Internal Desktop Components Reviews

Band : Western Digital
Model : WD1600AAJB
Product Features :
- Ships in Certified Frustration Free Packaging
- WD Caviar Blue hard drives are available with either SATA
- WhisperDrive technology minimizes noise to levels near the threshold of human hearing
- IntelliSeek Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption noise and vibration

Western Digital 160 GB Caviar Blue PATA 7200 RPM 8 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD1600AAJB
>> Dreadful Packaging
Drive arrived at the bottom of a large box with a few air packets on top of it Absolutely nothing to stop the drive bouncing around the large box during its journey
>> HDD
good delivery and the Hard Drive is working well
well done

thank you
Chris
>> Excellent replacement drive but difficult setup
Now that I have gotten through the setup process the drive is excellent and somewhat faster than the previous boot drive and does not change system noise level
The setup difficulties were because the usual standalone utilities would not recognize the drive Both WD utilities and Windows 98 boot disk to run FDisk failed until the drive was formatted under W2K I was then doing an image copy of the old C drive boot partition to the drive I learned the hard way that from W2K on Windows stores the drive letter of the page file in the registry and the drive letter in the MBR Master Boot Record of the disk
The only way to make this the C drive to match the registry was to format the partition under W2K using next available letter then do the stand alone image copy from the old C drive then make the new drive the only hard drive in the machine and run standalone FDisk MBR to build a new MBR with the C drive letter
If you are just adding a second drive you will not have these problems Just connect it as the slave and be sure the original drive is set as Master see jumpers on back of drive boot your operating system right click My Computer choose Manage go to Disk Management and partition and format the drive as you want

If You are looking for >>> Western Digital 160 GB Caviar Blue PATA 7200 RPM 8 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD1600AAJB find the best one here

Band : Crucial
Model : CT2KIT25664BC1067
Product Features :
- Module Size 4GB kit 2GBx2
- Package 204 pin SODIMM
- Feature DDR3 PC3 8500
- Specs DDR3 PC3 8500 CL 7 Unbuffered NON ECC DDR3 1066 1 5V 256Meg x 64

Crucial CT2KIT25664BC1067 4GB 204 PIN PC3 8500 SODIMM DDR3 Memory KIT 2GBx2
>> Works flawlessly
My computer is twice as fast I used this memory for my Late 2008 Unibody Macbook and I absolutely love it
I do web design and development with photoshop flash and various other programs as well as running windows on a virtual machine
My computer s 2gb memory was not able to handle all the tasks I was doing before without slowing down significantly
After upgrading to this memory it works much much faster I rarely get the spinning rainbow circle
I am very happy with my purchase For the increase in productivity this memory gave me it s totally worth the price
From my understanding of the industry Crucial is a very reliable source and I have not had any problems in the past five months of owning this memory
Highly recommended
>> Flawless
Arrived fast Simple to install and works flawlessly Priced lower than most but still a reputable brand
>> Excellent for late 2009 MacBook MC207LL/A
Crucial is well known as a premium supplier of memory This unit works perfectly in the late 2009 Polycarbonate MacBook MC207LL/A Installation is easy but you do need a 00 Philips screwdriver to remove the back of the computer Complete instructions are given in section 3 of the Owner s Manual

The memory cards were difficult to remove from the Crucial packaging They had to be pried out with a plastic alignment tool similar to a flat blade screwdriver The cards looked different than the illustration The illustration shows four large chips on the surface but my cards had eight smaller chips on the surface

Total time to install was about ten minutes The computer instantly recognized the memory and showed the status of each card as OK

If You are looking for >>> Crucial CT2KIT25664BC1067 4GB 204 PIN PC3 8500 SODIMM DDR3 Memory KIT 2GBx2 find the best one here

Band : Intel
Model : SSDSA2MP040G2R5
Product Features :
- Random 4 KB reads up to 25 K IOPS random 4 KB writes up to 2 5 K IOPS
- Sustained Read/Write 170/35 MB/s
- Power 150mW active 75mW idle
- 1 2 million hour MTBF
- Read Latency 65 microseconds write Latency 110 microseconds

Intel 40 GB X25V Value SATA II Solid State Drive SSD Retail Package SSDSA2MP040G2R5
>> Best boot drive deal on the planet
Okay I just built a system and I ve only had this drive for a couple days but it is awesome The price was relatively right too Yes we would all like a much bigger drive but I believe this will be adequate for my needs to boot Windows 7 and load my most important programs No need to drop big bucks on faster bigger SSDs now because there is a lot of competition out there and in a year you will probably be able to replace it with a much bigger one or just add another one for a song This is relatively new technology with more than one or two players 40 gigs is enough for now Don t even think about it if you are considering a new system It s a no brainer to get one of these to boot with This is my fourth build over the past thirteen years and nothing before has seen this kind of performance jump It s amazing

One more thing It is hoped that MS will wake up and give people more control over some of the files generated by their OS Windows XP was a hideous monster in creating huge files on the boot drive that could easily be kept on the data drive I have about 14 gigs of the 40 left over after loading my programs which I could uninstall and reinstall on the hd if necessary but I don t want to

You should either disable the swap file in Windows 7 most new systems don t need them anymore with the memory they have or else move it to the hard drive to keep it off the SS drive If you need a swap file you probably should consider more memory anyway if your system isn t so old it s not worth adding it Luckily I believe Windows 7 still gives us the option of where to put swap files I don t know about hibernation files that one I m working on
>> like getting a new computer
Grabbed one of these threw it in my desktop installed the OS onto it and it was as good as getting a brand new computer speed wise Finally the bottleneck of the disk is gone It also came with a little converter so I could mount it into the normal 3 5 slot which is needed for at least my desktop It doesn t have a USB connection but who would use it and it just slows down the transfer anyway It runs very cool not much noticeable heat generated and of course is silent
Thanks Intel
rp
>> I can now load fire fox in ONE SECOND
My pc was having some problems when using my Hard Drive Adobe master creative suite took long to load was a nightmare loading photoshop and fireworks etc especially when you have to open it for the firs time when windows is now finished booting
Firefox with all the many countless bookmarks and add on took forever to start up But with this SSD it loads in 1 second

However with this new SSD photoshop loads in 2 or 3 seconds Stuff like Microsoft Office 07 loads instantly I am speaking of less than a second When you click it just opens like magic Never taught a SSD would be this fast I am never going back to hard drives now I recommend this to anyone who wants to turn their old PC into a super computer With this new SSD it was like my PC had cancer and now it got the cure for cancer actually its like it was reborn with steroids

I think my next SSD will be an even faster one though I don t really see the point when this is already as quick as lighting

If You are looking for >>> Intel 40 GB X25V Value SATA II Solid State Drive SSD Retail Package SSDSA2MP040G2R5 find the best one here

Band : SanDisk
Model : SDCFH 002G A11
Product Features :
- Ultra fast download and upload speed up to 15 MB per second
- Very small size
- Lifetime warranty
- 2 GB Memory Capacity
- Work with any Compactflash enabled device

SanDisk Ultra Compact Flash 2GB Card SDCFH 002G A11 Retail Package
>> SanDisk Ultra Compact flash 2 GB Card
I don t know what to say about this card They either work or they don t This one works I have been using it for over two years and have taken over 2000 photos I have had no problems with it
>> Excellent on all accounts
San Disk products always perform beyond expectations And receiving them ahead of the scheduled arrival was an even bigger
PLUS in my opinion
>> Good card for older cameras
Bought this one to replace my Hitachi Micro drive in my Canon PowerShot S1 IS
Works perfect

If You are looking for >>> SanDisk Ultra Compact Flash 2GB Card SDCFH 002G A11 Retail Package find the best one here

Band : Seagate
Model : ST3500418AS
Product Features :
- Spindle Speed is 7 200 RPM
- Delivers 500 GB capacity 16 MB Cache
- Interface option is SATA 3Gb/s NCQ
- Ships with the industry most reliable and proven perpendicular magnetic recording PMR technology
- Best in class rotational vibration tolerance ensures unrivalled performance in high spindle density applications

