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[Shambles]

Why? Is it because they sell video cards at a higher price than they should?

Also if you've ever had the unfortunate experience of trying to get them to actually honour their insurance plans or trying to sift through all their lies to get to the truth you'd never even walk through the front doors. It doesn't matter what you're trying to buy you're far better off never going to Best Buy/Future Shop (They're the same store, they have the same owners). I'm usually a very calm person but after dealing with them after having problems with a laptop and also a CD player I was left with the strong urge to throw a brick through their windows. They are thieves, liars, and criminals. Not only do they treat their customers like shit but BB/FS treats their store managers and staff like shit as well. Just never shop there and you'll be happier.

 

[MedIC86]

Thanks Hazaro and MedIC86. It's nice to finally have a "Need a PC" thread with an OP that's maintained. Seems like the ones from the last few years hardly got touched.

You are very welcome

 

[CrankyJay]

I must be retarded. I can't get the dvd drive into the 600t tooless bay. LOL.

edit: got it

 

[Advance_Alarm]

going to pull the trigger next week during easter

Current specs: Gateway M6827 Laptop
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.00 ghz
3GB Ram
Intel Onboard Integrated Graphics

How much of an upgrade would this setup be (current playing Rome:Total War and Counter-Strike: Source at 800x600 all video options low, sound quality low, 10-15fps)

Main Use: Gaming, word processing
Monitor Resolution: have to buy one, most likely around 1400x900
HAS to play: All total war games and mods, CSS, BF3 (low-medium is fine)
Overclocking: Maybe, first computer ive built

DVD:ASUS DVD Burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
HDD:Spinpoint F3 500GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
Power Supply: Seasonic 520 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094
RAM: 4GB Gskill http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
CPU and MOBO combo: AMD Phenom II x4, ASUS M4A87TD EVO http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.628393
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.620433 , comes with Shogun 2 for free
Case: Centurion 5 ii Black w/ Clear http://vendoutlet.com/centurion-5-ii-black-wclear-p-161530.html?zenid=lghvhtm79mu2e97406io4mrd56

Thanks for any heads up about incompatability, better options, etc

 

[CrankyJay]

Looks like I only got 2 sata 6gb and 2 sata 3gb cables...

But I have 1 ssd (6gb cable)

1 dvd drive and 2 samsung spinpoint f3's.

Can I hook up the dvd drive using the other 6gb cable?

 

[knitoe]

Looks like I only got 2 sata 6gb and 2 sata 3gb cables...

But I have 1 ssd (6gb cable)

1 dvd drive and 2 samsung spinpoint f3's.

Can I hook up the dvd drive using the other 6gb cable?

Yes. They are backward compatible.

 

[irishcow]

I would recommend staying under 1.35V. And, those temps are great for that amount of voltage. What cooler setup are you running? Are you getting those numbers from running Prime95 and HWmonitor?

I'm running prime95 blend test and HW monitor for temps. I have a noctua NH-D14 with both fans undervolted and a Silverstone Raven 2 Evo. The temps are fantastic. It is very quiet although I was hoping it was going to be silent. To be honest though I'm typing now on my laptop and its fan is heard over the PC LOL.

Does anyone have any experience with acoustic foam? Does it work? Will it make a very quiet system near silent?

Dumb question: How do I make my quote say "originally posted by"?

Thanks!

 

[MedIC86]

Looks like I only got 2 sata 6gb and 2 sata 3gb cables...

But I have 1 ssd (6gb cable)

1 dvd drive and 2 samsung spinpoint f3's.

Can I hook up the dvd drive using the other 6gb cable?

I think i somewhere read that there is no real difference between the cables, that its more of a marketing thing, but i can be wrong tho

 

[ExMachina]

Toyed with the OP a bit.

Many thanks to MedIC86

Lookin' good! Home of the Master Race indeed, haha.

Dumb question: How do I make my quote say "originally posted by"?

Thanks!

[ QUOTE=usernamehere ]Quote text here.[ /QUOTE ]

Without the spaces between the brackets.

 

[knitoe]

Dumb question: How do I make my quote say "originally posted by"?

Thanks!

Under your name, click on "Quote".

 

[catapult37]

So I have a little more info. If any PC detectives can help, I'd be really appreciative.

I'm running a 2500K with 6950 2GB and a 750W Corsair psu. Just built, temps seem fine (cpus idle in the 20s and gpu in the low 40s).

