Joined on 05/20/07
Pros: Easy to install Copper base Heat pipes Not over-complicated Nice big fan is easy to clean
Cons: The base on my unit could have been smoother. I had to sand (lap), it down a bit and it could still use some polish. You could still see marks from the endmill or fly cutter they used to surface it. Some sanding will polish it right up, it's copper after all so it's easy. Supplied thermal paste, as with any HS manufacturer, is garbage and already applied so you have to clean it off first thing.
Overall Review: I've had this on my AMD Phenom II X4 955 for several years now and have never had a problem at stock speeds or even OC. Though I don't really OC now as I had to downgrade my mobo due to weather and a blown battery backup. The only problem I've readlly had beyond that is that the fins tend to clog up and I have to remove it to clean it several times a year...but that's just our house being full of pets and dusty to boot. Oh...and to jakman85 who said there's no replacement, he's silly. Just go to their website and you can order replacment parts to totally rebuild any of AC's products. Honestly the lack of common sense in people will always amaze me. So, to recap: Great cooler at stock speeds or mild OC, easy to clean (fan pops right off and on), only real con is the rough surface on the base unit for the one I got, hopefully it's better now as I've had mine a while. I would and do suggest this product!
Excellent....except for one thing
Pros: The environment is immersive and the world has a weighty, realistic feel to it. The graphics, while a bit dated by today’s standards, still look amazing (especially during storms). The weather is some of the best I’ve ever seen in any game and I’ve been playing games since the late 70’s. While not perfect (i.e. L4D2 has better rain SFX during a storm), the use of light and sound is perfect IMO. Suspenseful: This is maybe the second game I’ve ever played that makes me literally jump at times. Good main plot with lots of little side plots that tie in well (except for perhaps poor old Noah). Realistic weapon performance (drop, rate of fire, etc), and models (except that everything is left-hand ejecting). Though, the weapon mods are totally silly when you read them lol.
Cons: Load times: OMeffingG sweet baby Jebus!!!!!!!!!! Ok lemme tip you in here. Read my system specs below, it's no slouch! But, last night I timed a zone load at, a mind numbing THREE MINUTES. This is on the PC, I can't imagine what poor dumb console gamers have to sit through! Note also, that I have a prefetch addon that ONLY does prefetch for some basic things (trees, weapons, etc), and disables prefetch for everything else. The AI is rather basic though, at medium range, in the open, they can be a fight. And, often in CQB they'll surprise you. But they still get stuck on items and line up on top of one another.
Overall Review: The bad things considered, looking at my Steam info, I have 80 hours played on this game thus far and am just nearing the end (I'd say about 8/10ths done), of the game. So, despite it's flaws, it STILL sucks you in and just won't let go. I find it VERY spell binding at times. And it amazes me how well the story, graphics, sound and excellent level design get me to let my guard down so that when a baddie luches around a dark corner I literally jump in my seat!! The load times alone are what knocked off the two eggs. I seriously don't know what the programming errors are here but it seems to be built into the game. Every forum I've read has people screaming about load times so it's not just me. There are games of the same era that load amazing ammounts of data on the fly, in real time (ArmAII for example or the Unreal engine), so it HAS to be the engine. Specs MoBo: MSI 870A-G54 CPU: AMD Phenom II quad, 125W Black @ stock 3.2GHz RAM: G.Skill RipJaws 16GB GPU: GTX260
Does everything I need and is easy to use.
Pros: Has most modern gear you'd expect, just look at the specs and features The BIOS is super easy to use and has software that lets you adjust it while in the OS as well. Has overclocking protection built in. Good SATA support with a RAID controller built in.
Cons: The BIOS layout could be a little more intuitive IMO. It's easy enough to use don't get me wrong but you have to hunt and peck for some things. To use an M.2 drive you apparently need an adapter and that isn't included. When you use an M.2 drive, that drive is by default the C drive and apparently there is NO option to change this. IMO this is not ideal because the C drive doesn't always need to be the fastest. In my case for example, I have all my games installed on another drive and so THAT drive needs to be the fastest.
Overall Review: I haven't had all the issues many here seem to have had. Not sure if maybe they just got lemons or I got lucky but it works just great for me. I got this board because the ASRock board I had ordered first arrived with bent CPU socket pins from the factory. Nobody believed me even with photos of the bends but NE begrudgingly gave me an RMA for it. So far this board has been a trooper. Mind you, I'm not overclocking it or using all the features either. But I've had zero issues and have had several builds for myself and friends using MSI products and have always been impressed with the ease of use and utility of their boards. My biggest complaint is actually for the software. The MSI command center is a memory hog and seems to be incomplete. It's good for what it does in that it is a useful tool for keeping drivers up to date on things like the motherboard and chipset drivers. But, when you look at the notes there's never any info. And it doesn't always update correctly either. And once installed it defaults to loading with windows and there's NO way to turn this off. MSI, if you read this please work on streamlining that command center. It's really close to being very good. The hardware monitor/overclocking software is actually pretty good but needs some fine tuning in terms of fan control and being more user friendly. Like, I should be able to set an overclocking goal then tell it "try it" and have it attempt the OC and give me a report. And work on that M.2 thing, a user should be able to use any drive assignment for the M.2 not just the primary. Otherwise, thanks for another great product!
