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Charles E.

Charles E.

Joined on 06/12/06

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Most Favorable Review

Fantastic water cooler. Corsair always deliveres.

Corsair Hydro Series H100i PRO Low Noise 240mm RGB Water/Liquid CPU Cooler 240mm (CW-9060033-WW) Support Intel LGA 1200, 2066, AMD AM4
Corsair Hydro Series H100i PRO Low Noise 240mm RGB Water/Liquid CPU Cooler 240mm (CW-9060033-WW) Support Intel LGA 1200, 2066, AMD AM4

Pros: Love the RGB option. Quiet Super easy to install Cools very well Did I mention it is quiet?

Cons: None

Overall Review: OK; let me start by saying I currently own 5 Corsair water cooling kits. 3 are currently being used and two are waiting on the shelf for their own builds. My point is I like Corsair water coolers. They work great, they are quiet and they provide long service. My oldest one has been running strong since 2009 and it still works as new. Before I got into the retail water cooling systems I was an avid custom water loop builder. Over time I started to get tired of flushing and exchanging water, cleaning the system, and replacing pumps as they wore out. I finally decided to try one of these all in one kits and haven't looked back since. This new cooler from Corsair is much the same that they have been putting out but it performs about the same as my best Corsair water kit and a bit better than some of my others. I love the RGB feature as it allows me to set the color I like to match the other RGB lights in my cube. Much nicer than the other Corsair coolers with just the logo lit up in white. So if you like RGB and enjoy the ability to change colors and such...this cooler is right for you. I find that with my overclocked 7800X @ 4.7GHz that this cooler performs well and keeps temps within the safe zone. It does not cool as nice as my Corsair Hydro Series H115i extreme 280mm but it is not as far off as I would have thought. Put it this way; I plan to keep this cooler in and not put my H115i Extreme back in my main gaming rig. That alone should tell you how happy I am with the H100i Pro. It is without a doubt quieter too which is a huge plus for me. Being able to control the pump speed is killer and something I didn't realize I was missing but I do like it. Crank it up while gaming or doing heavy multitasking, video editing and then turn it down for light duty, web surfing etc. Pretty neat if you ask me. The iCUE software is much nicer IMO compared to using Link (which I always hated). It has a bit of a learning curve to it but all in all offers more features. Installation is super simple and anyone can do it. All in all this is one of the best units they have come out with and they did it at a very fair price. I'll get many years of use out of this cooler and you should without a doubt feel confident in buying this unit.

Most Critical Review

A budget keyboard

Gamdias Ares P1 Membrane Gaming Keyboard, Multi Color Lighting
Gamdias Ares P1 Membrane Gaming Keyboard, Multi Color Lighting

Pros: It works! Has lights Spill resistant

Cons: Terrible software (Hera) membrane keys a bit ugly

Overall Review: I'm going to be honest here. I don't like it. It works, it lights up and I even purposely spilled a glass of water on it and it continued to work without issue. It just isn't a great keyboard but for $43 (at the time of this review) it is not all bad. Instead of the multimedia keys I would have preferred them to be marked as hot keys. I couldn't get the software to run. It kept crashing so I gave up. As a mechanical keyboard user I have a hard time with the membrane keys but they are fairly quiet and if used in a bedroom at night I'm sure my wife wouldn't complain. Without software the keyboard works fine and though it is a tad on the ugly side it does get the job done. There are better keyboards at this price point though. YMMV.

Cool smart bulb! Super easy to set up!

MagicLight Smart Light Bulb (60w Equivalent), A19 7W Multicolor 2700k-6500k Dimmable WiFi LED Bulb, Compatible with Alexa Google Home Siri IFTTT
MagicLight Smart Light Bulb (60w Equivalent), A19 7W Multicolor 2700k-6500k Dimmable WiFi LED Bulb, Compatible with Alexa Google Home Siri IFTTT

Pros: Software works well. Looks like any other LED bulb. Color options are nice. Brightness slider works great. White is as bright as a normal 60-watt bulb.

Cons: The bulb creates its own wifi that I must connect to to use the app. When changing the colors, the bulb doesn't get bright enough at max brightness.

