HardOCP did a nice little writeup on three budget CPU coolers: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2, Scythe SHURIKEN Rev.B, and the Cooler Master N520. The review focuses on temperature, overclocking and sound levels.
They ruled the best of the bunch to be the Cooler Master N520, which at the time of the article is around $39.99. With some CPU heatsinks reaching at around $60-80 bucks these days, it’s a good trade-off unless you plan to go full out water-cooling.
Here’s a snip:
We originally set out to see if those expensive $65+ coolers were the only choice to cool your power overclocked CPU. The answer to that question is a resounding “sort of.” Out of the coolers tested here today only the Cooler Master N520 is able to offer solid performance. The other coolers tested today just did not warrant purchasing over the stock Intel cooler. Of course, if you recall the COGAGE TRUE Spirit is a sub $40 cooler then things start looking a little brighter. So it seems that you don’t always have to spend a huge sum of money to get great performance, you just have to spend it wisely.
Be sure to click here to read the entire review.
Tip #5: Facebook Chat Lags Firefox
by LLRRoD on March 1st, 2010
Today’s tip of the day comes from my personal gripe with Facebook chat. Whenever I chat with people through the messaging feature, it tends to start lagging and sometimes hangs my system. I found out that it had something to do with some scripting involved with the latest versions of Firefox so I posted a fix.
Tip #5 Facebook Chat Lags Firefox
For this and other tips, please visit our Tips and Tricks Section or Contact Us if you’d like to submit a tip!
Comments (0) ATI Radeon 5830
by LLRRoD on February 24th, 2010
There are images circling around the web now of the upcoming ATI Radeon 5830. This card is suppose to be right under the 5850 in terms of performance but at sub $250. It is still considered an enthusiast card but the price point should be more attractive to mid-level gamers and power users.
Here is the full thread.
Comments (0)
Here is the full thread.
ATI Catalyst 10.2 Drivers
by LLRRoD on February 17th, 2010
If you have an ATI Video Card, then it would be a good idea to head on over and download the latest video card drivers.
They are up to version 10.2
Click Here to download the latest drivers.Friday Mumblings
by LLRRoD on February 12th, 2010
Happy Friday to you all. It wasn’t as bad (cold) outside as I thought it’d be. Yesterday it was freezing. Okay yeah, I live in Florida but my excuse is I don’t own a lot of jackets, so when it’s cold down here, there’s not a lot of protection against it.
In any case, not a whole slew of technology news this week, mainly because I’ve been busy setting up a few review materials up on the site and Bioshock officially taking over my life.
Hope everyone has their fair share of gaming this weekend 
Bioshock 2 Arrives!
by LLRRoD on February 9th, 2010
So today I am eagerly awaiting my copy of Bioshock 2. Not that I can play it yet… probably only 1/3 if not 1/2 of the way through the first one, haha. I did start playing it when it first came out but there were some bugs with the PC version at the time and ended up putting it into my backlog. Years later… low and behold Bioshock 2 was announced.
As a fan, I did order the Bioshock 2: Limited Edition /insert ooohs and ahhh’s here. Got it from Amazon and calculating the tax, I went ahead and got it overnighted since it would have came out about the same had I paid it at a retail store. Come on FEDEX!
It comes with a few other things like a soundtrack CD, an LP that I will probably never listen to, and 3 special lithographs. Overall I still don’t see how developers nowadays charge $100 for their limiteds. When Blizzard came out with the first collector’s edition of World of Warcraft that thing was only 80 dollars and JAM packed with stuff in it.
The main selling point for me was the art book; 160 page hard back book, but again is that worth the extra 45 bucks for the box? Probably not, but as a fan of the game, it was a worthy investment.
EDIT: Welp, FedEx had to ruin my excitement… my tracking stopped in Orlando and won’t be delivered till tomorrow. Apparently things were/are rough up in Tennessee where my package was sent (from Texas), which I didn’t quite understand their routes. Anyway, I called up Amazon and they refunded me my one day shipping so I guess that makes up for it. Hopefully, it gets here tomorrow in one piece :-/
Reviews!
by LLRRoD on February 8th, 2010
Just letting everyone know that I’ve been developing the Reviews Section here at PC Tech Advice and will soon be publishing them on a regular basis.
While the focus on a lot of our equipment is PC Based, I will also be doing reviews on various other electronics, such as audio devices, gaming peripherals as well as graphic related tools (since that’s my main profession).
If you have a request for a particular type of review OR would like to have your product reviewed by PC Tech Advice, please feel free to contact us at any time.
Thank You!
Tip #4: Internet Speed Test
by LLRRoD on February 2nd, 2010
I’m not a big fan of Tuesdays. Sometimes it’s worst than Monday because Tuesday’s tend to go super slow compared to just getting off the weekend on Monday.
Anyhow, today I decided to put up a tip on internet speeds. Everyone should at least test their speeds a few times a month / year to make sure you’re getting the best possible transfer rates from your ISP.
Make sure you check out Tip #4: Internet Speed Test
My Thoughts On The iPad
by LLRRoD on January 29th, 2010
Steve Jobs announced the latest and greatest that they can come up with in 2010, the iPad.
I’m not going to beat around the bush here folks… don’t buy it. If you’re someone who has to have everything Apple, then by all means, stop reading this and go on about your day.
