Joined on 12/02/07
Great Choice For PCI-e 3.0 or 4.0
Pros: I have owned several Corsair SSD's over the years. My first experience with SSD's was with two Corsair Force 3 240 GB SSD's in RAID 0, back then, that was crazy fast. Both of those drives are still working today, many years later. Actually I have owned a ton of Corsair peripherals and hardware. From several sets of RAM, to probably 30 or more Corsair case fans, to mice and keyboards, SSD's, power supplies, CLC coolers, and wireless headsets just to name a few. These days, solid state drives rule the enthusiast market. Corsair was one of the first to hop on that band wagon, so they have years of experience in design and manufacturing to draw upon. With the introduction of the MP600 Core M.2 NVMe SSD, Corsair was one of the first to come up with a Gen 4 M.2 SSD that was blazing fast. The way this drive comes packaged is pretty impressive. It was actually a bit of a pain to get it out of the box because it was so tightly packaged. The SSD is seated inside this big chunk of foam that will protect it during shipping, that is always nice bonus. With this MP600 2TB drive, both the read and write speeds are exceptional. I am still on PCIe 3.0, so this drive is undoubtedly maxing out the bandwidth of my PCIe 3.0 interface at x4. My system is a 9900K on an z390 Dark. I don't have a lot of experience with M.2 SSDs, but I have been using a 1 TB 960 Evo M.2 for the past couple of years that I am able to compare it to. In every single benchmark, this drive destroys the 960 Evo. The primary difference between my old drive and this one is the write speeds are significantly higher, almost double. Read speeds are higher too, but write speeds are not only higher, they're more consistent with files of any size and over a much longer duration. During testing, I copied a 100 GB file from each drive onto itself and the MP600 maintained maximum transfer speeds throughout the entire testing period. I believe much of that is attributed to the design of the SSD and the heat sink keeping temperatures in check. The heat sink is a beast, it covers both sides of the SSD, a design that I found very impressive. One of the benefits of the heat sink covering the entire SSD, except on the ends where it mounts to your motherboard and connects to the M.2 slot, is that it would be impossible to damage it by simply handling it, or letting it sit out on top of something unprotected. Temperatures never exceeded 58C, so it never thermal throttled. I performed benchmarks comparing my two drives with multiple passes of file sizes between 1 and 16 GB. I used 3 different benchmarks, AS SSD, Crystal Disk Mark and Samsung Magician. I am using the most recent versions of each. I monitored temperatures during benchmarking and after several hours of activity, temperatures never rose to a point that I would be concerned about. I used AIDA64 to monitor the temperatures of my SSDs. Samsung Magician: 960 Evo 1 TB on PCI-e 3.0 Sequential Read: 2929 MB/s Sequential Write: 1812 MB/s Random Read: 363, 281 IOPS Random Write: 166,259 IOPS MP600 Core 2 TB on PCI-e 3.0 Sequential Read: 3541 MB/s Sequential Write: 3320 MB/s Random Read: 528,649 IOPS Random Write: 775,029 IOPS AS SSD: (Note: Seq tests are file size of 10 GB, 4K are 1 GB) 960 Evo 1 TB on PCI-e 3.0 Seq. Read: 2807 MB/s Seq. Write: 1097 MB/s 4K Read: 43.6 MB/s 4K Write: 141.66 MB/s Access Time Read: .084 ms Access Time Write: .026 ms MP600 Core 2 TB on PCI-e 3.0 Seq. Read: 3340 MB/s Seq. Write: 3180 MB/s 4K Read: 61.9 MB/s 4K Write: 163.4 MB/s Access Time Read: .027 ms Access Time Write: .020 ms Crystal Disk Mark: 960 Evo 1 TB on PCI-e 3.0 File Size 16 GB Seq Read: 2754 MB/s Seq Write: 1157 MB/s File Size 1 GB Seq Read: 2858 MB/s Seq Write: 1856 MB/s 4K 8QT8 Read: 1467 MB/s 4K 8QT8 Write: 1366 MB/s 4K 32Q1T Read: 709 MB/s 4K 32Q1T Write: 601 MB/s 4K 1Q1T Read: 48.8 MB/s 4K 1Q1T Write: 170.9 MB/s MP600 Core 2TB on PCI-e 3.0 File Size 16 GB Seq Read: 3521 MB/s Seq Write: 3254 MB/s File Size 1 GB Seq Read: 3551 MB/s Seq Write: 3280 MB/s 4K 8QT8 Read: 1667 MB/s 4K 8QT8 Write: 2969 MB/s 4K 32Q1T Read: 1654 MB/s 4K 32Q1T Write: 2141 MB/s 4K 1Q1T Read: 56.4 MB/s 4K 1Q1T Write: 284.3 MB/s
Cons: I have been thoroughly impressed with the performance of this SSD. Considering it's performance, this drive is at an extremely competitive price point, making it perfect for a gaming PC. Although, at this time, M.2 SSDs aren't really a budget friendly option for the average PC gamer. Putting them out of reach for the average PC builder who is more concerned with maximizing their frames per second, with system responsiveness taking a back seat. M.2 SSDs are typically not very high in capacity, making them less than ideal as the sole data drive for the modern gaming PC. With many recent games exceeding 100 GB each, it limits the number of games you can have installed at any one time. I got the 2 TB version of this drive, which I would say is the sweet spot for SSD storage. 1 TB really limits how many games you can have installed at any given time. The heat sink on this SSD sits quite a bit higher than I anticipated. The heat sink sits .466 in., or 11.8 mm, above the PCB of the SSD. I measured it with my calipers. So that is something to take into consideration if your motherboard has a tight fit for your M.2 SSD. I don't know of any instances of this being the case, but it would be wise to check before ordering one of these. In my system there's a ton of space, it's not even close. Even in the slot directly behind the graphics card there's plenty of room.
Overall Review: With the extremely impressive write speeds of this MP600 SSD, it makes it absolutely perfect for the content creator who wants to capture high resolution gaming at the native quality and frame rate, whether you're on PCI-e 3.0 or 4.0. I was an early adopter of 4K. As soon as the first reasonably priced 4K monitor was available in the US, I had it preordered. I wanted to post videos on YouTube of the incredible quality 4K gaming had to offer, but at that time there was one major limiting factor, the data write speed of my hard drive. I had one of the fastest hard drives money could buy at that time and it wasn't even close to fast enough. So I upgraded to RAID 0 SSD's, which were fast enough, but capacity was a major issue for native 4K at 60 fps. With the blazing fast write speeds and huge capacity of this 2 TB SSD, it won't have any trouble with that whatsoever. The primary benefit of any quality M.2 SSD is system responsiveness. The days of sitting and waiting for your system to boot up are over. With this M.2 SSD, your system is ready to go as fast as it can turn on and there's no waiting, ever. Well, there are still some things that will make you wait a bit, but it won't be because your storage drive is a major bottleneck like it was in the days of mechanical hard drives. For the performance it offers, the price point of this drive is absolutely excellent. Just two years ago, when I bought my 960 Evo, it cost about the same for what this drive is selling for, with only 1 TB of storage. The Corsair MP600 Core Gen 4 M.2 SSD is as fast as many drives that are much more expensive. The Corsair MP600 Core was one of the first Gen 4 M.2 SSD's to be released, so it's not the fastest drive available anymore. But the price reflects that. Putting it in a sweet spot with a balance of speed, capacity, and price point. If you're like me, and still on a system with PCI-e 3.0, if you're planning to upgrade within the next few years, the smartest thing to do would be to buy a drive that offers some future proofing like this one. If you're on PCI-e 3.0, getting a gen 4 drive like this one is a great idea, so that when you do upgrade, you'll unlock the full performance of this drive without having to dedicate a portion of your build budget to an SSD. I really don't have anything negative to say about this drive specifically. The Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB M.2 NVMe SSD met or exceeded all of my expectations, 5 Eggs, very highly recommended.
Uncomfortable
Pros: It's pretty bright. Has two modes, on and flashing. I guess flashing would be good if you were running along side the road at night. Takes AA batteries. Yes that's a pro. I'm not fond of AAA batteries. Decent battery life. The light itself tilts up and down.
Cons: Very uncomfortable. Doesn't really fit my head very well. I have it at the maximum adjustment and it almost slips off. The way it's made, the batteries go in a little compartment that sits on the back of your head with these plastic bumps, kind of half spheres. They are the problem really. They basically take all of the tension and put it into where those points contact your skull. It's almost painful to wear. It really is a horrible design.
Overall Review: I was hoping for something halfway decent for $10. But I really wasn't impressed. It's ok, that's about it.
Crucial P310 2TB with Heatsink
Pros: The Crucial P310 2TB SSD is a high-performance PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD designed for PS5 and gaming PCs, as well as workstations and laptops. With read speeds up to 7,100 MB/s and write speeds up to 6,000 MB/s on a PCIe 4.0 interface, it offers strong performance for both gaming and professional workloads. The model I got has 2TB of storage and a heatsink. These days, on a gaming PC or console, 1TB isn't really enough anymore. Game file sizes have ballooned beyond 150GB each, limiting you to just a few installed titles at any given time while maintaining enough free space for optimal performance. This particular model is actually a great choice for a PS5 expansion SSD. You get a drive that exceeds the PS5 requirements for an expansion drive while also having a heatsink, which is a requirement. Can you install an SSD without a heatsink? Sure, it's your PS5. It can't tell whether your SSD has a heatsink on it, but Sony recommends installing only an SSD equipped with one.
