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Jason B.

Jason B.

Joined on 09/02/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Simple Dock

Vantec NexStar SE MRK-510ST 2.5" to 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD/HDD Converter/Adapter/Bracket, Exact 3.5" HDD dimension & SATA III ready (Supports 7, 9.5, 12.5, 15mm height SSD/HDD)
Vantec NexStar SE MRK-510ST 2.5" to 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD/HDD Converter/Adapter/Bracket, Exact 3.5" HDD dimension & SATA III ready (Supports 7, 9.5, 12.5, 15mm height SSD/HDD)

Pros: Works perfectly with 2.5" hard drives and SSDs. Clips in securely and has worked great for years, fits nicely in a floppy / media reader drive bay. The packaging was quite excellent.

Cons: Some SSDs fit somewhat tightly and can make it difficult to remove the drive from the bay. Not much of a problem really, just need to pull a bit harder.

Overall Review: Had an SSD with my Operating System running in this bay for a couple of years, has worked well.

Good Enclosure

Mediasonic HF2-SU2S2 3.5" Black SATA I/II USB 2.0 & eSATA Pro Box 4 Bay Enclosure
Mediasonic HF2-SU2S2 3.5" Black SATA I/II USB 2.0 & eSATA Pro Box 4 Bay Enclosure

Pros: The build quality on this enclosure is good, all of the drives fit securely. Keeps green power drives quite cool, works over USB 2.0 and eSata.

Cons: The power cable for this enclosure is on the side which makes it difficult to place if your workspace is at all crowded. It does not always recognize drives properly over USB 2.0 and requires a port multiplier to recognize multiple drives over eSata.

Overall Review: I had 4 WD 1TB Green drives running in this for over a year and it worked great as a RAID 10 setup using my port multiplier RAID controller. The raid controller card (in my system not the enclosure) failed and I had a difficult time getting the drives to show up on USB 2.0. Luckily I had just backed up the data on the array to a 2TB single drive.

Great Memory

G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model F3-8500CL7S-4GBSQ
G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model F3-8500CL7S-4GBSQ

Pros: I bought this to add an additional 4GB DIMM to my Acer Notebook. I installed it and it has worked flawlessly since then. I have always been happy with G.Skill products, I haven't had a bad DIMM from them yet.

Cons: None, works perfectly

Overall Review: G.Skill always has great, reliable RAM at great prices

Notebook Replacement

Seagate Momentus 7200 FDE.2 ST9160418ASG 160GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive Retail
Seagate Momentus 7200 FDE.2 ST9160418ASG 160GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive Retail

Pros: Bought this to replace the failed hard drive in my HP notebook. It has performed well, I have since moved it to my PS3 as an upgraded hard drive and it has been working well there too.

Cons: This drive is 7200rpm so it will run hotter than most of the stock hard drives which are usually 5400rpm.

Overall Review: Reliable drive with decent speed, runs hot but it is not too bad.

Excellent Mousepad

Razer Kabuto Mobile Mouse Mat
Razer Kabuto Mobile Mouse Mat

Pros: I used this mousepad for three years before passing it on to another family member. It has a microfiber surface that provides excellent control without slowing down the mouse too much, it has great backing which prevents it from moving around, and it is about half the thickness of a normal mousepad. I have used it with several different mice with my gaming desktop as well as with my notebook, and it has always performed excellently.

Cons: It comes rolled up so it can take some time for it to flatten out.

Overall Review: Overall it is one of the best mousepads that I have used, it is not as thick as the other Razer pads and it is nicely portable.

Awesome Air Cooler

CORSAIR CAFA70 120mm A70 Dual-Fan CPU Cooler
CORSAIR CAFA70 120mm A70 Dual-Fan CPU Cooler

Pros: The installation was fairly easy for an aftermarket CPU heatsink. Note though that installation requires removing the motherboard. My Q9550 with no overclock and a stock CPU heatsink ran between 37-40 degrees Celsius. Before purchasing the Corsair A70 I overclocked my Q9550 from 2.83ghz to 3.3 ghz. This bumped the average temperature up to the high 48-53 degree range getting over 75 at full load. After I installed the Corsair A70 it dropped the at rest temperature back down to the 37 - 40 degree range and keeps the processor below 70 degrees with all four cores running at maximum. I am very happy with the performance of the Corsair A70.

Cons: This is a very large heatsink. I have a Thermaltake Armor+MX midtower case and I had to remove the side panel fan to get it to fit. It also ends up a little close to my RAM which makes it difficult to add or remove RAM.

Overall Review: This is probably the best cooling solution short of liquid cooling. Just make sure your case can fit it.