Pros: Nice size/resolution, beautiful design, thin bezel, nice controls, nice software options (shutting off/dimming the monitor on screensaver is handy) good amount of options on the onscreen menu, decent refresh times, does ok at gaming, I prioritize color reproduction for work over gaming so its a decent compromise, better than my old IPS pannel for sure. The color reproduction is very good, very nice detail in blacks even at extremely low (1,1,1) vs (0,0,0) levels and bright pure whites. The color consistency however leaves something to be desired.
Cons: I read a review online saying the color consistency was not as good as they had hoped. I had hoped it was a problem limited to their specific pannel but it seems mine has the same issues. First off there is a noticable dimmer area around the edges of the screen. I guess this is because they did not fit LED's straight up against the edges due to the thin bezel design but on solid color backgrounds (ie photoshop etc) it is noticable and somewhat distracting. 2nd off the right side of the screen is cooler than the left side of the screen color wise, the reviews I found mentioned a similar issue, but my old IPS pannel has about the same issues. It however is a good 6-7 years old I was hoping with the LED backlight and better technology it would have improved color consistency, then again it is a bigger display which makes color consistency more difficult, still for $600 I was hoping for something a little better.
Overall Review: I got this monitor because my 10+ year old 2ndary TN pannel finally died, have always used an IPS for my main work screen and decided to upgrade to something bigger than my 23" 1080 display. This is my first 1440p and first led backlight monitor, been using traditional backlight IPS monitors for years however. My eyes are very sensitive I suppose, probably would need a commercial grade pannel to truly be happy but not prepared to spend the 1-2 grand to get one. Overall I am happy with this monitor I just wish the color consistency was a little better for the price point. Did notice a decent sized drop in gaming performance, this is not unexpected since theres 70% more pixels than a 1080 display. If you get a 1440p screen make sure you got a good system to back it up if you want to game at near ultra settings. My GTX 680 works for gaming but its not happy about it with a multi monitor setup and a background 3D app running on the 2nd screen, it had no problems doing this with a 1080 setup but the 70% more pixels and 2gb of vram are probably crippling it at this resolution for multitasking 3d applications.
Pros: I have had this router running for the last 7-8 months with 0 problems, never drops net and stays absolutely rock solid. The wifi signal strength is superb, the mobile configuration app is pretty handy. Overall it is a wonderful router to have and works perfectly for what I bought it for. That being said there is one LARGE catch. I have had this router actively inter-cooled with a home built and designed cooler from day 1 which uses a 120mm fan to force air through it. Without the active cooling this thing would be dropping packets and net like crazy and probably need daily resets.
Cons: Cisco has opted for a sleek stylish design on this router and completely ignored the router cooling. If set flat on its feet the curved top with no vents just pools all the hot air in it. The only vents are on the bottom and sides and the bottom vents are blocked by the board. I have the router sitting vertically and jammed into some thick 4 inch foam with a 120mm fan in the compartment below it to force air through its side vents and out the top. It stays cool to the touch. With proper cooling the router runs flawlessly. But since it overheats within a few hours without active cooling its basically a piece of junk if you don't want to take steps to keep it cool. The only other con I have is you can not disable the SSID broadcast, but really that's not a big con, its better to have it enabled anyways, but the option to disable it should still be there.
Overall Review: I had to active cool the last router of this form factor too by having it sit on a stand that blew a fan onto its bottom to keep it cool as well. I bought this knowing I would need to cool this one too, if you don't want to actively cool this thing in some form or another I would stay far clear. Again the hardware is very good but only if you can keep it cool.
Pros: Records footage on the same computer with 0 performance hit and small file size. Can record high quality video up to 60mbps once firmware is flashed. Can record windows sound as well as hdmi input sound. Contrary to what other reviewers have said my card didn't brick itself when I updated the firmware, I read some people do have the problem but was able to search online for a way to fix it, apparently a device driver issue in windows more than a hardware problem. Updating the firmware fixed several issues and unlocked bitrates above 20mbps (up to 60mbps).
