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Jamie K.

Jamie K.

Joined on 11/26/07

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 8
Most Favorable Review

Problems with front USB

SilverStone SST-PS07B Black Steel / Plastic with Aluminum Accent Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case
SilverStone SST-PS07B Black Steel / Plastic with Aluminum Accent Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case

Pros: Nice build quality - fit and finish is top notch. The filters are a must for dust enviroments, or when sitting on the floor of a house with pet hair.

Cons: I had a problem with the front panel USB ports: this part MUST come from SilverStone, not a commercial part. It took many phone calls and emails, and about a month later, I finally received a good-faith replacement (without sending anything back). The USB ports would not sufficiently power an external drive. Plugged a dual USB3.0 breakout cable directly into motherboard, and all was well. The second problem I had was there were no usable mounting provisions for an SSD on the drive cage. I ended up removing the cage, and drilling a few custom holes to mount an SSD directly to the bottom of the case.

Overall Review: This was a build for a SOHO customer, and I wanted to be sure they had a professional looking case. Fit the bill there, but embarrassed I had to later return to replace the front panel USB ports (I had to deliver before the replacement arrived)

Three years running

CyberPower Intelligent LCD UPS CP1350AVRLCD 1350 VA 815 Watts 10 Outlets UPS
CyberPower Intelligent LCD UPS CP1350AVRLCD 1350 VA 815 Watts 10 Outlets UPS

Pros: Great value! This has been running non-stop to power an i5 500W system with two 24" LCD's for three years now. Runtime is great, although I am far from fully loading this. Runtime is easily still 30+ minutes. The tray utility is lightweight (consuming only 1.5MB or so of memory in Win7), and unobtrusive... just enough info and configuration for desktop use.

Cons: None! Though the LCD is bright, it can be turned off (THANK YOU!)

Overall Review: I was leery about the brand, but will now recommend without hesitation.

Preferred

Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G
Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G

Pros: Yes, this stuff has been around for years, and perhaps that contributes (or COULD contribute) to inflated review rankings, but all of that is for a reason: it's good stuff! I prefer the low viscosity of this vs others - flattens easier via single dab method, and able to be finger spread as well.

Cons: Cost

Best bang for your buck

CORSAIR CX Series CX430 430W 80 PLUS BRONZE Active PFC ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply
CORSAIR CX Series CX430 430W 80 PLUS BRONZE Active PFC ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply

Pros: Amazing price - can't find a more reputable and quality power supply for basic builds than this. If you aren't running SLI, or 6 hard drives, there's absolutely NO reason to go overkill on power supplies. Bigger is not better - best to get a supply that most efficient within your load band.

Cons: Not enough to knock it an egg, because I know some people need this, but I really had no use for the multitude of MOLEX and 4-pin PCI connectors

Overall Review: Will buy again! Try to get it on sale.

Rock solid

GIGABYTE GA-H77M-D3H LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-H77M-D3H LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Great value for the money - super reliable, good quality hardware.

Cons: The audio on REV1.1 of this board is NOT natively supported in OSX Mountain Lion. Rev1.0 IS, so buyer beware. I bought a $7 USB sound dongle that worked right out of the box.

Overall Review: I'd buy another in a heartbeat. Only thing I wish it had was eSATA, but no big loss there.

Great features for the price

Dell 21.5" 60Hz TN LCD Monitor 5 ms D-Sub, DVI-D Professional Series P2211H/W4XCG
Dell 21.5" 60Hz TN LCD Monitor 5 ms D-Sub, DVI-D Professional Series P2211H/W4XCG

Pros: If you're involved in any line of government work, you see these monitors (or a size variation of them) day in, day out. Picked up two for a (personal) budget workstation build. For the price offered here ($109 after MIR), you get a really nice monitor. Matte bezels (nothing screams CHEAP more than shiny, creaky black plastic), pivot built into the base, height adjustment, screen rotation. For me, the height adjustment alone is worth the lack of an HDMI input (you can buy an HDMI to DVI cable on the cheap here BTW). Even though the box said it didn't include cables, BOTH my monitors came with power, DVI, VGA, and USB cables. BOTH monitors were free of dead pixels. OSD is excellent, very intuitive, with buttons easy to press.

Cons: Slight blacklight bleed in some areas. Very minimal, but there. Colors are a bit 'washed out'. Overall picture is, well, just uninspiring. Don't expect to be wowed. MORE than adequate for CAD work. Packaging (foam padding) was a adequate, but on the cheap size - I could see a rough delivery guy potentially causing some damage. Mine was delivered just fine however. Short warranty period is risky.

Overall Review: As much as I like the look of these monitors (OFF), I wish I had waited to shop around more (Black Friday) for a larger size. I think I could have had a better deal.

11/24/2012