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Kenneth M.

Kenneth M.

Joined on 08/31/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 15
Most Favorable Review

Better Than Expected

Crucial M4 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CT128M4SSD2
Crucial M4 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CT128M4SSD2

Pros: This drive beat the performance numbers listed in the specifications. My reads are 510mb/s and writes are 230mb/s. (Crystal Disk mark) I can't say I've ever bought a piece of hardware that did that. I load most apps instantly, including SWTOR battlegrounds. Restart happens faster than the windows logo can load. The price per gb for a drive of this class is unbeatable. I use this drive as my OS, I have 30gb of games, and I still managed to have 50gb free. Compress your data and turn off your windows paging file!

Cons: None Yet

Overall Review: Suggestions when you purchase this drive: -Ensure your ACHI drivers are up to date -Ensure your BIOS is set to use ACHI mode. -Ensure you are using a SATA III 6.0gb/s cable (You'll get reads in the 300/mbs range if you dont). If it doesn't have clips on the connectors it is probably not SATA III. I bought a SATA III cable with my drive just to make sure. Before I did these itmes I was benchmarking getting below specs (my fault).

Most Critical Review

It Don't Work

Western Digital Black WD1502FAEX 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Western Digital Black WD1502FAEX 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: None

Cons: Dead on Arrival. Sounds like the kid who assembled this put a handful of gravel in it.

Endless Problems

Dell Professional P190S Black 19" 5ms Pivot, Swivel & Height Adjustable LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 800:1
Dell Professional P190S Black 19" 5ms Pivot, Swivel & Height Adjustable LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 800:1

Pros: If I'd had the money I spent on this monitor I problably would have bought booze. So, thanks Dell for selling me a paper weight.

Cons: I have several of these monitors spread across my office. Each and every one has unique problems that cannot be resolved. Dell is completely unhelpful. Examples: Monitor 1: Goes into "power saver mode" and there is absolutely nothing you can do to get it out. You can move it to another computer, unplug the power cable, push buttons, and/or pull your hair out and it will not come out of this power saver mode. Bonus: There is no way to turn off "power saver mode." Dell claimed they fixed this on the newer monitors, but the problem is still here. Monitor 2: It turns itself off. Then you can't turn it back on. You can switch power cables, dvi/vga cables, computers, push all the buttons, unplug it for a day, whatever you want, there is no way out of this state. At random times the monintor will decide to come out of this state. This is Dell's attempt at humor I'm assuming. No matter what: Dell monitors have endless problems. I also have an Asus and Sumsung. Neither of those h

RIP BF

Battlefield 3 Standard Edition PC Game
Battlefield 3 Standard Edition PC Game

Pros: This game has a lot of potential. The graphics can be amazing. Co-op is pretty entertaining, there are only 6 maps though. Finding your friends is easy, and you can easily manage your friendslist.

Cons: Oh, where to begin. 1) All sniper scopes act like a spot light. You can see snipers from anywhere because of this. 2) Balance is non-existent. Even team balance doesn't exist. If you're on a bad team you can leave or wait to change. Thats it. 3) If you're used to BF2, these maps are tiny! On everymap you can get locked by AA no matter where you are. 4) Origin uses your internet browser as its launch platform, this may be the most awful idea ever. You will have endless problems with this setup: getting dropped from servers, starting single player when joining servers, unable to connect, and constant browser updates. 5) Flashlights blind you..outside...from across the map. Same with lasers. 6) Spawning. There is no attempt to keep you from spawning directly in front of an opposing team player, and you dont spawn anywhere that you would be shielded. I cannot count how many times i've spawned and instantly died. 7)Annoying friendslists and requests. 8) One

Overall Review: I was a diehard fan of the BF series. This game is not only a let down but a disappointment. EA seems to be completely unresponsive to complaints, as well. Which is par for non-subscription based gaming. I logged over 100 hours on this game before I decided I wasn't going to wait for EA to make the most basic improvements. For instance, I play in several clans and I would (as of BF2) have several different in-game names for those clans. With BF3 you get ONE login. Even the worst MMO's have multiple characters. It seems they tried to focus on some 'social' aspect more than the game play. Yes, you can find your friend and join a server together, but once you do the fun stops. In short: EA really dropped the ball.

Works, What Else Do You Want

Seagate BarraCuda XT ST33000651AS 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Seagate BarraCuda XT ST33000651AS 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Tons of space. Great performance. It worked out of the box.

Cons: Dealing with the 3tb size can be difficult. I couldn't get mine into a single disk letter but, thats my fault. You will have trouble installing Win7 on this on a new build. I just installed on another drive then mirrored it over.

Warranty, Performance, Price....

XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card HD-687A-ZHFC
XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card HD-687A-ZHFC

Pros: Great performance. I can get similar performance in BF3 to others who have SLI GTX 570's. But this is half the price. I didn't believe at first either, check out Tom's Hardware. STWOR maxed out looks great and runs well. Significantly cheaper than competition in Crossfire. W A R R A N T Y! double lifetime warranty. Easy registration. Mail in actually came back! Ka-ching

Cons: gets loud. Catalyst Control is not my favorite. I use MSI Afterburner to keep the card from blaring. If you don't adjust it, the card will move the fan to 35% while watching videos on YT.