Joined on 07/10/02
Getting better still needs some work
Pros: Nice looking OS. It detected my Nvidia RAID chipset without having to install any floppy disk drivers during install. Better speech recognition built into the OS. BitLocker if you are worried your PC might be stolen. I like the Poker Game that you get with Ultimate. DreamScene is nice addition but its coolness wears off rather quickly.
Cons: Not as bad as many say. If you have a decent system. Don't install on that 5 year old PC with only 512MB of RAM and a Athlon XP processor. If you have at least a Core 2 Duo or higher end Athlon 64 with 2GB of RAM you will do alright. If you have an old or cheap video card you could just turn off Aero but you lose some of the bling.
Overall Review: More Ultimate extras would be nice. Better game support and speed.
FAIL
Pros: None
Cons: Promo Code that I received doesn't work on UBISOFT's site. This is the third promo code that I have tried on their site that has not worked. All products were from newegg.com
Overall Review: If you purchase a new video card to play a game that It is the main reason for buying the card you expect to be able to download the game. Please go back to the days of including Blueray or DVD discs of the games instead of stupid downloads that don't work.
Still working properly after over a year of daily use.
Pros: Price to Watt ratio. I am only running a single video card and multiple SSDs, 1 DVD-burner and of course the motherboard with a 3770K i7 and 32GB RAM. PSU handles this load easily.
Cons: If you have 2 or more high end video cards you should probably get a better higher watt PSU. All Active PFC power supplies like this one, should have sine wave compatible backups. If you have a cheaper battery back-ups it may fail to keep PSU and thus computer working during a power outage. I have a Cyber Power CP1000PFCLCD and I haven't had any issues with it so far.
Overall Review: PSU companies like Rosewill, Seasonic, Thermaltake, Corsair, etc. should do a better job of recommending proper Backup units that work with their Power Supplies. It would be nice if APC, Cyperpower, Tripp-lite, etc. Teamed up with or made their own branded PSUs for computers to help reduce incompatible combos.
Hardware fine - Promo Fail
Pros: Card installed with out any problems in my dual boot Win 7 pro, Win 8 Pro, i7 machine. I used NVDIA.com's newest whql drivers.
Cons: Promo code for 2 free games didn't work for me. I have tried with several different browsers and different computers and the code does not work on Ubisoft site.
Overall Review: Nvidia needs to go back to using blue-ray or DVD discs for the free games they use to promote their new hardware. Or at least find a new software distributer.
Great Drive
Pros: This is an excellent SSD drive. The Pro version is best if you want faster write times. It is also supposed to last longer than the non-pro Samsung drives.
Cons: A little bit expensive. If you mainly care only about fast read times than the non-pro drives might be a better buy for you. DO NOT Order any SAMSUNG SSD that comes with a PROMO code for a free game. I Have tried with 5 different Samsung drives 5 different times and was not able to get codes to work.
Overall Review: Samsung & Newegg need to partner with different software providers with their promo codes or they will be losing many customers.
Pros: Great full tower case. Sharp looking, if you like blue lighting. High quality aluminum is good for looks and heat dissipation. Choice of glass or mesh side. High quality front door. Best front door I have seen. Front USB and Firewire ports are solid unlike some other cases I have owned or worked on. Mesh side panel is great for cooling.
Cons: Price may be a little high. Side panel tends to vibrate. I had to put some tape along mounting (inside and unseen) rails to quiet the panel. Mesh side panel lets you hear the CPU and video card fans a little easier.
Overall Review: I didn't like the idea of running 3 120mm fans from the same header so I use a Nexus fan controller that has a matching blue color. Vibration noise was the only problem that really bothered me with this case, but that was easily fixed.