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Stanley L.

Stanley L.

Joined on 02/09/07

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 21
Most Favorable Review

Nice cheap backup unit

Seagate ST90250N1A1AS-RK 250GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5" Notebook Hard Drive Retail kit
Seagate ST90250N1A1AS-RK 250GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5" Notebook Hard Drive Retail kit

Pros: Good price. Great for an occasional backup mirror drive.

Cons: Only a two year warranty.

Overall Review: I used this drive with a usb 3.0 external Apricorn SATA Wire cable to backup a single 256GB SSD in my 14" notebook. If the SSD ever fails I can pop this drive in and buy another SSD to clone to. Having only one drive in my notebook I cannot RAID 1 so this is the best method for me for backing up my notebook's drive. I picked up this drive for $40.00 with an instant rebate. Pretty great deal. Thanks Newegg.

Most Critical Review

Forget it

iBUYPOWER Desktop PC Gamer Extreme NE751x Intel Core i7-3770K 16GB DDR3 2TB HDD+120GB SSD HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Windows 8
iBUYPOWER Desktop PC Gamer Extreme NE751x Intel Core i7-3770K 16GB DDR3 2TB HDD+120GB SSD HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Windows 8

Pros: They assemble the computer. You get a bit more bang for your money with this company equipment-wise than others.

Cons: You have to ship your computer back to them at your expense for warranty work. Bad install of cooling unit.

Overall Review: I bought a custom model last year from Ibuypower. The graphics card failed after a few weeks. So back that went. While looking at the motherboard I noticed some cracks on the liquid cooling bracket. The installer had probably overtightened and the unit was cheaply made and faulty. I decided to pull the cooling unit and replace it myself with a Zalman air-cooled unit. I t was cheaper and less trouble than shipping the computer back to them. I strongly recommend building your own system. Or purchase an Alienware through Dell as they have way better service and warranty repair.

OK if you don't use SSD

ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB 950 USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB 950 USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Pros: Overclocks the bios and sets it from Windows.

Cons: 3.0 USB ports would not recognize my SSDs and I tried two different brands the 3.0 uSB ports are not compatible with Apricorn's SATA Wire 3.0 adapter for 2.5" drive connection Installed SSDs do not perform right and operate so slow they fail to install and even run Windows Experience Index Nothing in BIOS to enable SSDs si this wasn't the problem

Overall Review: It might be a compatible issue but I just think the board could have been defective too. There is a another person on the internet writing about his lack of success with this motherboard. I WISH THIS BOARD WORKED. I do like it. I liked the overclocking the bios from the utility program. With a press of the mouse the computer worked a bit and rebooted my FX3850 from 4.0 to 4.33MHZ in a few seconds for a mild overclock. If you are only using a regular hard drive you should be OK.

Correction Cooler Master 430 case problem

BYTECC Bracket-35225 2.5" HDD/SSD Mounting Kit For 3.5" Drive Bay or Enclosure
BYTECC Bracket-35225 2.5" HDD/SSD Mounting Kit For 3.5" Drive Bay or Enclosure

Pros: cheap and plastic is cuttable

Cons: not enough hole variations for all applications

Overall Review: This is to correct and mention the case that required cutting this mount was actually the Cooler Master 430 and not a 410. Though the 410 may require it too.

Took some extra work

Cooler Master Elite 430 - Mid Tower Computer Case with All-Black Interior and Windowed Side Panel
Cooler Master Elite 430 - Mid Tower Computer Case with All-Black Interior and Windowed Side Panel

Pros: Low cost, nice looking, light,

Cons: Front fan makes 2.5" to 3.5" drive brackets a major concern. Top fan hole mounts are mainly for show as there's not enough room above the motherboard.

Overall Review: I had to saw a plastic Bytecc Interanl 2.5" HDD/SSD mounting kit to fit the lower area and squeeze it tightly in against the front fan. I cut one end and turned it around to fit the tool-less holes and not have to remove the fan. After cutting and filing the rough plastic edges of the mounting kit it did work out. You can mount the kit just under the 5.25" bays but you will have to use only two self-tapping screws as the front holes are too big in the mount. This case is a good one but it isn't perfect room-wise for hard drives and SSD drive installations. It is a challenge. This case is best used when only one hard drive or SSD drive mount will be installed.

Does the job

BYTECC Bracket-525 3.5" Drive/Device Transfer Bracket For 5.25" Drive Bay (Black)
BYTECC Bracket-525 3.5" Drive/Device Transfer Bracket For 5.25" Drive Bay (Black)

Pros: Fits well. Two sets of screws.

Cons: none

Overall Review: It fits nicely and adapts the 3.5" flash reader to 5.25" drive bays.