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Justin C.

Justin C.

Joined on 01/23/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 21
Most Favorable Review

Next biggest thing!

Intel Core i5-750 - Core i5 Lynnfield Quad-Core 2.66 GHz LGA 1156 95W Processor - BX80605I5750
Intel Core i5-750 - Core i5 Lynnfield Quad-Core 2.66 GHz LGA 1156 95W Processor - BX80605I5750

Pros: Super efficient/cool, fast at stock speeds, even faster when overclocked (and it overclocks like MAD), turbo mode (makes it better than most pre-lynnfield i7s in single-thread performance) - which improves performance of single threaded apps by disabling inactive cores & clocking the active core by TDP of the cpu. That means at stock settings (2.66ghz (133x20)) with turbo enabled, you can have single thread performance from a ~3.2ghz core (133x20) - google "Intel Turbo" if you want to learn more (it's a very nice feature). I can't get over how wickedly efficient this thing is! You're not likely to have any trouble getting any Lynnfield cpu above 3.6ghz - providing you've got an aftermarket cooler for it.

Cons: No HT (this is basically the only area which really matters where it loses to the i7 920 in performance). The manual multiplier is locked at (or below) stock 20x (up to 24x with turbo mode but that's only with 1 core, or 22x with 2 cores, or 21x with 3 cores (I believe..)). Neither of these should stop you from getting this CPU, unless the i7 870 drops in price or another (better) cpu has been released for a similar price. Stock cooler is kind of mediocre, just buy an aftermarket one (which brings up another point, why did intel have to make the mounting holes a couple mm further (or was it closer) apart/together than the lga755 coolers? Most of those are rated for higher TDP and would work very well as a heatsink for this).

Overall Review: I'm blown away with how substantial this cpu is. My s939 motherboard died the night before these launched and I almost got an i7 920 setup (which would've cost >$200 more) - I'm glad I didn't. This (and the 1156 mobos) are much more efficient & cheaper to boot - it also bests the i7 920 at quite a few things. Overclocking: I've got mine at 3.8ghz (181x21 - my P55-GD65 motherboard has a 'bug' or something that enables 21x multiplier on all cores) w/ turbo enabled (4.35ghz on a single core (181x24)). It can go higher, but I prefer to keep my voltage below 1.4 (at 3.8ghz I've got it on 1.36v). At these speeds, my super pi time is slightly under 9.8 seconds. My old 939 x2 4200+ was lucky to get under 35s. I also have a Cooler Master 212 Plus which is phenomenal, running prime95 on a maximum heat generation mode, my fan doesn't have to kick above "idle" (which is at 1000rpm / practically inaudible) to keep it below 45c. BUY IT!

Most Critical Review

Not living up to Class 10 claims

SanDisk 32GB Ultra SDHC UHS-I Card - Class 10 30MB/s
SanDisk 32GB Ultra SDHC UHS-I Card - Class 10 30MB/s

Pros: High capacity, sandisk warranty

Cons: Using this card, my Canon T3i will randomly stop taking video. This is a sign that the write speeds are highly inconsistent! Testing the card with multiple programs (including error checking software that fills the card up), it only starts writing about 10-11MB/s until after about 8 seconds it rapidly declines to an average of 5.5MB/s. I returned one card hoping that it was a faulty card, but the replacement has the same exact issue (first one ordered online, then did an in-store swapout). I don't know if there's a faulty batch of these cards out there, but if it can't sustain 10MB/s write speeds, it is NOT a class 10 card!

Pointless

Rosewill RX-C200 2.5" SSD / HDD Aluminum Mounting Kit for 3.5" Drive Bay
Rosewill RX-C200 2.5" SSD / HDD Aluminum Mounting Kit for 3.5" Drive Bay

Pros: Solid aluminum construction

Cons: The mounting holes don't match standard 3.5" hard drive holes. No way to mount this to NORMAL 3.5" hard drive bays.

Overall Review: What's the point of this thing if I can't even properly mount it in my case? If I have to tape/ziptie it down because the screwholes don't match, why not just ziptie my SSD? Don't waste your money on this thing unless you've got some sort of way to mount it with the mounting holes 6cm apart from each other.

