cover
Joshua H.

Joshua H.

Joined on 07/24/07

0
0

Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 16
Most Favorable Review

You definitely get what you pay for

Logitech 980231-0403 Gold Plated Audio Connectors Connector Circumaural Precision PC Gaming Headset
Logitech 980231-0403 Gold Plated Audio Connectors Connector Circumaural Precision PC Gaming Headset

Pros: The sound and the microphone are very high quality for ~$20

Cons: I've had them for 8 months now, and the left speaker cuts out when the cord is in certain positions. So I guess there are some bad connections, but that's par for the course.

Overall Review: I just think of these as being pseudo disposable, but high sound quality headphones. When mine go out permanently, I don't know if I will buy another pair.

11/15/2008
Most Critical Review

Fragile

Athena Power BP-SATA1842B RAID 0 / 1 / 5 / 10 1 x 5.25" Bay to 4 x 2.5" SATA Hot Swap RAID Subsystem
Athena Power BP-SATA1842B RAID 0 / 1 / 5 / 10 1 x 5.25" Bay to 4 x 2.5" SATA Hot Swap RAID Subsystem

Pros: It holds 4 2.5" drives in an easy-to-access manner. It also makes cable management easier as all four drives are powered by one molex connector and not four SATA connectors.

Cons: The spring loaded levers used to remove the drive are nifty to start but will eventually break weak plastic parts of the drive holders. In fact, on all of my drive holders the same thin piece of plastic gave out on the side. This break does not make the holders useless but it certainly detracts from the whole experience. I super glued the breaks and they have been holding for a while now.

Overall Review: The drive holders probably won't break if you never remove them, but that kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it? This thing should really be all-steel construction. It's not like weight should be a factor, it isn't in a laptop after all. If it were more durable I would have given it five eggs.

CM Stacker after a year or two

Cooler Master Stacker 830 Evolution RC-830-KKN3-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Cooler Master Stacker 830 Evolution RC-830-KKN3-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Pros: * Really roomy * The removable motherboard tray does feel a little flabby, but I have yet to see it bend under any load. And I have a lot of stuff on it. See below for list. * I never had a single problem with the PCI slots * Aesthetically, I find the look of the case very appealing * The front bezel stays close with a magnet and is sturdy and looks awesome * There is sooooooo much room!! I have 13 drives packed in there!! 1x5.25", 4x2.5" , and 8x3.5" * The HDDs are really quiet because of the way the cages are connected with vibration dampeners.

Cons: * I have the PCP&C 1200W Turbo-cool PSU and even though the case does give quite a bit of room, I still had to bend part of the top fan mounting bracket to make the PSU fit. (That PSU is monstrous, so most people won't have that problem) * The 4fan holder does need to be removed for big CPU heatsinks * I find the method that they used to mount the PSU a little annoying when using a PSU with non-modular connectors since you need to shove ALL of the connectors through first, then slide the PSU in. This makes removing the PSU even worse as the wires will get snagged on things. However, to keep things in perspective, non-modular PSUs are a pain to work with no matter which case you use. This case is just a little worse. * The plate used to mount the PSU is thin aluminum and I bent it many times on accident. It never hurt anything as I would just bend it back, but it was annoying. * The hard drive cages are very annoying to remove. * LEDs on front are really bright

Overall Review: Many reviewers have complained about how fragile many of the components feel, and this is true, but I have yet to break any part of this case. It sits under my desk to my right so I am always hitting it with my legs and rolling into it with my chair and accidentally hitting it with various things that fall off my desk and nothing on it ever broke. So, you know, just because something might feel weak to you, doesn't necessarily mean that it is actually weak. Stuff crammed onto the motherboard tray: Gigabyte EX58-UD5 2x eVGA GTX 285 Thermalright Pure 120 Copper with two fans 6GB RAM Highpoint 3520 RAID Card

Good Lord...

OCZ Summit 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) OCZSSD2-1SUM60G
OCZ Summit 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) OCZSSD2-1SUM60G

Pros: I have four of these in RAID 0 on Widows 7. Can you say 800MB/s read speeds? Performs without hiccups, stutters or lags. Loads Windows in about nine seconds.

Cons: They still cost too much.

Overall Review: I got mine when Newegg had one of their "Shellshocker" sales for about $159 each and then a $30 rebate on top of that for one of them. So be patient and wait for the good deals. OCZ is always having rebate sales.

Huge Drive

Seagate BarraCuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Seagate BarraCuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: I bought four of these for a RAID 5 array with the Highpoint Rocketraid 3520 card. Currently they represent a 4TB volume in Windows which is pretty impressive. The transfer rate of a large ISO is about 240MB/s which seems pretty reasonable to me. With my current level of performance, I'll be satisfied if the drives don't fail. But...

Cons: Two of the drives failed right off the bat, so I RMAed them through Newegg. I got the new ones within a week and had my array up and running. A 50% defect rate is laughable, but $115.00 is also ridiculously cheap. If you need reliability, get one of the more expensive 1.5TB drives, one of the ones that have more extensive quality testing and a longer warranty.

Overall Review: Previous reviewers have stated that these run hot, and they are very right. If you have no fan on these, they get so hot that they are painful to touch. On the other hand, if you do have a fan on them, they run at a perfectly acceptable temperature of 30 C (about room temperature, what ever that is for you)

8600gts review

EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Support Video Card 256-P2-N761-AR
EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Support Video Card 256-P2-N761-AR

Pros: It's an 8 series card with decent horsepower and nice power requirements.

Cons: I use this in conjunction with 2 8800GTXs in SLI. My goal was to play WiC on a Dell 24" display (1920x1200) that was powered by the 2 8800s, then have the mega map up on a second monitor (1680x1050) that was powered by the 8600. It didn't work. I got dual monitor support and SLI without switching between the two, but i didn't get dual monitor support within games. So... If that is why you're thinking about getting this, don't. Get a cheaper 8 series card.

Overall Review: My system is as follows: Vista Ultimate x64 E6320 @ 3GHz w/ Zalman 9700 cooler BFG 680i SLI 6GB RAM @1070MHz 8800GTX SLI @626/1450/2000 8600GTS LG blu-ray reader 2x 150GB WD Raptor RAID 0 Dell 24" Ultrasharp LG 20" Flatron