Pros: Very quiet, opens quick, no stupid on the chip just advertising (I really hate that, I'll pay the extra $10 to avoid it) It came with Nero...sweet.
Cons: Bubble wrap packaging, but it worked so I shouldn't compain. I knew it was OEM and not retail when I ordered it.
Overall Review: Remember to order a SATA data cable for it. It's OEM and does not come with one. Ward, I'm worried about the Beave
Pros: Great Price. Decent size, not too big. Well built with that nice card shroud, that's not over the top. I run everything on max settings and it takes it, though I believe that paring it with a quad core 965 AMD helps in that area. Card had been very quiet and had not had any real heat issues. Ph and did I mention the great price?
Cons: I wish it Came with a game, you know like they used to do eight years ago. When you got a new video card, there was a game in the box. But alas, considering the price I should not complain too much.
Overall Review: Ward, I'm worried about the Beave
Pros: Poor build, No pros for you today Seagate.
Cons: While plugging in the SATA power cable, the plastic SATA mount on the hard drive, just broke off. Worthless! No excessive pressure was placed on the plug, I was just connecting it to the power supply. Seagate, I believe that you have taken your cost cutting measures on your build supplies too far.
Overall Review: Ward, I'm worried about the Beave
Pros: Great Memory, It just worked like expected.
Cons: Not an issue with G. Skill - My GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT mother board had the timings and voltage all wrong even when BIOS was set to Auto. An excellent review posting by "Help for overclockers" was all the information that I needed to set me on the correct path. So Thanks "Help for overclockers" thats what these reviews are all about, helping other builders be successful with their builds. Good jod, and thanks to everyone who takes the time to post a review. I believe most buyers do read them. Oh and thought G. Skill seems to be taking some hits on reviews here, I'm impressed that their customer service has a presence here and reads these reviews. To me that says a lot about a company.
Overall Review: Ward, I'm worried about the Beave
Pros: Good board lay out, Five SATA connections, Excellent BIOS for overclocking a Black Edition chip, Redundant BIOS, Four memory slots.
Cons: HUGE Complaint: No thermal compound on the north or south bridge heat sinks. SMALL Complaint: If using a long video card, the SATA 5 connector will be covered. Use of a 90° SATA connector on SATA 5 is pointless because it makes the 90° elbow turn into the SATA 3 & 4 connectors
Overall Review: I built my rig and noticed right away that the temperature readings were off the scale. After a few system lockups and unexpected reboots, I tore the system down. I checked the mountings of the north and south bridge heat sinks and noticed the were sitting there all loose and sloppy. I decided to remove them and remount them. That's when I discovered that Gigabyte had not put any type of thermal compound on the heat sinks. I added a touch of Artic Silver to each heat sink and that helped with my heat problems. Sloppy manufacturing / quality checks Gigabyte. Ward I'm worried about The Beave
Pros: A well built box with a good motherboard tray. The material quality is excellent and general look and feel conveys this. I had no clearance issues with the CPU heat sink and the PSU. If someone is indeed having this issue, I have to ask "just how big is your heat sink....dang!"
Cons: The hard drive cage can be difficult to mount on the bottom of the case, but really this is nothing that can't be fixed with a magnetic screw driver head. Adjustment of CD ROM dives to the front drop face plate can be trail and error. Just remember to loosely mount on the slide side of the cage and then adjust the ROM drive to good position and then mount the rest of the screws that hold the dive into place.
Overall Review: I have build 8, AM3 computers with this case. The computers reside in a filthy vinyl extrusion plant and are operational 24/7. Heat has never been an issue. The removable top allows for easy cleaning/blow out. Ward, I'm worried about the Beave.
Pros: SLI, dual gigabit ethernet ports, two PATA connections and six SATA connections. WOW what a great setup. Just note that this board has no onboard video, you need to provide your own PCI X-16 card to join this party. BIOS on this board is great and very flexable.
