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Virgil B.

Virgil B.

Joined on 03/04/05

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100 Reviews
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  • 265
Most Favorable Review

Frustrating Documentation

BUFFALO AirStation HighPower N600 Gigabit Simultaneous Dual Band DD-WRT Wireless Router - WZR-600DHP
BUFFALO AirStation HighPower N600 Gigabit Simultaneous Dual Band DD-WRT Wireless Router - WZR-600DHP

Pros: The installation software that comes on the included CD is pretty thorough. It walks you through the configuration steps necessary to install a basic router. It really is pretty simple and automatic. I plugged in the LAN connection and the WAN connection and the software pretty much did the rest. I was configured and up on the internet within a few minutes. This router is one of the few dual band routers that I have seen that can be mounted on the wall, vertically on the desktop, or horizontally on the desktop. A very nice touch was including the two screws in the package to mount the unit on the wall. I installed the router with the DD-WRT professional firmware because I am familiar with it and it allows greater control over the internal settings of the router. For example you can adjust the output power of the transmitter giving you a greater coverage area. According to the DD-WRT WIKI the transmit power should be set no higher than 30 for Buffalo HD routers. The default value is 20 and I have set mine as high as 25, but I couldn’t see any difference between the two settings with my tests so I set it back to 20. I have no dead spots or drop off of signal in my home (approximately 2300 sq. ft.). I have coverage 40 or 50 feet outside of my home but that is where the signal begins to drop off rather quickly. The router has more wireless encryption options than I have seen on the other wireless routers I have installed. The encryption options include everything from WEP to WPA2-EAP. The router is equipped with autosensing LAN ports supporting 10, 100, 1000 Mbps with auto MDIX so you can use any Ethernet cables including crossover cables for your connections. I was also able to plug in a 2 Tb external hard drive brick into the USB 2.0 port and the router immediately identified the drive allowing the sharing of files across my network. Overall, I feel that this router is a decent simultaneous dual band router that is comparably priced with other dual band units. The router has just about every option imaginable when using the DD-WRT firmware making this a very versatile router. I also contacted technical support via email about this router and they responded within 24 hours on a Saturday evening. I was debating between 3 stars or 4 stars for this router and the email reply is what tipped the balance upward. Did I mention that the unit comes with a three year warranty.?

Cons: The user’s manual and all of the other documentation for the WXR-600DHP appears to me to have been rushed and is very poorly laid out. The first manual is the DD-WRT firmware manual which is 33 pages in length. Then you have a completely separate manual that is labeled as the User Manual for User Friendly Firmware that goes from page 34 through 162. The table of contents on the first manual shows page 33 as the last page and makes no reference to the remaining pages. If you want to see the illustrations that identifies the switches, sockets, and the lamps on the router you have to go to the second manual to find that information. This is extremely frustrating because I looked everywhere, including the manufacturer’s webpage to no avail. There are no illustrations for the router in the DD-WRT professional firmware manual or anything that explains what the various ports, lights or switches do (i.e. router switch or the movie engine switch). Basically, chapters 1 through 3 of the User Friendly Firmware manual should be at the very front of the manual for both versions of the firmware. Then the next chapter should go to either the User Friendly Firmware settings or the DD-WRT firmware settings. In all I spent hours looking for a simple illustration and definitions before stumbling onto the second manual that was hidden behind the first one. Do yourself a favor. Go to the second manual first and read chapter 3 before attempting the installation process. The package also contains several quick setup guides but they weren’t very useful. There aren’t any detailed instructions on these quick setup guides, only a few pictures and the pictures are not very intuitive. For example the first illustration on the computer setup guide is showing a picture of the diagnostic light with an arrow going to another image with the diagnostic light out, the power connection, a WAN connection to a DSL or Cable modem, and a wireless laptop computer. I do not know of anyone that would expect to configure a router with a wireless connection. As far as I am concerned these quick start guides were virtually useless. Again, if you read the User Friendly manual you will find instructions in English that are pretty good. If you have the router mounted on the wall in a closet it may be difficult to see the lights. The lights are labeled on the front of the unit but the actual lights are on the side. If you can’t get around to see the side the lights are not visible.