The reason I gripe about this product is because there’s nothing ‘new’ about it. It’s basically a giant picture frame with an operating system. It’s a fad product with a fad price. Why do I say that? Well lets get down to the details shall we?
First off the price point is going to be in and around $500 dollars. This means that it will be in line with either a low end laptop and/or a high priced netbook.
Most netbook/laptops have:
USB Port – the iPad does not…
What?? Even the lowest end netbooks have USB Ports. Today’s cameras, printers, external hard drives… wait the better question is, what DOESN’T use a usb port. Instead Apple has opted to offer their own little dongle… free? No no… for a fee of course.
Keyboard – the iPad does not…
I think we’re going back to the stoneage here. Yes you can type using the iPad’s touch screen keyboard, but for anyone that’s ever used the iPhone, it’s annoying. I need to be able to feel the physical keys, blame my 6th grade keyboarding teacher for
Flash Support – the iPad does not…
Okay in Apple’s defense, I hate Flash too, I think it’s the bane of the internet and as a designer it is one of the few technologies I wish would’ve been chucked a long time ago.
A webcam/camera – the iPad does not.
Everyone has a webcam now, at least has capabilities on their laptop/netbook. I would understand if it made the iPad cheaper, but it doesn’t so… where is it? Let me guess I have to buy it and it will attach later.
There’s a few other features that I could go into, 16:9 (widescreen), HDMI support, ability to launch different things at the same time… So the biggest question here is, what the heck is it useful for? It’s not a laptop/netbook it’s not a mobile phone, GPS, and despite the name, a female certainly can’t make any use of it at a certain time of the month…
3G Network? Interesting.. but so what? There’s tethering technology already out and to add to AT&T’s already clogged up network because of the iPhone, this is just another reason for me to switch to other carriers. Frankly, I think the research department just botched up this year for Apple. Lackluster features and no matter how great Steve Jobs is at presenting products, there was nothing he could do to hype up this product.
It’s just a fancy screen that has only Apple proprietary devices that can hook onto it, most of which is not included with the product itself.
Thanks but no thanks. Hopefully Apple will have something innovative next year and keep these useless gadgets for the bargain bin or at least hide the fact that it’s for die hard Apple fans with deep wallets.
Verizon “Worry Free Guarantee”
by LLRRoD on January 19th, 2010
So a few months ago I decided to take Verizon for a test drive. They were advertising their Verizon Worry Free Guarantee ®.
Keep in mind these guys had the balls to register that term… “Worry Free Guarantee ®”.
So anyway 15 days into the plan, I had to back out. Had my own reasons to and so I went back to Best Buy, returned my phone. Called up Verizon to figure out what I had to do next.
This is when all the trouble started. First they wanted to charge me the Activation Fee on top of Usage Fees. I agreed to pay the Usage Fees… I used their service so I pay for it. I didn’t agree to the activation. If I would have stayed, fine but I didn’t so why charge me an activation. Called up a supervisor, he let me off the hook. Keep in mind that this wasn’t one call.
The first rep and supervisor I came across pretty much told me, these are our policies in order to make more money, so no can do hombre.
The second supervisor was more courteous and just did it. This was after an hour and a half long ordeal.
So, I’m thinking okay I’m done, paid my usage fees, hassled with the activation, but you know overall I’m done.
WRONG! Two months later, I get an email saying my ‘bill is ready from Verizon’. I quickly give them a call and apparently, I was charged an Early Termination Fee. WHAT?!
$170 dollars folks (not including the tax). Of course I didn’t pay it, and won’t. I spoke to another representative who has apparently filed a claim to have it refunded to bring my balance to $0. She said I’d get a call back the next day.. this was two days ago, so I’m still waiting for that call.
In the meantime, for all of you who are thinking of test driving… just keep in mind that there’s nothing ‘free’ about, and the only thing guaranteed IS the worry.
Comments (0) Keep in mind these guys had the balls to register that term… “Worry Free Guarantee ®”.
So anyway 15 days into the plan, I had to back out. Had my own reasons to and so I went back to Best Buy, returned my phone. Called up Verizon to figure out what I had to do next.
This is when all the trouble started. First they wanted to charge me the Activation Fee on top of Usage Fees. I agreed to pay the Usage Fees… I used their service so I pay for it. I didn’t agree to the activation. If I would have stayed, fine but I didn’t so why charge me an activation. Called up a supervisor, he let me off the hook. Keep in mind that this wasn’t one call.
The first rep and supervisor I came across pretty much told me, these are our policies in order to make more money, so no can do hombre.
The second supervisor was more courteous and just did it. This was after an hour and a half long ordeal.
So, I’m thinking okay I’m done, paid my usage fees, hassled with the activation, but you know overall I’m done.
WRONG! Two months later, I get an email saying my ‘bill is ready from Verizon’. I quickly give them a call and apparently, I was charged an Early Termination Fee. WHAT?!
$170 dollars folks (not including the tax). Of course I didn’t pay it, and won’t. I spoke to another representative who has apparently filed a claim to have it refunded to bring my balance to $0. She said I’d get a call back the next day.. this was two days ago, so I’m still waiting for that call.
In the meantime, for all of you who are thinking of test driving… just keep in mind that there’s nothing ‘free’ about, and the only thing guaranteed IS the worry.