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Zachary B.

Zachary B.

Joined on 03/01/05

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Most Favorable Review

Fantastic cooling, great looks, easy on the wallet.

Corsair Hydro Series, H60 2018 (CW-9060036-WW), 120mm Radiator, Single 120mm PWM Fan, Liquid CPU Cooler LGA 1700 Compatible
Corsair Hydro Series, H60 2018 (CW-9060036-WW), 120mm Radiator, Single 120mm PWM Fan, Liquid CPU Cooler LGA 1700 Compatible

Pros: As is normal with Corsair water coolers, installation is quick and easy. Just take off the old cooler, install the mounting bracket (will most likely need to remove the motherboard from your case unless your case has a cutout), remove the cover protecting the thermal paste and screw the cooler down and connect the power cords. I've been using an H110i in my system to cool my overclocked 6700K CPU for over a year now. Replacing it temporarily with the H60, I only saw a 5-13 degree increase for almost half the price. While the H110i dropped the temps significantly from the stock cooler, The H60 is surprisingly rather good for the price. Quiet. You won't hear this thing unless you have your case open and sitting right next to you. While not RGB, the white LEDs on the cooler look great, as does the rest of the cooler. 5-year warranty!

Cons: Honestly, nothing. If I had to pick something though, I'd just suggest for Corsair to make the white LED's RGB in the next version and link it with iCUE.

Overall Review: The H60 is easy to recommend! If you don't need the absolute best cooling, you can cut your cost compared to their highest models and still get top notch cooling.

Most Critical Review

Good product with some hiccups and avoidable missteps.

SteelSeries Siberia 800 Wireless Gaming Headset
SteelSeries Siberia 800 Wireless Gaming Headset

Pros: The headset is fairly comfortable (see cons), and provides plenty of cushioning to ensure long multi-hour sessions are headache free. The sound quality is as should be expected. Dolby 7.1 surround sound delivers clean audio wirelessly at advertised ranges. During days of testing, I had no problems or any distortion while using the headset wirelessly. As for the microphone, I was told by numerous people that the microphone was clear and free of any background noise. Battery life is also as advertised, and should get you through a typical days usage. If you forget to charge the headset one night, the product allows you to swap the batteries out to minimize downtime. Even better, SteelSeries has already included a 2nd battery in the box! To my knowledge, this is the first wireless headset to do this! Others make you buy the 2nd battery separately. Included in the box are a number of cables that'll allow the headset to be used in numerous situations. PC Gaming? Check. Xbox One? Check. Phone or tablet? Check. TV/Stereo? Check. For those who like to travel, SteelSeries has even included AC Adapters for nearly every region on this planet. The transmitter serves a double purpose, allowing users to change a handful of settings, including EQ's to a certain extent (see cons).

Cons: The faux leather makes the headset rather hot. While the headset isn't fully adjustable to fit people's heads that aren't "average". With all of the cables and accessories this headset includes, you would think there'd be a carrying bag. There isn't. This seems to be a rather simple and cheap problem that could've been avoided. Many of the accessories will be lost, especially during travel. There are no drivers included for this product in the box, or online. Additionally, the SteelSeries engine doesn't support this product. If you don't like being forced to change limited settings from the transmitter, you're out of luck. There is NO control panel for this "premium" headset. I struggled between rating this 3/5 or 4/5. However, with the missing features, and choice of build materials, the price tag is rather high. If the price was lower and more competitive, or didn't have as many cons. It would've easily achieved a 4/5 if not 5/5 rating.

Overall Review: If one can overlook the cons, this headset is a decent product and should be considered among others in its market segment especially if found on sale. If SteelSeries releases an update to this product, they'd only need to include proper software support, and a nice carrying bag for all of its accessories to have a near perfect product!

QoL design change makes tremendous difference, at a cost.

