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Andrew S.

Andrew S.

Joined on 06/18/07

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Product Reviews
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product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Good productivity machine.

Lenovo Laptop IdeaPad AMD A10-5750M 6GB Memory 1TB HDD AMD Radeon HD 8650G 15.6" Non-Touch Screen Windows 8.1 G505s (59406417)
Lenovo Laptop IdeaPad AMD A10-5750M 6GB Memory 1TB HDD AMD Radeon HD 8650G 15.6" Non-Touch Screen Windows 8.1 G505s (59406417)

Pros: ***Latest Bios revision came preinstalled (v2.05)*** Price build quality specs (HDD size, plenty of ram, good video performance) Light weight Very thin. Nice feel to keys 2 USB 3.0 ports Plenty of processing power for my needs. Good enough for light 3d Maya animation and light gaming (but this is a productivity machine for me, so no gaming). Good battery life with power usage tweaks (4hr+). (3d App performance gets hit hard, though)

Cons: Somewhat slow HDD Touch pad comes incredibly sensitive plastic frame (Not a super big deal. Seems sturdy) Only 1 USB 2.0 port (an issue if you're working with multiple Arduino boards) No Touch screen or Wacom pen support (but I knew this)

Overall Review: This is my 4th Win 8 machine, and now the fastest one in the house. I am one of the growing few who like W8. ***You can set the touch pad sensitivity to something reasonable in its settings app (don't know why other supposedly advanced users didn't think of this). I'll have to see if Ubuntu has a similar app, but it works fine in Win8.1. Also after adjusting touch pad palm detection, I saw no typing issues at all. I saw no CPU frequency reduction while plugged in (BIOS v2.05 installed already from factory) I will be dual booting Ubuntu 14 and Win 8.1 x64, but first I'll replace the 1Tb drive with a 240Gb SSD. Currently, I have the factory drive in, but its too slow. I'm used to SSD so the upgrade is a must (also to get rid of all the bloat ware). I bought this as my main dev device for Arduino/Java, c++, and Python, and also to do 3d animation in Maya (and some light photo editing in GiMP and PS), and so far its a great deal. SketchIDE compiles my Arduino code way faster (less than half the time) than my super old Toshiba Tecra M4 (2007). I did a test animation in Maya, and 3d performance was adequate (I'm used to graphics super computers at work, but this machine's performance is as expected) Perfect for Game quality animation, but higher quality rigs will need LOD or ways of reducing RT features so you can be productive, and not wait for frame updates. Not a big deal though. I did not see any artifacting in Maya (draw layer issues, and surface manipulation tool issues, like the sculpt tool not following the topology). However, polygon transparency buffering was sloppy, but this is expected on a general consumer grade video processor. Simple poly or Sub-d objects run fine. This is a really good deal! I'll update if anything changes.

Most Critical Review

works with android, not radeon

Nippon Labs HDMI-HS-15 15 ft. HDMI 2.0 Male to Male High Speed Cable with Ethernet
Nippon Labs HDMI-HS-15 15 ft. HDMI 2.0 Male to Male High Speed Cable with Ethernet

Pros: nice quality. works with android devices.

Cons: Does not work with my radeon video card. Tried two difference cards, same results. I recommend a cable version 1.4 or later for HTPC applications. this cable is version 1.3b... I think.

So far so good.

MasterLiquid ML280 Mirror ARGB Close-Loop AIO CPU Liquid Cooler, Mirror ARGB Pump, 280 Radiator, Dual SickleFlow 140mm, 3rd Gen Dual Chamber Pump for AMD Ryzen/Intel 1200, 1151, LGA 1700 Compatible
MasterLiquid ML280 Mirror ARGB Close-Loop AIO CPU Liquid Cooler, Mirror ARGB Pump, 280 Radiator, Dual SickleFlow 140mm, 3rd Gen Dual Chamber Pump for AMD Ryzen/Intel 1200, 1151, LGA 1700 Compatible

Pros: - keeps R5800X nice and cool. CPUZ benches all went up by 2-4% from an air cooler. - ARGB compatibility with a bunch of different boards - easy install - stock thermal paste has good results. - more stable peak frequency during 3D Mark benches - setting the rad to exhaust from case brings all system Temps (except VRM) down noticably.

