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Matthew T.

Matthew T.

Joined on 10/07/08

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 21
Most Favorable Review
Microsoft  SideWinder X6  Black Keyboard Win USB English
Microsoft SideWinder X6 Black Keyboard Win USB English

Pros: i really love the aesthetic, looks really cool, especially in the dark. back lighting is very even, except in the letters of the PrtScn/ScrLk buttons where it is somewhat faded, although this might just be in the board i got. brightness knob is analog, so you can get a very nice gradient of light anywhere from off to full. the keys plastic texture feels nice and the keys themselves are nice to press. travel distance is between that of a laptop keyboard and a standard keyboard. keys are easy to press. response is perfect. the software is needed for configuring the advanced features of the keyboard. it has a ton of features but i haven't touched any of it.

Cons: the esc key not being over the ` is a big throw off, i've hit F1 instead of esc many times.

Overall Review: i really wish keyboard makers would align the function keys with the number keys instead of staggering them in groups of 4... how much more intuitive would that be to operate? what's the deal? also i don't like how the two knobs protrude out and up higher over the height of the keys. maybe it helps if you have chip grease or zit juice all over your fingers, but i wouldn't know... using with the numpad on the left takes some time to get used to. i have no need for any of the advanced features. i just needed a cheap back lit keyboard. in conclusion, best keyboard i have ever used.

Most Critical Review
HIS iSilence Radeon HD 7750 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 Video Card H775P1GD
HIS iSilence Radeon HD 7750 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 Video Card H775P1GD

Pros: Works great, plays all the games I have on max settings.

Cons: Usually, the machine with this card will only boot from a cold boot (I have to turn power supply off for a few moments and then back on before booting), otherwise the motherboard won't post. The machine will not reliably resume from hibernate or sleep. It might be a good idea to re-position the fans in your case to blow on the card, as I was getting temps over 80c on full load, whereas with a fan blowing on the card it never goes over 50c. This kinda defeats the purpose of having a fanless design though depending on how you look at it. Just make sure there's good air circulation underneath the card.

Overall Review: Upgraded from a Radeon HD 4850, and to my disappointment I didn't notice much of a performance gain at all (Diablo 3 was still choppy as heck and WoW and SC2 frame rates didn't get any better when running on max settings, must be a CPU bottleneck). But this card uses a lot less power and runs completely silent, so that makes up for it. Ironically though, the one and only case fan that I have is still making more noise than I would like, so the overall noise of the machine did not go down even after this upgrade.

G-Cube G9PS-310P 2000 dpi 2.4G Wireless V-Track Patented Super Precision Paint Splash Style Mouse (Pink Color) Running on almost All Surfaces
G-Cube G9PS-310P 2000 dpi 2.4G Wireless V-Track Patented Super Precision Paint Splash Style Mouse (Pink Color) Running on almost All Surfaces

Pros: Small, I like mice that I can move with my fingers rather than my palm. Really cute and unique design which I fell in love with when I first saw it (I mainly got it for the looks). Although it is light weight, it feels pretty solid.

Cons: It takes two AAA batteries (included) and goes through them pretty quick. It lasts maybe 2.5 weeks if I leave it on all the time and use it every day. Once the batteries start to die, the mouse will still light up and it will look like its still working but the cursor won't move at all. I thought the mouse had broken at first, but after I replaced the batteries it started working again. The reception can cut in and out if the distance is more than 2 feet. But since I use it with my laptop, I don't really need to be that far away from the receiver. The one I got is missing 2 out of 4 nylon feet. Not a huge deal since I can still use the mouse okay, but the OCD part of me wishes that I had all 4.

Overall Review: In spite of it not being the best performing mouse, I still love it a lot. I wish I could find more products from this brand online, like a matching keyboard.

Logitech G9 Black 9 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB Wired Laser 3200 dpi Gaming Mouse
Logitech G9 Black 9 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB Wired Laser 3200 dpi Gaming Mouse

Pros: looks nice. slides very very easily. tracks well most of the time (using a cloth pad). you can change the color of the LEDs though the software. everything works as advertised.

Cons: probably not the most ergonomic mouse if you're a palmer. side buttons are a little hard to access without a grip, but you can adapt to it. they're still in a bad place even with the grip IMO. any small tilt of the mouse and grip can dig into the mouse surface and stop the mouse. color selector doesn't give you RGB control, only lets you pick solid hues from their list of 204 colors. i bought it from a questionable source (not newegg) for really cheap and it came in a plastic bag like OEM. my suspicion is that it's "open box" or defective. so with that in mind: it feels very imprecise at very small movements. the cursor seems jump around a lot. it's very hard to move the cursor pixel perfect when it jumps more than one pixel at a time or moves in the opposite direction that you move the mouse. it only happens sometimes and only at very small scale movements, and isn't noticeable when moving far.

Overall Review: i really wish mouse makers would make mouses with quiet buttons. why do they always have to click so loud? without grips, this mouse is great for clawing because it's relatively small compared to other high end mouses, and the smaller the better, although it's still a bit too long. i intentionally use this mouse without grips or weights because that extra inertia only slows me down. it looks better without grips. this is another con cause i ran out of room: putting weights in the mouse moves the center of gravity back farther behind the optical sensor and increases friction on the rear pad, so depending on where you hold the mouse you may induce rotational acceleration causing the tail end of the mouse to lag behind the movement of your fingers, if you have a firm grip or palm this shouldn't be an issue.

Rosewill - 3.5mm Stereo Coupler (2 Pack)
Rosewill - 3.5mm Stereo Coupler (2 Pack)

Pros: works perfect.

Cons: none

Overall Review: if you're wondering about the size, this is the standard plug seen on most headphones: 1/8" TRS connector.

short life

Microsoft SideWinder X5 Mouse
Microsoft SideWinder X5 Mouse

Pros: very accurate no problems with tracking at all, included software is great and optional, multi DPI buttons still work without it, looks cool, comfortable, seems to be fairly ergonomic.

Cons: kind of large, but if you like to palm your mouse it should be good for you. the rubber wheel started to biodegrade after like 6 months. the laser died after like 7 months.

Overall Review: i think i wrote a review for this already, but the main reason i'm writing again is because the laser died after about 7 months. it started when i turned the mouse upside down to look at the bottom (although i doubt that has anything to do with why it died), and when i set it upright on the mousepad again, the pointer would skip. so i thought maybe some dirt got trapped in the optics. after taking a long hard look and brushing out the eye and not finding any dirt, i tried using the mouse again but still the same problem. pressing the mouse down hard while sliding it seemed to make it work again. i looked into the laser and noticed it was flickering very erratically. eventually it died completely within the next hour. on another note, when i first got it i thought it was too large, but it grew on me and i ended up liking it anyway. but personally i prefer a small mouse that i can move with my fingers rather than palm for faster, more accurate movements.