CORSAIR RMx Shift Series RM1000x Shift Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply
CORSAIR RMx Shift Series RM1000x Shift Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply

Pros: ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5 standard. Silent when the fan isn't running under 50% load. Having the connections on the side should've been done years ago. To my knowledge, there's no reason it couldn't have been done technology wise. Having the ports on the side makes installing and connecting wires much easier even coming from a previous fully modular PSU, and should you need to install or remove any in the future it's simple to do without messing up cable management. Plenty of included cables with 15 total. Size wise it's a little over half an inch longer, but weighs almost 2 pounds less than my old 850w Corsair PSU. If you move your PC around, this should be welcomed. Fits perfectly in my Lian Li 011 Air Mini where the PSU sits sideways (cable ports facing toward the top of the case) with no hard cable bends.

Cons: The biggest con is the price for 80 Plus Gold in 2023. At launch MSRP, there are equal quality PSUs between 1,000-1200 watts rated at 80 Plus Platinum. The only difference being traditional port placement. In today's world of ever increasing energy costs, this adds up a lot over the lifespan of the product. Cables are old school rigid plastic with no case/bag to store them in. My old Corsair PSU had sleeved and flexible cables, this is a big downgrade. Will be purchasing 3rd party cables once available, but this adds to the total cost of the product making the first issue worse. The smell! The PSU immediately smells like room temperature fish once you open its bag and lasted over 2 hours of use. I've never had a high end PSU have a smell before, this was completely unexpected.

Overall Review: TLDR: The design change is a welcome QoL improvement that truly makes a difference. Unfortunately, it seems that's all Corsair focused on and neglected other design choices in the process. Would still recommend the product for the usability convenience, but just be mindful of the cons and know what you're getting before purchasing.

Awesome Fast Little Keyboard

CORSAIR K70 RGB TKL – CHAMPION SERIES Tenkeyless Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - CHERRY MX SPEED Keyswitches - Durable Aluminum Frame - Per-Key RGB LED Backlighting - Detachable USB Type-C Cable
CORSAIR K70 RGB TKL – CHAMPION SERIES Tenkeyless Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - CHERRY MX SPEED Keyswitches - Durable Aluminum Frame - Per-Key RGB LED Backlighting - Detachable USB Type-C Cable

Pros: This keyboard has great build quality. It's made of plastic and aluminum with absolutely no flex. The underside has some of the best rubberized anti-slip pads I've seen on a keyboard where even the pull-out legs are rubberized. Add in the surprisingly heavy weight for a 70% keyboard, and this thing isn't budging. The RGB looks great against the black frame and even has a slight reflective quality against the brushed aluminum. The PBT double-shot keycaps allow the light to shine through while protecting the coating and letter from wear or fading. Meanwhile, the mechanical switch underneath feels smooth to type on, and the short actuation distance and 8,000 Hz polling rate ensures your actions are translated into your games as quickly as possible. Corsair's iCUE software allows you to change multiple settings from polling rates to macros, or to setup simple RGB effects while allowing you to download more complex RGB profiles or create your own. Don't want to have their software running all the time? You can save multiple profiles to your keyboard and toggle through them on the board itself, or disable all effects instantly with the "tournament" switch. For those that like to customize your keyboard, Corsair threw in textured WASD keycaps, but you can use compatible 3rd party caps as well. The braided USB C cord is removeable, allowing you to also change your wiring as well. Volume scroll wheel isn't anything new, but it's superior to old buttons. Once you use a keyboard with one you'll never be able to go back.

Cons: Media keys are at the top left of the keyboard which is awkward for non-lefty's to use. Should've been thrown below the volume wheel or swapped in place of the RGB/profile buttons. No USB ports on keyboard. Polling rate over traditional 1,000 Hz gaming boards is honestly unnoticeable. No palm rest.

Overall Review: Overall a great board where the cons are based more on per-user needs, preference, and budget.

Great mouse with amazing specs/features. Few annoyances.

