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paul b.

paul b.

Joined on 02/24/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 43
Most Favorable Review

Wow

Seagate BarraCuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Seagate BarraCuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Twice as fast as my 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB which didn't last 6 months (don't ever buy it) Using HD Tune I get 66.8mb min and 132.3mb max with a 106 average and a 189.8mb burst rate. This is with a single drive. My .10 was about half of everything stated above. Very fast drive runs a cool 29c in my Antec 900 case (6c cooler then ST3320620AS) I will give a review in 6 months/year to let you all know if the drive is still in working order. Also Newegg on packing...rapped in bubble wrap and tape took 10 minutes to get it out. The most secure HDD I have ever had delivered to my door.

Cons: The UPS Girl didn't deliver the package today :*(

Overall Review: Seagate has been pumping out 6 month drives a lot as of late. The most recent were my 2 ST3320620AS and all 6 (RMA 2 times with newegg) had mechanical issues within 1 month of ownership and their RMA will only send you "refurb" drives not brand new ones. This will be my last Seagate drive should it not perform well for the next 2 years. My old .06 seagate drive has lasted over 8 years now and still isn't ready to die.

Most Critical Review

Cheap

APEVIA CF12SL-4C Multi-Color LED Crystal Multicolor LED Case Fan
APEVIA CF12SL-4C Multi-Color LED Crystal Multicolor LED Case Fan

Pros: Cheap (main reason your looking here) Free shipping (at the time) Colorful - Surprised how bright the LED were for a cheaper fan.

Cons: Pretty loud...with 3 hooked up its like a hurricane of noise. With 1 its not bad but still louder then I wanted. These fans don't last long unless you buy a fan or voltage controller. Each one lasted 6-7 months before rattling/became louder. For the price though they worked for what I needed....and since it was $4 each when I bought them 4 lasted a long time.

Overall Review: These were for a small budget build but if you don't like a lot of sound (loud as my GTX 260 @ 50% fan) then go buy some 10dBA Slipstream fans. Slipstream 40.17CFM 10.70 dBA

Great Card

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card OC Version 100355OCL
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card OC Version 100355OCL

Pros: I got it cheap ($75 after rebates/steam deal/sale) 2GB of Vram Can overclock to a 7950/7990 stock speeds Fans are WHISPER quiet, at 100% fan speed it was about as loud as my GTX 260 EVGA was at 50%. At 30-40% my case fans are louder than the 7850 2GB.

Cons: The powerplay feature is HORRIBLE but that is mainly AMD's fault. Doesn't come with two DVI ports (missed that part) Vram cooling COULD be a tad better but this is nit picking now :) Don't expect much help from AMD forums....they're lousy but Sapphire is very good.

Overall Review: Because of powerplay this card will CONSTANTLY underclock/overclock during gameplay, and if you play WoW or Minecraft this will cause FPS problems. Download MSI AfterBurner, enable overclocking, then overclock by just 1mhz....it will force the card to run 100% speeds and disable the power saving feature which as of 13.4 CCC is still broken. I setup two profiles, one profile I set for 150mhz/150mhz and lowered my voltage (for web browsing and videos) for power saving, my second profile is 921mhz/1250mhz so I can play Minecraft without spikes. Anyone having issues with WoW need to try this...it will make a difference. Room Temp 75F Power Saving mode temps = 30c idle Stock Speeds +1mhz mode = 33c idle 40c load

USB to PC

Pros: $5 shipped to door, does exactly as advertised, and with Windows 7 NO DRIVERS NEEDED for computer usage.

Cons: If you don't own one PS3 controller you wont be able to access the "PS" button menu or do any recovery options with this adapter. Minor flaw but could be a big problem for someone without any PS3 controllers :) Not in protective packaging, had a scuff mark from where a package landed on it. Just beware it COULD break but at $5 its not much of a con.

Overall Review: I bought this for my grandmother which I recently coverted all her NES,SNES, and PS1 games to her computer and cleaned up her game room accordingly. This was not recogized with some programs (far key mapping for other uses) so beware if that's your plan. Thank you for making this product and thank you VERY much for making it a cheap solution.

Grear Router

Linksys WRT54GL 802.11b/g Wireless Broadband Router up to 54 Mbps/ Compatible with Open Source DD-WRT (not pre-load)
Linksys WRT54GL 802.11b/g Wireless Broadband Router up to 54 Mbps/ Compatible with Open Source DD-WRT (not pre-load)

Pros: Price (Got it for $25 last year after selling the free gift/rebate) Works with Tomato Firmware Great Wireless distance (I disable it however for security) Lasted over a year now which most routers haven't for me.

Cons: only 10-12mb transfers on network computers (it says so but still id love to see 100mb)

Overall Review: Great router for the price. If you're wanting a fast network router then you might want to find another. Its max capability is 10/100 aka 10-12mb.

10/18/2011

Great Drive

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 ST1000DM005/HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 ST1000DM005/HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: 2x500GB platters (vs 333x3) Fast (130mb transfers) Quiet

Cons: Seagate is buying Samsung so might not have warranty soon (doesn't really bother me) Seagate is also producing a lot of bad drives the past few years so beware in the future if seagate keeps this model going.

Overall Review: This is by far the best packed drive I have ever received from Newegg. Came in a plastic case wrapped in 2 inches of bubble wrap inside of a small box, then was wrapped in paper and packed very securely in the shipping box. I usually have a 50/50 on drives because UPS is horrible at beating boxes up. This drive passed all ESTool tests which is usually all that needs to happen.