Joined on 04/28/08
Excellent Mid-Level Card
Pros: Easy installation. Only took up one slot in my machine. So far, it has run everything that I have thrown at it. Left for Dead on high/max. Call of Duty I and II on high. F.E.A.R, Dead Space, and Burnout Paradise nearly maxed out. My monitor only supports up to 1280x1024 and the card is pushing everything through at that resolution. This isn't a true gaming card, but for the price as an onboard-video replacement, you can't beat it.
Cons: Had a problem with screen flicker/warbling with an older flat-panel attached to the card. Used the included adapter to plug it into the DVI output and it was perfect. Fan is slightly loud, but my PC was dead silent prior to upgrade - so much so that I thought that the case/CPU fans didn't work at all. When I cracked the case I found that they were running. So, really the VGA fan isn't loud, I'm just spoiled.
Overall Review: Bumped my Windows Experience for Graphics and Gaming Graphics from 3.7 and 3.0 to 5.9 and 5.7 respectively - if you believe that particular Microsoft load of...... Build is: Core 2 Quad Q6600 4G Ram 9500GT
Great CPU - Lousy cooler
Pros: - Easy to install. - Runs without problems. - Eight cores! - Haven't overclocked yet (see Cons) but given how easy the last AMD core was to do so I expect it will work just fine. - Inexpensive. - Will probably warm my toes in the winter.
Cons: - I'm knocking two eggs off for the lousy cooler/fan. - Makes my office noticeably warmer in the summer. - Cooler does NOT keep up with cooling under load.
Overall Review: This DOES NOT have the wraith cooler. You've read the other reviews and are thinking you can live with a little fan noise. You can't. It's not a fan-in-the-window hum. It's a toddler-with-an-ear-infection-on-an-airplane scream. It is a relentless, earworm howl. Unless you are planning to put your computer in a busy restaurant or construction site, do yourself a favor and buy a better cooler.
Great Cooler
Pros: A great, inexpensive cooler that's easy to install. The more Rosewill stuff I buy, the more impressed with them I am. The packaging, while it doesn't really matter, was surprisingly professional - not just a brown box. The instructions were clearly written, in proper English, with pictures. It's a cooler, and pretty self-explanatory, but someone at Rosewill took the time to do them properly. The heat sink is big! The cooler snapped right on the clips, the speed-adjust knob went right into a PCI slot, the cables hooked right up. I replaced a fairly good (or so I thought) non-stock cooler. There's a grill over the fan blades of the Rosewill so you can't stick your fingers into it and break the blades - which is why I had to replace the other one. At idle, this fan knocked my temps down from 46* to 36* running at about 65% of its total speed (according to Conky.) I transcoded a movie to put it under load and it didn't go over 65*. The former cooler would let it get to nearly 95* doing the same job.
Cons: It can get a little loud. Not sure where they got their decibel readings, but the cooler that I replaced (which was listed as louder in its product description) was quieter than the Rosewill with the Rosewill running at full speed. However, Since I don't seem to need to run it that fast, it's actually quieter and there's some overhead for adjustment in case I do something REALLY intensive. When it is running at full speed it's a healthy loud - no rattles, or vibrations, or shakes.
Overall Review: It's worth much more than its price would indicate.
Fatastic little tablet
Pros: High-res screen for a 7" tablet. Snappy response on the screen. Great color. Plays movies flawlessly. Most games run great. Loads apps very quickly. The OS just makes sense.
Cons: Don't care for the intrusiveness of Google - but it's a 'Droid. Some wirelss issues at first (see Other Thoughts). Could use the Back, Home, etc "Hard Buttons." A bit dark in bright light, but usuable. None of these are dealbreakers.
Overall Review: This is a 'cheap' droid. If you expect it to behave and perform like a tablet priced at 3X as much, then your at fault. Although I use it often, it truly belongs to my 11-year old daughter, and she's tickled. Wireless problems turned out to be my old Westell router from Verizon. They shipped me a new one (in one day) and it worked flawlessly on it. Speeds are right where they should be. When I was troubleshooting the wireless problems, I call Avatar's tech support. Phone rang twice, then ... wait for it ... someone picked up. No phone tree, no menus, no waiting. I was blown away. They tech was nice, knowlegeable, and pointed me in the right direction. I see myself buying more from this manufacturer.
Works as Advertised
Pros: Cheap. Easy to install. Drivers loaded fine. Gives you the option to load ONLY the drivers without an idiotic, useless, archaic control panel. Reception is solid at 40 feet away.
Cons: Uses a mini-CD for the drivers.
Got What I Paid For
Pros: CHEAP! They work. They're fast when they burn. Got them in less than 24 hours. NewEgg listened - they were packaged perfectly. No scratches, no looseys.
Cons: Okay, the absence of a label is a pain. NO SPINDLE!
Overall Review: For $.10 per disc, I'll take them. If you figure out which end is which before you open them, and don't cut off the wrapper the whole way, they are perfect.