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ben m.

ben m.

Joined on 10/09/08

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Most Favorable Review

Great PSU

CORSAIR RM Series RM850 CP-9020196-NA 850 W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular SLI CrossFire Power Supply
CORSAIR RM Series RM850 CP-9020196-NA 850 W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular SLI CrossFire Power Supply

Pros: This is the re-release of the RM line. With this released they have upgraded the RM series to be closer to the RMx series. Upgrades to the capacitors, now 105c Japanese caps Fan, now with quieter bearings Better thermal efficiency, means quieter and less wasted power 10 year warranty I think the only thing this RM is missing over my older RMx is the fancy bags for the PSU and Cables. It's actually just as efficient and as quiet but 20mm shorter and a little lighter. The other big pros (for most people building new PCs) are the better usage of cables. Corsair dropped the extra peripheral and floppy lines and added two more sata lines. Other pros are... The near silent operation - no fan and no noise up to 340 watts. And under 30 dB at max output. Zip ties included for this cable management types... 80+ Gold certification Great corsair brand 10 year warranty!!! Decent prices.

Cons: Not many cons. I guess if you need a floppy drive and or excessive older 4 pin peripherals, look elsewhere. But as long as you research your product as you should if you're buying gear with atypical needs, then you'll not be looking here... Fully modular can be a con to some. Allegedly, depending on which camp you believe and hide hard core you are, the modular system induces some power loss at the connection between the psu and cable. So having a partially module system, the 24pin and a few sata lines are the best of both worlds. But the this is just nitpicking.

Most Critical Review

an ok, albeit overpriced camera

Belkin F7D7606 Netcam HD+ Wi-Fi Camera with Glass Lens and Night Vision
Belkin F7D7606 Netcam HD+ Wi-Fi Camera with Glass Lens and Night Vision

Pros: Ease of setup...well to an extent...still had significant issues with setup. Low profile hardware. Solid pivots for camera on base. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of other thoughts (since the CONs were so extensive...) My main issue is that there are better options galore. I would recommend many a product over this one...especially ones that don't require you to spend money every month just to use their product.

Cons: There were so many cons that it's hard to document them all in my 3,000 character limit. The worst part is that this is such a simplistic device that there should be zero cons, and/or minimal cons. The reliance upon the android/iphone app is a drawback to me, I should not need to download an app to my phone to setup a device at all, sure it's tailored to the smart phone market, but what if I wanted to use it with my home network and/or just with my laptop/desktop at work? Well, I hope you have a cell phone too, because you'll need it to setup the device, just to use later with your computer. The app itself is sub-par at best. So not only do you require me to download the app, but you bundle it with permissions that I would never normally accept. If I had purchased the device and then saw that I was required to download the app, and saw the permissions on the app, i'd have sent the device back. No question about it. Permissions - IAP (from $2 - $19), access to photos/media/files, access to microphone, wifi connection information, device ID, and call information. So now you've sold your soul/device to belkin, now what? Well you can manually view your camera, if you have the logic to setup the camera without reading their instructions. PRO-TIP: if you follow their instructions, you'll fail. In any case, in my opinion if you spend hundreds of dollars on a product, it'd be nice if they spent 15 minutes following their own instructions before sending them out to people. I'll be fair, I write IT procedure for a staff of over 1500 people. I know that you must write procedures for the lowest common denominator. Granted, i'd not consider myself the lowest common denominator, but I still was unable to follow their instructions. The way that the instructions read state that you should launch the app, press yes to setup, then once it's setup change the switch to camera. The way I read that, you click yes to set it up, then change the switch. It should state, click yes, follow the onscreen prompts to set it up, then go to the next instruction, which is set the switch to camera. In any case, just a minor issue with the way I read the instructions. The android app is not optimized for android...the app asks for a username and password. Android keyboard allows you to click go after doing so, but doing so does not result in you going forward. Clicking it again does not move forward, I assure you clicking it a 3rd or 4th or 5th time does not move forward either. In order to move forward, you've got to click on the screen, then click the continue button that was hidden by the keyboard. My screen is not a small screen, I was using my Galaxy Note 2 phone. Other issues with the app, it does not clean close when hitting back, you've got to manually force close the app. The latest version of the app apparently removed two-way audio, while I can hear the sound from the device (if i enable the audio), the device does not play

Overall Review: CONs continued!!! Video is recorded at 640x360. For those counting, yes that is WORSE than the video my VCR played movies on my 35 year old 27 inch CRT television. And hilariously half the claimed 720p resolution. Not to mention it's rocking an abysmal 5 fps when DISPLAYING 720p while you take snapshots of the video. In addition, it defaults to 640x360 resolution for video and snapshots, and rocks out at a maximum 10 fps. While the stats make "WHOPPING" claims of 25fps, it doesn't go on to tell you that if you spend the same amount of money as you paid for this camera on a video card for your computer and played any game you'd likely get more than 5 fps, but if you got 5 fps, you'd likely send it back. In order to 'subscribe' to the premium service, belkin has opted to contract their cloud services out. I'm not sure how 'reputable' you can call yourself when you are named "SEEDONK". I get the SEE half...I halfway get their DONK second half after reading their explanation. But seriously, i'll never pay money to a company that named themselves after a person's rear or a junky car. And the notion of had I paid for this device and not being able to use it completely without buying additional purchases from the app and subscribing to another service with DONK in the name (actually, I would not be surprised if newegg blocks this review for having used the word donk in the review...). Furthermore i'm not a huge fan of the iWhatever craze. But if you're going to give me an android app, don't call it iSecurity...please? Another issue I have is that the notification you receive when the camera senses motion essentially is an email that says nothing more than "Ir sensed motion." LR being the code name I gave to the camera in my living room. But it doesn't record the video of the motion, I have to quickly after receiving the notification 1-2 minutes after the movement, login to the app and hope that the movement is still in the field of view. If you want anything different, have fun paying more than you paid for the camera. I find the mere notion of having to pay for a lifetime of subscription costs after I just paid for your device is ridiculous. That alone would make me send the product back. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok...on to the other thoughts finally... While my CONs took up nearly twice the allocated space for CONs, I'm still giving the device a 3 star review. I truly feel the review is a 2.5 star review at best. This is not a great product, but it is clear and concise when it advises up front that there may be additional costs. It does provide night vision optics as it states, it does provide 720p resolution as it states, the camera performs as it states. My main contention is that it is a little ambiguous with how it words things and that causes me to be frustrated with the product. I would never buy this, nor recommend it, but it performs mostly as

