Joined on 01/03/06
Balearic
Pros: Awesome motherboard very tough design. Did experience a bit of flexing without the Armor Kit, which I did not purchase as I was on a budget. A bit over priced for $162.00 which is high priced for its competition to other Z87 Matx Boards. The UEFI bio's is awesome, changed the settings to manual XMP settings, and set multiplier to 4.2ghz and it was that simple. For higher overclocks like 4.6ghz good luck. Changing the voltages might not be enough.
Cons: Tuff boards do not work with the 4 way optimization auto overclocking tool. If you want to auto overclock I suggest getting a different motherboard. The gryphon and Sabretooth require Manual overclock.
Overall Review: Posted on the first try and recognized all my components. The Thermal Radar and Asus Suite 3 is pretty nice. Build: Bitfenix Phenom M Asus Z87 Gryphon EVGA GTX 760 Intel i5 4670K Gskill Sniper 8GB (2x4) @ 1600 Samsung Evo 840 120GB Corsair CX750M
Bitfenix Phenom Matx
Pros: Looks sleek and expensive. I been waiting for this case for awhile because I didn't like the Prodigy handles. Relatively small case. Was smooth to install all my components with a modular PSU. I agree having a optical drive is pointless. I like that they left it out. You could install windows 8 with a USB drive anyway. Decent temps in this case despite it's size at idle everything sits at 30 degrees.
Cons: The hidden optical drive that is behind the front panel is useless because it blocks the top fan placement over your graphics cards. So if you want to SLI config you have to completely leave out the drive because it covers a 120mm fan splot. The power button is so flushed that it gets stuck a lot. It's been 3 days and it already got stuck to where it would auto shut down. They put all the case connections that connect to your motherboard on the main side panel door. Every time you want to open the case it becomes a hassle to disconnect a few wires (audio, sata cable for your SSD), which is also connected to the side window. Wish it had an optional clear side panel like the prodigy. It is true you can swap the side panels so the cables are on the other side. However, The panel with the wires has 3 slots for your SSD's to sit in. If your SSD is there, you won't be able to close the panel because the sata cable is sticking out there is absolutely no cable room. You definately don't have room for the regular size hard drive. An SSD is a must in this case. You have two 120mm fan slots at the bottom of the case to push cold air to the GPU's so no hard drive placement there. Your only option is the 3 SSD slots on the case's side panel.
Overall Review: I really wanted to like and enjoy this case. But i just get annoyed with the layout more and more. No matter which way you decide it just doesn't work out the way you want it to. My rig so far: Phenom Matx Case Asus Gryphon Motherboard Intel i5 4670K Corsair H60 V2 CPU cooler Evga GTX 760 8GB (2x4) Gskill Sniper @1600 Corsair CX750M
horrible
Pros: One star because they made one in White. I bought it over the white Asus ASUS VX238H-W. Boy was that a mistake. Quickly RMA'd this one and went for the Asus.
Cons: Here is why. Know what your getting before you buy this. Right now writing this review its priced at 259. I originally got it for 179. At this price, it has no tilt, no Vesa mount on the back. The stand is way too large. On another bad note, the screen naturally tilt's down at your face to hurt your eyes instead of tilting backwards. Why would you tilt your monitor forward down at your face? There is no way to adjust the screen. The Menu options get even more worse if you set it on "game mode." It looks like huge black outlines on everything looking way too sharp. Really dark colors and not enough color. Doesn't even seem like a Samsung monitor to me. I'm a huge Samsung fan. I've had my 1080p Samsung tv for 7 years and still love it. But anyway no speakers at this price .Too large to put on your desk at only 23" LED because of the huge stand that wobbles. Trust me, if you want a white monitor buy the Asus ASUS VX238H-W because its way cheaper, has speakers, and tilts.
Overall Review: What was Samsung thinking on this one?
Not good for Gamers
Pros: Installs on its own with windows 8.1. Picks up five bars on my wifi signal. Pretty reliable for people who don't game on their PC. For regular web surfing its stable enough.
Cons: Became unstable after a few weeks. Not as fast as having a wired connection. This card will give you Huge lag in Online gaming. Difference in LAG is hugely noticable. Card will disconnect without you noticing and log you off your game. Really sucks especially when playing Call of Duty: Ghosts. I have updated and reinstalled drivers many times. My wifi router is less than 10 feet away.
Overall Review: I would stick to a different brand. I have to use a wired connection when playing COD Ghosts. If i use the TP link wifi card i will get constant deaths.
Steal for Memory! Great deal!
Pros: Works perfectly dual channel! All I did is go into the UEFI bios and set it to Manual XMP and it picked up at timing 9-9-9-24 like it was suppose to. People tend to criticize because they don't take a minute to check their motherboard compatibility. I just went to Gskill website and used the motherboard configurator and selected my motherboard and this was on the list. Bingo. Do yourself a favor and buy the sniper series to save cash on your build.
Cons: None
Overall Review: I don't know why people by more than 8 Gigs of Memory for gaming. This seems fine to me all games run smoothly.
follow up
Pros: Just benchmarked it with Crystal Disc mark 3.0.1C and reads 500.7/ 195.1 Write. Boots windows like a champ. Buy this!
Cons: really small didnt fit perfect in my PC rig, but my case found a way.
Overall Review: Fast! Sequential Read : 500.673 MB/s Sequential Write : 195.084 MB/s Random Read 512KB : 375.865 MB/s Random Write 512KB : 190.022 MB/s Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 22.670 MB/s [ 5534.7 IOPS] Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 52.859 MB/s [ 12904.9 IOPS] Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 203.741 MB/s [ 49741.4 IOPS] Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 124.421 MB/s [ 30376.3 IOPS] Test : 1000 MB [C: 77.4% (92.2/119.1 GB)] (x5) Date : 2012/07/07 14:16:10 OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)