cover
Pavel K.

Pavel K.

Joined on 02/06/02

0
0

Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 30
Most Favorable Review

Compact, works fine if you tweak timings

OLOy 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Desktop Memory Model MD4U163016BADA
OLOy 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Desktop Memory Model MD4U163016BADA

Pros: Works at 3600MHz with 19-19-19-39 timings in 64GB configuration. Passed memtest86 tests overnight without any errors.

Cons: advertised XMP profile 3000MHz 16-18-18-36 did not work in 64GB configuration, required scaling down to 2800MHz

Overall Review: I've tested this in a 64GB (4x16GB) configuration with Ryzen 9 3900x and Gigabyte Aorus x470 Gaming 7 WiFi motherboard. The memory did not pass memtest86 at the XMP advertised 3000MHz with 16-18-18-36 timings. It did pass memtest86 with 16-18-18-36 timings at 2800MHz. It also works at 3600MHz with 19-19-19-39 timings, so I'm keeping it and getting another couple of 32GB sets.

Most Critical Review

poor experience

EVGA 113-YW-E115-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 730i HDMI ATX Intel Motherboard
EVGA 113-YW-E115-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 730i HDMI ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Had (almost) every feature I would want. Reasonably priced.

Cons: Lacks CD audio-in port for connecting to CD/DVD drive. Lacks FireWire port. Shipped with an engineering release BIOS. Would not boot with 2 sticks of pqi 1GB DDR2-4200 RAM.

Overall Review: The EVGA lists 533Mhz pqi DDR2 RAM as supported, but I've wasted a month (and $$ for RMA shipping) trying to get the board to work with my working pqi DDR2 1GB sticks. It would work with 1 stick, but not 2. The same memory works fine in ASRock 775Dual-VSTA. I ended up swapping the pqi RAM with corsair XMS2 sticks from another computer (which accepted the pqi RAM just fine). Over all a poor first time experience with an EVGA board.

it's too bulky

Patriot Xporter XT Rage 64GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model PEF64GRUSB
Patriot Xporter XT Rage 64GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model PEF64GRUSB

Pros: Huge capacity

Cons: My MacBookPro at work has only 2 USB ports side by side. I have a USB cable plugged into one port, and I can't plug the flash drive into the other because the drive is too bulky and it collides with the USB cable.

Overall Review: The newegg picture should have shown what the drive looks like plugged into a real USB port, for scale.

good, could be better

Samsung C7000 series 40" 1080p 240Hz LED-LCD HDTV UN40C7000
Samsung C7000 series 40" 1080p 240Hz LED-LCD HDTV UN40C7000

Pros: Very thin and light -- I was able to set it up alone. Good picture quality is possible (takes some tweaking). Very nice remote control.

Cons: First -- edge sharpening and contrast enhancement amplify distracting details and unnaturally brighten colors, making movie classics look like documentaries shot with a cheap camera. Fortunately, most of this image processing can be turned off by adjusting picture settings. Second -- the built-in 10W speakers are not great. I've hooked up amplified computer speakers (with subwoofer) which sound much better. Unfortunately the remote only controls the built-in speaker volume (doesn't control the audio-out port volume). At the very least the "mute" button should apply to built-in speakers and all audio-out ports. Last (and this is minor) -- the remote that ships with the TV is capable of controling a Samsung BD-C6900 bluray player, but it lacks the "eject" button.

Overall Review: 3D glasses sold separately? $100 - $150 per pair? It's a robbery! The TV is a bit over-priced as well. I imagine I should have waited another year to catch the next wave of TV evolution. Two other features I would hope to see in a TV at this price point -- built-in Blu ray player and HD DVR. Oh, and given that the TV is capable of running Skype -- it should ship with a built in webcam.

it's picky

Syba SATA/IDE Adapter, Connect IDE Devices to SATA Port on Motherboard
Syba SATA/IDE Adapter, Connect IDE Devices to SATA Port on Motherboard

Pros: Works with my 80GB WD and 80GB Maxtor PATA drives. I was able to boot existing openSUSE and WinXP installations on these drives.

Cons: Didn't exactly work with my NEC DVD-RW drive -- booting Linux SysRecue CD would start, but then the kernel would complain about the DVD drive failing to clear some state flag, and then it gets confused and doesn't work, bails out to the root shell.

Overall Review: Make sure you set your PATA device to Master (or Master single). Also, these adapters require separate power cable (floppy drive style connector). The Syba cables that newegg sells for this are overpriced ($2.99) and pretty bad -- I bought 2 and 1 didn't work outright, I had to manually take it apart and reconnect the wires.

50% failure rate

SYBA SY-CAB65011 5 in. Molex 4-Pin Female Molex to Molex 4-Pin Male & FDD Power Cable
SYBA SY-CAB65011 5 in. Molex 4-Pin Female Molex to Molex 4-Pin Male & FDD Power Cable

Pros: It's the right cable for Syba SATA-to-PATA converter

Cons: I bought 2 of these. One worked, one didn't. The wires were overcrimped at the connector pins to the point that the connection was severed.

Overall Review: I used a multimeter to check the connectivity between the pins -- only 1 out of 4 wires were conducting as expected. I pulled out the pins out of the molex housings (using a paper clip), reconnected and recrimped the faulty wires.