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Bryan K.

Bryan K.

Joined on 06/16/05

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Most Favorable Review

Everything you need, nothing you don't

NETGEAR 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch, Desktop (GS316)
NETGEAR 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch, Desktop (GS316)

Pros: At first unboxing, the switch is much heavier than its size would imply. This is thanks to the all metal construction that makes up every external surface. It is definitely not an item that "feels" cheap by any stretch, and it provides confidence that it's made to last and be reliable. In the last two months of testing, I can attest that its look and feel match up to its performance. The GS316 is designed to be a simple to use, plug and play style device for people who need the available ports but don't want to or don't know how to configure a smart switch. To start I just powered down my loud and power hungry 48 port (yes, it is overkill) monster and put the Netgear in its place. After two years of hearing fan noise, I immediately thought something was wrong on power up because I didn't hear anything, just LED lights doing their dance. Ah, yes, the fanless design! I had forgotten how much I missed the silence. I assume the metal enclosure acts as a heat sink if it ever gets that toasty, but I LOVE not hearing anything coming from my closet now. So 10 minutes swapping hardware and cables and I confirmed that everything on the network was back up and running. Plug and play is right. Because most switching (and routing) equipment available to consumers run on the same handful of chips, there isn't much of a performance difference from one to the other. It handled all devices and traffic without issues or hiccups which is to be expected. Like I mentioned at the top, I've been using the switch for about 2 months with heavy traffic and I have had zero complaints.

Cons: The only downside, and it is minor, is the wall wart power supply and wall mounting kit. The power supply feels hollow and cheap. I'm sure the build quality is fine and they use less material for cost savings, but after feeling how awesomely made the actual switch it doesn't seem to be up to par. Again, it's very minor and you're not going to be interacting with it once it's plugged into the wall or probably even looking at it but still, I was a bit disappointed. The included hardware for wall mounting is a solid plus! Except for the screws. I loathe products that come with cheap metal screws and unfortunately this is one of them. And sure enough, I started stripping the head on one when mounting in my network closet. It wasn't a big deal to go in the garage and find a replacement but if you're going to include the hardware, make sure it's up to the job at hand, otherwise you just waste metal.

Overall Review: Overall I am very happy with this switch. It's aimed directly at the home user who loves hardwired over wireless or the small/home office and it nails it. If you need the extra ethernet ports and you just need it to work without configuration, I think you'll be very happy too.

Most Critical Review

Had some issues

TP-LINK TL-WN721N Wireless N150 USB Adapter, 150Mbps, w/WPS Button, IEEE 802.11b/g/n, WEP, WPA/WPA2
TP-LINK TL-WN721N Wireless N150 USB Adapter, 150Mbps, w/WPS Button, IEEE 802.11b/g/n, WEP, WPA/WPA2

Pros: Installed easy enough Packaging was nice and the install CD had the appropriate drivers.

Cons: Had HUGE issues with this adapter and my Microsoft wireless 5000 mouse and keyboard. Every 10-15 seconds my mouse pointer would lag or stutter across the screen. I check hardware monitors and it should almost 0 CPU usage so I know my processor (FX 8120) was being bogged down. I tried for 2 days searching online for a fix or known issue and came up with nothing. I tried multiple drivers and configurations and even used an extension cable to see if maybe they were getting RF interference from one another. The only thing that ended up working was unplugging this adapter. Once I did that everything worked fine but then I of course had no connection. I'm still giving this 3 eggs because it might have been some WEIRD thing going on with my new build but for the life of me I could not figure out what it was. Someone else might have better luck but if you end up like me the only thing to do is take it back.

Overall Review: I ended up buying an ASUS PCI-E 1x wireless card and once installed it worked great with almost 0 issues. If you have a similar issue like mine I would recommend going that route. It cost 2 as much but it cured my wireless headache and I don't mind paying the difference.

Bang for the buck champ!