Great way to speed up your computing

Crucial P3 2TB PCIe 3.0 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD, up to 3500MB/s - CT2000P3SSD8
Crucial P3 2TB PCIe 3.0 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD, up to 3500MB/s - CT2000P3SSD8

Pros: This was my first m.2 SSD for my personal computer. I'd experience installing for a few customers and before delivering the PCs I did my normal error checking and speed tests. For all intents and purposes you know they're faster, you can see the numbers absolutely slaying the older HDDs. But until you actually install your OS and apps on this drive you won't really understand the marked improvement over your apps that were installed on a HDD and even improvements with faster file transfers and searches moving the OS from an older SSD to this m.2 SSD.

Cons: The only minor con with this drive was a compatibility issue. I tried to run this with an older gigabyte mobo that had an m.2slot but for whatever reason I couldn't get it recognized as a boot drive. Since I wanted to load my OS and primary apps to it, I contacted crucial support and was given a list of compatible devices. Once I was able to procure a newer model motherboard with an updated m.2 slot, everything worked great. Crucial support went above and beyond to troubleshoot my original board, even though it wasn't supported. It made me feel like they cared about the money I had spent and were willing to try everything to make it work rather than just say 'sorry your board isn't supported buy a new one'.

Overall Review: Overall, if you need a faster storage solution with longevity, look no further, this will get the job done.

Solid thermal compound

CORSAIR TM30 Performance Thermal Paste, CT-9010001-WW.
CORSAIR TM30 Performance Thermal Paste, CT-9010001-WW.

Pros: Easy application and spreading Assurance from a great brand Normal temperatures

Cons: None? If I had to name one i'd say a little over priced for the quantity.

Overall Review: Everything worked great, no issues with two applications. I normally use Arctic or Zalman...and this was closer to the Zalman in terms of ease of application. In terms of ease of use, a little easier than ceramic and little harder than a looser paint on zinc. Performance wise, it was on par with most of my thermal compounds.

Nice choice for quiet cooling

Corsair AF Series AF140 LED (2018) CO-9050089-WW 140mm Red LED Case Fan, 2-Pack
Corsair AF Series AF140 LED (2018) CO-9050089-WW 140mm Red LED Case Fan, 2-Pack

Pros: 140mm size gets more air in and/or out with less rpm and usually less noise. Two pack so you save some money in packaging. Nice red color (if that's your color) Pulls less power than a USB plug

Cons: A little on the expensive side.

Overall Review: These fans look nice, not just the color but the full design complements the cooling. Overall, I'm happy with the product. The Corsair name gives some confidence in a well made product. If it's in your budget and color scheme, grab one and you won't be disappointed. Not sure if it's just the 140mm size, but these move a lot more air and are considerably quieter than my Coolermaster 120s.

Great air cooling!

Cooler Master MA620P Twin Tower RGB CPU Air Cooler, 6 CDC Heatpipes, Dual 120mm RGB MasterFan
Cooler Master MA620P Twin Tower RGB CPU Air Cooler, 6 CDC Heatpipes, Dual 120mm RGB MasterFan

Pros: This thing cools! The best compliment I can provide is that this is built upon the H212, but improves upon it exponentially! It has 45% more direct contact with the cpu and 6 heat pipes (3 per hs). It says based on the h212 but DOUBLE the heat dissipation! The included rgb setup means you do not need a dedicated rgb controller on your motherboard. The silent cooling mode is awesome! It truly has everything you could need... -rgb controller w/molex extension+power (basically uses a molex connection but gives you a spare so there is no net loss of molex connections) -4 pin to fan 4pin splitter -All hardware fm1 to am4 and lga775 to 2066 and extensions/spacers -thermal paste (well...master gel pro)

Cons: It's massive, so it may not work for everyone... The size is... 164.5 h x 121.8 w x 136.1 deep (6.5" x 4.8" x 5.4")

Overall Review: Overall this thing is a beast. Another review said it's not as good as water cooling. I'm not sure how they are determining that...I've got better temps with this air cooler than two out of 3 of my integrated water coolers (a corsair and a CM). As for sizing, it's really a smaller overall unit than my water coolers (if you add in the radiators). In any case, it's not for the new and novice only...this cooler is great for all levels of PC builders. I've built over 300 machines and I still personally prefer air over water, especially when you can get this level of performance per dollar and inherently less risk to your machine. It comes with a two year warranty, which is more than enough to determine any defects. Buy with confidence, as long as it fits it doesn't get much better than this cooler! Bobby