Pros: Good hardware selection Liquid cooling! Quiet Plenty of lifting power.
Cons: No keyboard/mouse (see below) No choice in OS Shipped as one assembled unit
Overall Review: We bought this for my wife to replace her aging Alienware laptop which also developed a bad GPU apparently. This machine basically mirrors my desktop so I was very pleased with the parts vs cost. My only complaints and the reason I knocked off an egg are minor but still annoying considering how good the product actually is. 1. No choice of OS, you get Windows 8. My wife is learning to use it while I point and laugh at her. 2. The product is shipped as one assembled unit and I personally dislike that. I understand that is kind of the point, that it is aimed at those who might not have the knowhow to put a rig together. But still, I worry about the socket and slot interfaces. Thankfully the water block for the CPU doesn't weigh much at all so I'm not terribly worried. I've just seen what happens when people didn't remove their HS/fan units for LAN parties in the past. 3. No keyboard or mouse. Not knocking Cyberpower for this one actually because most people already have their favorite combo anyway or some idea of what they'll be getting as far as these parts go. However, Newegg depicts the machine WITH a keyboard/mouse on the ad for the machine when you scroll down to the detailed description. This is confusing and while not a big deal it did mean we had to get another keyboard after the initial purchase. Other than those nitpicks, this is a solid machine. If you don't have the time or knowledge to assemble your own unit but want a rig that has solid gaming performance then give this some serious consideration. Also, the case is really good, nothing fancy of course but still a very good case considering this is a preassembled system. The SSD is a little small but really you only need enough space for the OS and maybe Office and the other stuff you might cram into the Program Files folder so it is plenty for that. My only suggestion to Cyberpower to make this offering better would be to use a liquid cooler that has software adjustable settings. And to maybe include a keyboard/mouse offering. I would highly recommend this system. It has a lot of potential. Is it built from the bleeding edge stuff? No....will it play most titles today (8/20/14), at max settings? Yup...though I can't speak about multimonitors as we just use singles.
Running strong...
Pros: Modular cables Bronze 80 = efficient 12v rail gives 60 amps! Ball bearing 140mm cooling fan 5 year warranty
Cons: Cables are rather stiff as some have said.
Overall Review: While the cables are a little stiff, you get all the cables you need. The fan keeps spinning after system shut down to help with cooling, then turns off once at a safe temp. This helps the life of the unit a lot. I guess some people got duds but that does happen with any mass production item. The one I'm using is 4+ years old and going strong. It lived a life sipping from an under powered battery back up unit, then NO unit (was broke for a time), and now a nice 1500 unit. It's survived our houses cruddy (wow newegg really? cra double-p y is a bad word??? what are we all toddlers?), circuits and the neighborhood's horrid power grid. Brown outs, near miss lightning strikes, you name it this thing is rock solid. I feel bad for those who've had troubles with it because for me it's the best PSU I've owned to date. While my system isn't a turbo power hog by some high end standards, it's a fair setup as of 2013. Intel i5 3750K 16GB of RAM MSI mobo Asus 7700 Antec 90 cooler and a lot of large case fans plus one or two smaller ones. Not to mention the traditional HDD (no SSD yet), optical drive, etc. I think I'm creeping up on needing a larger supply but this one should do for a while yet! I would and have suggested this product to others. The engineering of this PSU is excellent and it is rock solid!
Best case I've owned
Pros: * Very roomy inside * Built with liquid cooling in mind, even a double length radiator will fit up top * Bottom mounted PSU * Lots of bays * LOTS of air flow * Easy to clean!!! * Great combination of form and function * Best of all, no silly swinging front plate! * Bottom intake, if a bit small.
Cons: Little on the large side. While for me this isn't so much of a problem I can see how it might be for some. With all the air this thing draws through it, it can mean having to clean it a bit more often. This is especially true for me as for some reason our house has a ton of dust......sigh, and a LOT of pet hair :( The biggest CON is that apparently I got the last one in stock as it's now on the discontinued list!!!
Overall Review: My cons aren't really so much cons as just the down sides of the pros IMO. The case really is a well done model considering the price. IMO it's the best bang for the buck out there.....but I also freely admit I've not tried a bunch of the more modern cases. It's a nice, roomy case with a TON of airflow. It's liquid cooling ready for almost any configuration. I especially like that the top is ready to mount the longer radiators. I personally also like the fact that the front grill work is easy to clean and not bogged down with the "fluff" accent work so many other manufacturers put on their cases. It has a bottom draw vent for chimney draw and it even has a filter in place there too. The only problem with this is that it doesn't sit very high off the ground on the foot pegs. So this means that unless you have a hardwood floor or something similar (i.e. smooth and flat), then it's moot. I have carpet so, the vent hole is not going to be functional. I have to just find a board or something to sit it on. This is the second of these cases for me. My first one is the older model with the unpainted insides that I have my file server running on upstairs. I was very impressed with it and so when it came time to finally upgrade my gaming rig I looked around a lot, but eventually came back to this case. I really hope that NewEgg picks these up again. I would, and have, suggested this product to others. I think it's a great product for the price.
So far so good!
Nothing to really report. Was a basic transaction. But they got it to me in a timely manner and at a fair price. If the opportunity comes up again I'll give them another try.