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William E.

William E.

Joined on 07/14/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 9
Most Favorable Review

Works great

D-Link Ethernet Switch, 16 Port 10/100 Unmanaged Desktop, Fanless Rackmount Network Hub Internet (DSS-16+)
D-Link Ethernet Switch, 16 Port 10/100 Unmanaged Desktop, Fanless Rackmount Network Hub Internet (DSS-16+)

Pros: Plugged in the cables, and everything immediately worked without any problems or setup. That's how I like it. Silent and cool-running.

Cons: None so far.

Overall Review: I was surprised that there was very little to no added latency over the amount of cable I'm currently running. Right now to my Xbox, there's about 75 ft. of CAT5 (until I do the wiring proper through my house). I tested the speed by pinging google, and on average was getting around 25-35ms responses, which is pretty much the same speed as if it was only 6 ft. of CAT5. I'm satisfied.

11/16/2007
Most Critical Review

Okay Overall

GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Up to 54Mbps Wireless Data Rates
GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Up to 54Mbps Wireless Data Rates

Pros: Fairly strong connection, easy-enough installation and software.

Cons: Not for gaming. As others have said, this card has fairly constant hiccups where the connection will drop for a full second, causing lag in games constantly, while really un-noticable if just browsing on the internet. This happens regardless of using the included software or Windows Zero Configuration.

Overall Review: A fair card for a good price if you're only browsing the internet. Can't use it for gaming.

Very Reliable

ZALMAN CNPS10X Extreme 120mm CPU Cooler with Worlds first PWM Fan Speed Controller
ZALMAN CNPS10X Extreme 120mm CPU Cooler with Worlds first PWM Fan Speed Controller

Pros: Core i7 920 2.66GHz - OC Testing Stock @ 3.2GHz: 80C ZALMAN @ 3.2GHz: 38C ZALMAN @ 3.9GHz: 53C A huge decrease in temperatures. All temperatures tested using the lowest (blue) speed. Very quiet at the lowest speed, slightly audible at the highest (red).

Cons: Difficult to install. When first installed, i wasn't lined up flat with the bracket, and had to uninstall and fix. (Caught before boot). A little large on height. While it didn't block any RAM slots, it did require I remove a side fan on my case door in order to close it.

Overall Review: Looking forward to using this again after upgrading to an Ivy Bridge processor.

Decent

Xbox 360 Game
Xbox 360 Game

Pros: Decent single player story, although the character's are not too immersive. Firefight is very fun, although fairly difficult, and can be frustrating if playing with less-skilled players due to the life system. Overall the game is very fun.

Cons: Short. In 3-player co-op on Legendary (first playthrough), the game clocked in a little under 4 hours 30 minutes. With 4 players or an easier difficulty, I'd expect it to be shorter. Firefight has no matchmaking, meaning you need to play with friends over Xbox Live to actually enjoy this, and can not play with random players. Playing single player can end up being more frustrating than fun, and quickly wears then. Recommended to play with others.

Overall Review: Adding matchmaking to firefight would have been enough to make this a great game in my eyes, but as-is, it's far too hard to get a game started. If playing alone, this will likely have no lasting appeal to you. The hub does end up being frustrating sometimes in campaign, since many roads end up as dead ends while the map leads you to believe there should have been a door there (or the door doesn't open).

Great TV at a great price

SAMSUNG 52"  1080p LCD HDTV LN52A550
SAMSUNG 52" 1080p LCD HDTV LN52A550

Pros: Great Video quality. Standard def cable still looks fine, with HD content looking great. Xbox 360 hooked up via HDMI has great quality as well. The price is great for such a large and high-quality HDTV. Completely satisfied the TV and haven't had any issues with it.

Cons: Sound quality by itself started out kinda low, as its lacking bass. Calibrating the audio made a big difference. It does sound a little weird when standing beside the TV instead of in front of which, but then again, you don't watch it from the side. Also, energy saving settings seems to apply across all inputs, and can't be customized per input, which conflicted with differing calibrations I found.

Overall Review: I'd recommend using AVSForum for calibrating both the audio and the video for the TV. Made a large difference for the sound in my opinion, and probably helped the picture quality as well. I've tweaked some of the settings to lower the brightness some for gaming, as it was too bright for the darker lighting in my room.

Good Card

ENCORE ENLWI-N Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g, IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0 PCI 2.3 Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates
ENCORE ENLWI-N Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g, IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0 PCI 2.3 Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates

Pros: Quick, easy setup. Always holds a strong signal 1 floor down where old wireless card had trouble. Seems to balance the signal between the 3 antennas so even when Windows shows a bad connection, it still reports full speed. No speed drops, great for gaming.

Cons: 3 Antennas take up quite a bit of space. Due to the location of the slots on my motherboard, the antennas reach up past the monitor cables and get a bit in the way.

Overall Review: Included software works good and isn't hard to setup. It's nice being able to see the seperate signal being reported by each antenna. Replaced old wireless card due to signal lagging every 20 seconds, making gaming impossible, and this works great.