Overall Review: This bulb is pretty cool. Setup is super easy, and the app works very well. I found it odd that the bulb creates a wifi spot that I need to connect to if I want to use the app, and when doing so, I get disconnected from my main wifi. Then, after using the app, I have to reconnect to my wifi network. If I want to make any changes to the lighting output, though, I have to reconnect to the bulb. Such a strange way to use the bulb and very inconvenient. For me, it's more a set it and leave it type of thing. I'm going to give this to my daughter, and hopefully she enjoys it. I prefer to use my other smart bulbs that link to my existing network vs creating their own. Still, it works, it's easy to set up and use.

Very nice M.2 SSD!

Crucial P310 2TB PCIe Gen4 2230 NVMe M.2 SSD - Up to 7,100 MB/s - Uplevel Your Console - Internal Solid State Drive (PC) - CT2000P310SSD2
Crucial P310 2TB PCIe Gen4 2230 NVMe M.2 SSD - Up to 7,100 MB/s - Uplevel Your Console - Internal Solid State Drive (PC) - CT2000P310SSD2

Pros: 2TB M.2 2230 Fast compared to stock SSD Power saving

Cons: Price

Overall Review: I needed an upgrade for my Asus ROG Ally z1 Extreme. My Ally had a 512GB SSD, and I made it work for a while, but having to uninstall games to install something new was becoming a pain. The Crucial P310 2TB is exactly what I needed, and I am nothing but impressed with it compared to the stock SSD. It's quite a bit faster as you can see by the CrystalDiskMark screenshots. All told, this was a quick and painless upgrade, and with the speed and data size increase I couldn't be happier.

Solid choice at a reasonable price

Crucial Pro Overclocking 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model CP2K16G60C36U5B
Crucial Pro Overclocking 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model CP2K16G60C36U5B

Pros: 1. High Speed: With a speed of 6000 MT/s, this memory is great for demanding applications and gaming. 2. Energy Efficient. 3. Reliable Brand: Crucial is known for quality products, and this memory comes with a lifetime warranty. 4. Future-Proof: As DDR5 is the latest memory standard, this kit will keep your system up-to-date. 5. Cost-Effective: Compared to other high-performance DDR5 kits, this one offers excellent value for the price.

Cons: 1. Compatibility: This DDR5 memory only works with the newest motherboards, so you might need to upgrade your system. 2. Not Very Tight Timings: The memory's latency (CL36) isn't as tight as some might expect for overclocking, which could disappoint extreme overclockers. 3. Performance: The memory performs well but doesn't offer any standout features or extraordinary performance.

Overall Review: In summary, The Crucial Pro Series DDR5 32GB memory kit is designed for high-performance use. It offers fast data speeds of 6000 MT/s, making it a strong choice for gamers and professionals who need their systems to run smoothly and efficiently. It is a reliable, efficient, and cost-effective upgrade for gaming and professional use. It's a good choice if you're looking to adopt the latest technology, but be aware of compatibility requirements. Also, keep in mind that this overclocking memory is not very overclockable. I was not able to tighten up these timings at all. Crucial considers this ram overclocking because it will work with XMP/EXPO. This ram is a solid choice if you just want to drop them in and forget about them. Just make sure to enable XMP or EXPO to get the advertised speed of 6000 MHz.

Fantastic ram at a great value!

Crucial Pro 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model CP2K16G4DFRA32A
Crucial Pro 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model CP2K16G4DFRA32A

Pros: -2x16GB -Great performance -No RGB -Heat Spreaders -Solid timings -Price

Cons: -No RGB

Overall Review: For a great price, you can have 32GB of memory! Memory prices have been coming down but it wasn't long ago that we were spending more. Memory sticks are easy to install and I like that these are black and they almost disappear in the PC, unlike so many of the RGB models. This memory might not be flashy but it gets the job done. Latency is a bit higher than I'd expect but anyone buying this is most likely not a power user anyway so the average person will be quite happy. I removed some high-end G. Skill memory (4x 8GB) and as I thought, the performance difference was there. The Crucial doesn't compete. That said, if not benching the memory to see the difference, you won't notice it in real-world use. The bottom line is, if you need 32GB of memory in a two-stick configuration and you are on a budget, BUY THIS RAM. You won't regret it. Not to mention you can buy two packs, and have 64GB of DDR4 for a more than fair price! 32 or even 64GB is not needed for gaming but if you are into video editing or you have some other task that can take advantage of a lot of memory, well this is the ticket!