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Nordic I.

Nordic I.

Joined on 07/28/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 8
Most Favorable Review

Amazing

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition - Phenom II X2 Callisto Dual-Core 3.1 GHz Socket AM3 80W None Integrated Graphics Processor - HDZ550WFGIBOX
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition - Phenom II X2 Callisto Dual-Core 3.1 GHz Socket AM3 80W None Integrated Graphics Processor - HDZ550WFGIBOX

Pros: Fast and cool. Running mine at 3.8ghz, 1.4v on a NVIDIA 8300 motherboard with a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme. Under full load, it hits a whopping 40c. Cool n' Quiet still works too, meaning it goes from 800mhz 1.0v, to 3.8ghz 1.4v with no issues.

Cons: No amount of extra voltage seems to help it get to 4.0ghz, but that's pretty normal for these cores. I'm still happy with 3.8ghz.

Overall Review: Because the setup is so flexible and I'm able to run my RAM faster, it actually beats out my Core 2 Duo E8400 at 3.6ghz in Cinebench rendering, among other things.

Most Critical Review

Failing like hotcakes

Seagate BarraCuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Seagate BarraCuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Big, fast drive.

Cons: I've seen more than 5 in a row of these fail. At first the operating temperatures were to blame, as they were reaching 47c or so in a NAS enclosure. Now, the three newest RMA returns are never over 34c and are still throwing errors like crazy. Also, we had one DOA. One just shut down and didn't come back, the other two have over 1 million ECC-corrected errors in just a couple of days with very little data moved over. I'm reading the SMART status from inside Linux, smartctl -A /dev/sd_.

Overall Review: There is something seriously wrong with this series. Even though Green Powers aren't as fast, they'll have to be fast enough because I'm replacing everything Seagate 1.5TB.

Not so great

Cisco Small Business 100 Series SF100D-05-NA Smart 5-Port Desktop Switch
Cisco Small Business 100 Series SF100D-05-NA Smart 5-Port Desktop Switch

Pros: Works well with everything but Intel NICs.

Cons: We have several network drops per hour with these plugged into any Intel NIC, whether it be the new NUC, an Intel Desktop Board, etc. Not really acceptable.

Overall Review: I can't decide whether to contact Intel or Cisco with this issue. We've proven it time and time again, but who do you call? I think for now we'll stay away from these switches and get some cheaper ones that work.

Poor power supply

CORSAIR CX Series CX430 430W 80 PLUS BRONZE Active PFC ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply
CORSAIR CX Series CX430 430W 80 PLUS BRONZE Active PFC ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply

Pros: This power supply looks great and has the right connectors. I like the zip ties it comes with, and the black screws.

Cons: Corsair changed this power supply around 6 months ago. We were selling them for years, and then all of a sudden they changed for the worse. There is a very annoying whine from every single one we've purchased, caused by a grounding issue inside. They caused Asus' and Intel's software to report bad 3.3v on a regular basis, and Asus' Anti-surge protection software on their newer motherboards will get triggered with these. Intel DQ67EP's won't stay off when the RST software is installed with this power supply. We've also had 3 or so DOAs out of around 50, and one or two that are just a little sketchy in the field, randomly powering off and staying off until they chill out for a couple hours. Then they seem fine for another month or so and it happens again. I wish Corsair had stayed with the version 1 of this power supply, I'd still be selling it if they hadn't gone cheap on it.

Overall Review: Stay away, unless you enjoy instability and noise.

11/16/2011

Great little guy

ASUS Eee PC EPC1000HE-BLK005X Fine Ebony Intel Atom N280(1.66 GHz) 10.0" WSVGA 1GB Memory 160GB HDD Netbook
ASUS Eee PC EPC1000HE-BLK005X Fine Ebony Intel Atom N280(1.66 GHz) 10.0" WSVGA 1GB Memory 160GB HDD Netbook

Pros: Quick little Atom, have mine running at 1.9ghz now with setfsb. Gets a 2.4 in Windows 7 with the CPU and the Graphics being the slowest, but the hard drive is a respectable 5.4 and memory 4.7. For such a little package, it gets awesome 4+ hour battery life under pretty heavy use.

Cons: The initial partitioning scheme was a little strange, but I wiped it clean and installed Windows 7 anyways. Went with the somewhat-supported 7000 build, and it works great. Installed touchpad drivers and LAN drivers from the XP packages to get full multi-touch and on-board NIC.

Overall Review: Do make sure you've got some way to get an optical hooked up in case of an issue. I used a USB -> SATA adapter like Sabrent's (# N82E16812156014), plus a SATA DVD burner I had left over from another build. That total cost new is less than 50 bucks.

Flimsier than it used to be

APEX TX-373 Black Steel Micro ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 300W Power Supply
APEX TX-373 Black Steel Micro ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 300W Power Supply

Pros: Light-weight, easy cable management, everything is where it's supposed to be.

Cons: We ordered 3 of these for a customer, and every one was beat up in the exact same place. Apex needs better packaging!

Overall Review: The cases used to be more robust if I remember correctly. I'll give it another shot, but don't get this if you need it tomorrow.