Crucial P3 2TB PCIe 3.0 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD, up to 3500MB/s - CT2000P3SSD8
Crucial P3 2TB PCIe 3.0 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD, up to 3500MB/s - CT2000P3SSD8

Pros: I was able to get speeds as advertised in various synthetic benchmarks, although real world performance will certainly depending on workload. I will say, I could not tell the difference when loading apps or games from this drive versus the other (primary) m.2 drive in my system. When transferring large video files from one drive to another in local testing, I was getting around 2GB/s consistently. The components that make up this drive and the controller are all well known and tested parts that will live up their read/write cycles. Free Acronis software download is included if you are cloning from another drive that will remain connected to the system (at least during the cloning). Others have listed as not having a heatsink as a con. At this price point I would not consider that a con. Some motherboards (including mine) have integrated heatsinks that cover these types of drives once installed. Regardless, it is unlikely you will find the drive beginning to throttle due to temperature in real world usage. If you are in data science/ML or know that you will be hammering drives and need it to be reliable, it would make sense to add an aftermarket heatsink. The instructions listed at https://www.crucial.com/support/ssd/ssd-install/ssd-install-steps-m2/part-1-prepare are a great addition if you have not installed or replaced a drive like this before.

Overall Review: This is an excellent mid-range drive where you need the storage space and want it to be fast, but it doesn't have to be the bleeding edge. I would absolutely recommend this drive for creators working with large photographs or video files, as well as gamers looking to put their Steam library in one location. If you are in the market to replace the older 2.5 inch style SSDs and your system is compatible, this is a no-brainer.

Where's the extreme?

Corsair Hydro Series H100x Extreme Performance Liquid / Water 240mm CPU Cooler (CW-9060040-WW) LGA 1700 Compatible
Corsair Hydro Series H100x Extreme Performance Liquid / Water 240mm CPU Cooler (CW-9060040-WW) LGA 1700 Compatible

Pros: As always from Corsair, fantastic packing and materials. Everything is in order, the instructions are easy to follow, and it "feels" like quality. If I could sum this cooler up, it's completely functional. It works like any other AIO cooler on the market from similar brands. I say that because I tested it against an older H** model, as well as a middle of the road unit from Deep Cool. I saw no appreciable difference between the three models on my overclocked CPU. I tried it on the back of the case, top of the case, push/pull, push/push, etc. The only time I could get meaningful deltas was to strap two fans to BOTH sides. While it worked, it's a realistic configuration to expect someone to live with outside of experimenting.

Cons: I'm not sure if my unit was defective, or they just put extreme in the name for marketing purposes. As far as I could tell, you'd be better off buying a basic AIO from any reputable brand and get similar performance. Again, the unit is adequate. I had no overheating or weird noises, just underwhelming performance compared to how this is being positioned.

Overall Review: Maybe I needed to get the RGB model for lower temps?

Bright, quiet fans

Corsair AF Series AF120 LED (2018) CO-9050082-WW White LED Case Fan, 3-Pack.
Corsair AF Series AF120 LED (2018) CO-9050082-WW White LED Case Fan, 3-Pack.

Pros: Definitely a great set of fans, especially if you have a window on the side to view the internal components. I happen to have a black and white themed build, and these were the perfect accent to showcase the final product. The blades spin nice and freely with no perceptible noise and my tower sits on my desk just a few feet away. The light is bright, but diffused enough that it won't blind you (looking at you power and HDD activity case LEDs). I have no doubt these will last years like all my other Corsair fans and perform in top form the entire time. - Great build quality - Quiet - Bright, diffused LED's - Nice packaging

Cons: - No PWM control, you'll have to use a fan controller if you need/want to control the speed - No rubber or vibration absorption material in the mounting holes

Beautiful entry in the lineup

Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-06 CC-9011145-WW White Steel / Plastic / Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-06 CC-9011145-WW White Steel / Plastic / Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: This case looks way more expensive than it is with it's flowing lines, excellent design layout, and glass panel. I appreciate that the design team actually made logical placements for everything without sacrificing aesthetics. There is plenty of cable management to keep unsightly wires out of the large windows view. The added PSU shroud is a nice touch that is appreciated. The fact that you could have one or two M.2 drives (depending on the board), 4 2.5" SSD's, and 2 3.5" drives all in one case in a way that doesn't clutter up the insides is awesome. I certainly hope Corsair keeps up with this design language going forward, I'm a huge fan.

Cons: I think if they are going to offer a light on the front, it should just be the RGB version. No sense to me in offering a white only LED and an RGB LED for the same case in the same paint finish. Not an outright "con" but the top magnetic filter has rather large holes. I haven't had a completed build running long enough to determine how effective it is in keeping dust out, but visually it doesn't look promising compared to others.

Overall Review: Some reviews have mentioned the lack of a 5.25 or ONLY two 3.5 bays. Optical media has all but been dead for years now except for blu-ray. And with storage capacities how they are, one or two large mechanical HDD's are all you need. On board m.2 and SSD's are what is selling so it makes sense to design for it, like they did here.

10/11/2018