Pros: Ran perfectly for 5 months with Pentium D 940 3.2GHz at 113 degrees F. Just flashed bios 0910 and installed Core 2 Extreme x6800 2.94GHz and booted right up. Now runs at 91 degrees F with much improved performance.

Cons: Takes a little effort to get JMicron DVD optimized.

Overall Review: This was an early motherboard from last summer with bios 302. BIOS flash was all that was needed to get compatible with Core 2 Extreme. Despite the cautions about memory compatiblity, this has been a very reliable and stable board. (2G Corsair DDR2 800 4-4-4-12 and 2 Raptor 150s.)

Pros: Visually very good. Image takes on a very warm look at extreme left/right viewing angles, but straight on, crisp, good colors, no dead pixels, and bright enough.

Cons: Clean styling ruined a bit by a gaudy aluminum-look trim strip that bulges on the bottom left and right edges, goes over the top and bulges again in the middle. A failed attempt to spice up the styling.

Overall Review: Excellent functionally especially for $300, but clean rectangular lines would look better.

Pros: Good balance of cooling, quietness, and a form factor that fits tight spaces. All at a reasonable price.

Cons: Needed to bend 3-hole mounting clips outer holes outward to clear plastic protrusions on 1-hole mounting AM2 socket on MSI K9N6PGM-F Socket AM2 Micro ATX, but fit fine after that.