Joined on 03/22/12
As Expected.....UPDATE!! 9-30-16
Pros: Update: -Setting the acoustic limit MHz is REALLY useful since my case lets any noise out -Haven't had any major crashes, except when I first tried using wattman.....didn't read anything about it first like a moron -Power draw is REALLY low -My room is no longer a hot box -Did a burnin and so far the temps haven't crested above 75 degrees since my first 3DMark testing no matter what I throw at it -Sturdy -Great looking -Runs easily at stated clock speeds -Overclocking (on my card) has been easy -Currently using the new AMD Driver 16.9.1 -I use earbuds and I can't hear this card while gaming -Maxed out Witcher 3 ultra with Nvidia hairworks off and get 60+ fps -Maxed out War Thunder -Streaming with this card is a breeze and ACE H.264 is better than X264 so far using Xsplit Premium 1080p60fps -LEDs are easy to adjust -Doesn't run nearly as hot, in total, as the 750Ti that was previously in my system and my room's ambient temp is pretty warm all the time -Highest temp reached was during Fire Strike and Time Spy at 78C -Gaming temps run no higher than 65C
Cons: Update: -This so far is the only con and it's the first fan nearest to the IO makes an electrical noise that's very noticeable when the fan starts running over 900 RPM, but it doesn't happen all the time since mostly the fans don't spin up. I know it's that fan because I stopped it with my finger to make sure I knew which one it was. The other fan runs smooth as silk. None for me so far. I will gladly update once I find something.
Overall Review: Update: So far I've figured what this card can and cannot do and I think I've gotten a really good card and really good silicon. I've got this card to an east overclock of 10% on GPU and 2200 MHz on memory and I didn't have to over volt at all like I've read on some reviews from big sites. Also it doesn't drink anywhere near the amount of power that a lot of review sites stated......even though I'm not a fan of the phase design of the aftermarket cards. I think they could've made it more granular for better efficiency, but it is what it is. Temps wise I've read that Glofo 14nm process nodes are sensitive to heat which is why the temps tend to rise and fall quickly instead of being more of a steady curve up and down. I do plan to take the heatsink off and check the thermal grease to see what's being used by Sapphire. If it voids my warranty, I'm ok with that as long as what's being used is good quality. I've done this with every card whether it be AMD or NVidia. I do want to watercool this thing in the very near future, but I have to pray that aftermarket cards get some type of love from waterblock makers. I know they're new to the overall market which is why there aren't any blocks, but I do hope they release some. I plan, also, on purchasing another card in the near future. Probably in the next 1-2 months. Before installing this card I read the previous reviews across all the cards and it seemed that using the Driver CD is a mistake so I didn't use it. I downloaded the Drivers from AMD directly days before I even got the card. Once I received the card I installed drivers, rebooted and there was an update to 16.9.1. Update went without a hitch. No black screens, no artifacting, no sudden shut downs or restarts. Fans spin up only when needed and Wattman was easy to find in the global graphics settings. Power draw is within safe limits from what I've been able to measure. When I ran the benchmarks the card ran literally at the stated clock speeds which was nice. Did some simple Overclocks and tried to bench again, but Futuremark doesn't recognize the 16.9.1 Driver yet, but that's not a con to AMD so I didn't place it in the cons section. My time Spy score I think was over 4400 and my Fire Strike score was 11,200 and that was on stock speed and stock clocks on my CPU also. I'm totally happy with this card and I do recommend this card to anyone else who wants great performance for the price.
Good so far
Pros: It's the best F2A88X board currently available for the new APU/CPU launch coming Jan 14th. The only motherboard to offer 8x, 8x PCI-E 2/3 slots. I'm holding out for the new CPU's and hoping that all of the new technology inside them and this board will give me the budget performance that I was looking for.
Cons: Bios is a mess and needs an update bad. Some of my overclocks don't stick and I get a lot of failed boot blue screens. Sometimes the bios won't even pop up when I try to enter. Their overclock program that comes with the board is trash and needs to be revamped. I was seriously thinking about going to Intel after reading that the features on this board were more an afterthought compared to the work put into the very same board for Intel. If you don't care that much for your respectful, loyal, AMD customers then stop making AMD products and save us the headache.
Overall Review: Other than that the massive problems I'm having hardware wise with anything plugged into this board I guess I'm happy. I believe that there will be a bios update when the new CPU/APU's come out so I'll hold out till then. I've already got my money saved up for the new one and a new VGA to go along with it.
Card is great. Love it
Pros: Everything
Cons: I received my code for the game, but it said that too many people used the code and I couldn't redeem it. I looked at when the code was supposed to expire and I had 8 more days to redeem. This is absolute horse ****. I honestly didn't plan to play the game, but don't put a time on something and then screw them over 8 days before the time limit is reached.
Overall Review: Card is great, but screw these game bundles.
It's good and does what I want
Pros: So far the monitor does what I want it to do. - 144hz through DP/120hz through HDMI - Freesync enabled with DP plugged in natively from monitor - Curved VA panel with DCR - No issues with compatibility - The OSD is easy to navigate even though this is the first time I've used the joystick type
Cons: There are a few things I would like to point out as they are weird and surprising to me. - When the screen is shut off the power supply makes a really nasty pulsing sound - Freesync is only enabled through OSD with DP pluuged in. Doesn't work with HDMI unless enabled through AMD UI on PC. - Dead pixel developed about 2 weeks having monitor. - There is a bit of light bleed on the edges - If you hot swap connectors the screen won't turn back on without reboot
Overall Review: Other than that the screen is nice and I don't really mind the 1 dead pixel. I just hope no more develop over time.
Great phone
Pros: I've yet to have a slow down. The first day I got the phone I threw everything at it that I wanted to do until it froze or killed programs. I mean I threw the bookshelf and it handled like a champion. Obviously I tested the way I did to see what he could do. Synthetic tests and antutu only tell so much. I have had zero issues and my average screen on time is about 6-7 hours. Best I got, and this was listening to music and watching YouTube, 9 hours screen on time. I can't say anything bad about this phone. The finger print sensor is on point. Huawei makes one of the best sensors out there. Cameras are great and there is plenty you can tweak to get awesome photos.
Cons: I think the only gripe I can put in here is no fast charging. Only the Kirin 970 has that, but seeing as I can easily get through my day without having to use battery saving I don't mind not having this feature. Micro USB of course is dated, but I chose this connector for the headphones jack. The other phone near this price was USB type C, but no headphone jack. That's a deal breaker.
Overall Review: I don't use wireless charging or NFC so I can't put those in the cons section. As soon as I saw this phone I knew I found my budget winner and I'm not looking back. Build quality is amazing. It does what I need and a whole lot more. If you want a budget phone with the power to do a lot, this is your phone.
Great Mouse
Pros: Roccat thankfully didn't mess with the sensor like most other manufacturers do so I have been using this mouse successfully on CSGO without any issues. The sensor is spot on and only goes up to 5k dpi. Seriously who needs more than that? The ergonomic design is nice, the colors are nice, the software isn't intrusive and easy to use and I like the voice that talks to you when you change your dpi on the fly so you aren't out of it trying to remember what setting you're actually on. The clicks and response are great and the mouse so far works perfectly on the Desert Strike mouse pad from Roccat that came free with the mouse and the Steelseries QcK+ that I'm using right now. Needed more room to move mouse around.
Cons: The material the mouse is made of is nice, but would've liked some rubber siding to better grip the mouse itself.
Overall Review: If you play fps games and you want a mouse that doesn't have software tweaks the negate the perfection of the mouse sensor inside, get this mouse. It's priced nicely and I haven't found any tracking issues at all whatsoever.