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William B.

William B.

Joined on 08/20/01

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 5
Most Favorable Review

Confusing Audio

BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX 128M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX 128M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: Excellent Feature Set. Easy overclocking functions that actually work. 6x SATA II ports (all working). HDMI (see below). So far quite stable.

Cons: No expand bracket with RCA out for integrated Digital Audio. No explicit or clear instructions on getting the most from HDMI Audio.

Overall Review: System configuration: AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor Model (Unlocked to quad core and overclocked to 3.3GHz on stock fan / air) (8GB RAM) 2 x G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail Notes: To get HDMI drivers properly recognized as multi-channel audio in WS03, Vista x64 or WS08 x64, first install the Realtek High Definition Audio Driver (that's for the integrated, on-board audio), then install the ATI HDMI Audio Driver. Both drivers are available at Realtek's web site: http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=24&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false The first is the 2.20 version, the second is the 2.18 version in red. You'll need both, as far as I can tell, to get everything working.

Most Critical Review

Others are better

Fosmon Vivid Series Flat Tangle Free Micro USB Cable for Samsung Galaxy and Other Micro USB Compatible Devices - 6 ft
Fosmon Vivid Series Flat Tangle Free Micro USB Cable for Samsung Galaxy and Other Micro USB Compatible Devices - 6 ft

Pros: Cool colors, flat cables, fit in the microUSB slots well, even with most phone protectors.

Cons: These cables are not pinned for universal USB chargers. So, even when plugged into the AC outlet many times your phone will not be getting the full charge, it charges more like it's plugged into USB on a computer. I have found that a few AC-to-USB chargers sometimes make these cables work at "full AC" charging power, but even with the Apple AC-to-USB charger and some of the standard Samsung one, they just don't charge full. For example, plug in a Galaxy S4 with this cable to the wall, leave the screen on and start watching YouTube. Your battery actually goes down, slowly, but it does. Switch to a premium cable, like another brand premium (they're like, $3, folks) and the phone starts to charge back up immediately.

Overall Review: I wouldn't buy these again and feel as though for the overall outer quality, they certainly could have put a little more thought into the inner quality.

12/22/2013

Fail over time

SanDisk Ultra 64 GB MicroSD Extended Capacity (Micro SDXC) Flash Card
SanDisk Ultra 64 GB MicroSD Extended Capacity (Micro SDXC) Flash Card

Pros: They had 64GB MicroSDXC cards before anyone else

Cons: Every single SanDISK 64GB MicroSDXC card I have purchased has now failed. One was in my phone, which is babied, never near water, still passes as a brand new device. That one failed a couple months back. One was in my brother's phone, it just failed recently. Another was used relatively sparingly in a backup phone, it's also dead.

Overall Review: All of these things had problems from the start and SanDISK insisted that we just needed to reformat and start again. Against my better judgement, I let them put me off. Very fortunately I never really trusted these things and backed up photos and phone downloads quite regularly. I even thought maybe I was just a little paranoid. Then, the first one failed, then the next, then the next. See a pattern here? Don't buy SanDISK 64GB MicroSDXC. Their support is only there to get you off the phone and the product, in every experience of mine, fails.

11/15/2013

Absolute garbage

Team 32GB microSDHC Flash Card Model TUSDH32GCL1030
Team 32GB microSDHC Flash Card Model TUSDH32GCL1030

Pros: None.

Cons: 2 of 3 have already quit working. I just threw them out. Don't save yourself any money by buying these things, spend a couple buck$ more and get microSD's that work.

Ignore "great chip"

Intel Xeon 3050 Conroe 2.13 GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W BX805573050 Processor
Intel Xeon 3050 Conroe 2.13 GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W BX805573050 Processor

Pros: This CPU is IDENTICAL to the E6400, as the 3040 Xeon is IDENTICAL to the E6300. There are not voltage differences.

Cons: Slightly more expensive than desktop version, but worth it for official "support" in Workstation/Server systems.

Overall Review: See: Processor Data Sheet for Xeon PGA755 chips: ftp://download.intel.com/design/Xeon/datashts/31491501.pdf Data Sheet for Desktop PGA755 chips: ftp://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/31327803.pdf