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Matthew B.

Matthew B.

Joined on 03/29/15

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 10
Most Favorable Review

Good Deal If On Sale

GIGABYTE Z370 HD3 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 (300 Series) Intel Z370 HDMI USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE Z370 HD3 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 (300 Series) Intel Z370 HDMI USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: M.2 slot. Looks good without the yellow LED's . PS2 port. Multi-graphics support (Crossfire only). Four USB 3.1. USB 2.0 for wired mouse and keyboard Supports XMP memory. 7.1 audio. Gigabyte BIOS may look different, but it's changed very little functionally over the years. DUAL BIOS. Four fan headers (1 CPU + 3 System). On-board audio is actually decent with less than normal interference. Six SATA 6 Gb/s. Four memory slots. Plenty of PCIe slots for future non-GPU expansion. I got it on sale for about $100. Two USB 3.1 Headers

Cons: Intel needs to come out with a difference chipset for the 300 series boards. The yellow (yellow, seriously? Of all colors!) looks like someone urinated in my system. It's ugly, but can thankfully be turned off. My Z77-D3H from 2012 has honestly better I/O. No optical out in audio. The 24-pin power was an absolute, errr can’t say that on Newegg. Maybe it was the PSU’s fault though. No USB Type-C ports.

Overall Review: For the current price of $124, I would probably get the Z370 HD3P instead since it has USB Type-C and a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type A port. But since I got this for a reduced price from a sale AND a bundle, I was willing to make compromises for that amazing price. I had audio issues initially, but after separating the case audio wire from everything else, audio no longer has any noticeable buzzing or other interference. Overall, there is nothing wrong with this board except for the yellow (I still can’t believe that color choice) LED’s which can be easily turned off in BIOS. Upon needing another motherboard in the future, I will once again buy Gigabyte.

Most Critical Review

No no no.

CORSAIR VS Series VS500 (CP-9020118-NA) 500W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
CORSAIR VS Series VS500 (CP-9020118-NA) 500W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: The price (that was too good to be true).

Cons: Not even 80+ Bronze. I didn't know name-brands made them that low anymore. Fan bearing was broken right out of the box. Could be a defective unit, but that seems to be more of a design flaw than anything. While the cables are sleeved, you can still see the ugly random colors coming from the cables.

Overall Review: The fan would make a very loud grinding noise. As the unit continued to be powered on, the "rhythm" of the grinding noises would get slower and slower. After about five minutes, the noise would stop. Upon further inspection, that indicated that the fan would actually stop. Fan stopping on a PSU = very bad and this happened every time the unit was powered on. Stay away.

Good, but a Bad Experience.

MSI B350M Gaming PRO AM4 AMD B350 USB 3.1 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
MSI B350M Gaming PRO AM4 AMD B350 USB 3.1 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: The overall aesthetic looks nice with the AMD-themed red and the complementing black. Also, there are red LED’s. Multiple PCIe slots. Cheap. I guess MSI’s BIOS design is good (read other thoughts). Eight-pin CPU connecter for decent overclocking. The whole thing, from the packaging to the “feel” of the motherboard reeks of quality. An M.2 NVMe slot for blazing-fast storage. Newegg RMA service is great.

Cons: My first board was DOA. Only four SATA ports. Only two DIMM slots.

Overall Review: The BIOS is like space-age technology compared to Gigabyte’s design. I prefer Gigabyte’s BIOS that is laid out like a PC from 1998, but MSI’s seems pretty good and I understand those who prefer it. Just gave me culture shock since there are… buttons. I dunno. The first one I received was defective with no boot. When powered on, the fans and lights would come on, only to show nothing on the monitor and a solid CPU error light showing from the EZ-Debug. No on-board speaker beep; nothing except for fans and lights. It was almost like the BIOS wasn’t updated to accept the CPU model, which was a Ryzen 5 1500x, which makes no sense. I guess I can’t fault MSI that much since defective parts happen, but still annoying. The new one I received from Newegg works flawlessly. It would be perfect if it had six SATA fort and four DIMM slots, but still pretty good.

Bought 2.

EVGA 600 BQ 110-BQ-0600-K1 BQ 80 Plus Bronze Semi Modular 600W Power Supply
EVGA 600 BQ 110-BQ-0600-K1 BQ 80 Plus Bronze Semi Modular 600W Power Supply

Pros: Semi-modular for a good price. Completely black cables. CPU and 24-in are sleeved. Unit itself looks good. Fan is quiet. Decent price.

Cons: The cables for the modular part aren't sleeved, but at least they're black.

Overall Review: I bought a 750 watt 80+ Gold PSU from EVGA for my main rig and haven't looked back since. I bought two of these, one for a personal rig and another to replace a defective Corsair unit I returned. Good PSU.

Works

CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 8GB 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Desktop Memory Model CMK8GX4M1A2400C16R
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 8GB 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Desktop Memory Model CMK8GX4M1A2400C16R

Pros: It works. Bought it to replace a defective unit from G.Skill. 2400 mHz! It looks decent.

Cons: Personally, I prefer G.Skill's styles, but just personal preferences RAM prices are stupid.

No sharp edges!

DIYPC Ranger-R5-B Black USB 3.0 ATX Mid Tower Gaming Computer Case with 3 x Blue Fans (1 x 120mm LED Fan x side, 1 x 120mm LED Fan x front, 1 x 120mm fan x rear)
DIYPC Ranger-R5-B Black USB 3.0 ATX Mid Tower Gaming Computer Case with 3 x Blue Fans (1 x 120mm LED Fan x side, 1 x 120mm LED Fan x front, 1 x 120mm fan x rear)

Pros: Cheap. No sharp edges. What you get is what you see.

Cons: What you get is what you see.

Overall Review: Nothing wrong with a $30 case. It's ugly, but it's $30. I'm just happy it doesn't have sharp edges. Although, I wouldn't recommend building a normal ATX board in here. Stick with a mini-ATX if you want to retain your sanity. It's just what it is.