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Alan H.

Alan H.

Joined on 03/27/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Pretty cool

GeIL Green 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3L 1066 (PC3L 8500) Desktop Memory Model GG34GB1066C8DC
GeIL Green 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3L 1066 (PC3L 8500) Desktop Memory Model GG34GB1066C8DC

Pros: It really is a green series. The RAM arrived in a recycled paper container. RAM is rated for 1.3v which is lower than anything I've seen. Works as expected

Cons: None other than MB supporting the voltage. See other thoughts.

Overall Review: My motherboard won't let me set my RAM voltage to 1.3 so it's currently running at 1.5v. Just a heads up to make sure your MB supports it.

11/12/2009
Most Critical Review

Was great until the blue screens started

ASUS GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Support Graphics Card EN8600GT SILENT/HTDP/256M
ASUS GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Support Graphics Card EN8600GT SILENT/HTDP/256M

Pros: Silent design, HD video decoding, low power footprint.

Cons: Two slot design, and VERY poor driver support for Vista.

Overall Review: I bought this card thinking it would be perfect for my media center and it would use less power than my current nvidia card. I instantly began receiving the nvlddmkm blue screen errors that some, but not most, have been getting. My system was completely stable with my 7800 GTX in XP and Vista before this card and after I removed it everything went back to normal. Thanks newegg being speedy with your RMA service!

Great case

BitFenix Prodigy BFC-PRO-300-RRXKR-RP Fire Red Steel / Plastic Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case
BitFenix Prodigy BFC-PRO-300-RRXKR-RP Fire Red Steel / Plastic Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case

Pros: This case was a breeze to work with. I loaded it up with 3 laptop hard drives and an SSD. I removed all of the hard drive trays since I was able to mount the drives to the case. This case is incredibly configurable. Total Build: ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe i7 3770 COOLER MASTER RR-H101-22FK-RI Radeon 7970 Seasonic SS-560KM BitFenix Recon Fan Controller BitFenix Spectre Pro 200mm

Cons: Modular PSUs can be a tight fit, but I knew that going in. The side with USB ports flexes slightly when adding or removing USB plugs. Very minor cons so it still gets 5 eggs in my book.

Two tuners!

Hauppauge 1229 WinTV-HVR-2255 Dual TV Tuner / Encoder
Hauppauge 1229 WinTV-HVR-2255 Dual TV Tuner / Encoder

Pros: Works exactly as expected in Windows 7 with over the air HD. No issues at all installing the drivers from the provided CD.

Cons: None! Two tuners in one!

Overall Review: Because this card supports ClearQAM, WIndows 7 detected my setup as a ClearQAM, when I'm actually using antenna. Just configured it myself and it worked like champ. I picked up this card to replace two ATI Theater 650s which were my previous workhorses, but that card doesn't have official Windows 7 support. I've had trouble with other tuners not being able to correctly receive my over the air signal (two antenna signals, one VHF and the other UHF, being combined into one) but this card handles it without a problem. Just FYI for anyone with a special situation setup.

11/12/2009

Very nice

Cooler Master Elite 360 RC-360-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mini Tower Computer Case
Cooler Master Elite 360 RC-360-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mini Tower Computer Case

Pros: This case is a dream to work with for HTPCs. It's small, but not too cramped, although I did spring for a modular power supply which is almost a must.

Cons: None other than space requirements but getting a case like this, you should be aware of those limitations.

Overall Review: I'm using on-board graphics, with a dual tuner. Adding a dedicated graphics card may make cable management really difficult since things will become cramped really fast.

11/12/2009

Terrible scanner

Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 0307B001 1200 x 2400 dpi 48bit USB Interface Flatbed Scanner
Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 0307B001 1200 x 2400 dpi 48bit USB Interface Flatbed Scanner

Pros: Cheap, draws power from USB.

Cons: Software support for Vista 64 and the scanner locked up. The scanner locked up after TWO scans. It refused to reset itself and stopped communicating with my computer. There's no way to reset it that I was able to find so I had no choice but to RMA it.

Overall Review: Their driver support for Vista is atrocious on their website. Installing the drivers from the CD allowed it Vista 64 to find the scanner, but no software could see it. I had to configure it with the OCR software to add the scanner before I could even use it. The new driver model in Vista can't be that hard to work with because my laser printer that's been out for 3 years (got a great deal from newegg) has XP 32/64 bit and Vista 32/64 bit drivers and I don't have to install any software.