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Christopher B.

Christopher B.

Joined on 07/23/03

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 8
Most Favorable Review

Works well and quiet

Arctic P12 PWM PST (White/Transparent) - Pressure-optimised 120 mm Fan with PWM and PST (PWM Sharing Technology)
Arctic P12 PWM PST (White/Transparent) - Pressure-optimised 120 mm Fan with PWM and PST (PWM Sharing Technology)

Pros: The fans are quiet. They have 4 pin PWM connectors. You can attach multiple fans together to one power source due to their PWM connectors having a connector to add another fan to the same power source.

Cons: The fans don't make coffee for me and serve me my meals????

Overall Review: Works well and is quiet. Allows more than 1 fan per motherboard or fan controller connector. I'd buy them again.

Most Critical Review

Doesn't run at rated speed in 3 motherboards

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C16D-16GVKC
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C16D-16GVKC

Pros: Its inexpensive for DDR4 3600 MHz c16 memory.

Cons: Doesn't run at rated speed in any of the 3 motherboards I tested it in unless you only use one stick of RAM. Two of the 3 motherboards had this memory kit listed on the manufacturers' approved and tested RAM list. Replacement RAM kit has the exact same issue.

Overall Review: I tried this memory kit in three different motherboards that support DDR4 3600 and faster RAM. Two of the three motherboards have this specific kit listed on the manufacturer's approved and tested memory list. None of the motherboards could boot with this memory kit to the XMP profile or with manually entered timings for 3600 MHz. The only way I could get it to run at 3600 MHz was to only use one stick of the two. Either one would run at 3600 MHz individually. The same behavior happened in all 3 motherboards with AMD and Intel chipsets(x570, Z170, Z390). Being able to only use 8GB of RAM is useless to me. I ran Memtest multiple times in all 3 motherboards using each stick individually at 3600 MHz. There were no errors reported. If I set the memory to a much lower speed, I could get the computers to boot with this memory kit and pass Memtest without any errors. I tried not only the motherboard manufacturers' suggested placement for 2 sticks of RAM, but I tried all other possible combinations of the 4 slots. I've been building PCs since the early 1990's and even did it professionally for a few years. I spend several days troubleshooting this issue. I tried everything I knew to resolve this issue and even searched the various hardware forums and Google for any other ideas. After trying everything possible, I sent it back to Newegg for a replacement. The replacement kit hasn't arrived yet, but if it works as advertised, I'll update my review. Its possible I received a defective memory kit and there was a problem with 1 of the two sticks of RAM that Memtest doesn't detect. UPDATE: I received my replacement RAM. First, the RAM looked like it was used and returned or previously opened. The package was damaged on one side and the RAM was inserted into the package backwards. Some of the package contents were misplaced including the G.Skill sticker was in front of the ram. THe insert was in the package crooked. It appears my replacement RAM was used and returned to Newegg and was not a new package. The replacement RAM won't run at the rated 3600 MHz speed in two motherboards where this specific RAM kit is on the manufacturer's approved and tested compatibility list. I had issues getting the replacement kit to be stable at any speed higher than 3000 MHz. At this point I would not recommend buying this RAM is you want it to run anywhere near its rated speed. Two separate kits won't run at 3600 MHz in motherboards where the manufacturer says this RAM is approved and tested. Buying this with the intention of receiving RAM that operates at 3600 MHz is just throwing money away. If I could give this RAM a zero egg rating I would because its completely useless for its advertised speed.

Good thing it has a 5 year warranty!

XPG SX8100 Series: 4TB M.2 NVMe 3D NAND Gen3 Gaming Internal SSD
XPG SX8100 Series: 4TB M.2 NVMe 3D NAND Gen3 Gaming Internal SSD

Pros: Large capacity. 5 year warranty.

Cons: It died with absolutely no warning after 3 years of use. About 3 years and 1 month to be exact. The SSD became unavailable in WIndows and doesn't show up in the BIOS. I tried the SSD in another PC and it doesn't show up in the BIOS on that PC.