Decent bargain, akward keys

Logitech MK520 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo — Keyboard and Mouse, Long Battery Life, Secure 2.4GHz Connectivity
Logitech MK520 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo — Keyboard and Mouse, Long Battery Life, Secure 2.4GHz Connectivity

Pros: Cheap, probably has great battery life, not bad looking.

Cons: Rounded keys feel akward, keys have a sort of "friction" or "grab" to overcome on the first part of a keystroke (especially the left control key, it seems to rub on the side of the keyboard & be especially hard to press in games or copy/paste operations). The keys are also loud. Compared to my old logitech dinovo for Notebooks keyboard, this one sounds like I'm trying to type on a tupperware container.

Overall Review: I really want to keep this keyboard as I never liked the F-key arrangement on my Dinovo for Notebooks keyboard (and want to take advantage of logitech's unifying receiver so I don't have to keep using multiple receivers for my keyboard and my Performance MX). Unfortunately, I think I will either be returning it, keeping it for a spare, or giving it to someone who needs it more than I do. Moral of the story: test drive keyboards before you buy them.

Nice mouse, disappointing battery life

Logitech Wireless Performance Mouse MX for PC and Mac, Large Mouse, Long Range Wireless Mouse
Logitech Wireless Performance Mouse MX for PC and Mac, Large Mouse, Long Range Wireless Mouse

Pros: Great optical tracking (including on glass), mine has no problem tracking on a lacquered wood desk (my old MX1100 wouldn't track in certain super-shiny areas), good mouse overall.

Cons: Ergonomics - I feel like the side buttons are too high for normal use, the "stealth" button is too far 'backward', toward the palm (requiring me to press it more with my thumb-knuckle). BATTERY - BIGGEST CON. My old MX1100 would last easily 2 months or more of daily heavy usage; with 2x Duracell NIMH batteries. Using the included (ONE) 2000mAh Eneloop (I charged it out of the box), I got approximately 6 heavy days of use before the level dropped to 'critical'. Value/quality.. for the price, I'd expect more. The mouse wheel feels kind of cheap (I'd rather have the standard 'clicking' option as well as a "smooth flick" type function rather than the "smooth flick and keep scrolling forever" function - if I wanted to scroll all the way to the bottom of something I'd just hit End), and the right button's click isn't consistent.

Overall Review: Why on earth they'd design this mouse (which seems to be inefficient with power) to take only one AA is beyond me. There's plenty of room for another, and with how short-lived the mouse is on one battery I can't fathom why they made this choice. Yes, it can be charged with the cable during use, but it gets uncomfortably warm during such charging. Logitech's "Unifying" receiver would be nicer if it could sync with older logitech products. Instead, it detects devices just fine, but it just gives a "This device is not unifying compatible" type error. This makes it feel like they COULD sync but logitech just wants you to buy new stuff to utilize it. I miss being able to use 1 receiver for mouse+keyboard (Dinovo for notebooks + MX1100). For posterity; I received this mouse as a replacement for my MX1100. I miss my MX1100. This mouse does have better tracking, but I want the battery longevity of my MX1100 back!

Quiet, cool & functional

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card GV-N460OC-1GI
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card GV-N460OC-1GI

Pros: Quiet! My case approaches 'silent' in terms of noise levels, this fan while idle is no louder than any fan in my case (doesn't add noise to my build while idle). Even when kicked up it's not putting out much noise Cool. My card runs at about 38-45c idle (Note: dual monitors cause this and practically all nvidia cards to not clock down to full idle speeds, thus it runs warmer @ idle with dual monitors). Absolute max loads around 75c @ 800 core / 2000 memory in Furmark (essentially the hottest the card will ever get) - game temps anywhere around 50-65c depending on Vsync settings & overall load. Powerful. Essentially upgraded to a GTX 460 from my old 9800GTX and it basically doubles (at least) my frame rates in everything.

Cons: Mini HDMI -> HDMI adapter is practically worthless; it won't work in most cases because the miniHDMI slot is right next to the edge where the PCI card screws into the case. Not really a 'con' worth mentioning, but at this card's factory voltage (1.00v), I can't clock past 800 core, 2000 memory and be stable.

Overall Review: So, I purchased this card as a replacement for my EVGA GTX 460 SC EE after I found it to be a loud/hot running card. This card runs MUCH cooler & quieter, and overclocks reasonably well. If quiet is what you're looking for, buy this! THIS is the card to get if you want a quiet (during idle AND load) 460.