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Michael A.

Michael A.

Joined on 12/29/07

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 36
Most Favorable Review

An Excellent Display

ASUS 28" 60 Hz TN UHD 10-bit Color Monitor HDMI/MHL, DisplayPort PB287Q
ASUS 28" 60 Hz TN UHD 10-bit Color Monitor HDMI/MHL, DisplayPort PB287Q

Pros: This is a rather large monitor. While TN based monitors are a bit outdated this one does not disappoint. It seems a little on the dark side (as in it seems as if it isn't bright enough) but its quite easy on the eyes after using it for a while. Cranking that resolution up to the max is amazing, but know that you'll likely need a magnifying glass to read the text on the screen unless you have great vision. I, myself, had to increase the ui and text size of windows 8.1 just to read stuff without straining. This monitor shines in gaming. With most PC's not capable of handling 4k gaming you can easily play games at 1440p on this monitor and still be very happy. I tested my rig at 4k with a decent 30fps and it was amazing. Things looked very crisp and clear, almost real.

Cons: The menu buttons on the rear of this monitor is its huge downfall. They are pretty difficult to use. I would much rather have something on the front. As was mentioned in several reviews around the web, the colors on this monitor may seem weird for a couple days but you wont notice them after some use. The reds threw me off a little for a bit.

Overall Review: With this being a budget monitor this thing has top of the line features like height adjust, tilt, and rotate so naturally I got giddy. I then saw the price, even better. Dollar for dollar this monitor is worth the price paid. One thing to remember, if you want 60Hz you need a DP 1.2 cable and have to turn on the 60Hz feature in the menus of the monitor.

Most Critical Review

Fast but...

G.SKILL 2.5" 64GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) FM-25S2S-64GB
G.SKILL 2.5" 64GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) FM-25S2S-64GB

Pros: This booger is really really fast, and I love it. It's really small, ideal for laptops that use SATA.

Cons: SSDs are still very unstable. I have been experiencing this instability a lot over the last few months. I have done tons of different types of HDD tests and scan disks to find some sort of resolve for this issue. This type of drive is not suitable for putting an OS on. This type of drive will just vanish at a moments notice and the only fix for an undetermined amount of time is to power cycle the computer. That's right this thing will vanish, no C drive there until you reboot and it could fix it for a day or 20 mins, maybe a week. I am having to go back to a real HDD because of this issue.

Overall Review: All in all, this is a great drive but not suitable for the use with any OS. It has a mini USB port on it and makes for a great external drive or a backup hot-swap drive.

Perfect Keyboard

Corsair Certified K70 Vengeance Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, Cherry MX Red, RGB LED Backlit (CH-9000068-NA)
Corsair Certified K70 Vengeance Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, Cherry MX Red, RGB LED Backlit (CH-9000068-NA)

Pros: Great value for a high end product.

Cons: None so far.

Overall Review: I've had its predecessor, the none RBG K70. It's the best keyboard I've ever had. My last K70 lasted 2-3 years... something like that. I fully anticipate this one to last as long or longer. Premium product for mid-range price, you can't shake a stick at that.

A rather good GPU

SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 290X 8GB GDDR5 PCI-E Graphics Card 100361-8GVXSR
SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 290X 8GB GDDR5 PCI-E Graphics Card 100361-8GVXSR

Pros: It can play anything you throw at it. With 4k gaming being the next big thing this card is a step in the right direction. I've tested games at 4k resolutions and surprisingly on high or ultra settings I was getting 30 frames per second. I figure this is due to the metric ton of data being pushed through one card and getting bottle necked. I will be getting a second to run in cross-fire. I have a mobo that isn't PCI-e 3.0 so I'm sort of throttled but it still plays new games at 1440p on ultra settings at 60fps or better only dropping to maybe 59 under a huge load.

Cons: None, this is an impressive card.

Overall Review: This thing is huge, really really huge. It is longer than your typical card. So be aware of that. I have a full-size tower and it has very little room. After over a month of using it and putting it through it's paces having one of these beasts isn't enough for 4k gaming so if you plan on doing 4k gaming get a second if you can. As was pointed out in a question I had asked in the Q&A section, if wanting a second one of these you might want a PSU with a minimum of 1300w.

Great little product

BACTRACK BT-P3 Trace Professional Breathalyzer
BACTRACK BT-P3 Trace Professional Breathalyzer

Pros: This is the perfect companion if you want to be responsible when going to parties or friends houses when you know you are going to drink. I use it all the time and keep it in my car so that I know without a doubt I'm safe to drive.

Cons: None.

Perfect

GIGABYTE GV-N780GHZ-3GD G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 780 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Video Card
GIGABYTE GV-N780GHZ-3GD G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 780 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Video Card

Pros: This thing is pretty quiet and runs every game I have at ultra settings, even watch dogs. I only bought one. I have nothing but good things to say about this. It's powerful and can run anything.

Cons: None