Joined on 10/16/11
GPU Issues
Pros: * Pleasing aesthetics * Excellent Design, well organized with plenty of expansion possibility. * 8 SATA Ports * Onboard GPU
Cons: * BIOS Issues * Reported issues with RAM, thus far I've yet to encounter it. * Reported GPU Issues, ENCOUNTERED
Overall Review: I own an SAPPHIRE 100352-3L Radeon HD 7950 GPU and Intel I5 4670 CPU. I purchased this motherboard and CPU in a general attempt to upgrade my computer for streaming capabilities. I originally purchased this motherboard upon the strong recommendation of a tech savvy friend of mine. That, and my prior motherboard was a GIGABYTE product so I felt it was a good and reliable brand. Thus, when I first ordered this product, I was incredibly excited. Yet, I have quickly discovered this motherboard has a variety of issues and I truly regret this purchase. I would formally recommend customers to consider a different model, as GIGABYTE is normally a good brand even if this one is a flop. Since I purchased this, I've discovered the GA-Z87X has had a variety of reported BIOS, RAM, and GPU issues. Investigating upon Tom's Hardware, Newegg Reviews, and elsewhere, I've came across several of these reports and an issue of my own. When I first hooked up and prepared my rig, it powered on without a single problem. I went ahead and installed the proper drivers for this motherboard and my Radeon HD 7950 on a fresh install of Windows 7 64Bit and powered off for the next. The next day, after work, the device began to power as per normal. Yet, the boot process drug out into a torturous affair. With the LED indicator on the motherboard reading A0 and my peripherals powered up, my monitors refused to pick up a signal. Thinking it might be a small glitch, I reset the PSU and started it up again. Same error. I've found, after countless trial and error, that out of every ten boot cycles, the motherboard detects and receives signal from my GPU perhaps 15% of the time. On these failures, I'm forced to restart the computer and wait for the motherboard to trudge along through its normal checks and initializations that are... Well, excessively long, ranging at times three to four minutes. I'm not even sure why it's having to go through these, as every other motherboard I've encountered seems to boot through this process in under ten seconds. Outside of this, the GPU now randomly fails on this motherboard and causes a critical crash. I'm unable to even stream now due to this and I'm losing money from my normal subscribers. If the GPU is removed and the onboard graphics used, it boots fine every time even if it remains a slow process. Concerned that the GPU may of mounted improperly, I've remounted it several times and even reassembled my old computer to mount and test it. On my old rig, it runs without a single issue. IF anyone knows how to circumvent the above issues, I'd love to know. It's made this product a pain to own and use. Realistically, I'm a casual tech user who enjoys video games and streaming as a side job. I DO NOT recommend this product.
Great card, unhappy customer
Pros: Incredible card that offers up to three monitor support and top of the line gaming.
Cons: *Bulky, tad cumbersome for smaller cases. MAKE SURE IT WILL FIT BEFORE BUYING.
Overall Review: Burnt out within two hours of use. I've tried running it in three different rigs to make sure it wasn't a software hick up or to insure something hadn't came loose. I'm absolutely disgusted about this, however. To celebrate my paid vacation, I decided to indulge and two day shipped this card to myself so I'd have something to toy around with for the next two weeks while on vacation. Hell, this was going to be AMAZING. I even found someone to buy my old GPU to help cover the cost of my new card... Instead, I get to RMA this card back after it burnt out within less than a hour and a half of usage. This was my first product from HIS and I'm not sure I'll be ordering one again due to their failure rate. Out of the six reviews thus far, three of the six reviews have mentioned the card failing within 24 hours. I'm hoping HIS will compensate me for my two day shipping and RUSH me my new card. Extremely displeased.
Damaged Model
Pros: Relatively cheap, and perfectly sized for the case.
Cons: Outside of the few pros, this PSU has been nothing but issues thus far. While I'm hardly the most technologically experienced, this is the fourth computer rig I've built from scratch. Thus far, the issues have been all over the place upon arrival. Cabling had frayed around the motherboard's PSU plug, a small ticket that voided the warranty had already been partially peeled, and it relatively worked. As I've mentioned, this is the fourth rig I've built and this one was designed for a good friend of mine. Upon arrival, I quickly assembled the PC and got it in working order. Started up the computer and installed a fresh OS upon his HDD, only for the issues to start here. Despite being in the proper wattage range, the GPU was improperly powered. It would come on and off at relatively random times. Of course, I imagined it was the GPU damaged on arrival and initially notched it up to that. However, after installing the GPU into not only my rig but also my roommate's computer, it worked without a hitch even when playing video games. Now curious, I remounted the GPU into my friend's motherboard and completely rewired the PSU just in case I had messed something up. Initially powered on and started boot up, but once again the GPU began to randomly turn off. After awhile, I noticed a few of the additional accessories such as keyboard and headset would die on occasion as power seemingly failed. So far? I plan on returning this PSU and getting it replaced with a new one. I hope the new one will perform better and I'll be able to post a better review soon.