First game I got downloaded yesterday was Far Cry 2. Maxed it all out, 60fps, loving it.

An hour later (and every time since), I am getting massive frame drops, down into the 40s and 30s, in the same areas I played before. I'm at 1920x1200. Benchmarks show my gpu should not dip below 55fps in this game.

Monitoring cpu/gpu, I see that neither one is taxed when these drops occur -- cpu around 30%, cpu around 60-70%. Temps don't seem to be spiking too much. What could be going on here, and what's my next step to isolate the problem??

Thank you...

 

[Roquentin]

The build I'm planning to do in a a couple of weeks:

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K
MB: ASUS P8P67 PRO
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 1600 CL9 2x4GB
GPU: GTX560Ti 1GB MSI Twin Frozr II OC
PSU: Corsair HX750 750W
Cooler: Cooler Master 212+
HDD: Samsung 1TB 32MB HD103SJ F3
SDD: Intel 320 120GB
Case: Fractal Design Define R3 Titanium Grey
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Questions:
1. I want to OC the CPU to ~4.5GHz. Are all parts up to it? I read that R3 can make things a bit hotter than other cases. Should I change it to something else?
2. Do wireless mice and keyboards have problems like lag or losing connection? Or rather, how much would I have to spend to avoid any problems?

 

[Shambles]

So I have a little more info. If any PC detectives can help, I'd be really appreciative.

I'm running a 2500K with 6950 2GB and a 750W Corsair psu. Just built, temps seem fine (cpus idle in the 20s and gpu in the low 40s).

First game I got downloaded yesterday was Far Cry 2. Maxed it all out, 60fps, loving it.

An hour later (and every time since), I am getting massive frame drops, down into the 40s and 30s, in the same areas I played before. I'm at 1920x1200. Benchmarks show my gpu should not dip below 55fps in this game.

Monitoring cpu/gpu, I see that neither one is taxed when these drops occur -- cpu around 30%, cpu around 60-70%. Temps don't seem to be spiking too much. What could be going on here, and what's my next step to isolate the problem??

Thank you...

I would guess the issues are caused by harddrive access. Do you have anything running the background that might be substantially competing with the game for hard drive access? Things like disk defrag or indexing would do it. Are there any programs you installed right before the problem happened that might cause HDD access issues?

 

[Zeliard]

So I have a little more info. If any PC detectives can help, I'd be really appreciative.

I'm running a 2500K with 6950 2GB and a 750W Corsair psu. Just built, temps seem fine (cpus idle in the 20s and gpu in the low 40s).

First game I got downloaded yesterday was Far Cry 2. Maxed it all out, 60fps, loving it.

An hour later (and every time since), I am getting massive frame drops, down into the 40s and 30s, in the same areas I played before. I'm at 1920x1200. Benchmarks show my gpu should not dip below 55fps in this game.

Monitoring cpu/gpu, I see that neither one is taxed when these drops occur -- cpu around 30%, cpu around 60-70%. Temps don't seem to be spiking too much. What could be going on here, and what's my next step to isolate the problem??

Thank you...

Try a diagnostic startup through msconfig. If it runs okay after that you know it's an issue with something you have running.

 

[CrankyJay]

My ASUS 6850 video card has two 6 pin power connectors.

Can I plug the PCI-E power cables from directly from my Corsair 750 TX or should I use the auxillary power cables that came with the video card?

It takes 2 3 pin connectors (plugs into the 4 pin power slot) and converts it to a 6 pin power connector. There are two of these aux cables.

 

[traveler]

Over the past few weeks, I noticed my room felt warmer and warmer and that the fan on my computer seemed to be running at its loudest all the time. I didn't really think anything of it until I played Portal yesterday and found it unable to run after 15 minutes or so of play. To be clear, it ran at highest settings, full 60 FPS, nice resolution just fine for 10 to 20 minutes and then started displaying a black screen with weird triangles jutting out of the center of the screen. I was still able to play just fine and hear the game, but I couldn't see anything. I brought this up in the Portal 2 thread and someone said it sounded like my GPU was overheating.

I downloaded the latest drivers, opened up the case, used compressed air to clean everything out, and made sure the fan was actually working. Just downloaded the GPU-Z program mentioned in the OP and checked the readings. With nothing but a web browser, steam, and skype up, my computer GPU is idling somewhere around 88 degrees Celsius. Now, I'm planning on replacing the entire rig as soon as I can get the money, but is there anything I can do in the meantime to fix this issue?

