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Cameron K.

Cameron K.

Joined on 08/06/08

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Reliable Performance

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10B
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10B

Pros: RAM has been running on a 24/7 basis since I purchased it in early December. It is running on the stock clock and latency, however, the RAM responds considerably well to overclocking and latency change considering that the RAM is a high density stick.

Cons: None with corsair RAM. It's their original high end business, what do you expect?

Overall Review: Great RAM, I highly reccomend getting 8GB Dimms if your board supports it. If you purchase an 8GB Dimm for your build instead of 2x4GBs it allows you more upgrade space later on. The only reason you wouldn't want higher density is if you are trying to crazy overclock your CPU. CPUs don't overclock well with high density RAM.

Most Critical Review

Was great until it ruined 3 MOBO's

RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W 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-530SS 530W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply, New Version with Build-in LED Fan On/Off Switch

Pros: Overall the performance was great! The light on it is nice and having a nice modular system for cabling was a great touch. The small size is also a great addition! Some cases, such as Silverstone cases, you are limited in the amount of space you have behind the power supply. You have to do two things, one get a modular power supply and two get a small one that will fit with all the wires. I was able to power all of my components with this even with a Core i7 and a decent graphics card. I was impressed. Also the blue light went well with the ice theme of my mod.

Cons: I am a professional Modder and I rely on great power supplies that will last for my customers. I had heard some people tell me about how long their Raidmax power supplies lasted them, even at their low cost. I thought I would try. I was very pleased, until one day I started having issues. I diagnosed it as the MOBO and sent it in. It was confirmed by ASUS and I got a new one. Then this PSU went out. I didn't have time to RMA it for my customer, so I went and about another one. Everything was great for a while, then the customer had problems, and I found that the power supply had caused serious fluctuations that took out both the MOBO and the graphics card. I then thought I would test my PSU theory and RMA my board again. Sure enough the new one just arrived and it's already dead. May have been a STUPID move on my part, but at the time, I didn't have a choice. So folks, think carefully when you buy things that are cheap, they are cheap because of the low-grade components they contain.

Overall Review: I'm probably going to get some response below from the manufacturer telling me to RMA the product. There is no way I would accept another one of these cheap PSU's. Maybe Raidmax's higher end PSU's are great. However, I do know that two of their PSU's worked together to take out three GREAT ASUS motherboards. I don't even know what I will tell ASUS. I will NOT be satisfied in this situation unless Raidmax is willing to refund me for their product so I can go get something else. Which I am willing to bet they will not do. YOU decide for yourself, you may have a great experience, or you may not. All I know is that I am going to go with high grade, high performance PSU's from now on, so that I can avoid problems like these. PS I believe that the tech rating of 5 should only be reserved for people who went to college to be hardware techs. 4 for businesses and/or long time enthusiasts. 3 for beginner enthusiasts, and so on. Also 1 for tweens who don't know what they're talking about.

10/28/2011

Great Board

GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XN-WIFI FM2+ / FM2 AMD A88X (Bolton D4) USB 3.0 HDMI Mini ITX AMD Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XN-WIFI FM2+ / FM2 AMD A88X (Bolton D4) USB 3.0 HDMI Mini ITX AMD Motherboard

Pros: I purchased this board with Corsair SSD, AMD Gamer RAM, and the A10 7700K. The performance is incredible and I have no issues whatsoever. My biggest need for this board was for it to be low power with a lot of performance. Surprisingly, the whole set up idles at 38~44 watts. While using dual monitors, watching a movie and web browsing it sits around 74~79 watts. While Playing Battlefield 4: 136~145 watts. Encoding H.264: 152~158 watts. The component placement on this board is engineered really well. The bottom side of the board is engineered so that it can use a re-inforcement bracket, meaning it can and does mount any water cooling bracket easily. Rare for a mini-ITX, and the only FM2+ with support as of this posting. If you are looking for a reliable, low power, performance board, check it this out!

Cons: The only thing I don't like about this board is also the component placement on the topside of the board. Most boards are set so that the power switch, Power led, HDD LED, are in the bottom right corner of the board. In order so that all of the components could fit nicely, they had to put the SATA ports and I/O ports at the top left. Extremely inconvenient if you are using a small ITX case and the I/O cables are only long enough to reach the bottom right of the board, aka Lian Li cases.

Overall Review: While the component placement might not be ideal, the APU placement allows for a wide array of coolers. The placement of the RAM allows for better cable management and fan placement on some cases. Not to mention it puts the RAM in direct flow of most fans, allowing the RAM to be cooled better.

Corsair all the way

Corsair Force Series GT 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CSSD-F120GBGT-BK
Corsair Force Series GT 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CSSD-F120GBGT-BK

Pros: This SSD has been running 24/7 since early December as a Minecraft Server, Gaming server, and File Server. The SSD handles perfectly and TRIM is wonerful. SSD's are in their prime time no matter what anyone else says, you just have to get the right SSD. This is my 5th SSD of this model and all have been running with no hiccup.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Several of my buds have purchased budget SSDs only to have them fail on them. You get what you pay for with SSDs. Corsair uses their own selected chips like they do with their high quality RAM for their SSDs. They don't mess around and they make great product. You can be reassured that even if you did have a problem, you would get their world class support and the issue would be resolved. Buy Corsair.

Impressive performance

CORSAIR CX Series CX430 430W 80 PLUS BRONZE Active PFC ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply
CORSAIR CX Series CX430 430W 80 PLUS BRONZE Active PFC ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply

Pros: Impressive PSU! This "Cheap" PSU has been running 24/7 since early December. No hiccups, no shut downs, easy set up and a great amount of wattage. I would go no less than Corsair for a PSU.

Cons: Not modular, but I have no room to ccomplain, because that's what I ordered. There is a modular version of this PSU now available.

Overall Review: I'd probably reccomend the Modular version of this, just for cable air flow reasons, but if you don't need it, than this is a great PSU.

Great Price for what you get

Fractal Design Core 1000 Micro ATX Computer Case w/  1 x 120mm fan
Fractal Design Core 1000 Micro ATX Computer Case w/ 1 x 120mm fan

Pros: This is probably the best case you can get for around 40 bucks. All black finish, clean design, black screws, Lots of hard drive spaces, as well as the expected amount of ODD bays, unlike some cases with only one. Side fan port for graphics card is especially welcome.

Cons: Top Mounted PSU. I detest top mounted PSU's unless you have a modular PSU, but even then this case doesn't have many cable routing options. You're just going to have to live with cables. You're case is 40 bucks, you can probably live with that.

Overall Review: Hopefully if you are reading this you have realized that this is a MicroATX case, and that's what you need. If not, well... This is a MicroATX case and so you will need a MicroATX motherboard. Case is small and quiet pleasent, I would definitally reccomend this as a first case or for a cheap build.