Pros: * Solid, mostly steel case, cross brace for added strength * Very attractive, will blend nicely with your stereo gear * USB3 on front panel * Well ventilated, accepts up to 4 80mm fans * Accepts standard size PSU's * Brushed front will avoid finger prints

Cons: * Tight build, Silverstone could have added an inch or two more depth to alleviate this. *Difficult to stash away extra PSU wires. Recommend modular PSU if possible. * 80mm fans only * USB3 cable is heavy, difficult to position if MB header is towards the front (mine was). This could be a real problem if using a full 3.5" HDD. I installed an 2.5" SSD so had enough room. * Sketchy drive "tray", basically a heavy plastic stand that must be removed to mount HDD or SSD. Watch those nearby front panel wires when reinstalling. Did not install a 2nd HDD below the optical drive so can't speak to that. * Did I say the case is a bit shallow? Measure your PSU and optical drive first. Basically you have a total of 340mm to work with. My BR drive is 185mm so I opted for a Nexus Value 430 silent PSU. It's only 125mm so allowed for the longer optical drive. Standard PSU's are 140mm which will limit your optical drive to 170mm (the extra 30mm--about 1 inch--for connections). * Low profile cards only (not really a con for knowledgeable HTPC builders but just be aware) * No 3.5" front slot to install card reader. An external USB card reader will be required if needed.

Overall Review: Replaced Antec Minuet case for more attractive HTPC. This case certainly meets that requirement. It blends in nicely with the rest of my gear. Build was very tight so take your time and measure your PSU and optical drive carefully. This is an entry level, slim HTPC so do not expect the world. I give it 4 eggs since it achieves most of what it is designed for. Another inch or two depth would have solved most of the cons.

Pros: *43% gain in read speeds over onboard SATA II, no change in write speeds with Intel 510 120GB. (400K MB/Sec read, 222K write in ATTO.) About what I expected since the Intel drive doesn't hit full SATA III speeds anyway. Decided on Intel drive over Vertex 3 for well-documented Intel SSD reliability on main system. *Plug and play on Win7 64 bit using native MSAHCI driver (see driver comment below).

Cons: *S3 sleep no longer functional, controller bios apparently needs to re-initialize from off state or hibernation. *TRIM may not be supported. There is conflicting information as to whether TRIM commands pass through the controller. I can use the Intel Toolbox to manually optimize drive but YMMV. *Marvell driver from Highpoint website or CD will not install. Device manager shows "Marvell 91xx Config ATA Device" with yellow exclamation point. Cannot find solution, nor am I sure it's necessary. The native MSAHCI driver seems to be working ok. Possibly Marvell driver only needed during Win7 install? *The Marvell 9128 chip on PCIe x1 is limited to about 5GB speeds, not full 6GB bandwidth of SATA III spec. Depending on your drive this may or may not be a negative. Until x4 controllers are again available Vertex 3 owners will need a new MB with onboard SATA III controller to get max throughput. The new Marvell 9182 SATA III chip is apparently the best.

Overall Review: Purchased 620A from online auction in order to maximize speed of Intel 510 on Asrock X58 Extreme. Not sure of 620A vs. 620 versions differences. An earlier poster mentioned reflashing BIOS to 620 but I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble. Controller is working and I'm getting about what I expected in speed from my Intel 510 120GB. Overall, the 620 is an easy way to get near SATA III speeds without breaking the bank. Call it SATA 2.5. However, TRIM and driver support is unclear and from what I read Highpoint support isn't much help. The loss of S3 sleep mode is a bit of a bummer but I can live without it for now. Bottom line: I think we are all waiting on the next gen controllers with the highly touted Marvell 9182 chip.

Pros: OC capability, Micron chips, MB compatibility, nice heat spreaders

Cons: Nothing signficiant, maybe a few dollars more than other memory

Overall Review: Replaced Patriot memory after returning my first sticks and failing to get the second set to OC, even by the slightest margin. The G.Skill sticks posted immediately on my E6420 system at 367ghz. Stable so far after a few hours running on my Gigabyte DS3. Will be shooting for 400+ soon. Great buy.

Pros: Works at stock speeds, good price (assuming my rebate arrives), attractive heat spreaders

Cons: Will not OC on Gigabyte DS3, questionable quality control

Overall Review: I first rated this memory on 5/10/07 with 1 egg. Memory failed to pass memtest and caused many lockups. I returned for replacement. Second set passed memtest but would not overclock on my new Gigabyte DS3, even with loose timings, proper voltage and 1:1 fsb ratio. Decided to replace with GSkill HZ's with Micron chips. I was immediately able to boot my E6420 system stably at 367ghz and I'll be reaching for 400+ soon. Bottom line: The Patriot memory is not fully compatible for OC'ing all MB's. Your mileage will vary with this memory. Don't forget to test your sticks thoroughly and don't miss the refund period, like I did. I'm bumping to 3 eggs since the second set at least worked, if only at stock speeds.

Pros: Price after rebate, low latency, generally good reputation for quality memory

Cons: Unless I received someone else's return, Patriot must have poor quality control. I am returning for replacement. Unfortunately, I just missed the refund period.

Overall Review: After struggling for two weeks with new C2D build (Gigabyte DS3 motherboard), I finally isolated the problem: My new Patriot memory. The sticks were very unstable and caused random boot and resume from sleep errors. I finally ran MemTest and it failed miserably with numerous errors, even with conservative 5-5-5-16 timings. Have installed temporary, 1GB Kingston stick and my stystem is running stable. Recommendation if you buy this memory: Run MemTest immediately to verify quality. I'll bump my rating if the next pair performs as they should.

Pros: None so far

Cons: Will not install in Vista, works in XP but causes S3 resume problems, abysmal support. My emails to ATI have been answered with, basically, links to install instructions.

Overall Review: I've used ATI products for years with generally good results. But the Wonder 650 has major problems. I could write pages about the install problems in my XP/Vista dual boot system but I'll summarize: XP - Installed fine. Analog picture looks very good using the Catalyst Media Center. Major problem is that the card breaks S3 resume. I get a black screen then hard reboot. Remove card and resume is fine. Vista - Card won't install. Receiving "can't find inf" errors during driver load. S3 resume also fails with card installed. My system is basic P4 with Asus P4S800D-E motherboard. Running ATI X1650 Pro AGP video card. So far, it's been fine. I'm considering an RMA unless ATI steps up their support.