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Ralph B.

Ralph B.

Joined on 06/18/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 9
Most Favorable Review

Pretty Good and is a Biggun

nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 6000B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 6000B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: Large, doesn't resemble a vanilla PC and has lots of room for full size video card, several hard drives AND full size power supply w/o a problem. There are a few posts where people mentioned they couldn't fit a PSU without removing the fans. Didn't encounter that problem and wonder the brand they were using. Rear fans are adequate and quiet. Running 4 HD's and the box is coool.

Cons: Blu Ray /DVD drive bay is in a word, "interesting." Can't use the power button because the BRD (Pioneer) won't errr ride to the front. Yes there's the option to deface the thing but isn't that big of a deal since I can always use a keyboard hotkey to open it. Yes there are other ways folks.

Overall Review: There are a few posts where people mentioned they couldn't fit a PSU without removing the fans. Didn't encounter that problem and wonder the brand they were using. Sharp edges? Nope didn't cut my fwinguhs either neever.

12/29/2013
Most Critical Review

Cheap But Expensive

Rosewill Model RC-300 - Single Serial Port PCI Card
Rosewill Model RC-300 - Single Serial Port PCI Card

Pros: Inexpensive in dollar amounts but expensive in the amount of time spent getting the thing to be properly recognized. Needed something to that I could use with my Cisco Pix 501 firewall since I went through a MOBO upgrade (GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L) that didn't have a serial port.

Cons: (sighhh) where do I begin... Windows Server 2008 64 saw that there was a new device installed however I received failures at COM1/COM3 and LPT3. No biggy I thought, I'll just install the most recent drivers... Did that and kept receiving exclamation points within Device Manager. Again no biggy I thought, I will go to the moschip website -

Overall Review: I installed EVERY driver possible from Vista 32/64 and then it occurred to me to try XP. So on a lark I downloaded XP 32 drivers and voila! Hyperterminal was working and I got my Pix back.

Sweet Sweet CPU

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition - Phenom II X4 Deneb Quad-Core 3.4 GHz Socket AM3 125W Processor - HDZ965FBGMBOX
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition - Phenom II X4 Deneb Quad-Core 3.4 GHz Socket AM3 125W Processor - HDZ965FBGMBOX

Pros: It's an AMD, price per core and it's an AMD.

Cons: None, nada zip... Well, using the stock fan which hasn't been a problem. Yes it can be somewhat LOUD but as long as the CPU doesn't go above 48 degrees not going to worry about it. Usually encounter noise when the CPU is being taxed by resources that are being used. Drops back to near silent within a matter of secods.

Overall Review: Upgraded from an Intel E8400 3.00GHZ unclocked w/8GB of DDR2 (shudder) to this processor, 24GB of DDR3 and a Gigabyte MOBO. Currently running VMware ESX 5.1, vSphere, Server 2012 Datacenter, 2008R2 and a slew of other virtual machines. What impresses me the most is how the processor will spike for a few seconds - usually to 100% mostly during vm resumes and then drops to between 26 and 28% - the vms are running a total of 15GB combined and the overall host performance NEVER takes a noticeable hit. For those folks interested, the MOBO is the 78LMT-USB3 series. DDR3 = mixture of Corsair Vengeance and Kingston HyperX.

Refer to Maximum PC on This Router

TRENDnet TEW-652BRP 802.11b/g/n Wireless N Home Router up to 300Mbps/ 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Port x4
TRENDnet TEW-652BRP 802.11b/g/n Wireless N Home Router up to 300Mbps/ 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Port x4

Pros: Cheap <-operative word---< (my) apple tv is able to find it on the network.

Cons: Cheap - I purchased this "gem" after my Sonic Wall TZW took a nosedive after 5 1/2 years of continuous use. This thing isn't worth the price of a thought let alone a "hmmmm" bypass it with caution.

Overall Review: I gave it a "2" rating because it has semi-pretty lights however! the further you are from it, the less signal strength. My network consists of 2 1700 series Cisco routers and a Cisco 501 router and yet EVEN if I connect modem to router, the connection drops - the 6652BRP is definitely the culprit. If you're going to cheapen out, I would say go for the Trendnet TEW-639GR orrr something other than Trendnet. Junk Junk Junk

Burns Quietly Slow Open Drawer

LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black IDE Model GH22NP20
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black IDE Model GH22NP20

Pros: It was on sale and it was way cheaper than other websites were offering. Never upgraded the firmware as another poster had uhhh "posted" but has worked well from day one. Haven't noticed any slow burning - nor have I had any coasters... I was looking for the last IDE dvd burner (I reserve SATA for hard drives. Overall I'm happy with my purchase...

Cons: None that I can think of...

Overall Review: Again the price was AOK and I was looking for something that would hopefully last longer then the LiteOn DVD burner that the LG replaced (lasted under 2 years before it started clicking and I had to resort to using a paperclip to open the thing. Not sure if the spilled Guiness had anything to do with it...)

Good Card Good Price

HIS Radeon HD 4670 1GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card H467QS1GH
HIS Radeon HD 4670 1GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card H467QS1GH

Pros: First off this card WILL allow you to play Crysis on HIGH (default setting chosen by the game) and HIGHEST settings and still have seamless game play. My system can and does. Same goes for Crysis Warhead, COD4, Call of Duty World at War, Batman and Wolfenstein. The Pros: Aside from the price, the fan - keeps my system about 2 to 5 degrees cooler (I have several hard drives) The fan is quiet, had to physically check to see if it were on. Haven't toyed around with the added software (just isn't my thing...) Runs perfectly on Vista 64 and Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition 64 bit 180 Day version (dual partitioned for certifications) Definite difference between the EVGA 8600GT w/512MB of RAM and the HD 4670.

Cons: None that I can think of.

Overall Review: My Specs: Intel Core Two Duo E8400 - 3.0GHZ GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L (MOBO) 8GB PC5300 Does it matter how many hard drives and what size/types?