Joined on 07/14/01
The Best on a Budget
Pros: -TLC memory (unlike the cheaper but QLC Intel 660p) -DRAM cache (unlike the budget HP EX900 or several others; do not get DRAMless drives) -Silicon Motion controller is one of the better performing out there -Supports full NVMe PCIe x4 speeds -Long warranty and retaining screw included -Very good real world performance at a budget price
Cons: -Sure, you could say "They're not as fast as the Samsung 970 EVO Plus", but then you're paying a whole lot less. They're a top-twenty contender at the time of this review. -Some have reported the drives run warm. I can't confirm; my mainboard came with heatsinks for M.2 drives. If you're concerned, heatsinks run $5-15 depending on how fancy you want them.
Overall Review: These drives use the Silicon Motion SM2262 controller. This makes them very similar to the Intel 760p, for roughly 2/3 the price. They come retail boxed, with an M.2 retaining screw, and list a five-year warranty. I have purchased two 1TB models and installed them in my Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi. Note: Multipointe is the HP partner that supports the drives on their behalf; look them up if you need drivers, firmware, or other support. They are considerably faster than the Samsung 850 Pro 2.5" 512GB drives I replaced, and those are the best 2.5" SATA MLC SSDs you can get.
Acceptable, but not great
Pros: The fans have a reasonable life. I had one as the intake fan in my Corsair 650D for several years, without issues.
Cons: NewEgg sells this fan for a fair bit more than the OEM. The fan costs more than the higher quality, higher airflow, lower noise BitFenix Spectre Pro 200mm, or the CoolerMaster MegaFlow 200mm which NewEgg also carries; I have owned all three.
Overall Review: At a full 12 volts, this fan gets a bit whiny. It is much more tolerable lowered to about 7.5v with a fan controller, but you get less airflow. Cooler Master's MegaFlow 200mm and BitFenix's Spectre Pro 200mm operate at their full 12v with much better noise quality. I would purchase these from NewEgg rather than the Corsair.
Solid piece of equipment so far
Pros: Solid three-fan cooler and backplate USB-C connector (not every card has) Solid backplate Low noise 3-fan setup Heatsink makes contact with VRMs and RAM Tasteful lit logo, no excessive RGB-bling Solid performance of an RTX 2080 Super Reasonable price range compared to other cards of this type 4 year warranty
Cons: None I'm aware of
Overall Review: This card has been an excellent purchase. Competing cards within the same price range were unavailable, so while I would have shopped between EVGA and ASUS as well, they weren't options. I'm not sorry I have this card instead of them. This is the most competitive card in features for price. Some in this range don't have the USB-C port. Some don't have a backplate. Most have only two fans instead of three. I see no cut corners or skimping; this card has the same 8+2 power setup as the Founder's edition card. It plays all of my games great at 1440p, and with the addition of Freesync support with the latest drivers, I could go that route with a new monitor (Dell S2719DGF). Based on my experiences so far, I would purchase this card again.
Fully featured, solid product for a great price.
Pros: -Solid, reinforced circuit board with no warping -DisplayPort, HDMI, and DVI video outs -5.1 Audio, USB3 and USB3-C ports -Intel Gigabit NIC, 4 DIMM sockets (supports 64GB), reinforced PCIe x16 slot, NVME support (M.2 slot) -UEFI BIOS is reasonably intuitive in this price range -All for under $100, great for a budget build
Cons: -I couldn't get it to work with pairs of RAM from different vendors (e.g., 2 x 4GB Corsair DDR4 and another 2 x 4GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4) -the system would not boot with both pairs in. I suspect it did not like the timings.
Overall Review: I am running this board in my SO's system with a Core i5-7500T Kaby, a Samsung PM981 256GB M.2 SSD in x4 NVME mode, 8GB of Corsair DDR4 memory, and an ASUS AMD RX460 GPU. It has been running solid for a year and a half now without issues. It;s speedy, the BIOS and driver support has been good, and I've had no real complaints. This is a bargain if you want mATX and don't want to overclock.
Solid upgrade at an excellent price
Pros: Runs at the speed and timings it's advertised for (note: XMP should be enabled). No issues
Cons: Would have liked them to have a black-heatsink version; red/blue don't go with everything. Not a huge deal.
Overall Review: I purchased these to replace a 16GB (4 x 4GB) kit of G.Skill Ripjaws X with the same timings that I bought a number of years ago that served through three mainboards and multiple Core i-Series processors before winding up with a Haswell 4790K and Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK. I have never had a G.Skill module fail (I have purchased quite a few for myself and others); I have no reason to believe from this kit that that will change. At $126, these are a bargain considering their bus speed and timings.
A pretty good product, but not perfect
Pros: -Outer metal casing -One SATA power connector supports four drives -Supports hotswap if your controller does -Designed for easy fan replacement with a custom 2/3 pin of your choosing. -Fan speed settings (High, Low, Automatic) -Lights for activity indicators just like a stock server
Cons: -Plastic trays are a little flimsy. These could be made with more solid plastic, and with metal outer edges/buttons, and I would gladly pay extra. -SATA power connector works fine for me, but I can see where it would be found a bit weak by some. Beefing the construction up there would be good. -(nit-picking) IcyDock's printed numbers on the dock for your drives don't make sense. Drives one and two are on the left, three and four on the right. In a pre-built server, one and two would be top left/right, three and four would be bottom left/right. Just my OCD, but that's how every Dell and HP server I've worked with has done it.
Overall Review: I accidentally ordered this instead of the ToughArmor for my HP Proliant ML310e Gen8 v2 server. I like the power arrangement and fan setup of this dock better; I like the drive cages and LED configuration of the ToughArmor better. Also, the ToughArmor is a little more tolerant of drive size (e.g., Velociraptors or 2.5" WD Reds will likely fit and likely will not in the ExpressCage). I'm currently running two SSDs in it, and will probably add two more eventually; my four mechanical drives are alredy in the server's 3.5" cage.