Seagate Barracuda 7200 12 500 GB SATA 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Hard Drive ST3500418AS
>> Problems with Seagate not with Amazon s packaging
While I must admit that I ve had loads of problems with this particular model of Seagate drive 4 DOAs from another vendor and one that died after about 3 months of use I must say that Amazon appears to have listened to complaints about packaging of OEM drives Mine arrived in it s static bag and properly secured using the plastic inserts that you find in retail packages Much better than the packaging at the other online company that just used bubble wrap and often not enough of it

About the drive When it s working it s a good drive It s pretty quiet and the price for the capacity is still pretty good Given the checkered reliability record I recommend having a spare drive on hand for any NAS/RAID array that you may be sticking these into Seagate is good about the RMA process you still have to pay to ship the dead drive to them but they pay the return shipping in general but to be without the drive for a week or more can be dicey in a RAID array

>> High capacity drive
I bought it to supplement 1 tb drive in my Netgear NAS Duo network attached storage to function in RAID1 configuration it needs to drives but I bought it with one also from Amazon This drive is compatible with NAS Duo and does the job I liked the packaging which is environmentally friendly

>> 1 5TB for 1 5 years
got it in 2008
136 bad sectors 8 250million raw read errors a day and similar seek error rate
10 spin up retrys not powersupply related
works has decent transfer rates believe it or not im still running a winxp system on it with hardly any problems besides it hanging on boot 1 3 times every day could be unrelated

If You are looking for >>> Seagate Barracuda 7200 12 500 GB SATA 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Hard Drive ST3500418AS find the best one here

Band : Arctic Silver
Product Features :
- Arctic Silver 5 3 5g is Non electrically conductive Will not separate run migrate or bleed
- 100 Authentic ArctiClean 60ml kit Includes both ArctiClean 1 30ml and ArctiClean 2 30ml
- Cleans computer and Xbox 360 CPU/GPU heatsinks very easily and quickly
- 100 Authentic Arcticlean and Arctic Silver 5 from Arctic Silver
- Do not get fooled by others trying to sell generic versions

ArctiClean 60ml Kit includes 30ml ArctiClean 1 and 30ml ArctiClean 2 and 3 5grams Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
>> The Best Thermal Paste
This is the best thermal paste out there This paste can lower your temps by 5 degrees Celsius
>> Arctic Silver Needs No Review
It s already hailed as the best on the market but was uncertain on how effectively the arctic clean would work following the simple directions on each bottle removed the old compound easily and quickly
>> WOW
I had recently purchased a E8400 from amazon I had been using no thermal paste at all which was dangerous because I reached degrees of 90C while playing a game and 60C idle
I hastily purchased a thermal paste which was this one All I can say is WOW
My idle temperature went from 60C to 39C
While playing the same game it went from 90C to 51C
MAJOR improvement I would defiantly buy this again for future processors

If You are looking for >>> ArctiClean 60ml Kit includes 30ml ArctiClean 1 and 30ml ArctiClean 2 and 3 5grams Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound find the best one here

Band : Intel
Model : BX80605I5750
Product Features :
- Quad Core Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology
- Intel EM64T 1
- Intel Virtualization Technology
- Enhanced Halt State C1E

Intel Core i5 750 Processor 2 66 GHz 8 MB LGA1156 CPU I5 750BOX
>> Unbelievable upgrade over last gen processors
Let me just get this out of the way from the beginning I m a gamer and for me I m always looking at upgrades that will improve my gaming performance the most Never ever have I seen such huge improvements in my gaming framerates as when I decided to get a new cpu motherboard and ram combo I had purchased a Radeon 5970 which I have also reviewed on here if your interested in reading that hoping that would be the biggest improvement to my gaming It turns at that although it was good it was being held WAY back due to my last gen setup I ll post the old and new ones now

Old

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2 4ghz
4GB DDR2 800 memory
Radeon 5970

New

Intel Core i5 750 OC 4 0ghz
4GB DDR3 2000 memory
Radeon 5970

This processor is insane Even at the stock cpu settings my framerates were better than with the Q9400 I then OC d it to 4 0ghz using Corsair s H50 water cooler to keep it around 35c at idle During normal gaming use my temps stay in the 42 48c range most of the time I never see the temps exceed 55c max while gaming Only during an Intel Burn Test running all four cores at 100 load did I see temps hit 72c I even have all my fans on the lowest settings I am using 1 34vcore and 1 23v vtt right now as well which is probably higher than it needs to be I could lower these temps even more by reducing the voltage so I may try that later on

My gaming framerates have doubled now just by upgrading from a Q9400 and DDR2 800 memory to this i5 750 and DDR3 2000 memory This is such a great processor and one I highly recommend over anything else right now Check out benchmarks all over the net and you will see that when this processor is OC d to match the i7 s it can hang with those and even beat them out in some games for framerates
>> Ultra fast and Affordable
Installed this CPU with stock heatsink on a new build with an MSI P55 GD45 motherboard Very easy to install CPU and heatsink I did replace the stock thermal paste with some artic silver I had laying around The temp is great and the new machine runs very smooth
>> Great Deal
This was a great deal at a a great price I watched the prices increase on this item in the weeks after I purchased it It arrived quickly using Amazon Prime In fact this was a better deal than the first one I found on the famous auction site in which the seller posted the item didn t have it available and tried to switch me to a more expensive item

If You are looking for >>> Intel Core i5 750 Processor 2 66 GHz 8 MB LGA1156 CPU I5 750BOX find the best one here

Band : Corsair
Model : TW3X4G1333C9DHX
Product Features :
- Sold Individually

CORSAIR XMS3 DHX 4GB 2 X 2GB PC3 10666 1333MHz 240 pin DDR3 CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit TW3X4G1333C9DHX
>> Great product
Excellent product I m pairing it with a core i5 and a radeon 4890 super fast

Very high quality

>> Game memory
now i know what they meant with gaming memoryy its fast and can handle everygame
i played till now
>> Great value
This memory was an excellent value at the time of purchase The chips look well built and run perfectly in a new build

If You are looking for >>> CORSAIR XMS3 DHX 4GB 2 X 2GB PC3 10666 1333MHz 240 pin DDR3 CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit TW3X4G1333C9DHX find the best one here

Band : EVGA
Model : 01G P3 N945 LR
Product Features :
- PCI Express 2 0 Support
- GeForce 9400 GT with 550MHz clock
- 1GB of 128 bit DDR2 memory
- 400 MHz clock with 800 MHz effective memory rate
- Full DirectX 10 and OpenGL 2 1 support

EVGA 01G P3 N945 LR GeForce 9400 GT 1GB DDR2 PCI E 2 0 Graphics Card
>> Let s talk installation
As usual I went nuts worrying about disabling the motherboard video in the BIOS and sticking in a new card what to do if the screen was black Without a monitor how could you get back and reverse the process

Fortunately my BIOS well Let s talk You boot the PC and while the initial screen says DEL to enter setup you tap the Delete key patiently

Up comes the BIOS Basic Input Output System from one little chip the BIOS chip which is connecting the keyboard to the monitor There is no DOS There is no Windows There is no Java Unix or I phoney We are programming the BIOS chip Be not afraid Be of good cheer

Drill down thru the many options Don t change anything yet If you do remember that you can always hit the ESCape key to exit without saving Y Piece of cake

Fortunately you probably won t need to change ANYTHING in the BIOS WOW CHANGE NOTHING Why

Most BIOS programmers want to play it safe So their DISPLAY option is usually something on the order of 1 Boot to any video card on the PCI Express slot the latest thing nothing found 2 Boot to any video card on the PCI slot an older thing nothing found 3 Boot to the video chipset on the motherboard

So just leave the BIOS options alone

Shut down Plug in the video card to the motherboard M O V E yes M O V E the monitor cable to the new video card THEN reboot No problem Problem Pull out the new video card move the cable back to the motherboard and re boot You are back to the original setup Whew Why No PCI x card no PCI card so the BIOS would enable the video on the motherboard back to the orignal configuration

The odds are strictly against such problems

Everything OK Play around with your single monitor Browser OK E mail OK Turbo OK Spreadsheet OK Try EVERYTHING and get it stable if anything is goofy

