Pros: -modular -sleeved cables -quiet with or without the fan on -excellent warranty service with long warranty

Cons: -first one was defective and required RMA

Overall Review: I've always ordered SeaSonic and never had an issue with a PSU. I was tempted to keep my SeaSonic S12-500 for my new build, the PSU that I bought in 2008. But I wanted a PSU that had a warranty "just because." But I had heard great things so instead of going with the SeaSonic manufactured GS model, I went with the Super Flower manufactured G2 model. The first unit was, as mentioned before, defective. After a few weeks of problem free operation the G2 began to have problems powering on. I'd press the power button, the fans would spin up, the mobo's LEDs would come on, then the CPU fan would stop spinning and the system would fail to post. I'd power on again and all would be fine. I originally suspected other components, but after swapping out nearly everything, I went with my old SeaSonic and the system ran fine. I contacted EVGA who did a free cross-shipped RMA. I paid nothing and the service was very fast. The new PSU works just fine.

Pros: -Realtek ALC885 was a pleasant surprise, definitely better than expected for onboard audio -included cables are outstanding

Cons: -a dual-slot GPU will cover at least 2 of the SATA ports, so if you have a dual-slot GPU, you only get 2 SATA ports (1HDD and 1 optical drive) -crashes if you install nvidia storage driver (mediashield) from latest forceware

Overall Review: This will be my last nFarce motherboard. NV has gone downhill in this area after peaking with NF2. Drivers are unstable, rarely updated, and never compiled for the right boards. EVGA is an excellent company. If you want an nForce board, get EVGA. If you want a budget mobo, this is for you. But please, if you're only buying this for price, do yourself a favor and consider spending $20-30 more for a solid Intel P35.

Pros: - Absolutely silent even under heavier loads - No issues with stability or reliability - SFX-L form factor makes it fit just fine into my Cerberus X

Cons: - I prefer flat cables, and the cables that come with this unit are a tad stiffer than I would like. - SeaSonic says they'll give you a $25 Steam gift card if you post a review on the retailer that you purchased from. After you leave a review, they let you know that they've run out of stock of internet bits.

Overall Review: If you have a case that doesn't absolutely require an SFX unit, this is a better purchase than the Corsair SF450 due to the longer warranty and larger, quieter fan. But you might want aftermarket cables for a smaller/tighter case. And do not expect SeaSonic to stand behind their marketing materials. Minus one egg for the cables, and minus one egg for the review bribe.

Pros: - slim form factor - aesthetically pleasing - didn't burn down my house

Cons: - included USB cable criminally short - requires AC adapter for some usage, not included, not sold by Pioneer - loud - vibrates violently - doesn't reach close to advertised speeds - Standard Blu-Ray playback has severe artifacts - Does not support BDXL (4K Blu-Ray) video playback - No software included. - Expensive to make fully functional.

