Joined on 04/02/10
Great Card, if your power supply can handle it
Pros: Top 1% benchmark results in multiple runs, while at factory OC settings. Cool Junction temps, never seen it above 90 C in 4k gaming or in long benchmarks of 100% usage. The heat sink is THICC Almost silent. Due to the huge 3 slot heat sink, the fan can stay at like 20% speed even while under 100% GPU load (see below about coil whine fix). The standard version still does have a stand to support this THICC boy. The documentation did not show it, but it has the same stand as the limited edition red devil, but not the extra attachable backplates. I was not expecting that, so it was a nice surprise, and it does lift the end of my GPU up about a quarter inch.
Cons: High wattage spikes. I had a ($60) 1000W off brand power supply I've been using since 2011 without issues. I had horrible coil whine and instability when I upgraded to this 7900 XTX, which was fixed when I upgraded to an expensive name brand 1350W PSU. Also make certain all 3 8 pins are solidly connected. It's large, mine barely fits in my full sized old school cooler master halfx tower, and I had to remove the side panel shroud.
Overall Review: Fantastic performance, which earns my 5 stars. I believe the reviews about coil whine are very likely due to PSU issues. The recommended wattage for this card is 900W, but I would say an expensive 1000W minimum.
Quality Issues
Pros: Used to be a good brand Key's felt great while it lasted
Cons: Purchased 8/23/12, stopped working 5/14/2014. I use it around 20 hours a week. I have unplugged the usb twice in memory, and never have roughly handled it. As other users have commented keys randomly stick on, and its totally unusable. Some keys only work ocasionally. The scroll lock key blinks on and off at random and a dozen random keystrokes fill where I was typing.
Overall Review: Have purchased other coolermaster items before such as a HAF X and had no issues which is why I repeated business. Not planning on using this brand again if quality control cannot get items to last 2 years, and by many of these reviews I suppose I am lucky I got 20 months out of mine. Back to using the 10$ cheapo keyboard their competitor sold me which lasted 4 years before I "upgraded."
Worth It
Pros: Supports my i7 13700 without needing a bios flash Recognized my ram even though it wasn't on the supported list (Riptide 16x2gb 6000@36-36-36-72), similar versions were supported and other speeds from same manufacturer, so I assumed it should work and was not disappointed Sturdy 4 m.2 slots, 1 ready for 5th gen which should be getting released in the next few months PCIE 5, ready for next gen graphics cards Bios easy to use, did XMP in 3 min for my ram and had not been in a bios in 5 years since my last build. A side note, doing benchmarks my old 3rd gen m.2 ssd actually benches about 50% faster as well while I wait to upgrade until 5th gen m.2. That is due to the new mobo and CPU, upgraded from an i5 8700.
Cons: Expensive Not going to be able to upgrade CPU to next generation without replacing mobo
Overall Review: Solid board, features I wanted, easy to use, a bit pricy.
Works as Advertised
Pros: -I took a risk and ordered it while it was not on the list of supported RAM at the time for my z790 Riptide mobo, but it worked fine and plays nicely with my i13700 -Easy to Install -Not too tall so my CPU cooler fits -Took me less than 3 min to set XMP default to get advertised speeds (32GB 6000@CL36,36,36,72) -Stable and not hot (sofar)
Cons: - Still expensive(but less than it was) -Performance gain vs a low cl ddr4 isn't much for the price
Overall Review: Works as Advertised, even on untested mobo. It's not cheap, but it is what you expect.
Great
Pros: Love it so much I bought a 2nd for a raid0 now that is is on sale for 135$ after MIR. I bought my first for 165$ after MIR and I had my 30$ prepaid card in about 4 weeks. +1 for honoring rebates. Comes with latest firmware installed so there are no problems.
Cons: Still expensive per gig, but worth it.
Lasts a year
Pros: Lasted about a year
Cons: Then turned into an expensive paper weight
Overall Review: Quality Control?