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Kevin S.

Kevin S.

Joined on 12/07/02

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 7
Most Favorable Review

Very Pleased

EVGA 02G-P4-3686-KR GeForce GTX 680 FTW 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
EVGA 02G-P4-3686-KR GeForce GTX 680 FTW 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Pros: -Copper Vapor Chamber Heatsink -Quiet and Cool -My 2 Cards Overclock to 1275/6800 in SLI -Custom PCB with 8 Phase Power

Cons: -One of my cards was downclocking to 2D clocks in 3D apps sporadically, fixed by installing non-beta driver 301.42. Hope it isn't defective and hoping it was just a driver glitch with 304.48 Beta's

Most Critical Review
CORSAIR Vengeance LP 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M4X1600C8
CORSAIR Vengeance LP 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M4X1600C8

Pros: Nice low profile heatsinks Great timings for 4GB sticks @ 1.5v Works well with my ASUS Sabertooth x79

Cons: 1 of my 4 sticks were defective XMP Defaults to 2T Timing

11/29/2011

Gsync is Pretty Sweet

ASUS ROG Swift 27" 1440P Gaming Monitor (PG278Q) - QHD (2560 x 1440), 144Hz, 1ms, G-SYNC, USB 3.0, DisplayPort, Pivot, Tilt, Swivel, Height Adjustable
ASUS ROG Swift 27" 1440P Gaming Monitor (PG278Q) - QHD (2560 x 1440), 144Hz, 1ms, G-SYNC, USB 3.0, DisplayPort, Pivot, Tilt, Swivel, Height Adjustable

Pros: -G-Sync with 1 card -Silky smooth 144hz refresh rate -attractive physical looks -Very Responsive -Pretty good calibration out of the box

Cons: -Contrast Ratio -Backlight Uniformity -G-Sync in SLI not as smooth as single card -My Dell U2713HM looks quite a bit better, but is extremely sluggish -Limited Input

Overall Review: G-Sync is extremely cool to experience. It is hard to describe without seeing it first hand. The best way I can put it is imagine playing a console game that run a constant 60 fps, never a dip or hiccup. So your eyes perceive a silky smooth rendering, but your Framerate can be going from 35fps to 144fps and unless you are watching the fluctuation you would be others oblivious to the framerate variance. My Cons mainly stem from the fact that ASUS had to sacrifice some image quality to get all the speed into this monitor. Lets face it TN panels are not the cream of the crop when it comes to image quality, they are however very responsive. I am having an issue with getting G-Sync to be smooth with 2 GTX 780's in SLI, games kind of stutter with SLI enabled and without SLI they are silky smooth. I also was let down when my monitors contrast ratio was kind of low compared to various website review samples, my screen's contrast ratio is just shy of 700:1 calibrated with BlueEye Pro. It also has a strange glow to the backlight when displaying an all black image. Having only 1 input is a bit of a let down, I would have loved at least one HDMI input non G-Sync for a console. Last this monitor IMHO can't hold a candle to a nice IPS screen, but that is like comparing apples to oranges.

I am loving these in Crossfire

SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 290X 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card 100361BF4SR
SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 290X 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card 100361BF4SR

Pros: -Fast, Fast, Fast -Looks Great -Plenty of bandwidth and memory -Excellent Crossfire smoothness, great frame times with no crossfire bridge needed

Cons: -Runs hot, but they are designed to run this way -Slightly louder than my previous GTX 780's in SLI -Uses a little more power than overclocked GTX 780's

Overall Review: I have 2 of these in my Silverstone FT02 case (90 degree design) and they run awesome. Using the Uber bios setting they rarely hit the 55% fan threshold, therefore they almost always are running at full clock of 1000Mhz. I also have 1 PCI-E slot in between them. Love these Cards

Love My GTX 690

EVGA Signature GeForce GTX 690 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card 04G-P4-2692-KR
EVGA Signature GeForce GTX 690 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card 04G-P4-2692-KR

Pros: -Runs Cool and Quiet mine tops at 74C with fan around 60% -Very well designed heatsink and fan assembly -Fast, Fast, Fast -Sick looks -Mine overclocks to 1185 core and 7000 memory -Free mouse pad is huge

Cons: -Exhausts half of its heat into case

Love These Cards

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 21197-00-40G
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 21197-00-40G

Pros: Fast, Fast, Fast... Got 2 Crossfired and they are awesome. Both of my cards overclock to 1125Mhz on Core and 1575Mhz on Memory. Nice acoustics to the fan, no whine just air whoosing.

Cons: My Crossfired cards hit low 90's Celsius while running Furmark, however while gaming they only hit low 80's. Price may be a small con, but given the competition and their price points this fits right in.