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Michael B.

Michael B.

Joined on 05/03/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 5
Most Favorable Review

I'd recommend it.

ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 PWM 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 PWM 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler

Pros: Dropped my temperatures on my Phenom II X4 Black Edition by about 15 degrees Celsius when I installed it. I can't hear it run--it's very quiet. Looks sharp. Dead easy to install. I'm only using the stock thermal paste so it could probably be even better.

Cons: It's big. You'll want to make sure your case has plenty of room, although most mid towers probably will be okay.

Overall Review: I've used this in three separate builds, one of which is my own personal rig. I love it, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Solid, unassuming RAM.

Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 996770
Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 996770

Pros: Inexpensive, good-looking, and I've yet to come across a bad Mushkin stick (compared with my unfortunate history of certain other name brands' reliability). I purchased these for every build I did for quite a while (various friends and family members' custom computers), and each computer is still running strong.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: Does exactly what it says it'll do. This isn't going to get you the biggest, baddest performance numbers, but at this price who cares?

Decent card

GIGABYTE Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card GV-R687OC-1GD
GIGABYTE Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card GV-R687OC-1GD

Pros: Runs everything I throw at it--my native resolution is 1680x1050, and this thing goes to maximum settings every time. Maybe slightly-less-than-maximum for a few games (Metro 2033 has been notably picky for me). Very quiet, I can't hear it running at all, which is good because I tend to do a lot of recording near my computer.

Cons: AMD drivers. Your mileage may vary, but I've had to deal with a lot of bluescreens stemming from various driver errors. I realize this is not a knock on this model of card, per se, so I've only taken off one egg, but having dealt with both sides of the coin on numerous occasions (both AMD/ATI and nVidia), I can safely say that my experience would lead me to stay away from AMD/ATI drivers when possible. Currently running an older Catalyst driver version just because it gave me far fewer errors than some of the later driver packages.

Overall Review: I chose this card over a year ago (at a much higher price, back then) because it was one of the few that would give me both exceptionally low noise levels as well as high performance. Nowadays, there are probably better options, but I don't regret the purchase. Probably wouldn't recommend this card to anyone looking for a new one, though.

Does what it says on the tin

Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Solid State Hybrid Drive -Bare Drive
Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Solid State Hybrid Drive -Bare Drive

Pros: Far faster than my pathetic 5400 RPM drive that came with my ASUS N53SV laptop. Does what it says it'll do--my boot times, power-to-all-startup-apps-loaded, sped up dramatically (from a couple minutes to about thirty seconds). Spacious enough to handle my massive iTunes library and all my usual games with plenty of room to spare. Installation was completely painless, although I didn't bother to try and mirror my other drive. Fresh Win7 Pro installation was the way I decided to go.

Cons: None yet, aside from the usual gripe of 698 formatted GB present, rather than the advertised 750. I haven't had very good luck with Seagate drives in the past, so I really hope this one continues its working ways.

Overall Review: Definitely worth the price of admission.

Works great, as it should

D-Link DWA-552 Xtreme Desktop Adapter IEEE 802.11g, IEEE802.11n Draft 2.0 32-bit PCI Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates
D-Link DWA-552 Xtreme Desktop Adapter IEEE 802.11g, IEEE802.11n Draft 2.0 32-bit PCI Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates

Pros: Works great, especially since I've also got the D-Link Gamerlounge Wireless-N router. An excellent match. Plug'n'play under Win7 Pro 64-bit, didn't even have to bother installing any drivers. Speedy file transfers--comparable to 10/100 ethernet speeds, at least where my computer is situated in regards to the router. Never had a problem with signal strength.

Cons: Can't think of any.

Overall Review: Currently rocking this card in several computers at my house, and I'm quite happy with all of them. Haven't had any trouble at all so far for the year or so we've had 'em. I recommend D-Link to everyone I know and these cards are no exception.

10/19/2010