 

[Kyaw]

The build I'm planning to do in a a couple of weeks:

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K
MB: ASUS P8P67 PRO
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 1600 CL9 2x4GB
GPU: GTX560Ti 1GB MSI Twin Frozr II OC
PSU: Corsair HX750 750W
Cooler: Cooler Master 212+
HDD: Samsung 1TB 32MB HD103SJ F3
SDD: Intel 320 120GB
Case: Fractal Design Define R3 Titanium Grey
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Questions:
1. I want to OC the CPU to ~4.5GHz. Are all parts up to it? I read that R3 can make things a bit hotter than other cases. Should I change it to something else?
2. Do wireless mice and keyboards have problems like lag or losing connection? Or rather, how much would I have to spend to avoid any problems?

You can easily get away with a 650w PSU.

1. All the parts are fine, R3 might be a bit hot inside, just get fans for all the ventilation spots. Fractal Design fans are nice and quiet.
2. They should be fine but personally i prefer wired keyboards and mice because it's a hassle to get batteries charged and changed etc.

 

[catapult37]

I would guess the issues are caused by harddrive access. Do you have anything running the background that might be substantially competing with the game for hard drive access? Things like disk defrag or indexing would do it. Are there any programs you installed right before the problem happened that might cause HDD access issues?

I'm using a 64GB C300, so I'd be surprised if it were HD access. Almost nothing else is running except the monitoring software. I had some downloads going, but stopped them and I still get the same issue.

Another thing, maybe irrelevant -- if I start it up windowed (but with the same resolution settings) and load that save, it runs at 60+ again. Not sure if that is a "duh, the display area is smaller" or could be a clue.

BTW, meant 1920x1080, not 1920x1200.

 

[catapult37]

Try a diagnostic startup through msconfig. If it runs okay after that you know it's an issue with something you have running.

Good idea -- I just did it, and unfortunately saw the same poor performance. Do I need to RMA my 6950? Some searches suggest that I may not be drawing enough power from the PSU (corsair 750w). What is a good indicator of that? Right now hwmonitor shows my gpu at .9 - 1.1 volts and 43 degrees C.

I haven't tried overclocking anything, changing fan speeds, or anything.

Edit: Another weird thing -- I have v-sync enabled in-game, but I'm seeing lots of tearing. As for fps, I can tell right when it boots. The first(good) time I played, it was like 300 fps in the pre-game screens. It still does this when windowed. But if I see 57-60 in menus, I know I'm going to see 30-40fps in game. I spent $1000 here and it's crapping out -- ANY help is appreciated.

Edit2: It runs better in dx9. there is a possibility this is the culprit, because that setting takes effect only after you reboot the game. However, a google search shows many people saying dx10 improves performance in FC2. I'll get another game running before i continue my freakout....

 

[CrankyJay]

My 600T case has 3 chassis fans but I only see 2 chassis fan ports on the mother board. There's a PWR_FAN 3 pin connector but I assume that's for monitoring the RPM of the PSU fan. But on my PSU cables I don't see a 3 pin connector for it.

 

[scogoth]

I think i somewhere read that there is no real difference between the cables, that its more of a marketing thing, but i can be wrong tho

Technically SATA3 cables are higher rated the SATA2 but it doesn't really make a difference, both work for both type of devices.

 

[CrankyJay]

Well fuck. I got the whole system together...and it won't turn on.

 

[catapult37]

Well fuck. I got the whole system together...and it won't turn on.

Not sure your exp level, but i just finished a build myself, and two things come to mind. First, is the case switch hooked up? Second, is there a switch on the power supply itself? Also double-check the main power cable to the motherboard and make sure yhe RAM is seated properly.

 

[CrankyJay]

I swapped out the PSU cable and it turned on. Now...no video. =)

Oh sweet. Video is working now.

 

[Zeliard]

Good idea -- I just did it, and unfortunately saw the same poor performance. Do I need to RMA my 6950? Some searches suggest that I may not be drawing enough power from the PSU (corsair 750w). What is a good indicator of that? Right now hwmonitor shows my gpu at .9 - 1.1 volts and 43 degrees C.

