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James P.

James P.

Joined on 11/01/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 20
Most Favorable Review

HTPC Living Room Friendly

Logitech K400 2.4GHz Wireless Touch Keyboard
Logitech K400 2.4GHz Wireless Touch Keyboard

Pros: 1. Logitech generally has good quality products. This is the second one of these Keyboards I have purchased and both work well overall. 2. Full keyboard + Trackpad and media buttons all work well. I particularly like the "Left-click" button on the left side of the keyboard so I can navigate the desktop while standing without moving my hands around. 3. Cost - I found my first one for under $30 on special and my second one for just over that. 4. Power efficiency is terrific. We make sure to switch it off when the HTPC is not in use (Pretty much only at night) and in almost a year we have yet to replace the AA batteries that came with it. 5. If you use other Logitech devices, the USB wireless dongle that comes with this can be used to sync a bunch at a time, minimizing dongle clutter. 6. Lightweight - very comfortably held and light but not flimsy

Cons: My only real gripe with the keyboard is the 2.4Ghz signal is easily interrupted. Even with direct Line-Of-Sight the signal can be stuttered if you have lots of wireless signals in that band or the dongle is too close to the HTPC case. Logitech provides an extender to move the dongle about 2 inches from the USB port, but that defeats the idea of having a dongle flush with the HTPC and I constantly worry about it breaking off due to incidental contact. I removed an EGG as it really hurts the functionality of the device in a living room. I have the dongle attached to a USB extender cable and completely away from the housing, but like I said, I want the HTPC to be tucked away and having to add a cable for single continuity is cluttered and an eyesore. For the price, I cannot really complain too much, hence, a single egg.

Overall Review: A note to Logitech: This product would be essentially perfect at this pricepoint if the signal issue was not a problem. Perhaps a bluetooth version of this keyboard would be better, or a 5Ghz band perhaps. Ideally I don't want to have to configure anything to get the signal right and I would be willing to pay a little more to make sure. Otherwise - strong product at this price.

Most Critical Review

Quality Product - not builder friendly

Intel Core i5-4570 - Core i5 4th Gen Haswell Quad-Core 3.2 GHz LGA 1150 84W Intel HD Graphics Desktop Processor - BX80646I54570
Intel Core i5-4570 - Core i5 4th Gen Haswell Quad-Core 3.2 GHz LGA 1150 84W Intel HD Graphics Desktop Processor - BX80646I54570

Pros: Solid CPU for almost all applications. Performance across most workloads is good and unless you have a specialized use or wish to have "The Fastest", then this chip should suit you for a couple years.

Cons: Non-unlocked CPUs are an obvious money grubbing scheme by Intel. Something that wouldn't happen if they had a direct competitor in the high end market. Its one thing to tier price and performance with the same architecture for ease of development and ROI, but then attaching a premium still just to have an unlocked CPU is not friendly to customers. 3 Eggs is a reflection of how I feel as a customer of Intel, not a reflection of this product. I think even if the product is good, if you feel cheated that should count as well.

Overall Review: I do get angry when Intel treats customers like an ATM, without keeping innovation moving at an acceptable pace. Due notice Intel, I remember the Pentium 4 and what it felt like to have a monopoly then, and I am starting to feel like that now. Keep it up, because if AMD figures out APUs they will have at least one new customer.

Fast! Beautiful! Stable!

G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C16D-32GTRS
G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C16D-32GTRS

Pros: - Gorgeous and flashy (If that is what you are looking for) - Performance is solid as well - Overclock profile worked without issue on ever motherboard I have used this kit for, AMD and Intel.

Cons: - Pricy, paying for the looks and performance combo - Looks are so strong that it might actually be a negative if you don't like it

Overall Review: - Now had this kit for several years and it has run like a champ and has always been the perfect compliment for a show build - Work Horse and a Show Horse - Current build is a B550 based system and works like a charm

Solid No Compromise mITX Gaming Case

Fractal Design Node 202 Black Slim Profile Mini-ITX Computer Case
Fractal Design Node 202 Black Slim Profile Mini-ITX Computer Case

Pros: -Sturdy construction and slim design. I was able to fit it almost behind my gaming monitor so just the front panel stuck out slightly to expose the external ports -I like the clean simple design of Fractal Design. Aesthetically I feel like this case could fit on a gamer's desk or under a TV and fit right in. Only the most premium AV setup might keep this look out. -Like in the title, It allows for full sized GPUs and a good amount of airflow to cool the components. I ran a 980 TI reference card in this case without issue. It could have accommodated a much beefier and longer GPU if I wanted (Though likely not the tri-fan cards). -The z-height of the MB to case gives enough room to fit slightly taller coolers if you want. I ran a Wraith Stealth with a Ryzen 5 1600 and had no issues whatsoever, though I was not planning to overclock. - GPU stabilization bar included to keep heavy GPUs from breaking the PCIe socket. Nice touch.

