This was actually one of those cheap deals from work that actually I decided to get one since USB headsets for under £15 are a good time, But this is a headset that did make me change and sway heads with how its presented and whats inside the box. But its still on amazon.
Enjoy the video below:
The Box.
Its a basic one but it has the nice design of the PlayStation colours. Blue and White, the headset is proudly displayed on the front and also the text is bold and clear, so someone KNOWS what this is and knows what its for, even though from testing it, this works on more than just the PS3. The back is full if lists of features in different languages. 4Gamers have a nice branding too and for the money its a good idea. But the design is also very clear which i like about them as well.
The Front of the Box
This is on both sides of the box
The bottom of the box
The Top of the box
The back of the Box
Opening up inside:
This actually is composed of 2 different things, the manual and the headphones. The headphones had on the cable, the usb, 3.5mm jack (I thought it was optical) and the volume control. This was nicely sealed and thick for the cable until you get to the splitter (not damaged) which then the usb cable and the 3.5mm cable is much thinner than it should normally be, but this might explain why there is disconnects on my laptops. But the earpieces are quite decent but don't fold inwards.
what it looks like open box
The volume control
The Audio jack aka 3.5mm jack
The usb
look how small the mic is
The manual is in small but it also has a good sense of what to actually do, since it says the oxygen free cable is actually a 3.5mm cable. But clear and concise makes this so much easier for me.
The manual
More on the manual
Wearing it:
Well how did it fit, actually tightly. It was having to stetch a little bit but it was comfy, but the volume control is quite heavy though.
on my right side
on my left side
Testing the Headset:
Well this was now the experiment, how it works on 4 different devices which are:
PS3
PS4
PC
Phone
Test #1: PS3
Right the one its meant to be for, well this is actually tricky if your TV does not had a 3.5mm headphone jack. So for this case, i had to plug in the headphones to the desktop. The USB in the PS3. Then its the usual settings.
The headphone jack in the desktop
The PS3 Plugged in
How it shows up on the PS3 (Chat audio only)
Test #2: PS4:
This is where a surprise happens, well nope but this DOES work on a PS4, it can connect to the dualshock 4 but it needs the USB to actually work since its the source of POWER, but also remember that the PS4 can output the audio to the USB part of the headset, game audio etc.
The mic
Testing the mic
Deciding which device the audio is played on
Test #3: PC.
As you would guess, the USB would workd on windows 10. So yes this basically is a cheap USB headset. So that works nicely. The quality is good too.
Properties
Quality
Those enhancements
The properties of the mic
Spartial sound
only a mono mic
AGC works
How audacity looks
Test #4: Phone
Works fine but its only the headphones and also the USB needs to be plugged in for this to work. so the mic won't work unless the usb is plugged in via a OTG.
Conclusion:
Well, this is a decent headset for a budget price and with usb and 3.5mm, this has potential big time.
omracer's Rating: 8/10
The Good Points:
Good value
3.5mm connection
USB Connection
Volume control and mic mute
Works on PS4
Works on PC
Works on PS3 partly
Nice fitting, not too tight
Comfy
The Bad Points:
Hard to find if not online
Can be small for bigger ears
Heavy volume control (Clip on back helps fix this)
3.5mm Jack might be tricky for some TVs for PS3
USB needs to be plugged in for 3.5mm to work
3.5mm doesn't work as mic alone
Well i won't be reviewing until may. But more things will be in the works.
Now, the real fun begins, okay not really but its been a while since I had made an upgrade to this thing. Since for the most paret it runs well, but especially with the video editing getting more intense and more streams planned, i think it was time to get a quad core for the PC. Costing me £150 from work, where as Amazon is about £145 at the time I purchased this, But enjoy some of the tests below in the video:
The Core i5:
In the sleek blue and green speed blur front, things looks nice and fast, which does indicate what the CPU is almost supposed to do. But the top is where the CPU is shown and the back doesn't really have a say in much except the small print, the sides show off the barcodes as well as the main features of this Intel Processor. Its not as heavy as it seems but the weight is mostly in the heatsink that is in the box.
The front of the Core i5
The side of the box with the features
The back of the box
The side of the box which has the serials and barcodes etc.
When you look inside, it is the same layout with the manual, the CPU in the plastic tray and the heatsink with the thermal paste underneath. But for this, we do not use it since the one from the 6100 works actually fine.
