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Damon M.

Damon M.

Joined on 02/27/09

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 38
Most Favorable Review

Best quad for the money

AMD Phenom II X4 820 - Phenom II X4 Deneb Quad-Core 2.8 GHz Socket AM3 95W Processor - HDX820WFK4FGI
AMD Phenom II X4 820 - Phenom II X4 Deneb Quad-Core 2.8 GHz Socket AM3 95W Processor - HDX820WFK4FGI

Pros: Finally a drop in place upgrade for my system that didn't require a bios update. Can't go wrong with this cpu and for the same cost and power consumption as many athlon 2 x4 cpu this one is a no brainier.

Cons: More than double the cost of my previous cpu however this one is brand new.

Overall Review: Had a bit of a surprise when it booted up with the same settings that I had applied to my 8250e which had the base clock set 285mhz and a slight bump on the voltage. 3990mhz on boot up what more can you say.

Most Critical Review

Well it works

Thermaltake CLP0579 120mm Contac 30 Intel LGA-2011 Ready 160W TDP Heatpipe Direct-contact Technology CPU Cooler
Thermaltake CLP0579 120mm Contac 30 Intel LGA-2011 Ready 160W TDP Heatpipe Direct-contact Technology CPU Cooler

Pros: I needed another cooler so I got this. LED lights Doesn't wake up the neighbors Doesn't weigh a ton as if it were made of tungsten carbide Copper heat pipes Might be good for a modder

Cons: The rubber fan mounts are a joke. When you fist get the cooler you have to remove the fan to install the block once you got the mounting hardware installed. The fins are somewhat sharp on some edges while they are like tissue paper and very fragile. Hight oh my what a fool I am its a tall one. :o You better have the hands that of a watch maker if you intend on reinstalling or installing the cooler onto a bard that is already mounted into a case which for most people is not an easy task.

Overall Review: May as well be up the creek as one of the rubber mounts shifted and damaged a few fins slightly so next tine when I do purchase a new fan or fans for this block they are not going to be mounted used these rubber horrors. Instead I got a mod in mind. If you want easy buyer beware not for every one -_-

Same as 9500GT

JATON GeForce 9400 GT 1GB DDR2 PCI Low Profile Ready Graphics Card VIDEO-498PCI-TWIN
JATON GeForce 9400 GT 1GB DDR2 PCI Low Profile Ready Graphics Card VIDEO-498PCI-TWIN

Pros: True low profile design unlike Zotac GT520/610 pci 32 shaders and same clocks as the 9500GT 1GB of vram unlike and is 128bit (gddr2 is enough for this card) Well packaged, comes with low profile bracket!

Cons: Terrible cooling due to the small fan, the airflow around the fan is not good enough and imagine a doughnut of hot air that is how it is. No automatic or manual fan speed control. There are no 2D clock profiles in the card's bios rom to save on power and there is no throttle temp if it overheated. Uses 50w from off the 3.3v and 5v rails (pci slot does not have 12v) so be sure to have a decent power supply. The PLX pci-e to pci bridge does get warm so a small vram cooler with 3M adhesive tape is the best fit like the Zalman blue vram coolers.

Overall Review: Easily modded for improved cooling by removing the stock fan and installing a 40mm fan onto the cooler via screws. One can (experienced users only) edit the bios rom on this card to attempt set a 2D clock profile and from there it can be controlled by the driver until a game or video is loaded. Suggested 2D clocks 200 on core, 800 on the shader, and leave the memory at stock. Touch nothing else!!! Be sure to uninstall any Intel GMA drivers in XP.

12/13/2012

Looks good

Rosewill RANGER-M Dual-Fan Micro ATX Mini Tower Gaming Computer Case with Blue LED Lighting
Rosewill RANGER-M Dual-Fan Micro ATX Mini Tower Gaming Computer Case with Blue LED Lighting

Pros: I like the way it looks and is pretty well ventilated. In the hands of a good modder one can fit a lot more in this case than many of the more expensive cases for m-atx. One can add one more more fans onto the side panel with ease. Overall I managed to fit, 6 3.5in drives, two 9800gt, i5 760, antec tp3-550, some msi p55 m-atx (nightmare of a board) and a few other things. Rear case fan can be 80mm and 92mm depending on what you want to use. The stock 80mm isn't very good.

Cons: The metal is very thin and the case bends a little when I go to pick it up after everything is installed. The connector to the 80mm fan in the back is worse than the fan as it is difficult to work with. I work with a lot of vintage computers from the 486 era on up through to modern machines and that connector is as bad as it gets. So I replaced it with a 92mm fan.

Overall Review: Overall I like this case but would have liked thicker metal. They could have made the floor of the case a little thicker and had more holes so that 2.5 and 3.5in drives could be installed on the bottom of the case. Using one of the existing holes I did manage to mount a drive there so now I have 6 total drives installed.

Don't bother, very poor customer support

NZXT HALE90-1000-M 1000W ATX 12V v2.2, EPS 12V v2.91 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
NZXT HALE90-1000-M 1000W ATX 12V v2.2, EPS 12V v2.91 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: Heavy and has a very stable 12v rail. Very much silent and has sleeved cables.

Cons: Lack of customer support, last February one of the phases that delivers power to the cpu (eps 8) failed and nearly ruined my board. After some emails with NZXT they made an excuse that they had no units on hand for RMA so I waited. Before long other but more important matters came up so I didn't bother until recently. Now they didn't reply at all to my recent emails and tickets. I may as well file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Overall Review: Buyer beware this is not the best company when it comes to customer service and I later learned that the units that they sell under their brand is actually a rebranded unit from Super Flower.

Amazing oldies

EVGA GeForce GTX 280 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card 01G-P3-1282-RX
EVGA GeForce GTX 280 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card 01G-P3-1282-RX

Pros: Built like tanks unlike most cards, they also look nice as well. As for noise I have no complaints :) Use riva tuner and leave the core clocks at stock then go for the moon on the shader. 1.6-1.8ghz on the shader is very doable.

Cons: As hot as they run and as much power they use the one real weakness of this card is the inductors used for power regulation. Instead of the usual design they used ferrite shielded inductors that are not design for sustained full load but only short bursts. They begin to buzz once the insulation inside the coil begins to fail and they will get hotter than usual until they short out. They often short out thus breaking the circuit so power from the vrm phase doesn't reach where it is needed to go. How to tell they have gone bad, shake the card and listen closely for any rattling from inside the card at the rear. When the cooler is off and you touch then and they move yet only hanging from the leads they are bad. The safe range for repairs is R45 through to R60. Slightly higher rated than stock inductors will allow for higher than normal clocks.

Overall Review: Same performance as a GTX460 256bit and almost the same as a 7770 in general gaming. As for Nvidia this as good as it gets for openGL apps.