Joined on 03/10/09
Overall Highly Satisfied Customer
Pros: This case is absolutely beautiful, it has a simple yet elegant design and the pictures don't even do it justice. It has excellent fan options and dust filters, plenty of cable management space, and even supports liquid cooling. The ability to remove a hard drive cage if you wish for a larger video card or just simply for better airflow is a very nice feature as well. Bottom mounted powersupply has and always will be in my opinion and experience vastly superior to top mounted... Offers 2 USB2.0 and 1 USB3.0 (using a motherboard header cable) which I prefer as I don't like having to route a cable out my case into a USB3.0 Port on my motherboard... Also has the standard headphone/microphone ports, nice Power button with a very sturdy feel to it not so easy to accidentally push and has both the power LED/HDD Activity LED built into it (Power=Blue HDD=Orange). Overall I am INCREDIBLY pleased with this case and I am ordering the mid size as well.
Cons: Well... If I had to pick some cons, the fan controller that comes with this case doesn't exactly seem to be the best.. It may have been intended to do this but when switched to the lowest setting 2 of the fans that come with the case shut off and only one remains on, I haven't tested it but I suspect the first "Fan port" on the Controller gets power and the 2 ports there after do not get enough power to spin the fans causing them to simply stop spinning. The front USB ports are also INCREDIBLY tight and you might break a USB device if you aren't careful until you "break" them in. Same goes for the vertical card slot, the others seem fine however. The top/front panel dust filters seem like they could have been done better by using a similar method as the bottom dust filter and the material pokes out the mesh panels a bit but you can't tell unless you are touching or really looking for it. Lastly it is rather large for a Micro ATX case.
Overall Review: Now while I did list some cons don't be mislead, I was really trying to complain about the case to provide a helpful review. I am absolutely in love with this case and it deserves more than 5/5 eggs in my opinion, and if you knew me.. I am almost never satisfied with any computer case and manage to find something(s) that end up making me rate then 3/5 and I do build ALOT of computer systems be it for myself or a client. Stop thinking about it, buy the case, after you get it and set your system up you will think you made off like a bandit only paying 100$ for this case.
Seriously?
Pros: The board is made of high quality components and is pretty solid
Cons: No ability to lower the cpu vcore voltage..... seriously? This board is so dumb about voltage, I've had several of these and several a10 7850Ks and this board will set them to 1.4v+ on cpu vcore while other motherboards default to around 1.25v AND let you lower the voltage. This board forces the APU to 1.4v+ and causes it to run needlessly hot. Given 10+ years of using Gigabyte this is a HUGE blemish on their otherwise perfect track record in my book.
Overall Review: Gigabyte... I'm not sure if this was just laziness or an oversight, but please don't make this mistake in the future. Having full control over the voltages (not just raising them) is very important.
Should've Known Better
Pros: It came?
Cons: - Took forever to ship - Looks like cheap fake jewelry - Sapphire in the picture is made to look an incredibly beautiful blue, but in person its basically black even with direct light on it
Overall Review: I should've known this product was way to good to be true, it was on sale and I thought it might make a nice gift (should still) but I feel like the "sale" was basically a way to lure people into buying a cheap product that they used artificial product/photos to make it look better than the real thing they sell to you is
Major Let Down
Pros: BIOS actually handles well with a mouse All four boards work
Cons: Able to overclock CPU but unable to adjust voltage Unable to adjust IGP memory BIOS Flashing doesn't work Terrible tech phone support
Overall Review: I spoke with 2 individuals, the first one simply advised that I try to update the BIOS from 10.3 to 10.4 when I told him I was unable to adjust CPU voltage or IGP memory. The second technician when I told him I was unable to update the BIOS simply took down my name & number, gave me a ticket number and said they'd get back to me. While all four boards work, they have some very concerning issues and I find their tech support so incredibly lacking, I will now move to another brand for the remaining 146 systems I will be building. Might RMA these back to Newegg.
Very Happy
Pros: 8 cores @ 3.1GHz Quite energy efficient Doesn't run very hot even at 100% load 53C (20F ambient) Getting 30-35k ppd (with 2 processors) in folding at home on WS2008 R2 while running all my other services etc
Cons: Not many great heatsink options for socket C32 Price maybe?
Overall Review: I have 2 of these running in my server along side 8 hard drives and despite the 700W powersupplies that aren't even 80 plus, it currently only pulls about 300W running both CPUs @ 100%, plan to switch to 500W 80 plus plat power supplies which should shave off quite a bit.
Disregard Previous Review
Pros: NA
Cons: NA
Overall Review: Please ignore my previous review, I contacted customer support and they agreed to send me a different card. I was angry and instead of contacting customer support first I just wrote a harsh review which was unprofessional of me.