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Andrew C.

Andrew C.

Joined on 10/29/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 4
Most Favorable Review

Great for gaming but..

ViewSonic 19" Active Matrix, TFT LCD SXGA LCD Monitor 2 ms D-Sub, DVI-D X Series VX922
ViewSonic 19" Active Matrix, TFT LCD SXGA LCD Monitor 2 ms D-Sub, DVI-D X Series VX922

Pros: Not much I can say that hasn't already been repeated throughout all the previous reviews. For gaming, this LCD is awesome. As an average computer user and gamer the colors are very nice, bright, and vibrant. No ghosting, everything just seems very nice and crisp. No height adjustment, not a big problem.

Cons: I'm surprised that I may be one of the few to say this but the the viewing angles of this monitor are pretty bad. Now I don't have a ton of experience with LCD's except this one, the LCD's I deal with at work, with friends, and what I see at the stores but this LCD really does have pretty bad viewing angles. (Especially for the price paid, would want to give a 3-4 out of 5 egg rating) The colors will definitely distort past a small angle any direction from directly in front of the screen. I've compared mine to others of the same model and seen same to similar results. It harder to see the color distortion in a brightly lit room but very noticable in a dark room (like when watching a movie) For example the color white at a certain angle, the hue turns to a yellow/orangish white rather than staying a nice constant white.

Overall Review: I don't want to mislead anyone with this review into thinking this monitor isn't great but more or less just want to warn people that I feel this LCD does have its faults. So for gamers that want a quality LCD I say go for it but for those that may use their monitors for watching movies or in similar situations where you or other people may not be situated directly in front of the screen, I wouldn't recommend this monitor. (I use dvi inputs, nvidia 6 series video card, using latest drivers, but I haven't run through any color adjustment/correcting programs) I hope this helps.

Most Critical Review

Not bad but will soon be dated

XFX GeForce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Support Graphics Card PVT43GNDF3
XFX GeForce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Support Graphics Card PVT43GNDF3

Pros: Low price, good to decent performance for current games, fast clock speeds. Plays all older games flawlessly. Overclocks decently. Great for those on a budget. Quality of card seems just fine. Card isn't huge and power hungry. (no additional power connectors necessary) Gaming aside it handles everything else just fine also.

Cons: In my opinion the fan is really loud. Four 120mm fans in my case running at low rpms and this card's fan is by far the loudest thing in there, not to say it's unbearable but its not quiet. When it comes to gaming it's already showing signs of age. 128MBs of memory really hurts when it comes to current and future games.

Overall Review: If you are a gamer on a really tight budget and don't mind sacrificing pure eye candy for gameplay, this card isn't a bad choice. But if you have the $ I'd say spend a bit more for the 7 series or the 6800GS or the ati equivalents. I dont believe it'd be a great value to put 2 of these into sli mode in the future but I haven't tried so I wouldn't really know what to expect. All in all I'm satisfied with the quality of this product. asus a8n sli amd 64 3000 venice core, oced 1 GB geil value

Works very well

Thermalright XP-120 CPU Cooling Heatsink
Thermalright XP-120 CPU Cooling Heatsink

Pros: Agree with most the previous reviews- -Great heat dissipation -Easy to mount fan clips -Some reviews say its heavy. Of all the 120mm fan compatible heatsinks this one always surprises in size and weight, I thought it was very light. -It low profile construction and weight also put very little lateral stress on the motherboard. -Little rubber strips included to prevent fan vibration is a plus

Cons: -Like other reviews state, it's installation can be somewhat of pain. I also thought I was going to crush the cpu if I did not pre-bend the mounting clips a bit. (The instruction manual clarified installation but I think everyone had their own way of installing this thing, I used the central heatpipes as a sort of handle to help mount this thing, don't know if that was a good idea =P) -Its low profile design do not help in ease of installation and its compatibility to various motherboards -The fan mounting clips while easy to use does limit choice of fan selection without use of imagination -For a heatsink it's pretty expensive.

Overall Review: Great heat dissipation but as with all air cooling the ambient tempurature of the room your computer is in heavily weighs how well air cooled heatsinks will work. (hottest my cpu temp reached was 40C idle but I blame the fact my room was extremely warm (amd 64 3000 venice core oced)) After installing this heatsink (Asus a8n-sli) there was barely any clearance room for the memory but it did install and as a plus the 120mm fan now cools everything, including that 1 stick of memory, around the cpu. Solid construction, definitely would recommend a different thermal grease than what is included. Plus I think the heatsink itself just has a great style to it. And why is the Thermalright sticker included so big? =P

Its got style but..

LIAN LI Classical Silent PC-767 Silver/Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
LIAN LI Classical Silent PC-767 Silver/Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Comments: While in my opinion this is a beautiful case it was tough to choose whether to give this case a 3 or 4 out of 5. This being my third Lian Li case I had high expectations. Starting with the good, the care put into the construction of this case is second to none. The superb craftsmanship and sheer elegance is something I’ve come to trust when purchasing a Lian Li case. The all aluminum build has a solid and cool feel and in no way does it feel flimsy anywhere on the case. The two 120mm fans work great and the adjustable speed is definitely a plus though on its highest setting it is quite loud. The bad (mostly nitpicking), the ease of use and certain design implications for this case seems somewhat uncharacteristic of Lian Li. For some the lack of a removable motherboard tray would be a negative but for me it is not all that necessary. What annoyed me a bit was the placement/design/ease of use for the front fan/hardrive rack. Not that I’d be swapping hardrives very often but the mesh air filter is attached to the rack and it really is a pain to clean unlike the Lian Li PC-65. To get to the rack and air filter you must remove both side panels and take out 8 screws. Too much work to just clean a filter but then again I am just nitpicking. Another nitpick, the perforated front bezels. I would think that perforated front bezels would generally cut down the overall airflow in the case considering it has two 120mm fans cycling air in and out of it. Just to note, some people may have problems with the cable lengths from the power supply to parts of the motherboard or others due to the “inverse” or “reverse” ATX design where the motherboard is installed upside down. In my case I had to order certain extension for my power supply to reach areas to the motherboard. (specifically: Seasonic S12-600 ps, Asus A8N SLI Premium, the location of the ATX 4pin would barely reach since the mobo is mounted upside down the connector rather than being at the top was at the bottom, in no way is this anyone’s fault but my own for not researching this) So the good: It’s beautiful (simplistic and is elegant), construction is top-notch, decent cooling system, two 120mm fans work well, good amount of space to deal with inside, implements “inverse” design. The bad: The hardrive rack and air filter are a pain to get to. No motherboard tray. Perforated front bezels can lead to questionable airflow. It’s expensive. “inverse” design may lead to certain issues with ps cable length. In all honesty though, I got this case cause it just looks extremely nice. =P Newegg is awesome as always.

11/10/2005