Joined on 04/28/06
QUIET!!!!
Pros: This card CAN still be OCed. I'm running at GPU 750/Memory 2200 and don't see too much heat. The fan is EXTREMELY quiet and cool for a GPU and especially compared to my friends 9800GT single slot. Card looks much better than the picture in real life IMO. OCs, runs pretty cool, and runs pretty quiet...overall a great card!
Cons: Included software to control fan doesn't seem to want to increase my fan speed. I never get above 68C because of a fan mounted in front of my hard drives, but it would be nice to try to keep it a little cooler if possible.
Overall Review: Really a reasonably priced, quiet option in the 9800GT class. OCing increased my 3DMark score from 11708 to 14305 (15-20 fps during the test) while still staying below 70C with the fan staying quiet. If that's too hot, you can always change the settings! Never dipped below about 36fps running 3DMark stock, and 44ish when it was OCed. Great card for a hundred bucks!
Great little hard drive
Pros: - Hybrid does seem to speed up - No special software to install to use solid state memory - Decent capacity for a laptop
Cons: - Expecting SSD speeds then get an SSD
Overall Review: Hybrid drive seems a little gimmicky, but does seem to have faster boot times, and faster loading of things like browsers that I use often. This drive has very similar speed and capacity to other non-hybrid drives, but with a little faster boot time. Is the hybrid setup a little gimmicky; sure, but it does have a slight advantage in boot times from what I can see (after a few boot cycles) and it costs the same as a non-hybrid so why not?
Can't be beat for the price!
Pros: -CHEAP (picked up for twenty bucks - 10 dollar newegg promo card! = ten dollar heatsink!) -Decently quiet -HUGE improvement over stock Intel cooler! -The mounting hardware is actually really nice (no more screw drivers needed!) -Comes with everything you need for a 2 fan push-pull setup
Cons: -Instructions are horrible...seems like they have one set of instructions for all their heatsink products -Rubber mounts for the fan are a pain...they may reduce vibration, but you pretty much have to take the heatsink off if you want to adjust or swap the fan out and getting the thing on without bending the heck out of the fins is a challenge.
Overall Review: Using this cooler was able to get my Core i5-3570K up from 3.6 to 4.5 without too much drama even running prim95. I had an older model XIGMATEK from 2008 on my previous setup that seemed to have a bit more fin surface area because this one decided to have a fancier look with the X cutout design, but not sure how much that actually makes a difference, and for the price difference between this cooler and item N82E16835233087 which looks like my old one I didn't care. The instructions were pretty hard to follow. I just gave up and put it on they way it looked right. If you've worked on these before you won't have a problem. If it's your first time I'm sure someone has something up on youtube that may help. All the mounting hardware for this thing was really impressive compared to my older version...I know this thing isn't going anywhere! Just get it, for the price you can't go wrong!
Nice Speakers
Pros: - Nice look - Clear Sound - Separate control of the bass built-in the speaker - Clear bass throughout the range with fairly consistent output throughout the range (with equalizer tweaking).
Cons: - Wires seem like they may be a little short for some people, but they are adequate for my desk use. - Glossy finish shows prints
Overall Review: 40 watts may not sound like a lot of power, but if you're using this in a small study or bedroom these will pump out enough sound for almost anything. For the money these speakers are great. The sub is much stronger than the speakers and out of balance if you turn the bass nob past 25%, but produces pretty clean sound. These will probably not satisfy audiophiles, but after a little adjusting on the computer equalizer I'm pretty happy and I'm fairly picky. The 360 degree sound makes a difference, but I wouldn't buy them just for that; may make a bigger difference if your speakers will be in the center of the room. Over all I gave these speakers 5 eggs because the sound is very good for the price and I would definitely recommend at the price point!
Pros: Unit seems to function just as you would expect. Transfer rates all seem fine while running on USB2 (haven't tried running over eSATA yet). The on/off switch on the back is nice. The simple design and black color allow this device to blend in with your computer case or hide easily out of site. The power unit is smaller than most on older enclosures I have used.
Cons: Plastics used on this thing feel incredibly cheap but they look ok. Would be nice if it needed a few less screws (takes 6 to mount and close the unit). Black seems to show a lot of finger smudges on the case, but it's not that big of a deal.
Overall Review: Complaints are pretty minimal with this unit since everything works great. Can't complain about functionality with eSATA and USB on the device. Just WORKS!
CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W
Pros: Unit worked perfectly right out of the box. It is very quiet and seems to produce low heat. Uses nylon sleeves for cable management which is good for this price range when you take the mail-in rebate into account. Black color always makes the case look a little nicer.
Cons: Really can't complain about anything for this price. It works and it's quiet!
Overall Review: As long as 400w is going to cover your power needs don't think twice about this PSU!