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Qingchuan L.

Qingchuan L.

Joined on 01/05/08

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 16
Most Favorable Review

Great board

ASRock FM2A85X-ITX FM2 AMD A85X (Hudson D4) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Mini ITX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
ASRock FM2A85X-ITX FM2 AMD A85X (Hudson D4) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Mini ITX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Pros: The only FM2 ITX motherboard that supports 1440p resolution through dual link DVI. This allowed me to build my HTPC centered around a 27" 2560x1440 screen without having to use a dedicated graphics card. The motherboard seems stable so far, the "bios", or UEFI, it functional, but unnecessarily flashy. The fan setting is a little weird, but I probably just need to play around with it a little more.

Cons: Memory slots are above the CPU socket instead of to the right. This prevented me from using a few fanless cases that require heatpipes. Also doesn't come with wifi built in. This seems like a pretty obvious thing to have on ITX boards. Not enough to deduct an egg though, nothing a $20 mini-USB adapter can't solve.

Overall Review: I was able to build a great media center PC around this motherboard. Threw in an AMD A10 5800k, 8GB memory and a terabyte hard drive.

Most Critical Review

Deceiving

hec Orion XPOWER585 585 W ATX12V 2.01 Power Supply
hec Orion XPOWER585 585 W ATX12V 2.01 Power Supply

Pros: Cheap, comes with SATA power connectors and dual 12v rails.

Cons: Eh...the amps rating is pretty deceiving on this powersupply. It says that it can put out a maximum of 19 amps on 1 12v rail and 20 amps on the other. However it does not say how many amps it can put out combined. And you CANNOT just add the rails up. With most powersupplies they give you the maximum number of watts for the 12v rails, but in this case you can get a rough idea by finding out how many watts are allotted to do 3.3v and 5v rails. It comes out to about 299 watts on the 3.3+/5v rails, which leaves 287 watts for the combined 12v rails, so about 24 amps. Also keep in mind it's 585 watts max, not sustained.

Overall Review: Don't cheap out on a powersupply for your computer. It can potentially ruin your entire system.

Great sub for music

Polk Audio PSW Series PSW10 Black Subwoofer
Polk Audio PSW Series PSW10 Black Subwoofer

Pros: Great sounding bass, not boomy at all. Makes everything I listen to more realistic sounding.

Cons: It's kind of big for use on a computer system. Also I don't have any hardware volume control anymore. I need to change the volume in windows or my balanced setup gets messed up.

Overall Review: I was looking for a subwoofer to complete my 2.1 system. This one did the trick. It sounds wonderful paired up with the M-Audio AV40. I set the crossover frequency at ~85hz and it melted right in.

Works well

Mushkin Enhanced 2GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model 991643
Mushkin Enhanced 2GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model 991643

Pros: Works well in my Lenovo thinkpad x201 laptop. Can't see anything wrong with it. No complaints for $20.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Upgraded my laptop from 2GB to 4GB memory. Lenovo wanted to charge me $80 in configuration, did it myself for $20.

Great little heat sinks

Enzotech BMR-C1 VGA Cooler
Enzotech BMR-C1 VGA Cooler

Pros: Great little heatsinks for cooling the VRM on my HD 4890. I got an aftermarket cooler that didn't cover the VRM and my card was roasting alive. These come with high quality thermal tape too.

Cons: A bit more expensive than your standard ram sink.

Wonderful Speakers

M-AUDIO Studiophile AV 40 40 Watts 2.0 Speakers
M-AUDIO Studiophile AV 40 40 Watts 2.0 Speakers

Pros: Absolutely awesome speakers. Last year I downsized from a cheap generic 5.1 set of speakers to a pair of Companion 2 speakers (they were given to me as a gift). I was not satisfied with the speakers at all so I upgraded to a pair of these. They make my old speaker sound like tin cans. They sound extremely balanced and the stereo imaging is wonderful. I almost never use the bass boost option though they are nice for some pop and dance music. They're plenty loud for my dorm room and fits right next to my monitors. If you love to listen to music then these speakers are better than just about anything else out there for the price.

Cons: Large and heavy, though the weight gives it a feeling of sturdiness. The cables that it came with were sub-par, I expected better cables with such an expensive pair of speakers.

Overall Review: I'm using an Asus Xonar D1 sound card and it really pairs well with this speakers. I can no longer stand listening to 128kbps mp3 files anymore, they sound so flat and mushy.