Joined on 09/19/04
Silverstone finally convinced me.
Pros: Spacious. No critical limit with your cooling/cabling/drive placement/options. The work space behind the mobo chassis for cable management and HDD placement is good. Not at all like the RV01 (wasted dead space, cable management is horrible).. Heatstacked 90 degree configuration is great. The location and of the PSU is actually perfect. I was skeptical for many reasons - but I can't imagine returning to classic chassis orientation (another improvement over RV01). Great value at $150.
Cons: A couple of 24" straight-contact sata cables would have been nice. A set or three of coarse thread fan mount screws (black) would have helped too. It's an unconventional design and intended for super efficient cooling - charge another 10 bucks on an already fair price for the cables and screws for auxilliary fans. I'm sure most would appreciate it. My Corsair H100 cooler limits me to only 1 optical drive, as the ONLY place to put the cooler is on the back of the front bezel drive expansion bays. Kept the bluray burner and sacrificed the bluray ripper to make it fit, but it's not critical.
Overall Review: Other reviewers mentioned theirs being shipped with minor damage or defect. Recieved mine in mint condition, had it a month and everything is as sturdy as day 1. A 120 MM fan behind the Mobo does help. **TIP** If you plan to use the H100 cooler, install both fans into the included fan brackets (blowing front to back), and only screw ONE fan (bottom) THROUGH the bracket to the radiator (radiator will be between the fans and mobo). The other fan will be held in place by its bracket. This is due to the holes of the brackets not lining up with the radiator. Hoses down performs better than hoses up. Try to get a feel for your cabling strategy before mounting, and definitely before seating the pump to the CPU.
A decent buy
Pros: usb 3, 4 fans, lightweight,
Cons: somewhat flimsy side panels / modular mounts, but sturdy chassis. mobo orientation can be tricky with cable management.
Worthy Upgrade.
Pros: More space than what I had. Scalable performance.
Cons: None.
Overall Review: Bought this to replace the 32 gb liteon that came with my mobo. Worthy Upgrade. Haven't tested full-speed.
Does what it does.
Pros: Speed, versatility, reliability. Feature for feature, it delivers.
Cons: Software is an easy one, but... ... It could have come with zero software and I'd have nothing to put in the "cons" field.
Overall Review: Performs as intended. Solid buy.
Man yeah.
Pros: Customizable, ultra-tweakable. Looks great. Best mobo I've ever worked with. Ease of use is top-notch. The USB 3.0 breakout box opens easily to reveal simple cabling (great for cases with usb 3.0 bezels that want to hog your I/O ports, in my case raven rv03). Fast GUI boot.
Cons: Would have liked to see on-board thermal displays like other mobos. Perhaps a bios update will allow this on the current LED? On-board SSD only 32gb? mSata only sata ii? Without minor upgrades, features appear gimmicky. With excellent hardware, some features are gimmicks by default. Too little give and too much take in terms of Intel options. Marvell. Post AMI, post Marvell, revert AMI, boot. Zero integration. Boot speed be d*mned, its annoying.
Overall Review: I'll enjoy this board for a long while. Out of my initial build, this board is the only component with zero second-thought. The Marvell controller is O.K. this time - It just stings over the years of battle with their horrible support/functionality (started with p5w2e premium, anyone?).
Great CPU
Pros: I can't make it choke. Excellent performance from a locked CPU.
Cons: I can't set the rest of my system to optimal performance settings (memory, mobo options). It's a locked CPU... I got what I paid for. Ordered the K tonight.
Overall Review: Super stable, super fast, super stable. Price should be lower compared to K.