Shut down Plug in the second monitor Boot up In VISTA Go to CONTROL PANEL Choose PERSONALIZATION Choose DISPLAY SETTINGS Click the IDENTIFY MONITORS Then tweak the settings It is actually user friendly

Re boot Re boot Re boot Try to break it

Ah yes Big Dummy here If you plug one of the CRTs/LCDs into a wall socket make sure it is not controlled by a wall switch Or you will be poking about all evening in a wine induced stupor wondering what is wrong with this new VIDEO CARD while the Video display has no power

This was so much more painless than I ever expected it to be This review is from someone who used to build PCs boot into DOS and upgrade to Windoze When I saw that there were over 100 positive reviews I bought the product right away

I apologize for writing yet another review But I am delighted with this product

I was not disappointed By way of disclosure I am not affilated with any corporation This recommendation is freely given An additional idea is that the rebate dropped the cost of this solution to 45 Thank you for listening

and please click the HELPFUL button if you are so inclined

Best of luck to everyone


>> A decent video card
I have an HP Pavilion a6614 which came with an on board GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 I m currently using Windows 7 x64 I upgraded the video card in my computer about a year ago with a GeForce 8400 but to be honest the 8400 wasn t too much of an improvement over the built in card Hulu was still choppy in full screen mode and games were unplayable in all but the lowest settings The 8400 didn t cut it

This card did the trick Hulu shows play in full screen mode Games have an acceptable FPS with the graphics settings tweaked You still probably won t be able to play games in the highest quality modes but you ll still have stunning graphics for the price

I would recommend this card for non gamers or occasional gamers looking for a bargain video card
>> Big Improvement
Bought this for my Dell Inspiron 531 to upgrade from the original integrated graphics Super easy to install i didn t uninstall the Nvidia Drivers or anything The longest part was upgrading the drivers This computer comes with a 300 watt battery so I didn t have to buy anything else to use it While I was inside the case i cleaned and vaccuumed the fans and cobwebs and it runs smooth and quiet For WoW players it increased Framerates and decreased Latency makes everything smooth

If You are looking for >>> EVGA 01G P3 N945 LR GeForce 9400 GT 1GB DDR2 PCI E 2 0 Graphics Card find the best one here

Band : Logitech
Model : 970150 0403
Product Features :
- Adapter converts standard stereo RCA plugs to three 1/8 stereo mini plug jack inputs
- Compatible with all Logitech 5 1 multimedia speaker systems

Logitech 5 1 Game Console Adapter Convert Rca Plugs To A Single 1/8
>> Yes it does what it says it does
I was using an older version of this It had only 2 din inputs that came with the Logitech 5 1 computer speaker set So I had to use the matrix button So after stumbling upon this just browsing I ordered it to replace mine It does exactly what it is expected to do I could now connect all 3 green black orange plugs into this and use my HDTVs output Red White turn Off that darned Matrix button and it made a difference I do not currently have my HDTV connected to a reciever still shopping around and have HDMI from my DVR HDMI from PS3 to my TV This little adapter was well worth it as just turning off matrix I could have seperate channels for using my 5 1 spare speaker set My HDTV an LCD Samsung 32 is quite old now by todays standards it and from what I ve read even the newer ones have weak Bass output from its speakers The subwoofer and just adding 5 more speakers w/the TV s own speakers gives great sound and heavy bass for my place More than needed to disturb sleeping others in my house

In all This is perfect for now It is NOT true 5 1 the speaker set from Logitech is but the TV output is L/R As said I replaced this 3 port one with my old 2 port adapter that came with the speakers it s said in the manual for consoles etc And it works well Cheap enough for now for better audio

When I get the reciever I want I ll just loop/daisey chain the HDMI through it for true 5 1 For now this is just fine


>> This is What I Have Been Searching for my Whole life well a semester anyway
This is what I needed for my dorm room I tried everything else and for what I need this is is hands down the best I don t have room for a 5 1 setup on my desk but the sound with 5 1 going was really bad so I converted my 5 1 system to a killer 2 1 I have my left and right speakers stacked now and it is perfect for what I need
>> Using with my PS3 and X 540
I m using this to get surround sound with my Logitech X 540 and my PS3 Although it s not true Dolby surround sound it s super cheap as well as the X 540 is Before I got this I was using the matrix mode on the X 540 and it s nowhere near as good as having this adapter because the sound isn t forced into all 5 speakers I highly recommend this to those who don t have the expensive 5 1 systems

If You are looking for >>> Logitech 5 1 Game Console Adapter Convert Rca Plugs To A Single 1/8 find the best one here

Band : PNY
Model : VCGFX522PEB
Product Features :
- NVIDIA Unified Architecture
- Full Microsoft DirectX 9 support
- OpenGL 1 5 support
- PCI Bus Type
- Toll Free Techsupport and 3 year warranty

PNY VCGFX522PEB GeForce FX 5200 256MB VGA VGA PCI Graphics Card Retail
>> Upgraded Gateway E4000 and works with Windows 7 flawlessly
I recently upgraded a Gateway E 4000 from Windows XP to Windows 7 running a gig of RAM Everything went flawlessly except for the resoluiton on the monitor Windows 7 would not allow the resolution to go over 600x800 I searched high and low for the drivers and had no luck Finally I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my graphics card I get the case open and find I have no PCI E slots on the motherboard only PCI big surprise there Another hurdle I looked high and low at my local electronics store and found that no one seemed to stock them AMAZON HERE I COME I found this card for a song at just under 30 00 and decided to order since the reviews showed a lot of people upgrading old machines to Windows 7 and having the same issue as I where this card was the resolution The card arrived promptly and was shipped securely with another power supply that I ordered just in case I popped the card in and switched my BIOS from VGA to PCI very important for the card to work and whammo I got perfect resolution I didn t even need the new power supply I would highly recommend this card for anyone who has done the same as I and been too cheap to get a new machine when a perfectly good one still works Love this graphics card Can t attest to any gaming capability due to the fact that I am not a computer gamer that s what the Xbox 360 is for but movies look great on the machine using this graphics card and I can install a second monitor now if I wish
>> Very easy to use
I got a deal on a pair of used 19 1280x1024 monitors and needed something to drive them with my 7 yr old PC Xeon XP Pro 2GB RAM and this was perfect the used LCD s are a little quirky but the video card is running flawlessly it even coexisted with my on board video so I was running 3 monitors for a while but that felt like I was becoming an air traffic controller so I dropped the third LCD which was 17 I m not playing any high end games just using office apps and browsers I d buy this again without hesitation for a similar need
>> works great
I needed to update the graphics in my Dell PC after upgrading my OS to VISTA Works well no more problems

If You are looking for >>> PNY VCGFX522PEB GeForce FX 5200 256MB VGA VGA PCI Graphics Card Retail find the best one here

Band : XFX
Model : HD577AZNFC
Product Features :
- 1GB DDR5 Memory
- Display Port
- Crossfire Ready
- ATI Eyefinity

XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB DDR5 PCIE Graphics Card HD577AZNFC
>> Best Card for the money
This card worked perfectly right out of the box It runs hot so if you are running the latest games use catalyst control center to speed up the fan before you launch a game or create a profile that runs the fan at 80 I added a case fan to cool the card from the top and it runs about 50C playing the latest games
>> Great performance
The performance with the games installed in my PC were great since I add this graphic card although the compability with Windows 7 isn t the best I haved to reboot the system from the CD 3 times in a row other unpleasent surprise was the fact that the crossfire connection wasn t included in the box
>> Wondeful card easy to install
Years after the SLI and Crossfire were introduced I finally took the plunge with two of these cards purchased for crossfire gaming My previous video card was an Nvida GTS 250 512MG video card That card was okay but I would have to customize my video settings to medium to low settings for most advanced video options to maintain my 1900x1200 resolution with decent FPS

