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Gerald S.

Gerald S.

Joined on 05/19/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 11
Most Favorable Review

Best midrange card for the money

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 760 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card GV-N760OC-4GD
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 760 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card GV-N760OC-4GD

Pros: Fast clock for GPU and VRAM means it's a very fast card for its cost. Both can be further overclocked. Gigabyte overclocking software works well (but doesn't have as many monitoring options as MSI Afterburner like memory usage). 4GB of VRAM lets you use dual monitors for gaming without worry. With the PS4 and XBox1 coming out around the corner, graphics quality in most games is going to jump significantly. 4GB of VRAM gives you plenty of breathing room for future improvements like texture quality which are coming because of the next gen consoles. It also means you can run high resolution texture packs for current games like Skyrim without worrying. Cooling seems to be very efficient as the card stays cool and the fans are nice and quiet. I've yet to hear the fans at all over my low RPM case fans, even while playing demanding games. Free copy of Splinter Cell: Blacklist (for now).

Cons: Some people report trouble fitting the card in their case. I have a Mountain Mods Pinnacle case so it's a non-issue for me.

Overall Review: This is your best option for a midrange card. A GTX 770 is better but will cost you 50% more for a 10-15% or so increase in performance. That gap shrinks if you overclock the GTX 760, but of course you can overclock a GTX 770 as well. Some people complain about the 256-bit memory bus being a bottleneck, but I'm not so sure that is a problem like they make it out to be.

Monitor is absolutely amazing! Most helpful critical review takes off 2 eggs for a cable you can replace for $5? Is that a joke?

ASUS 27" 1440P Eye Care Monitor (PB278Q) - QHD (2560 x 1440), IPS, DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI
ASUS 27" 1440P Eye Care Monitor (PB278Q) - QHD (2560 x 1440), IPS, DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI

Pros: Picture quality is amazing. Clarity amazing. Color is amazing. Size and resolution are breath taking. Zero bad/stuck pixels. If you're coming from a smaller TN panel like I was (24" Samsung), you'll be left speechless at the size and picture quality. Monitor stand is awesome and very adjustable and functional. Lots of different options and features in the on screen display. The 1:1 pixel ratio so you can play old non-widescreen games at 1600x1200 without scaling is a nice feature. Cables included for every type of connection and it even has a cable organizer you can attach to the back of the stand (had to do some searching to figure out what it was for). Low power consumption. Very happy with this purchase even though I had to shell out more for a monitor than I originally intended. I cannot say enough good things about it and highly recommend it.

Cons: The 60hz refresh rate may be a turn off for those that are used to higher refresh rates. For me personally, it's a worthy trade off for the size, resolution, and picture quality of an IPS/PLS panel and haven't noticed any ghosting while playing games or watching movies. Even though it's 60hz, it still has VERY very little measurable input lag for a 60hz monitor. Tracefree default setting is 60 which is not optimal (set it to 40 or even 20 for better results). On my particular monitor, there is miniscule backlight bleed (practically imperceptible) for 2-3 inches in the top left side of my screen that goes 0.3 to 0.5 inches down when looking at a completely black screen. This is tolerable for me and a non issue (especially when my last monitor had bad backlight bleed), but this may be an issue for some people if there is any present on their monitor.

Overall Review: Looking at the most helpful critical review is a complete joke for this monitor. Seriously who the heck takes off 2 eggs because of a supposedly out of spec displayport cable that you can get a replacement for for $5 here or elsewhere? Be happy they even INCLUDED a cable for every type of connection the monitor offers. This ignorance seriously irked me considering he didn't have a single bad thing to say about the monitor but took off 40% for an out of spec pin on a cable most people don't even use. Overclocking the refresh rate is supposedly pointless because it causes issues with this monitor so I haven't even tried and won't. TFTCentral did a good writeup on the monitor's strengths and weaknesses. They also have an ICC profile you can load with their preset calibration. The built in speakers aren't all that great (not very loud especially given their location), but it's nice to have I guess. I use a headset anyway 99.99% of the time. No detailed manual (you have to download the detailed manual). Price, while expensive compared to TN and 1080p IPS panels, is EXTREMELY reasonable for a high quality 27" 1440p PLS panel monitor from a reputable company. I could not justify spending a little less money money on one of the cheaper monitors made from several Korean companies when I could get this one. Not worth the hassles and headaches if there is a problem. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) dimming may be an issue for some people, but it's not for me. I haven't the slightest clue what kind of flicker people are talking about when they mention this feature being a bad thing about the monitor. Most monitors use this type of dimming, but I suppose it would have been nice if this one didn't. Again however, this is a complete non issue for me.

