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Kevin D.

Kevin D.

Joined on 08/07/05

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Most Favorable Review

Fast, Light and Inexpensive

Seagate BarraCuda ST1000DM010 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive Bare Drive
Seagate BarraCuda ST1000DM010 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: This drive is light, quiet and thin. The price is really good considering the size and speed of the drive. It has a large 64MB Cache which greatly speeds up sequential read and write operations. It supports the SATA 6.0Gb/s interface. This drive will not overheat your case! The hottest it ever got during benchmarking and formatting was just under 95F (that would be a cool day where I live in Phoenix!). The drive, in my testing, was whisper quiet. There is nothing worse than a loud hard drive, clunking and rattling when you are trying to work.

Cons: None so far.

Overall Review: The drive was recognized right away, and took less than 1 hour for a full format. I always do a full format (as opposed to a quick format) on every drive before putting it into production. This is a good way to weed out weak drives before they can cause problems. The drive was very quick in benchmark tests (Crystal Disk Mark): Sequential read speed was 212.9 MB/s Sequential write speed was between 203 and 210 MB/s As fast as this drive is, random read/write speeds were, of course, predictably slow: Random read speed was between .670 and .733 MB/s Random write speed was between 1.341 and 1.453 MB/s With all the advancements we have seen in hard drive density, it’s amazing how little random read and write speeds have improved. Of course, SSDs don’t have the same physical limitations. This is just my personal opinion, but I really doubt that so-called “performance” drives are worth the money in most cases. With the lightning fast speeds this drive is getting (at this price point), I think it is really in the sweet spot of price and performance. With 64 MB cache and rotation speed of 7200 RPM, you get good value for the money.

Most Critical Review

Useless

PNY 1GB DDR3 Low Profile Graphics Card RVCG841024D3SXXB
PNY 1GB DDR3 Low Profile Graphics Card RVCG841024D3SXXB

Pros: None

Cons: Unlike what is pictured, this card only has one output connector, a DVI. It has no HDMI or VGA connectors as shown.

Overall Review: I bought these for basic dual monitor support, therefore having a single output renders them completely useless. Now I am on the hook for the cost of return shipping.

Reliability and stability but average speed.

Crucial Pro Overclocking 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 6400 (PC5 51200) Desktop Memory Model CP2K16G64C38U5B
Crucial Pro Overclocking 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 6400 (PC5 51200) Desktop Memory Model CP2K16G64C38U5B

Pros: DDR6 likely wont be available until 2026, so this is as good as it gets for now. Of course, fast memory increases the overall speed of your computer, assuming there are no bottlenecks with slow components. I installed this memory in a new build and it has been very stable and fast with benchmarked (AIDA64) speeds for reading and writing were between 57,000 and 70,000 MBPS. That is plenty fast, and these sticks use just a little over 1 volt, decreasing not just power usage, but heat creation. These memory sticks come with a lifetime warranty, which is a nice bonus. I have rarely had bad memory sticks, but I have had a few over the years. Crucial has priced these modules very competitively and they are therefore a good value for the money.

Cons: There are no flashy LEDs on these memory sticks. I must admit the pretty colors can be somewhat cool and mesmerizing, but honestly the computer usually resides under your desk and is barely visible. I build a lot of systems for people who use their computers extensively for photoshop in a professional setting and dont want their computer to look like a Christmas tree, so for those people, these are perfect.

Overall Review: With computers I build for other people, I never overclock any computer components; not CPU, not GPU and not RAM. Why do something that will create more heat and possible instability and even increase the chance of damaging these components? I just dont think it is worth it. I did overclock these sticks to get the speeds I posted above which are impressive, but for me stability will always take precedence over raw speed, and I have confidence in Crucial to make stable and reliable memory. The thing is, if memory is designed to be overclocked, then it should be very stable at stock speeds.

Gen 4 NVMe Optimized for Speed

Crucial T500 2TB Gen4 NVMe M.2 Internal Gaming SSD, Up to 7400MB/s, laptop & desktop Compatible + 1mo Adobe CC All Apps - CT2000T500SSD8
Crucial T500 2TB Gen4 NVMe M.2 Internal Gaming SSD, Up to 7400MB/s, laptop & desktop Compatible + 1mo Adobe CC All Apps - CT2000T500SSD8

Pros: Its a 4th generation NVMe with tons of storage space and lightning fast speeds. It has a large high speed DRAM cache which helps boost the speed. Ive had good luck overall with the Crucial brand so I expect this to last. 2 TB!! You can never be too rich or too thin, and you can never have too much storage! This SSD is compatible with PS5. Gen 4 is a huge speed upgrade over Gen 3, almost doubling the speed. I tested this SSD on a motherboard that only supports Gen 3, and it worked fine.

