THEN: - before Puget -
I grew up in a family restaurant and spent most of my early life doing whatever was needed around the place. From washing dishes to waiting on tables, I did it all. After high school I left the food industry and started working for an electronic retail department. During that period of time working in retail, I was also doing side work involving varied tasks with computers. Time took its course and now I am here at Puget Systems.

NOW: - here at Puget -
I was hired August of 2008 to start working in the production department. Already had a good idea of what I was doing but had to learn the Puget way of computer craftsmanship. After building computers for several months I was approached to lead in modding our aquarium kits and have then taken up other responsibilities. One thing you'll hate about working at Puget though is that you get accustomed to HEARING quiet systems and you can no longer stand your jet engine at home. Never a bad thing since now you have a good reason to upgrade.

MY FIRST COMPUTER:
I don't remember any fine details of the very first computer my parents owned. All I remember was doing something in a DOS-like interface to print out a report I did on Rhinos. But my first personal computer to call my own was a custom Athlon 64 build in 2005, the system got minor upgrades in 2007 but kept most of the same parts.

MY DREAM COMPUTER:
Ultra high performance multimedia machine that is also whisper quiet.

RECOMMENDED SOFTWARE/GAME(S):
I like arcade racing, sandbox style games, simulation, RTS, and things that explode all pretty like. But I REALLY enjoy mecha games, whether it's highly in depth simulation or just a shoot 'em up arcade style. Currently in terms of mecha games I'm into the Crysis total conversion mod, MechWarrior Living Legends. I'm not a huge software guru, but I like programs that are practical and easy to navigate.

LIFE: - outside Puget's walls -
I like to stay productive on my off time. Working around my humble home, checking what's the latest and greatest in the PC world, leisure and active hobbies, and by all means the best place for some good food. If I'm asked what I think about Apple products, I say eye candy. Though I can't blame them, if it sales it sales. Also the time spent playing World of Warcraft can be used to do something much better, like planting a tree.

Ruben's Recent Comments: Ruben Romero (Production Technician) Says: The 3480 can be utilized with a good portion of low to mid range parts for a very nice and reliable desktop. The optional fan as an intake can help keep things cool, like a video card, for more robust configurations. Rubber washers are installed to the hard drive cage to help absorb the vibration from drives. This helps keep the overall acoustic noise low for a nice and quiet machine that can easily be used as a multimedia machine if needed. Ruben Romero (Production Technician) Says: This is a nice add-on card for people wanting to have USB 3.0 and SATA6 support for motherboards that do not have the options readily available. It can also add more ports for systems that need to connect more SATA6 drives or additional USB 3.0 devices. It interfaces with a PCI-E X4 and does not require any power, a very easy upgrade if you ask me. Ruben Romero (Production Technician) Says: After reading various hardware articles online, the GTX 465 is basically a GTX 285 that is DX11 ready. Thus the performance will be somewhere between a 5830 and a 5850. Great for maxing out the settings at 1680 x 1050 gaming and acceptable at 1920 x 1080. I only wish that nVidia would have made the reference cooling solution similar to that of a GTX 480. Ruben Romero (Production Technician) Says: This sound card has gotten great reviews and does great outputting clear sound. However it only supports EAX2, so for gaming enthusiasts just keep that in mind. Ruben Romero (Production Technician) Says: The Lancool K7 is a nice lightweight system capable of housing powerful components. With a fair amount of airflow coming in from the front two 120mm fans, cool air will reach critical system components efficiantly. The hard drive cage uses rubber washers to help reduce noise from the drive(s). Located at the top of the case are the front panel ports and power/reset buttons for easy access from a floor stationed location and with an aluminum construction, moving the system is a little easier. On a personal note, I think the K7 looks nice with red LED fans. Ruben Romero (Production Technician) Says: As nice as this case is there is one thing to take note of. The bottom 5.25 bay, if installing a long drive, will hang over the motherboard and with most standard size ATX boards that area typically has capacitors, chips, and/or pins with jumpers. A good idea to double check and make sure selected drives or other 5.25 accessories do not reach over the motherboard. Ruben Romero (Production Technician) Says: Tri-Cool fans are nice when it comes to fan speed adjustments on the fly. With their 3-speed switch you can go between high, medium, and low settings. Up to the medium setting the fan starts to get audible with a decent amount of airflow. I personally use these fans in three different systems at home. Ruben Romero (Production Technician) Says: I am not a huge fan of Antec power supplies, though this one is special. It's quiet, efficient, modular, and is compatable with one of my favorite cases, the P183. If your looking for a really quiet system make sure this is powering it. Granted it only fits inside three of Antec's cases, but it's well worth it. Ruben Romero (Production Technician) Says: I personally own one of these card readers and its made my digital electronic life a little easier. Going between my digital camera, my cell phone, and my hand held consoles, all of which use different USB cables, it can be frustrating at times trying to find the right cables to use. The card reader itself is really well done, and media cards go in and out very smoothly and securely. I've noticed that on Vista extra drive letters do show up under My Computer, but on Windows 7 the "drives" are not there until it is being accessed or the option to show hidden devices is enabled. I do not personally mind extra drive letters since I only notice them on the My Computer explorer window. I also like having an additional front panel USB, every little bit helps. Ruben Romero (Production Technician) Says: Moving from an ATI 4890 to an ATI 5870, the difference between the two cards is astonishing. The 5870 is not only faster, but also quieter under load. I cannot emphasize how much quieter the 5870 is compared to a 4890. Performance on various high end games, like Crysis, Far Cry 2, and Call of Duty World at War is very smooth at 1920 x 1080. The 5XXX series cards in general are much quieter with the stock cooling solution, it was just hard to believe at first. Now I can enjoy the full effect of hi-def gaming without the jet engine!