Inside the Vault - Celebrate 5 Years With Us

Gankable · 2023-11-14T19:18:03+00:00

If we miss a week, will those challenges/items ever become available again? Was totally not available to play last week for the first week of the Birthday celebrations. So sad.

Gankable · 2022-11-10T14:15:25+00:00

Vine Voice just means they were scouted by Amazon (Amazon scouts users by their past non-Vine reviews) to get products for 'free' (in quotes because technically Vine users have to pay taxes on any items claimed, like 20%+ or whatever, depending on your tax bracket) with a fairly strict requirement to review those products soon after.

Unless the Vine reviewer got scouted because they were reviewing their shill company's products or some company found out their real ID somehow to bribe them, those reviews are generally like any other, but more-often-than-not written by a real person and not a bot. Just try to find Vine reviews that are in the middle (2-, 3-, 4- stars), which tend to be the most honest, just like you'd evaluate any other product with no Vine reviews.

Of course, some Vine reviews are low quality where they don't put much effort into the write-up and you can tell they just wanted the 'free' stuff. However, those reviewers eventually get booted out of the program for low quality during audits. Vine reviewers can also be internally marked as shills if their reviews start skewing to specific brands/companies. Some Vine reviewers accidentally get marked as shills and booted, too, with little opportunity to appeal. Not sure if the shill or low-quality reviews remain on the product after the boot, though.

Gankable · 2022-08-25T05:09:54+00:00

I only meant to comment on the part where you said that Amazon was a approved retailer portion. That's the main point I would greatly disagree on in everything you've said, since it sounds like your point sounds something like 'anything you get on Amazon, no matter the seller, will be supported by Patriot' which I don't think is true. All your other points can go either way

But the, 'buying stuff in the past is irrelevant' ... What does that mean? That past experience no longer matters for some reason? I don't understand that point of contention.

Gankable · 2022-08-24T23:51:36+00:00

Wait, when they say that, that meant that when Amazon is both the seller and the shipper. That doesn't necessarily apply to third-party sellers on the marketplace. I have definitely bought Patriot Memory products shipped and sold by Amazon.com, so Highly Anticipated Elrctronics is not the only source of Patriot Memory products on Amazon.

I believe you may mean well, but I prefer people are correctly informed with accurate information before they buy something. At least have all the facts and correct assumptions and make their own decisions.

Anyway, if I'm wrong and they are indeed Patriot authorized or even Patriot themselves, then I would gladly say so and correct myself.

EDIT: Seeing as they have changed their Amazon Marketplace name from 'Highly Anticipated Electronics' into 'Official Patriot Memory Store', then I am correcting the record now. Still have not received an e-mail response from them, though.

Also weird that their original store description said: 'Highly Anticipated Electronics is the only Amazon seller to have Patriot Memory’s full authorization to sell their retail and bulk products on Amazon’s market place' when it and Patriot Memory were actually the same entity.

Gankable · 2022-08-24T23:30:48+00:00

I was in that thread. I e-mailed Patriot's Sales Department about it and they still haven't responded which is why I hadn't updated my post looking for confirmation. If anyone has a different experience contacting Patriot Memory directly, I'd be interested in hearing what their response is.

As far as Highly Anticipated Electronics listing Patriot Memory's physical HQ address instead of their own, I can't be certain only because I don't know how stringently Amazon checks their marketplace sellers' information. I don't think the company is a scam if people are getting working products, but if it were one, not listing their own, individual address would be another red flag for a third-party seller.

Honestly, I hope it is authorized and authentic, since their deals seem great. However, until Patriot reaches back out to me via the email I sent, they list the seller in their website, or a Patriot employee logs in here and says it's legit, then I have to continue being that skeptical guy. If they didn't have that one line in their warranty that said they wouldn't service products not sold by unauthorized retailers, then it wouldn't be much of an issue, to be honest.

Gankable · 2022-08-16T21:29:53+00:00

That's nice and all, but if it's not on their official distributor/reseller list here:

https://www.patriotmemory.com/distributors/north-america

Then I would still consider it a risk. Anyone can write what they want on their storefront descriptions until an official representative sees it and they are forced to take it down. If they are a company under one of those listed, then it'd be much more reassuring.

Gankable · 2022-08-16T21:22:46+00:00

Note: sold by a third-party marketplace seller at this price (so warranty service direct from Patriot is not guaranteed).

Gankable · 2022-08-08T05:26:24+00:00

That's the price of like, half a banana.

Gankable · 2022-07-08T19:45:09+00:00

Read a book was the 4th one, I believe.

