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Brent H.

Brent H.

Joined on 01/15/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 17
Most Favorable Review

SLI, baby!

ASUS EN6800GT/2DT/256MB GeForce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card
ASUS EN6800GT/2DT/256MB GeForce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

Pros: This is the second of these I have purchased to run the pair in SLI. It was good as one, it's great in SLI! I still don't have the "loose heatsink" problem other users have mentioned. And now, with the SLI taking the strain off of the single card they run even cooler (before: idle 62-65C full load 70-73C::After: idle 60C full load >70C oc'ed to 1060mhz & 370mhz) which means I can overclock them even further with the SmartDocotor feature. They come with PowerDVD and Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising (video game). These cards may be a little dated now with the GeForce 7 series but they're still solid investments for those who can't afford the massive price tags of the new 7 Series.

Cons: Well, it didn't pay for itself...ummmm...it doesn't clean my house. It won't land me a girlfriend.

Overall Review: Check your motherboard drivers. The Motherboard drivers are the drivers which recognize SLI. You need the current drivers. If all else fails go to www.slizone.com and find the current drivers for your motherbaord chipset. This will make the SLI installation so easy you won't even know you did it. With the SmartDoctor to OC the GPU's and OC'ing the CPU in the BIOS 3DMark went from 2985 before SLI to 3908 after SLI and then increased AGAIN to 3995 AFTER oc and SLI. These are solid cards. HL2 @133fps 1024x768 resolution 2x Full Screen Anti-Aliasing, 4x Anisotropic. FEAR @120fps, and same rez, FASS, and Anisotropic as HL2. Very nice cards.

Most Critical Review

What do you expect for $5?

Scythe SCKB03-BK Black 104 Normal Keys 3 Function Keys PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard
Scythe SCKB03-BK Black 104 Normal Keys 3 Function Keys PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard

Pros: Inexpensive, small, quiet keys...it does what it's supposed to do. No truly dead keys, no "special touch" keys (you have to hit them just right), my computer is on my desk so the short cord wasn't a problem for me.

Cons: In gaming the keys seem slow to respond. Reactions to a button press are sluggish, and at times almost totally unresponsive. I never got any "dead keys" but I had a few times where it just took almost a full second to respond. I am also not a fan of that micro-sized back space key. The cord is also short. My tower is on my desk so a short cord is a good thing for me. However, if there is some distance between your keyboard and your computer then it could be a problem. The tilt also seemed to come up a little shallow. I would have preferred another degree or two just to make typing a little easier.

Overall Review: If you need a cheap key board then just to round out a build or as a replacement for a pre-existing, NON-GAMING computer then this is not a bad choice. Just consider wether or not you want a full size backspace key instead of the nubby little one they give you.

Pretty Good Cooler

ASUS Triton 77 92mm Vapo Bearing CPU Cooler
ASUS Triton 77 92mm Vapo Bearing CPU Cooler

Pros: Quiet, wide variety of fitments, comprehensive parts kit included with the cooler for mounting. Effective enough cooling for a 92mm fan system and more than efficient heat dissapation. It does include a generous amount of thermal compound for your benefit.

Cons: The plated mating surface of the block itself seems rather imperfect. The plating is very rough looking meaning that you need every single iota of the included thermal compound (or the thermal compound of your choice) to ensure that the imperfect surface of the block makes adequate contact with the CPU. My only gripe is that the block itself is smaller than the CPU which does mean when you place it you need to set it right. My AMD Athlon X2 dual core seemed to be larger that the cooler itself.

Overall Review: I've read the other reviews talking about bad cooling and bad fitment. I, like other reviewers, am using this cooler to cool an AMD 939. However, I did not experience the sliding issue when I tried to secure the lever. I have an MSI K8N Diamond Plus which has some major space issues between the CPU and the main PCI-e x16 due to the chipset's Northbridge cooler/fan so I bought this after deciding that I "settled" for proper fitment over more effective cooling with a bigger cooler. However, this cooler does a great job with insane heat dissapation. With my RaidMax Smilodon the CPU exhaust fan sits right over this cooler thus furthering its ability to dissipate massive amounts of heat. Don't get me wrong, it's not going to cool like phase change cooling and won't keep your 200% overclock down in the single digit celcius or anything. Considering that it's a simple copper/aluminum/92mm fan deisgn I feel that this cooler is more than effective for moderate to mid overclocks.

