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Peter K.

Peter K.

Joined on 04/11/12

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 18
Most Favorable Review

Where we're going we don't need HDDs

SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2 2280 500GB PCIe Gen3. X4, NVMe 1.3 V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V7E500BW
SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2 2280 500GB PCIe Gen3. X4, NVMe 1.3 V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V7E500BW

Pros: Guys it's fast. I haven't used something that makes interface so fast. Did I mention it was fast? I thought it was a gimmick. I can boot my system in 5 secs and shut down is 2sec, yes full boot up and system turn off. I have this bad boy paired with 32gb of 3200 DDR4 RAM, i7-8700k, and an EVGA z370 micro atx mobo. I was between this drive and the 'MyDigitalSSD BPX 480gb.' I chose this SSD due to a slightly lower price for my new rig (due to sale) but the performance from benchmarks didn't seem to make that much of a difference (wouldn't surprise me if it's the same chip maker). I didn't benchmark this personally, but you can see some of the other reviews and I believe it's spot on. I mean I was able to install windows 10 in less than 5 mins, and install office in about the same amount of time. I have never see this level of speed/performance, even with traditional ssd's. It's like showing a cave man an ipod nano from 2005, it blew my mind.

Cons: I really don't have any, nor do I have some cheeky comment to put here.

Overall Review: I have a few games on this main drive and boy do they fly. If you're considering this type of memory and have a NVMe port, get one, don't even think about it, order 10, I don't care just get one. I haven't had such a profound performance change before trying one of these types of drives. 10/10 would buy again.

Most Critical Review

Unimpressed

Rosewill RD700 – Stallion Series 700-Watt Power Supply – ATX 12V V2.3, SLI & CrossFire-Ready
Rosewill RD700 – Stallion Series 700-Watt Power Supply – ATX 12V V2.3, SLI & CrossFire-Ready

Pros: It's cheap

Cons: This PSU is the loudest one I've heard in a long time. The only reason I bought it was the price so it's hard to complain, I do plan on replacing it in the near future because it is the only loud part of my build. I'm also mad at myself for not paying attention to that detail. It's pushing 5 fans, an FX-8320 and a r9 270x., granted that's quite the load but the fan is spinning at full speed when I only have 10% load on the CPU, ambient temps are between 75-80F, with very adequate air flow. I actually flipped my bottom fan on my case to blow air out the bottom to supplement air to the PSU, this did quiet it down a bit, but not as much as you'd hope. My other complaint is the length of the supplemental CPU cable, its to short, and I have mid ATX case! I literally had to pull and stretch it as hard/best as I could to get it to route to the top of the case where the header was, I mean you'd think rosewill would have thought that one out. It was an uncomfortable amount of force needed to stretch it.

Overall Review: If you want a quiet PSU get something else, sorry rosewill.

Quality case guys, QUALITY

Fractal Design Define Mini C TG Black Tempered Glass Window Silent Compact Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case
Fractal Design Define Mini C TG Black Tempered Glass Window Silent Compact Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case

Pros: This is a fantastic case. This case is aesthetically pleasing, has great cable management, more than enough room for activities. I have a EVGA z370 micro atx mobo, i7-8700k w/ coolermaster 240L AIO water cooler, EVGA G2 750w PSU, 1080ti FTW3, and two HDD drives (1 and 1.5 TB). I was looking for a nice package for my new build and I believe I hit the mark with this case. I was able to do effective cable management and get my old drives in the new rig, while retaining aesthetics. Overall, everything seems quality from the HDD rubber standoffs, to the fractal design straps for cable management, to the nicely cut tempered glass panel. I mean they even put rubber grommets for the glass panel screws so there's less vibration. This was another reason I chose a Fractal case was how much noise reduction they do to the case, I only ever hear the fans or air moment with this case, no rattles or anything. I was able to fit all my components into a compact yet effective enclosure, that's all I think anyone would want. I also do appreciate their integration of the dust covers.

Cons: I thought the PSU bracket they used was awkward. I don't understand why the PSU can't just bolt to the case, maybe it was for quick disassembly due to tight build/cable management, or maybe to accommodate a wider selection of PSUs? (only fits standard sized PSUs) I don't know. This is more of a gripe than a con.

