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Brian T.

Brian T.

Joined on 11/16/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 4
Most Favorable Review

Heavy!

Thermalright Ultra-120 CPU Cooling Heatsink
Thermalright Ultra-120 CPU Cooling Heatsink

Pros: Very efficient cooling! Stock HSF ran at 41C idle on C2D E4300. Now at 28C w/Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Fan. Max load running TAT 47C. Awesome!

Cons: Do your homework on this...HSF is very heavy. Highly recommend extra support for top of HSF on vertically aligned MB's. I didn't kill my MB, but I think I just got lucky. I experienced MB flex failure after 2 weeks of unsupported HSF. I wired to the top of the case and no failures for 2+ days and counting. Keeping fingers crossed.

Overall Review: Cooling wise this is a great product worth every penny. From an engineering perspective it should have some additional support designed into it. The back plate works great, but PCB's just aren't designed to support this much weight on the end of a lever. It's simple physics.

Most Critical Review

It's Memory...

OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2N10662GK
OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2N10662GK

Pros: It was not DOA. Price.

Cons: Why tout your product as high end DDR2 1066 memory when it is nothing more than high end DDR2 667. Granted it OC'd to claimed speeds, but it took hours of tinkering to get it there.

Overall Review: Buyer beware: I read the reviews and I knew this RAM would need some testing to get it to rated speeds, but if you aren't willing to spend several hours modifying voltage, RAM timings and such then you'd be better served sticking with more user friendly memory.

Awesome 10K Drives...Still...

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Solid drives. I have six of these. I just retired my two WD36's due to size. Ran them 4+ years in 4 different machines. Never a problem. Been running two 74's in wifes machine for 2 years, no issues... bought two more 74's because the price was right.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Raid 0 rocks on these drives. SCSI drives are faster, but a real pain to set up and maintain.

Great Case

Antec Performance One P180 Silver cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Antec Performance One P180 Silver cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Very nice case. Fans very quiet on low/med settings. On high you can hear them, but not terribly loud. Lots of space, very few sharp edges. This thing is a beast, you won't be lugging it to LAN parties that is 4 sure!

Cons: Love the idea of removable drive bays, but the lower bay is very cramped. Had 2 Mod 2 keep wires out of fan. For the money spent on this case, would've been nice 2 have removable MB tray.

Overall Review: Overall, great case! Very conservative look, but looks nice (not 2 flashy). Once again, this thing is HEAVY! It's listed as a mid tower, but I've had full towers take up less real estate.