cover
David C.

David C.

Joined on 12/10/05

0
0

Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 7
Most Favorable Review

Vista x64 Tips

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Performs good. Excellent overclocking ability. Good spacing of components allows for a good third party heat sink.

Cons: Expensive. Chipset heat sinks are not copper.

Overall Review: For Vista 64 users with over 2 gigs of ram: I had a small nightmare with Vista 64 Ultimate. I could not install Vista with 4 gigs of ram . Blue screens everytime. To avoid this nightmare follow these steps: 1.) UPDATE BIOS (Cd image on EVGA's website.) 2.) Put no more than 2 gigs of ram in for install of Vista. 3.)Do all vista updates and update all your drivers to the newest versions. 4.) After all updates, go to microsoft site and download hotfix(KB929777) (seems like an unrelated fix, but it is critical!) 5. Restart Completely. 6. After your system has finished restarting, you can shut it down, put in the rest of your ram and it should boot properly.

Most Critical Review

What do you want for 35$?

MSI GeForce 8400 GS 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Graphics Card N8400GS-TD256H
MSI GeForce 8400 GS 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Graphics Card N8400GS-TD256H

Pros: Cheap.

Cons: Video playback lacks smoothness under certain circumstances.

Overall Review: I have this in a 3 ghz system with 4 gigs of ram. When I watch video on hulu and netflix, I experience video lag after about an hour or two of continuous play. This seems to be a cooling issue. Because after 10-15 minutes of inactivity, it is good to go again. The computer it is in is well ventilated and bare bones.

12/11/2009

Excellent Camera

SANYO Xacti VPC-E2 White 8.0 MP 1/2.5" CMOS 2.5" 150K LCD 5x Optical Waterproof Digital Video
SANYO Xacti VPC-E2 White 8.0 MP 1/2.5" CMOS 2.5" 150K LCD 5x Optical Waterproof Digital Video

Pros: Portable, decent battery life, films well in low light, takes excellent photographs, waterproof, fast data transfer, is ready to film in about 3 seconds, inexpensive

Cons: No USB charging.

Overall Review: Key things you can't tell from the specs: Removable battery, No USB charging, 12 megapixel mode, 6 hours of video on an 8 gig card or 2000 8 megapixel photos. Can use as a webcam. Tripod hole on the bottom. Can only take 2 megapixel shots while video is recording. Haven't had the guts to take it under water yet, but it seems like it would withstand it easy.

Not as I expected

EVGA 01G-P3-N897-A3 GeForce 9800 GX2 SSC 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
EVGA 01G-P3-N897-A3 GeForce 9800 GX2 SSC 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Pros: Fast, Runs 30 degrees C cooler than my 8800 GTX, probably overclocks well, was afraid to try it.

Cons: My 8800 tested higher on the 3-d mark, and provides a more fluid smooth framerate. I suspect the cause could be incompatibilities with multiple GPUS or a driver issue. I'm betting the performance will increase with age and driver updates.

Overall Review: If you're considering running this in SLI, size is an issue. In a evga 780i tri-SLI configuration, it would have been impossible to fit another in the next sli slot. And even if you find a board with proper spacing, you're average case won't fit a second card either. In the conventional video card slot, it hangs about an inch over where my hard drive is. Barely squeaks in.

Forget Wireless

ZyXEL PL-100KIT 85Mbps 56-bit data encryption Powerline Ethernet Adapter Kit Up to 85Mbps
ZyXEL PL-100KIT 85Mbps 56-bit data encryption Powerline Ethernet Adapter Kit Up to 85Mbps

Pros: Compact. Easy to hook up. No software installation required.

Cons: It's another thing I have to plug in.

Overall Review: This thing can be hooked up in less than a minute. To test, I opened up 4 streams of video and some internet radio. No problem, no delay. I did not have to reset anything. This is a great wireless alternative. For those unsure if this device will work for them, you need a router and a computer. Plug one end into the router and a and one end into your computer. Piece of cake.

Processor Performance

EVGA 768-P2-N835-A3 GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
EVGA 768-P2-N835-A3 GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Pros: Fast

Cons: Huge. Hot. Expensive.

Overall Review: On single core systems, performance did not increase as I expected. I scored and extra 700 points on 3-dmark06 over my 7950 GT. After upgrading to a Q6600 processor and a decent gaming board. I scored an extra 8500. Good enough to run Crysis on very high.