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Justin C.

Justin C.

Joined on 01/27/09

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 8
Most Favorable Review

Great GPU at a great cost!

MSI GeForce GTX 970 GAMING 4G
MSI GeForce GTX 970 GAMING 4G

Pros: The GTX 970 is probably one of the most cost effective GPUs you can purchase at the moment. It's not as powerful as it's higher numbered counterparts, such as the 980TI and more recently the GTX 1080. However, this GPU still performs wonderfully. It can handle most high end games on max settings with very good frame rates. I did recently replace this with a GTX 980TI, but that was on me more than the card. An excellent and cost effective card through and through. Be sure it can fit in your case. Any new mid and full tower cases should be able to handle it no problem though.

Cons: Little bit of coil whine when the frame rates get really high (such as in game menus or less graphically intensive games that don't have a frame rate cap) but that could also be due to my coupling this GPU with a Corsair PSU. It hasn't been an issue, but I just wanted to note about the small whining noise.

Overall Review: Great for a first time build, on an enthusiast with a budget.

Excellent Router

ASUS AX6000 Dual-band WiFi 6 Gaming Router, game acceleration, Mesh WiFi support, Lifetime Free Internet Security, Gamer Private Network, Mobile Game Boost, Streaming & Gaming
ASUS AX6000 Dual-band WiFi 6 Gaming Router, game acceleration, Mesh WiFi support, Lifetime Free Internet Security, Gamer Private Network, Mobile Game Boost, Streaming & Gaming

Pros: Easy and fast to set up, all done on my phone through their app. Can also be accessed via a website in any web browser connected to the router. Companion app makes tinkering with it that much easier. A noticeable upgrade from my Asus N router I purchased about 5 years ago. I completely skipped WiFi AC, and this jump is amazing. The N router had trouble getting a good signal to some far rooms in my house. It also had some difficulty handling multiple video streams and remote desktop connections. This WiFi AX/6 router handles everything I've thrown at it with ease. Paired with Gigabit internet, browsing, streaming, and gaming are all buttery smooth. Lots of connected devices are absolutely no problem. 4K video/60 FPS streams no problem at all. Range is also extended nicely, much better than my N router. Still a few spotty areas, but they're in the farthest corners, and the signal is going through lots of thick load bearing walls, so it's to be expected. It doesn't hamper the experience at all. Plus, with Asus AiMesh, I could easily just extend the signal if I really needed it in those certain spots. All my devices easily connected and have had no issues. People complained about internet problems with the router. The only reason since I've been using it that my internet has dropped out is because the internet service itself was experiencing an outage. The router has been fine. All in all, it's a great device. Looks nice, easy to use, fast, wide coverage. Everything you could ask for in a router.

Cons: None. Does what it says it does, and looks good doing it.

Overall Review: Please do not listen to all the bad reviews on this product. People get defective items all the time. It happens. I know I've had my fair share, but I never reviewed the company or product poorly when it did. If they make up for it, no harm no foul. This product seems to suffer from a very large influx of bad reviews, so I'd like my 5 egg score to maybe bring that average up a bit.

Excellent Heatsink

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler, 4 CDC Heatpipes, 120mm PWM Fan, Aluminum Fins for AMD Ryzen/Intel LGA1200/1151
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler, 4 CDC Heatpipes, 120mm PWM Fan, Aluminum Fins for AMD Ryzen/Intel LGA1200/1151

Pros: Very well made. I love the fact that you can put whatever 120mm fan on it that you want, or even double it up. And you can remove the fans really easily for easy cleaning. It is currently sitting on my Intel Core i7 4790K and I have yet to see temperatures go above 65 C maximum, even under 100% load for several hours of 3D model rendering and the CPU running at 4.4 GHz.

Cons: Instructions were a little confusing, but after looking at them for a little bit and comparing the drawings to the parts, it was pretty easy to figure out.

Overall Review: It's quite large, so make sure your case has the room to contain it. My case had about 6 inches of clearance, and it was a close fit. Be sure to couple it with some Arctic Silver Thermal paste!

Best Thermal Paste on the Market

Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G
Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G

Pros: The only thermal paste I'll use. I've used it in at least 5 builds and it works like a charm!

Cons: None

Excellent quad-core processor

Intel Core i7-4790K - Core i7 4th Gen Devil's Canyon Quad-Core 4.0 GHz LGA 1150 88W Intel HD Graphics 4600 Desktop Processor - BX80646I74790K
Intel Core i7-4790K - Core i7 4th Gen Devil's Canyon Quad-Core 4.0 GHz LGA 1150 88W Intel HD Graphics 4600 Desktop Processor - BX80646I74790K

Pros: This processor is a beast! It takes anything I throw at it, shrugs it off and asks for more. Make sure to get a nice heatsink to keep it cool, because it will get very hot if you don't adequately cool it down. Make sure to use an OS that can take advantage of the multi-threading to get the most out of this thing.

Cons: None

Excellent Power supply

CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850 W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready
CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850 W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready

Pros: Fits perfectly in my 8 year old ATX case. The fact that it's modular really helps reduce clutter since you only need to use the cables you need. It has connections for just about anything you could put in your computer, and then some! Extremely quiet. And it has a power button on the back, something my old power supply didn't have

Cons: The manual is pretty lightweight, but there really isn't much more you need to know than what's on the box.

Overall Review: I switched from a Cooler Master PSU, which was good for what it did, but I'll be buying Corsair PSUs from now on. Great brand!