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Thomas S.

Thomas S.

Joined on 02/05/08

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 8
Most Favorable Review

AMAZING!

Intel Core i7-2700K - Core i7 2nd Gen Sandy Bridge Quad-Core 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 95W Intel HD Graphics 3000 Desktop Processor - BX80623i72700K
Intel Core i7-2700K - Core i7 2nd Gen Sandy Bridge Quad-Core 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 95W Intel HD Graphics 3000 Desktop Processor - BX80623i72700K

Pros: I just upgraded from an AMD Phenom II 940 quad-core that was overclocked from 3.0ghz up to 3.4ghz. I just built my new system with this cpu and an ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard. I have overclocked the CPU from 3.4ghz up to 4.9ghz! I is stable under 100% load (20 minutes of the torture test) without going over 61*C or 1.368V. I used offset voltage rather than setting a static CPU voltage manually, and Speedstep is enable. The CPU clock frequency ranges from 1.6ghz, 0.992V, and 22*C when idling to 4.9ghz, 1.368V, and 61*C under 100% load.

Cons: NONE

Overall Review: I am using a Zalman CNPS11X Extreme cooler, and Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, applied according to Arctic Silver's instructions, including tinting the heatsink base and CPU cap. I have only been running for the day, so burn-in is not complete. Temps should come down 2-3 degrees or so after a couple hundred or so hours of intermittent use.

Most Critical Review

Not durable

Turtle Beach Ear Force X-52 Circumaural 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset
Turtle Beach Ear Force X-52 Circumaural 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset

Pros: Sound works fine, the 5.1 functions as it should, sounds nice.

Cons: Made extremely poorly. The ear cups are only held on to the head strap by a single small screw, with a very small head, that holds the ear cup in place by screwing up tight to a cheap plastic ridge inside the screw hole on the mounting bracket. In less than a month, the screw on one side has ripped the plastic ridge out of the hole. Would it have been to difficult for them to use a pan headed screw and screw it tight to the actual surface rather than relying on a wafer thin ridge of plastic? The ear cup is now tied to the mounting bracket with a piece of wire, temporarily.

Overall Review: Gave this headset to my brother as a gift for Christmas. After owning the Turtle Beach EarForce HPA for a couple years now, I am very disappointed in the quality of this headset's construction.

Great memory!

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3L 1600 (PC3L 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXM
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3L 1600 (PC3L 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXM

Pros: Stable, runs great with my i7-2700k overclocked to 4.9ghz. I haven't finished tweaking yet, sitll running the memory at 1600mhz. I'll probably leave it there.

Cons: NONE

Overall Review: It's even color-coordinated with my ASUS P8Z68-V Pro/GEN3 motherboard! No, that isn't why I chose it!

Excellent cooler!

ZALMAN CNPS11X Extreme V-Shaped Dual Heatpipe Design w/120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler Compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge
ZALMAN CNPS11X Extreme V-Shaped Dual Heatpipe Design w/120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler Compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge

Pros: Very easy install, no issues using all memory slots on my ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard, even with heatsinks on the memory (GSkill Ripjaws). Temps go from 61*C under 100% load at 4.9ghz down to 25*C at idle INSTANTLY when I end the Prime95 torture test, and drop further over the next 30 seconds or so to 22*C at idle! And this is after having it installed for a day; it hasn't finished the burn in period yet!

Cons: NONE

Overall Review: I used Arctic Silver 5, not the paste Zalman supplied. I followed the directions on Arctic Silver's website for application on an i7 CPU, including tinting the heatsink base and the CPU cap. Also, this cooler is quiet, almost inaudible when the CPU is idling around 1600mhz. At 4.9ghz under load, the fan is noticeable, but not what I would call loud or annoying. It has a deeper tone to it in fan terms, no high pitch whine. And of course you hear the air movement. Excellent cooler!

Amazing board!

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Pros: Easy setup, great new BIOS interface, cool temps in my Antec Twelve Hundred case. Everything works like a charm. I have a 64GB OCZ Synapse Cache SSD that I am now using with Intel's RST support. Don't need the Dataplex software that OCZ uses anymore. It is BLAZING fast!! Very stable and easy to overclock with. So far, I've been able to get my new i7-2700k CPU up to 4.9ghz stable, with Speedstep enabled and using offset voltage in BIOS rather than setting a constant CPU voltage. This board is great, even by ASUS standards. I have used MSI, Gigabyte, and for the past 5 or 6 years, exclusively ASUS. This is the 4th ASUS board I have built a system on, either mine or someone elses. My last one was a Crosshair Formula II for my old AMD Phenom II platform. This one is the best one yet!

Cons: NONE!

Great Laptop for the price

Gateway Laptop Intel Core i5-430M 4GB Memory 320GB HDD Intel HD Graphics 15.6" Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit NV5929u
Gateway Laptop Intel Core i5-430M 4GB Memory 320GB HDD Intel HD Graphics 15.6" Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit NV5929u

Pros: Laptop has all the features as advertised. As expected, Win7 64bit, an i5 CPU, and 4GB of memory is nice and snappy. The on board graphics are great for any everyday tasks, even watching TV online. It also played Civilization 5 OK. Not as well as my custom built gaming machine, but that is to be expected. It was still smooth enough to be enjoyable, which is more than I expected from a laptop with only integrated graphics. The numpad is rearranged a bit, and the mouse buttons are replaced with a long, narrow bar. Some reviewers slammed this laptop for it, but I have to say that they must be rather hard to please if these two things were any issue at all. The scroll pad is perfectly smooth, the bar works just fine, and is very easily "adjusted to" (took no adjustment by my wife or myself), and the numpad arrangement makes excellent use of the available real estate, allowing the rest of the keys to be that little bit larger. The keyboard is nice and snappy as well. Great b

Cons: none.

Overall Review: very minimal amount of preinstalled annoyances, which were easily uninstalled in about 5 minutes, never to be seen or heard from again.

10/20/2010