Pros: Price, FAST, heat spreaders, runs great stock or overclocked.

Cons: none

Overall Review: Runs great in a Gigabyte P35-DS3L mobo

Pros: - Cream of the crop for the GTX 570 series, custom PCB - Good performance at 1920x1080 resolution - Stays relatively cool despite a noncustom cooling solution - EVGA warranty and step-up program

Cons: - software drivers

Overall Review: Despite all the different fixes I tried, I was unable to correct the video stutter in 3D games (check various video card forums, the Nvidia stutter bug has been around for awhile). I tried beta drivers, the latest 301.xx official driver, using VSYNC, nothing worked. In the action MMOs that I play, that stuttering seriously screws up activating different clickies and skills. Returned the card and went back to my trusty 5850 crossfire setup.

Pros: Factory overclocked card, VERY quiet under load, effective cooler. At 950 MHz, it's almost as fast as a 7970 for much less. Coming from 5850s in Crossfire, this card is spectacular, even loaded the old Crysis to see what I was missing with. It played that on 1920x1080 Very High and 4x AA beautifully (proc is I3-2120 Sandy Bridge).

Cons: Not really a con, but if you look at the pictures on Newegg, you'll notice that it has 6-pin AND 8-pin power connectors not the dual 6-pin listed or like 95% of 7950 cards (making me wonder if its based off a 7970 board). The 8-pin connector means more power and overclocking headroom for enthusiasts.

Overall Review: Other reviewers note instability with these cards. Interestingly enough any overclocking, even 25 MHz would cause instability and crashes. Opened Afterburner only to find that Sapphire undervolted the card (1.03 mV vs 1.093 mV for stock 7950). Once you bring the voltage to stock, 1050 MHz is easy, and if you push it to stock 7970 1GHz Edition voltage of 1.2 to 1.25 mV, I'm sure you can hit 1100+ MHz easily. Bottom line is that this is a fantastic card, stays cool and quiet, and when properly overclocked, can match or beat a GTX 680 (depending on the game) for much less. Imagine the possibilities if Crossfired!

Pros: Installed easily in my Gigabyte Z68 mobo with an i3-2130 CPU and DOES NOT interfere with the RAM slots which is a big plus. With the stock frequencies, the i3 does not get hotter than 44 C while set on low speed during prolonged heavy gaming, but I do have a HAF mid-tower case which has great circulation.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Fan is quiet on the low setting. This CPU cooler should be able to cool the future 22nm Sandybridge socket 1155 quad core CPUs with moderate 4-4.5 GHz overclock.

Pros: Installed flawlessly with Intel i3-2130 and GSkill Ripjaws 16GB DDR3 1600 RAM. Drivers installed easily. Allows me to crossfire my 5850's with enough breathing room in between the cards like my old Gigabyte P45 mobo. SATA III ports, USB 3.0, and the ability to install 22nm CPUs in the future is a definite plus. Most current BIOS revision was already flashed.

Cons: None

Overall Review: I have used Gigabyte mobos for my last 9 builds (including family and friends) and have not been disappointed yet. I didn't take advantage of the Intel SRT caching even though it benchmarks nicely, instead I'm using a true SSD solution.

Pros: This chip installed easily in a Gigabyte X68 motherboard. My former processor was an Intel Duo Core E8500 OC'd to 4.0 GHz with 444 MHz FSB, and this chip stock cut my Windows boot time in half. The hyperthreading and Sandybridge architecture make it perform like a quad core, and my games run smoother if not faster. Low energy consumption is nice as well.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Debated between this proc vs i5-2500k/Phenom II x4/A8 3870k, but Phenom II has no future upgrade path and Bulldozer is junk (sorry AMD), and I have no need for integrated graphics (A8). After reading an SSD article and viewing an in-game video showing the difference not in frame rate but smoothness in games, such as BF3, on T*mhardware.com, I decided to put the difference in cost (and a little bit more) between this i3 and the 2500k into a reliable Samsung SSD and have not regretted it. Since my mobo is 22nm compatible, my future plan is to use this chip for a couple years then give it to the kids, then upgrade to a 22nm quad core. Rig: Intel i3-2120 @ 3.3 GHz GSkill Ripjaws 16GB DDR3 1600 MHz Gigabyte GA-ZX68P-UD3 mobo AMD HD 5850 graphics card x2 in Crossfire Samsung 830 128GB SSD WD 500GB Caviar Black HDD (storage) Seasonic 850W PSU