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Bobby C.

Bobby C.

Joined on 04/25/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 20
Most Favorable Review

Very nice, with minor issues.

Rosewill RCR-IC002 - 74-in-1 Internal Card Reader with USB 2.0 Ports & Extra Silver Face Plate - Fits 3.5" Drive Bay
Rosewill RCR-IC002 - 74-in-1 Internal Card Reader with USB 2.0 Ports & Extra Silver Face Plate - Fits 3.5" Drive Bay

Pros: Low cost & works perfectly. Black & silver face plates are provided. Blue power LED (always on) is less distracting then the red LED on other models... actually looks very nice.

Cons: Minor scratches on the face plates (both?). The hard wired cable is short, another 6" would have been nice, but I was able to get it to reach. Side mounting screws only, I needed bottom. The case pops open easily & the circuit board only occupies the front quarter, so I was able to drill & tap the bottom mounting screws that I required.

Overall Review: If the hard wired cord was a bit longer & if the face plates were protected better I'd give this item 5 eggs.

Most Critical Review

D.O.A. + OCZ RMA took forever!

PC Power & Cooling ZX Series 1000 Watt 80+ Gold Fully-Modular Active PFC Performance Grade ATX PC Power Supply (OCZ-ZX1000W)
PC Power & Cooling ZX Series 1000 Watt 80+ Gold Fully-Modular Active PFC Performance Grade ATX PC Power Supply (OCZ-ZX1000W)

Pros: [1] I like the modular power supply concept. Using only the cables you need is a good idea & it reduces clutter caused by unused cables. [2] The replacement power suppy worked!

Cons: [1]The motherboard main power cable & PCI-E cables have capacitors installed at the connector (not the power supply end) & are covered with stiff shrink tubing, which made the installation overly difficult... a real pain! [2] There was a very LOUD "pop", on the first power up!? The computer was dead, with the smell of something electrical burning. We reinstalled the original power supply, a Sliencer 750 Quad, & the computer operated normally. [3] The RMA thru OCZ support was a major hassle... lots of back & forth before OCZ support would authorize an RMA number so the defective power supply could be sent to them. The entire OCZ RMA process took nearly a month! [4] Due to the length of time all this took, we missed out on the OCZ rebate, plus add another $15 out of our pocket for the shipping back to OCZ. Yes, the return RMA shipping is paid by the sender... YOU! This has now become the most expensive power supply I've ever puchased!

Overall Review: I've built more computers than I can remember & I've never had a power supply blow up on the first power up. This experience made powering up the replacement power supply VERY spooky! I can't recommend this power supply & if I had it to do again, I'd go with a different brand.

Not perfect, but I'd buy another one!

Antec NSK 4482 Black / Silver 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 380W Power Supply
Antec NSK 4482 Black / Silver 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 380W Power Supply

Pros: I required a case that would accept a full size motherboard, with a small footprint (front to back) & this case was exactly what I was looking for! The lockable case only requires 2 thumb nuts to be removed to open it up. the chassis edges are rolled with very few sharp edges. Antec provided a power cord & lots of mounting hardware. Lots of room for cable routing & storage. The power & HDD activity LEDs are blue. The 2 front mounted USB ports are nice. There's also a front mounted mic & speaker jack.

Cons: The case front is a rough textured plastic & it scuffs too easily. The HDD activity LED is too small, difficult to see & I really don't care for the blue color. The case locking loop is too small for a standard size padlock. Don't pass up this case for thease minor issues. In my opinion, it's a top notch case!

Overall Review: I really don't care for the black color front, since my external drives are white or a light color... still... I'm getting used to it. I finally got tired of the "tiny" HDD activity LED, so I drilled it out & replaced it with a small yellow LED. Much better! I guess the grommet mounting for the HDD is a plus, but I've never had an issue with HDD noise?

10/15/2010

Some issues, but I'd buy another one!

BYTECC ME-535U2-BK Aluminum 5.25"/3.5" Black IDE USB 2.0 External Enclosure
BYTECC ME-535U2-BK Aluminum 5.25"/3.5" Black IDE USB 2.0 External Enclosure

Pros: (1) Solid metal case, just the front is plastic! (2) Fan cooling & the fan is very quiet. (3) The price is reasonable. 4 eggs for this review, since there were some issues. :)

Cons: (1) No instructions are provided, but most would do fine without any. (2) The front mounted LED is blue is for power on only & is very bright! (3) No drive activity LED is provided. (4) The mounting position for the hard disk drive is too close to the back & makes attaching/disconnecting the cables difficuilt. It was easy to lenghten the screw mounting slot to allow mouting the hard disk drive towards the front of the case. (5) The power supply is poorly assemblied. The thermo compund for the regulator was dried out, pretty much powder & useless, so I had to clean it off & apply some that I had on hand. (6) The bottom of the power supply circuit board is protected with 2 layers of plastic insulation. The top has only one thin layer. Much too thin, in my opinion, to prevent the circuit board from punching thru to the case cover. I replaced it with some thicker plastic that I had on hand. (7) The power cord & the USB cord are on the short side, not the standard length.

Overall Review: I bought this device to test & remove malware & viruses from hard disk drives. Other than the issues noted above, I like this device & I'd buy another one.

Need more storage? Get a MAGNUM!

Patriot Xporter Magnum 64GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) PEF64GMNUSB
Patriot Xporter Magnum 64GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) PEF64GMNUSB

Pros: Free shipping & $25 mail in rebate. Very good performance. Attractive & sturdy design. Solid Small portable storage device that easily fits into your pocket & offers a huge amount of storage capacity. It comes with a USB extension cable & a neck lanyard.

Cons: The price will sting, but the $25 mail in rebate helps. It's WIDE, so you may need to use the provided USB extension cable. The snap on cap feels tight now, but I suspect it will get loose.

Overall Review: The extruded aluminum case feels as nice as it looks! I've been very happy with Patriot memory, so I'm sure the MAGNUM will serve me well.

Very Nice Monitor!

ViewSonic FuHzion X Series VX2265wm Black 22" 3ms 120Hz 3D Ready Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1
ViewSonic FuHzion X Series VX2265wm Black 22" 3ms 120Hz 3D Ready Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1

Pros: This completes our Ultimate Gaming Computer! With its sleek modern looks, it's atreat to look at. This monitor replaced our 19" ViewSonic monitor & this one feels so much bigger, due to the 16:9 aspect ratio (widescreen). It works perfectly with our 2 EVGA GeForce GTX 280 SLI linked video cards. No problems running at 120Hz with Windows XP. My son says the on-line gaming is amazing!

Cons: Shiny surfaces show dust & finger prints. The pedestal is too skinny, so any table movement causes the screen to shake. It's hard to hide the rear cables with the skinny pedestal. I used some split tubing to hide the cables. No on screen display of volume or screen brightness, only the blue power LED flashes. Kinda hard to see where the setting is without the on screen display.

Overall Review: The monitor was shipped in the factory box. It wasn't even sealed, just a shipping sticker slapped on the side. Luckily, I was home, since UPS would have left it on the porch for anyone to take! Hence the reason for 4 & not 5 eggs.