Overall Review: I went through two of these. I thought the first was defective so I exchanged it only to see the same issues in the second unit, with the exception that the second unit wasn't as loud and didn't vibrate as violently. So, let me expand on my Cons above. The included USB cable has a 2 USB ports on the end, a 3.0 and a 2.0. USB 3.0 can draw up to 0.9A (4.5W), while USB 2.0 can draw 0.5W (2.5W). In order to power the device you need both plugs in USB 2.0 outlets, or just the single USB 3.0 plug to fully power the device. The problem is just how short this cable happens to be. You'll want to purchase a longer cable (make sure it supports MicroUSB 3.0, the double-wide cable often bundled with some Samsung phones). However, it can't draw enough power to support full speed, so you'll need an AC adapter. One isn't included. The manual states to only use the one provided/recommended by Pioneer, gives you a URL, and there's no adapter(s) there. I called their support and they didn't know of this. So, it requires an adapter for full speed, but the adapter isn't included and doesn't exist. Brilliant! Playback gets loud and it shakes violently. And that's at barely above half speed. I shudder to think how loud it would get or how much it would vibrate if the AC adapter existed and was plugged in. I'm used to optical drives not reaching or sustaining their advertised speeds. My old internal BD drive was advertised as 8X read, and it would reach 6x and sustain at least 5.5X according to MakeMKV's results. This drive is advertised as 6X read for BD-ROM. During MakeMKV it had a hard limit of 2.0X. Every time it hit 2.0X it would immediately throttle back down to 1.9X or lower. This was the default "quiet" setting which, btw, wasn't even close to being quiet. I then downloaded the Pioneer configuration tool and changed it to Standard and Performance. My first drive would hit 3.0X and shook like a defective washing machine. The second unit fared better at 3.3X. These are exceptionally slow results for a 6X drive. I tried playing some Blu-Ray movies. Regardless of the speed setting it would struggle to maintain a proper 1X read speed. You could hear it spin up and down constantly, LOUDLY, heard even over my bookshelf speakers that were closer to my ears than the darn drive. During the spin downs the video would drop frames and/or become obscenely pixelated (think mid-1990s RealPlayer). This wasn't occasional. It was a constant pulse, making movies unwatchable. I then tried a 4K Blu-Ray (BDXL), not expecting better, but just wanted to see if it would work (it's advertised to support BDXL). It wouldn't even read the disc. Neither unit would. Next, there's no software included. Neither box was sealed though, so for all I know Newegg removed it (both units came direct from Newegg, not a third party seller). This unit USED to come with the free/limited version of CyberLink 10. I'm not sure if this changed (likely), or if Newegg gave me opened boxes (unlikely). Finally, there's the cost. It's about $80 most of the time, which seems like a deal, but then consider the following: - You'll want a power brick of some kind to give it better sustained performance (and HOPEFULLY fix the movie playback) - You'll definitely want a longer USB cable (and the double-wide MicroUSB 3.0 cables are less common and thus cost a tad more) - If you care about menu support, you will need to purchase CyberLink for movie playback This $80 drive can easily hit $150 and close to $200 in some cases. Overall, this unit is a disaster. The WireCutter has it ranked as the best unit in this segment. I don't know if that's damning evidence in terms of how bad external Blu-Ray drives are in general, or if they simply got a golden sample direct from Pioneer. However, what I do know is that you should avoid this at all costs if you need an optical drive with functional Blu-Ray capabilities. As for me, I'm buying a $40 Vantec optical drive enclosure and converting my old internal into an external. It's bulkier and requires a power adapter, so not quite as portable, but it works, it's faster, it's silent, and at least my movies work.

Pros: -Elegant, simplistic design. More "Ducky" then "Corsair." -The implementation of RGB lighting kills the competition, beautifully and evenly lit keycaps with little underglow/bleed. -Great feel to the keys, almost a soft-touch feel -Standard layout, nothing grossly out of the ordinary -Amazing build quality

Cons: -Lacks features of similarly priced keyboards (dedicated macro keys, USB pass through, palm/wrist rest, etc.) -Cannot customize keycaps as easily as you can with Cherry MX and clones -Romer-G is love it or hate it (I'd love it if not for the below problem) -Annoying metallic PING noise when typing or even just tapping the keyboard due to metal backplate vibrations. (see other below)

Overall Review: My fatal flaw was the metallic ping sounds coming from the internal metal plate. This didn't just happen when actuating the keys. It also happens when I tap the keyboard itself. The internal metal plate is not secured properly and resonates horribly. My wife described the sound from another floor of the house as "banging on a hollow barrel." I cannot STAND typing on this keyboard at night when the house is mostly quiet, and I'm normally tolerant of the loud noise emitted by Cherry MX Blues and Greens. Mine was likely a defect, so I returned it (no inventory for an exchange). I'll research other keyboards, but if I can't find something decent, I'll come back to this when inventory exists.

Pros: -Looks nice -Doesn't have an obscenely high profile

Cons: -Doesn't run at DDR3-1600 by default -When XMP enabled to run at 1600, ran stable for 2 months, then became unstable

Overall Review: This memory requires the use of XMP to enable the advertised speed. That in itself is fine. However, after two months at the rated speed with XMP enabled, the system became unstable and would not boot. After extensive troubleshoot to rule out other components to include the mobo, PSU, GPU, HDD, etc., I found that disabling XMP and running this memory below advertised specs was the only way to keep the system stable. I called G.SKill's tech support, and rather than being a normal company phone line, it was some guy answering the phone as if I had just woke him up. It seems that G.SKILL still has antiquated warranty service where you pay to ship the defective product back, wait several weeks to a few months, and you get a refurbished product back. Yea, I want my PC down that long... I've been using G.SKILL for memory exclusively for the past 9 years. I'll be going elsewhere for my memory needs moving forward. When it comes to warranty support, advanced replacement needs to be an option, and free 2-way shipping is expected.