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Darren P.

Darren P.

Joined on 03/09/02

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 22
Most Favorable Review

Perfect for Old Dell Inspiron 530

ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink

Pros: Price Quality Packaging

Cons: Big, but not too big Loud at 100%

Overall Review: I just installed this in my Dell Inspiron Desktop with a Q6600 2.4Ghz overclocked to 3Ghz. Wow, it's running at 10C cooler and the fan bolted right into the mainboard with no need to remove it! So far so good! The Tuiniq TX-2 and Arctic Clean were used for the install and I'm happy with the results.

Most Critical Review

Good for Basic Stuff

Seagate STAM2000100 2TB GoFlex Home Network Storage System
Seagate STAM2000100 2TB GoFlex Home Network Storage System

Pros: This is a decent solution for NAS. You just plug it into your Router, which assigns an IP address, open the IP in your browser and follow the instructions to setup the accounts. Using IE9, I had all my accounts setup and started a Windows backup (Win7x64) to the preassigned "Backup" folder on the shared drive. I had close to 1.5TB to backup, so I figured it would take a whlie. I setup an account for a friend that lives in another state and she was able to connect to access the share without a problem. It appears that all accounts are authenticated through a Seagate central server, which reroutes to your device. This is good from an 'ease of use' perspective, but might be bad from a hacking perspective. I would also assume that Seagate can see and access of of the files as well, but I'm not sure at this point.

Cons: People have complained about the lack of Apple compatibility for the latest OS. I can't comment on that, but I did notice the Web interface was a little slow to respond with my Win7 system under load. I was hesistant to use the enclosed software CD (which Seagate said was only Windows compatible) and didn't have an issue with the browser interface setup. The Windows backup that I mentioned earlier is 30% complete after 20 hours. I wouldn't call this speedy on my Linksys 10/100 WRT54G! It appears that all accounts are authenticated through a Seagate central server, which reroutes to your device. This is good from an 'ease of use' perspective, but might be bad from a hacking or personal security perspective. I would also assume that Seagate can see and access of of the files as well, but I'm not sure at this point.

Overall Review: Overall, it seems like a good solution for those that just want to 'set it and forget it,' so I can't take much issue with the lack of customization. Using Seagate's servers for everything does bother me a little bit, so I'll need to do a little more research before deciding if I'm being paranoid :) I will update my review after I try to get it working with my XBMC and the back up is complete...which is now showing...31%...

11/20/2011

Not Sure What All The Fuss Is About

Kinivo BTH220 Silver / Black Bluetooth Stereo Headphone – Supports Wireless Music Streaming and Hands-Free Calling
Kinivo BTH220 Silver / Black Bluetooth Stereo Headphone – Supports Wireless Music Streaming and Hands-Free Calling

Pros: - Decent sound - Behind head design

Cons: - Pricey for the quality - Not comfortable for large ears - Short distance

Overall Review: I read all the reviews and thought this would be a great set of headphones for the price. Overall, they are decent, but just not comfortable. They do have a musical sound that is better than a $20 set of ear buds. I've only been listening for a few hours so I'll post back after a few more days.

Good For Dell Inspiron i530 Q6600

ZOTAC ZT-60901-10M G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
ZOTAC ZT-60901-10M G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Pros: Fast Compact