Cons: The Crucial P310 is a DRAM-less SSD, relying on HMB (Host Memory Buffer) to map your drive's contents. Ideally, you would have a DRAM cache, as an SSD with one has slightly lower latency and can sustain maximum write speeds for an extended period. Latency can be a minor issue with DRAM-less SSDs. A DRAM-cache SSD typically sees random read latency between 50 and 100 microseconds, whereas the P310 with HMB latency is roughly double, about 100 to 200 microseconds. 200 microseconds translates to roughly 5,000 frames per second. So unless you're gaming at an extremely high frame rate, you will probably never notice the higher latency of a DRAM-less SSD. The Crucial P310 utilizes QLC (Quad-Level Cell) NAND, which has lower write endurance than TLC or lower-level cell count NAND varieties. The 2TB version of the P310 is rated for 440 TBW (terabytes written). Personally, thats more than I would ever use. I still have a 970 Evo, rated for 600 TBW, and it's still at 97% drive life remaining after years of use. If, for whatever reason, you frequently write to and erase your SSD, this may not be the most prudent choice.
Overall Review: The Crucial P310 is equipped with Microns 232-layer QLC NAND and a Phison E27T controller. Its reliance on HMB, instead of a DRAM cache, won't be noticeable for most users, especially for gaming. HMB SSDs rely on system RAM instead of an onboard DRAM cache. The more and faster your system memory, the less impact HMB will have compared to a DRAM cache. If you only have 8GB of system RAM, you might experience issues. However, with 16GB or more, you'll likely never notice the 256MB of system RAM it borrows to map the drive. For reference, SATA SSDs typically have latency between 500 and 1,000 microseconds, while HDDs range from 5,000 to 10,000 microseconds. Personally, I can't recall latency being a major issue even back in the days of hard drives. I'm using this SSD for gaming and haven't noticed any latency issues whatsoever. Maybe slightly slower load times, but nothing as severe as pop-in or input lag. I installed this SSD in my bedroom gaming PC, which has a PCIe Gen3 slot (not Gen4). I recently had an SSD fail, so getting this one at this time was perfect. I ran tests using AS SSD and CrystalDiskMark, and the SSD is far faster than what my PCIe 3.0 system can even handle. It effectively saturates the PCIe 3.0 bus to its maximum capability. One thing I noticed during testing, after sustained reading and writing of files ranging from a few hundred MB to multiple passes of 16GB files, the maximum temperature never exceeded 30°C. On a PCIe 3.0 interface, the P310 doesn't even break a sweat. The upside is that you'll probably never have to worry about throttling for any reason on PCIe 3.0. I'll attach some benchmark pics and images of my system if you want to see the results. As a side note, I have 3 Crucial SSDs that I am currently using, and I have not had a problem with any of them.
Dell 3080 IO Shield
Overall Review: Exactly what I needed for my Dell 3080. Accidentally ruined my original IO shield to fit a water block on the card. Turns out it was completely unnecessary. I cut off the mounting points because I incorrectly and hastily assumed the screws on the back would hold it in place. These parts are surprisingly difficult to find. This one had to ship from China, held up the card by a zip tie and a plastic brace while I waited for it to arrive. Took 2 to 3 weeks, arrived in perfect condition.
Great Value For Gaming
Pros: I got one of these because I wanted a cheap SSD for a pc I was selling. Well I ended up keeping the pc, and Ive been playing on it, and I cant tell the difference between this and much faster, higher quality drives. Im actually very pleasantly surprised. I havent done any benchmarks, but load times seem pretty much the same give or take a bit. For the price, you cant go wrong if you want a fast drive for games thats cheap. Im actually gonna buy another one.
Cons: None, so far. Its only 500 GB, I knew that when I bought it, so not really an issue.
Overall Review: I chose this drive because I sorted 500 GB and 1 TB M.2 SSDs by price, this was the cheapest drive that was good, so I grabbed it. I do actually have a 1 TB Crucial M.2 SSD in a different PC, but its a P4. So theres that also, that drive is also a great performer.