Overall Review: Depending on how the support and RMA process goes, I'll update the review. I'm not a fan of SSDs that die so quickly with such little use. I used it mostly as my game drive.

Doesn't run at 3600 XMP profile in ASUS X570 motherboards

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C16D-32GVKC
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C16D-32GVKC

Pros: Its cheap, especially when its on sale at a discounted price.

Cons: Doesn't run at its 3600 MHz XMP profile in any ASUS X570 chipset motherboard, even though its on the ASUS QVL for those boards.

Overall Review: I had a not so good experience with the 2x8GB kits of 3600 MHz C16 DDR4 RAM from G.Skill. I thought maybe this RAM would be better quality and decided to take a chance because it was on sale. It was a bad decision. I tried this RAM in the ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi) X570 board and couldn't even get the system to boot with the RAM running at the XMP profile with a 3950X CPU. This RAM is on the ASUS QVL for this motherboard. Then I tried it in the ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming motherboard and a 3800X CPU. I had the exact same issue. The CPs would boot at RAM speeds below 3600 MHz. However it would not boot at the XMP 3600 MHz profile. I had a similar issue with the 2x8GB 3600 MHz C16 kits. At this point I wouldn't recommend this RAM for any x570 motherboards. I'm sure someone from G.Skill will write some sort of reply defending their product and talking to me like I'm a child who never built a PC before. I've been building PC's since the 1990's and build at least a dozen custom PCs a year for other people. I know what I'm doing and this RAM just doesn't work right. Four different kits in 7 different motherboards and all of them have the same issue. At this point I have given up on G.SKill RAM. Corsair DDR4 3600 MHz RAM works in all the systems without any issue. The G.Skill doesn't. All systems have the latest BIOS. I've tried everything I could with troubleshooting. Nothing works. I really doubt by random chance had 4 bad kits sent to me.

Works well and does what its described to do.

Noctua NM-AM4, Mounting Kit for Noctua CPU coolers on AMD AM4 platforms
Noctua NM-AM4, Mounting Kit for Noctua CPU coolers on AMD AM4 platforms

Pros: Allows you to use your older Noctua coolers on Socket AM4 CPUs. Much less costly than buying a new Noctua or equivalent cooler for a socket AM4 CPU.

Cons: I had to pay for this because I couldn't find a proof of purchase for my Noctua cooler. The manufacturer requires both a proof of purchase of the cooler and a socket AM4 motherboard to receive the cooler for free. These should be free to any compatible Noctua cooler owner with just a photo of the cooler and socket AM4 motherboard if the cooler proof of purchase can't be found. Who keeps the proof of purchase(receipt or invoice) for a 3 or 4 year old CPU cooler? Other cooler companies have given me AM4 adapters for free or the cost of shipping.

Overall Review: It works well and does what its advertised to do.

Good InWin clone at the sale price

RAIDMAX Enigma S14-TB Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
RAIDMAX Enigma S14-TB Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Room for plenty of fans. Multiple cooling configurations. Room for multiple radiators. Good airflow. Included fan filters. Room for very long graphics cards. Multiple options for 2.5" drives. Cost less than the InWin models it copies. Looks more expensive than it costs, especially at the sale price. Shows off components well.

Cons: Included RGB fan is dim compared to other RGB products. Included RGB fan seems to have a limited range of color options compared to other RGB products and doesn't reproduce some colors the same as most RGB products. The included RGB fan is not a 4 pin PWM fan. Very limited space at the top of the motherboard for the 4 or 8 pin power connector and fan connectors. The material feels cheaper/thinner than most cases at its full MSRP. Only 2 front/top USB ports. Adding 2 USB 2.0 ports would be nice since most motherboards support 2 or 4 front USB ports on the motherboard USB header.

Overall Review: I saw this case and it looked like a clone that is a cross between the InWin 101 and 303. For the price it does the same thing the InWin cases do very well if you prefer that style of case. The fan/radiator options are plentiful. There are fan filters included. The included addressable RGB fan is dimmer than the other RGB items I added to the case. Due to this type of case design, there is very limited room for cables and connectors at the top of the motherboard. I'd suggest using a modular power supply with this model.