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Hoang V.

Hoang V.

Joined on 09/01/01

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 7
Most Favorable Review
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 2400PRO 512MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Graphics Card 100272L
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 2400PRO 512MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Graphics Card 100272L

Pros: This video card is very good. Has DVI output and can play crysis on my 24" monitor. Best of all, no fan. Very quiet. Also doesn't require a PCI-E power connector (my power supply doesn't have one)

Cons: None.

Overall Review: Buy this card. You won't regret it!

Most Critical Review

Good Cooler, Bad Ethics.

Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120 mm Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler,  free TX-2 Thermal Paste Included Inside
Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120 mm Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler, free TX-2 Thermal Paste Included Inside

Pros: Excellent cooler if your motherboard is large enough to support it. The trick is to apply a line of heatsink compound to each copper heatpipe and then apply the heatsink on the CPU. Also note you can't magically slap this cooler on a CPU in a closed box and expect temperatures to magically drop. This cooler removes heat from the CPU and dumps it into its immediate environment (inside the case). Unless you also have good ventillation of that case to remove all that heat build up, a stock Intel CPU cooler will perfrom just as well as this.

Cons: If you are buying this cooler expecting to pay the "after-mail-in rebate" price, then don't. I bought this cooler back in May, also with a rebate. The form states wait 16-18 weeks to inquire about the rebate if you don't get it. Flash forward to October, I tried to contact them about my rebate. At first they denied they ever received it. I have bought may good deals on Newegg and done countless rebates, and never once have I been told the post office lost my mail. This would be the first. They asked me to re-fax the documentation (luckily I did make copies). I duely faxed them the required documents and got a sucessful confirmation from my fax machine. Silence. A couple of days later, I asked them about my rebate again. They claim they never received the fax. I faxed it again. I inquire about my rebate again, and then told again they never received the fax. I scanned all my documents and emailed them. There's no denying that now. Haven't heard anything since. Now they just ignore me.

Overall Review: Luckily, Newegg came through. They never fail to impress me with their customer service. I contacted Newegg about it, and without asking a single question, they credited me my rebate to my account. Kudos to Newegg. Newegg should not be dealing with a company of that kind of business ethics. I sure will be bringing this up the chain. The BBB will definitely hear about this. And I have in the past reported fraudulent rebates to my state's District Attorney (which did become a class action lawsuit). We'll see.

10/27/2009

Inadequate cooling for an OC'ed card

MSI GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card N660TI-2GD5/OC
MSI GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card N660TI-2GD5/OC

Pros: Cheaper than other OC'ed GTX 660Ti

Cons: With its inadequate cooling, this card probably shouldn't have been factory overclocked. After installing mine, I noticed my games just crash randomly about 5 to 10 minutes in. I got really frustrated so I downloaded MSI's Afterburner and Kombuster utilities. I ran the stress test in Kombuster, and sure enough, it crashes after about 5 minutes. The GPU temp reaches a scorching 90C. Next, I went into Afterburner utility and decreased the GPU clock (which is OC'ed by default), to the stock speed of regular GTX 660Ti, and no surprise here, Kombuster and games no longer crash.

Overall Review: I will be returning this card to newegg for another brand. Luckily newegg came through and said they will be providing a pre-paid label for the RMA. It would have been insult to injury to pay another 15-20 dollars to ship this insured back to newegg, for a manufacturer's defect.

Cheap case if you don't need support

NORCO RPC-4220 4U Rackmount Server Chassis w/ 20 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS 6G Drive Bays (Mini SAS Connector)
NORCO RPC-4220 4U Rackmount Server Chassis w/ 20 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS 6G Drive Bays (Mini SAS Connector)

Pros: Cheap for what you get.

Cons: Also cheap, as in cheaply made. The backplanes were warped and I didn't discover this until months into ownership when I tried adding more drives into the other rows. Forget about contacting Norco. They will gladly sell you a piece of junk but will not stand behind their products. My company will be moving towards something with better support in the future. Supermicro comes to mind.

Overall Review: The fan they included sound like jet engines. There's a guy selling a custom made fan plate for 120mm but it'll cost you. Despite numerous and numerous requests to Norco to make 120mm fan plates, they refuse to listen to their customers. Figures. Also watch your fingers while installing components. Some serious bloody cuts can result if you don't watch them.

Not reliable

Corsair Force 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CSSD-F120GB2-BRKT
Corsair Force 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CSSD-F120GB2-BRKT

Pros: unknown

Cons: I was using an Intel G2 SSD which was working perfectly. I just needed more space. I expected a smooth transition to this drive but when I turn the computer on, all I get is the message "SMART command failed". I cannot install Windows on it. I should have stuck with what worked and just upgraded to a bigger Intel drive. Oh well, it's going back tomorrow. I did give them a chance. If you want reliability stick with the Intel. That's what everyone's saying and I find out first hand it's true.

LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model GH22NS30
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model GH22NS30

Pros: Black color.

Cons: Refuses to burn Memorex DL media. I've burned 8 coasters with this burner. Also very slow to eject, and very noisy when ramping at full speed. Definitely bought the wrong drive for my HTPC.