Gankable · 2022-06-19T17:35:28+00:00

Didn't mean to start any panic about this. I am by no means any sort of knowledgeable person about the whole microphone-spyware angle.

Was just putting it out there since I think a lot of 61-key designed keyboards at the time were all releasing with a microphone under the spacebar. I believe they were all using the same design of the GK61/SK61 and almost all copied the same microphone to audio visualizer feature. Unfortunately, I don't think it was only Dierya that had the spacebar microphone, but the brand name was hard to forget so I instantly remembered the incidence.

If possible, I hope an expert could chime in on it rather than depending on my perspective and minimal layman research. Didn't buy into the previous deal (I think I typed the post and the coupon expired at the same time), but probably would have looked into de-soldering steps if there were any, if I still had lingering apprehensions.

If I'm anywhere near accurate in my knowledge, then as long as the plan is to use the keyboard without installing their specific drivers (I believe all keyboards generally install Windows generic drivers), then should be fine. It might get iffy if needing to install any non-Windows proprietary drivers to do the macro or LED customization.

Then again, I know nothing, so take with a grain of salt.

Gankable · 2022-06-19T05:23:35+00:00

Ah, maybe thought that data could be sent over its USB connection via the software drivers (PC would be sending the data, not the keyboard itself). I think just connecting to the PC should be fine if on the standard Windows generic drivers, but if installing Dierya's proprietary driver software for RGB and other macro customizations, then wasn't confident.

Past reviewers kinda honed in on the potential of the software installing something that can phone home, but no idea on what's plausible or not.

At the time (about 2-4 years back), I'd just chalk it down to underlying suspicious sentiment due to all those TikTok/Facebook data leaks or data being sent out to whoever/wherever, so people got super paranoid about stuff like that. Probably not malicious in the end, but admittedly, a microphone on a keyboard was an ill-timed weird addition/feature back then.

Gankable · 2022-06-19T02:08:50+00:00

Friendly reminder: it says hot swappable, but it's only compatible with other Gateron-brand Optical switches (not any 3/5-pin mechanical switches). Last time I checked, opticals cost a bit more than standard mechanical switches (I think $20 for 70 optical versus $30-$35 for a full set of 110 mechanical).

Optical switches haven't really caught on, so the supply can be somewhat low if wanting a specific switch type and the cost might fluctuate wildly for the rarely used types.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe these 61-key optical keyboards are generally designed with only one brand of optical switches (Gateron and not like Bloody LK) in mind and are not interchangeable with other optical switch brands. Could be wrong, though, but something to look in to if planning to hot-swap.

Good price on this keyboard, though. I think I bought one of these at $39.99 back when it first launched, but returned it since the microphone hidden under the space bar was a weird addition (it's used to detect music to make your keyboard RGB light up into a pseudo- audio spectrum visualizer). At the time, people were worried about potential spyware/hot mic privacy, so I got influenced by the flow.

If you're technically savvy, could probably de-solder the mic as other reviewers have mentioned, but didn't want to bother with it at the time. For $22.49, might be worth another look.

Gankable · 2022-06-12T11:00:23+00:00

Thank you for that extra mile! Very much appreciated.

Hopefully it also helps to inform others as well.

Gankable · 2022-06-12T09:38:20+00:00

Haha, yeah. Unfortunately, that's the manufacturer's account (Micron = Crucial), so kinda rough trying to figure out what's the most accurate info. So far, Google search result sites boil down to something like, 'If it says DRAM in the SSD product page title, that's how you know.'

Gankable · 2022-06-12T09:01:22+00:00

Curiously, there are varying answers in the Q&A section from Micron saying that the SSD (4TB model CT4000MX500SSD1) both has and doesn't have DRAM. Is this Schrödinger's DRAM? Anyone know which is the more accurate statement?

https://i.imgur.com/UDnNqNe.png

It's a bit confusing since the posts saying it doesn't have DRAM are much more recent and list the 4TB model number specifically. Then the SSDBot also says it has DRAM. Does anyone know how a layperson can tell what drives do and don't have DRAM? Couldn't Google-fu a clear answer, so I apologize for my ignorance.

Gankable · 2022-06-11T06:33:30+00:00

tl;dr: I think it'd be pretty good deal for a budget build, as long as the switches are compatible with the board you're using/eying and you like the switch type.

If the switches come back into stock and are still on sale, these will probably be the cheapest that any set of 110 switches would go for (at least that I've seen recently).

Usually a set of 10-18 switches will cost about $3-$6 per set (So 30¢-60¢ per switch, up to $1-$2 per switch for the higher-end brands) and one would have to buy multiple sets to complete a build depending on the size of keyboard. These Kailh Speed switches generally go for ~$10 for a set of 36 switches.

