Pros: I've bought a bunch of these cases over time and put all kinds of different builds in them and they're honestly one of the best cases I've used in this price range. The construction is super-solid. There's lots of places for fans (the front fan mounting brackets have a particuarly cool design). There are tons of HDD bays. Comes with two nice 3-speed fans. Plus I think it looks nice too.
Cons: Very long video cards will bump up against an installed HDD. There are so many HDD bays, that I've never had an issue moving things around to get everything to fit, but if you have a LOT of hard disks in combination with multiple long video cards, you could run in to trouble. Even in that case, you can just flip the HDDs around and run the cables around the front. There are little conduits that you could run the power and SATA cables through if need be. You may lose the ability to install both front fans if you do this, though.
Overall Review: It's kind of heavy. Not extreme, but it would be notable if you frequently hauled it to LAN parties. The solid construction would handle the trips, but the weight might be an issue. With all the hardware installed, it can really get quite heavy. If you're specifically looking to build a light (as in weight) computer, you may want to look elsewhere.
Pros: I bought 3 of these for 3 particularly loud systems I wanted to quiet down. The work wonders. They're basically inaudible and cool very well. No stupid LEDs.
Cons: Unless your case has a huge amount of space around the CPU, take your motherboard out to install this cooler (or install it before you install the mobo). It's very, very hard to reach the mounting screws while the mobo is in the case. I also have to say the rubber fan mounts suck. They work, but they seem really flimsy while simultaneously being really stubborn to install evenly. They don't really 'attach' to the cooler, they just kind of sit in a little groove that goes down the side of the cooler. Plus if you accidentally push them too far in, they tend to get stuck in the aluminum fins. Grrr! These rubber mounts were really the only source of prolonged frustration with the product. I didn't knock off an egg becuase in the end the coolers work great and I'm pleased.
Overall Review: Of the 3 I bought, one of them was destined for a socket C32 Opteron system. Socket C32 is not officially supported by this product, but the cooler DOES fit! The only issue is that the cooler rotated 90 degrees, so the airflow isn't as efficient without some creative adjustments.
Pros: These are *awesome* for getting SATA cables connected in cramped places. These are left-angle, which means they're angled connection bends in the opposite direction as compared to most angled SATA cables. I needed these in order to use a few SATA ports that were hidden under my graphics card. These worked like a champ. Build quality is good too.
Cons: Nothing really. They're good cables.
Overall Review: Unless you specifically need left-angle cables, I would purchase right-angle cables. It's a bit hard to explain, but left-angle cables can actually be a pain in the rear end to use if you don't specifically need them. For example, if you have a hard disk in front of you label-side up, a 'normal' right-angle SATA cable will run down from the connector. A left-angle connector will run upwards.
Pros: Fast, reliable, inexpensive.
Cons: Not a big deal, but it does make a heck of a racket when I turn on my PC and there's no disk in the drive. SSssiizzz! Ssssiiiizzzz! ... It only does it a few times, so I can live with it.
Pros: Bluetooth is awesome. Lag-free. Batteries seem to last for a long time, I haven't needed to replace them yet.
Cons: I knew this mouse was going to be small, but I had no idea it was going to be THIS small. It's really, really small. Really. It takes some getting used to, and it may never feel 100% natural in ones hand.
Overall Review: The mouse can take a few seconds to reconnect if it's been sitting in one spot for a few minutes. Once you 'pair' this mouse with your Bluetooth radio, you shouldn't ever need to do it again, it will reconnect automatically.
Pros: Quiet, low heat, reasonable power drain, lots of space, SATA 3.0.
Cons: None really. Would be nice if it was a bit quicker. Seems to get bogged down when heavily utilized.
Overall Review: If you're looking for raw speed, this may not be the best choice. If you're looking for a good balance of capacity, speed, and features, then I would recommend this drive.
Pros: Not quite as good as previous COD titles, but still a quality game.
Cons: In single player it's REALLY tough to figure out who's the enemy and who's friendly. I've lost missions on multiple occasions because the guy I thought was shooting at me was actually friendly and I killed him. Oh well.
Overall Review: Graphics are nothing special, but it runs very smooth. Lots of people playing online if you're in to multiplayer.
Pros: Lots of power, solid construction, nice matte black finish, quiet.
Cons: Big problem: It comes with three SATA power connections, and they're all on the same wire, which is about 6 inches long. If you have a SATA optical drive and a SATA HD, this cable might not reach between them. I had to move my hard drive up in my case so that I could power both my DVDRW and my HD. If you need flexible SATA power on multiple devices, do not get this product.
Overall Review: Such a nice product marred by a really terrible design choice. I'm happy with the one I have because I got it to work, but I wouldn't buy another one.
Pros: Upgraded to this from a 9800 GTX. Nearly twice as fast and a very noticeable difference in most every game. The fan never gets very loud either. Does not require an 8-pin PCI-E power connection (uses 2x6-pin).
