Brandon Whitehead's Tech Blog

Here's a gallery of unboxing images for your viewing pleasure. MSI GeForce RTX 2070 DUKE 8G OC Small back story before we get to the review. I picked up this RTX 2070 because I thought that I needed to replace a failing GTX 1080. I had sent it in for a warranty claim but the MFG was unable to reproduce the issue I was experiencing so I started pursuing new GPUs primarily looking at GTX 1070 Ti and RTX 2070 cards. I was happy with the performance that the GTX 1080 was providing so I wanted to find something relatively equivalent in performance to it. I just couldn't stomach the cost of a significant upgrade to a RTX 2080 since I wasn't planning on purchasing a GPU at this time. I decided to finally stick with RTX 2070 family of cards since 1070 Ti card prices had begun to inflate. I purchased this card understanding that I would be unable to return it for a refund due to Newegg's return policies for some computer components. This wasn't an issue for me at the ...

Just a couple of pictures of the packaging the SSD arrived in from Amazon. I guess it really is "frustration free". Crucial MX 500 2TB SSD Rating ★★★★★ (5 out of 5) Pros Capacity (2 TB of solid state storage!!) Price (Paid about $0.10/GB [$208.99] total during an Amazon flash sale on Cyber Monday) Speed (Plenty fast for a SATA based SSD) Longevity (Not one of the new quad-level cell [QLC NAND] SSDs so it should handle more write cycles) Management software (Firmware updates/extra features/etc…) Cons None Other Thoughts I've been looking at options for getting mass storage in my ITX build and I was hopeful that a good deal on a multi terabyte capacity SSD would show up around the Black Friday/Cyber Monday season. Sure enough, Amazon put this one on sale. It was very hard to resist at that price. I looked at several 1TB options around the $120-$140 range but I wanted something with a bit more capacity without having to pay over double the cost of so...

Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros 500W capacity 80 Plus Gold Relatively quiet fan (even without the zero RPM fan mode of the v1 version) Flat black cables 100% modular Cons Slightly larger SFX form factor (130mm doesn't leave much room in my FTZ01 for dealing with the cables) Other Thoughts The V2 of this power supply doesn't really have much different than it's original counterpart. The main change with the V2 version is the removal of the Semi-Passive fan mode of the v1. There were several complaints about the fan making a "grinding noise" and some buzzing as well but this issue seems to have been severely reduced with the V2 PSU. Overall this is a very nice small power supply. It is a bit larger than the standard SFX form factor so that is definitely something to keep in mind, however as a result they were able to slap on a larger 120mm fan which definitely helps keep this thing cool and quiet. This is a solid little power supply with 80plus g...

A few unboxing photos and a couple of clips of the power supply fan issue in action.The full model information is Enermax Revolution SFX 650W 80 PLUS Gold Full modular Semi-Fanless Power Supply with SFX-to-ATX PSU adapter bracket (ERV650SWT)Free Q-Boom Bluetooth Speaker inside. Enermax Revolution SFX 650W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply Rating ★☆☆☆☆ (1 out of 5) Pros Compact High capacity 80 plus gold Flat black cables Cons Fan noise is unbearable Other Thoughts TL;DR Everything else about this Power Supply is good except for one major thing. Enermax's implementation of the semi-fanless mode is absolutely terrible. After putting a load on my system, enough to cause the fan to spin up, and then going back to idle the fan constantly turns on and off generating an extremely irritating noise. The fan does this constantly until I shutdown my computer and let the power supply cool off. Then the fan will  go back to semi-fanless mode until the temperature...

Just a few unboxing photos below. Full model information is Team Elite Plus 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Desktop Memory Model TPRD416G2400HC1601. Team Group Elite+ Rating ★★★★★ (5 out of 5) Pros Price (Paid $109.99 per stick) Price per GB = $7.33 Low Profile Runs at advertised speed (2400MHz) without issue Cons Color Options (Not a huge con) Wish they had more "color neutral" options instead of Red and Black or Yellow and Black Other Thoughts TL;DR Not much to say about this RAM because it works exactly as expected. I downsized from an ATX sized build to a Mini-ITX one. I wanted to retain the 32GB of RAM I had so I needed two, 16GB sticks and these fit the bill. I also needed to make sure they were low profile enough to not interfere with my CPU cooler (be quiet! Shadow Rock LP). I was previously running Team Group memory (Team Group DARK DDR4 Gaming Desktop Memory, 4x8GB) without issue so I had no qualms going with this bran...