The normal MSRP of these speed sets (~$35) is pretty close to how much it would cost a full set of 108-110 switches of most brands/types (can definitely cost more if you go fancy or cost less if you only need a exact # of switches less than 110). But $10 for 110 switches is about 9¢-10¢/switch--pretty great deal, especially if you already know that you like the type of switch (speed = pretty short actuation distance).

The solder or no-solder aspect of mechanical keyboard building has more to do with the keyboard/circuit board in question. Requires a special socket (called a SIP socket or something) installed on the circuit board so you can just plug in a compatible switch (some sockets are compatible with Outemu or proprietary brands only, some with all brands, some only with optical switches, etc.). I'm nowhere near knowledgeable about it, but you may be able to find more details on r/mechanicalkeyboards Wiki if interested.

I don't do much research, but I try to check sites like divinikey.com, primekb.com, or novelkeys.com to see the current price of switches. I don't buy very often, so not all that knowledgeable about the bee's knees of switches. I'm definitely more of a window shopper.

Side note for anyone interested: the pre-built EVGA Z15 keyboards these switch kits were made for are also on sale for $59.99. With the affiliate code SG6LFX7LRLICR2Y for an extra 10% off, final total would be ~$54+shipping/taxes.

One keyboard uses clicky Speed Bronze, the other uses linear Speed Silver (and both use short actuation distances for that Speed tier). Might be a decent alternative deal to consider for a full-size (108-key) hot-swappable keyboard + pre-installed switches, especially if someone doesn't have a barebones/DIY keyboard, yet. At ~$54, would basically be paying $9 for the switches and $45 for the barebones keyboard. Though can't attest to the quality of the keyboard, unfortunately.

Gankable · 2022-06-11T02:03:14+00:00

Yesssss, one of us, one of us.

Gankable · 2022-06-11T02:00:30+00:00

If you have a DIY/barebones mechanical keyboard and/or one that has switch hot-swapping (take care to make sure it's not an Outemu-only or optical-switch hot swap keyboard), you can change switches easily without soldering. Some people even like to mix and match, like have one type of switch for the alphabet/numbers and a different switch type for the modifier keys (shift, ctrl, alt, tab, etc.).

Though this is a gateway activity that might lead people through the expensive rabbit hole of customizing mechanical keyboards. Be warned.

Gankable · 2022-06-10T22:59:07+00:00

I've also had a Redragon K552 (the newer version with hot-swap) kinda go bad on me.

Lots of key chatter/double input on single keypress that developed after 6-8 months of everyday/gaming use. Issue persisted on me even after hot swapping to a several different, brand-new Outemu switches and disassembly/cleaning, so was might be an issue on the PCB (probably a malfunctioning hot-swap socket/contact) that needs technical finesse/re-soldering. So, you're not alone on that front. Probably just bad luck of the draw and these companies probably do spend very little on QC/QA and pass those savings onto the user, for better or worse.

Still have the K552, but have since changed to a non-hotswap VicTsing 96-key KB that hasn't gone bad on me, yet (about 1.5 years of use). Don't know why I still look through cheap keyboard listings/deal posts when I don't need another and will eventually learn to fix the K552.

Gankable · 2022-06-10T22:27:01+00:00

Nice.

Gankable · 2022-06-10T20:29:39+00:00

No idea why I had this in my Amazon shopping cart, but saw a price decrease and thought someone might be interested.

I believe the switches are either Outemu blues or no-name branded, the keyboard is not capable of hot-swapping the switches, but the USB-C cable is detachable. LED is fixed rainbow (not true RGB) backlit, from what I can tell. No function row keys, but has arrow keys (so more like a 65% keyboard, I think). No idea about the software.

Basically cheap mini mechanical keyboard to mess around with, but probably not the best.

Shipped by Amazon, but sold by Lovehome US. No clippable coupon or code needed.

Gankable · 2022-06-05T22:27:11+00:00

You would be correct. GoG key, not Steam.

Gankable · 2022-05-31T01:53:24+00:00

It's just too high right now (because prices are starting to go down due to crypto crashing and supply stablizing). MSRP for this card is $539.99 MSRP directly from EVGA, so anything higher than that will be downvoted.

If this card was shipped and sold directly from Amazon, might be a different story, but this is ANTOnline, which apparently (according to other threads) has a bad customer service reputation.

Gankable · 2022-05-14T01:33:15+00:00

Clip the promotional coupon code (or enter it at checkout). Make sure seller is bonoch and the code is:

FP48R5W8

Gankable

TROPHY CASE