Pros: The Cable is good one you figure out it has invisible plastic caps on it.
Cons: The cable kept falling out and would work on and off. Was driving. Then I looked at my old shorter cable and notices the connectors looked different. The looked different because of the clear plastics caps. The really should have made it more obvious that something had to be removed from this to make it work properly.
Overall Review: I'd give it five stars if it came without the clear plastic caps, or if the made the plastic caps non invisible. Then it would be more obvious that something had to be removed to make it work. Or come with instructions or a sticker.
Pros: From Display Port on my PC to HDMI on my Monitor. Works Good.
Cons: None
Overall Review: From Display Port on my PC to HDMI on my Monitor
Pros: Keyboard feels great. Mechanical Keys Feel Nice. Layout is good. No extra useless keys to get in the way. I really like the edges on this thing. Feels very sturdy. It is working for me now so keeping my fingers crossed.
Cons: Yeah I know about pushing the mini connector in all the way so no metal is showing. It did not work. Windows 7 kept saying unrecognized device. So I disconnected and re-connected. It worked, but then I tried to push the cable into the wire track coming out of the back underneath of the keyboard. All key presses made bell noises in windows and acted like short cut key presses launching dialogs. Disconnected - Reconnected. Nothing. Multiple Times. Wiggled it around - Disconnect - Reconnected many more times. Bell noises from windows or nothing. After almost an hour and almost giving up I got it working again. Gently pushed the wiring into the tracking coming out of side of keyboard and so far it is working. I am convinced the connection is very fragile and/or the cable doesn't like being bent in certain directions near the connector. I really hope I never have to disconnect this cable from the keyboard again. I am not sure why Cooler Master even designed it with a disconnecting cable unless perhaps they included cables of different lengths? The cable is also a little short for me so I needed to add an extender. Still the keyboard is nice. If it keeps working I'd add a star. Keeping my fingers crossed. Everything else they make has worked great for me. Best Heat Sinks, Cases and Power Supplies. I recommend on the next revision they keep the cord pre-connected and longer. I find it kind of ironic that this is made for gamers and has different USB polling intervals, etc. But the connection is so flakey
Overall Review: I guess the back lighting is a slight plus, for gaming it's cool. Kind of wondering how much cost would have added backlighting all keys. Some games can probably user other keys? Still not a big deal for me.
Pros: Using two sticks in my AM3 GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H Rev 2.0 with X6 2.8GHz AMD-PhenomII Thuban and 3 sticks in my LGA 1366 Asus P6T X58 Chipset with X4 3.2GHZ Intel Core i7 920. Works Fine and tested Prime95 stable.
Cons: None.
Pros: I have never seen better cable management in a case. Every single cable can be routed on the other side of the mobo to increase air flow and for a cleaner look. The hard drive and CD mounting mechanisms are tool-less, ez to use and solid. Lov'em. Looks amazing. 4 usb front ports. The inside is painted black. I like green. Every fan that comes with it is Huge, low rpm and quiet. So they push air without sound like a jet engine. Nice. The bottom front fan can be cleaned easily because the bottom front of the case pops off.
Cons: Not crazy about the side fan. I change stuff in my computer all the time and I don't see myself wanting to reconnect that thing all the time. Not that much of a con anyway since I'll probably leave the side panel off a lot of the time anyway, and this thing looks amazing with the side panel off. The inside paint job makes it looks like it was meant not to have the side panel. I thought about taking that side fan and putting it up top, but looks a little cramped with the front USB Headers right there.
Overall Review: I have never spent this much on a case before but I gotta say you get what you pay for. I have used CoolerMaster Power Supply's, Fans, and Heat sinks for a while now and have always been pleased. This case is no exception.
Pros: Price is good. Mobility. Built in speakers. Battery. Video In works good. I hooked up a game console and played on it. If only I could get my game console to run on batterys I could play it in the park. The best feature is the video playback. Using the free XviD4PSP (google it) encoder application I converted video to AVI MPEG4 Divx 768 kbps 2 Pass Audio MP3 CBR 128k. Left the output resolution at 720X480 and it still seemed to play fine. It must shrink it on the fly or something.
Cons: My only real complaint is that the documentation should be more detailed about what video playback formats this thing supports. It just says it supports MPEG 4 format. It should be more detailed about Video/Audio Bit Rates it supports. I could not get the video to work with XVID. Only DIVX worked for me. Still Mpeg4 Divx works very well.
Overall Review: I can get two channels standing still outside my house with over the air reception. www.antennaweb.org says I might be able to get at most those 2 channels in red so I can't complain. The 2 channels I get are pretty bad so I won't be using it for that. For those that think Audio Playback is too quiet try amplifying the audio through your encoding application. I think The audio is amplified in XviD4PSP. It was much better using this free app as apposed to using the Divx Trial converter which made my audio to quiet.
Pros: I built two systems using this Mobo with AMD-PhenomII Thuban 6 core. Both systems OC's to 3.5 GHz no problem. Both System test stable in prime 95. The board seems heavy and solid. Maybe it's those durable capacitors or something. I usually buy Asus and never went with Gigabyte before, but I decided to go Gigabyte this time because the Asus version of this did not have esata, or the EPS 12V connector (8 pin CPU power, the Asus only has 4 pin) plus its cheaper than the asus. So far I am pleased with this board. Both systems are running solid for me so far.
Cons: Not much of a CON but I wonder why there is already a REV 2.1 on there web site for this. I guess it doesn't matter since both 2.0 boards work fine. Also one thing I miss is the Asus Forums. Surprised Gigabyte does not have any. Come on Gigabyte you need to host some forums for your mobo's. Would have like more onboard fan headers (only 2) but for this price and with Micro ATX I guess there is only so much room.
Overall Review: This Mobo Rev 2.0 CPU X6 2.8GHz AMD-PhenomII Thuban Processor RAM 4GB DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) OCZ Platinum (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 OCZ3P2000LV4GK VIDEO CARD XFX Radeon HD 5850 Statistics 3DMarks: 1850 with onboard video. 19624 when I throw in a Radeon 5850. RAM Int: 13.96 GBPS RAM Float: 13.99 GBPS GIPS: 71.5 GFLOPS: 68.86 My Bios Setting for 3.5 Ghz OC [CPU frequency]: 3500 MHz = 14.0 x 250 MHz; [HT frequency]: 2000 MHz = 8 x 250 MHz; [NB frequency]: 2000 MHz = 8 x 250 MHz; [Memory frequency]: 1666 MHz = 6.66 x 250 MHz. Yeah I could probably go higher but no need.
Pros: I bought two sets of this RAM to build two AMD AM3 6 Core Systems. Both Sets Work Great. Made it easy to OC my Thuban's to 3.5 GHz. I could probably go higher with RAM and CPU speed, but I happy enough for now.
Cons: None.
Overall Review: MOBO AM3 GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H Rev 2.0 CPU X6 2.8GHz AMD-PhenomII Thuban Processor 1055T-HDT55TFBGRBOX This RAM! RAM Int: 13.96 GBPS RAM Float: 13.99 GBPS My OC Settings in Bios: [CPU frequency]: 3500 MHz = 14.0 x 250 MHz; [HT frequency]: 2000 MHz = 8 x 250 MHz; [NB frequency]: 2000 MHz = 8 x 250 MHz; [Memory frequency]: 1666 MHz = 6.66 x 250 MHz.
Pros: Decent price for a 5850. Fast. Never had any probs with XFX stuff.
Cons: None.
Overall Review: 19624 3dMarks. With my Thuban OC'd to 3.5 GHZ. MOBO AM3 GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H Rev 2.0 CPU X6 2.8GHz AMD-PhenomII Thuban Processor 1055T-HDT55TFBGRBOX CPUCOOLER Stock RAM 4GB DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) OCZ Platinum (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 OCZ3P2000LV4GK VIDEO CARD XFX Radeon HD 5850
Pros: Very fast. That fastest I've ever owned. Over 90 MB/s transfer rate. Works fine with XP. After you install the OS just run the alignment program. Tons of space. Great price. Bigger cache than the others at similiar price.
Cons: None.
Overall Review: So good I just ordered another.
Pros: Cleanable Filter. On low not to loud. Not to big. Can easily place on desk, etc. Every week seems to accumulate dust that I can clean out. For the price I am happy with purchase.
Cons: None that I can think of. I've never owned one of these things before.
Overall Review: When I click the button a blue light turns on. I guess this is the ionic protection? I can't really tell the difference when this is on or off other than the neat blue light.
Pros: Fast. Raised my 3dMarks by 5000 points.
Cons: None
Overall Review: XFX is good brand.
Pros: Tested it with HDTune and chkdsk, b4 use and passed fine. Seems quiter than my older drive. 2 TB! Good price.
Cons: None.
Overall Review: Manufacturer test tools did not work with my mobo. Western digitals didn't either though. I guess we need to use chkdsk or HDTune to test drives.
Pros: Great speed and connectivity. Gigabit LAN. After updating to newest firmware web interface is nice. Wireless range is better than my netgear WPN824. Seems to have a lot more features that my old router does not have in web interface.
Cons: This is a very small nitpick but the wireless access list on my old netgear web interface let me tag my mac ID's with a name that made sense. This made it easier to discern who had wireless access. With latest Asus firmware I can only enter MAC ID's without an associated name and trying to make sense of just a list of MAC ID's is not user friendly. Still perhaps they will fix this in future firmware. Also I think they let you import MAC ID's from a text file which is something I couldn't do with my old router.
Overall Review: My girlfriends laptop kept getting dropped connections with my old router. The problem went away with this router. Plus now I have gigabit wired connections. Awesome price. Asus continues to impress me with thier quality and value.
Pros: It worked fine for 2 weeks. Previously I gave 5* for this drive. I take that back and make it 1*.
Cons: Sometimes when waking from standby computer would not wake and instead reboot with drive not found error. Now I am getting drive not found errors after cold boots. When bios is auto detecting upon boot just hear clicking and then drive not found. Eventually it will boot into windows and WD Tools will say drive is fine. Once I am in windows seems OK, but for some reason it does not want to boot reliably. Also Diag504fCD.iso (tools for dos) does not work. Get Unable to locate the License Agreement file DLGLICE.TXT. Others have same error in google. It is bad enough to release drives that fail, but to release tools that make customer waste cd's while they are troubleshooting is INFURIATING. Been waiting over 3 days since I sent email. No response.
Overall Review: First I had a seagate 1.5 GB die within 1 week. The replacement seagate has been fine now for 1 month. The WD seemed OK but now is unreliable to boot. Quality these days from drive manufacturers is horrible. Note also I tested with two different sata controllers AHCI Mode Intel CH10R, and JMicron JMB363. Both have same problems. Just past RMA date so I will need to replace with WD. I just hope they do since WD tools (that I can only run from windows) seems to think the drive is fine.
Pros: Rock Solid, runs great. Great at stock voltage and default settings or if I tweak. Every speed I dial in passes memtest and prime95 just fine. Now this is more like my last DDR2 set of Reapers. Very pleased!
Cons: Had to RMA 1st set (as indicated in my previous review) to get these. The heat sinks cool VERY well, BUT be careful the could run into your heat sink. I am using COOLER MASTER GeminII S RR-CCH-PBU1-GP 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler and it "JUST" makes it.
Overall Review: Running on Asus p6t X58 Chipset, intel i7 920 Nehalem. Funny how increasing my memory speed now increases my CPU temps. I guess that's becuase the memory controller is on the CPU.
Pros: About 30% verify OK.
Cons: About 70% have sections that are unreadable. I have tried burning with LG, Pioneer, and Lite-On. Tried @ 2.4x, 4x, etc. All have same failure rates so has to be media.
Overall Review: I've been using Ridata DL's for a while now and I used to have about 90% success rate. The latest batch I got of these 8x are way worse than normal. I'll just go back to the 4x or 2.4x. I even have one disc I burned in my pioneer. The pioneer won't read it, nor will my LG. But my Lite-On reads it fine and the Lite-on verified the data was the same.
Pros: A BIG HTPC case that can fit a good Video card for gaming, and easily fit a full size mobo. The rubber screw cushions in the HD cage are a nice touch for buffering the Hard drives. I am using the two 80mm fans that came with it, and they are nice and quiet. Excellent ventilation with spots for two 120mm fans up front and two 80mm fans in the back. My front USB and SD card ports work fine. The case feels very heavy, sturdy, and well built. It looks like it belongs in the living room
Cons: The two front 120mm fan cages are steel and are very tight. It was VERY difficult to get my cooler master 120mm fans in there. I did not use the One 120mm that came with the case. Still When I bought this case I did not even know they existed and I am glad they are there to keep my hard drives nice and cool so I won't detract from the score. The dim red HD activity light is almost impossible to see from the front outside of the case. I thought it was broken until I realized it glows brightly from inside the case. Still not a big deal, so I am not detracting from my rating.
Overall Review: If you want a nice big HTPC case to watch videos AND game on this case fits the bill nicely. I am using a GIGABYTE GV-R485MC-1GI Radeon HD 4850 1GB and it fits perfectly.
Pros: It works! I know you might expect that in this day and age, but I ordered the 1.5 terabyte Seagate "cheaper" hard drive" and had nothing but head aches with it. So I tested the heck out of this thing before installing ANYTHING, and it all passes with flying colors. Lots of space, quiet, and fast for me.
Cons: Well if anything the price is higher than the seagate, but this isn't really a con becuase it works! It's well worth the extra bucks to keep my sanity.
Overall Review: I will buy Western Digital again.
Pros: Small. Incredibly thin and light. Awesome for an HTPC. USB connector can actually sit underneath keyboard when not in use. No "EXTRA" annoying buttons that launch apps I did not want to. USB Connector truly is wireless. Nice feel for such a small keyboard. Good Price for what you get.
Cons: My battery cover doesn't seem to click securely. A couple of times when I grabbed keyboard it came loose. Still not a big deal. If it bothers me enough in the future some tape will hold it.
Overall Review: I bought this for an HTPC and I am extemely happy with it.
Pros: 1 Stick worked at Default BIOS Settings which ran it at CAS 7 even though marked as CAS 9. Memtest passed fine.
Cons: 2nd Stick was DOA. Would not boot with stick in 1st slot by itself. Tried lowering CAS, etc. to no avail, The stick is dead. 3rd stick would only pass memtest if I forced 9-9-9 in bios, even though Asus P6T wanted it to run at CAS 7 by default.
Overall Review: With a triple channel set I would expect each stick to behave the same. My past experience with OCZ has been good, so I am hoping I just got a bad batch. Time to RMA. Will review the next set when I get'em.
- External Link(s):
- OCZ Support Forums
Pros: Faster than my 8800gt. ATI Overdrive software is very easy to use and lets me create profiles that allow me to control fan/card speed. Length is shorter than my 8800gt.
Cons: In my opinion, the fan is to Noisy at stock for desktop use. I was surprised by this since it uses a dual slot cooler. Luckily it is very ez to set up different profiles using ATI overdrive and by editing the following file - C:\Documents and Settings\LongInName\Local Settings\Application Data\ATI\ACE\Profiles\MyProfileName.xml I was able to create a desktop profile that set the fan to 1% fan speed. At 1% I still idle at 50c. I also have a gaming profile where I crank up the fan speed and of course core speed.
Overall Review: Overall I am happy with my purchase. For price/performance the HD4850 is good. In same system Q9450 with Intel X38 Chipset; 13748 3DMarks with 8800gt Stock, 14057 3DMarks with HD4850 Stock, 15272 HD4850 after automated OC.
Pros: I just bought a 16GB SDHC Adata Card and it would not work with my printers SD Slot. So I took a gamble and bought this. Figured at least I'd get a 2GB Flash card in case it didn't work. Well it does and the reader is very nice. Highly recommend. You get a cool Flash reader and a 2Gb Flash card. Awesome Deal for the price.
Cons: None.
Pros: Cheap, and works good. Happy with purchase. Lots of space.
Cons: None
Overall Review: Upgraded from 4GB which cost me over 100$ a couple years ago to this. awesome. I wish all products would drop in price like this.
Pros: Have had it over a year and has worked great. Stays cool. Metal case is nice to dissipate any heat. Probably why it doesn't get hot. And I am using almost all ports on this guy.
Cons: Port 5 is acting flakey that last month or so. Just plugged in a device into port 5 no light or connectivity. Plug it in to port 7 works fine. Repeat same behavior. All my ports are full and live. Wondering if it's cuz it's to busy? If it was that then why does port 7 work fine?
Overall Review: I still say it's a good value have had it over a year and a 1/2 and it's worked fine. Speed has been fast. Just wish port 5 would work. Might be time to by another switch. Maybe I need 16 ports.