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ian p.

ian p.

Joined on 03/28/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 16
Most Favorable Review

i love it!

Fractal Design Focus G Mini Black MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Fractal Design Focus G Mini Black MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: small case side window relatively quiet fans only white LEDs, no RGB unicorn puke quality and easy to build in good price

Cons: barely a con, but there is not nearly as much room for cable management behind the motherboard tray as larger cases. but with a little work everything from a non-modular power supply fit back there with no issues.

Overall Review: i decided to build a new mini-itx gaming rig and put it in a mini-itx case. unfortunately the air flow was horrible and i needed a better flowing case. this one keeps my Ryzen 3600 about 20 degrees cooler.

Most Critical Review

not long lasting

Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner 8X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 6X DVD+R DL 8X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 24X CD-R 24X CD-RW Black SATA Model AD-7690H-01
Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner 8X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 6X DVD+R DL 8X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 24X CD-R 24X CD-RW Black SATA Model AD-7690H-01

Pros: fit quite nicely in my lian-li slimdrive adapter in my htpc. cool slot load dvd drive.

Cons: even though i've had this drive well over a year, it didn't get used much. maybe 4 or 5 dvd burns and maybe a dozen movies played on it (if that much). soddenly it started making noises when the pc was powered on. then it quit loading disks. i always expect the smaller, tighter tolerance hardware to fail faster than the beefier desktop stuff, but this was ridiculous.

Overall Review: no more sony slot load drives for me. they cost too much to only last long enough to watch a few movies.

12/12/2011

wonderful

Controller Panel
Controller Panel

Pros: is just what the doctor ordered for a custom case that has no power button or hard drive mounts. the dual fan controllers are great since the mobo doesn't have two fan headers.

Cons: i haven't found any

Overall Review: thi s has been running for about 8 months or so in a modded case and it houses the only hdd in the pc. the power and reset buttons are the frosting on the cake! system specs: biostar g41 mobo dual core celeron 2.6ghz processor radeon hd 4650 video card 4g ocz ram 2.5" 250g hdd (soon to be replaced with ssd) windows 8 developer's preview ipazzport wireless remote keyboard and touchpad diablotech 380w micro atx power supply

right size

Nexus PWM Series DF1209SL-3PWM 92mm Case cooler
Nexus PWM Series DF1209SL-3PWM 92mm Case cooler

Pros: its clear, fits on my heatsink and has a pwm control. what more could you ask except for maybe some leds.

Cons: no leds. i knew that up front though.

works for me

Rosewill RCA-1204BL 120mm Sleeve 4 Blue LED Case Fan, 4/PK - Retail
Rosewill RCA-1204BL 120mm Sleeve 4 Blue LED Case Fan, 4/PK - Retail

Pros: what can i say, they were cheap and have blue leds. they are almost completely silent when my mobo throttles them down to about 1200 rpm. they rarely throttle up over 1350 rpm.

Cons: none

pretty good

Patriot Pyro 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) PP120GS25SSDR
Patriot Pyro 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) PP120GS25SSDR

Pros: this thing is freakin' fast! boots from a cold startup to windows 7 64x in 25 seconds (depending on how fast i can type in my password). oh yeah, i got it on sale with a $40 rebate too. it's been running flawlessly for about 4 months now.

Cons: haven't found any yet.

Overall Review: i've read a lot of reviews of ssds failing prematurely and it makes me wonder if those drives were subjected to defragmenting? or if bios settings were set to recognize them?