Overall Review: Also, the front panel header's that connect to the mobo were easy to use and install, I didn't need a header block honestly, pretty straight forward. I had a FD Define R4 case before this build and it was a fantastic case. This alone was why I bought another Fractal Design case, it's just quality and at a decent price in my opinion. $100 is the most I'd spend on any case, any size.

Sweet memory, bro.

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16S-16GVK
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16S-16GVK

Pros: It's memory, it works, it's fast. I don't think I could expect more. I ordered two 16gb individually because it was $20 cheaper than buying the 2x 16gb package, go figure. I like the heat sinks they used, simple and clean design. They have a nice simple placement of their logo on the top of the stick (side that faces you when in the mobo).

Cons: Cost I guess, but we can thank the crypto guys for that.

Overall Review: I have this paired with a i7-8700k, EVGA z370 micro atx mobo, 1080ti, and a NVMe SSD.

Garbage

Rosewill RM-7900 2.4GHz Wireless Mouse
Rosewill RM-7900 2.4GHz Wireless Mouse

Pros: It's a nice feeling mouse, great in the hand and the materials are nice with the anti finger print material. Buttons feel great, and the clicks feel crisp. Only reason I'm giving it two eggs is because of these reasons, the -3 is below. BEWARE.

Cons: The USB dongle broke inside my new mobo's USB port, I had to use pliers and patience to remove it. It nearly tore apart my mother board. The USB head (metal bit) stayed within the port. I could have shorted or fried the board, if not ruin all components, thank the universe it wasn't my own rig but a computer I built for my parents, not that makes it better. Luckily the port still works and I don't have to RMA that too. It's cheap and I guess you get what you pay for. Very dissapointed with Rosewill quality. I had a 750W PSU from them and it was garbage as well, with over heating issues and noise, but that's neither here nor there. After I get an exchange, this will be the last Rosewill product I will purchase. I'm sure there are people who attest to their quality but from my experience, it's absent. Stick to Logitech or other products.

Overall Review: It worked for a total of 10 seconds, at which I couldn't get the USB dongle out.

Eats video games for the lulz

SAPPHIRE TRI-X OC Radeon R9 290X 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 CrossFireX Support Video Card 100361-2SR
SAPPHIRE TRI-X OC Radeon R9 290X 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 CrossFireX Support Video Card 100361-2SR

Pros: I can play Far Cry 4 and BF4 on absolute max, and boy does this card make games look pretty. I also wanted to write this review after GTA V for PC being released and I have been able to run the game on max everything @ 60 fps at 1080p. It makes GTA look so beautiful, I love this card it handles everything I've thrown at it with relative ease.

Cons: It has a newer more custom cooler on it, its still pretty loud when you get it up to 100%, but I knew what I was getting myself into. I'm not a big fan of the colors but that's not enough to doc an egg, I'll probably paint the shroud to match my case in a year or two when the warranty runs out. I've had the card for 2 months now and still haven't received my rebate which is disappointing considering this is my first experience with Sapphire. Also, this card runs HOT, so don't be frightened by the 65-70c temps. I used MSI afterburner and set a custom fan curve, so that the fans are at 100% at 65c to preserve it, I'm being paranoid and careful. It's a full 4gb of VRAM! yay!

Overall Review: I upgraded from an MSI R9 270x 2 gb card and I'm glad I did, it was worth the money and has changed my gaming experience on the PC. I probably will buy another one of these card in the future maybe in a few years when my system is dated and upgrade my PSU too. If you're worried about power for this card, I've seen some specs of people running it with a 650w so you could get by maybe, it is a power hungry card (don't cry about the extra 25 cents a month for electricity, I'm talking to you nvidia fan boys). All in all, I love this card, I would recommend it to a friend and would buy it again, I'm also glad I got it on sale. If you can get a better deal on a 970 get that just for the sake of noise level and power consumption but I'm an AMD lover and probably will be for a while. For those curious of my set up: FX-8320 OC'd to a mild 4.0 ghz 16gb GSkillz ARIES 1866 mhz RAM Sapphire R9 290x Tri-X EVGA 750w G2 PSU Fractal Design R4 case w/ 5 fans 120gb Samsung EVO SSD 1.5 TB WD 5200rpm HDD 1.0 TB WD 7200rpm HDD