Joined on 05/29/08
MSI B85M G43

Pros: Cost Effective, Optical Out, 32GB memory support,
Cons: None
Overall Review: This is a B85 chipset motherboard, know what your getting into before you buy. Think of "B" as basic or budget. Don't expect top notch RAID support, overclock support, vPro, or Intels SIPP. One processor, a couple drives this board works great. MSI offers a lot on this board in comparison to other B85s. FYI Guys that have expert level tech support..... Watch out for the MSI Super Raid. - here is what it is (Straight from MSI) - "Super RAID is MSI Software utility to set up Rapid Start, Smart Response and Smart Connect by just one click. It can tell each chipset SPEC and adjust its support function. Please be advised that Intel Smart Response is required to perform RAID " Therefore, H81/Q85/B85 do not have RAID support, but they still can support Rapid Start and Smart Connect.
Headache!!!

Pros: The card runs quiet and cool. Just like every other ATI product there are many options and tools for the card. It was a great improvement over my ATI X700 PRO
Cons: Drivers Drivers Drivers. These is by far the most unstable drivers i have ever seen!! I am an avid world of warcraft player and the card was not reliable for this game. It could run the game from anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 hours. there was no common cause for the crashes. A lot of frustration and research says if you DOWN-CLOCK the card it can resolve such issues. In my case it did not. I am going to have to switch to NVIDIA until ATI gets there act together!
Overall Review: My Computer is not the newest by any means but a new clean install full updated windows XP SP3 DirectX 10 Intel board fully updated etc... if you purchase this card and have similar problems do your self a favor and just return it.
Follow Up - Blue screens

Pros: Follow Up review from "Blue Screens - Answer on 2/22"
Cons: Intel did have a buggy USB 3.0 driver with this board - With the latest BIOS release it's all fixed, as well as added additional XMP profiles and support for the i7 3820!
Overall Review: The system is still running strong, Everyday use its clocked at 4GHz w/ 2133 memory. Using the overclock assistant in the bios makes mild overclocking a breeze! Remember the i7 2011 series chips do not come with coolers, if your going to overclock make sure to get something that will meet your needs.
Blue Screens - Answer

Pros: Great board for the money - feature rich, very stable. Bios if very easy to navigate and change. Intel quality at a great price!
Cons: - Premature USB 3.0 Drivers. I was having blue screens on shut down/restarts. Completely wiped out the USB 3.0 driver and all is well now. I'll wait it out for a new version of the driver.
Overall Review: This is a terrific board for most. Clocked now at 4.0Ghz, been running stable for over a week with 2133 memory. Have clocked up to 4.6Ghz: at that frequency CPU temps were acceptable, VR temps were hot. VR (Voltage Regulator) doesn't have a huge heatsink or heat pipes like some of the higher end boards the competition offers. I didn't buy this to do ridiculous overclocks, but more for stability and reliability. And that is exactly what I got!
1st time flyer

Pros: Very attractive price, Replacement parts are available, Decent fly time(6-10 minutes), Aprox 30-40 minute charge time. Durable.
Cons: Two biffs: • The main prop throttle on the controller is spring loaded. It will take some practice to master. • Secondly the batteries didn't feel to fit snugly into the controller. (This maybe because I am using "El cheapo" batteries too) But works fine never the less.
Overall Review: I did a considerable amount of research on sub 50 dollar Helicopters. Once I found spare parts available I decided to try it out. The controller needs 6 AA batteries, The copper has a rechargeable battery built in and you have 2 ways to recharge it, via the included USB adapter or through a wire that comes out of the rear of the controller. Lastly it seems to have about a 20' range. (NOTE: This is not designed to fly outside, The IR will not work in sunlight)
Intel - For when it Matters

Pros: 34nm! Fast, Quiet, low power, and the most reliable drive on the market! SATA II & III compliant. Installation was a breeze, been running it since original release.
Cons: - NONE
Overall Review: I bought this drive over OCZ, Corsair, Crucial due to the reliability. The speed is with in striking distance of the "enthusiasts" drives. Intel SSDs have a failure rate of about 1 half of a percent where the others have a 2%-3% failure rate. Why buy something to have less than a 10% performance gain but 6 times the failure rate!?