Pros: This is my second build with the P5Q Pro and I'm already planning a third. High quality components and superior design layout puts the board at the top of my wishlist. More USB headers then can possibly be used (plenty of headers for those card readers, external drives, etc). Plenty of eSATA headers for good sized RAID setups (easy to configure). An overclockers dream with full control over every nuance in the BIOS, or if you wish, just set it all to 'auto' and let the MB do all the work.

Cons: Overclocking in 'AUTO' tends to overvolt the components. There are many online guides related to this very popular MB as far as overclocling techniques are concerned and I would advise you to do a Google search.

Overall Review: You could spend the extra bucks for P5Q deluxe and get Japanese 16 phase power but why? I have my Intel Q6600 (2400 MHz) build running at 350X9 (3150MHz) with less than a dozen mouse clicks.

Pros: Seemingly a good price ($/MB). But add in the cost of your time and frustration .........

Cons: I reluctantly purchased this drive after reading several reviews that claimed that Seagate’s recently released firmware update had resolved the accessibility issues of this hard drive. While this may be the case for the rare exception, this drive is an absolute time bomb in your PC! My drive (9JU138-300 purchased 1-9-09) came with SD19 firmware. I purchased it for a new HTPC build around the Gigabyte MA78GPM-DS2H motherboard/AMD 5050e CPU. WinXP SR3 installed quickly and smoothly but on day 4, the drive started clicking loudly and timing out for minutes at a time. On day 5 the PC would run 10 minutes at a time and then BSOD. Eventully the drive would no longer spin up. I pulled the drive and installed an old 500gb SATA drive, reinstalled the OS and the same drivers/software and I am 100% stable.

Overall Review: Seagate’s technical support number either rings busy or ‘cannot route my call so I RMAed the drive to Newegg but I requested a refund rather than a replacement. I’m going to run the 500gb drive until the recently released batch of 1.5tb drives (and very soon to be 2.0tb) reach maturity. No way will I try to reinstall the system with this garbage drive. Newegg charged me $19 ‘restocking fee’ (restock a dead drive??) and it cost me ten dollars to ship the dead unit back. So I’m out $30 and 4 days of my time. DO NOT BUY THIS DRIVE unless you like to play Russian Roulette!!

Pros: Cheap

Cons: You'll toss 20% of them in the trash.

Overall Review: I usually use Verbatim's in my 5 disc duplicaror and 100 of those will run me $18 + shipping for 100. I was tempted with these when I had a code to bring the price down to $10/2 delivered. I run the Verbatims at 52x and I get 1-2 coasters per 100 disc spindle. These have a 20% fail rate. Brought the burn speed down to 24x and got the same failure rate. I have 250 of these to go through and I'm back to the Verbatims.

Pros: Cheap.

Cons: Cheap. Lousy firmware. Very small sensor with poor low light performance. Very noisy at high ISO.No ability to do BnW pics. No way to set a custom white balance but 3 different options for florescent light??? Poor battery life.

Overall Review: In this price range there are MANY better cameras.

Pros: This 45w processor runs super cool yet provided plenty of processing power to stream 1080p video with several other programs running. Mated to the GIGABYTE GA-MA78GPM-DS2H and cooled with a Scythe Ninja Mini with NO FAN on the Ninja (FANLESS) and the HTPC case semi-enclosed in my entertainment rack, the heat is no an issue. The CPU runs 7 degrees over case temp at full load.

Cons: Often out of stock at NewEgg.

Pros: Great for the proper application! I installed this sink on a Gigabyte MA78GPM-DS2H over an AMD 5050e 45w CPU (now deactivated on NewEgg??) in an Antec NSK2480 case. I am running this PC without a fan on the sink. Idle temps are 2 degrees over ambient/case temps and full load temps are a frigid 37 degrees C. A testament to the amazing thermal properties of the 5050e mated to the Ninja Mini!

Cons: The price! A $40 HSF for a $55 CPU makes the buyer nauseous to pull the trigger but if a silent PC is the objective, bite the bullet!

Overall Review: If you are building on a budget HTPC around the Antec NSK2840, this is an ideal HS. The twin 120mm fans in the case pull air over the HS and keep the AMD 5050e CPU at no more than 7 degrees over the case temp (YMMV with any other CPU).