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Stacey B.

Stacey B.

Joined on 10/05/10

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 20
Most Favorable Review
APEX TX-381-C Black Steel Micro ATX Tower Computer Case
APEX TX-381-C Black Steel Micro ATX Tower Computer Case

Pros: Not bad for a first build case. Fantastic to take from place to place.

Cons: Things get a little cramped if you try to expand or upgrade. Also, don't bump it. Airflow isn't horrible for how tight things can be, surprisingly.

Overall Review: Was great for a first build case, but with no cable management and reduced airflow, I'm ready to upgrade and retire this one. Was great for taking between the bf's place for LAN parties, my parents house for house sitting and back to my own place for rest.

11/28/2012
Most Critical Review
PowerColor AX4850 512MD3-HV3 Radeon HD 4850 V3 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
PowerColor AX4850 512MD3-HV3 Radeon HD 4850 V3 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Pros: Was good for the price

Cons: Not too pleased with their support.

Overall Review: The card was great for about 2 months, then had all those crazy colored lines all up and down the display. Sent in the card, had it replaced, and the same thing happened not even 3 days later. upgraded to a radeon HD 6850 through sapphire, love it.

11/28/2012

My own fault

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler, 4 CDC Heatpipes, 120mm PWM Fan, Aluminum Fins for AMD Ryzen/Intel LGA1200/1151
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler, 4 CDC Heatpipes, 120mm PWM Fan, Aluminum Fins for AMD Ryzen/Intel LGA1200/1151

Pros: Core temps for me never reach over 34 C with heavy gaming. I'm idling with a netflix show on at 27-28 C. Without the heatsink, i am typically idling at 48 C and will game between 54-60 C. I'm pleased with it, I just wish my case wasn't so silly.

Cons: This is not the greatest fit with a Rosewill Blackhawk ATX mid tower case (the one with 5 fans). The case won't 100% close because the heatsink runs into the diagonal side fan right before the final closing. I can force it, but that would cause the heatsink to sit at an angle, and I'm not willing to do that. This is only a con because of my own casing. The measurements are right, but it's the side fan that irritates me.

Overall Review: I cut myself trying to plug in the CPU fan cord, and here I used to laugh at people who cut themselves on these things :)

Serves me well

SanDisk Extreme 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SDSSDX-120G-G25
SanDisk Extreme 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SDSSDX-120G-G25

Pros: I have never had a SSD before, but the start up speeds for everything that I have on my SSD are very fast compared to my old 7200 1 Tb Seagate HDD. Gets to Windows 7 log in screen in about 10 seconds

Cons: my L SATA cable does not like the back of this SSD. I'm happy I have it stable at the moment, but if I didn't, I'd fear that a bump could knock it off. I've tried multiple cables on the back, seeing what will work, it just doesn't seem to want to hang on to any sata.

Overall Review: I honestly can't compare this to any other SSD, but I did a lot of research before I bought this. It wasn't the greatest rated brand, however it was a great review for the money, so I have no regrets so far. Can't wait to get another one of these, they fill up fast. I only have my windows files, League of Legends and a few necessary files on my SSD, but I can see how it'd be tempting to stick lots of games on it. The loading speeds are great. My old HDD serves as my slave drive, works out well. I highly suggest doing a fresh install of your OS when doing a SSD main drive switch. Made my life so much easier, since I seemed to have botched it up the first try without a fresh installation.

In love

ASUS M5A99X EVO AM3+ AMD 990X USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
ASUS M5A99X EVO AM3+ AMD 990X USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Pros: Going from a micro ATX to this was amazing. Fit perfectly with my case (Rosewill Blackhawk ATX mid tower), very reliable, I love the BIOS set up, easy to flash.

Cons: I have honestly had zero issues with this board that are worthy of docking an egg. I do wish that some of the SATA ports didn't need L cables in my case, but that's more of a case issue.

Overall Review: I use my computer mainly for gaming, and honestly I'm very pleased with this motherboard. She's holding out steady, looks great, easy to use. I am not the type of gamer who needs 500 slots for GPU's and other card accessories, yet it has enough for a crossfire, which I eventually plan on using.

great airflow

Rosewill Gaming Computer Case - ATX Mid Tower - Top HDD Dock, Side Window Panel, 5 Preinstalled Fans - BLACKHAWK
Rosewill Gaming Computer Case - ATX Mid Tower - Top HDD Dock, Side Window Panel, 5 Preinstalled Fans - BLACKHAWK

Pros: Great amount of space, great wire management, tons of space for fans and airflow, drive trays aren't as cheap as I was expecting from the reviews.

Cons: I get a little worried about picking it up. Because of the mesh on the bottom, and how easily the front can be popped off, I feel awkward since I'm concerned about putting my fingers/hand through the screen. The reason why I took off an egg: the header cables that start from the top connections and Power button... they get in the way of putting my dvd reader in the very top slot. The idea is if you need only one slot, you can put a fan over the remaining 3 for extra airflow. I don't have this option since I can't move the cables or bend them in any way, which is very disappointing.

Overall Review: Still a great case. Perhaps it was mine that just had impossible header cables.

12/21/2012