Since my power supply unit was 450 watts I purchased the Corsair 750w PSU When my video cards and PSU arrived I prepped my OS for the new install From ATI s website I downloaded the lastest Radeon HD drivers Prior to shutting down I uninstalled my Nvidia drivers and control panel Once my system was down I quickly swapped out my PSU s pulled the GTS 250 and installed the two cards My case is a standing mid tower case and both cards fit without any issue FYI these cards do not come with a crossfire cable I had to run down to the local computer supply store to get one since my motherboard didn t have a crossfire cable either

Upon bootup my system was quieter than my previous setup That was nice After logging in I loaded the ATI video drivers and rebooted Finally I could test out the system with some games In each game that I played whether they were mmo first person shooter rts etc they all played flawlessly The graphics were the best that I ve ever had and FPS stayed high

My system has been incredibly stable and any crashes that I ve experienced I ve been able to pin down to game settings with easy fixes I d highly recommend this cards especially in crossfire mode

If You are looking for >>> XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB DDR5 PCIE Graphics Card HD577AZNFC find the best one here

Band : Crucial
Model : CT12864Z335
Product Features :
- 1GB PC2700 DDR 333MHZ 184PIN DI
- MM 2 5V CL2 5 UNBUFF

Crucial Technology CT12864Z335 1GB 184 Pin PC2700 333Mhz DIMM DDR RAM Memory
>> It works
I have installed the new 1GB ram for a month it has made my web browsing faster and my computer doesn t freeze up will shop at Crucial again
>> Crucial RAM for my HP Pavilion a530n PC
I bought this RAM upgrade my HP Pavilion a530n desktop PC Although the HP website said I should use the 512MB RAM for my PC I checked the Crucial website which said I could use the 1GB RAM So I bought it and it works great with my PC
>> Great service once again
This is the second time I have purchased from Crucial Technology and will do so if I have additional needs Everything I have purchased worked perfectly

If You are looking for >>> Crucial Technology CT12864Z335 1GB 184 Pin PC2700 333Mhz DIMM DDR RAM Memory find the best one here

Band : Intel
Model : BX80601920
Product Features :
- Intel Core i7 920
- 4 8 Intel QuickPath Interconnect
- 3 Channel Memory
- 8MB L3 Cache
- LGA 1366 package

Intel Core i7 Processor i7 920 2 66GHz 8 MB LGA1366 CPU BX80601920
>> Nice processor intended for computer enthusiasts
I ve been using this processor for about 1 month now and it performs flawlessly I would have to say given it s higher price compared to other processors and high level of performance at this time early 2010 this unit is intended for computer enthusiasts like myself and the average computer user would probably be happy with a less expensive processor

This unit has 4 physical cores so it s technically a quad core chip however each core has hyperthreading automatically built in This means 8 threads of data can be computed simultaneously

Although you can run multiple programs at the same time each program using a single thread of the processor your programs must be specially designed to use ALL the threads at the same time Many newer programs have been designed to use multiple threads Photo/Video editing tasks are completed much faster with this chip

If your budget allows and you have a need for an excessively faster processor I would highly recommend the Intel 920
>> Freakin Sweet CPU
If you are going to get an i7 processor I highly recommend you get the 920 The majority of them can overclock to over 4Ghz The 930 is taking the place of the 920 but is the exact same CPU with a higher multiplier Buy it you won t be sorry
>> BEST CPU EVER INTEL HAS THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE TOO
I got this CPU and the ASUS P6T MB combo at fry s for 400 and I had the CPU for almost a year but then for about a year I was having problems with the CPU not recognizing my full 6GB 1600MHZ Memory sticks from Corsair at the time I didn t know it was the CPU so I had everything replaced motherboard power supply memory sticks all RMA d but the only thing I didn t replace at the time was the CPU so I was still having problems so then I finally took the time contacted intel and they had me send back the CPU and they sent me a brand new replacement I guess there was something wrong with that CPU I love intel for they re customer service and they had the replacement sent to me 2nd day air via UPS THANKS INTEL
now everything works perfect not a single problem now this processor is the best I ever purchased

If You are looking for >>> Intel Core i7 Processor i7 920 2 66GHz 8 MB LGA1366 CPU BX80601920 find the best one here

Band : Corsair
Model : TR3X6G1600C8D
Product Features :
- Matched Dominator with DHX

Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D Dominator 6 GB 3 x 2 GB PC3 12800 1600MHz 240 Pin DDR3 Core i7 Memory Kit
>> Dependable easily overclocked gaming ram
I overclocked the memory to 2000mhz ran it with an overclocked 4 0Ghz core i7 920 processor and dual radeon HD5770s All of this in an antec 1200 case The cpu never gets above 45 degrees even under max load the memory is cool to the touch and dissapates heat very well due to the corsair memory heatsinks This is a good kit at a pretty good price Corsair always has been and always will be an excellent company They also have very good customer service incase anything ever does go bad I purchased these with the optional dual fan memory cooler but honestly it doesn t need it
>> Freakin fast Love it
I ve never had ram with heat sinks on them This is the first time I ve built a high end machine and this ram runs great stays cool Would definitely recommend
>> good RAM
its work Asus P6t Deluxe no complain run 12 Gb RAM at 1600 easy good product

If You are looking for >>> Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D Dominator 6 GB 3 x 2 GB PC3 12800 1600MHz 240 Pin DDR3 Core i7 Memory Kit find the best one here

Band : Intel
Model : SSDSA2MH160G2R5
Product Features :
- With no moving parts Intel SSDs offer a quiet storage solution that responds quickly and uses less power

Intel 160 GB X25M Mainstream SATA II Solid State Drive SSD Retail Package SSDSA2MH160G2R5
>> Intel X25 M SSD FAST Reader OK Writer slow for an SSD Usual XLNT Intel Quality Product BUT Complex To Install Correctly

Let s get busy and I ll tell you the story of my installation and the SSD s characteristics both good and OK and somewhat OK none bad mind you just some could be better for all that we re spending on this SSD but most of all please attend to the DETAILS details details of installation and yours will be all that much better in your own machine if you do

I am not going to get overly technical with this review after all it s not for a class on SSD s it s for the Amazon com marketplace and computer users of all types so it will remain mostly generic and easy to read hopefully So let s get going and let s have some fun

You re probably reading this because you either want an SSD already have one or are adding a 2nd or 3rd or 4th to a system you ve built or are improving your notebook or desktop PC or Mac with this fantastic new technology an SSD offers us so we all have that in common plus there s a general interest in SSD s that borders on fanaticism at this time in computing history so here s some data of this SSD s attributes and characteristics

The X25 M 160GB SSD has a formatted capacity of 149GB it is a 2 5 form factor hard drive generically speaking with a 9 5mm height to fit into most any notebook it weighs roughly 72 grams about 2 5 ounces has SATA 1 2 I II connectivity and throughput of 1 5GB/sec or 3 0GB/sec depends on the controller in your notebook desktop or RAID system controller interface Its internal formatting is in 4096KB sectors which is an important thing to understand right away because we have to think of Alignment of the sectors with SSD s and how they read write and seek data depends on sector parity with the system it resides in

Unlike platter HD s we cannot vary the sector count by formatting as it is fixed at the 4096KB 4K size by virtue of the MLC cells themselves or SLC cells the case being Multi or Single level cell structure inside the SSD configuration thus even if we wanted to change the structure of the SSD with 16k 64K 256K etc formatting we cannot it is fixed and aligned with 4K sector parity

Windows 7 is SSD Savvy as is the Mac OS X disk formatting scheme from both the installer DVD ROMs and their respective Disk or Hard Drive utilities the native HD formatting and partitioning software programs that come bundled with the operating systems Thus when you install Windows 7 or Mac OS X 10 5 x onto an SSD with the 4K sector alignment the installers will automatically format the SSD correctly for use beginning and ending the partition s the user wishes to use however many there are relative to the SSD s size on an integer of 4096KB so that when the SSD writes data to a sector it comes out even and all is well ie 2 2 4 I only want to mention this now because it is important as we get into the whole subject of Parity and Alignment

Let s take a couple examples and we ll get through Parity and Alignment quickly I prefer a single Partition for small HD s or SSD s in general so in my case all I had to do was open the Windows installer DVD ROM and it automatically formats and aligns the SSD in 4096KB sectors beginning with the Primary Partition and only partition with an integer of 4096KB and ending the partition at another 4096KB sector so all is well my setup is simple