I haven't tried overclocking anything, changing fan speeds, or anything.

Edit: Another weird thing -- I have v-sync enabled in-game, but I'm seeing lots of tearing. As for fps, I can tell right when it boots. The first(good) time I played, it was like 300 fps in the pre-game screens. It still does this when windowed. But if I see 57-60 in menus, I know I'm going to see 30-40fps in game. I spent $1000 here and it's crapping out -- ANY help is appreciated.

Edit2: It runs better in dx9. there is a possibility this is the culprit, because that setting takes effect only after you reboot the game. However, a google search shows many people saying dx10 improves performance in FC2. I'll get another game running before i continue my freakout....

Since you have vsync on are you sure you've also forced triple buffering?

You might want to consider disabling that in-game vsync option and force both vsync and triple buffering through D3DOverrider and see what that does. Or simply disable vsync altogether and see what kind of frames you're getting. If you were getting 300 FPS in the menus it could mean vsync was off then unless it only triggers once you get in the game (I haven't played FC2 in some time).

Edit: lawl just saw you have an ATI card. Well whatever the ATI equivalent

 

[CrankyJay]

So now that the bios is up and running. What's the next step? See if there's a newer firmware for it?

I have 2 1tb drives i want to put into raid, and an ssd i want to make my boot drive.

Not sure on the order of operations here.

 

[TheExodu5]

Well fuck. I got the whole system together...and it won't turn on.

Are your 24-pin and 8-pin cables connected to the motherboard? Did you connect the case's power button to the motherboard's power pin?

edit: wowww I'm late. You got it working.

 

[TheExodu5]

Over the past few weeks, I noticed my room felt warmer and warmer and that the fan on my computer seemed to be running at its loudest all the time. I didn't really think anything of it until I played Portal yesterday and found it unable to run after 15 minutes or so of play. To be clear, it ran at highest settings, full 60 FPS, nice resolution just fine for 10 to 20 minutes and then started displaying a black screen with weird triangles jutting out of the center of the screen. I was still able to play just fine and hear the game, but I couldn't see anything. I brought this up in the Portal 2 thread and someone said it sounded like my GPU was overheating.

I downloaded the latest drivers, opened up the case, used compressed air to clean everything out, and made sure the fan was actually working. Just downloaded the GPU-Z program mentioned in the OP and checked the readings. With nothing but a web browser, steam, and skype up, my computer GPU is idling somewhere around 88 degrees Celsius. Now, I'm planning on replacing the entire rig as soon as I can get the money, but is there anything I can do in the meantime to fix this issue?

88C at idle? The cooling solution is completely failing on your GPU. 88C is about the limit you want it to reach under load. I wouldn't be surprised if it's shooting up to 110C and simply locking up completely in games. You need to make sure the cooler's fan is spinning, and make sure there's no dust in there. If that looks fine to you, then then only thing you could try is reseating the heatsink with new thermal paste...but that's a bit more involved. Beyond that, a new GPU would be in order.

 

[traveler]

This is the first time I've ever actually tried to manually take apart the computer and tinker around inside- is there any kind of reference material I can look at for checking the gpu?

As far as ingame temps go, yeah, I booted up Portal and watched in GPU-Z and it ran until it hit about 107 C before giving me the screen issues.

 

[CrankyJay]

Is there any pre setup I need to do to for installing win 7 on an SSD? I have 2 1tb drives I want to put in raid so I unplugged the sata ports on those for initial setup.

I burned an iso of win7 to a DVD and it gets into the setup screen. It let's me choose my SSD but when it goes to install it gets stuck at 0% on "expanding windows files". Any idea? Bad DVD burn? I checked the md5 and sha-1 checksums and they matched.

Edit: I ran out of sata 3 cables so the ssd is 6 gb and DVD drive is using a 6th cable as well in the other sata 6 port. Should it be in the 3 or does it cap out anyway?

 

[woober]

Currently installing my i7 2600k on my p67 mobo and I'm having a really hard time locking the cpu in. I hear grinding when I try to get the lock to close, so I stopped. I don't see any dented pins but I'm afraid of going any further. I've built 3 pcs before and don't remember having so much trouble.

I also recall someone earlier in the thread having the same problem. He also posted an image with 2 dents on the corners of his cpu. What's the issue here? The cpu is oriented correctly.

