Apparently this is a Taiwanese brand and so far from what I am seeing from this in terms of specs, it’s pretty solid and with the pricing I saw for this with a 1TB storage, seems reasonable.
http://www.kingmax.com/en-global/product/product/Model/M.2_2280_PCIe_NVMe_Gen3x4_PQ3480
The EVO line uses TLC NAND while the PRO uses MLC NAND. As for the 970/980, the 970 is Gen3 and the 980 is Gen4.
Like I said, the one review I could find for that didn’t have anything bad to say about it beyond limited regional availability. Should be fine if it’s available for you to buy.
Only concern I would have is the fact it uses SLC for cache instead of DRAM. It’s not a huge deal , but it does hurt performance a little. If you’re going to edit video/images or do anything with intensive reads and writes, skip it and look for one of the after mentioned Sabrent/WD Black/ Samsung EVO or PRO line up. If you’re just gaming/daily use them it’s fine.
Also, do you have a SATA SSD or are you still with just a HD? If you’re going out of HDD life than 100% go, it will be miles better. But if you’re just going from a SATA SSD maybe skip it and wait for a better price at a better driver. Improvement from SATA to NVME are very slim IMO. I think it would be better to save up the money and invest elsewhere.
I think I forgot to mention this, but I already have a solid M.2 SSD for my OS and I am still using it to this day. And that NVMe SSD would be the ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro and I think that is the Gen 1 version and to this day it’s still fast, even though I wanted a 970 EVO Plus back then but when I first received this, it was a game changer for it has been a long time of me constantly enduring the use of an HDD during those times.
But yeah, I think a better SSD than Kingmax would be a better option since one, I don’t know much about them that much and the only Taiwan brand that we’re familiar with would be Lian Li but they don’t sell SSDs. And two, yeah in terms of SSDs right now I am leaning towards either Samsung or Sabrent.
Now that I got many inputs that are mostly helpful from everyone, I think I can safely say that I know what to get next, and maybe after this I will go back to audio-stuff for I miss getting some that is bang for your buck there.
Uh guys, sorry about messaging here too much but goddamn I just saw a Samsung 980 EVO 1TB for sale and it’s up for grabs right now for the price of $130 and I think that is a good deal here in my store. A steal imo but I am not sure if I will be able to make it since the sale is ending today, and I have yet to receive my paycheck.
Welp, better luck next time.
Don’t sweat it, they go on sales every once in a while.
Anyone have any experience with this thing?
ID-COOLING SE-226-XT Black CPU Cooler LGA1700 Compatible 6 Heatpipes CPU Air Cooler All-Black 120mm PWM Fan, Intel/AMD https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FDXJV3M/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_EBSNHXMTV63V9X6T1W7V?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Nope, never even heard of it before now. Reviews on Amazon seem to suggest that it’s decent as long as you aren’t trying to use it to stress Alder Lake.
It proablly depends on which 12th gen you are trying to cool, but i’d stick with stuff that has been tested by outside sources personally i always look at Gamers Nexus or Hardware Canucks first.
Gamers Nexus is pure data driven, very extensive testing with zero BS or fluf but can be very boring. (Because of their and a few other reviews i took my EK AIO and i couldnt be happier )
Hardware Canucks - a good balance between looking at pure data and also looking at esthetic while still keeping the format intersting.
Are you shopping for specifically a black tower cooler?
Not necessarily, more something that’ll look decent.
What’s your budget?
A really good afordble and very good option is the Fuma 2
https://www.amazon.com/Original-Design-Towers-Cooler-SCFM-2000/dp/B07QMK5R45
Around $50 for the cooler, keep it under $100 for the case.
Then the Fuma 2 is diffidently hits the mark, just make sure you have the clearance in terms of height
Yep, that was my thought when I saw the price of the 226 XT. Anything at the ~$50 is competing with that and the U12S, dependent on use-case.
I love noctua and i rocked a bunch of their case fans and the U12S for a few years im just not a fan of the tan color 
so i ended up swtiching to something a little more eye-pleasing but still solid
What about the Mugen Black Edition? Allegedly better then the non BE and would probably be easier to swap fans if i ever decided i really wanted them all to match and the same price as the Fuma
Ya from what iv’e seen its a solid cooler.
BTW going in on esthetics is a rabbit hole that i normally advise going for only for a brand new build in a lot of cases you’ll end up spending a lot more than you think just to match your current stuff, i would suggest saving that budget and then building looks in mind from the get go, a better solid look and still getting good bang for your buck
For your CPU, I can’t imagine you’d notice a difference. If you were going to be putting it on a more demanding CPU, then I’d say get the Fuuma 2, but for a 1600 it won’t matter which. That’s not going to put out enough heat to matter.
