Month: March 2015

For the PC enthusiast installing CPUs or even modding graphic cards or memory by replacing heat-sinks, Arctic Silver 5 is a great and a must-have at $7.  I can’t say that I build too many PCs these days, but if I did, I would order this in a heart beat. And here’s another review from a happy customer:

Arctic Silver 5 is the best thermal compound on the market. There are other types that might be better for specific purposes (Arctic Céramique for example), but for cooling a CPU, this is the best. I've used it extensively for quite a few computer builds as well as a few 'special projects' like replacing the thermal compound on an Asus Formula X48 mother board's Northbridge and Southbridge heatsinks.

The results are always a 4-10c drop in CPU temperatures under load. You will not notice a huge difference at idle. The real gains in heat dissipation come when the CPU is being pushed. Also, don't trust the board makers proprietary software to tell you what your temperatures are; download a good program like RealTemp 2.41 or Everest for free (use google to find them). Either will give you more accurate numbers than Asus PC Probe, or whatever software your board manufacturer supplies.

HT to SetSocial.

Here is a great deal on some serious headphones if you’re a gamer. This is a pretty big discount on a massive headset if you need all the bells and whistles like surround sound, noise canceling boom mic and programmable keys. I can’t say that I’m much of a gamer anymore – I blame work, but if I was, I would want a pair of these (well, and if it wouldn’t mess up my hair). Anyways, read the review from someone else if you’re not completely sold:

Well this is perhaps the best option for a wireless gaming headset. It's an old design and logitech seems to have put out some other wired stuff to update all the other proto-plebian-headsets that use this same frame. This headset is peerless, but that's kind of a shame because it doesn't really have any competition, it is the best in a class of one.

And check out SetSocial where this deal was posted.

And today, our friends at SetSocial have analyzed the top items in the electronics department and have found a great deal on the Roku 3 Streaming Media Player saving you 23% (or $23) off the original price. These are great devices that let you stream your own media from almost any source or stream from one of the content providers like Apple iTunes, Hulu, Netflix, etc. – there’s really too many to name. And that’s my personal opinion on these things, from the reviews, here’s one of the most helpful reviews:

For anyone new to the Roku world, I would recommend the Roku 3 over any other previous models mainly on it being so much faster to operate. If 'cost' is an issue and 720p only is not a bother then the LT should be a great pick for half the price.

True for all Roku models: there's an enormous amount of channels to choose from, including most popular ones. And if there's something that you can't find in the official store you can always check the private channel listings (I included the URL of my favorite site) which is where I found things such as streaming CNN, CNN International and BBC World.

The streaming is exceptionally smooth. Quite impressive considering that I set this Roku on the second floor, some 60-70 ft. and two floors away from our Wi-Fi router located in the basement.

This model especially, due to the more powerful processor is easy to operate through Roku's very basic remote control.

Roku 3 and all Rokus are stable. I didn't have the Roku 3 for too long (will update) but my experience with a Roku LT was that it almost never crashes and I only had to manually reconnect to my Wi-Fi router once over a 6-months period.

The 'universal search' feature is quite amazing. You simply type in the name of a movie or show even an actor and you will see all you options on all channels and you will know in advance whether it's going to be free or exactly how much it was going to cost. On the Roku 3 all information appears almost instantly.

And if you want more deals like this, go over to SetSocial and sign up for their newsletter.

I was pretty excited when I saw this deal for a Samsung 64GB Micro SDXC – I actually ordered a card for my Raspberry Pi. I don’t think I’ve seen a better deal on a 64GB micro SDXC card. I’m not sure how long this deal will last, but I definitely recommend getting this while you can. Yesterday’s deal for a 32GB micro SD card was for $18 so at $33, this is less than double the price for twice the memory which is usually a premium to get more memory in the same form factor. And all that techy talk means this is a great deal. And at a Class 10, this card is fast… and if you don’t believe me, here’s the review from someone who already has it:

This is a very fast card, particularly suited to not only transferring files quickly but also running as a phone or tablet card for applications as well.

In phones and tablets one of the most important things is not just the transfer speed but also the IOPs that the card can deliver. Many class 10 cards have great transfer speeds but terrible and I mean terrible IOPs, often a 5 year old card easily out performs them in IOPs.

This card delivers in both areas, fast class 10 transfer speeds 23mb read, 15mb write but also 482 write IOPs and 1668 read IOPs.

That's IOP speeds that are slower than an SSD but way faster than a hard disk. Bare in mind that some class 10 cards give 4 write IOPs and you can see why I'm impressed. The only card I have seen outperform it in IOPs it the SanDisk Extreme Pro and they are seriously expensive and not available in 64gb. Testing against the third SanDisk I have, a 32gb ultra, is almost funny as the ultra only gives 15 write IOPs under the same conditions, making this card 30 times faster.

What does this mean for normal use, well it translates into an excellent general purpose card, that even if it doesn't have the official fastest transfer speeds will actually perform much better in the real world. Which is why its getting such rave reviews on here for speed (so long as you get a genuine one!)

This was tested in my Dell Venue 8 tablet using the built in card reader. For the techies (if you've got this far then I assume you are)I am actually using it to run Server 2012 virtual machines in VMWare workstation and the performance is surprisingly good, I would even call it snappy!

Full Crystalmark disk scores below.

Sequential read 23.66mbs write 16.03 mbps
512kb random read 23.25mbs write 15.67 mbps
4k random read 6.40mbps write 1.850 mbps
4k random qd32 6.65mbs write 1.92 mbps

Parameters 5 iterations 1000mb sample size.

Tested on the 64gb Samsung Evo microsdhc.

And as always, here’s my plug for SetSocial which is where I found this deal.

We have another great deal for those that need internet connectivity in parts of their home where wifi can’t reach or has a really weak signal. Just plug one of these powerline adapters near your router/modem and the other in the room where the signal is weak and you instantly have super fast internet going over your power lines. You can then plug your TV, HTPC or a wireless access point. And the best part is that you get to save over 50% if you buy this kit which has an average 4.3 out of 5 stars on Amazon. And here is one of the top-rated reviews:

I moved into a larger house and as a result had weak WiFi on the top floor and opposite end of the house, where both my wife and I work during the day. For the past year, we've been battling with an intermittent signal - usually weak - by using WiFi extenders. Not only are these adapters cheaper than the extenders I previously bought, but now we've got a solid connection 100% of the time. Also, I didn't have to do any pairing. Just plugged them in!

And as always, if you want more deals like this, check out SetSocial.

Today’s great deal comes from analyzing the best sellers in Amazon’s Electronics department and finding the products that have the deepest discounts. This looks like a great pair of headphones for $33.95. Here is what one of the top-rated reviews has to say about these headphones:

The Photive EB-10 in ear headphones is a great bargain for what features it has and the sound quality it gives!

Find more great deals like this at SetSocial.