Pros: The Z97I-PLUS has a great layout the allowed me to fit a giant CPU cooler even with tall RAM. The bios (UEFI) is pretty straight forward and allowed for the XMP overclocking profile for my RAM with one click. Any changes that you make are detailed before you save and exit, so that is a big plus to verify you didn’t accidentally change something while you were in there. The built-in WiFi is also very fast, has excellent range, and a great antenna that can be magnetically attached to your case (It’s on the top of my case in the photos).

Cons: I do have a few minor cons for the board. The wifi connections to the board when you install it are a bit of a pain to snap down and you have to punch out two holes to screw the antenna connectors (did it with a small pair of pliers). The IO shield is also padded, which you think would be a plus but is a pain because the board would not fit completely flush with the case. I managed to get it to fit and the connections are solid but they should have not padded the shield. Last con is that it did not come with motherboard mounting screws (luckily my friend who helped me build it had some in his toolkit).

Overall Review: My system: CPU: i7 4790K CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 Motherboard: ASUS Z97I-PLUS mini-ITX RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8 GB (2x4GB) DDR3 2400 GPU: EVGA GTX 750Ti SC Storage: Intel 730 SSD 480 GB and Intel 520 SSD 120 GB Case: BitFenix Colossus mini-ITX Power Supply: Corsair CS450M OS: Windows 7 Pro (64 bit) Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 Keyboard: Logitech G710 Mouse: Logitech G502 Speakers: Creative Labs T20 Optical: ASUS external slim DVD writer

Pros: The 730 Intel was on sale for the same price or cheaper than Crucial or Samsung SSDs so I purchased it for my primary drive. I also like that they added capacitors to help prevent write errors during a sudden power loss. Goodbye mechanical hard drives.

Cons: None

Overall Review: My system: CPU: i7 4790K CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 Motherboard: ASUS Z97I-PLUS mini-ITX RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8 GB (2x4GB) DDR3 2400 GPU: EVGA GTX 750Ti SC Storage: Intel 730 SSD 480 GB and Intel 520 SSD 120 GB Case: BitFenix Colossus mini-ITX Power Supply: Corsair CS450M OS: Windows 7 Pro (64 bit) Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 Keyboard: Logitech G710 Mouse: Logitech G502 Speakers: Creative Labs T20 Optical: ASUS external slim DVD writer

Pros: The Cosair was on sale, was 80+ gold rated for effiency, met my power supply requirements, and had good editor reviews. The semi modular cabling was also a nice plus. It still leaves plenty of room to step up to a GTX 960, 970, or similar card in the future (I’m assuming the 960 will be below the 970’s 140ish watt TDP).

Cons: None

Overall Review: Got an email from Corsair saying my rebate was processed and on the way. Crossing my fingers that it makes it to my mailbox. My system: CPU: i7 4790K CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 Motherboard: ASUS Z97I-PLUS mini-ITX RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8 GB (2x4GB) DDR3 2400 GPU: EVGA GTX 750Ti SC Storage: Intel 730 SSD 480 GB and Intel 520 SSD 120 GB Case: BitFenix Colossus mini-ITX Power Supply: Corsair CS450M OS: Windows 7 Pro (64 bit) Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 Keyboard: Logitech G710 Mouse: Logitech G502 Speakers: Creative Labs T20 Optical: ASUS external slim DVD writer

Pros: The Ripjaws X were on sale and I picked this version because I liked the overclocked 2400 Mhz memory. When I first installed it, the bios had it at 1600 Mhz but I just used the XMP setting and in one click and a reboot it changed over to 2400 Mhz. It’s tall RAM but it fit even underneath my huge cooler.

Cons: None

Overall Review: My system: CPU: i7 4790K CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 Motherboard: ASUS Z97I-PLUS mini-ITX RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8 GB (2x4GB) DDR3 2400 GPU: EVGA GTX 750Ti SC Storage: Intel 730 SSD 480 GB and Intel 520 SSD 120 GB Case: BitFenix Colossus mini-ITX Power Supply: Corsair CS450M OS: Windows 7 Pro (64 bit) Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 Keyboard: Logitech G710 Mouse: Logitech G502 Speakers: Creative Labs T20 Optical: ASUS external slim DVD writer