Joined on 07/10/06
Good, Usable UPS
Pros: Linux support (its a command line utility and daemon, so its not tied to any specific desktop environment), nice LCD, adequate power, good price
Cons: no way to keep LCD on, beeped like crazy when i first plugged it in.
Overall Review: I am using this to protect my small home server (CentOS), as we have had frequent lightning storms and brief power outages lately. The Linux utility allows you to specify shell scripts to run at certain events, such as blackout, low battery, critical battery, etc. As my server only draws 68 Watts, it shows an estimated battery runtime of near 45 minutes. Hoping to see the system uptime get into the months. :)
Good PWM fan for push-pull
Pros: Quiet, rated for 24/7 operation and with shared PWM, it seems to be designed with push/pull CPU cooling in mind.
Cons: would have preferred black to gray, but the color could be worse.
Overall Review: Took my old Xigmatek Loki from a decent cooler to a good one, allowing me to overclock my FX-8350.
Fast, fits under cpu cooler
Pros: Fast, not a huge heat spreader so it fits under my cpu cooler, good value, WEI 7.5
Cons: none
Bytecc Cat6 cable
Pros: Works with my Gigabit switch with 125 Megabyte/s large file transfers. The tab cover works fine. Its certainly better than using standard crimped ends with no tab cover.
Cons: None
Overall Review: I paid 3 dollars per 20 foot cable, so it was very cheap. Probably 30 seconds after I placed my order it was changed. Would certainly buy more for 3 dollars apiece.
Good Gbit Switch
Pros: True Gigabit speed - 125 Megabytes/s Very cool, seems energy efficient (unlike my Belkin router) Good price, especially with rebate and promo code Smaller than I expected, actually Well made metal case, feels solid
Cons: None really. It makes my spinning drives the bottleneck for large file transfers.
Overall Review: This is actually the first switch I have purchased, but have used some 100Mbit ones at LAN parties. No issues using Cat 5e cables for Gbit connections. Now I just have to wait and see if D-Link honors the rebate.
Excellent so far
Pros: Plays all games I have thrown at it very well, especially at 1680x1050. Full 1920x1080 is good too, not that much of a difference on most games. I have only tested it with a few games: Oblivion with 20 or so mods - Max @ 60fps Amnesia: The Dark Descent - High @ 60 fps Fallout 3 & New Vegas - Max @ 60 fps Crysis 2 DX9 - Advanced @ 45-60 fps Duke Nukem Forever - Max @ 60 fps Along with a whole bunch of old games I wont bother to list here. Also, this is an awesome looking card. The copper pipes look sweet. Stays very quiet if you change the default fan settings (I use MSI Afterburner).
Cons: The fans are fairly loud at 100% speed, but that speed is not necessary except for overclocking. Runs a little hot for my liking, even on idle. Its the hottest device in my case by far at 40C idle and 69C during Crysis 2. Hopefully this will not adversely affect its longevity. (in a couple years it will barely play new games anyway)
Overall Review: This went into my first full build, and was also my first video card requiring a direct power connection. Needless to say, I am not used to anywhere near this performance level. As a side note, this card seems well supported by the proprietary driver for Linux, OpenGL 4.1 and all. I am running both Windows 7 x64 and Linux Mint 10 amd64.