Cons: Main Con: Lack of ability to record 1080@60 FPS - I knew this before getting the card however so not taking an egg for that. Other Cons - Lots of little annoying things: Card does not like soft reboots, has problems after a computer restart that isnt a full power off + turn back on cycle. Causes weird issues with record button not working or monitors flashing etc. Blows out blacks on hdmi pass through without firmware update and their "0-255" color setting which i have had reset on me a few times even though saving it as the default option. This takes 5 sec on reboot to fix however so not a major issue just annoying. Software seems kinda buggy but works overall, haven't had too many issues except when I tried to use it to stream directly to twitch for a test. (Crashed when I started the stream up.) I have not tried since after firmware update however, I usually just use OBS for streaming anyways. The complaint other users have had about windows/mic audio desyncing after an hour or so I did experience, the firmware update claims to fix it but I haven't tested yet.
Overall Review: Received card for christmas. I wanted this card because I do not have one of the newer model GPU's with a built in MPEG compressor in it, and taking a giant FPS hit in video games while recording was getting annoying. For recording purposes I really have little complaints about the card, it does its job. It has a lot of little quirks though that have to be compensated for, less experienced users may have issues working around these things and think the card isnt functioning, the software works but is a little bit on the buggy side. I knew the card wasn't going to record 1080@60 before buying it but with a certain video site's recent change to 60 fps videos, having 1080@60 fps would be a great thing to have. I have settled for recording at 720@60 just because 60 fps on games looks so much nicer.
Pros: This is a very solid board. It is heavy and sturdy, doesn't slide around on my desk like cheaper lighter keyboards do. The MX Browns feel very nice to me and it's not -too- loud, then again loudness is a subjective matter. The media keys and slider are very nice, the G keys are handy and can be programmed to make up for some of the missing media keys (search, email, etc) if you need them. Got a mechanical board because I was tired of wearing out keyboards in under a year due to extensive use, I am a programmer by trade and use the computer a lot. This one seems very solid and should last a long time. I love this board overall and it would get a solid 5 stars if not for the backlight problems mentioned below.
Cons: The backlight problems with this board -are- real as many other reviewers have said. Was hoping I would get lucky with mine and had my WASD + Arrow cluster fail within 15 minutes of plugging it in lol. They came back on briefly about 20 minutes later then died again for a week, then came back on seemingly for good.. just as as the 0 - page up keys went out lol. I was already in the RMA process at this point however. Got Logitech to do an advance RMA that didn't cost me anything. The replacement has been fine for a week now. *knocks on wood* Aside from the lights not working, the lighting is not 100% even across the board, I'ts not a huge con but would approve the looks of the board. It's pretty even but not all of the text on some larger keys is lit and such. I am not sure this could be 100% solved without including 2 LED's per key, one on top and one on bottom as the central part support of the key blocks the light from reaching the lower areas.
Overall Review: The keyboard -does not- require both USB cables. The one with the Logitech logo on it is for the keyboard and lights the 2nd is simply a USB pass through cable. I have mine unplugged and it works fine.
Pros: Have purchased 3 sets of this stuff now for two different builds. This stuff runs fast and stays cool, the heat spreaders are surprisingly effective and look good as well. Memtest 86 reports a raw transfer speed of over 18 gigs/sec under XMP 1 (the memories rated speed), more than fast enough for my needs. Corsair always makes good quality stuff.
Cons: None.
Overall Review: Make sure to set XMP 1 on your motherboard to get these to their rated speed of 1600 mhz. I read some reviews about the heat spreaders falling off, but all 6 of my modules are going strong still. Perhaps people got a bad batch or are running in very overheated enclosures and melting the adhesive. The heat spreaders are secured on the sides by little metal tabs and held together so not quite sure how they would fall off to begin with.
