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Kevin J.

Kevin J.

Joined on 09/18/03

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 45
Most Favorable Review

Simply Amazing

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition - Phenom II X4 Deneb Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Processor - HDZ940XCGIBOX
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition - Phenom II X4 Deneb Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Processor - HDZ940XCGIBOX

Pros: Replaced an old X2 6000+ with this bad boy. Not a huge difference in Wow or day-to-day apps but when I went to encode a video file it took about 1/4th the time it did with the 6000. Definately a great chip.

Cons: Not as fast as Intel's latest offering but who wants to spend the extra dough for an i7. Also runs hot (see below).

Overall Review: Ordered this before I realize my old workhorse M2N32-SLI Deluxe didn't support it even with the latest BIOS rev 2101. It sat in the box for a week before I finally decided to give it a try anyway. Glad I did. After some Artic Silver and some BIOS wrangling it's working fine now. Had to clear the CMOS first before installing. It wouldn't POST the first time so I had to reset and change DDR from 800 to 667. It's been purring like a kitten ever since. Like I said it does run hot (idles at around 38 and peaks at 60 under load), but I figure that's just because it's on an older mobo. Don't let people tell you this chip won't work on a M2N32-SLI Deluxe. It just takes some effort.

Most Critical Review

I'd pass

StarTech FANDRIVE2BK Plastic 5.25" Drive Bay Hard Drive Cooler -2 Fans
StarTech FANDRIVE2BK Plastic 5.25" Drive Bay Hard Drive Cooler -2 Fans

Pros: Looks nice.

Cons: Fans are too loud. Became the loudest thing in my case. Not using anymore.

Overall Review: Much better ones available.

The only anti-virus I trust...but with a few caveats

ESET NOD32 Antivirus 2025 - 5 Devices / 1 Year - Download
ESET NOD32 Antivirus 2025 - 5 Devices / 1 Year - Download

Pros: Very little system impact. No noticeable slowdown even on an older machine. Also it doesn't interfere with gaming thanks to gaming mode. The UI is a little complicated but manageable.

Cons: I don't like that ESET now forces auto-license renewal by default. This to me is a shady business practice. Especially now that the prices have increased and they now offer little to no discount for re-subscribing. I nearly always wait for Black Friday discounts before re-upping.

Overall Review: I've been using NOD32 for a least a decade. I've tried others but I always come back to it for one reason or another. It's light on resources, easy to use, and effective. It's a shame ESET has adopted some poor business practices.

11/25/2020

EVGA knocks it out of the park again

EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 SC GAMING ACX 3.0, 08G-P4-6173-KR, 8GB GDDR5, LED, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC)
EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 SC GAMING ACX 3.0, 08G-P4-6173-KR, 8GB GDDR5, LED, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC)

Pros: Idles at 28 and the highest I've seen it go is 58 under full load. Backplate is sweet, LED too. RGB would've been nice but it looks sick in a Storm Scout 2 case with red and blue fans. Like something from Star Fleet. Overclocks easily.

Cons: Fans are a little louder than I would've expected. Even at 20% they're noticeable above the case fans.

Overall Review: Got this card when it was on sale in May. Definitely glad I didn't wait until NVIDIA releases the 1100 series. Blows away the 970 it replaced. My FX 8350 is getting a little long in the tooth but it gets the job done. Get this card you won't regret it. I've been using EVGA cards since the 6600GT and have never been disappointed. So far this is the best video card I've ever owned.

So far so good

WD Black 1TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD1003FZEX
WD Black 1TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD1003FZEX

Pros: Much faster than the 10 year-old workhorse 500GB Seagate drive it replaced. That drive still worked fine but a decade is a long time to use a drive so I figured I better to get a new one.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: If you're looking for a fast drive to store game installs on, I wouldn't hesitate. This is the one.

Exactly what I needed to mount SSD in older Antec case

Sabrent 2.5 Inch to 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Disk Drive Mounting Bracket Kit (BK-HDDF)
Sabrent 2.5 Inch to 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Disk Drive Mounting Bracket Kit (BK-HDDF)

Pros: After reading the comments here about the bottom-mounting capability of this bracket, I decided to give it a try. It works perfectly with my Antec P160's removable drive trays. It even support 2 drives if I ever decide to get another SSD in the future.

Cons: None.