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Alex M.

Alex M.

Joined on 04/27/09

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 9
Most Favorable Review

Excellent card, no problems

EVGA GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card 012-P3-1570-AR
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card 012-P3-1570-AR

Pros: excellent card, I've had no problems with it. I got this card to replace my old GTX 275 because it wasn't able to run games with the Nvidia 3D Vision turned on at an acceptsble framerate. The GTX 570 does this with no problems. The biggest thing I was surprised with was the temperature - it's about 7C cooler than my old GTX 275 running at an idle temp of 46C and the highest gotten it is to 74C. It's a bigger, better card with more memory and more everything, also higher power consumption - and yet it runs cooler. The two cards are similar in design in terms of cooling, so it must be simply better design is all I know. Also the GPU fan is more quiet than my old fan. Not that the GPU fan ever that loud, but this one is particularly quiet and is not even all that loud at 100% speed. I couldn't be more pleased, best thing I've bought for a while.

Cons: Not a lot to speak of. It's big, if you've never had one of these cards, know that it's huge. The measurements are listed in the specs here, so measure out on paper the length and width of this card and compare that to the inside of your case. Also keep that the power connedctors are on the side facing away from the motherboard on the front corner. It's also not the GTX 580. The 580 is the "big daddy" of Nvidia cards right now and this card isn't it. This card is a heck of a lot cheaper than the 580 and I'm sure that in terms of practical usage this card can do anything the 580 can do, but it is not as powerful, it's not the biggest baddest card money can buy. EVGA's model is pretty much identical to the reference model, with the plastic and metal enclosure to vent heat out of the back instead of radiating it into the case. Some overclock junkies prefer against this. For one thing this is partly what makes the card so darned big, and it doesn't fit in well with some cooling s

Overall Review: I always try to mention EVGA's tech support when I review EVGA products. I didn't have to call them for this card, but I have before and their tech support is the best I've ever known. I work in IT and I call tech support for lots of companies all the time, and none are like EVGA. They also have that step-up program where you can trade in your card within 90 days - this is in case they come out with a GTX 575 or something and you're stuck with an outdated model just a few weeks after it's brand new. That can and does happen, and EVGA has insurance against it.

Most Critical Review

Eventually was damaged

OCZ 16GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) OCZUSBATV16G
OCZ 16GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) OCZUSBATV16G

Pros: I got this free with some great OCZ RAM, it's nice that they bundle extras with their other hardware. It didn't come with a bunch of garbage on it like a lot of flash drive do, no proprietary nonsense, nothing like that. And it holds tons of data, can't say anything bad about that.

Cons: I came to newegg shopping for a replacement for this, thought I should write a review. It worked until I started using it regularly. It was used for operating system installs and other bootable operations, not exactly effective use of 16gb. Started using this drive every day, which is very regular and constant use, and after 2 months of this it fails to be read by the computer. The indicator light does not come, it is apparently not plugged in. I believe the reason for this is because it is flexible with a rubber case rather than plastic or metal. Being in your pocket, hanging out of a computer, carried around on a laptop. Eventually the very breakable parts inside that rubber covering are bent and flexed until they lose connection and stop working. If using a product breaks it, there is clearly something wrong with the product.

Overall Review: Buy a different OCZ product, don't be turned off from OCZ entirely. The make lots of other USB drives, one of which I am probably going to very soon, and other computer hardware that it just top notch. I would advise to steer clear of any drive that is bendable and flexible like this.

11/13/2010

well constructed

Razer Carcharias Over Ear PC Gaming Headset
Razer Carcharias Over Ear PC Gaming Headset

Pros: Excellent design and construction - the cord is made of a cloth material and is more like a shoestring than a rubber (stretchable, breakable) cord. The top part of the headband is made of a thick plastic that does not flex or stretch like a cheaper headset would. I've had this for 3 weeks now and it seems more durable than a typical headset; of course I can't speak to its longevity, but I do expect to have this in a couple of years. I underestimated how comfortable they would be and I undervalued comfort when I was shopping around. They have big soft pads around the ears and the same material on the top of the headband. Do not think that comfort is not a factor. Sound quality is significantly better than my old headset (Microsoft Lifechat vx3000). A reasonable amount of bass, not boomy or overbearing, most headphones I've owned barely even have a bass range. Very clear audio. They produce stereo sound, and the stereo effect is more pronounced than any other headphones I've owne

Cons: Audio quality is better than a cheap headset, but I was not terribly impressed with it (or at least not $70 worth of impressed). The microphone is quieter than any microphone I've used, I have to turn the amplification to maximum to get an acceptable volume. The audio from the mic is very clear though. The microphone seems like the most breakable part of the device, the boom is rigid and inflexible. This seems like something that will never break if I take care of it, but it could be broken if I deliberately tried to. It's not that bad, but the soft cloth material on the earpieces and headband pick up dirt very easily. There's already dry skin and other such dirt on the material, kind of yucky but true. However, if the material weren't so soft and comfortable it wouldn't pick up dirt like that. So this is a drawback of one of the best features - hardly a major problem.

