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Brian J.

Brian J.

Joined on 01/25/07

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 11
Most Favorable Review

The BMW of computer cases

Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Pros: WOW! This case *easily* exceeded all of my expectations. It's very large, has fantastic air flow, and it can EASILY fit three 9800gtx's. The hard drive bays are very, very well assembled and they work like a charm. The fan controllers are easily accessed. Beautiful lighting, and easy to assemble. All hard drives mount into anti-vibration fan boxes.

Cons: It would have been nice for Antec to have included longer cables, that would have been easier to hide behind the motherboard tray.

Overall Review: If you're torn between this case and a Lian Li or $400 thermalright case, this one easily bests the either of those.

Most Critical Review

Worked for 13 months

XION Supernova XON-600F14R-201 600W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Modular  Power Supply
XION Supernova XON-600F14R-201 600W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply

Pros: Delivered sufficent power for my OC'd Core 2 Duo, five hard drives, dvd burner, sound card, water cooler (pass through), tv tuner, raid controller card, and four sticks of OC'd ram. The lights are pretty. The cables look good.

Cons: EXTREMELY shoddy construction internally and EXTREMELY low efficency. 430W is the MOST you'll pull in a sustained draw. This PSU expired one month out of warranty. Murphy's Law. I assume I was pushing this unit too hard with the hardware I was powering. Also, the cables are extremely stiff and impossible to bend around the holes in a case, to hide the wires. Support is non-existant. You'll actually see the difference between this PSU and other 600W's on your power bill!

Overall Review: You get what you pay for. This PSU worked well for just over a year, which sounds just right for a $65 PSU.

Great drive, great price

ASUS USB 2.0 External Slim DVD±R/RW Drive Model SDRW-08D1S-U BK
ASUS USB 2.0 External Slim DVD±R/RW Drive Model SDRW-08D1S-U BK

Pros: Attractive, powered off one USB port on my Alienware M11x with a standard cable so I don't have to care an extra USB cable, the only sound you hear is the spinning disc.

Cons: Not as fast as a desktop's DVD drive. Three month warranty is scary, but I knew about that when I bought the product.

Fantastic gaming card

Galaxy GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) 1536MB DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Video Card 80XLH5HS8GUX
Galaxy GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) 1536MB DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Video Card 80XLH5HS8GUX

Pros: Pretty much the same as any other GTX 480. Fast and supports 3D Vision. Galaxy has their own EVGA Precision software. It does the exact something, just has a different skin on it. The fan isn't nearly as loud as HardOCP made it out to be, while gaming. Constantly OC'd, I keep the fan at a constant 70% while gaming. The card rarely goes over 80°C and the fan is only as loud as the small fan on the north bridge of my EVGA E758 motherboard after heating up.

Cons: Runs hot, 92°C when substantially overclocked with the fans between 70% and 90% and doing a furmark burn in for thirty minutes. I wonder how long the card will last at this temperature. Galaxy doesn't offer a lifetime warranty. That's the only reason I'm subtracting an egg.

Overall Review: Galaxy doesn't have a forum for its users to interact. I very highly valued EVGA's forum. I hope to see Galaxy launch one in the near future.

Fantastic HSF, but you MUST mount it externally!

CORSAIR Hydro Series H50 120mm Quiet Edition Liquid CPU Cooler - Intel Only (CW-9060006-WW)
CORSAIR Hydro Series H50 120mm Quiet Edition Liquid CPU Cooler - Intel Only (CW-9060006-WW)

Pros: The H50 is fantastic. It keeps my i7 920 very cool while under load and overclocked, it is quiet, and the water block is very low profile. If you can mount the radiator outside the case, you will not find a better HSF for under one-hundred dollars.

Cons: When mounted externally, the CPU's temps never even hit 50°C. Mounted internally, while under load, the CPU's temps hovered around 75°C. Corsair's suggests mounting the radiator externally. This is more than just a suggestion. You cannot disconnect the tubes from the radiator or waterblock. Because of this, you cannot extend the cables or run the cables through pre drilled holes in your case intended solely for this purpose. Sadly, because the cables cannot be disconnected from the radiator, mounting the H50 outside of an Antec Twelve Hundred requires either cutting a large hole through the side in the back of the case, compromising it's structure, or fallaciously setting the radiator in the hole left by the removal of the acrylic window.

Overall Review: This is a fantastic alternative HSF. Just be aware that you need to be comfortable making modifications to your case if you want it to perform correctly.

As powerful as advertised

Rosewill RCP-511G 120W Auto/Air Slim Line Power Inverter with USB Port
Rosewill RCP-511G 120W Auto/Air Slim Line Power Inverter with USB Port

Pros: Outputs enough juice to charge my Acer Aspire One (70W 3rd party charger), HTC Touch, and Zune 30gb

Cons: A little noisy, but no noisier than other actively cooled inverters. The sound is a louder when all three of my devices are charing.

Overall Review: At first I didn't think this thing had enough juice to power my netbook, alone. I tried it in another car and it worked just fine. It ends up my Chrysler Crossfire didn't put out enough power to the inverter for the 70W charger! Perhaps this is what other reviewers experienced. If the inverter isn't outputting enough power to charge your netbook / laptop, make sure you try it in multiple vehicles.