Cons: Hot Power Hungry

Overall Review: I picked up this card to replace my outdated 8800GS from about 5 years ago. You can get better cards for the price with better power consumption in 2015, but it's hard to find the right form factor to fit in the Dell case. This card does a great job playing Bioshock Infinite at the 'UltraDX11' setting with a 1900x1280 resolution on my HP monitor. Batman Arkham City plays smooth on 'Very High' settings. Overall, a good purchase but you're paying a premium. Updated 6/2015: I noticed that the CPU was hitting 100% during some sections of Arkham City, so I performed the 'tape mod' with my Dell Inspiron 2.4GHz Q6600 and now it's running stable at 3GHz. Case temperature went up, so I added a Zalman heatsink to the Intel processor and new thermal paste. It's a direct fit to the existing mounting points on the main board. Overall case temperature was lowered by 10° Celsius and the CPU remains well under 72° C at full load, which is the point of thermal shutdown. Under a large load, it remains around 62° C, which is pretty impressive for a propitiatory OEM workstation case! The Zotac is still running like a champ and frame rates are even better now that the CPU isn't maxing out. I upgraded my gaming monitor to a Dell U2412M IPS and use the HP for browsing. With the Dell, I play all of my games at 1920x1200 @ 60 Hz and was able to almost max out the rendering settings in Bioshock Infinite! It's amazing! The initial price point for this card was higher than the competition, but the small form factor was worth it. I'm still very happy and I'm bumping it up from 4-5 stars by giving my system another 2-3 years before needing to upgrade. Kudos for making a good quality product! When I first installed the card, I heard a clicking sound, but it was the fan rubbing against a cable. Easy fix in most cases. Just adust the cable or card. Also, be sure your power supply and cables can handle it. I was getting a clicking sound with another card and it wasn't getting enough power. The issue was fixed by replacing a faulty power cable. On a side note, if you have a older system that doesn't have a solid state drive for the OS, add it and be astounded! Of all the upgrades, this should be considered first. The Inspiron i530 Q6600 will handle a GTX 760 before the CPU starts to become a bottleneck. System Specs: - Dell Inspiron 530 3GHz (2.4GHz to 3GHz via 'tape mod') - Zalman CNPS9500 CPU Cooler - Intel 320 160GB SSD - Corsair 8GB XMS 2 (4 x 2GB) - Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer - Dell 24" U2412M UltraSharp IPS

Big on Performance and Size

EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Graphics Card 02G-P4-3657-KR
EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Graphics Card 02G-P4-3657-KR

Pros: Fast, Price, Quality

Cons: Size

Overall Review: Great card for the money. There are some other cards that are only a few dollars more that have similar performance, but I like the quality and support of the eVGA cards. It plays Bioshock Infinite on Ultra settings at 1920x1080, which is pretty impressive on my 2008 Dell Inspiron 530 Q6600. It brought the life back into gaming and I should be good for a few more years. Rig: Dell Inspiron 530 Q6600 2.4Ghz 8GB Corsair RAM Intel 160GB SSD The only down side with my setup is that it blocks two SATA ports on the Dell motherboard due to the card length. There are shorter alternative cards that should work fine, but I'll enjoy this card for a bit and then upgrade when I need the other ports.

12/11/2013

Nice Alternative

WD TV Live Hub 1TB Media Center - WDBABZ0010BBK-NESN
WD TV Live Hub 1TB Media Center - WDBABZ0010BBK-NESN

Pros: Output Options, Video Quality, GUI, Hard Drive, Network Sync to one Folder, Constant Firmware Updates, Footprint

Cons: Price, No Built-In WiFi, No Browser, Remote, Not Fully PogoPlug Compatible, No /\mazon Prime Movies

Overall Review: I picked this up for $159 on sale after deciding not to go with a PS3, which would have been a better choice if I wanted to play Blu-ray disks and have built-in WiFi. I already had a separate WiFi adapter from Belkin and download all my movies, so there's no need to use Blu-ray. Overall, this is a nice unit: easy to setup and use. 1TB of storage is nice and compensates for the lack of speed from my wireless router upstairs. I can stream a HD connection for about 30 minutes, but then the connection drops. However, I can sync it to the hard drive and watch later for a skip free experience. There is also an option to sync an entire folder on my Win 7 box or PogoPlug. Unfortunately, the PogoPlug drops the connection and reconnects every 30 minutes. WD and PogoPlug both state they are not supported, so I'm out of luck. My Windows 7 Pro box works just fine most of the time. It's nice to see that it still has Component outputs since I have a 61" Samsung DLP from 2004 with a max resolution of 1080i. The Live Hub does 1080p, but the 1080i quality is amazing over Component. Even the Composite looks good. The overall footprint of the device is very small, so it's easy to hide. The remote is very simple and is one step above the credit card sized remotes found with similar players. In my opinion, this should be priced well below a PS 3 to keep it competitive and needs /\mazon Prime Movies. If it were $50 - $80 less, they would sell a lot more units!

11/26/2012