Just a forewarning this is a bit of a long one! But before we jump into the meat of this review, check out this gallery of pics below... View post on imgur.com Rating ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5) Pros General Usability Quick and responsive Easy to use Notifications are great OS is good Fitness tracking is good Design Slim and lightweight Vibrant screen 5 ATM resistance is nice Customization Tons of watch faces to choose from Widget customization App layout customization Fitness app Integrations Under Armour app suite integration is nice including the app integrations directly on the device Price Paid $149.00 for mine.  Price would become a con if it was higher than $160 I would say. Cons Battery Life With constant heart rate (24/7) and notifications I'm getting 1.5 days out of this before needing to charge GPS usage drops that down further (Burns about 3% every 5-7 minutes [tested using Endomondo]) Apps/Phone Integration iOS (Apple) i...

Here's the first of a new content series I'm trying out called REANALYZED. I came up with this idea after I noticed the modest  "retired tech pile" I have. I either never fully reviewed or stopped using this tech so I decided to force myself to use it once again to figure out the reasons why. Most of this stuff I've had for a relatively long time (4+ years) and have just been holding onto it. Now it's time to figure out if it's still worth holding onto. Anyway, kicking off this series, we're starting with a mouse that I've owned for over 4 years and used for about 1 year. Check out the gallery of images below. Tt eSPORTS Level 10 M Iron White (2012 Edition) Rating ★★★☆ ☆ (3 out of 5) Pros Build quality Aluminum frame gives it a weighty and solid feel Plastics are decent quality Braided cable is nice (albeit, a bit on the stiff side) Satisfying buttons The middle-click is one of the most satisfying middle-clicks I've expe...

Update: 9/9/2018 I added a few more listings below... feel free to check them out! Here we are back at it again! Check out the new listings I just put up if you're interested at all. One of these listings will be live for 30 and the other for 7 days unless someone scoops it up with the Buy It Now Price. Seagate 2000GB 2TB SATA III 6Gbps 5900RPM NAS Hard Disk Drive [HDD] ST2000VN000 Sold Seagate Ebay Listing Intel SSD 600p Series SSDPEKKW512G7X1 512 GB M.2 80mm PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 Sold Intel SSD Listing NZXT Grid+ V2 USB 6 Channel Digital Fan Controller (Controlled with NZXT CAM) Sold Grid+ V2 Listing SilverStone SX500-LG SFX-L 500w 80Plus Gold Small Form Factor (SFF) Power Supply Sold SilverStone SX500-LG Drevo Calibur Wireless RGB Mechanical Keyboard Black w/ Black Switches & O-Rings Sold Drevo Calibur Black Switch Black

Sometimes you just have to let go. Right now is one of those times for me. I've been holding onto a few items that have either been replaced or upgraded from and I finally took the initiative to list them out for sale. I consider myself lucky because traditionally I've been able to sell/swap things with people in my friends group but that's not always going to be an option so off to Ebay I go! Check out the new listings I just put up if you're interested at all. These listings will be live for 7 days unless someone scoops it up with the Buy It Now Price. Corsair VENGEANCE K65 Compact Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Update: SOLD on 08/4/2018 Corsair Ebay Listing Dell 24" Gaming Monitor (S2417DG 24" 165hz WQHD 1440p G-Sync) Update:  SOLD on 08/11/2018 Dell Ebay Listing

Check out this short gallery of images below... Logitech MX Master 2S Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros Design Comfortable grip for my large hands Clean and understated look Usability Side wheel is great for spreadsheets Infinity scroll continues to be one of my favorite features on a mouse and the "auto infinity scroll" on this mouse works wonderfully Smooth movement and the tracking is solid Wireless Bluetooth and Unifying receiver options are nice to have Love that you can have 3 different devices connected and can switch between them easily Didn't get to test the battery life but if it lasts for as long as Logitech claims, that's pretty impressive Cons No hardware profiles Upon boot the mouse goes to default settings until the software service starts Requires the Logitech Options software to be running for DPI adjustments and other preferences to work Other Thoughts TL;DR This is another fantastic mouse from Logitech. The onl...

Here we go with another Keyboard review. Check out some pictures below before reading the rest! View post on imgur.com Rating ★★★★★ (5 out of 5) Pros Simple Design It's a rectangle with all the keys you need No "extra" keys (macro keys/gaming keys) Media controls are well laid out and functional Build Quality The board itself is very solid  Switches are great Overall, the materials used are good Adjustability I like that there are two different height settings for adjusting the keyboard angle (4 degrees and 8 degrees) Relatively quiet Without o-rings installed, the typing experience is relatively quiet. Doesn't "clack" as much as some other keyboards. Price Paid $79.99 Cons SOME Materials Glossy plastic on the sides of the keyboard which is bound to get completely ruined  Definitely not the most "robust" keycaps out there but that's to be expected at this price point No wrist rest includ...