Let s say however that a user wants 2 Partitions one for the OS and a 2nd for DATA in this case the installer would begin the 1st Partition on a 4096KB sector integer and when the user wants to break the SSD up into the two partitions for example the OS in 59GB and DATA in 90GB sized Partitions 59 90 149GB occupying all available space the installer would Align the 1st Partition at a multiple of 4096KB end that partition at another integer of 4096KB then begin the 2nd Partition for DATA at a 3rd integer of 4K and end it at a last 4K integer and all would be perfectly Aligned

There might be a very small amount of contiguous space wasted in all of the alignment to get the SSD into perfect parity with the 4K Alignment standard but the installer utility s job is to get the sectors Aligned correctly without wasting any space if possible beginning and ending each Partition on a 4K sector ideally

So the whole idea being that Alignment must be perfectly apportioned by the installer or an alignment tool of some sort or the SSD will waste its internal space and be searching aimlessly for data and writing it to odd sized sectors if we were to format it with 112KB sectors for example The SSD s great speed would slow to a crawl space would be wasted every time there was a new write made on the cell structure because it wouldn t add up to an integer of 4096KB if it were formatted in 112KB sectors in short the SSD would be a jagged tangle of non interleaved data its speed would be compromised and the SSD s entire premise of 4K Alignment would be negated by non conforming formatting a very bad thing

Why am I dwelling on this subject right now Well for one key reason straight away and that is that some Cloning or Partitioning tools are NOT SSD Savvy and will not perform Alignment correctly so avoid them at all costs

My favored Paragon Software s Partition Manager 10 x Professional is not yet SSD Savvy though they are working to make it so with its next edition However Paragon has developed for Western Digital Corp and also made a special version for their own uses a special PAT Paragon Alignment Tool that must be used if you are utilizing PM 10/Pro to Clone your data and OS from a normal platter HD to an SSD Otherwise the Clone will be out of Alignment and hopelessly out of sync with the 4K standard and basically any unaligned Partition would be terribly slow data would be all over the place instead of organized into nice contiguous 4K blocks/sectors and the SSD s high theoretical speed would be impossible to achieve

Getting this SSD up to high speed is also the result of having the latest firmware in place so that process must be done with an empty SSD ie when it is freshly installed before you place your OS and key data if any onto the SSD format it Align it etc so I m going to briefly go over the firmware updating procedure using a BOOTABLE CD ROM with the Intel firmware ISO Image correctly BURNED into the CD ROM with a proper burning software/utility and how to avoid problems with such a procedure

With a notebook this is relatively simple as there is usually only one or two SATA connections in a notebook ie one for the HD and one for the optical drive if the notebook has an optical drive netbooks and small form factor notebooks like my Asus UL30Vt X1 don t have optical drives so doing the firmware updating on my new notebook was a breeze

There are a couple problems that can occur and they are best handled by understanding the pitfalls themselves and how to avoid such problems First you must disable any HD passwords or Administrator passwords before doing the firmware update in BIOS or the CD ROM with the firmware update on it will NOT start up the notebook or desktop Second with most desktops with multiple SATA connectors it s best to install the SSD onto one of the Primary SATA connectors not those meant for optical drives or accessories so that is usually SATA connectors 1 4 numerically speaking not those farther downstream in the chain of SATA command You want the SSD to be flashed on a primary controller interface of the desktop on the primary or South Bridge SATA controller not one for accessories or North Bridge administered SATA connectors

Sometimes the firmware flash cannot be administered from the AHCI driver/connector of some notebooks because of a driver conflict When that happens the notebook won t let the CD ROM start up the computer and one must accomplish the firmware flash on a desktop then reinstall it into the notebook this is not so common but it does happen now and then so if your notebook refuses to start up with a correctly made CD ROM with the firmware ISO image burned into the disk properly this is probably the case so proceed accordingly

Speaking of firmware flashing and ACHI controllers the ACHI controller MUST be enabled in BIOS rather than the IDE controller or RAID controller or the RAID IDE or IDE setting for the controller in BIOS The setting must be ACHI and ONLY ACHI to accomplish the firmware update with an Intel ISO image on a CD ROM or USB Flash Drive made BOOTABLE using the proper procedure for doing that hat trick

Now if you don t have an external optical drive or internal drive or if you prefer to utilize a USB Flash Drive to do the procedure by all means do it that way but I m not going into it here I have been using CD ROM s for doing firmware updating updating the BIOS of my computers etc and prefer it to this day over USB flash drives so I m old fashioned that way but it works for me

The next subject of this review is a special treat I have in store for those of you who don t know about the newest Intel Storage RAID/SSD Driver for your IDE/SATA Controller of your desktop or notebook computer because guess what Intel Just Released a new extra special driver for RAIDs SSDs and Desktops/Notebooks with IDE/SATA AHCI Controllers who will be utilizing SSDs and I have the URL for it in the first Comment which I made at the end of this review The editors here at Amazon com removed the link from the review so there you go it s in the Comments area at the end of the review

The SSD compatible Microsoft and Intel IDE/ATA ACHI Controller/drivers up to now have not been SSD specific like the new driver is and it works a TREAT I am certain that it accounts for a fair amount of speed in my notebook s charting of SSD Read and Write Speed as I showed in my additions to the SSD Images in this review I don t think that too many people are getting up to 270MB /sec read speed out of their Intel X25 M SSD s at this time unless they are also using that driver for SSD s specifically and RAIDs specifically from the Intel software download web site

When you navigate to the Intel web page for the download download the EXE file and it s ready to ROCK Just double click it and WHAM It installs instantly as your controller s driver You can check and see if it installed correctly by going into Device Manager then to IDE/ATA ACHI Controllers Right Click on the Controller/Driver symbol in Device Manager then go to Properties of the driver and check to see if it has been updated to v9 6 0 1014

You can go ahead and Clone your HD to the SSD after doing the firmware update to the SSD and the Driver update to the IDE/ATA ACHI SATA Controller using Acronis True Image or any number of Cloning softwares that are SSD SAVVY but just be certain they are JUST THAT before you do the Clone operation and all will be well

Those of you using Paragon Utilities at this time please obtain the PAT Paragon Alignment Tool to use after the Cloning operation Your Paragon Software Support Agents can supply it for you in the Help Section at Paragon Software ie make a Support Request tell them that you are Cloning an SSD with PM 10 Pro etc and ask for the newest Beta PAT

If you are using the Windows 7 Installer in any flavor you choose it is SSD SAVVY natively so you can just go ahead and safely install Windows onto the SSD and all will be fine no problems to anticipate there

My WEI Score went up to 7 8 points just one/10th of a point from perfect which I have uploaded for you all to see in the Images section of this Review for the SSD

I uploaded several images to view about performance with my SSD installed in my new Asus UL30Vt X1 notebook and they are quite enlightening so be my guest and check them out for yourselves The most interesting and accurate image for performance of the new Intel X25 M High Performance 160GB SSD is the ATTO Tools Benchmarking Tool scoring which is xlnt

If you d care to look at that index you can see that from 16KB through 8192KB with the 256MB test file the Read speed was anywhere from 238MB/sec through 272MB/sec with the Write speed consistently between 110MB/sec and 115MB/sec which is top drawer for this particular SSD

The ATTO Tools test is especially regarded as the most accurate of all the benchmark tests along with HDTach Professional but I didn t have time to run HD Tach Pro on an empty volume and that is how that is best utilized My scores are with the OS and my applications installed already so those are pretty amazing numbers from an Intel X25 M High Performance 160GB SSD filled with almost 40GB of data and the OS

BE SURE and disable your Disk Defragmentation in Windows Disk Management Don t forget to do that Also if you can if you are running maximum RAM like I am in my notebook you can eliminate the Page File from the HD also I have turned off my Page File in my HD and that s easy to do also here s how to do it

1 Click on Computer in the Start Menu

2 Right Click on Computer Icon in Start Menu

3 In the Left Column Click on Advanced System Settings

4 Under System Properties go to Performance Options

5 Under Performance Options Go to Advanced Tab

6 Click on Virtual Memory Change

7 Under Virtual Memory click No Page File

8 Close all those Windows and Restart the computer

9 Done Deal and your computer will operate with a ZERO Allocation for Page File ONLY DO THIS with maximum RAM in your computer and it will improve the performance of the computer up to 25 over normal fast SSD performance

I am very pleased with this purchase very much so I give the Intel X25 M 160GB High Performance SSD HD the Wavey Davey Ultimate Performance GOLD AWARD for being the best SSD for the in the Amazon com marketplace

This is the one to buy the RETAIL BOXED SSD from Intel X25 M Land It was packed to beat the band no way anyone was going to tamper with it being sealed and protected inside of the box like a little vault Reminded me of buying one of their CPU s I ll always buy a retail boxed HD or SSD as long as it s within reason it just makes sense to do

Enjoy the graphics that I posted and I hope that you enjoyed the review and that my tips and help will come in handy for you

This one was a bit of a pain to install it had a lot of special things to do to it to make it ready for Prime Time but when I was done with the optimizing and the install of the special SSD/RAID Driver for the ACHI Controller I knew that I d done the right thing because my performance was very high Use that new Intel ACHI Driver That thing is the BEST Update your firmware Then sit back and enjoy a whole new notebook or desktop experience because things will be happening very very fast with the new X25 M in place

Wavey Davey 3 28 2010
>> What can I say
Excellent product Intel is one of the best technology companies out there

I went from a 5 9 to a 7 2 on Windows 7 Performance via one upgrade

The price well obviously the technology is new but at least its here and not sitting in R D for another 5 years

I m actually surprised Intel was able to dominate this market I would ve thought Corsair or Crucial would ve been the domination So that surprises me but hey they know what works and this works Same goes for USB2

Bottom line

Yes it s good Yes it works Installation is extremely simple

If you have the money get it It unlocks every bottleneck on your computer Make sure you get the TRIM Firmware upgrade I haven t yet kind ve a pain the fact that we still use BLANK CD R s / DVD R s to FLASH our hardware err also make sure you have Win7

Obviously if you wait 2 5 years the price from now will have dropped from 500 to 199 Just get it now you re missing out if you are
>> Amazing
Hands down the best PC upgrade i have ever purchased Boot time from POST to sitting at my windows desktop 11 seconds Highly recommended even if the price is a little steep due to it being new technology

If You are looking for >>> Intel 160 GB X25M Mainstream SATA II Solid State Drive SSD Retail Package SSDSA2MH160G2R5 find the best one here

Band : PNY
Model : MD1024SD1 333
Product Features :
- Memory capacity upgrade provides improved system performance and responsiveness
- Deliver all the productivity your PC has to offer with PNY Memory
- Compatible with PC2700 333 MHz and PC2100 266 MHz systems
- Helps prepare your PC for running Windows Vista
- Easy installation Free 24 hour Technical Support and Lifetime Warranty

PNY OPTIMA 1GB DDR 333 MHz PC2700 Desktop DIMM Memory Module MD1024SD1 333
>> RAM Does what its suppose to do
Preforms as I expected I installed it in my Soyo motherboard It fits it works I got what I wanted
>> defective out of the package
After I installed the ram the comutper s graphis would fail I bought a new stick from an other vvendor with out any issues
>> Improve your memory
A wonderful way to add memory to your PC As easy to use as 1 2 3 Don t be intimidated my your computer Improve your speed efficiency and effectiveness of your PC

If You are looking for >>> PNY OPTIMA 1GB DDR 333 MHz PC2700 Desktop DIMM Memory Module MD1024SD1 333 find the best one here

Band : Generic
Product Features :
- Connects a SATA hard drive to a computer with a PATA/ATA/IDE/EIDE interface
- Supports ATA 100/133
- 1 x SATA port power and data 1 x PATA port 40 pin IDE 1 4 pin power connector Molex

SATA to PATA/IDE Hard Drive Interface Adapter
>> Works as advertised with one caution
This puppy works exactly as advertised What is not advertised is that it is only good for a master drive not a slave So if you want to convert your IDE PATA interface to a SATA drive for a master drive this is your solution
>> Interface adapter
I love it For the money this was the best item I bought from Amazon I have few old PCs and they all have IDE and bought SATA by mistake and this adapter worked and saved lots of money
>> Beware
4 me it wasn t fully compatible with my comp which had an Ide circuit board glad I didn t pay too much Chow America

If You are looking for >>> SATA to PATA/IDE Hard Drive Interface Adapter find the best one here

Band : Cooler Master
Model : R4 L2R 20AC GP
Product Features :
- Up to 69 69 CFM maximum RPM
- 19 dB A silent application for CPU cooling
- RoHS compliance for protecting the environment
- Recommended for V10 V8 Hyper 212 Hyper Z600 Gemini Cosmos Cosmos S Haf 932 HAF 922 CM Storm Scout and Sniper
- 50 000 long life hours

Cooler Master 120mm Blue LED Case Fan R4 L2R 20AC GP
>> Wonderful product
I was kind of skeptical at first but after the first week of installing this fan in my case I love it It keeps my system temp at no higher than 84 degrees Would recommend for anybody that needs better system cooling fan
>> It is too loud
pros It is bright It can provide strong flows

cons Too loud
>> Coolermaster RC600 KKN1 GP
These fans are by far the quietest that I have tried I have five different makes of similar type fans and none are as quiet as these They still move a surprising amount of air and I have installed six of them in two computers now Mine have run for about a month at this time
One thing I ve noticed and this is true of my other make fans to a lesser degree is that placing the inlet side of the fan against a grille will cause a whine they must be spaced a little away to avoid this A grille on the outlet side doesn t have this effect

If You are looking for >>> Cooler Master 120mm Blue LED Case Fan R4 L2R 20AC GP find the best one here

Band : LKV 2000
Model : LKV 2000
Product Features :
- VGA to AV VGA to composite
- vga to RCA Vga to video
- Vga to svideo

PC To TV Video Converter
>> Nice device a little buggy
Does as it s asked Colors not terribly bright or vivid on CRT TV but for 20 what more can you ask It s clear and I only use it for PC karaoke so it s good enough Retailer did an excellent job both on price and turnaround for delivery
>> PC to TV
I find no fault in this product The fact of the matter is there are allot of factors to take into consideration when piping your PC video to your TV I recommend that you not consider this unless you have a HDTV and a video card that has DVI out Using a product like this that takes standard VGA and pipes it via RCA or S video just loses too much resolution to make it worthwhile If I had a higher resolution HDTV using the S video would produce an image that is acceptable Alias my components produce an image that is just below acceptable I guess I will just have to use my computer as a computer and my TV as a TV >
>> it works
It works but it is far from an optimal solution It forgets settings any time you turn off your PC whenever it loses power The picture quality is far from perfect It flickers and if you do not have the resolution and frequency settings perfect The flicker setting in the menu doesn t really help Part of the picture is cut off on the sides And once again it forgets your settings so you have to set it up each time you turn it on AHHH There is a zoom setting that cuts off all sides and is on by default and thus needs to be corrected each time you turn on the computer Do not unplug it while the computer is on because you will have to restart your computer to get the display working again Colors become over saturated on some settings

I will be glad when I get rid of the SDTV so I will not have to mess with this converter

If You are looking for >>> PC To TV Video Converter find the best one here

Band : Thermaltake
Model : 39894
Product Features :
- Support 6 pin PCI Express connector
- Dual 8cm fan provides best air flow to cool your PC system
- Intelligent Black Cable Sleeving provides optimum air flow inside the case
- Protections against Over Power Over Voltage Short Circuit and Protection Reset
- Safety/EMI Approvals FCC UL CUL CSA and CE certification

Thermaltake W0070RUC TR2 Series 430W Power Supply with 2 Fans
>> Top Quality at Modest Price
I am impressed by the quality of this Thermaltake power supply It is quiet and has two fans to add to PC net fan cooling so if you are updating in general you will have more cooling to support your update and it is good to have more cooling in any case This unit is of great production quality even the wiring is protected by woven sheath binding The case is sturdy and of a standard shape to easily fit in with many PC comps Compared to my previous power unit this one is seen to be much better At 430 watts ideal for an update of a modest PC ccmp if not for a cutting edge top power PC comp

It is no trouble installing it Turn off the PC using the 0/1 off on Unplug the old power unit from the PC and the power strip Open the PC case and loosen the old power unit letting it hang out the side Then connect the new unit wiring bundle cable and plugs one by one to the half dozen or so plug input spots just switching equivalent cable and plugs matching the plugs one by one by shape wire colors and pins making sure to not tangle wire bundle cables especially the old and new ones When done with this switching process the old unit is all the way loose and the new unit is installed via its four screws to the PC where the old one has been then put on the PC case cover and plug in the new power unit to the PC and power strip Turn on the PC using the 0/1 off on Now the PC should be ready to turn on normally Details to help anyone install this fine Thermaltake 430 watt power supply
>> Unit was DOA
I was very impressed with the build quality of this PSU Unfortunately the one I received did not work I was building a new system and originally thought the new motherboard was DOA After confirming it was indeed the Thermaltake 430W PSU that was non functioning I returned it I give Amazon com an A for their return policy In the end I decided to buy another brand at a local BestBuy store
>> very satisfied with this purchase
I am a big fan of these power supplies Very quite and reliable My 4th one already and never failed me once

If You are looking for >>> Thermaltake W0070RUC TR2 Series 430W Power Supply with 2 Fans find the best one here

Band : D Link
Model : DWA 556
Product Features :
- Delivers up to 14x faster speeds and 6x farther range than 802 11g
- Xtreme N technology enables HD video streaming file sharing enhanced Internet phone calling VoIP and surfing the Web
- Access secure wireless networks using advanced WEP WPA or WPA2 encryption
- Easy to install and use with D Link s new Quick Adapter Setup Wizard
- Backward compatible with an existing 802 11g and 802 11b network

D Link DWA 556 Xtreme N PCI Express Desktop Adapter
>> Great with Windows 7 difficult with Windows XP
Pros On Windows 7 64 bit pro I had zero issues getting this to work Immediately it was recognized I connected to my network and it runs at full speed Full signal strength everything was smooth sailing

Cons On Windows XP SP2 32 bit pro I had lots of problems I didn t expect XP to have drivers included and after installing the drivers that came with the card everything seemed to be running fine However after a reboot I discovered Windows XP just wouldn t start it would reboot as soon as networking started After isolating it was the drivers and trying various pieces of information on the internet I finally took a 60ft eth cord to connect to my router and update Windows MS provided good drivers to use and it s worked ever since

Other Thoughts Knocked off just one star for the XP headaches Not too big a deal since I don t plan on using XP often just for older games that have issues with Windows 7

Hardware
EVGA p55 LE
Intel i7 860
8Gb G Skill Ripjaw
Sapphire HD 5850

Router is Linksys WRT54G should get a wireless N router at some point to get the full benefits of this card
>> Exactly what I needed
Mt PC only has PCI Express slots so I did a search for compatible cards I could only find two cards an HP card and the D Link card My PC is running Windows 7 so I did some research on compatibility for both cards The HP card didn t seem to be compatible and I had a hard time finding compatibility information on the D Link card but the documentation said the Vista drivers should work

I ordered the D Link card in the hopes that I could get it working with Windows 7 When the card arrived I installed it and turned on the PC to see what would happen Amazingly Windows recognized the card and installed the driver automatically I was connected to the internet within a couple of minutes and everything has worked flawlessly ever since I can t reccommend this card highly enough
>> Wish it was dual band
The only thing I regret was not realizing that this was not dual band only 2 4

If You are looking for >>> D Link DWA 556 Xtreme N PCI Express Desktop Adapter find the best one here

Band : PNY
Model : MD2048KD2 533
Product Features :
- Memory capacity upgrade provides improved system performance and responsiveness
- Deliver all the productivity your PC has to offer with PNY Memory
- Compatible with PC2 4200 533 MHz and PC2 3200 400 MHz systems
- Helps prepare your PC for running Windows Vista
- Easy installation Free 24 hour Technical Support and Lifetime Warranty

PNY OPTIMA 2GB 2x1GB Dual Channel Kit DDR2 533 MHz PC2 4200 Desktop DIMM Memory Modules MD2048KD2 533
>> Did not work first time
The product did not come with start up instructions So it did not work the first time I have installed other memory with no problrms The company was hard to reach for help but once I recieved help it worked great My computer has 4 slots and it was necessary to leave the old memory in and add the new mwmory Now it works great with better preformance than before
>> Increased the speed of my computer
This was so easy to install after learning how by watching a video online basically I got a new computer for 45 bucks we stopped using the computer because it was so slow
>> Memory upgrade
Easy to use timely delivery and worked the first time Big improvement in computer speed

If You are looking for >>> PNY OPTIMA 2GB 2x1GB Dual Channel Kit DDR2 533 MHz PC2 4200 Desktop DIMM Memory Modules MD2048KD2 533 find the best one here

Band : SiliconDust USA Inc
Model : HDHR US
Product Features :
- 8 VSB ATSC over the air digital TV
- QAM64/256 unencrypted digital cable TV
- IR Receiver signal PC with a standard remote control
- 100baseTX high speed network
- 1 year warranty

SiliconDust HDHomeRun HDHR US Dual Networked High Definition Digital Television White
>> TV Everywhere
Installation was simple I now have TV on two Windows 7 computers It works well with Windows Media Center allowing me to record two different programs at the same time Windows XP requires a third party TV player but that s XP s fault not the HDHomeRun s The HDHomeRun comes with a simple preview program that you can use for viewing on XP I use the HDHomeRun on a gigabit network using over the air television signals from an antenna in my attic The signal runs through two splitters with no loss of quality I highly recommend the HDHomeRun as it gives you TV on your computers without having to install tuner cards in each one Fantastic device
>> Works beautifully with MythTV
I m fairly new to the world of PC TV Tuners and PVRs but this product with MythTV is a pretty great combination After looking around through all of the MythTV setup options it s difficult to believe that any TV Tuner could be easy to setup with Myth but this one really is I had never used MythTV before but I had this card up and running in less than 30 minutes Additionally the command line tool hdhomerun config was available in the Ubuntu repositories which allows easy access to information like signal strength and quality

Other than that there s nothing too unexpected Connections between my antenna and the HDHomeRun work as expected as does the connection between the HDHomeRun and my network Sometimes the network address of the HDHomeRun changes which breaks the entire setup but I have a feeling that s a router issue not the HDHomeRun s fault All I need is a better antenna and a separate hard drive to store my recordings on and we ll really be good to go
>> Great Product Wish it had a CableCard option
This is the almost perfect addition to my computer/entertainment system I have three Win 7 computers two with tuners and a laptop with no tuner networked with an HP MediaSmart EX495 and a HP Media Center Extender attached to my TV/entertainment system This gives me a total of four HD capable tuners to record with and two non HD capable tuners on the PCs but without a CableCard I can only record HD on the non premium channels basically ABC CBS NBC and Fox I still need the Cox DVR to record TNT FX USA etc in HD I believe ATI is coming out soon with a tuner like this one that will have the ability to use a CableCard so if recording premium HD channels is a priority you may want to wait for that

By the way this setup allows me to view/record shows on any of my computers even the laptop with no attached tuner Recorded shows are sucked off the local drives by the MediaSmart EX495 which acts like a centralized DVR freeing up the hard drives on the computers and it allows me to view all recorded content on any of the three computers or my main TV via the Media Center Extender The next step will be to get Media Center Extenders for the rest of my TVs bedrooms

If You are looking for >>> SiliconDust HDHomeRun HDHR US Dual Networked High Definition Digital Television White find the best one here

Band : Antec
Model : Three Hundred
Product Features :
- Washable air filters reduces dust build up in your system which helps keep your system cooler
- 9 Drive Bays External 3x 5 25 and Internal 6x 3 5 for HDD
- 1 rear 120 x 25 mm TriCool Fan with 3 speed switch control
- 1 top special 140 x 25 mm TriCool Fan with 3 speed switch control
- 2 front optional 120 mm fans to cool the hard drives

Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case External 3 X 5 25 Internal 6 X 3 5 2 Usb2 0
>> Great case great value
I ve used three of these cases for custom builds and I ve come to love the quality and the price that I get with them There s PLENTY of room even for SLI/CrossfireX setups and the 5 fan slots allow for great ventilation I would definitely recommend it to other custom builders
>> Fantastic value
Wonderful case for cheap What more could you want Unless you re interested in lights and gaudy colors this is the case to get Great fit and finish industrial no nonsense looks fans and room for more fans USB at the top of the case where they belong What a bargain
>> Nice Case / Good Cooling
I used my first Antec 300 case to build a client PC It will not be used for gaming
Here are some of my reasons for choosing this case

1 great cooling no extra fans to buy for a general purpose PC
2 the fact that the fans are large and can run slower making it very quiet
3 easy to clean air filter on the front panel pops off and can be washed in the sink
4 good looks modern but not something that looks like it is from outer space
No windows to look through and see the insides Some people don t care for this
5 great reviews by other people and the fact that Amazon offers free shipping
6 Plenty of room for all the hard drives one would ever want to add
7 plenty of thumb screws to attach the hard drives
8 no cheap PSU included Some cases come with no name cheap power supply
I prefer to buy the PSU separately choose what I need based on the mobo etc

Other thoughts
This PC will be in a desk I can see where this case would not be a good choice for some people due to the fan on top If it were to be setting BESIDE a desk on the floor someone could easily spill a drink down throught the fan opening This would wreak havoc with the mobo memory etc

The vent on the side as others have mentioned really does need an air filter if you plan on air moving into it With the fans that are installed the path of least resistance will be through the side panel as the front filters start to clog with dust IMHO

It does not come with a speaker Maybe people don t want to hear the POST beeps I installed a speaker in the side panel by using a piece of sheet metal cutting out a hole for the speaker sprayed it flat black and mounted it over the air vent from the back side blocking air from entering the case from the side The customer is very happy with it this way But did eat up time messing with it

Cons Actually I like the PSU mounted in the bottom However the 12V 4pin connector on my mobo was near the top The cable from the PSU could have been a little longer It did reach But I would have routed the harness more neatly if it had been about 3 longer As other have said you need pretty long leads on your PSU

I would not hesitate to buy this case again depending on the needs of the customer or for my own use since my PC sets on the desktop and I NEVER set drinks on top of it

If You are looking for >>> Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case External 3 X 5 25 Internal 6 X 3 5 2 Usb2 0 find the best one here

Band : EVGA
Model : 512 P2 N738 LR
Product Features :
- PCI Express video card with 512 MB of 64 bit DDR2 memory
- Full support for Microsoft DirectX 10 0 Shader Model 4 0
- True 128 bit floating point high dynamic range HDR lighting
- PCI Express and Open GL 2 0 support
- 2 dual link DVI outputs support 2 2560 x 1600 resolution displays

EVGA 512 P2 N738 LR GeForce 8400 GS 512MB DDR2 PCI Express Graphics Card
>> GeForce Graphics Card 8400 GS
This is a less expensive graphics card but it operates fine for the action games that I have Games such as Call of Duty World at War
>> Great business card
I wanted to get a card that will provide better performance than the built in card on the motherboard without having to put in a new power supply This card fit the bill very nicely It is well designed not noisy even with built in fan not power hungry and runs cool

Win 7 graphics scores
Desktop performance for Windows Aero went from 3 2 to 3 8 18 75 performance boost nice
3D business and gaming graphics performance went from 3 2 to 5 3 65 62 performance boost exceptional

This card has allowed me to see more details from all the applications that I am running The icons tool bars wallpapers desktop themes and internet/netflix viewing added more layers of details

The internet experience is markedly better graphics and responsiveness regardless of which browser I use Firefox or IE8 I m very happy with the cost performance ratio Please note that this was not purchased for gaming as there are many other cards that can perform much better at more than double the cost and having to buy a new power supply Having said that if you are looking for a performance boost using day to day programs and internet/netflix you need to consider this card

System
4Gig 1 Terabyte drive EVGA 8400GS external 1 5 Terabye drive

Win7 Office 2007 Professional VMware used for testing XP OSX Vista Ubuntu installs hardened Adobe 9 Professional Office 2010 Beta and various information security tools used for hardening testing and auditing network systems Windows Media Center looks great and remote desktop connection to/from the computer is more responsive
>> Nice Product
I had these for over a year now and they seem to hold up well

If You are looking for >>> EVGA 512 P2 N738 LR GeForce 8400 GS 512MB DDR2 PCI Express Graphics Card find the best one here

Band : Thermaltake
Model : A1888
Product Features :
- P/N A1888
- Dimension 80 x 80 x 25 mm
- Rated Voltage 5V DC
- Started Voltage 4V DC
- Operating Range 3 5 V 5 5 V DC

Thermaltake Mobile Fan II External USB Cooling Fan Us
>> Versatile cabinet savior
I have a very small TV center niche in my living room wall Below the TV I have a boxed cabinet that contains my receiver my Wii and my PS3 It gets hot in there I bought this fan as I found the PS3 has USB ports on it I cut a hole in the back of my cabinet and set the fan to blow across the top of my receiver Each time that I have checked I feel that the temperature coming off of the receiver has been cut down dramatically The whole cabinet is not heating up as much as it once did I think that this was a good buy
>> Loud Weak
the fan makes noise a minimum speed and really loud at max speed If it blows out a lot of air then it s acceptable however I hardly feel any air from 13 away It s too noisy to be comfortable
>> Drops A/V cabinet temps by 20
I have an enclosed a/v cabinet and was concerned about internal temps when running a PS3 receiver and other components I put my outdoor remote temp sensor in the cabinet and routinely saw 110 F temps so I purchased this and plugged it in to the PS3 USB port and saw a reduction of 20 The fan is quiet enough to not be noticed over the sound of other component fans running and the sound is a non issue when anything is playing You can plug it in to anything with a USB port but since my PS3 seems to be the big heat generator I chose to plug it in there It works very well and is a much cheaper and simpler solution than hard mounting a 120mm exhaust fan and wiring in a thermometer I m going to buy another one so I can put a laptop in the cab as well I recommend 100

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Band : Netgear
Model : WN111 100NAS
Product Features :
- Product Type Adapter
- Warranty 1 year
- Wireless Speeds
- 802 11b 1 2 5 5 11 Mbps

NETGEAR WN111 Wireless N 300 USB Adapter
>> Decent Product Terrible Software
The WN111v2 works pretty well and gave me download speeds up to 1MB per second However the software that you use to connect the adapter is terrible My Vista PC has never crashed on me in the two years i ve had it until I put the WN11v2 installation disc in it After my PC crashed three times the software finally installed Leaving me in a weird taskbar limbo funk What I mean by this is when I started the program it would get stuck in the taskbar and would not pop up Fantastic

Once I finally got this program running I connected to the internet and everything worked I was very surprised But the fun didn t last I noticed that the program would not save my settings and everytime I turned off my computer I would have to re enter my wireless WEP key each time I turned my PC back on So I contacted support and they said word for word exactly what was written in the instruction book Enter your info and click save then you re done Nope wrong It doesn t work Uhh now what I don t know

I ll be returning this junk tomorrow so I find a quality wireless adapter Unless you re looking to waste a lot of time I d highly suggest skipping this product
>> Worst USB Wireless Adapter Ever
I purchaseed the NETGEAR WN11 Wireless N300 USB Adapter Although the advertising stated that it was refurbished I received a broken product I am so disgusted with this purchase I am surprised that the product arrived in pieces The Quality Assurance Department of this Seller needs to be fired Spare yourself the frustration DON T BUY IT
NETGEAR WN111 Wireless N 300 USB Adapter
>> Works as advertised
For the price this is an excellent product It works just as I would expect I have it installed behind a Linksys router and am happy with the speed and signal

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