Cons: Jmicro controller for PATA is a real pain in the tail, I still have not gotten my second ATA connector to work, but have not really tried that hard either since I am using SATA.
Overall Review: "Ward, I'm worried about the Beaver"
Pros: An excellent processor that goes well with my Foxconn N570SM2AA-8EKRS2H AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI Motherboard. It has L2 2x1MB cache as opposed to L2 2x512K cache! It includes a OEM heat sink. I have read reviews where people grumble about the heat sink, the included heat sink works just fine for me and the fan is quiet. The heat sink even had a thermal pad installed, so I didn't have to go digging around for my Artic Silver. I have been unable to choke this processor and Lord knows I have tried. This CPU should keep me happy for the next three or four years.
Cons: None, Zip, Nadda!
Overall Review: "Ward, I'm worried about the Beaver"
Pros: I love this video card. The graphics it puts out under DX 10 are outstanding. I get excellent frame rates on all games I have played. My jaw hit the desk when I played "World in Conflict". Fire, explosions, smoke and dust are rendered so realisticly you almost think your watching television. The price can't be beat. I'd love to see what happens if you ran two of these cards in SLI mode.
Cons: I'm a bit confused why they didn't include a SLI connection cable for this card. One would think they would want to promote SLI (double the sales). I mean how much could one of these three inch connectors cost? Come on PNY...think!
Overall Review: "Ward, I'm worried about the Beaver"
Pros: This is a well thought out power supply. First it's pin out allows connections to a 20 pin or 24 pin motherboard. It has one PCI X-16 power cable, two SATA connections in addition to lots of standard connections. I really like how all the cables are fabric covered, this gives the inside of the case a much cleaner appearance and prevents nasty cable snags on video cards and heat sinks. The PSU has a quality feel to it and is very quiet when running.
Cons: It would have been nice to have an additionl PCI X-16 power connector for those what have video cards that need power connections and want to run SLI.
Overall Review: "Ward, I'm worried about the Beaver"
Pros: A very easy install and was recognized by BIOS and Vista 64 without having to load a single driver! Vista install seem much faster with this drive. It's worth noting that it came with two separate face plates (Black and White). I have not seen that type of consideration in a long time. Drive also came with Nero Burning ROM V7. What a great deal!
Cons: None
Overall Review: "Ward, I'm Worried about the Beaver"
Pros: Two sticks were installed a Foxconn N570SM2AA-8EKRS2H AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI motherboard. They were recognized by BIOS and were running at 800 MHz @ 1.8v. As mentioned by another review, the heat sinks are pink in color, but I have a closed metal case so it's a non issue. The heat sinks feel substantial and well made. Having 4 GB of memory at 800 MHz really made a difference in my game load times. I will be purchasing another set very soon before New Egg realizes what a great value this memory is and increases the price!
Cons: Good Lord, these memory modules are hermetically sealed in a clear titanium plastic like substance. Have sharp scissors, a chain saw and crow bar available to reach the geeky goodness that waits inside.
Overall Review: "Ward, I'm worried about the Beaver."
Pros: It's as fast as all get out and is certainly a more cost effective solution than the Intel I-5 or I-7. Very easy to overclock, though it's so fast at it's base settings, I didn't see a need to overclock it. The retail heat sink had copper pipes and was of far better quality than expected.
Cons: This mother runs HOT!, I was shocked to see the heat of the cores at idle and under stress, Maybe that heat sink was not all it was cracked up to be? I added two more 60MM fans to a case that already had three (not including cpu and psu fans). Doing that took my idle temps from 44° Celcius to 34° Celcius and stopped under stress temps from 66° Celcius to 56° Celcius. Yea....add some extra fans to your shopping cart now if your getting this processor.
Overall Review: Again...if your getting this processor, think about case air flow and consider a better heat sink and/or more fans for your case. This chip is fast but runs hot. Ward, I'm worried about the Beave