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David F.

David F.

Joined on 10/19/02

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 17
Most Favorable Review

Highly Impressed

PowerColor Radeon HD 4830 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card AX4830 512MD3-H
PowerColor Radeon HD 4830 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card AX4830 512MD3-H

Pros: This card is outstanding for the price. I'm coming from crossfired Sapphire 3870's. It outperforms those in every respect. It's quieter than having two cards, produces less heat, and has less TDP. In every benchmark I looked through, it was JUST under the 4850 in performance, and equal or better than the crossfire 3870's. The games I play frequently are COD4, Far Cry 2, Battlefield 2, and UT3. All of these games play perfectly at 1680x1050 with AA and AF enabled. Far Cry 2 was especially impressive. It was like butter at all high settings, I don't think very high settings are even noticable compared to the performance difference. Anyways, games just don't scale well when utilizing crossfire. I find it better to use one capable GPU instead.

Cons: None. It was cheap, plays all the games I like perfectly, and it won't hurt to replace when the next best GPU comes out in 4 months.

Overall Review: My System: Phenom 9950(125w)@2.91GHz, 8GB A-Data DDR2 800, Gigabyte 790FX DS5 AM2+ Mobo, Powercolor 4830, Coolermaster Real Power Pro 650W PSU, 3 Seagate 250GB HD's with 16MB Cache.

11/12/2008
Most Critical Review

Not Compatible!

Test 033
Test 033

Pros: None, they weren't compatible with my cooking ability or my frying pans. I can't read and it's newegg's fault!

Cons: Everything. I would rather go to a box store and be led around by the nose. I like being told what to do and paying too much since I'm uninformed.

Overall Review: April fools! Newegg is the best for those of us with a bit of tech savvy and a large interest in eggcelent deals.

Great, inexpensive heatsink

Rosewill RCX-ZAIO-92 - 92mm Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler Fan
Rosewill RCX-ZAIO-92 - 92mm Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler Fan

Pros: Price is definitely a pro and this heatsink performs as well as Thermaltake and Artic Cooling tower heatsinks I've owned. I'm using this on a Phenom II X2 555 @ 3.7 Ghz. I was previously using an old black edition heatsink that came with the copper pipes. They both idle at ~32C, but the heat threshold on this one is much tighter. After an hour of playing on BFBC2 it was reading 43C using Everest ultimate edition. The old black edition heatsink would be nearly 10C higher after the same use.

Cons: The mounting bracket wasn't really an issue for me, but the fact that I have to face the fan blowing air either up or down is an issue with me. I would have liked to vent the air facing directly out the rear case fan. I'm also not sure why Rosewill chose to use a sleeve bearing rather than a ball bearing.

Overall Review: Overall I can't complain and I can look past the cons that I listed. Some others might not be able to, which is why I mentioned them. I'm happy and would buy again. It was packaged well and had no bent fins either.

Good looking Linksys product

Linksys E2000 Wireless Router Selectable Dual Band Gigabit 802.11a/b/g/n 2.4/5GHz up to 300Mbps
Linksys E2000 Wireless Router Selectable Dual Band Gigabit 802.11a/b/g/n 2.4/5GHz up to 300Mbps

Pros: This router was as easy to configure as all the previous Linksys routers I've owned. The web based configuration page is exactly the same as it has been for years with the inclusion of features specific to this model. Fast gigabit ports for wired connections and the wireless coverage is on par with my previous WRT-150n router.

Cons: I use a Linksys CM100 cable modem and this router was a bit slow to pick up the dns server addresses which led to slow internet speeds the first day I got it.

Overall Review: Just use the web based configuration page at 192.168.1.1 with the password admin. This router is no different to configure than any other Linksys router from the past, it's just faster with better hardware. People having problems with it should factor in themselves as part of the problem.

12/31/2010

ASRock makes good boards

ASRock 880GMH/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
ASRock 880GMH/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: I've used ASRock boards for my last 3 builds and they're affordable and reliable. The BIOS has a ton of features for customization and over clocking if that's your thing. BIOS upgrades are easily done through windows or the instant flash feature in the BIOS.

Cons: I've played with voltages and timings on my G.Skill Ripjaws memory,but I can't get it to run reliably at DDR3 1600 speeds. The memory was created for Intel chips, but usually with the right customization it doesn't matter. It's a minimal con though because it flies even at 1333 speeds with 7-7-7-24 timings and I can attribute this completely to the motherboard.

Overall Review: I bought this board so I could switch over to DDR3 memory and USB 3.0. I gear my system towards low power quiet operation. I have an Athlon II 3.0 ghz cpu and it really responded well to the use of DDR3 memory. Quad and hexacore processors are nice, but this dual core is like a turbocharged 4cyl. It's more than enough for most people.

12/26/2010

So happy with it I had to write a review

AMD Athlon II X2 250 - Athlon II X2 Regor Dual-Core 3.0 GHz Socket AM3 65W Processor - ADX250OCGQBOX
AMD Athlon II X2 250 - Athlon II X2 Regor Dual-Core 3.0 GHz Socket AM3 65W Processor - ADX250OCGQBOX

Pros: Fast, lower TDP, cool temps, great performance. I'm actually going backwards technologically and I'm happy about it. I removed my Phenom 9950 BE that was OC'd @ 3.0 ghz and popped this chip in for greater energy efficiency. This processor actually feels faster in Windows 7 and I think it's due to most programs with multiprocessor support being coded for dual core CPU's.

Cons: The stock heatsink is sufficient, but using ANYTHING else is better. I chose to use my stock Phenom heatsink with copper heatpipes and AS-5 instead. It keeps my processor temp @ 32C in 90F weather.

Overall Review: I have 4gb Kingston HyperX DDR2 1066, ASRock 780GMH motherboard, AMD Regor 250, and passively cooled HIS Radeon 5550 video card. I downgraded from a 4870 to save on enery costs. Kill A Watt readings report I'm saving about 100 watts at idle.