Inside the box for the Core i5
Flip the manual and the sticker is shown
The fitting:
Now since the decoration of the lounge was happening, it was a little bit easier to get things fitted with more room. So taking my PC into the lounge, i took it apart and got the i5 fitted. It was almost a pnaic moment when i got the i3 out but i didn't damage the pins this time.
just before fitting
The i5 was fitted.
The only problem twas that the Heatsink was getting hard to pop back in, one of the plastic bits was starting to bend out. So i managed to get it pushed into the hole and it was securely fitted to the H110n.
Well it posted, and it was working nicely, The temperature was actually lower than the i3 was and it was working nicely. Mac OS Sierra was working nicely after making the ig-platform ID relevant to the HD 630 and Windows was also coping nicely with it.
So ,it was then left to start testing things out, with games on the iGPU,
The Testing:
Gaming - Intel HD 630:
Note, the videos were recording with GameDVR and 60FPS setting.
PAC-MAN Championship Edition 2:
Actually this managed to run about 4FPS, the menu did actually run slower than the HD 530 but if the resolution was lowered, you could run this at 60FPS.
The Course Selection Screen
in game
Rocket League:
Actually this went slightly better than expected, and you can easily tune it to get 720 or even 1080 at 60FPS while recording via OBS,
The settings
In game
Fortnite:
This one was slightly more tricky to get right but it can be barely playable, but lasting pretty high up when online was reare, i meant its not like i just hid.....actually yes just hide on the outskirts of the maps before the storm comes helps me but the quality is odd with having 3D resolution and screen resolution but it makes things easier for couch players really.
Getting the settings right can help, but this was using both the 3D rs and screen Res as the Same
Thew view from the tower
Gaming - GTX 1050:
Well with the hype of miners sucking up the GPU market dry, I might be selling this toi help pay for the i5, but I did test it with a few things. Actually the same games, but hey, a test is a test. Lets dive in.. Oh also, this was recorded using GameDVR
Rocket League:
This was much better and i was going to get over 1080p 60FPS easily, even with HQ settings and recording as well .
The settings for the 1050
Nice Quality
Fortnite:
This was still as work in progress, since when the settings were turned, I could get about 108p 60FPS on medium or High. Epic will slow things alot down.
The settings that will get you a low FPS
Getting a chest
Stormy views
Rollercoaster Tycoon World:
This was actually more demanding than I guessed, but that might be since more VRAM was needed than what 2GB will offer me. But none the less, i did get 60 FPS when zoomed out of the par.
Better FPS when zoomed out
Adding things to the park
The settings used.
Streaming - OBS Studio:
With the help of the HD72A and a PS4, i can finally stream 720 60FPS with the Steambox. The settings can cause lag on the FAST preset as well as recording at the same time using a low CPU preset. But the bitrate is pretty good for what my connection, since it was wifi the bitrate had to be lower than i wanted it to be.
The settings that makes it just right
Video Editing:
FCP X:
This was a nice suprise, the times didn't feel different when using it for editing compared to the i3, okay the rendering when editing but it was slightly quicker, You could tell the boost when you added 3D text in.
Rendering a 1080p 60FPS video on H.264 Fast Encode took 8m24. That was for the Muxy Tutorial.
Movie Studio Platinum 12:
This was a bit easier for editing, but the playback was getting laggy when on Preview FULL. But once that was ready to render, it was taking 24m 30s to get this rendered before uploading to YT..
The rendering time for 1080p 60fps
Benchmarking.
So we come to the benchmarks, now this was actually surprising how the i5 performed. On both counts really. But it was still a higher mark than what it could of been. User benchmark was used.
Without the GTX 1050.
This was going to be shocking due to the HD 630 coming into play.
PArt 1
Part 2
Part 3
With the GTX 1050:
Now this was a shock with showing how much of a small improvement the 1050 gave this. But there was good results for the tests, but still a bit weaker than people would expect it to be.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The Conclusion:
In all honest, there was a major improvement when you notice it, but for day to day, use, there is some extras added and it did help me edit in 1080p 60fps. Was it worth the £150, it probably will be but only when streaming is when the performance really shines out for me.
Well thats the video done, a new part for the Steambox and things will be easier for editing soon, but for now, i can catch up on things to get done and the usual life, there are more reviews coming up soon too.
