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Sandy K.

Sandy K.

Joined on 02/21/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 34
Most Favorable Review

Cool and Quiet

TOSHIBA MK5055GSX 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5" Notebook Hard Drive Bare Drive
TOSHIBA MK5055GSX 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5" Notebook Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Runs a touch cooler than the WD160 and WD500 drive. Not very expensive.

Cons: None so far, might be a touch slower than a WD 500GB drive but not by much.

Overall Review: Works fine so far, hopefully it'll be durable.

Most Critical Review

Poor design choices

Rosewill RLDL-11001 3W LED Desk Lamps - 240 Lumens, 5000K
Rosewill RLDL-11001 3W LED Desk Lamps - 240 Lumens, 5000K

Pros: It's very sleek looking and has good light output and low power. Got a good price on it.

Cons: Poor choices for the upper hinged lamp head. The screw will not fix the head of the lamp. The head flops about flimsily. I took that joint apart and inserted some masking tape to increase the clamping force of the screw to the head. It has helped but it really needs a few rubber washers for more friction. The other thing I really hate about it is the power switch is on the underside of the lamp head, the weakest part of the whole lamp. I wished it would've been on the neck or the base itself. Also, the power button is small so if you're using it on the night stand, you really have to grope for it.

Overall Review: I'm thinking of rewiring it and adding a large and proper switch on the base.

10/18/2012

Worked but not perfect

APRICORN ASW-USB3-25 USB3.0 to SATA Adapter
APRICORN ASW-USB3-25 USB3.0 to SATA Adapter

Pros: Pretty easy to use and works somewhat(see cons). Able to change from hard drive to 4K alignment for SSD. Worked successfully USB 2.0 mode. Copying from USB 3.0 port generated speeds from 70-120MB/s from HD to SSD but copy generated errors. Only about 12MB/s in USB 2.0 mode.

Cons: Using the USB3.0 was unsuccessful. It kind of worked as it said it copied everything over but started generated read and write errors after the after the initial copy. I could not get it to work in USB 3.0, only when I plugged it into the USB 2.0 did it work without error. I was using the new A8 APU on my laptop with an AMD USB 3.0 host controller.

Overall Review: At first I had installed the blank SSD into the laptop and took the hard drive to be copied out of laptop. Plugged hard drive into USB 3.0 and it didn't work as it generated read error. Reversed the setup and it generated write errors. Finally used the USB 2.0 and it completed successfully. Copied from 5400rpm Hitachi drive to Crucial M4 256GB drive. One thing I should have done was flash the M4 firmware from version 001 to 002 before all of this. Not sure if it would've fixed the funniness with the errors.

Great in some areas but could be better

Cooler Master Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Cooler Master Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Reasonable cost. Sideways mounted hard drive bay allows more room for graphics card and easier hard drive access. Extra front/top USB port. Tool-less design. Good length on front panel USB and audio cable.

Cons: As mentioned earlier, tight area for cable management. The need to slide BOTH side of the case off to insert/remove hard drives. Not that much room to manage hard drive cables. Case is noisier than my Antec 300 case(slight vibration emanating from the side panel). Not that much room underneath the top 140mm fan(8 pin CPU power connector somewhat close to fan). Not that much room to install side fan in side of case above tall CPU coolers.

Overall Review: Still a reach for bottom mount power supply to get to the 8 pin CPU power connector(not necessarily the case fault). I wish the case was about half an inch wider and taller to avoid the above mentioned issues. Wish I could've given 4.5 eggs but falls closer to 4 eggs than 5.

Works great

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

Pros: Reasonable price and good performance. Worked well on Asus P8P67 Deluxe right out of the gate once installed correctly.

Cons: It's not free.

Overall Review: At first I thought I had a problem, turns out I had the DIMMS in the wrong set of slots on the MB.

Nice cooler but

ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED
ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED

Pros: Nice looking cooler. "Upgraded" from the copper 9900. Idle temps around 35C for i7-2600K, loaded temps around 56C.

Cons: I have an Asus P8P67 Deluxe and had to grind off one of the ears tabs meant for AMD processor on the back retainer bracket to clear the heat sink mounting screw on the Asus MB. I kinda miss having the fan shroud that was on the other 9900.

Overall Review: Used arctic silver grease at first and got 42C idle. Remounted and used Zalman's thermal grease now down to 35C.