My New Favorite Gaming Mouse
Pros: I have owned a number of Corsair mice over the years and I have never had any major problems with any of them. I primarily use my mouse for gaming, it's not uncommon to hear that wireless mice introduce latency, which can put you at a disadvantage when playing PvP. However, in my opinion, this generation of new wireless mice are so good, you can't tell the difference between a wired and a wireless mouse. In fact, the wireless mouse will give you an advantage, because you're not tethered to a cord that causes drag on your mouse, or can get snagged on things. I switched over to a wireless gaming mouse a few years back, a Logitech G603. I thought that was about as good as it could get. What I liked about it was it's very light, and I had no perceivable trouble with latency or accuracy. Then I got my hands on the Corsair Sabre RGB Pro Wireless. To be honest, I don't really care much for the RGB. In fact, I prefer to leave that feature off, as it just serves to drain the battery life. This mouse is several steps above my previous wireless gaming mouse. It is so light. I thought I had the lightest quality gaming mouse money could buy before, but this thing is truly feather weight considering the features. My old mouse took AA batteries. I did like that, since it's easier for me to just pop in a battery when I need to. But, if the requirement to get an even lighter mouse is to have it be rechargeable, plugging it in a couple times a week while I sleep is a choice I don't mind making. At this point, I've had this mouse for a while now, and I've only charged it maybe half a dozen times in the past 6 weeks or so. I game a lot, so a solid week of play time before a charge is pretty good in my opinion. When the battery gets low, it starts to flash red at you. The Sabre Pro has a 26K DPI sensor. I don't take anywhere near to full advantage of it. In fact, I usually run around the 6K DPI mark. The Corsair iCue software comes into play here. It allows you to change up the RGB lighting, or in my case, shut it off entirely. You can set up custom profiles and save them to your mouse. I like to have a variety of DPI settings, ranging from around 1200, all the way to the max, because I think it's funny to see peoples reactions when they see my character flopping around in game from the 26K DPI movement. I didn't think this mouse would really enhance my accuracy much, but it really has. I feel like this mouse has really improved my aim. There are two thumb buttons, a robust scroll wheel, and the DPI setting button on top. For wireless connection to your PC, you can choose to use the included USB adapter or bluetooth. Personally, I prefer the wireless adapter. I haven't had any issues with dropping connection, and the range is pretty good. It tracks just fine on a variety of surfaces, I commonly use my pants leg as a mouse pad, or the arm of my recliner.
Cons: As for what I didn't like, nothing major. At first, I really didn't like the location of the thumb buttons. But after a while I got used to them, and now I don't notice it anymore, so it's kind of a non issue. Although, on day one, I was almost ready to stop using it because of that minor irritation. But I adapted, and now I prefer it to my old mouse. I wish the scroll wheel was a bit faster. As long as it holds up long term, that's the important thing, but I just wish I could scroll more quickly with it. I didn't like the fact that it's rechargeable at first, but the battery life is good enough that it's a non issue.
Overall Review: I honestly have to give this mouse a 5 out of 5. On day one I probably would have given it a 3 or 4 out of 5. But after getting a couple hundred hours of use out of it, I can say I love this mouse. I really do. I love how light it is, that is one of the most important features of a wireless mouse for me. The tracking is excellent. Unless you're an absolute professional gamer, you won't be able to tell any difference between a wired and a wireless version of this mouse. I use a cheap mouse pad and the tracking is still spot on. I have been PC gaming for nearly 20 years, so I have a unique perspective based upon the evolution of mice and my ownership of a wide variety over the years. Once you get the mouse set up the way you want, you can save your profile to your mouse, and never have to launch iCue again if you don't want to make any changes or update anything. I also have a Corsair wireless headset, a Void Pro. That thing has held up for many years and it's still great. In fact, I have a ton of Corsair gear, especially their PC cooling fans. The reason I keep coming back to Corsair is because of the quality of their products, and they stand behind them with a solid warranty. If you want one of, if not THE best wireless gaming mouse on the market today, this one is a solid choice.
Fast Shipping, Quality Refurb
The shipping was very fast. I ordered Friday, had it on my porch on Monday. Ohio to PA, so not that far, but still very impressive. The refurbished item was in perfect cosmetic condition and perfect working order. Item wasn't shipped very securely. They stuffed it in a box that was way bigger than it needed to be with a piece of packing paper to protect it. Why is it these shipping departments don't teach their employees the correct way to pack items for shipment? Item was undamaged, but could have definitely been packaged better. I took an egg for that. Everything else was great.
US Micro Corp Laptop Refurb
I only gave 4 eggs because the laptop I ordered had some cosmetic damage. It wasn't bad, but clearly visible. But, the major reason I deducted one egg was because when I opened my new refurb laptop for the first time, the keyboard and monitor were covered in potato chips. I don't know if they just didn't bother to check it, or if they just have some slob eating chips and sorting through used laptops. However, what really counts, the hardware, was in great shape. An Intel Sandy Bridge quad core, 8 GB DDR3, a 500 GB hybrid drive, Windows 7 64 bit and a full 1080p display. Great! It was supposed to have a 350 GB standard hard drive and a1366x768 display so I got even more than I had anticipated. So I was very happy about that. The battery works great and so does the power supply. The shipping time was pretty good. Took a couple days before they shipped it, but still satisfactory. Very satisfied with my refurb laptop, would do business again. Just clean up your refurbs a bit.
Meh...
It took them a week just to ship the item and the packaging for the item was damaged. Fortunately the item itself worked perfectly.