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Nicholas F.

Nicholas F.

Joined on 07/11/09

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 48
Most Favorable Review

Bargain Bin Wonder!

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5830 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100297L
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5830 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100297L

Pros: Easily OC'd to 850/1100 with the ATI Auto Tune. It already could run Crysis on Very High at stock with 2xMSAA. Also plays Fallout 3 at max everything, smooth. All @ 1920x1080. For about $110, with free shipping?! And shipped a day early?! This is the greatest price/performance item I've bought. Even better than my power supply! Passmark can verify. http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html#alltime It's #2! and there's a FREE STICKER! :D

Cons: Does get a little hot. Up to 75~76c. But that's expected, kinda... I might try putting some Arctic Silver 5 on it, instead of the stock thermal compound. It is a little big, but I wasn't worried about putting it in my NZXT Vulcan. (mATX case) I always feel like I'm going to break video cards when installing them. They never seem to fit JUST right. I'm just paranoid though. >.<

Overall Review: System Specs: MSI 890GXM-G65 G.SKILL Ripjaws+ Turbulence II Series 4GB @1800 AMD Phenom II X6 1090T @ 3.8 (4.0 Turbo) ADATA S599 AS599S-64GM-C 64GB RAIDMAX RX-850AE 850W 80 PLUS GOLD SAPPHIRE 100297L Radeon HD 5830 all in an NZXT Vulcan.

Most Critical Review

Pain in the !@%

ENCORE ENLWI-G(2) Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g TPCI Standard Universal Add-in card Compliant with PCI 2.0 Up to 54Mbps Wireless Data Rates
ENCORE ENLWI-G(2) Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g TPCI Standard Universal Add-in card Compliant with PCI 2.0 Up to 54Mbps Wireless Data Rates

Pros: -Works

Cons: -Not the greatest signal, but still running fairly smooth Gets 2-5 bars randomly with a NETGEAR router about 15 feet away, no walls in between. Previous card installed on old HP computer got 4-5 constantly. -The most trouble I've had to go through installing a wireless card. The driver CD is COMPLETELY USELESS.

Overall Review: I can't remember now that I've got it working if I used the standard drivers from Windows or the standard drivers from Realtek that comes with Windows 7. Either way, I'd throw the CD in the trash. I've only installed two others before and they were both plug n play essentially. A little troubleshooting never hurts. :P Who doesn't like a challenge?

Nice Compact Keyboard

Corsair Vengeance K65 Compact Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Cherry MX Red Switches
Corsair Vengeance K65 Compact Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Cherry MX Red Switches

Pros: Bought for $49.99 with free shipping. At that price for a Cherry MX Red keyboard it's hard to beat the price for performance and durability. As with any MX keyboard, super responsive typing. My child has spilled water on it a few times now and it works just fine.

Cons: A bit loud, as expected. Not enough to remove an egg. O-Rings are something some may want to look into.

Overall Review: I was so used to my previous non-mechanical keyboard that I find myself occasionally moving in directions that I don't want to in games. With my old keyboard I would be ready to hit the direction I would be anticipating moving next. As a result, I would have a slight amount of pressure on the key beforehand. You can't do that with a mechanical keyboard, as there is no need. The smallest amount of pressure will cause your character to move in that direction. It was a small adjustment to me, and I still find myself doing it once and a while. This is in no way a complaint, just a tip to others switching to a mechanical keyboard.

Decent Laptop

Lenovo Laptop AMD A8-5550M 4GB Memory 500GB HDD AMD Radeon HD 8570M 15.6" Windows 8 G505s (59378837)
Lenovo Laptop AMD A8-5550M 4GB Memory 500GB HDD AMD Radeon HD 8570M 15.6" Windows 8 G505s (59378837)

Pros: +4 core CPU+GPU (decent multi-tasking and gaming capabilities for the price) +Maintenance hatch +Lenovo energy management software isn't completely useless +Got it on sale

Cons: -The first batch of these had an issue with the BIOS where the fan wouldn't kick on a higher setting to dissipate more heat from the CPU+GPU. The enter key has to be pressed FIRMLY to get an input. -The BIOS problem is available to fix from Lenovo's site via their driver download section for BIOS. These two features are the only thing making it lose an egg. If neither of these bother you, consider it 5 eggs. -I personally don't mind the BIOS update, but this Enter button is ANNOYING. (hopefully not all are manufactured with these issues by the time you're reading this)

Overall Review: I bought this as a primarily internet/video/moderate gaming laptop for my girlfriend. It does what it is supposed to now with the BIOS updated. I took out the mechanical hard drive and threw in one of my older solid states, re-applied thermal paste to the CPU+GPU, and installed Windows 7. It runs pretty smooth, and runs most games at medium settings smoothly. (24+ FPS)

The Oldest Component I Still Use

RAIDMAX RX-850AE 850 W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
RAIDMAX RX-850AE 850 W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: This is the oldest component that I'm using in my setup. I have left multiple reviews before about this, and am just following up on what a great product this is. I purchased it on February 23, 2012. It has lasted through days of Prime95 torture tests, and being left idle constantly for almost two years now. Modular, and enough power supply for two mid-high end GPS, it's quite a bang for your buck.

Cons: It was manufactured with the screw holes a few millimeters off. Other than that, I have never had any problems.

Overall Review: This PSU has been powered, lived through, and has been switched around in: 2 Motherboard 3 different sets of ram 1 ATI 5830 1 AMD 6970 2 computer cases 1 AMD 1090t 4+ hard drives/ssds My case, motherboard, RAM. CPU, and hard drives have all changed, but this is the only component still included in all of it. Currently Powering: 2 HiS IceQ 7870s AMD FX-8350 ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 16GB (4x4GB) Kingston HyperX Blu 1 SSD 1 HDD At the time of purchase I bought it on sale, making it the best product I've bought from Newegg so far. Even at the current price, it is still competitive, and definitely worth the money in my opinion. If nothing else, buy it for the toolbox case it comes in; it's seriously awesome. I still use it to this day.

Runs Well, and Hot

XFX Radeon HD 6970 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card HD-697A-CNFC
XFX Radeon HD 6970 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card HD-697A-CNFC

Pros: After OCing to get maximum performance, runs my Eyefinity setup alone, and well. Renders everything at maximum detail and smooth framerates, for the most part. Could possibly beat the price, but it's still the cheapest, or tied for the cheapest, 6970 on the market right now. Comes with a "Do Not Disturb, I'm Gaming" doorknob hanger, which is totally awesome!

Cons: Runs HOT, even at stock. I installed the new CCC drivers as soon as I got this card, and the Auto fan control seems to favor keeping the card quiet to keeping it cool. Running furmark for 5-10 minutes gets this card at 90+C, and that's when I stop it. I realize that these cards can take the heat, probably up to 110+ without damage. And that's if they were at 100% load at all times. This isn't enough to knock off an egg, but I'd still like a better stock cooling solution. All of the air is sucked in through the fan on front and put out of the rear exhaust, which is just personally counter-intuitive to the fans I have set up. Oh well... I'd say that this card can't handle GTA:IV with the ENB settings enabled, but I'm gonna say that the External HDD that I'm running the game off of is the problem, not this card.

Overall Review: System Setup: NZXT Vulcan MSI 890GXM AMD 1090t Phenom II x6 (16GB)4GB x4 Kingston HyperX Blu XFX Radeon 6970 ADATA S599 SSD RAIDMAX RX-850AE 3x AOC e2343FK