymore.

10/26/2014
ECS Z97-PK(V1.0) LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
ECS Z97-PK(V1.0) LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Great price No hardware malfunctions as of yet 2 PCIE on a mATX, very nice

Cons: The stock BIOS was defective. I couldn't boot Windows installation from the CD or a USB stick because it kept BSOD and rebooting. It worked fine after flashing the update, but it was a pain to go through for a new computer. Even after I got it working, the UEFI menu is pretty bad and a lot of features don't seem to work.

Overall Review: Be prepared to spend time getting this to work right. I wouldn't recommend it for beginners. If you know what you're doing and have some time to tinker with it, it's a great deal.

MSI H61M-P31/W8 LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
MSI H61M-P31/W8 LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Pros: Everything seems to function as intended.

Cons: Fan Speed settings are crazy. The CPU fan speed will drop to 0%, but the case fans are locked to a 50% minimum. This is crazy! Don't use this for your HTPC!

Overall Review: I bought this locally to repair a prefab desktop. It works fine, but the machine is much louder than it used to be, even after adjusting settings in the BIOS. Out of the factory, it barely made a whisper. The case fans (sys1 and sys2) seemed to be locked at a 50% minimum in the BIOS and I can't control them manually with SpeedFan. I tried using the MSI ControlCenter software and the speed seems to be locked at 50% also. What a shame! Seems like a quality product otherwise.

Buyer Beware: This game is now Free to Play

Tera Online Collector's Edition PC Game
Tera Online Collector's Edition PC Game

Pros: At the beginning of this year, Tera Online became Free-to-Play. If you buy this, you will get a few added benefits such as extra character and bank slots, and a mount. However, you can play the entire game for free now - and I recommend you do! It's a good game.

Cons: The game is very impressive and entertaining to a point... however, you can clearly tell where they ran out of development money while making the endgame content. Somewhere around level 58, you will notice that the scenery becomes barren and the missions weren't finished; a huge contrast from the rest of the game. It was kind of a big letdown in the end.

Overall Review: This is a beautiful game with a lot of potential that was obviously let down by mismanagement during the development process. It's still worth playing though, the combat mechanics are great which makes the level grind entirely bearable. If it was developed better, this could have been a WoW killer.

Slow and terrible

Kingston DataTraveler 100 16GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) DT100/16GB
Kingston DataTraveler 100 16GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) DT100/16GB

Pros: It won't take up much space in the trash can.

Cons: This thing is garbage. I tried copying a 6GB file in Vista but it kept "running out of space" (?) half way through the transfer, and then restarting the transfer. I tried copying 4GB of files from OSX and it's taking hours.

Overall Review: I thought Kingston makes quality products, I guess I was mistaken