Overall Review: You could buy a headset of better audio quality at the same price as these - but you would not get the same quality in construction. That's what you're paying for, quality design and manufacturing. I would recommend these over a similarly priced product due to this quality. I should also mention that while they are circumaural (covers the whole ear) the speaker is open and does let an amount of sound out of the headphones. They're not airtight like other headphones (adding to comfort actually) The amount of sound that can be heard by others is minimal and very quiet, but they are not completely silent. They put some real thought into the usage of these and they're designed them to last So buy these for a well made product

12/15/2009

Very Satisfied

Lamptron 5.25" 4-channel fan controller, 30w/channel, 3-pin fan & molex power connector
Lamptron 5.25" 4-channel fan controller, 30w/channel, 3-pin fan & molex power connector

Pros: Well built and has no problems controlling my fans. I should suppose that it can handle multiple fans on one connector but I have no need for that in my machine. It is well styled and the LED lights are just the right brightness - so many LEDs are like headlights. The mesh design on the front exactly matches the mesh design on my case - part of the reason why I got this one. And that's not plastic on the front, it's metal. I have read that cheaper fan controllers can be junk - that's why I bought more expensive. Don't buy junk, get a better one like this one.

Cons: While I still highly recommend this product, mine had some problems, and I should hope that they are somewhat atypical. Firstly it did not fit well in my case, it was too wide. I don''t have some unusual case, it''s a regular 5.23" slot like every other device in the world uses. I had to remove 2 screws that connected the metal on the sides to the circuitboard on the bottom, this way I could bend in the sides so they would fit. This doesn''t seem like a problem because the circuitboard is still resting on solid metal. Secondly the 4-pin molex connector is bent way back and torn away from the circuitboard. It still works - I was worried I would have to solder and I''m not that great at it - but it is obviously damaged. Don''t get me wrong, it''s working *great* and I love it, I just hope my problems are unusual. And I really hope that molex connector never breaks off - I don't want to test how sturdy it is or try to bend it back into place.

Overall Review: I certainly hope mine is not typical, and I'm sure it is not. It's just my luck to get the one in a thousand that has minor problems like this.

10/23/2009

Great RAM and plenty of it

OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK
OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK

Pros: I'm very happy with this RAM, I actually need to see how much it takes to max it out sometime. I'm not used to multitasking like this. Don't settle for DDR2 anymore, there used to be a time when DDR3 was too expensive for RAM but that time is no longer.

Cons: I expected the packaging to be a bit more protected, you know shipping throws these boxes around no matter what is in them and that's one of the reasons we have DOAs. I can't really find much bad to say about this RAM. Vista x64 recognizes all of it and it is working as triple channel.

Overall Review: If you are considering buying the Corsair Dominator RAM, get this instead. This is so similar and so much cheaper. I have read reviews that the SVGA x58 mobo fails to see this as 1600 - not true at all. I would expect any mobo that claims to support 1600 as an OC option will do it with this RAM just fine.

Unstoppable card

EVGA GeForce GTX 275 896MB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card 896-P3-1170-AR
EVGA GeForce GTX 275 896MB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card 896-P3-1170-AR

Pros: Right now there is nothing this card can't do, I would like to see the game that slows this card down. Of course it comes with EVGA's great tech support and Nvidia's software development that I have known to make cards do things they were never expected to do. Don't overlook that OpenGL 3.0, not many cards have that. Cools down so quickly after becoming hot from gaming.

Cons: Mine gets pretty hot during gaming (80C) but that's not really so bad. Cools down very quickly to an idle temp of 60C after gaming is stopped, that makes me not worry about it. If it were badly designed it wouldn't cool down so quick. I read that this card was big before I purchased, but I still said woah when I opened up the box. The card will almost certainly obstruct at least one of your expansion slots. Keep that in mind when looking at motherboards. It's size also obstructs ventilation in my case, it sort of partitions the space into 2 sections that should be ventilated separately.

Overall Review: All high end cards are large these days, that just means they are powerful. I almost enjoy the wow factor "see that huge card? yeah that whole thing is the GPU" And any high end card is going to be extra hot, that's just a symptom of its power. I would suggest you get a case with a side vent/fan and put a powerful fan next to this card. Also pay attention to the placement PCI-E slots on your motherboard. This is a high selling card for a reason, I think it's the best balance between performance vs cost of the GTX series.