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John L.

John L.

Joined on 09/08/03

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 22
Most Favorable Review

Simply awesome

Intel Core i7-920 - Core i7 Bloomfield Quad-Core 2.66 GHz LGA 1366 130W Processor - BX80601920
Intel Core i7-920 - Core i7 Bloomfield Quad-Core 2.66 GHz LGA 1366 130W Processor - BX80601920

Pros: Great overclocker. I'm doing 3.83GHz on air with a Thermalright Ultra Extreme. Awesome performance. Around 6.4K in 3dmark06's CPU test. I could do well over 3.2GHz on stock voltage with the stock cooler. Most of you should be able to as well. 3.6GHz only took 1.28v to hold. 3.83GHz takes 1.35v. Very fast. @ 3.2GHz it blows away my old Q6600 G-0 @ 3.51GHz. O6 CPU scores at the mentioned speeds are 5516 vs 4901 respectively. It's beastly for multi-media applications.

Cons: None. Buy one.

Overall Review: Glad I bought this. I am running it @ 3.83GHz with GTX 260 SLi @ 730 on the core. It's a perfect setup for 1920x gaming with AA. Also, again, if you do a lot of encoding, you'll love it. If you plan to go Tri-SLi or SLi get on X58 with one of these. The massive bandwidth on said platform benefits them both. Most people that invest in decent aftermarket air cooling or water cooling should see at least 3.6-3.8GHz with one of these. I've seen them over 4.0GHz on water and better cooling.

Most Critical Review

Save your cash

AMD Phenom 9600 - Phenom X4 Agena Quad-Core 2.3 GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Processor - HD9600WCGDBOX
AMD Phenom 9600 - Phenom X4 Agena Quad-Core 2.3 GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Processor - HD9600WCGDBOX

Pros: Cheap

Cons: Garbage

Overall Review: Get a Q6600 G-0 for about 24usd more. They will clock up to 3.0GHz on stock voltage and with the stock HSF. If you want to go good air cooling you should make about 3.6GHz, and with good water cooling 3.8GHz or possibly more.

Very fast

DIAMOND Radeon HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 7970PE53G
DIAMOND Radeon HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 7970PE53G

Pros: Very fast. Does 1125|1575 from the CCC with auto fan settings. No voltage range increase was required. Runs titles like; Crysis 2, Metro 2033 and BF3 well maxed @ 1920x1200. I expect to be set with this card for some time to come.

Cons: None

Love it

Rosewill RC-401-EX Network Card Gigabit Low Profile 10/100/1000Mbps PCI-Express 1 x RJ45
Rosewill RC-401-EX Network Card Gigabit Low Profile 10/100/1000Mbps PCI-Express 1 x RJ45

Pros: I bought this because I was getting BSODs from the LAN drivers for my Intel LAN on my Crosshair V. I tried the official drivers and all BETAs, nothing would fix it. This card did. I get 20.4 down and 5.7 up with it. So if you've a flaky LAN on your mobo or just one you don't like, try this Marvell based card. I'm on Win 7 HP x64 SP-1.

Cons: None

Fantastic Card

SAPPHIRE Toxic Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100269TXSR
SAPPHIRE Toxic Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100269TXSR

Pros: Quiet fan, 43C idle 60-65C load in a SilverStone TJ10 case. Does 1000|1100 overclock with only 38% fan speed. When you stack up its thermal performance, acoustic properties and price, it's one of the best buys out there.

Cons: None I can think of other than availability.

Overall Review: I liked the card so much I ordered a second to try in Crossfire with the first. Glad Newegg finally got these back in stock. With four left, that won't be long though.

High Quality Card

SAPPHIRE Toxic Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100269TXSR
SAPPHIRE Toxic Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100269TXSR

Pros: Idle temperature 43C, Load temperature 65C. That's in a closed case with system fans on low. The card's fan is quiet when left on auto even when gaming. It blends nicely with my case fans. It is faster than the GTX 260 Core 216 Card I have in my main computer that is clocked @ 711|2300. In Age of Conan 1920x1200 with filtering and all enabled that amounts to 13 additional FPS. If you want to stay away from multi-GPU yet have solid performance this is your card. It's more expensive than other HD 4890s and its thermal and acoustic properties make it worth it.

Cons: Not really a serious con, but its price compared to other 4890s that can be had for as low as 200usd with rebate.

Overall Review: When you stack its out of box performance up with its thermal and acoustic properties, it's a first class buy. If you want a cool quiet HD 4890 this is the one. Some people have had no problem running this card at Atomic clocks and I haven't overclocked mine yet.