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Eric W.

Eric W.

Joined on 11/07/03

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 20
Most Favorable Review

Surprisingly Fast

SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 ST2000DL004 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 ST2000DL004 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Works just fine and the transfer speeds are excellent. Price is excellent.

Cons: None that I can find. Runs cool under load.

Overall Review: When into an XP media machine that now has 7TB of storage. Started with a long format from a Windows 7 machine to get the 4K sectors correct. Next I put 2 TB of media on it, another long format, and again put on another 2 TB of media and lastly another long format. Everything went quick, no issues, smart is just fine. Looks like I got a good one.

11/24/2010
Most Critical Review

Serious built? Do not buy this.

RAIDMAX RX-500S 500 W ATX12V Power Supply
RAIDMAX RX-500S 500 W ATX12V Power Supply

Pros: It worked. Has a quiet 120mm fan. Very cheap with rebate.

Cons: Very short cables. Not very many cables. 500 watt power supply is peak power only. One 12 volt rail.

Overall Review: I get a lot of free parts and give away computers to people who can not afford them. This PS was OK for this purpose. If you have a large case or need lots of power you need to look elseware.

Does Not Fit Everything

ZALMAN CNPS9500A-LED 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
ZALMAN CNPS9500A-LED 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

Pros: Nice looking, probably very effective.

Cons: Beware -- This does not fit everything depending on capacitor layout of the motherboard for a Intel 775. If you have capacitors on connecting sides (opposing sides are OK) around the CPU, the spring clip that holds onto the bracket will be blocked by the capacitors and not be able to connect. Second issue – I have no doubt of this. Many of these have been returned to Newegg for the above reason. The first one I was shipped was one of these returned products. I noticed that the spring clip was broken and a little heat sink paste was still on the heat sink. I returned the first one without any further checking. (My Mistake) Newegg was very good about the return. Because of the return shipping costs I will keep this for my next build.

Overall Review: I donate time at a community-based computer-recycling center. I get to see many motherboards in the testing area that have been warped by heat and weight of the heat sink. Because of this I have become a firm believer of back plates on heatsinks to help distribute the weight.

Very nice motherbaord

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Has everything you could want in a motherboard. It has both serial and parallel ports on risers on the motherboard so if you need these items for a GPS or dot matrix printer you have them. When connecting the front panel sound and microphone it does not shut off the rear panel connectors.

Cons: none

Overall Review: I did not check everyone but this board can use every 775 chip that has been made.

10/25/2009

It takes a few minutes

ZEROtherm BTF90 92mm Silent UFO CPU Cooler
ZEROtherm BTF90 92mm Silent UFO CPU Cooler

Pros: It does the job very well. Idle temp 30 C load temp 44C drops back to 30C in three seconds once load is removed. Looks good. Would buy again. If you are looking for a back-plate heatsink to give the motherboard more support this is the one to choose.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Read the directions. This is a little more complicated than most after market coolers to install. It has the 4 spring attachment screws that hold on the back-plate and there are 4 screws that hold the fan to a clip. The motherboard must be out of the case because of the back-plate on the first CPU install. Changing the CPU after the first install can be done without removing the motherboard. You must remove the fan from the cooler before securing it to the motherboard – easy to do just one more step. Yes this is more complicated, but it the best cooler attachment I have seen from an engineering standpoint. At no point are you using force. It is much better system that a tension retaining clip.

10/25/2009

Quiet Low Speed Fan

COOLER MASTER R4-S2S-124K-GP Silent Case Fan (4-Pack)
COOLER MASTER R4-S2S-124K-GP Silent Case Fan (4-Pack)

Pros: Very Quiet, I am running these fans at 650 RPM with an Intel motherboard that has very good fan controls. At this speed the fans are silent to my 60 year old ears. Very good deal on 4 fans.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Three of these fans went into a Antec 300 after removing the rear Antec fan. Very good air flow and cool temps. Just what I wanted.