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Mike F.

Mike F.

Joined on 05/12/03

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Great card

EVGA G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 770 DUAL SuperClocked  2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support w/ EVGA ACX Cooler Video Card 02G-P4-2776-KR
EVGA G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 770 DUAL SuperClocked 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support w/ EVGA ACX Cooler Video Card 02G-P4-2776-KR

Pros: Fast, Quiet, looks great.

Cons: None so far

Overall Review: I purchased this card in the hopes of breathing some new life into my 2 year old gaming rig. My previous card, a Sapphire 2gb 6950, had served me well but it was time to move on. After some research, and an internal struggle to try to stay within my budget, I decided on the EVGA GTX770 2gb. My first impressions were very positive. The card just looks cool. I could care less about this, but I know that to some enthusiasts how it looks in the case is important. On that score this card does very well with it's sleek design and gold tones. It also comes with all of the adapters you may need to power it if you have a power supply without an 8 pin connector, which is a nice plus. Having had to make 90 minute round trips to a computer store in the past because I was missing a 2.99 adapter, this was appreciated. As far as performance, my 6950 ran Battlefield 4 at medium settings, but couldn't do much better. Anything higher and I would get low framerates. After installing this card I decided to just turn everything up to ultra to see how it did and I was more than a little impressed. I played for about 30 minutes and I never saw a framerate drop below the high 50's. I then tested Shogun 2 and was really blown away. My old card struggled with this game even on medium settings, but the 770 had no problems at all. Smooth gameplay without a hiccup. Another thing I really appreciate is a card that runs cool (it does) while remaining nearly silent (it does that too). I didn't notice much of a noise increase even under heavy load, and the temps remained well with comfortable limits. One other thing that really needs to be mentioned is ShadowPlay. This feature is fantastic. Being able to record high resolution video with almost zero effect on framerates and gameplay is amazing. I have always wanted to record my gaming sessions, but apps like fraps really require a very high end rig to do it right, and I was always frustrated with the video quality. With ShadowPlay it isn't an issue. I recorded a few minutes of Battlefield 4 and was actually wondering if the recorder was working since I am so used to huge framerate drops when recording. When I looked at the video I was even more amazed at the quality. I should also mention that "ShadowPlay can be configured to record continuously with a rolling buffer of customizable length, allowing the user to save the video retrospectively if something interesting has happened in their game, without having to remember to start recording beforehand." (Wikipedia) This is awesome. I have had a ton of moments in games that I wish I had recorded, and now you can capture them all. To be honest, this feature alone is almost worth the purchase price for me. To sum up, this is a fantastic card. My main concern was getting another couple of years out of my cpu/ram/board and I have no doubt that this card will allow that and then some. The added features like ShadowPlay only make it more amazing.

Best "Sweet spot" card I've ever seen. Best current 1060 to buy.

EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 SC GAMING, ACX 2.0 (Single Fan), 06G-P4-6163-KR, 6GB GDDR5, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC), Only 6.8 Inches
EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 SC GAMING, ACX 2.0 (Single Fan), 06G-P4-6163-KR, 6GB GDDR5, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC), Only 6.8 Inches

Pros: As the title says, this is the best "sweet spot" card I've seen. The previous generation card in the "sweet spot" was the GTX 970, which came in at $400 and was actually a pretty good deal. This however blows that deal out of the water. This kind of performance (any game on the planet at 1080p, ultra graphics, at a constant 60fps) is simply unbelievable to me at this price pint, which is currently $259. Add to that the size of this card, which is probably 2/3 to half the size of many current cards. I LOVE this. Makes it so easy to use in almost any build. QUIET! I can barely hear this thing running (probably due to the single fan) while playing games. In a nutshell, this is the best performing card per dollar on the market. And this particular one (EVGA 6gb) is the best value among them.

Cons: None. Works perfectly out of the box at low temps and with super quiet operation.

Great board

GIGABYTE G1.Sniper Z97 (rev. 1.x) LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE G1.Sniper Z97 (rev. 1.x) LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Very good board. Tons of overclocking options and looks really cool to boot. Installed my I7 4790k and it clocked it to 4.4 ghz right away. It putr the voltage at 1.24, which seemed a little high, so I lowered it to 1.21 and it's stable and runs a bit cooler.

Cons: zip

Amazing PSU

EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 220-G2-0750-XR 80+ GOLD 750W Fully Modular EVGA ECO Mode Includes FREE Power On Self Tester Power Supply
EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 220-G2-0750-XR 80+ GOLD 750W Fully Modular EVGA ECO Mode Includes FREE Power On Self Tester Power Supply

Pros: First of all, anyone giving this PSU less than 5 stars doesn't know much about them. For this price point you really cannot do any better. When it comes to PSU's ignore the brand name and find out the OEM, in this case it is a great manufacturer called Superflower. They making outstanding PSU's and this one is no different. The PSU is the heart of your system and skimping on it is a recipe for disaster. This PSU has a 10 year warranty and all but guarantees you years of worry free service.

Cons: You have to register to get the warranty, though it's not much of a con.

Fantastic system

Nintendo 3DS XL Handheld Gaming System Mario & Luigi Dream Team Edition Silver
Nintendo 3DS XL Handheld Gaming System Mario & Luigi Dream Team Edition Silver

Pros: Awesome system. In my mind definitely worth upgrading to from the 3DS. Great screen resolution and an awesome library of games which is only getting better. You can also play all of the ds games on it as well. Also has great battery life.

Cons: None I can think of

Overall Review: If you are on the fence as I was, I recommend just getting it. I wasn't sure how much I would use it (I'm a 40+ year old guy btw) and I find myself using it every day. I have always been a big gamer, but it's hard to find much time to play any more. this makes it easy get some game time in anywhere.

Simply the best

Crucial M4 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CT128M4SSD2
Crucial M4 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CT128M4SSD2

Pros: Simply the best SSD you can buy. For reliability, it can't be beat as has been shown over and over. Super fast (of course). My boot time after the bios splash screen is about 10 seconds now and apps load instantly. Also lowered the time it takes for BF3 maops to load to about 10 seconds, which is awesome.

Cons: None really, it's the cadillac of SSD's

Overall Review: I put off buying an SSD for a long time, my reasoning being that it wasn't worth the money for a few seconds of boot time. Boy was I wrong. Everything about my pc is faster now. When I click the Word shortcut, a blank document is open instantly. Everything is snappier and more responsive, not just shut down and boot times. Worth the money for sure in my opinion.