Pros: I have owned both AMD and Intel and although Intel may have some things over AMD, for the price you simply cannot beat this cpu. Combined with 8GB DDR3 ram and a ATI Radeon 5850, I can blow through just about anything I usually tackle for gaming / apps / whatnot. Quad core helps with multi-tasking and my performance meter rarely goes up past 15%...Love it! Even with 4-6gb of ram I never get any dragging in my OS (Win 7 Ult. 64)...

Cons: I could not overclock this past 3.8ghz stable with my Corsair Hydro Series...but I can do 3.6ghz which isn't 'horrible' just will have to get a better cooling system. I didn't dock the cpu for this because i'm sure its probably a thermal compound issue or something small. No complaints really...

Overall Review: Will pick up a drop-in kit from Koolance to try to overclock this beast a bit more. I get high results in all my games (around 60fps avg) so really I have no hurry to overclock it...

Pros: Easy to install, kept the CPU cool, but all the pros pale in comparison to the one big flaw...

Cons: After a year I noticed my display wasn't coming up through my 5850's HDMI. After a little unplugging I noticed something I figured I wouldn't have to deal with when I bought the Corsair Hydro...A LEAK! The hoses connecting to the water-block pump had dripping, and eventually it hit a nearby fan and sprayed all over the motherboard/graphics card. I believe the graphics card is fine, but the motherboard is ruined...I've tried the usual tactics when a component gets coolant on it, but this is the first motherboard I've had this happen to that I couldn't fix. Utterly and most assuredly disappointed more than I have EVER been for any computer part I have ever ordered...

Overall Review: Simply worthless. I've seen these used in many CPU Magazines by third-party computer builders...there was no kinking, no tugging, and all I can come up with is the tubing is simply too fragile and weak to hold up for a long time. I dont know about the newer Hydro Series models, but having to replace my motherboard now, Corsair has lost me as a customer for life. I have no need to contact customer service because I just need a computer to work so I took this bullet and chalked it up as a lesson learned...if you want a liquid cooling system...BUILD IT YOURSELF...!! I hope I save someone the trouble down the road.

Pros: This is replacing my Gigabyte 5850 since the fan quit and eventually it led to the card dying a slow painful death. I had that one about 6 months, and with my recent purchase of a 5470 from Gigabyte quitting, I decided I will never buy Gigabyte again...so I tried my hand at Sapphire. This card does NOT fail to impress. It runs quieter, less power consumption, and plays most games at max or near max settings without much problem. I am not a top tier guy so having perfect benchmarks across the board isn't a priority for me. I will NEVER pay more than $200 for a graphics card again, and this proves to me why. I dropped $300 for my 5850 and am more than happy with this one which I paid $170 (155 with rebates) which is a deal, if I must say so. I am more than happy with this purchase. There really isn't a game I cant play comfortably with this card.

Cons: None. Absolutely none. If it goes dead within the year I will be incredibly angry, though. I guess time will tell.

Overall Review: There's nothing I can complain about with this card. Its a bigger card, but not the biggest so know what you're getting into space-wise for your case. I have a Cooler Master Elite 430 (a smallish case) and it fits no problem, although I can't do too much with a hard drive across from a card, but no big deal there.

Pros: This is a great little motherboard, and when I build for other people I typically buy this size, brand, and the latest chipset series, of course. There aren't any huge bells and whistles on these motherboards, but I use these because of the integrated video since the optional graphics cards aren't 100% full proof. This leaves the users with a backup in case whatever they decide to do manages to fail. I have bought several of these before and am typically pleased since none of the people I build for return a pc...well, until recently (see cons). Everything is top notch given the price and build quality, and although a power user wont find a huge amount of BIOS / tweaking / unlocking potential, it does its job well.

Cons: Recently, however, I built my wife a PC for the first time. The motherboard kept blue-screening and I tried everything in the pc builder's cook book to try and fix the random crashing. Eventually the pc stopped booting, so I returned the motherboard through Newegg's RMA service. The replacement works flawlessly now, and although it cost me an additional $20 to send it back with the graphics card (she wasn't thrilled with it) I still say she got her money's worth.

Overall Review: Although USB 3.0 would have been nice, its not a priority, really...especially for the crowd I build PCs for.

Pros: After the horrible idea of getting a Corsair Hydro series as a simple cooling system to my beefed up HTPC, I ended up replacing it (and a motherboard after leaking) with the Cooler Master V8...and I must say I am more than impressed. The size is quite big (but there are some larger like Noctua) but its dimensions are not horribly obtrusive. If you have ram like the OCZ Reapers, it may interfere a bit, but my G. Skill Ripjaws are unaffected... Next up, temps...I went from 45c (idle) and 55c (load) to 37c (idle) and 46c (load), which is a pretty good improvement for my slightly pushed Phenom II X4 965. It runs fairly quiet, not that I care about sound since I'm usually wearing a headset...but its not anything 100% silent either. The color is awesome, as well, and it will usually turn heads if you have a window installed. Lastly, I will say its, by far, the easiest heatsink I've installed ever...the bracket was way too easy for the size...

Cons: The PCI bracket comes with a knob which is a little loose. You will need a small wrench to tighten it obviously...no big deal.

Overall Review: I went with this over the V10, because I had heard the V10 was no big advancement over this and aesthetically this is much nicer to look at. Overall, I highly recommend this heatsink, and the price is much easier to sink your teeth in than the stupidly overpriced Corsair Hydro Series waterblocks...ugh...should have gotten this first.

Pros: Truly excellent ram. I ordered 4x2gb sticks and all but one worked perfect. The bad news is the one stick I didn't figure out was faulty until about 5 months after I ordered. Due to the fact that I was over budget on my build by $300, and I had a defective iz3d monitor, BFG Tech 1200w PSU, and X-Arcade Tankstick controller, I was just too lazy and overworked on my job to go through ANOTHER return-shipping ordeal. Back to the pros...the heatsinks on these beasts look sweet and match my build perfectly. They overclock very well, but I ended up running them at stock voltages since my liquid cooling setup wasn't finished and the air setup I had was insufficient. CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 120w - MOBO: GIGABYTE UD5 790FX - GFX: Radeon 5850 - RAM: 8GB 4x2gb DDR3 Ripjaws - OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x 64. It runs Windows 7 perfectly with quick bootups, almost no lag when bringing up even the most resource-hungry apps...games run smooth...just about the best I could ask for

Cons: Well, I did get one stick bad...when I would boot up my OS I would get a blue screen if the PC was left off for about 4 hours...after a few reformats (thinking it was the motherboard, CPU, or hard drives) and corrupted boot.dll issues, I finally started taking sticks out and running with two at a time. Eventually found that the one stick was causing the PC to get blue screens, and now it sits on a shelf for no reason...not sure why I keep it but I might try to ask G.Skill for a swap although I'm not sure I'll get it..

Overall Review: I typically work 5-7 12-14hr days, have 4 kids, and a wife that tolerates my hobbies on a limited basis. RMAs don't take very much effort but for the money I make the cost of one stick wasn't worth it in this case. Perhaps eventually I'll get a refund, maybe not...I've bought quite a few memory modules from G.Skill and aside from this one little oops, I am very happy with the company and will continue to support them. Next year I will be upgrading to 12gb of Ripjaws ram, and hope for the best...I highly recommend these to my friends, and continue to use these in builds for others I end up making. I doubt this happens very often and I hear G.Skill has great support so no reason to let the one egg deter you from this brand...