Pros: I own two of these boards, I bought one over a year ago and have been using it 24/7 since without any problems. Recently bought another when it was on sale for another computer, no problems with that board either so far. The board has a good array of power user features for high end systems and enthusiasts. It is not the most feature rich board out there, but it doesn't feel overly cluttered with bells whistles and gimmicks either which I appreciate a lot. It does have a little bling with the glowing center E symbol which is a nice touch if your case has a window. As a side note both of my boards had the jumper flipped on the E symbol from the factory. I had to unplug it and reverse it to get it to light up. Not sure if this is by design or a careless mistake in production. This is a solid high end performance board for high end (but not extreme) gaming rigs with a good enthusiast based feature set. It has given me no problems in the last 1+ years I have owned it. Bought a 2nd one to use because I liked the first so much :)
Cons: The two PCI-E slots for SLI are directly next to each other. This is fine if you have turbine based cards or water cooling. If you have lower model cards with large side mounted fans, the top cards fan would get little to no airflow due to being so close to the lower card. Not a huge issue for me but consider the cards you use before buying if you want to run SLI on this board. The on board audio is a little weak strength wise (output signal is low and requires more amplification) and quite a bit of noise in the line when nothing is playing. Anyone serious about audio will probably be using a separate sound card anyways though so not a huge con. No S/PDIF out for sending digital audio to a receiver or other device. Knew that buying this board but it would still be a nice feature to have for a performance gaming board.
Overall Review: Yes, this board only supports sandy bridge processors. The motherboard manufacturers will always post a cpu / ram compatibility list. One should always do their research and ensure the cpu/ram they are buying will work properly with their board. Do NOT rely on the specs listed from a the place you are buying it, mistakes can and do happen in listings. Go with the official specs direct from the manufacturer to ensure everything will work properly :)
Pros: Very solid PSU, got one for a computer rebuild. Construction is excellent, power readings are very solid and hardly ripple at all during use, cables are very nice and high quality, long enough for a 300 case, although I used some extensions to route them more cleanly they fit without the extensions without problems. The overall quality on this psu, the cables, and the packaging is extremely nice, without a doubt the best PSU I have ever owned.
Cons: Gets a little warm because I have an 8600 in the 2nd GPU slot directly above it and the fan will not spin until 20% load. But then again it is designed to operate in ambient temperatures of up to 50c so I suppose it will be fine. While I appreciate the idea behind quiet computing my computer already sounds like a jet engine, so I wish there was a way to set the fan speed higher, not worth knocking off an egg for, though.
Overall Review: To the below reviewer with 2 of these DoA, how are you testing it for DoA? The fan not spinning is BY DESIGN. The fan will be at 0 RPM below 20% load so if you are just short powering the thing on without hooking it up to see if the fan spins it will appear to be doing nothing even though its probably working 100% fine.
Pros: This is an extremely good tablet for $200, its sleek, nice and thin (3/8"), tracking is good and pressure, looks great, and has fairly powerful software, supports wide screen which is nice.
Cons: Wish it had more than 4 programmable buttons, took me awhile to work out how I wanted them setup to maximize efficiency, its hard to be hitting keyboard commands while using the tablet, id love another 4 or so on the side.
Overall Review: This is my first tablet but not the first Ive used, there are better ones out there if you are a professional, but if you are just starting out with tablets I *highly* recommend this one, it is very nice for the money.
Pros: Ran a bunch of tests with it and it passed them all including memtest86 for about 18 hours. Quite fast on quad channel, reporting in memtest at half the speed of my L3 cache lol. No complaints, looks awesome as well :)
Cons: Not really a con but if you use XMP on a EVGA Classified board it will put the bclock at a really weird number. The Asus R5E may be more forgiving with this speed, I am not sure. I actually bought these sticks instead of the 3ghz sticks because my friend was reporting issues with his 3ghz sticks on his R5E (later fixed those with a bios update) but ironically my board supports 3ghz at 100mhz bclock but not 2800.. oh well lol. The issue with these higher speeds seems to be going away slowly though as more advanced bios are put out on the x99 platform. The XMP profile puts the clock at something like 167.3 mhz using a 125mhz (4:5) strap on x99 which is not so great for overclocking. I opted instead to simply push the bclock to 105mhz using 2666 speed (2:3 bclock x 20) which bumps it up to 2800 native. I think the board will handle a 5% overclock on pci-e but time will tell. No problems so far but I don't have the final gpus yet for testing which is where the bclock instability will pop out if its going to.
Overall Review: Got this kit in early January for about $580, its already dropped $80 since that time but not taking an egg for that, just sucks. If it keeps dropping I will buy another kit and have 128gb of ram for even more of an obscene ramdisk!.