Pros: This is an EGGCELLENT card, for the most part! It made my standard Sony TV speakers sound much better. It maked my Yahama speaker system (not the best) attached to it perform to its fullest ability and then some. The variety of ports on the back are excellent. Needed a card with Optical In/Out that supported pass through. The Denon I use with it, believe me you - WOW. I felt emmersed more than with a the Denon processing it. The processing made me feel more into the movie, like I was on the set, moreso. Software is not bloated and seems to take minimal system resources. Simple Install (hardest part was getting it out of the static bag). CPU overhead is minimal ~5-10% or so, 0% would be great though. Supports a front panel connection so if I add that in the future, I can.

Cons: Cost, it is not cheap. When using DDL feature, the analog ports are turned off - a minor inconvienance if you keep DDL turned on with analog speakers (tv speakers). The software "can" be kind of confusing I guess...took me a few seconds to adapt to it b/c there is a plethera of options/tuning. Newegg is the only retailer in US, but I buy from them anyway. Wish it was all hardware and did not use the CPU but did not want to spend too much money or go Creative. Would have been nice to have COAX IN as well (on the back, optional cable plugs into the board itself), but where would they put it? The port labels are half cut off by my case slots - have to refer to manual to know which port is which. Any type of color coding would have been appreciated, but once my system is setup, nothing is changed. The DTS interactive option causes BSOD (the only time in 4 years) on this box. Heard rumors of CMEDIA having financial trouble-could be bad.

Overall Review: I utilized several audio sources - DVD (Matrix, Nemo, Pirates 2), mp3, CD, OTA HD, Cable HD and net stream music and video. Did not try DVD-A, SACD or HD-DVD (I do not have access to these formats). HTPC is 1.1GHz Athlon Thunderbird, 768MB RAM, 150GB HD space, 300WPS, 46" Sony Rear Projection CRT HDTV using DVI on Sapphire 9600XT. I use On Air GT to process OTA/Cable Dolby Digital 5.1 and Cable QAM Dolby Digital 5.1. Only reason for 4of5 stars is the BSOD on my box. Otherwise, an excellent card.

Pros: Quiet because no fan and quiet hard drive. Can use either USB or Ethernet. Has HD activity light (OKGear on front is blue when idle, red when reading/writing). Very easy to setup, I just followed the manual (very good manual) and took the advice and downloaded the latest software from OKGear. For the most part, no issues. Supports NTFS for my 320GB drive. I can stream MP3's and uncompressed movies (for the most part) over my Linksys wireless G network with no drops (have only watched 2 movies so far and played 30 mp3's). The glossy black case is good and sleek.

Cons: Only benchmarks at 10mb/s - not 100 mb/s - tech support is useless over. I tried several methods but it is still limited to 10mb/s. Stiff wires felt they could snap at the solder point on the board. The keys were not where the manual/software stated they were. They were not on the bottom of the device, but inside and on the CD sleeve (I looked there as last resort because I did not use the CD). All 3 of my pc's autorun the drive - manual suggests something to do but does not work. Causes my wireless connection to drop when being used to write large files (10+GB). Reading does not cause this drop. The wired connected drives do not have this problem - obviously. Wish Newegg offered different colors from OKGear, which are available. The glossy black case shows finger prints though. When this drive is mounted, I can not suspend any pc - the device prevents it. When I allow it to suspend, it locks up upon restore.

Overall Review: Except for the major issue of being limited to 10mb/s when it clearly states 100mb/s, a great enclosure. XP Home, XP Pro and XP MCE all see the drive with zero issues. It runs slightly warm around 31C (using external probe after 15+GB transfer), nothing my Seagate 7200RPM 320GB drive was not meant to handle. You do have to load software, but I like this option as you need to setup read/write keys to access - a plus for security (unless you loose the key). Two PC's can stream mp3's at the same time with no issues or drops. Once everything was setup, I disabled the software from loading as XP does the actual mounting of the drive - one less systray icon.

Pros: Im not taxing it, but it works well. Hybrid Crossfire works well with Powercolor 5450. Good options in BIOS to tweak with. Stable thus far. No driver issues. NB runs cool with HS. Like that it has 2 PCIEx1 slots (TV Tuner slots). Installing in SFF case breeze. No issue with layout in my case, all fit and did not create any headache.

Cons: Core unlocker did not work for me, but not a con. The IDE controller is third party chip so there is extended pre-os loads (non issue unless you had PATA hardware). EPU software sucks, I dont recommend it (caused issues with stuttering on 5450 playing HD TV due to "power saving" features, did not supply enough V to where it was needed I think). Cant use HDMI and DVI at same time for integrated graphics (no issue for me since I have external graphics too).

Overall Review: Windows 7 32 Bit. Athlon II x3 2.9GHz, 2GB Crucial RAM. It looks like it has good debugging options...but I did not need it thus can not comment on it. Manual is standard Asus manual. It lists all the features/setting and where they are, but not necessarily what the features do (just that you can turn it on/off - although to most users, best to leave defaults).

Pros: Quiet, no power related issues. Voltages report through SW with 2-3% of expected voltages. Did not use volt meter. Passes Asus voltage power quality check they are putting in on MB's now.

Cons: I dont know the cable qty...it had all what I wanted for my HTCP. It has a Red LED fan...I thought it would be annoying since this is in a HTPC, but you cant see it really.

Overall Review: Recommended, but only had for short time. Rebate was a little tricky, but every company wants different things.

Pros: SMALL and QUIET are the two big hitters here. Installation for AM3 was simple, to the point, quick and did not make me concerned for CPU. Set BIOS to Turbo and I can not hear fan unless I am < .5m away.

Cons: Does not cool like bigger coolers, but that is to be expected...it is SMALL.

Overall Review: Installed without issue in my SUGO case. Fits with a little room above too (which it is under the PS fan). AMD Athlon II 2.9GHZ idles at 38C and peaks at 49C under load with ambient at 28C in SFF Case, Silverstone SUGO.

Pros: Works as advertised, 3 cores, good for HTPC.

Cons: Runs warmer than 65W dual core...duh, its 95W 3 core lol. The 4th core did not unlock, but not a con.

Overall Review: It does what it is designed to do well.