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Steve D.

Steve D.

Joined on 05/31/07

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 40
Most Favorable Review

Great Power Supply!

Thermaltake Toughpower Grand TPG-1200M 1200 W ATX 12V v2.3 & EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand TPG-1200M 1200 W ATX 12V v2.3 & EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: Although the packaging was a little elegant for a power supply, it really shows off the build quality of this unit. Its beefy! It replaced a blown 730 watt that struggled with my setup and its had no issues so far, even with a slightly blocked fan! Its got plenty of room to expand (8 PCIe 8 pin, 2 8 pin CPU) and I could not be happier with a power supply. I bought this from M****center for less than Newegg.

Cons: The only cons I can think of is the 24 pin connector has beefier wires then the peripheral connectors and I thought they should all be the same. The red LED's don't go with my case lighting either, but neither do my CPU fan lights. Nothing performance-wise wrong with this PSU

Overall Review: I'm not sure if the fan still running after shut down is actually helping anything, but it is kind of an interesting feature.

Most Critical Review

Good for 2 years

RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS 730W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply, New Version with Build-in LED Fan On/Off Switch
RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS 730W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply, New Version with Build-in LED Fan On/Off Switch

Pros: This power supply took almost everything I threw at it from when I first purchased it. Not a bad power supply for 1 high end video card computers. Also the modular design was effective in easy cable management

Cons: This replaced a deceased (smoking) raidmax 700 watt and now has decided to fry itself. It was on my desk when there was a loud pop and it was dead. the fan doesn't spin freely anymore and needless to say it is non-functional. I have an antec 900 case with plenty of airflow so case temps are not the issue. I do realize that it had been 2 years, but raidmax has been the only power supply company I have bought from where the supplies consistently fried after 2 years. I have an OCZ 500 watt in a video rendering server running full load straight for essentially 5 months now that has been used for over 6 years.

Overall Review: This is a great power supply for the quick upgraders! but if you are looking for great longevity from a PSU, i would advise looking elsewhere.

Pretty colors, Great construction, Neat little OLED

ASUS ROG ZENITH EXTREME sTR4 AMD X399 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 Extended ATX AMD Motherboard
ASUS ROG ZENITH EXTREME sTR4 AMD X399 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 Extended ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: First SP3/TR4 motherboard. Solid construction and tons of features. Software works well and BIOS is easy to navigate for reasonably experienced builders. RGB I still feel is a little tacky, so I just leave it on white light, but it works well! OLED Display is a neat idea to help watch cpu temps, but its hidden under a rad in my case. Active VRM cooling is great and the fan stays pretty quiet most of the time. It's E-ATX so its tight in a mid-tower!

Cons: I had the socket issue, and I'll leave it at that. Knocked off one star for it. I got it eventually after a couple re-seats. It's tight in a mid-tower. Some initial RAM compatibility issues but resolved with a BIOS update.

11/22/2017

Powerhouse, Relatively easy to overclock

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1st Gen - Ryzen Threadripper 1950X Whitehaven (Zen) 16-Core / 32 Threads 3.4 GHz Socket sTR4 180W YD195XA8AEWOF Desktop Processor
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1st Gen - Ryzen Threadripper 1950X Whitehaven (Zen) 16-Core / 32 Threads 3.4 GHz Socket sTR4 180W YD195XA8AEWOF Desktop Processor

Pros: Rockets through multi-threaded applications like they're not even there. Even though it's marketed as a HEDT processor, it seems fine with games so far. Used for mining when I'm not using it and sits pretty happy at 68C at 4.1 Ghz with no voltage changes and an h100i. Guess I got lucky? Better deal than the team I used to bat for, for PCI-E bandwidth.

Cons: Installation was a little tricky, have to blame the motherboard choice on that one though... Power hungry but not terrible. Cooler choice is poor right now but the included asetek bracket and a decent water cooler should be plenty for stock speeds. Memory compatibility is odd, read your motherboard's specific list and make sure it works!

11/22/2017

Amazing

EVGA 012-P3-1571-KR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
EVGA 012-P3-1571-KR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Pros: bought it locally for cheaper and first of all it blows my old 9800 GTX+ out of the water as well as fitting in my case better (antec 900) Performs flawlessly with basically all games as well as beating my friends gamer with his 6 core intel and a 460 to a pulp.

Cons: For whatever reason the first 2 days I owned it, the card was stuck on 100% fan speed but reinstalled the drivers completely and put arctic silver on it and it solved the problem. Evga precision helped out a little too

Overall Review: Overclocked it to 793 mhz totally stable (36 hour test) 2015 mhz memory speed (24 hour test) with a custom fan profile in precision. I highly recommend this card to anyone looking to beef up their system for a good price!

Great point-and-shoot to DSLR choice

Nikon D3000 Black 10.2 MP Digital SLR Camera w/ 3x 18-55mm Zoom-NIKKOR VR Lens
Nikon D3000 Black 10.2 MP Digital SLR Camera w/ 3x 18-55mm Zoom-NIKKOR VR Lens

Pros: I am a intermediate level photographer and have been forced to use point and shoot cameras before this. This camera has so many more choices on how to shoot and different custom modes, including a guide mode, which is basically a tour through the camera's features, which make taking pictures fun. The 18-55mm AF-VR DX lens which this one comes with is also very well built and lightweight.

Cons: Although this isnt really a con, there is no preview on the screen. I did know about this before i got it but it was a nice feature of point and shoot cameras. and the 3 fps continuous shoot mode seems slower for what i try to do, but, again I did know that before i got it.

Overall Review: It isnt a canon EOS 1D Mark IV, but who has 6 grand to spend on a DSLR. Great budget entry-level DSLR and i would recommend it to any intermediate level digital photographer

12/21/2009