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Michael G.

Michael G.

Joined on 02/14/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 53
Most Favorable Review

This thing is huge!

Palit Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card AE=487x2+T34
Palit Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card AE=487x2+T34

Pros: Two of the most powerful chips tied to GDDR5 with a built-in crossfire setup makes the best video card I could have imagined. I use thing primarily for Lord of the Rings Online, and run 1680x1050 with every setting turned up all the way. I sit at 60 fps solid with Vsync on, and during insanely busy scenes never drop below 30 fps. On my old 8800 GTS I had less than half the graphical settings and averaged 30 fps at the same resolution.

Cons: Currently a driver issue with LotRO making Anti-Aliasing and DX10 not survive inside scenes. Until this is fixed I am running without AA on, but my frame rate doesn't even seem different with 8x is on compared to none.

Overall Review: I have a large server case and this comes less than half an inch away from the hard drive cage. I even had to turn it at an angle to get it in before inserting it. Takes lots of power, I had to upgrade from a 610 Watt PSU to a 750; though I could have gone with 650 supposedly. If you have the system that can handle this you will not be disappointed. Being able to use the insanely high resolution textures makes games look like pre-rendered scenes!

Most Critical Review

Broke after a while

Silverstone SST-CP01 1.66 ft. SATA II Cable
Silverstone SST-CP01 1.66 ft. SATA II Cable

Pros: Works.

Cons: Plastic was too hard and brittle. Came apart after over half a year.

Silent single rail

PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS750QBL 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified  Active PFC Power Supply
PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS750QBL 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: This thing is very quiet. The single rail design is the proper method, and the best way to get the power to your components. I upgraded my gaming PC from the same brand 610 Watt and put that one in my other computer. I will continue to get PC Power and Cooling PSUs until OCZ somehow hurts the quality.

Cons: None. I don't trust OCZ as I've had bad experiences with their products, but as of now their aquisition of PC Power and Cooling hasn't hurt their products!

Overall Review: Multiple rail PSUs aren't as good for your system as it can strain the rails running a killer video card, etc. PC Power and Cooling uses a system that pulls all 12V+ from a single rail and has no load issues.

Highest quality HTPC case I've seen

Moneual Black Aluminum MonCaso 932B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
Moneual Black Aluminum MonCaso 932B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: Construction is of highest quality. The screen is actually usable if you're building it and don't want to bother rounding up some other monitor for it.

Cons: A standard sized ATX motherboard will come way too close to longer ODD (CD, DVD, Bluray) and the plugs will not fit unaltered. I was connecting an LG HDDVD/Bluray/DVD+-RW and thought I was just at a loss, but I came up with a plan, and it works! Also I just happened to get one with a IR sensor that doesn't let the computer boot when plugged in, but I have external that works too.

Overall Review: To get a long ODD to work with full sized ATX motherboards you have to take part of the plastic off the plug of a SATA cable. I used an OKGear right angle SATA cable, used needle-nose pliers to remove the plastic covering the bend, and it plugs in fine. I also had to use a right angle SATA power connector instead of the straight plug style. Anyway, it CAN work, just takes effort.

Great new OS

Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Business for System Builders Single Pack DVD
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Business for System Builders Single Pack DVD

Pros: Overall performance is improved. Support for modern and future hardware is incomparably better than XP's aging architecture. Too many seemingly small improvements to even cover.

Cons: People tend to think Vista is inferior to XP due to common negative remarks to EVERY Microsoft OS since Windows 95. I hate people talking bad about it when I heard the same remarks about Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP their first year on the market. Granted, Windows ME was bad.

Overall Review: If you have older hardware there's not much reason to upgrade, but please don't buy a new PC with XP because you have heard Vista is bad. The same arguments were made against XP because of the horrible incompatibilities and instabilities its first year out. Vista SP1 is now out and it is a very great OS.

Great new OS

Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Business for System Builders Single Pack DVD
Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Business for System Builders Single Pack DVD

Pros: Overall performance is improved. Support for modern and future hardware is incomparably better than XP's aging architecture. Too many seemingly small improvements to even cover.

Cons: People tend to think Vista is inferior to XP due to common negative remarks to EVERY Microsoft OS since Windows 95. I hate people talking bad about it when I heard the same remarks about Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP their first year on the market. Granted, Windows ME was bad.

Overall Review: If you have older hardware there's not much reason to upgrade, but please don't buy a new PC with XP because you have heard Vista is bad. The same arguments were made against XP because of the horrible incompatibilities and instabilities its first year out. Vista SP1 is now out and it is a very great OS.