Joined on 12/08/08
Heat vs Noise
Pros: Fan does it's job. Very efficient at sucking the heat out of the processor and dispersing it to another location (depending on how you installed the heat-sink - Usually facing the backside of the case).
Cons: Fan came with a limiter to make it quiet. The limiter caused the fan to make a clicking noise for a while. I thought it might have been touching the heat-sink blades, but after inspecting the install, the suspected issue was incorrect. The fan blade was in fact mounted incorrectly between the two cooling copper blades by the manufacturer. The noise dissipated after around 5 - 10 minutes of use did not cause overheat issues or cause the fan to go into overdrive. I removed the limiter thinking it would resolve the issue, but instead of a clicking, it made a low thunk noise.
Overall Review: I only removed one egg as the heat sink does exactly what is intended, unfortunately it does so at a higher decibel than what is rated. Still an overall GREAT product that i will never leave out in my gaming / development rigs.
Dropped Connections
Pros: Worked well for the first couple of months.
Cons: After firmware updates, the router started dropping connections. Reboot router, and the router would work for a couple of hours before starting to drop connections again. It's now to the point that connections drop continuously even when it's rebooted. At first I thought it was my internet provider, however removing the router, and connecting directly to the modem fixed all the dropped connections.
Overall Review: Was great while it lasted, but for the price.... NO WAY. I'm not in the business to "RENT" a router.
Not as Expected
Pros: Runs quiet.
Cons: Not as powerful as expected for a > $500.00 Graphics Card. Can't smoothly run FFX1V (FF14) Online maxing out graphics. Drivers have caused the GC to crash. 4 Instances so far since installing a couple of months ago.
Overall Review: This was still an upgrade from my previous graphics card, however it wasn't the upgrade I was expecting for the price tag on this card. The PS4 outperforms this single cards performance. AMD FX 8120 Eight-Core Processor 3.11 GHz 32 GB RAM 64-bit Windows Ultimate 90GB SSD (Windows / Games) ASUS ROG MARS 760 GC
HDD died 11 months
Pros: HDD worked like a charm for around 11 months. No hiccups or data loss within the time specified in the comment.
Cons: HDD died after 11 months of continual use.
Overall Review: I am quite a bit irritated that the Samsung SSD 256GB drive has lasted longer than the HDD drive. According to all of the reviews I have read, the HDD is superior to SSD for storage long term and reliability. I have found from my ownership of both products to be completely false. The SSD on daily use with the OS, all applications, and software development tasks I do for a living, is much more reliable than this HDD I purchased.
Rebate Fail
Pros: Good graphics card for the average gamer
Cons: Rebate VIA Online was unsuccessful, always gave "Page can not be found at the end". Probably won't be buying any rebate items from MSI again.