cover
Kyle H.

Kyle H.

Joined on 03/21/15

0
0

Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 17
Most Favorable Review

4K at $209. Amazing Value, As Long as you know what you are getting

Seiki SE39UY04 39", 4K, 120Hz LED-LCD HDTV
Seiki SE39UY04 39", 4K, 120Hz LED-LCD HDTV

Pros: -Got this on Black Friday special for $209 shipped to my door after Visa Checkout. Absolute steal for 4K picture<br>-Does 1080p gaming at 120Hz with a few adjustments in Radeon settings<br>-Factory 39 inch firmware has been updated. True 120Hz support enabled out of the box for 1080p. No update required.<br>-Youtube and Civilization V in 4K are amazing. Strategy games play okay IMO at 30 FPS.<br>-The set I received has no dead pixels

Cons: -No HDCP 2.2 means no Netflix in 4K. At least not yet. (Hopefully this will be resolved when Netflix brings 4K to browser streaming)<br>-Screws took an amazing amount of effort to insert. Holes were probably not threaded. Make sure you have someone physically fit to assemble this. I'm serious, unless you're going to wall mount it. <br>-Some input lag at 4K. But nothing that can't be compensated for with higher sensitivity settings and a good DPI mouse. <br>-Not good for people who want to play games at 4K (except strategy) or are not tech savvy. If the idea of messing with menu settings, factory settings or updating the firmware scares you, this set is probably not for you.<br>-Colors are pretty washed, especially on lower (non-native) resolutions.

Overall Review: So much on the web about the Seiki, I was a little worried however this set is a solid contender for an entry-level 4K TV and combined with its price point on Black Friday, really makes a strong push for the top of the best bang for your buck TV category. <br>Now, with that said, this is NOT a 4K on par with most any other set out there and you should have some tech knowledge going in, especially if you want to use 1080p at 120Hz. <br><br>I got this because I was considering it and a 1080p TV at the same price point on Black Friday. The final decision maker was the 120Hz @ 1080p. Most economy 1080p sets will only display 1080p @ 60Hz. So I figured I could get the benefits of 4K for desktop work and game at 120Hz in 1080p. <br><br>I had to play around with the custom resolutions in Radeon to get 120Hz @ 1080p. Make sure display scaling is disabled or the GPU will automatically upscale 1080p to a 4K picture (and signal) which will display as 4K on your monitor. Hit "display" on your remote to check the input signal level and refresh rate.<br><br>Some input lag is there on 4K as others have said, but I think more of it is due to the fact that this is most people's first 4K set and they aren't used to having to move the mouse over the equivalent of 4 1080p individual screen spaces. Increased mouse sensitivity under windows and a high DPI mouse does wonders. It was by no means a deal breaker for me. <br><br>I had the random black screen issues at first maxing out 120Hz at 1080p. Lowering the refresh rate to 110Hz resolved the issue. Im guessing the internal board for this TV is slightly underpowered for this rated specifications. Lower the refresh rate if you're having black screen issues. Also note, the complete turning off and restarting of the TV is a BACKLIGHT issue that was resolved with the firmware update. <br><br>Colors are definitely washed, especially at lower resolutions. But not too bad and the 4K picture definitely pops. 1080 picture quality fell into the "acceptable" range, IMO. But not any worse than my first 1080i TV. And again - 120Hz refresh rate gets this TV the nod over regular 1080 TVs.<br><br>All in all - this TV was an absolute killer deal as long as the set lasts a few years and you know what you are getting. You are NOT getting a 4K gaming set, nor are you getting an highly color accurate set. What you ARE getting is 4K workspace and videos at a currently 1080p price and the option to game at 1080p at 120 FPS. As long as you don't have needs outside the intended audience, then this should serve as a great entry to 4K. <br><br>Test System:<br>i3-4160 Dual Core<br>8GB DDR3 1600 RAM<br>AMD Gigabyte R9 270 OC'd to 1050MHz Core Clock/1500MHz Memory<br>ASRock Extreme6 Z97 Motherboard<br>EVGA 1050GS Power Supply<br>Logitech G100 Basic Gaming Mouse UPDATE 1/11/2016: The new update from Windows 10 REALLY helps this TV. Im referencing the one that restarts your computer several times and installs on a black screen. 120Hz detection on modded firmware no problem on all games

Most Critical Review

Follow up: FAILED after 4 months

ECS B85H3-M3 (V1.0) LGA 1150 Intel B85 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
ECS B85H3-M3 (V1.0) LGA 1150 Intel B85 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: -Uh....it was GREAT while it worked

