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Zach J.

Zach J.

Joined on 11/02/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 14
Most Favorable Review

Great looking case

NZXT LEXA BlackLine Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
NZXT LEXA BlackLine Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: This case is beautiful. Actually looks much nicer than the newegg pictures. The plastic and steel is strong, sturdy, and easy to work with. Design is simplistic and somewhat old fashioned (which is nice is some ways).

Cons: This case is not very friendly toward larger graphics cards. Very tight fitting. Toolless PCI area is useless if you have a newer gfx card and must be manually removed rendering the whole thing useless. There is a lack of screws for all necessary parts. I had to use screws from my other case (came with extras). Be prepared to be missing a few. I was actually shorted a mobo screw for whatever reason. All the front panel cords are about 2-4 inches TOO SHORT. I was also mislead into thinking the side panel comes off with the handle. In actuality, you have to unscrew the back. Finally, my case came in what seemed was an opened package with a nice sized gash in the box. I was worried the case would be massively scratched but everything checked out.

Overall Review: evga 790i evga Geforce GTX 285 WD Caviar Black 1Tb Seagate 1.5 Tb Intel Q9650 Quad Core 3Ghz Samsung HD 22" ToC

Most Critical Review

Quick, Durable, Loud

Drobo Direct Attached Storage - 5 bay array with mSATA SSD acceleration - USB 3 and Thunderbolt ports (DRDR5A21)
Drobo Direct Attached Storage - 5 bay array with mSATA SSD acceleration - USB 3 and Thunderbolt ports (DRDR5A21)

Pros: The speed of thunderbolt is incredible. Loaded with Crucial mSata and using for offloading user folders,VMs, and media. Quality product for an office location away from the user.

Cons: the noise of the case fan is quite unbearable. If your goal is to place this in a bedroom you sleep in, seek another product. The fan noise contains a metallic grinding noise that will slowly drive you insane. 2 stars removed for the lack of engineering in noise control. The Drobo 5D must run the fan in continuous mode to cool the processor. The 5N is supposedly quieter. I however, was not expecting the fan to be as noisy as it was.

Overall Review: I opened up the device to inspect the fan. It appears this fan is swappable. I am definitely going to look for another, lower decibel fan to replace this with. Loaded this device with 4 Seagate 4TB NAS HD's. The drives are whisper quiet and spin down when not in use. The mobo for this product rests on the bottom just above the mSata bay. There are 4 screws located at the base that hold the shell to the inner case. If you remove these, and 6 screws inside, carefully, you can gain access to the fan.

12/27/2013

Flimsy but workable

Thermaltake V9 Black Edition ATX Computer Gaming Chassis with Dual Oversized 230mm Ultra-Silent Cooling Fans VJ400G1N2Z Mid Tower
Thermaltake V9 Black Edition ATX Computer Gaming Chassis with Dual Oversized 230mm Ultra-Silent Cooling Fans VJ400G1N2Z Mid Tower

Pros: This case has excellent airflow and the potential to support liquid cooling. Both side panels come off with ease and their is plenty of space for harddrives and large gfx cards (gtx 285). The usbs are placed at the top instead of the front which I think is great.

Cons: The toolless design for PCI is one of the worst I have used. I eventually decided to completely remove the toolless panel (held in by 3 screws) which actually allowed me to install my gtx 285 much easier. The toolless design in this case is more of a frustration to use than a benefit. The entire back panels uses a very flimsy metal that bends easily and the PCI scrap metal place holders are a pain to rip out as you can bend the slot..

Overall Review: The fans and their placement is the biggest selling point for me. Other than that, this case is pretty lousy. No style, poor toolless design, hard drive cage design is more hassle than it's worth, power buttons are made of cheap plastic, and weak flimsy metal.

Pay too much for grbg

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit for System Builders
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit for System Builders

Pros: This crash happy operating system led to my discovery of PCBSD and Ubuntu Linux, the two best FREE Windows alternatives that can do almost everything windows does. Software on these platforms are also free. Massive increases in speed are noted when you upgrade from Vista to FreeBSD or Linux.

Cons: This is the worst operating system Microsoft has produced. After running Vista for 3 months and only using it for Word documents and movies, I've used the repair option at least 20 times to recover from system crashes. Very buggy, very slow, system hog. I HIGHLY regret buying this and wish someone would have told me more about FreeBSD before hand.

Overall Review: My computer has enough muscle to act as a stand alone file server, yet I can barely run Vista. 4 Cores @ 3Ghz Over 1.5 TB HD NTFS 4 GB Ram Nvidia 8800 Ultra -Wasted On Windows: WOW I'm an idiot.

10/27/2008

Strong and Sturdy

ENERMAX Chakra ECA3052BL Blue/ Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
ENERMAX Chakra ECA3052BL Blue/ Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Solid construction. The top panel is made of plastic and may break if mishandled but I have owned this case for several months now without problems. Side 250mm is quiet and provides lots of air flow into the case. I don't use any additional fans in my case (only the side fan, cpu fan, and gfx card fan). Stays cool no problems. Dust is easily dealt with by reversing the fan via switch. Top ports are a HUGE benefit for this case and a major selling point to me along with huge side fan. Tool-less design was fun to work with and a breeze to set up.

Cons: For better air flow, you should get a 120mm exhaust fan. The top 2 drive bays are spring loaded and can't be switched or adjusted. Their are 2 blinking LEDs in the front for HD access and power-they are very bright at night but can be easily fixed with some black electrical tape. FYI: NO MANUAL NO HELP-DIY. Case can be cramped for some motherboards so make sure you check your board size first.

Overall Review: I can't stand those cases with clear side windows because I sleep in the same room as my comp and the lights are irritating to the eyes. This case was perfect for me and I plan to get this same case when I build again.

H0LY WO.OW

SAMSUNG ToC T220HD Rose Black 22" 5ms HDMI Widescreen HDTV Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 10000:1 Built in DTV Tuner & Dolby Digital Surround Speakers
SAMSUNG ToC T220HD Rose Black 22" 5ms HDMI Widescreen HDTV Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 10000:1 Built in DTV Tuner & Dolby Digital Surround Speakers

Pros: -Comes with the DVI cable so it is easily connected to PC. -Crisp clear display, excellent easy remote and setup. -Ridiculous and amazing resolution size -Text is CLEAR and EASY to read. I bought this monitor at Cosco with the understanding that I can return it after I tested it out. This monitor blew away all my negative perceptions about LCD tv/monitors. Used to own a 19 inch CRT that I thought was perfect. This blew it out of the water. I now use this as a primary display -Digital tv channels are very clear, analog is as fuzzy as it is normally supposed to be. 2 HDMI - one is on the left side with the headphone port -This monitor is so simple to install, reading the directions is pointless. If you are having issues seeing the screen after connecting to PC just restart the PC and your monitor will show up -Tested this against the competing Vizio model and this one was so much clearer/crisper/brighter -No dead pixels -Great viewing angles

Cons: I wish this came with 2 of these. Switching from PC mode to TV mode takes about 3-4 seconds but no big deal. Response time could be better. 5 is a tad slow but nothing really scary. 2-3 would be perfect. Other than that, this monitor is perfect.

Overall Review: I connected the headphone jack to my Line-In port on my PC. Now I get my amazing tv in my 7.1 surround sound speakers. Even though it is stereo going to it. I watch tv and play games on this screen while I watch my movies on my second screen. Oddly enough, I actually sleep better with this in my room. The little noise when powered on can be turned off in the settings fyi. This tv beats the rest hands down. If you get this you won't be disappointed. I attempted to mate with this monitor-not a good idea.