 

[Shambles]

Is there any pre setup I need to do to for installing win 7 on an SSD? I have 2 1tb drives I want to put in raid so I unplugged the sata ports on those for initial setup.

I burned an iso of win7 to a DVD and it gets into the setup screen. It let's me choose my SSD but when it goes to install it gets stuck at 0% on "expanding windows files". Any idea? Bad DVD burn? I checked the md5 and sha-1 checksums and they matched.

Edit: I ran out of sata 3 cables so the ssd is 6 gb and DVD drive is using a 6th cable as well in the other sata 6 port. Should it be in the 3 or does it cap out anyway?

In the BIOS make sure you set the drives to run in AHCI mode before you install windows.

 

[CrankyJay]

In the BIOS make sure you set the drives to run in AHCI mode before you install windows.

Yeah it is set. I think it defaulted to that anyway.

 

[knitoe]

Currently installing my i7 2600k on my p67 mobo and I'm having a really hard time locking the cpu in. I hear grinding when I try to get the lock to close, so I stopped. I don't see any dented pins but I'm afraid of going any further. I've built 3 pcs before and don't remember having so much trouble.

I also recall someone earlier in the thread having the same problem. He also posted an image with 2 dents on the corners of his cpu. What's the issue here? The cpu is oriented correctly.

Don't be scare. The grinding noise is normal.

 

[Saren is Bad]

Is there any pre setup I need to do to for installing win 7 on an SSD? I have 2 1tb drives I want to put in raid so I unplugged the sata ports on those for initial setup.

I burned an iso of win7 to a DVD and it gets into the setup screen. It let's me choose my SSD but when it goes to install it gets stuck at 0% on "expanding windows files". Any idea? Bad DVD burn? I checked the md5 and sha-1 checksums and they matched.

Edit: I ran out of sata 3 cables so the ssd is 6 gb and DVD drive is using a 6th cable as well in the other sata 6 port. Should it be in the 3 or does it cap out anyway?

IIRC, it takes a long while for the "Expanding Windows Files" to make any progress.

 

[CrankyJay]

IIRC, it takes a long while for the "Expanding Windows Files" to make any progress.

Waited like 5 minutes at 0. I'll try again later.

 

[rc213]

Waited like 5 minutes at 0. I'll try again later.

Takes longer than that, It will then jump ahead big time.

 

[HowardRoark]

So I finally hooked up my new HTPC to my HDTV, and played some Portal to prep for Portal 2. However, holding down WAS or D sometimes would cease working on my Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 5000. This is my first experience with a wireless keyboard. Is this something all of them do, and I should run really long USB cables, or should I get a new one?

 

[wandering goat]

I'm running prime95 blend test and HW monitor for temps. I have a noctua NH-D14 with both fans undervolted and a Silverstone Raven 2 Evo. The temps are fantastic. It is very quiet although I was hoping it was going to be silent. To be honest though I'm typing now on my laptop and its fan is heard over the PC LOL.

Does anyone have any experience with acoustic foam? Does it work? Will it make a very quiet system near silent?

Dumb question: How do I make my quote say "originally posted by"?

Thanks!

I can't comment exactly on how a foamless quiet case would sound as opposed to one with foam on the sides (as I went straight from HAF922 to P183, which has them stock), but I did add foam to both the top and the front door of my P183. From my limited experience and from what I've heard about it, the biggest difference is that it dampens vibrational noise, especially noticeable if your case is prone to that kind of thing. This makes sense of course since the sides of a PC are often pretty thin, so this thickens and stiffens them out a bit more. As for dampening air-bound noise, it may do it a bit, but I would not expect miracles here. The effect will be pretty subtle, unless of course you're covering up something that's open like a grill.

Besides just foam, I wouldn't expect to achieve silence unless you've already got near silent components inside your PC. My P183 is probably close to as quiet a case as I can get, and even at the limits of how quiet I could get it (600 rpm Noctua fans), I could still hear a gentle sound, noticeable when there isn't any ambient noise, such as late at night. But really, to achieve pure silence, you'd need a system that can run practically 100% ambient, or with so little cooling necessary that fans can run below around 600 rpm, at maybe 3-400 (not very doable at load with a powerful or overclocked CPU or modern graphics card.

Also, I am assuming that you're running your D14 at 900 rpm with the ULNAs. If your motherboard supports voltage control, or if you have a manual fan controller, you can possibly lower RPM further at idle and only have it raised when you're gaming.

