Pros: 10gbe -- The nics will cost $500 if purchased seperately. lots of ram. Tons of storage options. lsi 2208 is a nice controller. Makes sense if you want to do raid. For JBOD type configurations like ZFS it gets more complicated. IPMI remote management is built in

Cons: LSI 2208 does not have IT firmware to my knowledge... Hard to figure out how to put it in jbod mode. Not a standard form factor. Works with but not directly compatible with older super micro chasis.

Overall Review: I like supermicro. Their warranty is absolutely the worst though... If you receive a bad product return it to the distributor. They are terribly bad. Will always charge for a repair, will take forever to repair the item.

Pros: The receiver. For a Home theater in a box you are getting a high quality receiver. You can compare it the onkyo 606. If you are looking to upgrade down the road this will give you the option to do it, which you can't do with other systems. I got this system with the intention to upgrade the speakers later (which I have done with the help of audiogon.com, great used highend gear). 1.3a compliant and passthrough over hdmi this is a really great feature. Not only will you be able to process audio from movies over hdmi, but you can turn your playstation 3 or high end blue ray into a really good cd player by sending oncompressed over hdmi and using the dac on the onkyo. Supplied setup mic is easy to use. Ipod doc is nice. Most of the latest formats are supported.

Cons: No preouts and not rated for 4 ohm speakers (limits you a bit on your upgrade path) as you can't attach an amp to the preout and onkyo doesn't support running 4 ohm speakers on this receiver, though it's probably safe to do at low volumes. As noted the supplied speaker cable is totally useless except maybe as dental floss. Amp runs hot (keep it ventilated). Takes a while to switch channels over hdmi, also sometimes hear and audible hickup when you change channels or sources. Be prepared to wait if you need tech support. Onkyo hasn't changed there setup menu in ages, don't expect anything too elaborate.

Overall Review: Speakers are ok,. If you're like me you'll enough of an improvement over your old tv speakers to want to hear something better. It's a 7.1 package but I have yet to see anything encoded in 7.1 (not a con really).

Pros: Low power 15 wat draw IPMI CHEAP Makes a great firewall

Cons: Supermicro warranty is awful, as in totally awful. 1. Will charge you for a cross ship. 2. Will send a refurb or repair for a new product. 3. Will take their sweet time doing it. I love supermicro engineering and hate the supermicro warranty. For largish orders I usually look for a supermicro rebrander who will give a better warranty.

Overall Review: Supermicro has said they are fixing their warranty, by adding cross ship for the first year etc for server, my experience as of this week is that it hasn't changed at all.

Pros: Came completely as described. A bargain for the price.

Cons: Instructions could have been a little clearer.

Overall Review: If you are looking to pay $400 for a test from some random guy named mike this is the way to go. Just be sure to know what you are buying.

Pros: None It's a paper weight on the 3 systems I've tried it on.

Cons: This is my second pass at this product. RMAd the first card after it was DOA with New Egg, new egg promptly gave me a replacement. I've Tried it on a supermicro quad core xeon 700 watt power supply, a pentium core 2 intel motherboard 500 watt antec, and a new core i3 on an intel mb with a 430 watt antec power. Failed to work on any of them. Tech support is non existent.... Seriously. I called them was told my wait time was 20 minutes. I waited twenty minutes, the phone range a couple of times I heard some talking in the background, then I heard a generic anouncement about registering my card (the one I heard when I first called), and was told to wait another 20 minutes. I've invested way too much time trying to make

Overall Review: I bought this for hdmi audio for a home theather pc. It would be great if it worked. I wanted to be able to do bistreaming. I'm a network engineer, and will be sure to tell everyone who asks me for advise to steer clear of XFX. It's not like this is cheap either. I must admit I'm totally amazed how many posts XFX makes trying to appear to be responsive to the many people having issues with their products. XFX If you want to contact me my ticket # is 279684 , but honestly should a costumer have to complain on newegg to get a response from your company.

Pros: Works great as an entry level server chip. Working good with esxi.

Cons: Research the chip. Make sure it meets your need. It's stipped down. see other review.