Corsair SABRE PRO CHAMPION SERIES CH-9303101-NA Black 6 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB 2.0 Type-A Wired PixArt PMW3392 18000 dpi FPS/MOBA Gaming Mouse
Corsair SABRE PRO CHAMPION SERIES CH-9303101-NA Black 6 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB 2.0 Type-A Wired PixArt PMW3392 18000 dpi FPS/MOBA Gaming Mouse

Pros: Extremely lightweight. This is the first thing I noticed when I took it out of the box, and I love it! Mouse doesn't feel cheap either. The mouse also glides easily across my mouse mat. Supports up to 8,000 Hz polling rates for a 0.125ms response time. Not sure if I can feel any difference between my 1,000 Hz 1ms mouse, but it's great to know if I die in a game, it's not due to my mouse. Software allows you to easily customize all the buttons to your liking and toggle various settings such as DPI, polling rates, etc.

Cons: DPI toggle button is underneath the mouse, and only cycles through. This is very inconvenient for on the fly switching, and if you accidentally cycle past the setting you want, you can't simply go back and must go through the entire cycle again. Braided cord isn't fit to the inside wires. Its loosely around them and feels bad in the hand. Additionally, while the mouse glides nice and smoothly, the cord drags too much for my personal liking (my main gaming mouse is wireless though, so this may not bother wired gamers). It's highly recommended you get a mouse bungee to reduce the drag. Software is big and heavy. iCUE takes up over a gigabyte of space.

Overall Review: Price for 8Hz polling rate and highly customizable software is great. This alone I highly recommend this mouse. If 8hz polling rate isn't a big deal to you, you may want to look elsewhere.

Good budget focused case

Montech Air 900 ARGB ATX Mid-Tower PC Gaming Case/ High-Airflow, ARGB Lighting Strip, Sync With Motherboard, Dust- Proof, Unique Mesh Side Panel/ EATX, ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ITX/ Black,White
Montech Air 900 ARGB ATX Mid-Tower PC Gaming Case/ High-Airflow, ARGB Lighting Strip, Sync With Motherboard, Dust- Proof, Unique Mesh Side Panel/ EATX, ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ITX/ Black,White

Pros: Please note: I posted this review the other day for the Black Air 900 Mesh, but that product seems to have been removed. The following still applies to this case, minus the front mesh cover. Budget Friendly Nice looking case with real tempered glass. (Many budget cases use plastic instead) The metal is thick ensuring the case doesn't flex and is sturdy. Front, top, and bottom magnetic filters to help keep your system clean and maintain optimal cooling. Speaking of cooling, the front mesh both shows off your custom RGB fans (when you buy and install your own) and provides great airflow for your system. Good cable management with velcro/cutouts to keep your system looking tidy. 4 USB ports on front IO. 2 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0. Good SSD mounting locations throughout the case.

Cons: Not a con, just a heads up, but if you still use DVD/Bluray drives you won't be able to install them in this case. You'll need to get an external player. Some screw holes are a bit rough on the inside. If you're not careful these could potentially cut you. The paint on the case can easily be scratched. Be careful while laying the case on its side and installing your hardware to avoid scratches. Included fans aren't impressive, most users will want to buy others for better cooling and to get their desired look. While you should be able to fit most watercoolers and large GPUs, you should verify the dimensions beforehand to make sure it's compatible. 240mm cooler is a bit snug. When you remove an expansion slot cover, there's no way to reattach it. Additionally, when you install something in an expansion slot, the screws you keep it securely in place are outside the case, not inside. If you can't see the back of your case this might not be an issue, but if you can it may ruin the look of your setup a bit. I wish the PSU cover was removable to help with PSU installation. It was so tight and hard to insert it all the way in (that's what she said!) Have fun routing the cables through it as well... This is honestly my only real complaint. While it has 4 USB ports in the front, being it's 2020 and this came out in late 2019, it would've been better to pay a few extra $$ to lose the 2 USB 2.0 ports for even just 1 USB C. Buying a case in almost the middle of 2020 that you'll probably have for years to come without USB C means you're not only not future proofing yourself, you're not even ready for some of the newer products that have already switched to USB C.

Overall Review: Overall this is a fantastic case with only a handful of minor issues. Not a single con will affect your everyday use and saving money on a budget case only means you can potentially spend more on better components. I can easily recommend this product for someone to consider if they're looking to buy a nice tempered glass case without breaking the bank.