Bought all this gear so far:
Zotac GTX 280
Box
Contents
Le Card
A size comparison (with my previous video card)
Initial impressions:-
This thing is HUGE. I had trouble fitting it into my mid-tower case. It's almost an inch longer than the 4870. Thankfully, the connectors are facing the side panel of my cabby instead of facing the hard drives, otherwise it would have been a b!tch to actually fit it in. Required one 6-pin and one 8-pin power connector and of course, 2 slots on my cabby. Got GRID free with it as well; which is fairly useless since I don't like racing games, but heck, it's a free game! How cool is that?
The card runs pretty cool at idle (around 53C) and under load hits mid-70's.. Of course, I haven't really been able to tax the card to the limit just yet (I'm currently on a 7-year old 17" CRT lol, waiting for my new display to get delivered). The card is a fair bit more noiseless than my 4870, I can barely hear the card either while gaming or doing general stuff. Ran every game I threw at it at the highest settings. Yet to try Crysis, but I'm putting that bit off because I don't wanna get depressed.. You know how it is, you buy a fast card which runs every game with everything turned on and ol' Crysis comes along and makes it weep.. Don't want to break the card's spirit :rofl:
MX518
Well, what's to say? It's a mouse. It's a fair sight better than my previous one (a Microsoft Basic Optical lol) and looks much cooler too
Altec Lansing MX5021
Teh Box:
Unboxing:
The Satellites:
Much bigger than what I expected them to be. Really stylish finish, but the body appears to be a fingerprint magnet. Also they don't have a wide base, so they can very easily be knocked down.
The rest of the stuff:
Includes a neat little wired controller for adjusting volume, bass and treble as well as a nifty little remote with the same adjustment options, and a cloth to wipe smudges on the speakers; among other things. Have to say, I really like Altec Lansing's commitment to making life easier for the customer; you'd have thought that they would have been elitist snobs who would put out really good speakers but skimp on the little details such as this.
Last but definitely not the least, the Massive Sub-woofer:
Make no mistake, this thing is BIG. No ifs or buts about it. Weighs about 10 kilos too.
Performance-wise, the speakers can be described in one word: AWESOME. The satellites produce crisp and clear sound, and the woofer makes every bass line in every song I hear and every explosion in every action film I see come through very clearly. Listened to some bass-heavy Iron Maiden records like Dance of Death and was pleased with what I heard. Then watched the 720p version of The Dark Knight (the truck flip sequence sent chills up my spine). Concluded with about an hour of playing Mirror's Edge, a game with a very good soundtrack. The bass is quite tight and accurate, and packs quite a punch without sounding loose or excessively boomy. Which makes me think that the guys who thought these speakers lacked bass have either A) a defective model B) improper placement of the subwoofer or C) an ear infection that prevents them from hearing properly. I kept the sub below my computer table and in the corner of the room, and I get enough bass out of it to satisfy all my lewd urges.
Well, that's about it. Coming from generic Labtec budget speakers, these have been a huge step-up for me. I am enjoying these speakers even with my computer's onboard audio, although sidhu's urging me to buy a soundcard as soon as possible . The audio quality is awesome, bass is full and packs quite a thump and the slick looks would grab anyone's attention.
Well, that's all folks. Thanks for listening in.
Zotac GTX 280
Box
Contents
Le Card
A size comparison (with my previous video card)
Initial impressions:-
This thing is HUGE. I had trouble fitting it into my mid-tower case. It's almost an inch longer than the 4870. Thankfully, the connectors are facing the side panel of my cabby instead of facing the hard drives, otherwise it would have been a b!tch to actually fit it in. Required one 6-pin and one 8-pin power connector and of course, 2 slots on my cabby. Got GRID free with it as well; which is fairly useless since I don't like racing games, but heck, it's a free game! How cool is that?
The card runs pretty cool at idle (around 53C) and under load hits mid-70's.. Of course, I haven't really been able to tax the card to the limit just yet (I'm currently on a 7-year old 17" CRT lol, waiting for my new display to get delivered). The card is a fair bit more noiseless than my 4870, I can barely hear the card either while gaming or doing general stuff. Ran every game I threw at it at the highest settings. Yet to try Crysis, but I'm putting that bit off because I don't wanna get depressed.. You know how it is, you buy a fast card which runs every game with everything turned on and ol' Crysis comes along and makes it weep.. Don't want to break the card's spirit :rofl:
MX518
Well, what's to say? It's a mouse. It's a fair sight better than my previous one (a Microsoft Basic Optical lol) and looks much cooler too
Altec Lansing MX5021
Teh Box:
Unboxing:
The Satellites:
Much bigger than what I expected them to be. Really stylish finish, but the body appears to be a fingerprint magnet. Also they don't have a wide base, so they can very easily be knocked down.
The rest of the stuff:
Includes a neat little wired controller for adjusting volume, bass and treble as well as a nifty little remote with the same adjustment options, and a cloth to wipe smudges on the speakers; among other things. Have to say, I really like Altec Lansing's commitment to making life easier for the customer; you'd have thought that they would have been elitist snobs who would put out really good speakers but skimp on the little details such as this.
Last but definitely not the least, the Massive Sub-woofer:
Make no mistake, this thing is BIG. No ifs or buts about it. Weighs about 10 kilos too.
Performance-wise, the speakers can be described in one word: AWESOME. The satellites produce crisp and clear sound, and the woofer makes every bass line in every song I hear and every explosion in every action film I see come through very clearly. Listened to some bass-heavy Iron Maiden records like Dance of Death and was pleased with what I heard. Then watched the 720p version of The Dark Knight (the truck flip sequence sent chills up my spine). Concluded with about an hour of playing Mirror's Edge, a game with a very good soundtrack. The bass is quite tight and accurate, and packs quite a punch without sounding loose or excessively boomy. Which makes me think that the guys who thought these speakers lacked bass have either A) a defective model B) improper placement of the subwoofer or C) an ear infection that prevents them from hearing properly. I kept the sub below my computer table and in the corner of the room, and I get enough bass out of it to satisfy all my lewd urges.
Well, that's about it. Coming from generic Labtec budget speakers, these have been a huge step-up for me. I am enjoying these speakers even with my computer's onboard audio, although sidhu's urging me to buy a soundcard as soon as possible
. The audio quality is awesome, bass is full and packs quite a thump and the slick looks would grab anyone's attention. Well, that's all folks. Thanks for listening in.
