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Howard W.

Howard W.

Joined on 12/03/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 12
Most Favorable Review

huge with great features

Cooler Master HAF X nVidia Edition NV-942-KKN1 Green Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Cooler Master HAF X nVidia Edition NV-942-KKN1 Green Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Pros: This case is huge! Plenty of room to work inside. Space behind motherboard to hide extra wires. The psu shield is also nice to hide wire clutter as well. Compared to my previous case - an Ultra Aluminus - this case is dead silent with the large 220mm fan up top, up front, and on the side. Very heavy and durable. Plenty of room for my video card and large heatsink. By far the largest and heaviest case I've ever purchased. The rounded edges of the steel made life easier when installing components. I have not yet installed the wheels but do plan to to make it easier to move. All fans have 3 pin connections, so I was able to plug them directly into the fan headers of my mobo to allow for even less wire clutter.

Cons: It is so big that I will have to purchase some extensions for the 8 pin and 24 pin psu connectors. The included one works but does not match the rest of the cords in my system. The included motherboard standoff socket had a screw jammed in it that could not be removed so it was useless.

Overall Review: I was a little disappointed in the color once it arrived. The green in pictures online looks much brighter than in person. Under halogen bulbs or in dim lighting the green looks more olive. That's the reason I took one egg off. I'm not an nvidia fanboy, but I did want a haf case that stood out amongst the rest of the black haf's out there today (black is the new beige). This case is built like a rock and I expect to use it for my system builds for many more years to come.

Solid temps and a great look

XIGMATEK Dark Knight II SD1283 Night Hawk Edition CPU Cooler with Stealth Aerospace Industry Thermal conductive ceramic coating LGA1150 Haswell Compatible
XIGMATEK Dark Knight II SD1283 Night Hawk Edition CPU Cooler with Stealth Aerospace Industry Thermal conductive ceramic coating LGA1150 Haswell Compatible

Pros: Cool look. 120mm fan. Took temps of my i3 530 down nearly 20 degrees C during heavy gaming sessions over the stock heatsink. Quiet in comparison to stock heatsink as well. Fits in a HAF X without worry of the side intake fan.

Cons: Awkward to install fan on heatsink. Took a bit of work to get it placed properly. Heatsink also smudges and shows fingerprints easily. Must be wiped off after touching.

Overall Review: Newegg does not show this heatsink as being compatible with 1156 mobos out of the box. Truth be told, it does come with 1156 mounting hardware. Save yourself the money you'd spend buying the 1156 mounting hardware and just buy this on its own.

Bought this and didn't need it

XIGMATEK ACK-I5361 Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 Compatible Bracket Set
XIGMATEK ACK-I5361 Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 Compatible Bracket Set

Pros: N/A. Haven't even taken it out of the box.

Cons: N/A. See above.

Overall Review: I bought this bracket set to use on a p55 mobo with a xigmatek dark knight that I purchased at the same time. The Dark Knight wasn't on the compatible 1156 socket list at the time, but when I received my heatsink it did come with 1156 brackets and backplate.

Solid performance on a mid range rig

MSI GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card N450GTS CYCLONE 1GD5/OC
MSI GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card N450GTS CYCLONE 1GD5/OC

Pros: Unique heatsink design Runs cool Afterburner software Short pcb

Cons: Slighty slower than 5770's that have been out forever 128 bit memory bus Several other gts 450 models cheaper

Overall Review: Bought this as a replacement for a 4850 that I bought less than a month ago. I only play WoW, and with the 4850 I was constantly seeing noticeable stuttering on screen in WoW and NOT in other games like CS:S and TF2. Stories online made it seem like it was a recognized issue with 4800 series video cards, so I decided to get this card as a replacement. I've been very happy with it. Stuttering in WoW has stopped and with vsync enabled my framerates are steady in cities and in raids. System: i3 530 4gb a-data 1333 ecs p-55h WD 640 black msi gts 450

10/16/2010

Great for mid level gaming

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4850 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100273L
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4850 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100273L

Pros: Inexpensive. 256 bit memory bus. External exhaust. Short footprint compared to 4870 and newer cards like the 5830. Lower power demands compared to current gen cards. Cool blue light on top of exhaust sheath for those that have windowed cases.

Cons: Dated hardware - one generation behind ATi's current flagship cards. Catalyst Control Center is buggy in vista 64. Runs hotter than a comparable 5750, but is slightly cheaper with 256 bus.

Overall Review: Bought as a small upgrade from a 512mb 8800gt. Wanted a card for around $100 with 256bit memory bus that would fit in my case and run cooler than the 8800gt. I also needed a card that I knew would run efficiently on a 500w psu. This fit the bill. I only play WoW, but at 1920x1200 this card pushes well over 100 fps in most areas including Dalaran when paired with an i3 530 and 4gb ram. Have had to disable Catalyst Control Center in order to stop stuttering in WoW. Not a knock on the card - more a knock on ATi's driver utility. Hope to use this for about a year until the price of 5830's come down to around $100.

awesome mobo for the price!

ECS P55H-A(1.0) LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
ECS P55H-A(1.0) LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Full ATX motherboard with features of more expensive boards - price similar to many microatx boards with same chipset. LED debug, lots of sata connections, esata. i3 compatibility. Black pcb - attractive mosfet heatsinks. Comes with quality sata cables - not the cheap red ones that even higher priced mobos might have. These lock in place and have one 90 degree end. Was a nice surprise to find in the box.

Cons: Odd placement of 4/8 pin psu connector.

Overall Review: First intel build in over 7 years. Was hesitant to go with ECS since I had not heard anything good out of them since their socket A mobos. Went off without a hitch. Paired this with an i3 530 and 4 gigs of a-data ddr3 1333 (purchased with mobo in combo) works perfect with vista ultimate 64. Have not overclocked yet, but will once I purchase an aftermarket cooler.