Pros: Build quality, lows, can be used with the PS4 & Xbox One
Cons: Mids, highs, isolation, sound quality is limited by your on-board soundcard, no volume/recording control
First of all I would like to thank Creative for sending me the Inferno headset for review – I wasn’t holding any expectations with the headset that sits at around £35-45, but I couldn’t have been any more wrong about me pre-judgements of the headset!
For more information about the headset and its specifications can be found on Creative’s website.
I should also note that as there is a fluctuation in prices, I’ll be taking the mid-ground and reviewing the headset at the £40 price tag – such as on AmazonUK. It can also be found on AmazonUSA for $43.
The Sound Blaster E3 sits in-between the E1 and E5 in terms of price point. I was thus curious to see how it performs for its price and more so interested to see how Creative were able to push through all their features in the small-factor size, without impacting the sound quality.
Before continuing the review, here”s my video review of the E3:
Pros: Price, connectivity, build quality and design, colour options, £60 of included Clubcard/BlinkBox vouchers, overall sound quality (internal and external), Android 4.4.2 Cons: Forced dynamic contrast, yellow tinted screen, display Ppi for the size of the screen, poor rear camera quality, Auto-Rotate problems, fundamental principles of Android customisability not employed
First of all I would like to thank Tesco (yes the supermarket) for sending me the Hudle2 for review.
It can be bought directly from their website for £130, which is also the price I will be reviewing the tablet at.
With a lot of competition in the tablet industry, I was very much intrigued to see how the Hudl2 would stack up. At its relatively cheap price and very similar specs it competes quite well with the Nexus 7 tablet, which is priced at around £190 on AmazonUK.
Update 20/04/15: I was informed by Tesco, that the price is now £100, thereby making the tablet even more affordable.
Before starting the review, I want to share its specifications:
Update January 2015:
After what’s been discovered of the GTX970’s VRAM problems, going past 3.5GB – I do hold a little reservations in actively recommending this card any more. Click here to view my thoughts on this issue.
The GTX970 is still a fabulous card, but if you are going to be using these in SLI and at very high resolutions (ie 4K on 2 monitors), then I would highly suggest not buying the 970s as they are severely troubled when going past 3.5GB.
Essentially this has all been a marketing/PR blunder by Nvidia, where the card actually runs at full bandwidth till 3.5GB and once it goes to the last 0.5GB is reallocated at a much lower bandwidth.
This means, in reality, that you’re buying a 3.5GB card with severely dampened speeds for the last 0.5GB of the 4GB VRAM allowance.
More than anything here, I find it absolutely disgraceful from Nvidia, who haven’t acted upon it nor offered any sort of apology to their customers.
What I’m trying to say is simple: If you don’t see yourself ever using more than 3.5GB, then the 970 is still an excellent choice – but do remember future games will be using more VRAM, and due to this – I find it hard to recommend a card that will leave you pulling your hairs out, due to it stuttering and crashing when trying to use more than 3.5GB.
Below is my original review – just please bear in mind what I’ve said above, when you read it!
-Chris
Introduction
Before getting into this review, I would like to say a huge thanks to MSI for sending me the GTX 970 for a 2 week trial, so that I could review it.
It can be purchased on AmazonUK for around £280 & AmazonUSA for $375.
Ever since the 970 and 980 got announced, using NVIDIA’s Maxwell Architecture, I was very much intrigued to see how it improved over the previous 7 series line and furthermore how it would stack up against my trusty SLI 680s.
I would also like to thank my good friend Kai, the webmaster of this site for lending me his EVGA Titan Black. Despite the Titan Black being dedicated to developers and not gamers (due to its 6GB VRAM and very expensive price tag), it was still useful to have as a comparison as GTX 780ti users could use the Titan Black benchmarks as a direct comparison against the 970.
In other words, your gaming experience between the 780ti and the Titan Black would be extremely minimal – therefore do take the Titan Black results with a grain of salt at their listed price and instead take it as a direct comparison with the 780ti prices.
Finally, before continuing the review, I want to share all the info I gathered. As I believe in being absolutely transparent with readers/watchers. Throughout the review I’ll explain my methodology, but if you would like the files (ie FRAPS benches, incl frametimes etc) then I’ve made them ALL publicly available on my Dev Host account. Before you jump to anything – no the site isn’t spam (it was actually provided free to me, due to being a Recognised Contributor over at XDA Developers) – CLICK HERE to get to all the folders – I’ve organised them in a way that they’re easy to understand (individual links provided for each below):
General – Has my presents and the master Excel bench spreadsheet
Graphs – Has the bench graphs that will be presented in this written review, all in one place
On a side note – you’ll need Win RAR (It’s free), or some sort of compression tool to extract the files from the respective downloads. Finally, make sure you click the right “Download” button, as the other one is advertising on Dev Host’s side (which doesn’t appear when you have AdBlock on Chrome) – and no I get no commission for the adverts (or for any review I produce/write!!).
On another note – I should mention, in my review sample I got a manual, a series info book, a driver disk, a VGA to DVI adapter and a 6pin to 8pin adapter for the card.
It is important to note that you will need at least two 6pin connectors from your PSU, ideally a 8+6 pin connector.
The card also comes equipped with a HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2, DVI-D and DVI-I ports – which is all you’ll need for nowadays monitors.
Let’s get on with this review!
To complement my written review I created a short video review, that doesn’t go into as much detail as this written review, but gives a brief overview on the results:
Pros: Cherry MX Brown, ergonomics, software, small size, backlit keys
Cons: Availability of the older revision with the better switch Cherry MX switch, price, niche functionality, lack of a removable cable
Build Quality: 9/10
Design & Look: 9/10
Software: 10/10
Value: 6/10
Performance: 9/10
My final Rating: 8.5/10
Purchase Date: November 2014
Purchase Price: £90
First of all I would like to thank Razer for sending me the keyboard for review.
The Orbweaver has been updated, and I was sent the older revision of it (with Cherry MX Browns) – the newer version has Razer’s “own” switch, which is in fact produced by Kailh, a Chinese manufacturer that has copied Cherry’s design, that presumably makes the switches for a lower cost and therefore gives Razer better profit margins. Either way, I am reviewing the MX Brown version – which is a slight problem,a s despite being sent this in November 2014, it has already been replaced and therefore the Orbweaver that has Cherry MX switches is extremely hard to find, especially the MX Brown version.
I’ll therefore try to write this review in a way that people looking at the newer revision of the Orbweaver can use this review as a basis to decide if they need it or not. I’ll talk about the MX Brown switches briefly.
The MX Brown version is quite hard to find – I was only able to find the Blue switch variant of the keypad.
I chose to based the review off the £90 price tag, and it can be found fro a variety of prices around the web, for example on AmazonUK for £95. You can also find the blue switch version for $110 on AmazonUSA and also the new Razer green switch version for $112.
Some more information about the Orbweaver can be found on Razer’s website (again bear in mind the link goes to the newer revision of the Orbweaver, not the 2013 version with the Cherry MX switches).
Before getting into my written review, here’s my video review of the Razer Orbweaver Stealth:
