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Lucas H.

Lucas H.

Joined on 05/18/02

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 9
Most Favorable Review

Nice big monitor

Hannspree By HannsG SL231DPB Glossy Black 23" 5ms Full HD LED BackLight LCD Monitor w/Speakers 250 cd/m2 1000:1 (Typical)
Hannspree By HannsG SL231DPB Glossy Black 23" 5ms Full HD LED BackLight LCD Monitor w/Speakers 250 cd/m2 1000:1 (Typical)

Pros: Big, bright screen. Speakers built into monitor for a small desktop footprint. ZERO dead pixels.

Cons: Please make sure that you're not buying this monitor for it's color accuracy or the speakers if you want great sound. A professional graphics artist would probably be unsatisfied and need to spend significant time calibrating it's colors. But to the everyday user who wants to look at their pictures from their camera and go check out some webpages, this will more than suffice. The speakers are plenty loud for anyone within 10 feet of the monitor, but there's virtually no bass coming from them. Just be realistic about your expectations about a 23" LCD monitor for $140.

Overall Review: Please be reasonable when considering any item you purchase. You usually get what you pay for.

Most Critical Review

Suspected DOA

PNY MBM630I7150 LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 7150 / nForce 630i HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
PNY MBM630I7150 LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 7150 / nForce 630i HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: none so far.

Cons: Appears to be DOA, although I'm not 100% certain. The motherboard was encased in a plastic box inside a flimsy cardboard box. There was no anti-static bag to keep the motherboard safe from static discharge. PNY tech support gave me an initial quick reply with a bunch of moronic suggestions (make sure power wires are plugged into motherboard; try CPU and RAM in another computer if you have one; try another monitor), but I replied 5 days ago now (4 if you don't count Sunday) and have yet to hear a response. I will be calling them tomorrow. Their number is not listed on their website, so if anyone else runs into this problem here's their number: 1-800-234-4597.

Overall Review: Purchased a new PSU, CPU, RAM and this motherboard to upgrade my computer. I don't have another computer to test the CPU and RAM in, so I guess it's possible that the CPU or BOTH RAM sticks are DOA. With no RAM installed, the motherboard will slowly beep on and off. When the RAM is installed, there are no beeps at all, nothing on the monitor, and I have to unplug the computer to get it to turn off. PNY tech support couldn't even tell me what that meant according to the beep codes. IMO PNY should stick to RAM and leave motherboards to the big boys.

Using on a Samsung Infuse

Rosewill RCP-SC39 2.1A Mini Car USB Adapter/Fast Charger for iPad, iPhone/iPod, Smart Phone & MP3/4
Rosewill RCP-SC39 2.1A Mini Car USB Adapter/Fast Charger for iPad, iPhone/iPod, Smart Phone & MP3/4

Pros: Very small; should not obstruct cupholders or shifter. Does what it needs to do.

Cons: I can't say there's any cons to this because it's not advertised to work for my phone.

Overall Review: On my Samsung Infuse, this charger did not decrease charging times at all. In fact, one of my old USB cables did not even charge my phone when I plugged it in. I had to use the USB cable that came with the phone in order for it to charge. Perhaps this is why so many people are having "DOA" issues, when they simply need to use the USB cable that came with their device. I found some varying information online regarding the proper specifications in order to get 2.1A from this device. Using a multimeter, I discovered that this charger's #2 and #3 pins (D+ and D-) are not connected. After shorting these two pins with a drop of solder, I've noticed a slight decrease in required charge time, but not what I was hoping for. All this information pertains only to a Samsung Infuse. You may have better or worse results. Modify your charger at your own risk. I will not be responsible for any damage you encounter through the proper or improper use of your charger.

Good little board

ZOTAC GF9300-A-E LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
ZOTAC GF9300-A-E LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: If you're looking at this board, you probably know it's Pros. Also, I received a $15 MIR with this board, and I don't remember EVER receiving a MIR so quickly, so kudos to Zotac for quick and simple MIR processing.

Cons: I temporarily had a problem with both CPU cores not showing up inside Windows XP. Now everything is fine. Read below for a detailed explanation and solution to the problem.

Overall Review: This board replaced a Gigabyte board that had gone bad and I couldn't wait for their 3-week RMA process. Instead of using installing Windows XP from scratch, I decided to "repair" the installation. I did this several times because each time it completed, Windows XP only reported 1 CPU core. I realized that in between the blue Windows XP setup screen and restarting to continue installing Windows XP, the setup program could not detect the 2nd CPU core. So what I did was "repair" once more through the blue setup screen. Once it wanted to restart the computer to continue installing, I shutdown the computer instead of just letting it restart. I think this let the BIOS go through it's full boot-up procedure and verify both cores. I don't know if this is necessarily the fault of THIS board, so that's why I gave it 4 eggs instead of 3 or 2. I just wanted to document this in case someone else had the same problem.

PSU works, great price, rebate card came

PC Power & Cooling Fatal1ty Gaming Series 550 Watt 80+ Semi-Modular Active PFC Performance Grade ATX PC Power Supply (OCZ550FTY)
PC Power & Cooling Fatal1ty Gaming Series 550 Watt 80+ Semi-Modular Active PFC Performance Grade ATX PC Power Supply (OCZ550FTY)

Pros: It works. Rebate just came in the mail.

Cons: None.

12/13/2010