First working impressions

RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case With 500W Power Supply
RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case With 500W Power Supply

Pros: One big, fat pro-Loaded with features for the price. Tool free installation of all Optical Drives/hdd. Very roomy inside. The "Dirk-Tooth" arm holding the side intake fan covers potentially hideous wiring jobs. Easy to read instructions. Feels incredibly solid and well built with sturdy materials. Very nice.

Cons: The case features a front panel connection for the HDD LED. However, I can't find the HDD LED on the outside of the case. Maybe I'm just dumb or maybe it isn't there but I do not see an HDD LED anywhere. Also the metal plates covering the 5.25 and 3.5 bays are ridiculously tough to get out. I had to beat and bang to the point I was afraid of damaging the case. However, nothing gave since the case feels quite well made.

Overall Review: I can't think of any reason not to buy this case. The "cons" that I listed are fairly trivial and there may even be an HDD LED I just don't see. I had an Aspire X-Cruiser prior to this and this one feels like a rock compared to that flimsy thing. So, in initial quality I have to recommend this case, escpecially for it's feature to dollar ratio.

Spiffy Features, Weak Construction

APEVIA X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
APEVIA X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: -Certainly spiffy features for the price -Colored custom lighting is a nice touch -LED Fans bright but not too bright -Works well enough at first -Somewhat roomy depending on your PSU -Case fans were reasonably quiet for a while

Cons: -Incredibly cheap construction -All panels and bays seem poorly fit -Weak/flimsy Materials all around -Some issues with the HDD cage makes mounting a strain -Case wears down quickly over time -Fan and volume controls were insanely stiff and difficult to turn -Voltage gauge needle swung so hard in the case you could hear it slapping the limit hard -After 7 months or so gauges and door panel lights ceased to work at all -Did not give adequate room for my power supply cables (Yes, I replaced the given one for one with more power) -After a few trips inside the case, the screw holes securing the side panel stripped bare -2 available fan openings inside the front of the case for HDD cooling are next to impossible to get to -Case fans wore down and became a bit noisy after a few months (~5 months or so)

Overall Review: I've been using this case for over a year at this point. 4 months in I noticed that, under full temps the power switch made intermitent contact, not enough to turn it off but more than enough to turn it on. Now I have to switch off my PSU every time. 7 months in the accent lighting and gauges on the case door failed entirely. Also, after opening the case a few times the screw holes stripped bare and even the thumb screws have problems fitting. Some of the screw holes in the mobo tray had a lot of trouble threading making the screws crooked. There are a couple of 80mm fan holes behind the grill in the front; I bought a pair of fans for them and it took a good hour to even get to those holes. Even then it was almost impossible to get the fans in there. The HDD cage was an insanely tight fit for my WD Caviar and it scraped the sides of the drive badly. Regrettably, I can't reccomend this case to anyone seeking something with a long life despite its initially eye-catching looks.

Mostly Solid

ASUS EN6800GT/2DT/256MB GeForce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card
ASUS EN6800GT/2DT/256MB GeForce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

Pros: This is my second card, now running the two in SLI. Excellent card for the money. The 7 series has rendered these things totally obsolete but they definitly have enough horsepower to run anything I throw at them. I've run Quake 4, Doom 3, FEAR, HL2, CS Source, UT2K4, and Condemned with mid level settings and they run at a nice, crisp frame-rate. These cards are excellent if you're building an affordable, middle of the road gaming system.

Cons: This is the second in an SLI system and since it never runs under full load it doesn't get as hot as the primary card. The first one did get good and hot...so much so that the RAM heatsinks actually did fall off. They were secured with some kind of thermal conductive tape. They do run a little hot.

Overall Review: The good stuff isn't limited to the card. ASUS packages it with some nice software including their "Smart Doctor". This program allows you to manually Overclock the GPU from within windows as well as monitor temperature and control fan speed. It also comes with PowerDVD software to allow you to enjoy your DVD's on your computer. On top of this they even throw in a free game. It's Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising. It isn't bad but it won't push your card to the limit. Like I said already: if you're building a mid-level, affordable gaming rig then get yourself a pair of these puppies. With my current single core processor and these two cards in SLI I managed to eek out a 3DMark06 score of 4001.