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Michael F.

Michael F.

Joined on 04/07/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Good CPU cooler.

Rosewill RCX-Z1 Long Life Ball Bearing CPU Cooler with 92mm Silent Fan, Aluminum Heat Sink, Supports AMD Socket : AM3+ / AM3 / AM2+ / AM2 / 940 / 939 / 754
Rosewill RCX-Z1 Long Life Ball Bearing CPU Cooler with 92mm Silent Fan, Aluminum Heat Sink, Supports AMD Socket : AM3+ / AM3 / AM2+ / AM2 / 940 / 939 / 754

Pros: Works as well or better then stock cooler. Easy to install, thermal paste is already applied. Did I mention extremely easy to install?

Cons: You won't see a huge drop in CPU temp from a stock cooler, but it is stable, and does it's job well.

Overall Review: This product would be good for someone who bought an OEM CPU and isn't considering over clocking.

12/28/2011
Most Critical Review

The hard drive brackets are not good.

Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced - High Air Flow Full Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0 and All-Black Interior
Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced - High Air Flow Full Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0 and All-Black Interior

Pros: Lots of space, lots of cooling, not too heavy.

Cons: The hard drive brackets. I've put together hundreds of desktops and I have never had to deal with brackets like this for regular hard drives. The screws would pop out when I'd try to slide it in. After about half a dozen tries and an hour of trying to figure out what I was doing wrong (The instructions are horrible), I finally got it in. I thought brackets were supposed to make it easier to put a drive in? Not even close. I also don't like that the connectors face outside the way that they do. I'd rather they face inside the case. Reaching the SATA cords that far was also a pain. I'm rating this case a 3 because of the brackets. Everything else meets expectation. Honestly though, I'll go back to a simple mid tower next time.

Overall Review: It's not a bad case. I just hate the hard drive brackets.

Don't buy this.

ASUS PRIME Z490M-PLUS LGA 1200 (Intel 10th Gen) Intel Z490 SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX Intel Motherboard (Dual M.2, DDR4 4400, 1Gb Ethernet, USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB Type-A, Aura Sync RGB)
ASUS PRIME Z490M-PLUS LGA 1200 (Intel 10th Gen) Intel Z490 SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX Intel Motherboard (Dual M.2, DDR4 4400, 1Gb Ethernet, USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB Type-A, Aura Sync RGB)

Pros: CPU/Video connectors are generally good

Cons: The onboard LAN is garbage. Mine won't go beyond 10 mbps no matter what I do to the settings. Flashed the bios, updated the drivers, rolled the drivers back. Nothing works. If I try to connect at a higher speed through advanced settings the connection fails all together.

Overall Review: I can't recommend a motherboard with onboard LAN that has issues. This is not new technology. It's unacceptable for this not work out of the box.

11/25/2020

No post, multiple boards

MSI Z87-G45 Gaming LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Pro Gaming with Killer Networking & Sound Blaster Intel Motherboard
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Pro Gaming with Killer Networking & Sound Blaster Intel Motherboard

Pros: Fast, decently priced, it has the MSI brand name on it (Which believe it or not I have had amazing luck with in the past)

Cons: Doesn't boot to post. I thought it was something with the original board so I RMA'd it to Newegg and it still won't post. Using a CORSAIR HX Series HX750, GSkill ripjaw series ddr 1600, and an I7-4770k. I am not overclocking, I use the stock CPU fan, I am using a Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced - High Air Flow Full Tower case. It has huge fans and tons of airflow. The motherboard is properly grounded and everything is plugged in. I searched google and found many other people having the same issue, interestingly enough many of them also had a Corsair power supply. I've built hundreds of computers, I am A+ certified, I have now taken this computer in to a local fix it shop to try to get it to post. I've thrown my hands up in the air and given up. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this motherboard isn't really that good. It's got nice features but it just isn't a quality product. I wouldn't recommend anyone buy it.

Overall Review: In the future I will stick to value products instead of performance. Why I spent 1200 dollars on a system that won't post is beyond me.

Awesome design.

CORSAIR Voyager 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive CMFUSB2.0-16GB
CORSAIR Voyager 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive CMFUSB2.0-16GB

Pros: Fast for a USB 2.0 flash drive. Cool design, rubber casing is neat. Flash Voyager is a cool name. Cheap.

Cons: It wasn't free.

Overall Review: l33t

Great

Sennheiser HD201 Over-Ear Headphones
Sennheiser HD201 Over-Ear Headphones

Pros: Great, does what it's supposed to do. Sound is significantly better then most 20 dollar head phones one would pick up in a store. Cost - great price, paid only 16 dollars for these during the black Friday sale.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: Cord is long - If you want a short cord, probably not the best choice, but if you need a longer cord, great choice.

12/28/2011