Brandon Whitehead's Tech Blog

Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros Price to Performance Paid $289.99 (pre-tax) for a 180Hz with adaptive sync, 3440x1440, VESA Certified DisplayHDR 400 monitor Desktop Software  G-Menu /I-Menu for controlling the monitor hardware settings within the windows desktop is a nice addition Hardware Design is fairly tame, not overly gamer looking by any means Plenty of input and output options 2x HDMI 2.0 - Up to 100Hz 2x DisplayPort 1.4 - Up to 180Hz (8-Bit with dithering) or 144Hz (10-Bit) 3.5mm audio out 4x USB [one of which supports Quick Charging] with upstream USB-B port Good stand (although I'm not using it because mine is VESA mounted) VESA 100x100 support Visuals Great Contrast! Black levels are MILES better than the Acer Predator Z1 I'm coming from Hardly any "flashlighting" on the screen from the backlight, or at least I can't see it  High refresh rate Going from 165Hz to 180Hz isn't a huge jump, but it does provide just a bit more smoothness PPI ~110 PPI ...

This is the last fitness wearable/smartwatch post in a while. I swear this time! Before getting to the meat of this review, check out the gallery of images below. Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros Build and Design Lightweight and unobtrusive Universal 20mm quick release watch bands Waterproof (5 ATM) Battery Lasted about 4 full days on a 90% charge even with 1hr and 20mins of GPS usage Charges very quickly Display Always on without significant battery drain Customizable Easily readable in sunlight and in darkness with the backlight Training Configuration Ability to create and schedule custom workout plans Automatic rep counting (inconsistent but it's there and will hopefully get better) Metrics 24/7 wrist based heart rate tracking with stress level tracking Very detailed tracking information. Garmin really does provide some of the most detailed information when it comes to fitness and wellbeing tracking.  GPS and al...

Recap If you haven't already, I highly recommend checking out part 1 of this story for more details:  https://tech.brandonwhitehead.com/2019/01/why-i-switched-to-using-2-desktop.html A quick summary of part 1 is that I switched to using 2 desktop computers because when I had everything on 1 computer I was without a usable computer for several weeks while troubleshooting. To prevent that from happening in the future I decided to pick up a secondary PC to use primarily for light duty tasks. Originally I picked up a Intel NUC8i5BEH with the hope that it would be the perfect fit for my needs. It was a good fit until I experienced several issues with using a USB device KVM/hardware switch which forced me to return the NUC. Part 2 Returning the NUC I ended up returning the NUC for a couple of reasons. Whatever USB controller they were using had a major compatibility issue with USB device switchers even when I purchased and tried utilizing a  native USB 2.0 accessor...

After recently downsizing back to Mini-ITX, I hit a snag when it came to my current CPU and its thermal performance. To cool my i7-7700K, I utilized the be quiet! Shadow Rock LP that I had purchased for my 2015 Mini-ITX build. In 2015 that build contained an i5-6600K and the Shadow Rock LP had no problem keeping that cool. Unfortunately, the i7-7700K is a notoriously hot running CPU and the Shadow Rock LP simply couldn't keep up. Especially with the limited airflow of the FTZ01. I was thermal throttling even at stock speeds. Putting the CPU under heavy AVX loads like HandBrake encoding made that very apparent. Not to mention the fan noise from the cooler running at 100% to keep things cool became rather annoying. Prior to downsizing to ITX I initially had the i7-7700K under a be quiet! Dark Rock TF cooler which performed well at keeping the i7-7700K under check. With the i7-7700K, the only way to truly wrangle in the temperatures (especially if overclocking and without modifi...

Introduction I never thought that I would want to have two Desktop PCs for myself. I had traditionally used one Desktop PC to "do it all". Afterall, that's one of the benefits of a PC to begin with. You can spec it for entertainment, work and other usages all within 1 device. Prior to acquiring 2 Desktop PCs, I had a Gaming PC, a personal laptop and a work laptop. I don't really count the personal laptop because it is about 8-9 years old (as of this article's publishing date) and not very usable anymore. For the work laptop, I try to strictly keep everything work related on that since the equipment is provided by my organization. I don't like to use it for personal things as much as I can. So realistically, I had one usable computer for home. My gaming/primary PC was used as my "swiss army knife" where it could game, host VMs and do more. As we all know though, a swiss army knife can only do so much without showcasing its shortcomings. That is unle...

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...

Hello! I was digging through my Google Drive today when I came across some old guides that I had created for various people. I will attach them below for your viewing pleasure. This first one is a computer building guide that I had come up with. I haven't updated it in a while but I feel that it still remains relevant. This second one is a guide for starting up a YouTube channel. I had created this because I knew someone who was interested in potentially starting up a YouTube channel. So, I quickly threw together a guide from my own personal knowledge and from knowledge learned by watching YouTubers.

Reddit Crosspost https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrawidemasterrace/comments/77uckc/why_i_left_the_ultrawide_master_race_after_being/?ref=share&ref_source=link TL;DR I love UltraWide displays, I love 21:9 and I love the experience it brings for gaming and media consumption. However, having restrictions imposed by developers and the general need for "tweaking" games to work has slowly turned me away. I no longer want a UltraWide as my primary gaming display. I may never end up switching back because I can achieve the same physical (not in game) FOV covering experience with a larger 16:9 panel. With that being said, I am excited to see what the future has to offer for the 21:9 community and I will always be a follower of the UltraWide Master Race . My First Ultrawide Story Time! I purchased my first UltraWide monitor about 4 years ago without really doing any research on the 21:9 format. I was browsing Newegg in search of an upgrade from my basic 24...