Cons: - really large, measure case before purchasing. - VRM Temps went up a tiny bit. Nothing major though.

Overall Review: Idle Temps didn't change, but load Temps all went down drastically. Ryzen 5800X would peak at 90c under load with an air cooler. After install peak Temps are well under 80c. Gaming Temps are very reasonable at 65c. Very happy. noticeably. Will update if things change.

I like it!

HIS Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card H785F2G2M
HIS Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card H785F2G2M

Pros: Over Clocks like a beast. Currently @ 1120Mhz clock Hashes fast, 325Mh/s @ 1120Mhz in BFGMiner with 0% errors Runs Cool (overclocked stays at 69c) (normal clock doesnt break 50c) Quiet 1080 games run smooth with high settings Runs fine on a 450W PSU with no peripherals installed on the system.

Cons: Bit pricey for its age. 79XX cards leave it in the dust Inefficient for mining, but good for experimenting if you're not going to throw down on an ASIC miner.

11/29/2013

LED too bright, and drive is noisy

SAMSUNG Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Combo Drive - Bulk Model SH-B083L/BSBP LightScribe Support
SAMSUNG Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Combo Drive - Bulk Model SH-B083L/BSBP LightScribe Support

Pros: Good BD player and looks really awesome. Easy to install, and at a great price

Cons: Has a very loud high pitched whistle when at full speed (teeth grindingly high/loud). LED on eject button is super bright and in a dark room is very distracting.

Overall Review: Not the best choice for an ultra quiet HTPC in a theater environment, this drive can get super loud. LED is too bright and flickers on and off randomly while reading. It would be nice to have a silent mode for BD watching, but I wont know until I get a working BD software. Software bundle that came with it was damaged. It looks like it was slashed with a box cutter. It is unreadable. Being OEM, Samsung says I should go though Newegg, and Newegg will only do an RMA for the whole package (Drive and Software) Not worth the hassle and extra cost. Because the product shipped damaged - loose one egg, and because it too distracting and loud - loose an other.

10/26/2010

So far so good

SAPPHIRE Ultimate Radeon HD 5670 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100289UL
SAPPHIRE Ultimate Radeon HD 5670 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100289UL

Pros: Perfect HTPC card, with ample power for light gaming. No noise, low power, HDMI out with Audio. Install was super easy with no hiccups. Runs about the same temperature under load as my old x1950 but with out a loud fan.

Cons: Large heat sink may not fit in smaller cases. Not the best choice for the 12 year old's spending their parents money on a gaming rig. Since I switched from a card that sent exhaust out of the case to a passively cooled card, my core temp under load went up by 1c.

Overall Review: I'm not much of a gamer, or at least I am in spurts. I mostly use this for BluRay and Real Flight Simulator play, and heavy 3d Animation in Maya. I was able to set all the setting on the simulator to max, including physics, and I get about 60fps on an older Core 2 Duo, Gigabyte MB, with 2GB DDR OC'd to 1333mhz. BluRays play fine with no artifacts or dropped frames, and audio is the standard awesome with BluRays. Haven't tried it in Maya 2010, but I don't expect any issues, short of the standard gaming card is not a workstation card types. With a dedicated fan, should OC nicely. The stock passive heat sink with just case cooling got me +35Mhz on the core and +10MHZ on the memory, using ATI's OC tool. I heard users getting +75mhz on the core with some tinkering. Since I like lasting investments, I set it back to stock settings though.

seller reviews
  • 1

Good Cust service.

Item came damaged in transit, seller replaced it. My only complaint is that it took a few days to get through the approval process for the replacement, but it was right before xmas, and the review crew was probably all on vacation. Computer didnt get built until well after the 25th. Over all happy though.

On-time
Delivery
Product
Accuracy
Customer Service
Satisfactory