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Andrew L.

Andrew L.

Joined on 07/19/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 12
Most Favorable Review

Knock on Wood

Seagate BarraCuda 7200.11 ST3750330AS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Seagate BarraCuda 7200.11 ST3750330AS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Large fast hard drive. SATA is definately the way to go with these much larger hard drives. Seagate seems to have fixed the loose connector issue from their 7200.10 line. No problems yet with it.

Cons: The jumper for the speed limitation is a bit hard to pull out. The packaging for the drives was just paper around the hard drives [whatever happened to bubble wrap?]

Overall Review: Ordered 2 and one of the drives was doing bad clicks during spin up, but still worked. Called and got a replacement from Newegg and works fine now=D. Kinda makes me nervous about the other one. Bring back bubble wrapped hard drives please Newegg.

Most Critical Review

Eh...Was Ok

COOLMAX CX-300(Silver) 300 W ATX v2.01 0.7@230VAC PFC Power Supply
COOLMAX CX-300(Silver) 300 W ATX v2.01 0.7@230VAC PFC Power Supply

Pros: Was quiet. LOTS of airflow which kept the case cool.

Cons: Fan bearing decided to die on me. Chain reaction basically caused the 12V rails to die, and the PSU died within a week [was able to get online long enough to order a new PSU with a room fan].

Overall Review: Had the unit on computer for less than a year. Not going to buy COOLMAX again. Currently running off a SeaSonic which I feel is better.

Doing Good

Seagate BarraCuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (Perpendicular Recording Technology) Bare Drive
Seagate BarraCuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (Perpendicular Recording Technology) Bare Drive

Pros: Fast, reliable, and decently long warranty.

Cons: One came with the dreaded AAK firmware. Note that there IS a way to update it. You'll need to Google "AAK Seagate firmware" which will bring you to the fluffles page. It will have a link to the Fluffles forum with the firmware upgrade. If that one doesn't work, there is another firmware upgrade through a link in that forum to xtremesystems' forum. I believe the xtremesystems one should work with 320GB AAK Drives as the one in Fluffles did not work for me.

Overall Review: I bought 2 of these a few months apart. First one had AAC firmware. Second one had AAK firmware.

Doing Good

Seagate BarraCuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (Perpendicular Recording Technology) Bare Drive
Seagate BarraCuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (Perpendicular Recording Technology) Bare Drive

Pros: Fast, reliable, and decently long warranty.

Cons: One came with the dreaded AAK firmware. Note that there IS a way to update it. You'll need to Google "AAK Seagate firmware" which will bring you to the fluffles page. It will have a link to the Fluffles forum with the firmware upgrade. If that one doesn't work, there is another firmware upgrade through a link in that forum to xtremesystems' forum. I believe the xtremesystems one should work with 320GB AAK Drives as the one in Fluffles did not work for me.

Overall Review: I bought 2 of these a few months apart. First one had AAC firmware. Second one had AAK firmware.

No Dice

Pinnacle 7-85428-22238-7 PCTV HD Card NTSC/ATSC/ClearQAM/FM TV Tuner PCI w/ Mini Remote
Pinnacle 7-85428-22238-7 PCTV HD Card NTSC/ATSC/ClearQAM/FM TV Tuner PCI w/ Mini Remote

Pros: Maybe its HDTV?

Cons: PCI Resource conflict with AGP video card. So now I can watch my HDTV using minimal 640x480 16 color graphics. The drivers are buggy with other computers. Media Center Service crashed after installing the drivers [bad sign]. I wouldn't bother with the problems I've had.

Overall Review: Forum mods try their best, but the problem isn't going to be solved there. Only the software engineers can solve it so understand the mods can only do so much.

Works like a charm

SeaSonic M12 SS-700HM 700W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
SeaSonic M12 SS-700HM 700W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: Modular power supply eases the installation and helps against cable clutter. This thing is SILENT. Seasonic reliability takes the psu farther.

Cons: Slightly longer than their S12 line due to the modular plugs and extra fan. Isn't that big of a con though.

Overall Review: My Socket 478 motherboard didn't like this PSU for some weird reason. Had to wait till my ASUS Maximus Formula II arrived to actually test. Some of the cables are really insanely long. Would've been nice if they varied the length to reduce clutter. Specs: ASUS Maximus Formula II, Q6600 @ 3.02ghz, OCZ Reaper 2x2gb, Seasonic M12 700W, Thermaltake Armor w/ 25cm fan, 2x 750gb Seagate.