Overall Review: The firmware difference sheet is handy to keep around. It shows the flexibility that is available when using the DD-WRT firmware over the User Friendly Firmware. Unfortunately, if you are not an experienced user you may find the DD-WRT firmware to be a challenge. It does have lots of power and allows you to configure the Buffalo hardware as a router, repeater, access point, a WDS station, or a WDA access point. However, you may have to look for your answers on the dd-wrt wiki and user forums at the dd-wrt.com website. If you are a novice you may find the User Friendly Firmware more to your liking if all you want is a simple access point configuration. The documentation certainly seems more complete and thorough for the User Friendly Firmware. The actual hardware and software seems to be very good. I don’t think you would be disappointed with the router once you get past the frustrating documentation.

Most Critical Review

Average switch

On Networks DSG005-199NAS Unmanaged 5-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch
On Networks DSG005-199NAS Unmanaged 5-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Pros: The DSG005 switch is an ideal switch for expanding a wired connection. For example, if you have an entertainment center with several smart devices requiring internet connectivity and you only have a single wired connection available. You can plug in the DSG005 into the wired connection and plug in up to 4 smart devices effectively sharing the connection. I tested the ports on the switch with a cat 5, 100 Mbps cable, a cat 5E, 1000 Mbps cable, and a cat 5E, 1000 Mbps crossover cable. The switch automatically configured itself and worked flawlessly. The DSG005 switch is truly plug and play. I was not able to detect any loss in speed or throughput when I was going through the switch. I performed several tests using LanSpeed Test Lite and I measured an average of 600+ Mbps. The switch has a very small footprint if you place it on a desktop (3.43 inches by 5 inches) plus it has cutouts on the back so that you can wall mount the switch. The power wart is rectangular in shape allowing you to plug it in without blocking the other plug on the electrical outlet. However, if you use a power strip it may be an issue depending on how the power strip is laid out. The switch is a fanless design that guarantees a quiet operation. I have never felt any heat being generated by the switch. It is always cool to the touch. This may be due in part to the switch having Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) features which reduces the power to idle and unused ports.

Cons: The LED display for each of the 5 ports is either on, blinking, or off. There is no visual indication of the link speed to differentiate between fast Ethernet or GB Ethernet. The switch only supports 9720 byte non-adjustable Jumbo frames (information obtained from FAQ on the on network website). Most individuals would never use jumbo frame capability, fixed or adjustable, but it is something to consider when shopping for a new GB switch. Especially if your NIC cards support variable frames. The DSG005 does not have a power off switch so if you need to remove the power you must unplug the power plug at the switch or electrical outlet.

Overall Review: Overall, this is a nice 5 port switch that is relatively nice looking and economical. The average user would be quite satisfied with this switch. However, if you are an above average user then you may want link speed indicators (LEDs), IEEE 802.1p QOS settings, variable jumbo frames, or a power switch. If that is the case then you may want to shop around at other switches in this price range.

An ideal desktop switch.

TP-Link TL-SG105_RE Unmanaged 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch
TP-Link TL-SG105_RE Unmanaged 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch

Pros: I purchased this switch to replace a very light plastic unit that would not stay on the desktop due to the weight of the cables. This switch is made out of metal and has more weight than the plastic unit that it replaced. It weighs just enough to keep the switch from sliding around on the desktop. I also like the status lights that are on the front of the unit. I can see the status of each connection by just glancing at the switch.

Cons: None that I can think of.

Overall Review: There isn't much that you can say about a switch when it is all plug and play except that it works. This switch seems to be very well made and should be able to withstand a certain amount of abuse. I am very pleased with it's looks and operation. For the price you can't beat this switch. If you are wanting a 5 port inexpensive switch then look no further.

Tiny, Tiny Switch

TP-Link 5 Port Gigabit Ethernet Network Switch | Plug and Play | Desktop or Wall-Mount | Plastic Case Ethernet Splitter | Fanless | Traffic Optimization | Unmanaged (TL-SG1005D)
TP-Link 5 Port Gigabit Ethernet Network Switch | Plug and Play | Desktop or Wall-Mount | Plastic Case Ethernet Splitter | Fanless | Traffic Optimization | Unmanaged (TL-SG1005D)

Pros: This was a nice switch with 5 - 1 gigabit ports that adjust the power for each port based upon the cable length connected to the switch. For ports with no connections the power to the port is minimal. Overall the switch is very efficient. The price that I paid for this switch makes you wonder how they can make it, package it, and sell it for that price.

