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Tony G.

Tony G.

Joined on 04/29/09

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 10
Most Favorable Review

Great case for a great price

HEC 6C28BB8S Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
HEC 6C28BB8S Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: -Cheap -Strongly built -Nice looking -Plenty of space for an average gaming machine

Cons: -Some sharp edges inside de case; be careful

Overall Review: I found out that the side vent below the CPU duct was not made for putting a fan. I still managed to get a 80 mm there, but only 2 screws are holding it, still sturdy enough. I would recommend this case for people looking for a cheap, yet good quality case. I am a gamer, and this case is perfect for my needs. Very good airflow. Get this!

Most Critical Review

Great board overall. Mail-in rebates, not so much.

ASRock B450M PRO4 AM4 AMD Promontory B450 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
ASRock B450M PRO4 AM4 AMD Promontory B450 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: I own the AB350 PRO4 version as well. Looks identical in look and features to the older model in a Micro ATX format, with a newer chipset. Solid motherboard and I've always been a fan of ASRock products

Cons: ASRock should stop with the mail-in rebates and Newegg should offer a discount directly at checkout. It's too much hassle and most people don't bother with it. I would have given this motherboard a 5 star review if the discount was applied at checkout instead. Not worth the trouble and it really makes the board look cheaper than it actually is. The fact is, it's just not worth the trouble, postage fee, time, etc.

Overall Review: I would recommend this motherboard for anyone looking for a budget yet solid motherboard.

Great value and solid PSU!

Corsair Certified RMx Series RM550x 550W 80 Plus Gold Full Modular Power Supply (CP-9020090-NA/RF)
Corsair Certified RMx Series RM550x 550W 80 Plus Gold Full Modular Power Supply (CP-9020090-NA/RF)

Pros: -Modular -Reputable brand -Reliable

Cons: -None that I can think of. Pretty solid PSU so far.

Overall Review: -Great value. I have had issues with a refurbished PSU from another brand in the past. I trust Corsair when it comes to quality. I was able to get it for about half the price of a new one. I definitely recommend it!

Runs cool and very affordable to get into the AM4 platform.

AMD A8-9600 Bristol Ridge Quad-Core 3.1 GHz Socket AM4 65W AD9600AGABBOX Desktop Processor Radeon R7
AMD A8-9600 Bristol Ridge Quad-Core 3.1 GHz Socket AM4 65W AD9600AGABBOX Desktop Processor Radeon R7

Pros: -Runs very cool, even under load. Under 45 degrees, even under full load. -APU, which means you get some graphics performance for gaming right out of the box.

Cons: -Not much cache, which would help if you want to use this CPU for some basic mining.

Overall Review: -At this price point, the low cache is to be expected. The 4 cores makes up for it. -Does not seem to support XMP. My RAM can only run at 2400MHz when XMP is activated, so be aware of that. You want the faster 2400MHz RAM that does not require XMP to be activated. -Make sure you get your RAM running in dual channel mode to get the most performance out of your integrated graphics.

Great value (if you bought it early 2017 or before)

XFX Radeon RX 470 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Single Fan Edition

2048 Stream Processors

1226 MHz Core Clock

4GB 256-Bit GDDR5

6600 MHz Effective Memory Clock

PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card RX-470P4SFD5
XFX Radeon RX 470 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Single Fan Edition 2048 Stream Processors 1226 MHz Core Clock 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 6600 MHz Effective Memory Clock PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card RX-470P4SFD5

Pros: -Very fast -Energy efficient (only requires a 6-pin power connector), with a max power draw of around 120 watts -Great value

Cons: -Can get quite hot on heavy load with the single fan, can be remedied by increasing the fan speed, though.

Overall Review: -Works great under Linux with the open source drivers -If you were able to get it for around 250$, it's a good deal. As of now, the prices are highly speculative and I would highly recommend that you wait until the prices go down again.

Very fast and reliable

Western Digital Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Western Digital Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: -Very fast -Reliable -Very good price

Cons: I have not run in any issues yet.

Overall Review: This product is OEM. Be sure to order a SATA cable. I didn't look first. I had to order one separately. I bought two of those. I am planning to run them in RAID 0. I will write another review later, giving my thoughts on that setup. I have always trusted Maxtor for being the most reliable hard drives I have owned. Western Digital hard drives are just as reliable. Great product. Get this! EDIT (Oct. 24, 2017) : I've been running these in RAID0 for over 8 years with no issue. Glad to see I made the right choice!

10/23/2017