Pros: Very good value balancing performance, cost and capacity. This and a 180 GB Agility3 are installed in 2 different laptops, and have performed flawlessly.

Cons: The drive has a very subtle trapezoid shape, with the bottom side about .25mm wider than the top. This is very slightly larger than the carrier tray that holds the drive in my Thinkpad T61 and T400, and it will slightly push the sides outward. Only 2 screws can be easily secured at one end; screws at the other end should be installed on the bottom. When the tray with the rubber runners is slid back in the case, the fit is very snug but not critically tight. Not a huge issue, but be prepared.

Overall Review: I recommend the drive unconditionally.

Pros: Feature laden and quite versatile.

Cons: Completely stopped working after 5 months; but was likely exhibiting partial failure for months until then that was not fully appreciated. At the time it succumbed it tied down the USB bus, not letting the BIOS complete the hardware inits at boot-up, and the LED exhibited an agonal flicker. There were occasions prior to the hard failure when the system would hang at POST, but a power cycle cleared it. I wondered early on if it was the reader, but could never consistently reproduce the fault. Since the internal USB headers work with other devices, I must conclude it is a failure of the reader rather than the MB.

Overall Review: I have to give a couple of eggs just for the features, nothing else.

Pros: * Attractive and well built. * No problems with the power switch that others have reported. * Good case for the price.

Cons: * Cable management is not good. * The optical disc drive overhangs the MB and DRAM, potentially hitting DRAM with heatsinks and the CPU fan. * The single case fan is not PWM. * The drive cage cannot be removed until the optical disc is removed. * Internal power supply takes up unnecessary space. * The 2 front USB ports are spaced way too close so forget about using a thumb drive + something else. No USB3 front port.

Overall Review: The drive cage location is the biggest issue. With an optical drive of length > 180 mm it will hit DRAM with heatsinks in my Asus H87 board (other boards with the DRAM slots closer to the back edge of the MB will require an even shorter optical drive if the heatsinks are tall.) Needle nose pliers corrected the GSkill heatsink infraction. The optical drive and power connector also infringe on the CPU stock fan cage, so watch out for any drive longer than 190 mm. The optical drive must be removed to remove the drive cage (for HDD access). Cable management as previously described is not good. Not much room between the MB and drive cage to lay the PS 24p plug wires, drive power cables, data cables, etc. The 4p MB power cable will pass right in front of the PS fan and could interfere with fan rotation; tuck the cable between the MB edge and PS. The USB and HD Audio cables are really short and inflexible for routing, so be creative to avoid interference with the CPU fan. The PS should have been an outboard brick, rather than taking up valuable space inside the case. This might have allowed better placement of the drive cage relative to the MB. The proximity of the front USB ports is a bonehead engineering decision.

Pros: Functions flawlessly. XMP profile.

Cons: The heatsinks are tall. This can be a problem if space is tight in the computer case, such as a minidesktop case with ITX or mATX boards.

Pros: Packs a lot of features with flexible options in the UEFI BIOS. USB3 rear ports and header; 6 SATA, usable PCI-e slot; HDMI, DVI and VGA; Optical digital out. These are all very useful features that will apply to a variety of installations. The DRAM slots are moved closer to the center of the board than other MB which can be a benefit in small cases, but could impede on the CPU fan. Nice heatsink on the chipset. The build quality is excellent.

Cons: First MB with booted with BSOD. Replacement worked perfect. More expensive than other H87 boards.

Overall Review: Despite the higher cost compared to other H87 MBs, the tradeoff in quality and features make this a very good value.

Pros: Good performance of the card reader.

Cons: Compatibility problems with Gigabyte P55A MB. When resuming from suspend, the MB hangs with no video out, the voltage regulator lights all lit, and the USB KB and mouse are unresponsive without lit LEDs. Problem solved if the card reader is not plugged into the outboard USB3 sockets, but the power must be removed (PS switch turned off) to reset the hardware. Gigabyte tested the board and found no problem. USB3 software drivers are current.

Overall Review: Hopefully this problem is limited to the Gigabyte MB and their version of the USB3 hardware interface, and won't affect your system. Otherwise I really like the card.