Cons: Contrary to the images in the overview in the ad, the front of the unit has a single green LED that simply shows that the power is on. It does not contain any LEDs showing the port activity or status. The activity LEDs for the ports are on the back of the unit are very small and are not visible from the front. The switch is very light and the switch is very tiny. I was definitely surprised by the size of the unit

Overall Review: The unit works great and for the price how could you complain. If you are looking for a heavier 5 port switch then this unit is not for you. However, if you are looking for a quality switch made by a reputable company then this may be exactly what you are looking for.

10/12/2019

A decent X570 gaming board.

GIGABYTE X570 GAMING X AMD Ryzen 3000 PCIe 4.0 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.2 AMD X570 ATX Motherboard
GIGABYTE X570 GAMING X AMD Ryzen 3000 PCIe 4.0 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.2 AMD X570 ATX Motherboard

Pros: This motherboard is an excellent choice for an inexpensive AMD 3000 series board. Installation was a breeze and I had the entire system up and running in short order with everything functioning as it should.

Cons: There are only 3 fan headers and one CPU water cooling header supported on the motherboard, but there are a total of 5 LED strip headers on the board. I would have preferred to have a couple more system fan headers and 2 less LED headers. My system has 4 case fans and a CPU fan so I had to plug 2 of the fans into a molex connector.

Overall Review: I am quite pleased with the way that this Motherboard went together and how well it performs. I believe that if you are looking for a reasonably priced motherboard that you will be satisfied with this one.

PCI-Express 4.0

GIGABYTE AORUS NVMe Gen4 SSD 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-Express 4.0 x4 3D TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Dual Side Copper GP-ASM2NE6500GTTD
GIGABYTE AORUS NVMe Gen4 SSD 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-Express 4.0 x4 3D TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Dual Side Copper GP-ASM2NE6500GTTD

Pros: The SSD drive has a very heavy copper heatsink that make this an attractive drive. Unfortunately I had to remove the heatsink that was included with the motherboard before I could install the drive. The drive is very fast and I measured speeds that were very close to the published read/write speeds.

Cons: The heatsink adds a certain amount of depth to the bottom of the SSD drive. On a Gigabyte AX370 motherboard the copper heatsink actually touched some components on the motherboard preventing it from booting up. By placing a piece of paper under the drive I was able to boot up on the SSD drive and test out the unit so be careful when you install this to make sure that there is separation between the SSD drive and the motherboard. On the motherboard that I purchased the drive for the M.2 socket stood higher off of the motherboard which gives more clearance underneath the drive for the heatsink. The only other complaint that I have is that the speed of the drive does not max out the bandwidth of the PCI-Express 4 specifications so the drive could be significantly faster. I am also disappointed that the drive cost about twice as much as a PCI-Express 3 M.2 drive and yet doesn't provide twice the speed.

Overall Review: This drive came in a box that was very substantial. The cardboard was nearly twice as think and the packaging of other drives that I have purchased. It reminded me of a jewelry box that an expensive watch or bracelet would come in. Perhaps if they would have reduced the thickness of the box they could have sold the drive for a lesser amount. Overall this drive is pretty much one of the fastest M.2 drives on the market which makes your programs and apps seem to open immediately which is very nice. If you have the desire to have a premiere M.2 drive then this will certainly fit the bill.

seller reviews
  • 7

Nice M.2

Very nice inexpensive M.2 SSD.

On-time
Delivery
Product
Accuracy
Customer Service
Satisfactory
12/23/2019

Nice M.2

Very nice inexpensive M.2 SSD.

On-time
Delivery
Product
Accuracy
Customer Service
Satisfactory
12/23/2019

No communication what-so-ever!

Ordered item December 7, 2018 and it wasn't until after I contacted NewEgg in January that any activity occurred. The package was finally delivered on January 14, 2019. The company did not respond to any emails except for a canned response. I will never purchase anything from this seller again.

On-time
Delivery
Product
Accuracy
Customer Service
Satisfactory