Cons: Huge. It's no bigger than the 9800GTX that it replaced so I was already prepared. If you've never owned a card like this the size will be surprising.
Overall Review: Requires 40 amps on +12v rails. My PSU (ThermalTake ToughPower 700-Watt) supposedly supports up to 48 amps, but it is making a strange, faint squealing noise when the card is under load. I wonder if my PSU is about to kick the bucket.
Pros: Nice looking, very light, lots of room inside. The tool-less drive holders are very unique and easy to use. Great ventilation and air-flow possibilities.
Cons: Thin metal bends easily. Tool-less drive holders don't hold hard drives tightly (optical drives are sturdy, though). Didn't come with enough motherboard standoffs.
Overall Review: This is a really stylish case with plenty of room inside. The thin metal is a bit flimsy, so this may not be the best case if you move your computer a lot (to LAN parties, for example).
Pros: Solid, high-quality feel. Moves a good amount of air. Power cable is wrapped, end-to-end, in a nice looking black sleeve. PWM speed control works wonderfully.
Cons: When running at full speed it sounds like a gas-powered chainsaw.
Overall Review: If the PWM speed control didn't work so well, this fan would be WAY to loud to use.
Pros: Good airflow considering the low RPM. Affordable. 3-wire power cable is bound together like a ribbon cable.
Cons: Much louder than expected. Feels flimsy. Very short power cable (about 6 inches).
Overall Review: I purchased these for a silent PC project. With a fan controller I was able to make these silent, but only after reducing their speed by at least 50%. I'm underwhelmed by this product, but I was still able to make it work for me.
Pros: One of the fastest dual-core options available. Very good gaming CPU. A marked improvement in performance in all my games compared to my old C2D E6300. Runs at nearly room temperature at stock speeds, even with a stock HSF.
Cons: The stock HSF is a pain in the !@#% to install. You REALLY have to push hard on the little plastic fittings. I put the HSF on before I had the motherboard in the case and it warped the PCB slightly. Does it really need to be that tight, Intel?
Overall Review: CPU runs at 1.9 GHz when idle. It seems to jump to 3.0 GHz instantly when I put a load on it, but I'm always a little concerned that I'm not getting all the speed I should out of this thing. Probably just my imagination.
Pros: This is my second system built with Mushkin brand memory and I couldn't be happier. Detected at the correct speeds out of the box on my Intel DX38BT desktop board.
Cons: Nothing.
Overall Review: Mushkin is quality RAM. Give them a try, especially if you've got an Intel chipset.
Pros: Fantastic card. Vast improvement over my old 7950 GT. Installed and worked right out of the box with no fuss.
Cons: The printed graphics on the plastic heat sink cover is actually just a paper label and mine was put on crooked. It didn't affect the performance of the card, it was just kind of anoying.
Overall Review: The price varies a LOT. Keep an eye out for a good deal.
Pros: Silent, great performance.
Cons: None so far. I've only owned it for about a month, so I'm not sure how reliable it will be in the long run.
Overall Review: Western Digital is always the best choice for hard drives. I've been using WD hard drives for many years and they've never done me wrong.
Pros: Fast as heck, but you knew that already, its a 7950 GT. What makes this card different? The passive cooler. The cooler is massive in every sense of the word, but it seems to be working well. The card does get quite hot under load, so make SURE you have very, very good air flow around your PCI-E slot(s).
Cons: The silver cooling block shown in the pictures actually faces up towards the CPU. This could possibly get in the way of things in smaller cases.
Overall Review: The fins on the silver cooling block are very soft and flexable. Be very careful or you may accidentally bend them.
Pros: I didn't buy this for gaming, but instead for dual-head display. Displays my 2560x1024 desktop like a champ. No fan!
Cons: None, really.
Overall Review: I have no idea how this performs for gaming, sorry.
Pros: Extremely quiet. Quick performer. Affordable.
Cons: I've only been running it for a little over a month, so I can't really say how reliable it is in the long run.
Overall Review: Western Digital for the win!
Pros: Fantastically fast and stable memory. The heat spreaders are very stylish. True 1.8v (which I really needed for my picky Intel board).
Cons: None, really. At first they seemed to be running at 667 mhz, but I flashed my bios to the newest version and now I'm cruisin' at 800 mhz.
Overall Review: These used to come with green heat spreaders. I'm not a fan of green, but lo-an-behold they released the silver heat spreaders! I'm sold.
Pros: Really actually does what it claims to do. It'll clean the most crusty thermal material off and make the die look like new.
Cons: I'm not so sure this isn't just rubbing alchohol and distilled water in little squeeze bottles, but I don't really care. Ignorance is bliss.
Overall Review: Take care with the material remover fluid. It tends to eat through anything porous and gluey. If you spill it you could end up unsticking something you didn't want unstuck.