Before we get to the meat of the review, here's a couple pictures of the keyboard... View post on imgur.com This is also my first experience with a TenKey (92 key) layout on a keyboard. Rating ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5) Pros Hardware Build quality is solid Key caps and switches (Cherry MX Brown) feel good Sound is fairly dampened even without o-rings (which is great for a work environment) Size Reminiscent of a TKL keyboard (just barely wider than TKL due to 1 extra column of keys Driverless Every piece of functionality can be controlled via the keyboard. No need for any software to setup and configure macros, lighting, functions, etc… Cons Numpad/Navigation Cluster Combo At work I'm a frequent user of the navigation cluster and the numpad so this is fairly annoying to deal with toggling numlock on and off all the time.  Quite a few things buried under the FN key I could get used to it but it reminds me of the Anne pro where a lot of the function...

Before we jump into the review, check out this imgur album of the monitor unboxing. Acer Z1 Z321QU Rating ★★★★★ (5 out of 5) Pros Price... Only when compared to (as of 180328) the 1 other equivalent G-Sync monitor on the market (LG 32GK850G) Features Refresh rate 144Hz out of the box with up to 165Hz OC G-Sync 144Hz out of the box with up to 165Hz OC Solid stand Very sturdy construction with plenty of adjustment options VESA mount capable Quality VA panel Great contrast, no smearing, no ghosting, no slow response time issues LED underglow The "Screen Color" setting is pretty neat Massive size Massive 32"(inch) gaming experience Curve Reminds me of the 1st Gen Predator X34 I owned except with a more pronounced curve Built-in speakers Sound decent but I won't be using them Cons Price $699 is a lot for a monitor G-sync "tax" Still waiting and hoping for Nvidia to adopt VESA adaptive sync or FreeSync ...

This review was originally written on 02/20/2018 but I decided to not post it on Newegg since I ended up returning the panel for a full refund. View post on imgur.com Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros High refresh  144Hz with 165Hz OC G-Sync  Gorgeous VA panel  Excellent contrast Massive size VESA mount capable  Seriously, every monitor should have this Stand looks like it has a lot of utility  Can't fully comment on it because I mounted this on a monitor arm Cons Price  $799.99 (on sale, normally $849.99) is a lot but that's what you end up paying for something "unique" with minimal competition G-Sync "tax"  Wish Nvidia would adopt VESA adaptive sync already PPI  93ppi isn't bad by any means It's not quite as "sharp" as say a 24" display with this resolution RGB LED Lighting doesn't shut off when the panel goes to sleep  Have to manually shut off with the control wheel Other...

Before we hop into the review, check out this gallery of images showcasing the two setups I tested. Setup 1 - One 24" (inch) panel and One 32" (inch) panel Setup 2 - Two 32" (inch) panels. View post on imgur.com Rating ★★★★★ (5 out of 5) Pros Solid construction Very sturdy for its size Tons of adjustability Especially with smaller monitors USB 3.0 passthrough Officially supports 32" monitors Only one at around this price point that I could find Options for mounting (clamp and grommet) Effortless setup and adjustments Cons Very minor complaints about the USB passthrough Wish the USB 3.0 passthrough only had 1 cable rather than 2 Wish they weren't blue in color Inserted USB devices (such as flash drives) are upside down Potentially the price ($99)($119.99 MSRP) $99 is a lot for a monitor stand but it feels high quality and does its job well $99 was still cheaper than some of the other options out there though that ...

Not too much to add before we jump into the review, but if you're interested in seeing just how much of a size difference there is between 32" and 24", check this picture out... Rating ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5) Pros Gorgeous IPS panel Massive size Price (Got it for $289.99 on sale) VESA mount capable (I don't know why every monitor doesn't have a VESA mount) Cons Only 60hz PPI (93ppi is lower than I'm used to but it's not a problem really) Not sure how new this monitor is but there is very limited information available online about it (as of 02/16/2018) Other Thoughts TL;DR Good monitor but the disconnecting issue ruins it for me with my multi monitor setup This is a massive and gorgeous display. I used to have a 34" 3440x1440 panel but this panel "feels" larger than that one even because of the 16:9 aspect ratio vs the 21:9 aspect ratio of the 3440x1440 panel. The QHD resolution works well on this monitor and I think i...