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Robert E.

Robert E.

Joined on 12/16/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 25
Most Favorable Review

Review Update

Thecus N4100PRO Diskless System NAS Server
Thecus N4100PRO Diskless System NAS Server

Pros: Small size, Hot-swappable disks, Drives that actually spin down when idle.

Cons: This is no speedster ... RAID build is unreasonably long and transfer rates aren't impressive.

Overall Review: This is a review revision. After owning this box for a while I'm revising my review from 3 'eggs' to 4 'eggs'. What I found out ..... 'Out of the box' this NAS kinda suckles the fat sack. It's slow and the application services are next to worthless. So, upgrade it. Swap out the 256MB SO-DIMM for a 512 or 1024 (I used a 1024 and made sure the timings were an exact match). After the memory upgrade what took 40 minutes cranking the CPU at 98%+ now takes 24 minutes at 15%-. This is a transfer rate of about 70Mb/s on a non-switched FE. I can't expect much more than that. The app servers still blow but I didn't buy an app server and neither did you. If the app servers were better this would be 5 'eggs'.

Most Critical Review

It works, but ....

ARCTIC Accelero Hybrid Extreme VGA Cooler-nVidia/AMD, Liquid/Air Combo Ultimate Cooling
ARCTIC Accelero Hybrid Extreme VGA Cooler-nVidia/AMD, Liquid/Air Combo Ultimate Cooling

Pros: It's the only self-contained water cooling option for video. It does the job. I'd probably buy another one.

Cons: It's way over-priced. It's a nightmare to install. There is zero margin for error. There is no way I would recommend this to a friend.

Overall Review: My first PC was an 80286 using a piece of foam as a case and a stripped and cross-wired PSU. Graphics; 256 grayscale VGA. So, I've been building for a while in all kinds of conditions. My point? This install required every trick I learned over the span of 30 years to complete and it is just NOT for the casual builder. OK, there are some people that will say, "30 years, blah, blah, who cares. I can still do this." I say 2 things, "Lots of luck and prefit the cooler over your card." The reason for the pre-fit is because you probably want to toss the plastic shroud since the fan will overhang most cards and is useless, making the plastic shroud a waste of space. Really long cards will be fine, but what do I know? I've only got 30 years of experience building these things. The 3 eggs is simple. This is a 5 egg product, minus an egg for being overpriced and another for being a nightmare to install. But, and I stress, once your backside heals from the reaming and you've stopped throwing tools from frustration, this is a solid 5 egg device.

Rebate issues

Thermaltake Core V21 Black Extreme Micro ATX Cube Chassis CA-1D5-00S1WN-00
Thermaltake Core V21 Black Extreme Micro ATX Cube Chassis CA-1D5-00S1WN-00

Pros: Large interior space. Water-cooling friendly.

Cons: Very large footprint. Build quality (6/10). Rebate has unconscionable restrictions.

Overall Review: Ordinarily I"d give this case a solid 4 egg rating, but the unconscionably restrictive rebate terms require a 1 egg rating. If you don't care about rebates or the projected integrity of a company that uses rebates to encourage sales and then places severe restrictions upon their redemption, buy this case. In fact, buy any Thermaltake product. All of that aside, without the rebate the case was 60 dollars, and, so, the question becomes, "Is this case worth 60 dollars?" I have to answer, "Yes." While this case is not without flaw it is the most water-cooled friendly case I've worked with. The WC options include multiple closed loop systems for CPU and GPU systems as well as easily customizable WC loops for SLI/CF GPU setups. But, as stated above, the build quality leaves much to be desired. The precision of machined parts is of low to medium quality. However, having said that, the case is only 60 bucks so it is unreasonable to expect master craftsmanship. For me, although it's only a 20 dollar rebate, I won't do business with a company that misleads customers or has bad customer service. While I have no knowledge of Thermaltake's quality of customer service, the fact that they employ such restrictive requirements on their rebate policy suggests that they would provide substandard customer service. And, for that, I won't do business with them again.

Excellent product (Long term update)

SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold (SS-650KM Active PFC F3) 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Hasw
SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold (SS-650KM Active PFC F3) 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Hasw

Pros: Fully modular. Ninja quiet. Built to last.

Cons: Not one. Zip. Nada.

Overall Review: I bought 3 of these for myself and my family. All three are still operating and none of them have made a squeak, a rattle, or any noise at all. They just work! I'm only replacing mine because I'm going to Crossfire two of AMD's R9's which pull way more juice than this awesome PSU supplies. There's a nearly 100% chance that the new 1kW PSU will be a Seasonic gold series.

Disappointed

ARCTIC Accelero L2 Plus VGA Cooler - nVidia & AMD, 92mm Efficient PWM Fan, SLI/CrossFire
ARCTIC Accelero L2 Plus VGA Cooler - nVidia & AMD, 92mm Efficient PWM Fan, SLI/CrossFire

Pros: Relatively inexpensive and quiet

Cons: Moderately fiddly installation procedures. Takes up 3 slots installed. Doesn't get the job done. Temps always above 70C.

Overall Review: This device was purchased to replace the defective closed loop water cooler, also made by Arctic, for my HD 7850.The first Arctic product failed within a few months and this one might have lasted longer if it didn't allow my Sapphire, a good video card maker by the way, to cook itself. I know better than most that stock cooling on VGA cards is almost never adequate and so the VGA cooling aftermarket will thrive. But, Artic has failed twice with two different product lines. Buy their stuff if you like but I'll pass, thank you.

11/25/2014

You get what you pay for

TP-LINK TL-WN722N Wireless N150 High Gain USB Adapter, 150Mbps, w/4 dBi High Gain Detachable Antenna, IEEE 802.11b/g/n, WEP, WPA/WPA2
TP-LINK TL-WN722N Wireless N150 High Gain USB Adapter, 150Mbps, w/4 dBi High Gain Detachable Antenna, IEEE 802.11b/g/n, WEP, WPA/WPA2

Pros: 1) This is a cheap WiFi solution for most users. 2) It is "generally" reliable. See other thoughts.

Cons: 1) This is a cheap WiFi solution. 2) The driver support is almost non-existent. You download an package for Win 7/8 and it installs. There is no control over the installation location or user input. 3) There is nothing to modify in the Device Manager or the "driver suite". So, if this goes bad, sorry about your luck.

Overall Review: This is a generally decent product. It works. It's a bit fiddly but it still works and I've had only one (1) network failure. The problem was resolved by the disable/enable technique in the networking window. Other than my one problem, this device is trouble free; so why only 3 eggs? Well, it's a PITA to install because the MAC is not on the device and you have to use netstat.exe to find it for those of us who use MAC filtering on our WAP's (-1 egg), and there's no real way to troubleshoot it if it fails (-1 egg). Other than those two things, I have two of them (one for me, one for my son) and they work fine.