 

[catapult37]

vsync?

Shit. Right. um...nevermind? Results are fine...

 

[Zimbardo]

Alright, my frame rate woes are definitely real. I ran the Batman AA benchmark @ 1920x1200 and got min 56, high 61, average 59. That sounds okay until you see the same 2GB 6950, under the same conditions, averaging 169 fps here
and 127 here. Granted mine is an XFX vs Sapphire for these articles but still.

Just ran it again, same average, but with min 41. Watching cpu, gpu, they are nowhere near maxed. What is going on here?

vsync?

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks Hazaro and MedIC86. It's nice to finally have a "Need a PC" thread with an OP that's maintained. Seems like the ones from the last few years hardly got touched.

The build section could be slightly updated (a CPU upgrade from 640 to 840), but that's about it.

I've been expectantly busier than I've used to, so it's not as frequent as I would have liked.

 

[CrankyJay]

Bah. Got Win7 installed on SSD. Was rockin'. Then hooked up the 2 samsung 1tb drives, changed SATA mode to RAID, set those up as RAID 1. Now whenever Windows screen boots it resets the computer automatically.

Should I have set them to RAID from the start? Do I need to re-install Win7?

 

[CrankyJay]

Ah I'm confused here.

I went into the Asus UEFI and set the SATA mode to RAID, but that seemed to cause boot problems after I made a Raid 1 with my 2 hard drives. So I put it back to ACHI and Windows booted properly.

Windows disk management let me set up the hard drives in Raid 1 through there.

So will this do?

Also...trying to run that AS SSD Drive Detection program to see which version of the firmware I have and it just hangs. =(

 

[rc213]

Bah. Got Win7 installed on SSD. Was rockin'. Then hooked up the 2 samsung 1tb drives, changed SATA mode to RAID, set those up as RAID 1. Now whenever Windows screen boots it resets the computer automatically.

Should I have set them to RAID from the start? Do I need to re-install Win7?

Did you specify raid on only the ports where you have the 2 hdd you want to use connected?

 

[CrankyJay]

Did you specify raid on only the ports where you have the 2 hdd you want to use connected?

Doesn't really give you that option.

Anyway, I went to the BIOS, set it to raid. Recreated the RAID 1 and just reinstallled Windows on the SSD.

Everything seems to be working now.

I read an article that said you need to install it with raid enabled for the other HDD or else it won't install the proper RAID file on the OS drive.

 

[momolicious]

Anyone notice mouselag when VSYNC in games is turned on?

 

[Stantron]

Alright, guys. I'm about to pull the trigger on this tomorrow. Checking in for some final feedback.

I've upgraded the sound card to Creative 7.1 PCIe.
Deleted the keyboard. I think I'm gonna pick one up from Fry's instead.
After doing some gtx580 research online, it seems like an equal amount of favor for both the EVGA (2 slots, customer service +) and the Asus (3 slots, cooler, quieter). I've decided to go with Asus since I don't think I'll miss the third slot, and I prefer cool and quiet. Warranty is 3 years, which seems decent enough if anything goes wrong.

$109 Case: Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Mid Tower Silent PC Computer Case
$183 PS: CORSAIR Professional Series AX850 850W
$180 MB: ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel
$315 CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core
$90 Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
$150 RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
$500 GPU: Asus GTX580 DCII/2DIS/1536MD5 GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 Video Card
$308 SSD: Intel 320 Series 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC (SSD) - OEM (already bought)
$65 HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
$110 Drive: LG Black Super Multi SATA WH12LS30 LightScribe BluRay Burner - OEM
$55 Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Channels PCIe Sound Card - OEM
$100 OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

Is the "NT-H1 high-grade thermal compound" that comes with the Noctua cooler any good, or should I get something else? I plan to overclock.

 

[scogoth]

Anyone notice mouselag when VSYNC in games is turned on?

Yes there is inherent latency in double buffering with vsync. Download d3doverider and turn on triple buffering.

Is the "NT-H1 high-grade thermal compound" that comes with the Noctua cooler any good, or should I get something else? I plan to overclock.

Its great, you don't need to buy more paste.

 

[Zimbardo]

Anyone notice mouselag when VSYNC in games is turned on?

yeah, a little. doesn't really bother me tho.

i find that you can adjust mouse sensitivity/speed to help even it out.