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Michael M.

Michael M.

Joined on 03/11/13

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 4
Most Favorable Review

Hard to beat

NZXT Phantom 530 White ATX Full Tower Computer Case Includes 1 x 200mm Front, 1 x 140mm Rear 2 x USB 3.0  Fan Controller
NZXT Phantom 530 White ATX Full Tower Computer Case Includes 1 x 200mm Front, 1 x 140mm Rear 2 x USB 3.0 Fan Controller

Pros: Very good value overall. In stock form its nice and quiet on the lowest fan controller setting (5v). If you are going to add fans to the fan controller, keep in mind that they need to be able to start at 5v as a couple of my old ones didn't. It has so many fan and water cooling options its actually hard to decide what to do. Using the front area for water cooling would likely mean loosing the HDD trays.

Cons: The great flaw my case had is the door rubs the top trim panel slightly. Some careful sanding fixed it. One of the benefits of plastic, if it was metal it would have been returned/ruined for the same flaw.

Overall Review: My old case was a 13yo cheap, generic, full tower. Its amazing to see the progress in how much though has been put into this case

Most Critical Review

vertical only

BitFenix BFF-WPRO-20025W-RP 200mm White LED Spectre PRO WHITE 200MM Case Fan
BitFenix BFF-WPRO-20025W-RP 200mm White LED Spectre PRO WHITE 200MM Case Fan

Pros: moves a decent amount of air and is quiet in vertical position if you undervolt it.

Cons: Noisy if you mount it horizontal (like the top of a case). Its a bearing noise and after taking one of the two I bought apart, its simply not designed to work or last if you mount it horizontally.

Junk

HighPower Astro PT 700W, Digital, 80+ Platinum, Single +12 Rails, SLI/Cross Fire ready, Module, Active PFC Power Supply
HighPower Astro PT 700W, Digital, 80+ Platinum, Single +12 Rails, SLI/Cross Fire ready, Module, Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: Quiet at common load levels. Power meter is a neat gadget

Cons: Crashes, isn't stable. I bought one and put it in a 100% stable for years system. Random crashes started and the system rarely ran for more than a hour. RMA'd it and Newegg provided good service. Second one did same thing, so I swaped into system an low and behold it was actually good there. I assumed some sort of compatibility issue with one type of motherboard. Couple of months later I've got a brand new ASUS X99 deluxe and nothing but random crashes. Swap a different powersupply in and its 100% good. So 2 out of 3 motherboards I have on hand won't work with a 700w astro. I'd skip it if I were you.

Overall Review: Tried contacting them and the first question was "what country are you?" lol

Not really a FDB

BitFenix Spectre Pro All Black 200mm Case Fan
BitFenix Spectre Pro All Black 200mm Case Fan

Pros: They look good and are reasonably quiet at 5v when operated vertically.

Cons: They are noisy if you mount them horizontally. I opened one up, and found there to be no seal for the fluid. There wasn't enough fuild to lubricate the thrust washer on one end of the shaft and that was causing noise. Even worse, the other end of the shaft had an rubber o-ring on it instead of a thrust washer. I doubt that rubber will last very long when being spun against the grooves in the bearing.

Overall Review: This shouldn't be called a FDB, it is designed horribly.