cover
David B.

David B.

Joined on 03/30/04

0
0

Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 5
Most Favorable Review
IOGEAR GCS62 MiniView Micro PS/2 KVM Switch with Cables
IOGEAR GCS62 MiniView Micro PS/2 KVM Switch with Cables

Pros: Works great, small footprint. I can even hot-swap mouse and keyboard without any problems.

Cons: None

Most Critical Review

Died in less than a month

Seagate BarraCuda 7200.11 ST3500620AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Seagate BarraCuda 7200.11 ST3500620AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Very inexpensive

Cons: I put 4 of these in a RAID5 array and two of them failed immediately after migrating my data to them, before I had a chance to set up my backups. Lost all data, including my 4 virtual machines, including my website and domain controller. Who loses 2 drives at once?

Overall Review: Newegg covered the RMA without any trouble at all, including shipping costs. Newegg continues to be the best in the industry due to great service like this.

Great for VMware ESX

Intel EXPI9301CTBLK Network Adapter 10/100/1000Mbps PCI-Express 1 x RJ45
Intel EXPI9301CTBLK Network Adapter 10/100/1000Mbps PCI-Express 1 x RJ45

Pros: I needed a second NIC for my whitebox ESX server (had one onboard nvidia NIC that worked) and this is by far the cheapest card that's supported. Plugged it in, worked right off the bat.

Cons: Um...it doesn't have 4 ports?

Overall Review: I hope Intel keeps making these for a long time - I'll need more if I decide to build another ESX server.

Cooler Master Centurion 541 RC-541-SKN1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case
Cooler Master Centurion 541 RC-541-SKN1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case

Pros: Excellent Case! Plenty of room, true screwless installation! It's a solid, good looking case that was a breeze to put together, all at a great price. I'll buy nothing but Cooler Master cases now.

Cons: I sliced my finger on a sharp edge, but I do that every time I build a computer. It's hardly a build if you don't have some battle wounds to show for it!

Overall Review: I wish it came with some case fans like the larger Mid-Tower model does.

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit for System Builders
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit for System Builders

Pros: It's pretty? Maybe the Service Pack will fix some of the performance issues?

Cons: Gaming performance - close to 50% reduction in FPS with both DX9 and DX10 games using the same hardware under Vista vs XP. Horrible file transfer (local and network) speed. User Rights Management is annoying and have to turn it off to install or run many older Windows programs. Windows XP had no problem installing from a SATA DVD drive attached to a RAID controller but Vista refused. I had to swap it out for an IDE drive just to install, then changed it back. Wasted several hours trying to get the RAID drivers working with the installer before I realized it just wasn't going to work, period. You CANNOT install Vista from a SATA DVD drive if you're using RAID Hard Drives. System Builders be warned!

Overall Review: I built this computer for another user, and wouldn't have chosen Vista for myself. In fact, after this install I know for sure I won't do it for myself.