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Brian R.

Brian R.

Joined on 04/05/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 17
Most Favorable Review

iHAS B model confirmed

LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer - Bulk - 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model iHAS224-06 LightScribe Support
LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer - Bulk - 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model iHAS224-06 LightScribe Support

Pros: iHAS B model still being shipped. My Manufacture date is March 2012. Don't know if they are being made past that. If not get a 324 or higher if they go out of stock. Most if not all the iHas models will accept iXtreme Burner Max firmware.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Great for XGD3 burns. Will even let you use up all that space on your DL discs. As always burn with the best discs. Verbatim's all the way. You may get a bad burn in 1 of 100 if you're even that lucky.

Most Critical Review

Would've been nice if they worked.

LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model GH22NS30
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model GH22NS30

Pros: Installed Vista real Fast. Windows is Loading Files was there for about 10 secs. NewEgg is great as usual.

Cons: Well for starters, 1 drive looked like someone took a knife to it and carved out a piece of the bezel, or it was dropped. I could only use 1 drive at a time, as soon as I'd get to Windows 1 drive would lose power and neither would show in Windows. I even tried switichng SATA Power Plugs and even SATA Channels on my Board. No Go. The one with Damage was the only one of the 2 that would read my Vista OEM disc. Well I went to burn a DVD for some files I was backing up and low and behold it won't recognize any of my discs. I tried Ver***** and S*** and it would not see either saying I needed to put in a disc. I called NewEgg about the damaged one and they kindly issued me a refund to purchase another drive.

Overall Review: I bought 2 Sam**** drives instead and they both work beautifully. they're very quite compared to these. I can even use both at the same time in the same channels I tried these drives in.

Buffalo Quality

BUFFALO AirStation HighPower N300 Gigabit DD-WRT Wireless Router - WZR-300HP
BUFFALO AirStation HighPower N300 Gigabit DD-WRT Wireless Router - WZR-300HP

Pros: I have used this router now for just over 2 years and I have 0 complaints about it. It works flawlessly. This is the second Buffalo Router I have owned and have not been disappointed. It was a breeze to setup with the installed DDWRT Firmware despite not being very familiar with it. The interface is pleasant to deal with. Never had any issues with setup of any of my devices either. I have a PS4, 2 Desktops, an nVidia Shield table a Kindle HDX 8.9 and 2 LG G4's connected to the router typically and everything is always super fast with no hiccups. If you truly want a reliable router with a great warranty and a Support team that will stand behind the product, look no further than a Buffalo.

Cons: I wish I could find one.

Overall Review: I think my only regret would be not going with a Dual-Band, but at the time I was needing something on a budget and Dual-Band's were only starting to get popular and it was well more than twice the price. If I do ever decide to upgrade, it will once again be to another Buffalo Router. Buffalo routers tend to have this strange price increase over time. I got mine here from the Egg back in June of 2013 and it was 45 bucks. Now it's 160 bucks. Lol, Never understood this outside of it being perhaps a highly sought out product cause of Buffalo's DDWRT Support and the fact that they will in fact help you install it if you call or email their support. Honestly though, a company that will help you install aftermarket firmware on your device goes above and beyond.

Result's not typical.

SAPPHIRE FleX Radeon HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100312FLEX
SAPPHIRE FleX Radeon HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100312FLEX

Pros: Not really sure where to start, but it I knew full well I was getting a 6950 that may or may not unlock. Suffice to say my card has a Dual BIOS switch. It was in the No.2 position when I got it. Loaded up GPU Z 1408 Shaders, Shut down switched to position No.1 1536 Shaders. Using Sapphire Trixx I have the card running at 6970 Speeds, and under load does not go about 60c with the fan at 40%. Compared to my 512MB 4870 this is no contest. I could barely play Deus Ex: Human Revolution with no AA on, and now I can play with AA, SSAO, and DoF all @ 1080p at 60+ on Phenom 2 X3 720 @ 3.z on air.

Cons: Absolutely cannot complain.

Overall Review: Thank you Sapphire for sticking to your guns and making quality product based off AMD designs and not being cheap. This is why you guys have been making card's since the old days.

Best Size and Performance for the $$$

Western Digital Black WD1501FASS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Western Digital Black WD1501FASS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Well where can I begin. 117MB/s avg in HDtune 11.1ms (12.0ms rated) Max rate was 149 MB/s, and min. was 83MB/s I have 2 640 WD Blacks and in RAID 0 they get 145MB/s Avg. and Max 190-210MB/s. Min is odd likely due to the RAID controller.

Cons: None as of yet.

Overall Review: Will see about longevity in a year or so. Hopefully won't have to worry about this as I have had my 2 640's going strong for a little over 18 months now. WD really turned around after a dry spell for a few years when Seagate took the top dog slot. So glad to see WD kicking tail and taking names again.

Awesome Board!

GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: Well for starters I really like the layout but the only nitpic would be the Clear CMOS button on the board. My 4870 almost touches it. Thankfully though the way it fit in my case puts it a few mm's away from it, and kind of elevated so there's no accidental chance. The board has a great and many options in the BIOS for OC'ing as well. It's got My Phenom II 720 BE oc'ed to 2.5 with a .025V bump. Not bad at all. See My 720 review to see what Fan I was using. Oh yeah the colors are, well, pretty I guess. I really wanted this board for the 10 SATA 3Gbs. I'll prolly never use em all but it there for that "If". I'm likely never to use more than 2 Vid Cards so the 2 PCIE 2.0 are more than enough for me, and they don't block the only PCI I use for my old X-Fi Xtrememusic. Once again great board great layout. Good Future Proofing, of course that's until SATA III comes out this summer and USB 3.0 next year.

Cons: My only qualm was the way a few things are set in the BIOS, of course this was due to me not thoroughly reading the manual. I couldn't get my RAM at the correct timings till I read the manual about the 10th time and saw the DDR3 Voltage. Now it works properly. Not really a con but wish it would show differently in the BIOS.

Overall Review: Gigabyte's Tech Support is awesome. Same day Response. Had to wait a few day though cause I emailed them late Friday, but I got a response early Monday.