Joined on 09/28/05
Quiet, Efficient, & Huge
Pros: Really quiet, I can barely hear the change from 40% to 95% fan speed. Ran several stress tests, GPU temperatures never got over 60° C.
Cons: Removal of old fan and heatsinks and installation of this cooler is not for the uninitiated. Note: Documentation refers to the "original" screws, meaning the ones that came with the cooler, not the ones that came with the card. Cooler is taller and longer than the card, so I needed to remove the drive cage fan and side fan duct from my HAF X case to get it to fit. Running two 690s in quad SLI would require a special,long, SLI cable.
Overall Review: Had been looking for a better air cooler since I first heard the stock fan under stress, and finally found the best. I would recommend Arcticlean if you don't already have some on hand to clean off the old paste.
Already shows degragation:
Pros: Inexpensive
Cons: SMART software shows the Seek Error Rate at 47% after two days.
Overall Review: Looks like my replacement drive needs to get replaced.
Big and Quiet
Pros: I moved my system from a Antec case to this and the difference is amazing. Even with a second top fan, I can barely tell it is on. Spacious interior and my cables are now nicely routed.
Cons: Could not get either hot swap bay to recognize the drive, ended up moving it to a standard bay.
Lifetime Warranty?
Pros: Worked great, while it did
Cons: When the first failed, BFG replaced it quickly. But when the second failed last year, there has been no response to my e-mails and phone calls for another replacement.
Overall Review: Paid a lot for it initially thinking it meant better quality, now I know better.