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Eric A.

Eric A.

Joined on 11/04/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review
ASUS P3-PH4C Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel 945G Barebone
ASUS P3-PH4C Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel 945G Barebone

Pros: Slick design, went together quick, and runs fairly cool/quiet. All the hardware on the MB is linux compatible. Only small problem is the Attansic L1 network drivers have not made their way into the kernel yet so you have to download/compile them yourself. Really nice product.

Cons: The only thing this is missing that I wish it had is a DVI port. Also it only shipped with 2 SATA cables and it has 4 SATA ports. I have 2 SATA HDD's and a SATA DVD burner so I had to rob some cables from my old computer. It also only has 2 SATA power connecters coming off the PSU so you need some power connecters if you have more than 2 SATA devices.

hot

Crucial BX500 120GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-Inch Internal SSD, up to 540 MB/s - CT120BX500SSD1
Crucial BX500 120GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-Inch Internal SSD, up to 540 MB/s - CT120BX500SSD1

Pros: they are cheap and they work. i have been using a pair for about 2 years now.

Cons: they just run so hot. it is trivial to push these things to 60C and beyond.

Overall Review: solid choice for a cheapo ssd / egg fryer

Works in a pinch

Ultra Thin Pure Copper Mechanical Hard Disk Cooler Heat Sink Cooling 2.5 Inch 100x70x2mmAUG_22 Dropship
Ultra Thin Pure Copper Mechanical Hard Disk Cooler Heat Sink Cooling 2.5 Inch 100x70x2mmAUG_22 Dropship

Pros: I was skeptical on these, but they dropped temps by about 5-7 degrees on a pair of plastic-cased 2.5inch SSDs. Obviously, your mileage may vary depending on a bunch of variables. They also will never wear out like fans eventually do, but I am not sure there is a ton of re-use value in them.

Cons: They ain't cheap, but that's copper for you. They aren't prohibitively expensive, but it's not a cheap way to cool a drive. Took about a month to arrive from China.

Overall Review: If you have drives somewhere that need cooling and you can't get a fan pointed at them, these might be the answer for you.

11/17/2020

Solid, lovely and spacious case

Fractal Design Define R5 Black Silent ATX Midtower Computer Case
Fractal Design Define R5 Black Silent ATX Midtower Computer Case

Pros: - Excellent cable management options - Extremely spacious with loads of drive bays - 2x USB 2.0 and 2x 3.0 ports on front top (audio/mic jacks too, although that's not important to me personally) - Very clean and minimalist design - Stock fans seem more than sufficient and quiet for my simple needs (stock Ryzen 5 1600 with a AMD R9 280x) - Front door and hinges are well constructed. I really love the clean aesthetics, while maintaining the functionality of a couple external 5.25" bays. Very solid and smooth to operate. - Optional vent plates on top if you need more air - It's quiet

Cons: - My only gripe with this case is that I don't like bottom mounted PSUs. My box currently sits on carpeted floor. I will end up relocating it to a solid surface so the PSU can get better airflow. - Not a gripe, but this thing does have a big footprint, roughly 9"x18"x21" It's not ginormous, but it is quite large for a 'mid tower' case - It's not exactly cheap at $109

Overall Review: I absolutely love this case. I've been building my own systems for a couple decades now, and this case was pure pleasure to work with. Well worth the price, and I would definitely buy it again.

XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card R9-280X-TDBD
XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card R9-280X-TDBD

Pros: - Plays Fallout 4 on ultra settings at 50-60 FPS - Quiet enough. I saw some reviews that mentioned coil whine and other noise, but I hear nothing of the sort. - Cheap

Cons: - Too big. Had to swap cases and remove a drive bay just to make it fit. I saw other reviews that mentioned the size, and thought I would be OK. Nope, it's just too long. If you have mid-tower sized case with non-removable drive bays, be prepared to do some cutting. - Runs a tad warm, 70-80C when gaming at stock speeds. Can't imagine it would overclock very well.

Overall Review: Bought to replace my ancient HD5850 purchased in 2009. So far, I'm thrilled. It was a huge pain to install, but now that it's done, I hopefully won't have to mess with it for another 5-6 years.

11/25/2015

decent for the price

COOLER MASTER RR-CCH-L9U1-GP 92mm Hyper TX2 CPU Cooler
COOLER MASTER RR-CCH-L9U1-GP 92mm Hyper TX2 CPU Cooler

Pros: keeps my e7200 overclocked at 3.2 ghz around 34-36C idle and around 52-54C under full load. it's relatively cheap and it's fairly quiet. i didn't have any of the problems other reviews have described when installing it. it snapped right in for me. it works well for what i bought it for.

Cons: none really. it's far from spectacular, but it does it's job well for the price. it's absolutely necessary to remove the fan and shroud prior to installation, but this is a very easy task.

Overall Review: i never even tried the stock cooler that came with my processor, so i don't know how they would compare. i wiped off the thermal grease that came already applied and used arctic silver 5. i measured my temps using real temp. it doesn't seem suitable for more than modest overclocking. i had my processor up to 3.6ghz stable under full load with temps hovering just under 60C. anything over 3.6ghz registered over 60 in real temp, as well as setting my BIOS alarm off.