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Scott A.

Scott A.

Joined on 01/02/12

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 8
Most Favorable Review

A case with PSU for < $50 shipped!

Rosewill TU-155 II 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with 500W Power Supply
Rosewill TU-155 II 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with 500W Power Supply

Pros: Everything works, no damage. Stamped Mobo locations for ATX mounting screws. Quiet PSU. Funky blue exhaust fan with see-through cover. Plenty of extra screws provided. Wide and deep enough for most aftermarket CPU coolers including Noctua NH-D14 which is a HUGE cooler. Mounting space for 4 hard drives (although 2 share same bay as anterior 3.5" mounts).

Cons: Funky blue exhaust fan with see-through cover. Non-standard pin for rear exhaust fan can't use MOBO case fan inputs without adapter (not provided). Only two 4-pin power supply plugs available for older equipment. Power cables from PSU and from anterior USB/sound are too short and barely reach needed MOBO input areas. Don't quite understand why the front of case is covered with clear plastic

Overall Review: Hey, it's a case, but the price with power supply is hard to beat. The clear plastic side of the case comes with holes and a black plastic tunnel on the interior of the case that sits over the CPU for extra air and cooling. I had to remove it in my build as I have that Noctua cooler.

Most Critical Review

trouble

Seagate BarraCuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Seagate BarraCuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Price/size-speed ratio

Cons: This is the 3rd seagate drive I have ordered from Newegg in the last several years. 2 of the 3 were DOA.

Overall Review: I had a scsi cheetah drive for years that was a tank. I have purchased my last drive from them, however. I think their Chinese manufacturing plants need a reevaluation. I fear they are becoming the new old Japan in terms of quality of products produced. Careful what you pay for Seagate. You might just get it.

Wow

Noctua NH-D14, Premium CPU Cooler with Dual NF-P14 PWM and NF-P12 PWM Fans (Brown)
Noctua NH-D14, Premium CPU Cooler with Dual NF-P14 PWM and NF-P12 PWM Fans (Brown)

Pros: An excellent job cooling, with quiet fans. Comes with good directions and hardware for both AMD or Intel builds

Cons: Size. I have seen smaller car radiators. Measure before you purchase. Also, on my mobo, the cooler was right against the memory, actually forcing one dimm to lean over slightly. The medial fan is easily switchable depending on your exhaust needs, but the outside fan is not without pliers to remove the clamp.

Overall Review: My system required the outside fan of the Noctua to switch sides because of the size of the cooler and location of the memory, but that meant airflow was in the wrong direction for my PSU and case exhaust. The clamp on the fan is crimped into place. A modular option for the clamps on this fan would be helpful as I had to mangle the clamps to switch sides.

Can't blame it on the card, but what a pain...

PNY GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card RVCGGTX560TXXB-OC
PNY GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card RVCGGTX560TXXB-OC

Pros: Quiet and fast. Runs all video seamlessly. Got an open box which saved some bucks as well!

Cons: Mobo issues. Spent half a day to get it to work with ASUS AM3+ ATX Motherboard M5A88-V EVO

Overall Review: I feel like I just gave birth to an IT guy. I spent half a day trying to get this card to operate correctly with the aforementioned mobo. The problem was sleep mode in which the computer would turn back on but without video. I removed the card and plugged the monitor into the onboard video and still no picture after reboot( The onboard video used to work before I installed the PNY card)! This required a bios reset of the board to fix. I finally solved the problem with a bios flash of the mobo. Now works flawlessly out of sleep mode.

First use

HOOVER F8100900 Platinum Collection Carpet Cleaner Silver / Black
HOOVER F8100900 Platinum Collection Carpet Cleaner Silver / Black

Pros: Missing parts (see previous review) came with complementary gallon of shampoo for pets (I told Hoover operator when ordering missing parts I had pets- Nice touch, Hoover!). Two sets of brushes, 5 rotating and 1 like a traditional upright vaccuum. Uses less energy than previous hoover shampooer (can now use outlet that used to trip fuse with previous machine. Much improved wast water removal tank, easier to clean and no longer needing clamps. Sensors indicate when tanks are empty all worked. Uses less shampoo than previous Hoover. Most importantly, it cleans very well. It took out foot traffic and dog urine stain with 2 passes. Rotating brushes just pull out and are easy to clean (wish the same was true for upright vacuum brush).

Cons: Cord is too short, and had to change outlets to finish rug previous Hoover could do. Dead spots of hair collection on lateral edges of upright vacuum brush, and removal of brush plate requiring screwdriver.

Overall Review: My initial impressions of this unit's ability to clean are pretty good. I am a little nervous about durability, a I have seen this unit reviewed by a number of consumers on neutral websites who reported breakdown of their units within several months after only light/moderate use.

Good Board

AMD A8-3870K Unlocked - A-Series APU (CPU + GPU) Llano Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Socket FM1 100W AMD Radeon HD 6550D Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic - AD3870WNGXBOX
AMD A8-3870K Unlocked - A-Series APU (CPU + GPU) Llano Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Socket FM1 100W AMD Radeon HD 6550D Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic - AD3870WNGXBOX

Pros: The board was a seamless install as a gift for my parents. Internal USB 3.0 pins for the Lian Li case that I purchased. Good quality i/o shield, laminated and without the multiple prongs Asus has shipped other boards with. RAID 1 flawless.

Cons: Installed AMD A8-3870K Unlocked Llano 3.0GHz Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6550D, and after running tests, software that shipped with the LG bluray drive I installed indicated it failed several video tests in order to play bluray discs. Huh?

Overall Review: What is up with ASUS and the wild swing in quality in their I/o shields. I just bought a second board from them and the I/o shield was aweful