Great value. Works well.

G.SKILL FTB-3500C5-D Fans
G.SKILL FTB-3500C5-D Fans

Pros: Excellent price. Easy to install. The legs of the cooler simply clamp against the tabs of your memory slots. It's not the most secure attachment method as it's simply held on with tension, but it's sitting in a computer case so it doesn't have to be bolted down. It fits snugly when properly attached after bending in the legs per the instructions. Power cable is sleeved and has a passthrough molex connector.

Cons: The metal it's made of is not spring steel or anything. It's very soft and flexible but not springy. It would have been nice if it was made of a springy metal for peace of mind. My fan came bent to hell on one side (because of how soft the metal is) and because Newegg simply mailed the box in a padded/bubblewrap envelope. I was able to bend it back roughly to shape easily enough because of how soft the metal is.

Overall Review: I did not realize it had blue LEDs on the fans. I'm probably going to shroud them with nail polish or at the very least a permanent marker to dim them. It would have been nice if there was a way to switch them on or off but for $15 I guess you can't expect a plethora of features.

Works great so far

EDIMAX EW-7811Un 150 Mbps Wireless IEEE 802.11b/g/n Nano USB Adapter
EDIMAX EW-7811Un 150 Mbps Wireless IEEE 802.11b/g/n Nano USB Adapter

Pros: Excellent value. How do you beat this thing for the size and price? It's a nano Wi-Fi adapter that works in the 2.4GHz range. What more is there to say. Gets strong signal from my Asus router on the other side of the house. Driver comes on a mini CD. Easy to setup (my novice sister set it up herself). The best thing is it's so small you don't have to worry about it being broken off, which is the main reason I bought it for my sister.

Cons: None

Overall Review: No 5GHz band, but given the context of it being $10, I'm not going to consider it a negative. Has a blue LED that indicates network activity.

Excellent power supply.

CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850 W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready
CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850 W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready

Pros: Very efficient energy wise (80-Plus gold certified) and has puts out power to spare and should have plenty of amps to run if I recall correctly has enough PCI-E connectors for four power hungry GPUs in SLI/Crossfire. Semi-modular design with lots of cables and connections means you only have to plug in as many power cables as you need. The permanently wired connections are required by any PC so being only "semi-modular" is a non-issue. Comes with a vinyl case for spare cables.

Cons: Plugging in my hard drives made me nervous. It's hard to describe with words but the SATA power cables are aesthetically pleasing but are VERY stiff and with the way they are wired (the power cable/ribbon goes through the bottom of the connector and out the top), it puts a bit of strain on the SATA power connectors on your hard drives since they are spaced closely together. I was very nervous about possibly breaking power connector on my hard drives due to the pressure from the cable pushing downward on them. Two SSDs in a single 3.5" adapter will probably be impossible to power with two adjoining connectors. If the SATA power connectors had been wired straight into and straight back out for the passthrough instead of straight through the top and out the bottom this wouldn't be a problem. I didn't break anything and everything is alright, but the power connectors on your hard drives aren't rugged/strong so I would be very careful when wiring up several drives close together. This is the only negative thing I can think of.

Overall Review: The velvety Crown Royale style bag (separate from the one for the cables) the PSU itself comes in is a nice touch but completely unnecessary and I'd rather save a dollar or five by not including it since it serves little purpose related to the PSU once you unbox it. It's not like you'll be transporting a bare PSU often. I see it as neither good nor bad but unnecessary though I'm sure some people will find it cool. I cannot hear the PSU fan like some people claim although right now the side of my case is off and I frequently get very briefly distracted by seeing the fan spin up and down in my peripheral vision as the PSU needs momentary cooling. Not a detraction, just an interesting quirk.

Works great.

Rosewill RC-18"-SA2-BK SATA Cable Straight to Straight SATA III 6.0 Gbps, SATA Cable 18 Inches, SATA 3 Cable - 18 Inches, Black
Rosewill RC-18"-SA2-BK SATA Cable Straight to Straight SATA III 6.0 Gbps, SATA Cable 18 Inches, SATA 3 Cable - 18 Inches, Black

Pros: It's an 18" SATA cable what more do you need to know? Works fine in SATA III mode.

Cons: I break off the little metal locking tabs before plugging them into the motherboard. I always find these to get in the way and to be generally useless. One of mine literally sliced a 1mm deep and 1mm wide by 5mm long chunk of skin out of my index finger though. They are razor sharp so watch out. Obviously my own fault but keep this in mind if you do the same thing.

Overall Review: Works fine as SATA III like practically every single SATA cable out there. No need to buy a SATA cable specifically branded and labeled as SATA III.