Cons: -Started OVERVOLTING components on the 12 volt (13.06 volts) while undervolting the 5 and 3.3 volt capacitors

Overall Review: My computer started shutting off at the windows logo shortly after installing a GPU. At first I thought it was the GPU or Power Supply, but after pulling the GPU and swapping the Power supply, the problems persisted. I swapped everything else, RAM and Hard Drives but still the problem was there. Once isolated to the motherboard, I found to my horror that the 12 volt supply was overvolted and the 5/3.3 was undervolted. Also my CPU voltage regulator was jacked all the way to 1.7 volts!!! (Not overclocked). This thing as been slowly FRYING everything attached to it for who knows how long. This is further backed up by the fact that the motherboard will sometimes reset itself several times during BIOS boot. These are called "Phantom Boots" and are a failsafe built in for the motherboard to regulate voltage (Almost all modern motherboards can do this). Just to be sure though I tested my power output from my PSU with a voltage meter and got solid ratings within .05 on the 12, 5 and 3.3 rails. First ECS board and my last. I now know why ECS has such a bad reputation in the gaming community.

Budget Power Supply that delivers

EVGA 430 W1 100-W1-0430-KR 80+ WHITE 430W Power Supply
EVGA 430 W1 100-W1-0430-KR 80+ WHITE 430W Power Supply

Pros: -Powered a pretty decent system with an OC'd graphics card using one Molex-to-PCI 6-pin adapter -Black sleved cables are a plus at this price point -Nice black finish -Quiet performance so far, though will update if I experience fan issues others have

Cons: -No 2nd 6pin PCI power connector. There are R9 270s and GTX 760s this thing can reasonably power with an i3 or i5 that use a 2nd PCI connector -The label on this unit is peeling. (The one with the serial, model, etc.) Could be an issue if I needed to RMA

Overall Review: Bought to replace the ridiculously cheapo power supply in my mother's computer. (Cheap like the $30 with a case) Using in mine for a bit while I RMA my 1050GS. Tested with: i3-4160, Gigabyte R9 270, Seagate 1TB HDD, 2X 500GB HDD. AsRock Extreme 6 Z97 Motherboard. Had to use the aforementioned molex-to-PCI adapter as this unit only has 1 PCI power plug attached. Still held its own like a champ in a a test run through fallout 4 and about 30 hours of regular use. At this price point, its more about what it doesn't do than what it does, and EVGA didn't make many sacrifices to deliver a very usable 430 watt power supply that is happy to have its boundaries pushed with a sweet spot graphics card. I didn't like that the serial number label is peeling on my unit so hopefully I don't have to return it. All in all, very happy with EVGA's offering at this price point. $20 for this much quality is a great deal.

Solid 1TB hard drive choice

Seagate Desktop HDD ST1000DM003 1TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Seagate Desktop HDD ST1000DM003 1TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: -Barracuda drives continue to be the standard in HDD for regular consumer use. Had mine for almost a year now 10 hours of use per day. Still benchmarks like brand new (after defraging of course) -Just an overall solid drive. 64 megs of cache, SATA III, 7200 RPM, Solid build quality and warranty and usually one of the cheapest new 1TB SATA3 drives you can get.

Cons: -None at this price point

Overall Review: An overall solid choice for any home user build. Combines good speeds, build quality, and durability at a good price point. Sure there are better drives, but they are more expensive too. For simple storage, this will do just fine.

HDMI very cheap

Vizio 6ft High Speed HDMI Cable - Premium Series – Retail
Vizio 6ft High Speed HDMI Cable - Premium Series – Retail

Pros: -Got a solid HDMI connection for $4 on sale.

Cons: -Nothing

Overall Review: HDMI has really evolved to where there isn't much difference in cords. This cord works awesome and feels solid. Nothing much more to say.

Works as intended

Samsung Electronics 24X SATA Half Height DVD-Writer Internal Optical Drive Model SH-224FB/BSBE
Samsung Electronics 24X SATA Half Height DVD-Writer Internal Optical Drive Model SH-224FB/BSBE

Pros: -Works right out of the box. No driver install required on Windows 10 -Seems to have solid read/write speeds

Cons: -Wouldn't use if you're doing a lot of optical media work. Construction feels flimsy.

Overall Review: I just needed a drive for the 2-3 games I still have on CD and DVD as well as to have the option to use discs for an OS install. Performs as expected, including to the build quality. I would not buy this drive for heavy/daily optical media writes. Feels flimsy. However for my needs, its perfect.