Cons: It does seem to run a teensy bit hot at times, but that is pretty normal for this type of super-fast SSD. I always have a ton of airflow in any computer I build, so I dont need a heatsink on the SSD. Not really a con per se, but if you put this in a Gen 3 motherboard, its pretty much a waste of money because you wont get the higher speeds its capable of.

Overall Review: In benchmark testing, I obtained sequential read/write speeds of just over 6,000 MBs per second (thats 6 GB of data in one single second!). I believe that the slower speed was just a result of limitations with the motherboard. You will likely top 7,000 MB/s if you have a good quality newer motherboard. Benchmarking with a Gen 3 motherboard produced read/write speeds of around 3,500 MB/s, which is still lightning fast. If you go to the crucial website, you will be able to download a stripped-down version of Acronis that will only work with crucial drives, but is good enough to clone your existing drive if you are upgrading. Honestly, I do find Acronis to be more fault tolerant that other cloning software which is important if your old hard drive has some bad clusters/sectors.

Don't Let the Name Fool You.

Solidigm P44 Pro 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 NVMe Gen4 Gaming TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SSDPFKKW020X7X1
Solidigm P44 Pro 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 NVMe Gen4 Gaming TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SSDPFKKW020X7X1

Pros: PCI Express 4.0 NVMe technology -Super fast read speed about 7200 MBps, write speeds just over 6500 MBps. -5 Year warranty -Reasonable price Solidigms origins stem from an October 2020 agreement by SK hynix to acquire Intel's NAND and SSD business for $9B. This is not a startup company, its tried and true technology and they have deep pockets for R&D.

Cons: Heat wasnt a problem, at least for me. I could not find cloning software anywhere on the Solidigm website. Most other brands give you free cloning software that works with their brand. This is actually a pretty big deal for me, because most of the time, I am replacing an existing disk that is either slow or failing, and I therefore need to clone the old drive. A minor issue is that it doesnt come with a screw to hold it on place. I always seem to be short of those tiny screws. Older hard drive almost always came with mounting screws. The other thing is your computer will boot so fast that you wont have time to grab a coffee and a donut while you wait.

Overall Review: Hard drives have come a long way since the old days. I remember thinking that 50 Mps was pretty good, now that seems like dinosaur technology. They just keep getting faster and faster, while getting smaller and smaller! I avoided SSDs when they first came out due to reliability problems, but these new drives are more reliable than magnetic platter disks and more than 100 times faster. Not only that but they are much more fault tolerant. Upgrading to an SSD is just as important as faster processors, if not more. Nothing worse than hearing an old drive crunch away while you wait and the CPU sits idle.

Great Power Supply!

CORSAIR HX1000i CP-9020214-NA 1000 W ATX12V 2.4 / EPS12V 2.92 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Full Modular Power Supply
CORSAIR HX1000i CP-9020214-NA 1000 W ATX12V 2.4 / EPS12V 2.92 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Full Modular Power Supply

Pros: Worked perfectly out of the box. This unit has a heavy, quality feel to it. 1000 watts is more than enough to run most gaming rigs. I installed it into a large case, and the cables had more than enough length to get the job done, and because of the modular nature of the power supply, you could avoid having unnecessary cables making a mess of things. Obviously, that helped with cable management which for some people is really important. The modular cable plugs fit very well and clicked crisply into place The fact that it has a 10-year limited warranty is great, and if you get it from newegg, you will always have a receipt! Its priced very attractively for a 80 Plus Platinum Certified power supply. power supply. Lastly, the fan noise is very reasonable and was drowned out by all the case fans I had installed. As mentioned in other reviews, it has the ability to run without a fan under low-load. Great if you are just doing office tasks.

Cons: At this point it would really be impossible to name any major cons. It works as It is supposed to. Only time will tell if the power supply is reliable over the long haul. Ive had good luck with Corsair power supplies, so I dont anticipate anything different with this one. There is minor electrical smell with this unit, but Im sure that will dissipate over time once it is broken in.

Overall Review: As you can see by the pros, this is a solid choice for a gaming rig, or any other high end computer. Ive been in IT for longer than I want to admit, and corsair PSs are known to be extremely reliable and well made, and if you do have any problems, their support is good in my experience.

10/29/2022
seller reviews
  • 2

Good Seller

Items arrived quickly and in good condition. Thank you?

On-time
Delivery
Product
Accuracy
Customer Service
Satisfactory

Good Product - Slow Shipping

The price was good, and the product arrived in pristine condition, but I wonder if they ship by mule train? It took 8 days to go from California to Arizona (5 hours by car). I guess I should have paid a few bucks more to upgrade the shipping.

On-time
Delivery
Product
Accuracy
Customer Service
Satisfactory