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nick a.

nick a.

Joined on 11/03/12

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 11
Most Favorable Review

Best 1080p monitor I've ever used

BenQ 24" 120 Hz TN Height & Pivot Adjustable 120Hz 3D-Ready LCD Monitor 5ms (2ms GTG) D-sub / DVI-DL(Dual Link) / HDMI x 2 / DP 1.2 / Headphone Jack XL Series XL2420T
BenQ 24" 120 Hz TN Height & Pivot Adjustable 120Hz 3D-Ready LCD Monitor 5ms (2ms GTG) D-sub / DVI-DL(Dual Link) / HDMI x 2 / DP 1.2 / Headphone Jack XL Series XL2420T

Pros: -The 120hz desktop experience is brilliant -Colors look great for a TN panel. Contrast is great. -Build quality is among the best I've seen in a monitor -The adjustable base is useful and great -No defects after 3 years I've been immensely satisfied with this monitor. I'm not looking for a higher-end panel with a comparable refresh rate, higher resolution (1440p) and IPS panel type, and I've found what I'm looking for. That said, when I purchase the new screen I definitely plan on keeping this one as a peripheral. Being able to swivel it will allow me to extend the longetivity of this monitor in my house because I'll use it for coding or something.

Cons: That magnetic little controller you can slap on the side to change presets is annoying. I don't use it. The menu is a little awkward to navigate at times. I have a 3-monitor setup and I've noticed that the bezels from side monitors will sometimes highlight the touch screen buttons on this. Not a big deal at all, but occasionally I'll have to re-position a monitor to resolve this. These issues are so small and infrequent I honestly can't complain.

Overall Review: I've been using this for 3 years and plan on using it for years to come. Best monitor I've used thus far.

Great price/performance

Thermaltake CLW0217 Water 2.0 Extreme/All-In-One Liquid Cooling System
Thermaltake CLW0217 Water 2.0 Extreme/All-In-One Liquid Cooling System

Pros: Using to cool my i7-3770k which is at 4.6Ghz. Temps never get out of hand and I've been running the CPU for 3 years now, so the heat hasn't destroyed it. Temps under load are usually in the 60C-80C range, and under max Prime95 testing I don't believe I ever saw temps above ~85C

Cons: I'd like to have better cooling performance, but I believe I got what I paid for. I also made sure to replace the cheap fans that come with this model with some Corsair quiet SP120 fans in order to cut down on the noise a bit.

Overall Review: Overall I've been very satisfied with this product and would purchase it again. It won't knock your socks off, but it does its job and it does it well for a very affordable price.

Great performance 3 years later

Intel Core i7-3770K - Core i7 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge Quad-Core 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Intel HD Graphics 4000 Desktop Processor - BX80637I73770K
Intel Core i7-3770K - Core i7 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge Quad-Core 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Intel HD Graphics 4000 Desktop Processor - BX80637I73770K

Pros: Overclocks like a beast. Very stable at 4.6 GHz right now. Overall this is the fastest CPU I've evern owned.

Cons: None that I've seen in my 3 years of ownership. Decent price for what you're getting, I've had it for awhile and it still performs very well with demanding tasks, and no problems I've seen.

Absolutely amazing

Beyerdynamic DT 990 Premium 250 Ohm Hi-Fi Open-Back Headphones
Beyerdynamic DT 990 Premium 250 Ohm Hi-Fi Open-Back Headphones

Pros: Phenomenal sound on all levels; absolutely breathe taking. Smooth, amazing sound that completely immerses you in what you're listening too. Extremely comfortable; I wear them for hours every day and I don't feel right sitting at my computer without them on my head!

Cons: Have had some issues with the drivers handling bass intensity on some things, but this has been worked out for the time being.

Overall Review: Using alongside the Xonar Essence STX, this is my first high-end audio setup. I'm relatively inexperienced with the tech behind sound, being more of a videophile myself, but I do know high quality sound from average sound, and my preferences in sound are a bit more strict than anyone I know. Every single person I've had over who has listened to these headphones has said nothing other than "wow". People ranging from college kids to professional musicians to self-proclaimed audiophiles have heard these and sat listening with their jaw on the floor. I listen to everything from NWA to Radiohead to Nine Inch Nails to Meshuggah to Two Steps from Hell to Bassnectar to The Heavy and these things sound fantastic while playing all of it. My only complaint would be that I had some issues getting things to work properly with the Essence STX; the drivers would start crackling when bass got too strong, even at average volume levels. This was fixed eventually through a clean OS reinstall, so I don't really know exactly what the problem was, but it's fixed now and they sound fantastic unless the volume is cranked up (and by that, I mean loud to the levels where it's actually harmful). Overall, I would absolutely recommend this product to anyone unless you've had something you know is better before. This is the best I've ever used and I'm completely satisfied, and if you can grab them whilst they're on sale you'd be extremely lucky to have such a quality product at such a low price.

Fantastic

EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN 6GB GDDR5 SLI Support Graphics Card 06G-P4-2790-KR
EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN 6GB GDDR5 SLI Support Graphics Card 06G-P4-2790-KR

Pros: -Fantastic power from a single card. -Better SLI scaling than quad-SLI shown with 2x 690s -Will run anything maxed 1080p -Can run most games out at 5760x1080 all on its own, maxed settings, 40-60fps. Few exceptions to the rule would be a heavily modified Skyrim, Crysis 1-3, Far Cry 3, Metro 2033, and Witcher 2. I'm sure there are others, but if you wanna play those on 3 screens grab a 2nd Titan and you should be good to go. -No louder than the 660ti I owned -Looks cool

Cons: -Too expensive for what it does, in my opinion. Is worth about $800 I'd say, not $1000.

Overall Review: The games I listed not being able to run at 5760x1080 are games that won't get 60 fps with maxed settings at that resolution. If you're willing to sacrifice some image quality, I'm sure a single Titan is capable of running any game at that resolution.

See no reason to upgrade

Plantronics GameCom 780 Stereo Corded Headset Recreational Comfortable Design
Plantronics GameCom 780 Stereo Corded Headset Recreational Comfortable Design

Pros: Great sound quality. Great bass quality. Surround works in games and makes the environment around you come alive. I'm no audiophile, but I can recognize what works and what doesn't. These work, very well, and I can't believe how little they cost. I own some JBL Creature II's, and when I transfer from my speakers to my headset I don't feel too left out. Bass and sound quality is really good on this set. Even with music, no matter what you listen to, I think it sounds great. Everything from the Beatles to Outkast to Nine Inch Nails sounds great to me.

Cons: Occasionally I get glitches with the surround, making things behind me sound very low quality, but this is so infrequent I won't be dropping an egg in my rating. Mic quality is lower mid-range in my opinion. I've heard much better, but not on anything I've owned previously. It's decent, and people have no issues hearing my or understanding me when I'm in a call, but it's not as crisp as it could be.

Overall Review: I'm more of a videophile than an audiophile, but these are great. In building my rig I was looking for an upgrade to see if I could surprise myself with impressive quality I've never heard before, but I just don't see the point right now. For the cost, even putting cost aside, these are some really great headphones and I'd recommend them.