Joined on 04/30/02
Pleased with my first HDTV purchase.
Pros: Very nice picture with HD input, looks fine regardless of viewing angle, and has game mode that claims to reduce input latency (though I haven't noticed any lag as far as I can tell either way). Good amount of inputs and a vast assortment of adjustments allowing you to get the best out of whatever you're feeding it, given the negatives of fixed pixel screens. Upscaled DVD movies look pretty good on a cheap Philips player via HDMI, though not in the same league as Blu-Ray, of course. The version I got has the "S" panel, which from what I've read is what you want (Samsung-made panel, not outsourced to China).
Cons: It's a fixed pixel display, so SD interlaced sources look, at least initially, like your typical overly-compressed youtube video...horrible. Thankfully, you can make enough adjustments to alleviate this to a mostly acceptable degree. Using composite rather than coax for the Dish receiver helped a bit as well. Planning to upgrade to HD programming eventually, but mainly this was bought for gaming, since TV shows generally aren't worth watching anyway. Would have greatly preferred a CRT HDTV for the sake of versatility (and the fact that we simply don't need anything larger), but they're practically extinct. Many reds look a little too pinkish for my taste, but I'm still fiddling with the myriad of color adjustments. Have noticed a little blur on occasion in movies, but really insignificant overall.
Overall Review: I'd looked at 32" LCD TVs at BB and the pictures for OTA broadcast on all of them were quite poor (particularly cartoons) as most were interlaced SD. This caused quite a bit of trepidation on my part, but it's not nearly as bad once you get it adjusted properly and optimally connected to your sources. We have a PS2, Wii (with lots of GC games, most of which support 480p), and Xbox 360 hooked up to it, via a Rocket Fish universal component gaming cable. The improvement in picture quality on the PS2 and Wii was very obvious compared to composite, even with games that don't do progressive, surprisingly. Of course, the 360 looks proper now @ 720...nice to be able to finally read text in Dead Rising and other games! Was very pleased that the set arrived in perfect condition from UPS...not even a dent on the box. Since it ships in its regular box, maybe they took a little more care than usual, knowing what was in it.
Decent for the price
Pros: Low price. Sufficient warranty period. Was able to eventually get the picture looking reasonably close to what I wanted. Two millisecond pixel response, depending...
Cons: As most others have stated, OSD menu button layout isn't intuitive and button label visibility is practically nonexistent. If either one of these was rectified, the other wouldn't matter. I'm used to ASUS motherboard manuals often being cryptic, poorly written/translated, missing information, etc. However, I expected much better documentation to accompany a monitor. For example, I am left to assume that the Overdrive function must have something to do with pixel response time, as there is no mention of it either in the manual or on ASUS' web page for this model. I shouldn't have to resort to using a search engine to find out what any features of a simple monitor I've bought brand new mean. What's more, the settings for "Overdrive" are 0-100 in increments of 20, and mean absolutely nothing without some sort of reference.
Overall Review: I was in a hurry with this purchase, saw the 600+ 5-egg average review scores, and just bought the thing. I'm not extremely disappointed with it, documentation aside, but I think I'll be going back to Viewsonic next time. Aside from that, I really hope that when it's time to buy another monitor some truly significant improvements have been made with flat panels in the $150-$200 range. It's certainly been a very long time coming. Compared to CRTs, I still see no real advantages other than weight, and quite a few disadvantages.
Works perfectly for my needs.
Pros: Solid construction. I can finally load my S&W M&P Shield 9 magazines to full capacity. Also works to help get that last round or two in the Kimber Solo magazines, which have similarly stiff springs.
Cons: None as of yet, eight months later.
Overall Review: Can't believe I found it cheapest on newegg, of all places.
Long-Term Review with RMA Experience
Pros: Modular, which is handy. Stable output with plenty of amps on the 12 volt rails. Three-year warranty (luckily), because I ended up needing to make use of it.
Cons: Failed within 2.7 years. MTBF rating is greater than 100,000 hours, yet three years of running non-stop, day and night, would total a mere 26,280 hours.
Overall Review: I would rate my overall experience, particularly with OCZ support getting me a replacement in a timely, hassle-free manner (in December, no less) FIVE STARS. However, given the steep price of this and other similarly rated units, there's absolutely no reason not to expect it to last at least 10 years. I don't do anything crazy with my systems; everything runs stock and they're all well protected, ventilated and maintained. I have a pair of really old desktops with (A brand no longer carried by newegg) 450W PSUs ($40 ea. when new), and they're still functional after nearly 12 years.
Followup from 3/21/2011 feedback
Pros: Had a problem with missing accessories when first received. After contacting MSI, they sent everything that was missing (adpaters, CD, manual, etc.) within a few weeks. It's taken me a while to update feedback as I've been very busy. I am very pleased with this card's performance. It went in a new build: AMD PhenomII x4 965, Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3, 8GB G-SKILL Ripjaws PC3 10666, Lian-Li PC-K7 black aluminum case, Win7 x64. The whole system is dead quiet compared to my previous, which was so old I won't even mention details. Much cooler also. This card's 90mm fan, because of its enormity, moves plenty of air without making much noise at all. Gaming performance has been superb thus far, and when the fan speed increases to adjust for load, only a miniscule whine is heard. Card size was not an issue in such a voluminous case.
Cons: None so far. Seems a little pricey, but it runs everything I've tried perfectly smooth. I've payed $100 more for that kind of performance from a video card in the past, so actually I have to conclude that it's a solid deal for the money.
Overall Review: Not a fan of Win7 x64. The PC should remain very nearly 100% backward compatible (excluding DOS, but VM/emulation is possible there). I believe MS could certainly deliver that if they really wanted to. Time to dual-boot again...
Nice card, however...
Pros: Haven't had time to really test this thing out, but I have no doubt I'll be pleased with the performance.
Cons: I have long trusted the MSI brand, going back to the BX board days. However, this product was a let down, regarding packaging. The only items in the retail box were the card itself, and the two power adapters. NO driver CD, NO VGA-DVI-HDMI adapters of any sort, no printed materials... I suppose I should just consider myself lucky they remembered to put the video card in the box!
Overall Review: I just chalk this up to the current trend in the way companies are doing business in the crumbling economy. I still have no hard feelings toward MSI, but it would be decent of them to send me the rest of the stuff I paid for.