Pros: -Beautiful design. -Performance is outstanding.
Cons: This was my first AMD card and first PowerColor card. I was really excited to get it and try it out. It fits perfectly in my Thermaltake Core V1 Mini-ITX build. However... Since I have owned the card, the fan control has been a bit off. It will respond immediately to commands to increase the fan speed, but when turning them back down, the card seems to ramp the fans down in 50RPM increments across a time frame of 3-4 minutes until it returns to idle. I did numerous clean installs of the drivers with DDU (Multiple versions of the drivers as well) and tried both VBIOS switches to no avail. PowerColor tech support was great and responded to me quickly with things to try, which I did, but still no dice. The fans also do not listen to manual commands and will increase the RPM's on their own once a game starts. The Hot Spot reading on my particular card was consistently reaching temperatures of 105-110C when under load - This is regardless of power target or voltage. I re-seated the cooling assembly and checked the thermal pads, but the issue still occured even at 100% fan speeds. Unfortunately I decided to RMA this card and will be buying the Sapphire Pulse variant instead.
Overall Review: This is a great product, but mine missed the mark.
Pros: I upgraded to this board from the ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming, which I thought was a pretty feature-rich board, but man was I surprised with this thing. The RGB functions alone are mind-boggling. It is made with some of the nicest components I have seen on any motherboard I have ever owned. It overclocks like a dream. I am entirely satisfied with this purchase.
Cons: Board had to be RMA'd in less than a week of ownership - BIOS failed.
Overall Review: Update to this review. I am keeping the Eggs at 4, but I had to RMA this board. The Main BIOS completely crashed on me last night and would POST all the way up to debug code "Ad" which apparently is the code that it shows right before it hands off control to the operating system. (I literally did nothing in the BIOS, was just checking my voltage readings, and quit without saving any changes) The Dual BIOS feature did not automatically kick in and re-write the main BIOS as it should, so I manually switched over to the backup BIOS and flashed the main BIOS myself. (At least I think I did, there is very poor documentation on exactly how Dual BIOS works and how it recovers) Also the OS Tool for flashing the BIOS is complete garbage and fails every time, do not bother installing it. There is also very poor documentation on how to select which BIOS you want to flash. The only thing I could find was in the owner's manual, it says that the backup BIOS cannot be manually flashed for redundancy purposes. Even after selecting the main BIOS, removing the CMOS battery and shorting the CLR CMOS pins with a screwdriver (As the manual suggests), the same issue occurred. I am very displeased with having to RMA this board especially since it is brand new, and I have a liquid cooling loop that has to be dis-mantled to replace the board. When it works correctly, it is the nicest board I have ever owned.
Pros: At 1080p it will destroy every game out there on Ultra/Max settings. Upgraded from a stock 680 go this and its a huge difference
Cons: Idk if this is a con but this is the first card Ive ever had that actually has "coil whine". Basically when it is under load it makes a pretty noticeable "whine" or buzzing noise, but apparently it's common and not necessarily a bad thing?
Pros: Upgraded from a Z77/2500k combo to a Z87 board with this chip. The difference is phenomenal as far as speed, snappiness and load times are so fast that it makes me lol. Very future proof, you won't need more than this for a while. It eats Planetside 2 like a fat kid nomming a pop tart on Ultra settings paired with a GTX680.
Cons: The rumors are true, Haswell runs hot. I'm running an X5PC custom loop on which is the same one I had on my 2500k. My 2500k was overclocked to 4.0 constant and never got over 38C under full load and gaming was like 33-35C. The 4770k using the same loop is idling at 32-33C and easily jumps to 45C while gaming and it jumps to 60C while under full load. Make sure you get a good cooler!
Pros: Works perfectly as intended with my ASRock Z87 Extreme4 and paired with a 4770k. Pulled the part number off of the motherboard's Memory Compatibility list, googled it, and this popped up. More speed than you could ever need I mean seriously, who needs DDR3 3000+ RAM? This RAM is solid, snappy, and future proof.
Cons: None
Overall Review: Heatsinks are a bit tall. Close to 2 inches if I were to eye ball it.
Pros: Best motherboard I have ever owned. Period. The BIOS will make you drool.
Cons: None that I have found.
Pros: Instead of writing a beefy review, I am going to sum it up in a couple of words. My system is fully loaded into Win7 64-bit with all drivers/startup apps and awaiting my command in >>>8<<< seconds.
Cons: Lol.
Overall Review: I was simply amazed at the size of this thing. It is incredibly tiny.
Pros: Put this puppy in a brand new i5 rig coming from an i7 920 rig. Paired with an ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 mobo and Mushkin Enhanced Blackline DDR3 2133. I also got a Corsair Force GT series SSD. When all is said and done folks, and I do not exaggerate 1 millispec, my system is in Windows with all startup apps/drivers fully loaded and waiting my command in 8 seconds. 8 seconds. 8.
Cons: Heh.
Overall Review: i7 9xx series owners... Cry.
Pros: Fastest memory I have seen in my life. I came from using triple channel ddr3 1600 to this, and it's blowing my face off.
Cons: Will not run as advertised. I am using this memory on an ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 motherboard. If you simply load the XMP, it will not POST. I manually set the memory to 2133, left the timings alone, and bumped the voltage to 1.65v. They are rockin' now son. I can probably get more out of the timings and probably drop the voltage back a bit, but my understanding of RAM clocking is mediocre.
Overall Review: Paired with an SSD, this stuff cannot be described in words. I don't think I'll ever need RAM again. Ever.
Pros: Have an i5 2500k running at 4.2ghz and I haven't seen it get above 40C yet... Freakin amazing. I built a new i5 rig and in my old rig I had a Corsair H50 cooling a stock speed i7 920. 40c was low for that system to say the least... The pump light is awesome and looks awesome in my Antec 1200 case. I confirm that this unit will mount to an ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 motherboard.
Cons: If using an ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3, make sure you plug the pump and fan power connector into the CPU_Fan1 plug, not the one labeled 2. The fans will not throttle correctly. CPU_Fan1 has 4 pins, but the Antec unit power connector only has 3. Don't worry, pop that bad boy in there leaving 1 pin exposed. The software is great, but upon changing my resolution it seems like the GUI was infinitely messed up for me. I can only see half of what I need to and there is no way to expand the window to my knowledge. Reboots won't fix it. I took off an egg for this. Easy workarounds, but still.
Overall Review: THE FANS AND RADIATOR, WHEN COMBINED, ARE ENORMOUS. If mounting in an Antec 1200 case, it will not allow you to use your side window fan located above your GPU's.
Pros: -Very clean and professional look. -Very easy to assemble and install. -Huge improvement over stock cooler and only half as loud.
Cons: -Not really a con, but the fins on the cooling tower are REALLY easy to bend.
Overall Review: Installation was a breeze and performance is really great and the fan is very quiet, even at max speed.