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Kasey S.

Kasey S.

Joined on 09/29/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Good mid range card if you can get it

ASRock Steel Legend Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB GDDR6 PCI Express 5.0 x16 Graphics Card RX9070XT SL 16G
ASRock Steel Legend Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB GDDR6 PCI Express 5.0 x16 Graphics Card RX9070XT SL 16G

Pros: - I was able to actually buy it - Only 17% above MSRP - Decent upgrade over my old GPU - Games great in Linux (arch), 200+ fps in Satisfactory - Switch to turn off LEDs - Okay ray tracing in case a game only runs with RT (stupid game studio decision imo)

Cons: - white, clashes with my build, still happy to have it - highest end AMD is currently making, still mid range - newegg reserving most of these for combo deals

Overall Review: This review reflects the current state of the market, which sucks. I got lucky to catch this card in stock. 15 minutes after I ordered it, it was sold out. The cost is 17% or 100 more than MSRP, which sucks. But it beats the price of most any other version of this card which seems average closer to 45-50% more. I've been checking back on this listing since my order. The few times I've seen it back in stock has only been in combos. I wouldn't buy those. Very lame of you, Newegg. If the AI bubble weren't gobbling up every silicon wafer it could, we wouldn't have such an extreme shortage of GPUs. Then this card would be mid at best -- not worth its MSRP, much less the extra I paid for it. But as it stands today, this is a good deal if you can catch it in stock.

Most Critical Review

Meh

WD Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
WD Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: 1TB of Storage, seems reliable so far.

Cons: Slow - The rest of my system maxes out the Windows Experience score, but this part stinks up the score with a 5-ish. SATA-II, not SATA-III - The BIOS says it's SATA-II. Not usable in a RAID - Could not enable TLER with this drive.

Overall Review: I'm completely unimpressed with the speed. Neither is the Windows Experience score. I could not get the BIOS to detect this thing as SATA-III. I thought it could have been a BIOS bug until I read where some of these are really SATA-II. I haven't tried a firmware update yet. WD disabling TLER on these is just a cold business decision. WD thinks hobbyists will pay an extra premium to use RAID-0 and RAID1. Sorry, but I'm going to avoid WD in the future now. (And not long after they won me back since I avoided them after the series of bad batches years ago.) Unfortunately, others in the industry might follow suit and we will be stuck paying the extra premium for hobbyist raid, but I'll still avoid the one who started it. Especially since they changed a product line (Black) that they used to recommend for hobbyist RAIDs to be worse than useless in that circumstance. Some of us found out too late. They at least could have done us the courtesy of releasing it as a new product line.

Convenient if it weren't so loud

Rosewill RXC525-2B, 2-Port 2.5" & 3.5" SATA HDD / Mobile rack for 5.25" Bay
Rosewill RXC525-2B, 2-Port 2.5" & 3.5" SATA HDD / Mobile rack for 5.25" Bay

Pros: - Convenient for tech work - testing/wiping/imaging hard drives - Nice design (lockable, swing-open doors, indicator LEDs, colors)

Cons: - Fan is loud (high-pitched whine), no adjustments - Molex power connector... for SATA drives? - Non-standard mounting screws (they are included tho) - Feels a bit flimsy, but haven't broken it yet

Overall Review: - Trying for a silent PC. The fan in this bay is louder than anything else in my computer, and even makes a distinct high-pitched sound. The fan is permanent on with no adjustment (or off) available. I had to unplug it. Removing the side panel to restore power to this bay defeats the purpose of hot swap. With this fan, there really should have been an off-switch included. In my use case, the bay will be empty most of the time anyway. - Since this is a SATA bay, it would only make sense for this to take SATA power. But it takes molex power. This bay is the only reason I have a molex cable plugged into my modular power supply, and there is a SATA power connector dangling near the bay. I will probably get a SATA power to molex adapter so I can get rid of the molex run. - This drive takes non-standard (smaller-diameter fine-thread) screws. My case came with thumb screws for 5.25" drives for tool-less install/removal. I have them on my optical drive, but I couldn't use them with this bay because of it's oddball size.

Price vs Performance

Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD5000HHTZ 500GB 10000 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD5000HHTZ 500GB 10000 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: This drive is noticeably faster than my previous hybrid hard drive. This drive scratches the performance itch without demolishing the wallet. This drive also provides audible feedback when it is doing work (see also Cons).

Cons: This drive is louder than most hard drives. There is no confusion as to whether the hard drive is in use; you can always hear it. It's not loud enough to be a nuisance in my (large) system, but some people will not like it.

Overall Review: This looks like an oversized laptop hard drive with the rest of the space in the 3.5" form factor filled with a huge heat sink. This drive is not an SSD. Decent SSDs are at least twice as fast, use less energy, are potentially less stable (my experience), and cost at least 3x as much. Until the mfg costs come down on SSDs, this drive will enjoy the niche of "economical performance".

Nice Monitor

ASUS VH226H Black 21.5" HDMI Widescreen 16:9 Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 12000:1 (1000:1) Built in Speakers
ASUS VH226H Black 21.5" HDMI Widescreen 16:9 Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 12000:1 (1000:1) Built in Speakers

Pros: Pixel density, HDMI

Cons: 1 stuck pixel in the center. NewEgg issued an RMA and replaced it! Second one didn't have any dead/stuck pixels.

Overall Review: I was really afraid they weren't going to replace it after reading all the reviews, but they did without hesitation.

Great Case

Cooler Master CAVALIER 3 CAV-T03-UK Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Cooler Master CAVALIER 3 CAV-T03-UK Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Nice looks, super easy to add/remove cards or drives. Toolless is the way to go for cases. I've built probably 3 or 4 computers with these cases, and they have been great. Whenever I build a new one, I always try to get this case.

Cons: It would be nice if the retention mechanisms provided more retention, but they work, and I've not had any break.

Overall Review: I would recommend this case to anyone.