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Kevin H.

Kevin H.

Joined on 02/29/08

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 12
Most Favorable Review

Great mobo, with built in Wi-Fi (fast)

ASUS Z87I-DELUXE LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard
ASUS Z87I-DELUXE LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard

Pros: When first starting up your computer with this mobo, you won't get any weird splash logos on your screen but instead, you get a nice and out of your way text at the bottom saying you can press delete to enter bios and a small splash of the logo on the top, it's very easy on the eyes (especially if you see it a lot) The bios has a good like "general" menu that you can adjust everything you'd need to when it's all set up to your preferences that you like, and can switch on the fly if need be. Lots of USB 3.0!

Cons: None so far, other than the two slots of RAM (but you can get a lot of ram with two slots now a days, so i'm not really complaining) Antenna requires a wire, FOR WIRELESS? Although this would be better for computers that want an antenna to sit fairly far away from the computer, i built a little LAN case to move around a lot, so this is unacceptable, yet understandable (see other thoughts).

Overall Review: Alright so, this motherboard having built in wireless is perfect for my little gaming power house build, (especially when i want to do steambox capablities) So I got an aftermarket antenna (I recommend Protronix 2X 2Dbi RP-SMA Antennas for Wireless PCI Card or Router) Yes, I'm using this right now and I download at the same rate I would using wire (i sit next to the router, however but it proves the wireless is capable of being just as fast as the wire in this scenario. I would still recommend a wire for intensive gaming and FPS games however)

What I think after a year

LIAN LI PC-TU100B Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case
LIAN LI PC-TU100B Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case

Pros: If you haven't already, read my previous post on this case bellow. So as I said in my previous review, this thing is so small. It's great if you're going for that mini graphics card build sweet spot. Great for portability and having your PC on your desk with room to spare. Not to forget that handle, it's a great touch! I've used this case a lot as a "big picture" nights with my friends we all hook up our controllers and play some steam games. and I don't have to touch the mouse and it's awesome. Great little steam box/desk PC

Cons: The biggest con for me, no exhaust to release hot air for the GPU. Your gpu will most likely drown the rest of the case with hot air. I do NOT recommend getting a Liquid AIO cooler like I did and instead get a GOOD intake front fan. If lian li made the side panels have perferated holes like it does on the front, it'll probably be a lot better, even then my graphics card will ramp up more than i'd like. (Not to mention i had to take the side panels off a lot because of my poor decisions to not have good intake air, my GPU suffered from it). The other thing is cable management. However this is understandable since the case is so small you'll probably never have any interest to look inside anyway. The feet are so bad. they should be rubber feet and a little wider, period. No 3.5" drive options. Although I knew this. some might not and you CAN go 1 ssd, and 1 laptop/2.5" HDD (which is what I did and worked fine)

Overall Review: All in all, it's a great case. However I would recommend if anyone is going to use this for a compact power house. To get a GOOD front intake aftermarket fan. You NEED to take care of that hot air from the graphics card while gaming and the only way to do that is to utilize the positive pressure from using a good front intake. It'd be ideal to use the front fan to have a fan controller somehow to make it ramp up when either your CPU/GPU are going under load or are starting to heat up. The front fan will do most of the cooling in this case. Once these things considered and you have all the right components. It's GREAT to have for LANs, works well in a living room environement. Even for parties if you want to bring it to someone's house and have everyone play games on it just like a console. Or perhaps you just want to minimalize your desk space and the size of your desktop. This is definitely a good option.

Great Card!

XFX GeForce GTX 275 896MB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card GX275XAHFF
XFX GeForce GTX 275 896MB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card GX275XAHFF

Pros: upgraded from a 9800 GTX. This thing is a beast! For the price you couldn't go wrong! I was very impressed. frames from max settings in Far Cry 2 (AA 8x) (All Ultra Settings) went from lag fest of a slide show, to playable with no problems!

Cons: Gets hot. Thats it. But these cards are designed to run hot. So you can't complain.

Overall Review: If you want the best card for the price, this is definitely the one to go for! If you're looking to get a new card, don't hesitate! Get this card!

Hands Down

Thermaltake V1 Max-Performance CPU Cooler with Massive 110mm Blue LED Full-Range Variable Speed Fan CL-P0401
Thermaltake V1 Max-Performance CPU Cooler with Massive 110mm Blue LED Full-Range Variable Speed Fan CL-P0401

Pros: This is the best CPU cooler i've seen throughout my whole lan party group. I've been able to overclock my i7 to 3.0 and higher with temps under 50!

Cons: You may have to bend it alittle, I had to bend it because it was scrapping itself (no biggy)

Overall Review: Loving it, can use it to overclock to high clocks!

Works

Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G
Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G

Pros: Does what it's supposed to.

Cons: A bit small, but this is good for about 6 - 10 uses.

Overall Review: Also, you don't use the whole entire container, its just a pea drop size should do.

Does what it's supposed to

Western Digital Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Western Digital Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: It does what it's supposed to do, thats all you really need. Good sturdy drive that'll last forever.

Cons: not sure if the drive is exactly 640 GB to each megabyte. It's merely an estimate I guess

Overall Review: Plenty of room, I have 3 partitions of 3 different operating systems with plenty of room for each.