Pros: Needed to replace my dying Win XP rig for some legacy apps - found this on sale for $100 w/rebate of $50 - for that price I went for it - great deal for a board that 1 year ago was leading edge. Initial setup was with $50 Sandy Bridge Celeron and 4 GB mem. Using Corsair XMS3 as listed on EVGA site - ran OK with Celeron as just a XP rig to keep some legacy apps and games going. But I got a great deal on an EVGA GTX550Ti video board for $60. Changed to 8 GB Kingston Hyper X on sale for $35 then decided to up it to a i5 proc 2500K on-sale so my son can play some of the newer games and not use my new Ivy Bridge rig. For about $325 using my original XP case, PS, drives, monitor, etc I now have a PC that can run most apps & newer games at high res and network for my son.
Cons: As others have reported - Voltage regs and components around the power connector run VERY hot - so hot they burned my finger! 95 - 110 F component external measured! Poor design! I build on a test stand and test everything B4 putting in case to check for problems and hot spots so I know how to cool case. I will add an extra fan to blow cool air to this area of MB and maybe drill some extra holes in MB tray right under power connector - maybe an extra fan on that side. So much for $50 deal!
Other Thoughts: There's a reason you see them on sale so low - they're dumping these for $50 - end of life and bad board design - hot voltage regs - see other reviews with voltage reg issues here and other sites. I figured if I can get 2-3 years out of it for XP it was worth it. I normally use ASUS, Gigabyte or Intel MBs. Will report back in 6 mos or so. I also had the problem with the fancy logo LED in the center of the board not working – had to swap the wires as there is no polarity markings – makes you wonder how a production worker would have a chance of getting it right. Works fine now. No more EVGA MBs for me!
Update - Nov 2013 - system still works but need to baby it or the voltage regs overheat. As long as system is on and all my case fans are blowing cool air over the board I can keep the MB temps down to below 100 deg F. However, after I shut down I have to turn off power supply to remove all power to MB otherwise the temps GO UP because the voltage reg design is junk. Needs constant air flow to stay cool! Never had a MB do this!
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