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Ryan C.

Ryan C.

Joined on 02/28/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 13
Most Favorable Review

Okay the battle is finally over...

D-Link DI-524 High Speed Wireless Router IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g
D-Link DI-524 High Speed Wireless Router IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g

Pros: Quick and easy to set up, everything works great after educating myself on these little buggers

Cons: Used to get hot and drop connection a lot, crazy variations in signal strength, signal weakening over a days time until it fianlly wouldn't connect anymore, needed to be power cycled almost every day to get online= was suspicious I had a bad unit, but didn't even bother with the calling for tech help nightmare, just figured it out on my own

Overall Review: Do not set this unit horizontally on a flat surface, like a desk. I mounted mine vertically on the wall literally six inches from where it was before, and 100% of all my problems went away IMMEDIATELY and have not returned in any way shape or form. Signal strength is consistent at very good, all the time, no disconnects, no problems whatsoever, and this for a week straight. I almost jumped the gun and put an article in here bashing this product, now I am very glad that I did not. If you are not lazy and actually mount the thing like you should it will work much better.

Most Critical Review

Pretty Good Player

LITE-ON Black 4X BD-ROM 8X DVD-ROM 32X CD-ROM SATA Internal 4X Blu-ray Disc Reader Model iHOS104-08
LITE-ON Black 4X BD-ROM 8X DVD-ROM 32X CD-ROM SATA Internal 4X Blu-ray Disc Reader Model iHOS104-08

Pros: -Blu-Ray -Comes w/ Power DVD software, which is decent/works fine(nothing fancy) -Pretty Cheap if you get it on sale and/or with a rebate -Comes with SATA cable of decent quality

Cons: I've already had trouble with it's ability to read some DVD's, but I haven't checked for a firmware update yet. No problems with Blu rays as of yet. It's just annoying that something that is brand new out of the box has trouble reading manufacturer DVD's. This should not be the case. Putting in a DVD and getting that never ending click click click as it searches for the first title is not very impressive. Sometimes it never figures it out. Put a "problem" DVD into my other DVD drive(Sony), and it picks it up after a few more scans than normal. Put it in a DVD player, and it comes right on no problem. These are manufacturer discs, not burns. It picks up burns in a heartbeat, but I would expect that. Good software and media = good burns = high compatibility.

Overall Review: It's worth the $40 I paid($10 rebate). I can use my other drive for DVD's it can't deal with. This sucker is long, so watch out if you have a small case. It barely fit in my tower which is just under 16" deep. Almost bumps right into my Corsair 750W power supply, not leaving a lot of room for all the cables from the PS, or the cables connected to the drive. I had to get a little creative with my cable routing, but it worked out fine. It's about 2 inches longer than my Sony DVD DL burn drive.

For your consideration

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: I have read a lot of reviews about this drive over the last few years that say it fails early. Most of these reviews are based on regarding the drive as failed once it fails diagnostics tests, not actual experiencing a failure. I have one of these drives and it has been performing flawlessly for years. When I run diagnostics on this drive, sometimes the software won't even recognize the drive. On some it fails SMART, others it's a pass. On some it sees bad sectors, while Windows detects none. And the results vary based on what operating system I am testing with and what diagnostic tool I am using, none of the results agree. But one thing agrees. The performance. Read/write, excellent. Response time, excellent. Writing to it, erasing and writing again, over and over. Everything is actually operating the same as ever. No corruption in transfers, no actual data problems. I can store as much as the capacity was originally. I have tested this drive in W7, XP and W8.1, file transfers galore. Wiped it completely out, reformatted differently, wrote to zeroes and started over, basically twisted it every way I could think of. Bottom line, it has not actually failed in any way. It's as fast as it was day one, behaves exactly the same but now for some reason it won't pass an hdd drive diagnostics softare, or maybe it will, if I put the drive in another box. So what is my conclusion? I have none. I am going to keep hammering on this HDD until it actually fails. So far it's been a long test. I think that it has something to do with this drives reporting of SMART. There isn't actually anything wrong with the drive at all, it's reporting in error. If I ever blow this drive up, I'll let you know.

Cons: doesn't pass dianostics

Overall Review: spunky drive

Solid

CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-750TX 750 W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Compatible with New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready
CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-750TX 750 W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Compatible with New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready

Pros: Lots of cables, everything you need. Efficient, less heat.

Cons: Tight fit with all them sweet cables and it's size.

Overall Review: Have used this for 3 years now, have had zero problems with it and very happy with my purchase.

Still going strong

EVGA 01G-P3-N988-TR GeForce 9800 GT HDMI 1GB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
EVGA 01G-P3-N988-TR GeForce 9800 GT HDMI 1GB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Pros: This is decent card, I haven't had one second of trouble with it and it has done it's job for the 3 years I've owned it. Tends to run on the cool side.

Cons: Fan noise may be a con for some people, it makes a bit of noise when it's really working hard. I have to go out of my way to notice this, because when it's working hard I am usually playing games.

Died Young

Logitech M500 Black Tilt Wheel USB Corded Laser Mouse
Logitech M500 Black Tilt Wheel USB Corded Laser Mouse

Pros: Good price, and its got a good laser. It's a nice mouse, a bit on the large side which is perfect for my hands. Has a nice weight and feel to it. Very easy to use and comfortable, exactly what I was looking for in every way, until it died young.

Cons: Died young, at 9 months of easy use. I game once or twice a week and other than that the mouse isn't used a whole lot. It hasn't been abused in any way. It was a great mouse and then all of a sudden the click buttons started to malfunction. I have every Logitech mouse I have ever bought, and none of them did anything but wear out. They used to be such a workhorse!!! I was shocked when this one started acting up, I hope Logitech quality is not slipping!!! I don't want to switch to another company, but if I get another early death from them, that will be the end of that!