Pros: - tremendous PCIe flexibility - support for simultaneous M.2 and U.2 drives - clean UEFI with intuitive options and controls - good physical component layout on board (i.e., position and spacing of key slots) - quality components with robust construction - board worked properly on the first try; no drama with memory of BIOS

Cons: - M.2 location is not ideal - mouse support in BIOS is laggy - insufficient number of rear USB ports

Overall Review: Through a series of odd events, this happens to be the fourth x99 refresh board I've worked with in the past two months. After helping a friend with his build, I can compare this board to the ASUS Rampage V Edition 10, EVGA x99 FTW K, and ASUS Deluxe II; in this regard, the Gigabyte x99 Designare EX was definitely most impressive board of the bunch. The ASUS boards had odd BIOS and compatibility issues (e.g., Intel MEI not installing, SATA drives not detecting as AHCI, poor onboard audio, bloatware, etc), not to mention unacceptably slow boot times, and the EVGA board, while working properly, didn't have a PCIe 2.0 x1 slot where I needed it. I selected the Designare EX because it was the only board that can support two GPUs in SLI with full x16 bandwidth while driving an M.2 SSD and a PCIe sound card. The latter is generally the sticking point, as the vast majority of boards now hide the PCIe 2.0 x1 slot under a primary GPU slot, which makes it impossible to properly use the sound card. Surprisingly, the ASUS Deluxe II has the M.2 port sharing resources with the second GPU slot, which in theory means SLI performance will be degraded. This board can manage that while supporting M.2 and U.2 drives without any loss of capability! In this way, I can keep my Samsung 950 Pro and upgrade to a U.2 drive in the future without compromise. It's also worth noting that the Designare EX worked properly on the very first boot and has continued to provide a seamless experience. The WiFi even worked before I had an opportunity to load the drivers, which was quite impressive. For reference, neither of the ASUS boards could manage this feat. Overclocking has similarly been quite intuitive, and I'm able to obtain 4.4 GHz w/ a 6850k at 1.36V by only adjusting three or four settings in the BIOS. I am truly satisfied with this purchase, and I highly recommend it over the aforementioned ASUS boards. I'm so happy with this purchase, that I will likely become a full convert to Gigabyte motherboards in the future.

Pros: - performance - software bundle - appearance and lighting effects

Cons: - compared with the Sound Blaster products I have owned recently (e.g., ZXR), the onboard audio is truly dreadful - several key slots and components are disturbingly close together - price

Overall Review: If given the opportunity to reconsider my purchase, I would opt for a cheaper board. The marketing devoted to the audio features was, in hindsight, mostly a pleasant fiction. Put the residual money into a discrete sound card solution.

Pros: - validated with several motherboards - drama free - makes system/CPU overclocking easier (i.e., no CPU strap or BCLK concerns)

Cons: - nothing

Overall Review: Great memory that plays well with your other components and is compatible with the majority of motherboards. I don't think memory speed affects gaming performance that much, so I favored size and system stability by selecting the 2400 MHz variety.

Pros: - great cooling - easy installation

Cons: - loud fans

Overall Review: As an old(er) gamer, I've transitioned away from the exotic custom water cooling solutions of my youth in favor of convenient AIO options like this. I recently helped a friend build a custom loop with a 6850k, and I'm happy to report that the H115i has cooling performance that isn't too far behind much more expensive solutions. That is, after obtaining a 6850k for myself, the H115i performed nearly as well as my friend's custom loop - save for the noisy fans. My idle and load temperatures are still quite good, and certainly not limiting my OC potential. I highly recommend this product, but it is worth using custom fans if you want a truly quiet solution.

Pros: - great cooling performance - outstanding overclocking potential - worked on the first try, even in SLI, without issues - nice white LED lighting on the fan

Cons: - could use a higher quality fan

Overall Review: I highly recommend this product. Compared to the Titan X (Pascal) that I'm in the process of returning, these GPUs provide outstanding drama-free performance in SLI. Cooling is great without being excessive, as there's no point to keeping your temperatures below 40C if it doesn't translate into better OC performance. In this way, I don't think my OC GPU temperatures have ever gone above 55C under full load, which is more than sufficient.

Pros: - thoughtful design that is fully modular - plenty of space - quiet fans

Cons: - awkward PSU mounting system

Overall Review: This case replaces my Corsair 900D, and I was surprised to find that I like it better. Although technically smaller than the 900D, it has a tremendous amount of space and should be more than adequate for nearly all enthusiast applications. It's definitely quieter than my previous case, and I appreciate the wireless charging and front panel options too. All things considered, it's probably the best case I've ever owned.