ASUS CG5290-BP007 Refurbished Desktop - Black/Red Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The good:
Great specs, Intel i7-920 CPU, 9 GB DDR3 memory, Nvidia GTX 260 graphics card. Comes with a stripped down Asus Rampage II motherboard with good over-clocking support.
The not-so-good:
* It's a refurb.
* When my box arrived, the outside packaging was fine. Upon opening the box, I noticed that the computer case had a big dent on the side of the case, toward the back. It was obvious the dent was already present at the factory, before it was shipped out, so the factory refurbishing leaves a bit to be desired.
* The DVD drive door cover (the black outer covering, not the DVD drive door itself# also came loose during shipping, but was easily reseated.
* Windows 7 was installed on my unit, but was not activated. The unit itself does not qualify for a free upgrade to Windows 7. In my case, I will have to install Vista 64 once my alotted grace period to active Windows 7 is up #unit comes with a Vista re-install boot DVD.#
* The Rampage motherboard doesn't support SLI/Crossfire #though there is a hacked BIOS you can download off the 'net to re-enable SLI.)
Luckily, the dented case was just cosmetic and the computer itself worked fine. You can't put together a system yourself anywhere near this same price. As long as you are ready to accept a system that might be a bit more scratched and dented than a properly refurbished system, the electronic components you get are a good buy.
My system overclocks very easily to 3.6 Ghz with the stock heatsink/fan and at stock voltages. It does run hot if you drive a full load using Prime95, so I wouldn't advise you run fully-loaded without replacing the heatsink/fan with one built for better cooling.


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Specifications -Model: CG5290-BP007. Product Height: 18.2". Product Width: 7.9". Product Weight: 23.9 lbs. Product Depth: 21". Gaming Series: Yes Processor Brand: Intel. Processor: Intel Core i7. Processor Speed: 2.66GHz. Cache Memory: 8MB on die Level 2. System Memory (RAM): 9GB. System Memory (RAM) Expandable To: 24GB. Type of Memory (RAM): DDR3. Hard Drive Type: Serial ATA (7200 rpm). Hard Drive Size: 1TB. Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX260. Video Memory: 896MB. Audio: High-definition audio (7.1-channel support). Network Card: Built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector). Wireless Networking: None. Recordable DVD Drive: Yes, double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW. Recordable DVD Drive Speeds: 8x DVD+R DL; 8x DVD-R DL; 16x8x16 DVD+RW; 16x6x16 DVD-RW; 5x DVD-RAM; 48x32x48 CD-RW. Direct-Disc Labeling: No. Digital Media Reader or Slots: Yes, digital media card reader. Available Expansion Bays: External: 1 (5.25"); Internal: 1 (3.5"). Available Expansion Slots: 1 PCI-E; 1 PCI-E x1; 1 PCI-E x16. USB 2.0 Ports: 8. IEEE 1394 Ports: 1. S-Video Outputs: 1. Serial Ports: None. Parallel Ports: None. Game Ports: None. Operating System Platform: Windows. Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP1. Software Included: Adobe Acrobat Reader 8; Microsoft Works 9.0; Nero 8 Essentials. ENERGY STAR Qualified: No. HDMI Output: No. Blu-ray Player: No.

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