Cons: -The bottom plate is tough to remove/replace when building and can unseat the dust filters if you are not careful. Could be a little bit more graceful assembly here. -The internal cabling from the PSU to the SSD housing and GPUs is very tight and awkward when it doesn't need to be. Much of the inside of this case goes as un-used space. I have to believe there might be a better internal layout that would make the cabling put less stress on the storage drives. Just to make it easier I swapped out for rounded SATA cables so I could route them without putting pressure on the SATA connector on the drive. -There are dust filters over the PSU and CPU vents (Awsome!), but nothing over the GPU chamber. Not a big issue I guess but maintenance should be observed, especially if this case is going around lots of dust magnet A/V equipment in the living room. Be warned.

Overall Review: - After using a blower style video card, I highly recommend using a down-draft style GPU instead for this case. There are plenty of vents to intake fresh air, and you will find the build to be much quieter. Because there is basically nothing between you and the GPU except an open grill, any GPU that ramps up will feel louder in this case. A two fan GPU would likely be much much quieter when under load for gaming. - Given my issues with the SSD housing and general wierd space layout, I would try to use an M.2 SSD if you have one. They will attached directly to the MB and you won't have to deal with any cables. - Lastly, I noticed that under load, the heat generating components would very easily transmit that heat to the metallic frame. It wasn't scalding, but know that the case will get pretty warm when gaming.

High End Ryzen x470 with Lots of RGB

GIGABYTE X470 AORUS GAMING 7 WIFI AM4 AMD X470 USB 3.1 ATX AMD Motherboard
GIGABYTE X470 AORUS GAMING 7 WIFI AM4 AMD X470 USB 3.1 ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: - The appearance is not necessarily for everyone, but I love it. The pictures online do not do this great MB justice. The RGB on board is highly customize-able to get the look you want (or turn them off if you like), and I like the look of the real fin-stack over the VRMs. - The VRM coolers look nice (as said above), but are very functional as well. Great cooling for the VRMs if you are an overclocker. - Full featured board with lots of connectivity (Too much to list out here). In particular I would list the following as small but important to me details: USB Type -C internal header, Two M.2 sockets that both support multiple form factors not just 2280 (I have an M.2 2242 in the second slot), heat sinks for the M.2 sockets to keep throttling to a minimum, there is a front panel combined adapter in the box so you do not have to plug in each front panel cable individually - I have had good luck with memory compatibility and this board. Though part of that is from the CPU, i have used kits from a couple vendors and had no issues with OCing any of them (Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB, and G'Skill FlareX both worked the best for me).

Cons: - The BIOS is a little bit clunky to get around but not enough to remove an EGG. Once I figured out how to get around and adjust things it worked fine. - Might be a con for some people (but not for me), but the orange accents on the IO shield and fin stacks are not easily changeable or removable. I like it, but not everyone will. - Not all the error codes seem to be in the online manual, I had to contact support to get a description. Fortunately it was a fast response so no real harm. - I have used much more user friendly RGB software packages. As with the BIOS, the software package to control Fusion is somewhat clunky and not very intuitive. After some time with it, I got the hang of making the lights do what I wanted but I have experienced much better implementations. Plan for a little bit of tweaking time.

Overall Review: I have been using mostly Asus motherboards for a while now, only occasionally using Gigabyte or Asrock for specific builds but never for my main rig. Took a chance on this board as it seemed fully featured and much less expensive than the Asus high end x470 options (Cheaper by $70 when I purchased mine). I have to say that I have been pleasantly surprised and will consider Gigabyte boards in the future again given my experience so far. I had an issue with one memory kit and even the Gigabyte US email support was responsive and helpful helping me diagnose the Error codes. I can't speak for the other versions of this motherboard but this one seems to be a real winner, and I hope to keep it for several years as my show horse and work horse.

Snappy NVMe Budget SSD

Toshiba RC100 M.2 2242 240GB NVMe PCIe 3.0 x2 64-layer 3D BiCS TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) THN-RC10Z2400G8
Toshiba RC100 M.2 2242 240GB NVMe PCIe 3.0 x2 64-layer 3D BiCS TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) THN-RC10Z2400G8

Pros: -Nice and compact -NVMe performance without the normal premium (Faster than SATA drives for Reads, which is what I use nearly all the time) -Great as a boot drive or Steam drive for games, I use the 240GB model as my boot drive in my new ITX build on an Asus X470 Gaming ITX motherboard -Software utility from Toshiba is great and has a lot of tools/options

Cons: -Sadly not every motherboard supports M.2 2242 yet, though it seems that is changing in the newest round of releases -2 Lanes and not 4 Lanes (Limits bandwidth, but it is still faster than SATA so I am not complaining)

Overall Review: Highly recommend checking to make sure your motherboard supports the M.2 2242 form factor. I could only find Asus supporting it on mITX. It seems like many motherboards support it on ATX and mATX form factors so just be aware. Otherwise I had no issues and love how this little boot drive is doing it's job.