Joined on 10/29/05
No Issues With Win 7 Ultimate 64 or Windows 10 Pro
Pros: Works great so far. I'm using this with a 500GB Samsung EVO SSD as a scratch disk for video editing. Originally that drive was connected via a 2-port SYBA SATA card and the throughput was limited to about 200MB/s. Now, I consistently get 480+MB/s. MB is a Rampage III Extreme and all 8 existing SATA ports are used as: RAID 1, 10, and BD drives Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Primary applications: Adobe Premiere, Media Coder and After Effects CC
Cons: Arrived with the metal tab on one eSATA port mangled but after a bit of fiddling with needle nose pliers it seems usable
Overall Review: TIP: I did not use the included CD and instead went directly to the SIIG website and downloaded the latest drivers prior to the install. According to SIIG, if you're running Windows 10 you don't need manually install their drivers as Windows 10 provides them.
Arrived Defective - Killed My SSDs
Pros: Easy setup. Easy overclocking. Painless online BIOS updates. Accepted the RAIDs from my old ASUS Rampage II Extreme without issues. FAST! Allows me to run dual RAID 10s — one as the boot drive and one as the data drive — plus a SATA tray for backups and a BD writer, all without having to add an expansion card.
Cons: 1. Misidentified my G.SKILL TridentZ Series DDR4 3866 memory as 2xxx modules 2. Would not maintain BIOS RAM settings 3. Two SATA connectors (no. 3 & 4 of 8) had hidden shorts that instantly destroyed my SSDs ASROCK Support agreed the board was defective however, even though I purchased the extended warranty Newegg will not ship a replacement until the faulty board is returned meaning I have to suffer serious downtime. Based on my experience I would NOT recommend this board
Overall Review: Windows 10 Pro. 32GB RAM installed (will be adding an additional 32GB in future). 4.3GHz Kaby Lake running at 4.6GHz. Noctua CPU Cooler. EVGA GTX1080 FTW graphics card. Black Magic Intensity Pro card for realtime previewed on HDTV. 850W Gold series PSU. System is used exclusively for editing with Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Photoshop
Silence Is Golden
Pros: Have this set to Silent Mode in BIOS but even after adding the second fan (highly recommended) the thing is whisper quiet. At idle my 4.3GHz Kaby Lake CPU (OC'd to 47GHz) hovers around 33C so it's all good. The quality and finish of the hardware is excellent
Cons: None, although the installation diagrams could have a been a bit clearer
Overall Review: I love Noctua fans and this is the first CPU Cooler from them that I've tried and the quality is exceptionally good. It is rather large (in a good way) so a little pre-planning on memory installation and cable routing is in order. I have this installed on an ASROCK Taichi XE and elected to install the 12V power cables and memory prior installing the CPU and cooler - made it all less fiddly
Mixed Feelings
Pros: Fast. 7200 RPM and 128MB cache with a rated 6 Gbps over compatible SATA. In a RAID 10 configuration based on an ASRock X299 TAICHI XE motherboard with 32GB DDR4 RAM and a Intel Core i7-7740X running at 4.7GHz under Windows 10 Pro I averaged over 340MBs R/W using the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test with the 5GB test filesize Cheap for its capacity and warranty Very quiet - even during large file transfers
Cons: I ordered 3 and one arrived DOA. It may be specious but on the face of it that's a 33 percent failure rate (zero hassle exchange from Newegg with free shipping so there's that) Or just bad luck
Great For Media Servers Or NAS
Pros: Virtually silent thanks in part to its relatively low speed of 5400 RPM - a speed that is more than adequate for serving up HD movies and also contributes to its low power consumption.
Cons: None
Overall Review: Recommended and would buy again
Excellent Product
Pros: I have two of these and love them. Attractive design, nicely finished, lots of airflow for cooling, a proper ON/OFF switch and an optional stand that is very stable. Overall very impressive at this price point. I use these with SBCs - one running PLEX and the other running OpenMediaVault and both use 4TB drives with no issues (the SBCs both have clear plastic enclosures and I attached them to the outside of the cases with VHB tape which makes for very tidy and compact setups). The HDD simply drops into the drawer which is held in place with 2 screws which makes drive access super easy
Cons: None
Overall Review: Recommended and would buy again