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Dale E.

Dale E.

Joined on 01/08/07

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 13
Most Favorable Review

Samsung CHG70 Series C32HG70 32"

Samsung CHG70 Series C32HG70 32" (Actual size 31.5") 2560 x 1440 2K Resolution 1ms (GTG) 144Hz DisplayPort, 2x HDMI, USB 3.0 Hub AMD Radeon FreeSync 2 QLED Curved Gaming Monitor
Samsung CHG70 Series C32HG70 32" (Actual size 31.5") 2560 x 1440 2K Resolution 1ms (GTG) 144Hz DisplayPort, 2x HDMI, USB 3.0 Hub AMD Radeon FreeSync 2 QLED Curved Gaming Monitor

Pros: Good color, good refresh rates, easy set up, solid monitor stand that doesn't wiggle or threaten to tip.

Cons: As mentioned, the stands are DEEP. I actually went out and bought a new 36" depth desk just so I'd have room to use my keyboard and write. Would seriously consider a swing arm monitor clamp if new furniture isn't feasible , especially on a 24" depth desk. also you want your face to be at least 24" back from the beast. If you have a glass desk, be aware this is a heavy beast.

Overall Review: I originally matched this with a SAPPHIRE Radeon RX Vega 64. Unfortunately the card blitzed out and at the time the cost effective replacement was a MSI GeForce RTX 2070. I was worried about the match up, but Nvidia hooked up fine. The color options are good, and I see no tearing whatsoever whille playing. I have the 32" model and the curve actually makes sense . I will buy a second one of these soon so a dual setup. I love the thing.

Most Critical Review

good while it lasted

Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD1500HLHX 150GB 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD1500HLHX 150GB 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Was a very cheap Raptor Raid 0 with the sale price. Fast RW, good heat dissipation.

Cons: I'm just not lucky with my hardware for Raid 0, Third time I've tried a Raid 0 set up in 5 years, None made it to a year without a drive failure. On the plus side, it wasn't an expensive experiment. Plus I had data backup in place, so it was more of a grin and bear kind of moment.

Overall Review: HD failures are luck of the draw, I've seen drives last for years, while others die within 3 months. I just have a knack for buying the latter I guess. Always have data backup in place.

Perfect

Lite-On EBAU108 External DVD-Writer - Black
Lite-On EBAU108 External DVD-Writer - Black

Pros: I build desktops without writable media drives, as well as buying my laptops the same way. Upon occasion You still need to read CD or DVD media for some reason. Plug this in, good to go. works great for me, but I am a light user.

Cons: Micro USB cable that comes with it is really to short, I bought a longer one just to have some flexibility in positiong.

Overall Review: I would buy this again.

Great buy.

OLOy 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model MD4U163216CGDA
OLOy 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model MD4U163216CGDA

Pros: Solid ram, I bought 2 kits and set up a new AMD build for 64 gig . It passed an overnight run of testing without error and I run a work from home office and end up using quite a bit of ram with all the software opened and have had no hardware issues with it. I would buy this again.

Cons: No cons I can think of.

Overall Review: A note on a negative I see a lot of people post in memory reviews. The XMD setting on this is an overclock (1.35 volts). It will boot to default spec until you go into BIOS and set it to recognize and use the XMD setting, that is not a flaw, it is standard procedure.

Best SSd I've tried

SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 2280 512GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V5P512BW
SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 2280 512GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V5P512BW

Pros: Fast, faster than any SATA SSD. doesn't require a drive bay, and has been very stable for almost six months now. I plugged it in and my Mobo recognized it and my OS setup was without incident. windows did pull a driver in from the internet during the setup, so a connect might be prudent. Was a bit pricey, but on can feel a reel difference, my old SSD is relegated to a mirror drive now.

Cons: Does run warm, make sure you have good airflow in your case as the heat cannot be conductive to a long service life.

Overall Review: Soo as I can get a mobo that will let me run two of these in raid 0 at full bandwidth, I'm going to give it a go.

Ready to go on the first pass.

ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Professional Gaming i7 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Professional Gaming i7 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Took my time, installed 4 sticks of ram, CPU, Heat sink, Samsung 950 Pro before ever putting the mobo into the case. Stuck the current version of the Win 10 Pro ISO onto a USB, plugged it in and fired the up the power. Went to Bios, let it flash the current Bios, and then watched it go straight to windows setup and load. Surprised me how smoothly it went, even went ahead a set my ram to the SMP for me.

Cons: Bios is a twitchy when trying to tweak the voltages, tends to hardlock, I ended up using the software instead. going to switch BIOS this weekend see if that clears the problems. Board is stable other than that.

Overall Review: This is my first ASRock, it's too early to tell if I would buy another, but I must say that the setup process is very user friendly for a new builder. Good directions as well. I got it on sale for $179 and a $20 rebate on top, so really cannot complain.