Pros: - Cooler is bringing my temps down by 8-10C over stock and with the reduced temps over stock cooler the chip's auto boost speeds are up 25-50MHz because of the better thermals. - EASY to install for a big cooler. - Well priced against anything in this class. - LOVE that the fan springs stay attached to the fan, making it remarkably easy to remove and reinstall.

Cons: For the AMD installation, the inserts that screw into the backplate have a black hard rubber or plastic fitting. The manual would have you believe that this part installs outward from the board. It actually installs toward the board in the downward position. For anyone willing to take on these types of installs this isn't a huge problem as it should get noticed pretty quickly. It's just an annoyance. I would have docked a 1/2 star if that was an option, but since it isn't, I didn't dock anything.

Overall Review: In the nearly 30 years I've been working on computers I've watched the thermals increase substantially. I've tried my hand at custom water cooling, but maintenance for those systems was more than I wanted as a long term solution. Big air coolers are a much lower maintenance solution, but sometimes installing them can be tough. This is hands down the easiest install cooler in that class. The split tower design with easy to remove/install fans makes access to the mounting points exceptionally easy.

Pros: Windows 7 is what Vista should have been. The interface doesn't have nearly the bloat of Vista, and it's faster. I didn't have Vista stability issues, but then again, I removed the unnecessary bloat. I do like the ability to pin items to the Task Bar. Windows 7 doesn't have the ability to build a menu after so many items are added to the Task Bar, but you can create a folder, make a new toolbar, and point it at the folder for the same effect, so I won't dock an egg for that. The Multimedia player does a much better job of retrieving data and managing your MM files. I think the interfaces throughout the system, while many are still the same or similar to Vista, is still overall cleaner.

Cons: This was supposed to be an "upgrade" package. It didn't matter that I already had admin privileges on my account, or whether I logged into the admin account. It didn't matter that I shut down every process and service that I possibly could. It didn't matter how many times I ran the Windows upgrade utility. This system simply wouldn't upgrade. It would always fail at the very end when it was supposed to be copying programs and whatnot. A little research on the issue showed I am far from being the only one with the issue, and none of the suggestions that were mentioned online fixed the issue. It would still fail at the very end and fall back to the original OS install.

Overall Review: Although I'm just upgrading my home system to the OS I have worked with it at work for quite some time. I still like Windows 7, but the upgrading from a previous OS isn't a given. If you have a previous versions of Windows and want to upgrade, do it while you still get the Acronis True Image. I've used the program for a couple of years now and love it. Something with a little more detail than the Setuperr.log that could be more easily understood would be nice for troubleshooting upgrade failures. It does create a Windows.old directory with all your critical files, so you can still copy them over as long as you don't select the option to format the drive, but plan on having to go with a clean install, so make sure you have your software license keys for your other programs! So far BF3 only required me to copy over the directories from the Windows.old files and reinstall Origin to bring it back to life. I'm hoping for the same with my Steam files.

Pros: This is the retail version that includes the HSF. Now let me preface this by saying that this hardware was installed into a CMStacker case that I paid a small fortune for almost 10 years ago. This is what paying for good quality gets you. - 10 years later this case is still serving me well. It has a single 120mm in front, a single 120mm in the rear, and 4x120mm on the side door bringing lots of cool air into the HSF, GPU, RAM, and MB. With a 6x fan controller, I have absolute granular control over all airflow in/out of this case. - Combined with the MSI Arsenal Gaming B450 Tomahawk this CPU (also part of this order) is doing better than expected. Even with the factory HSF and thermal compound, this system is running this CPU at 3.90-4.00 GHz with no problems on all 8 cores. Well beyond my expectations. Now I will clarify that is with 12 threads running CPU tasks, plus the GPU tasks in BOINC. From the old AMD FX that used to occupy this case, I am ecstatic. - If you get a good chip, get a decent board, and have relatively good air flow, I don't see this as being an anomaly.

Cons: I have none at this point about the hardware.

Overall Review: The G.Skil Ripjaw V (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231941) series that I purchased for this upgrade are also working well. As with most systems I've owned I did have to go in and specify the XMP profile that corresponded to the RAM, but it is working flawlessly with the rated settings; no manual tweaks of voltage or timings were necessary. Not so much a complaint but something I noticed. The software. The MSI Command Center works OK, and up until this very latest update did an adequate job. However, I did find that with my B350 motherboard and 1700X the temps were being wildly misreported, and had to drop back to Ryzen Master for accurate CPU reporting. The information was OK with this 2700x, but your mileage may vary.

Pros: Large heatsink. Make sure you have a case large enough to fit. The system has four heatpipes, and the fins are densely packed, but there is a mounting plate between the CPU and heatpipes, where many designs have the heatpiples in direction contact with the CPU lid. Very nice looking if you have an MSI board (I did) and like all the extra mounting options supplied. The unit came with mounting for pretty much everything, including NATIVE AM4 support. The box with parts was far better than any other HSF I've ever ordered, including extra fan mounting springs for a push/pull config; most only supply enough springs for the included fan.

Cons: HSF is rated for 200W, but my AM4 1700 with a mild overclock to 3.8 GHz @ 1.3625 V was still heating up to low to mid 80s C when running full load. Directions could have been a little more detailed. Due to the amount of parts supplied for all mounting applications, and lack of detail in the images, I had to play with the install hardware until I found the proper parts indicated.

Overall Review: It is a gorgeous HSF and the MSI dragon logo looks great with my MSI board. Performance is OK, but nothing out of this world; only dropped temps from my three heatpipe, significantly smaller HSF by 3-4 C. Make sure you do test fits before final installation to ensure you have used the correct parts and have proper mounting pressure. Keep in mind, as with any application, the amount of airflow allowed by your case can directly impact the performance of air coolers. My results were less than I had hoped, but my case could be a contributing factor.

Pros: This thing is big. There is a lot of surface area to dissipate heat. Lots of fins and heatpipes. I like that the heatpipes make direct contact with the CPU, rather than a surface plate between the CPU and heatpipes.

Cons: Not so good if you have AM4. Can't seem to find the AM4 adapter anywhere on their US site. Spent a great deal of time looking, but every time I thought I had found it, it was a Euro site that had it. Also, many reviewers that have managed to get it are complaining about fit.

Overall Review: Decided to send it back. If I can't get it, and even if I could it wouldn't fit properly, does me no good.

Pros: I got this to go with a 1700X. Installed it and it worked out of the box with no issues so far. It does come with the plastic OEM HSF mounts already installed, and older OEM HSF from the A10 series of AMD processors seem to mount just fine. Like most Ryzen boards the BIOS could use some refinements, but that is pretty much expected. Save some money if you don't need all the features of X370 chipset boards. This thing has been rock stable.

Cons: Boot times are a little slow. I expect that will improve with updates.

Overall Review: For a $100 board, I can't complain.