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[Tashi]

If you end up buying a 200-300 card, do yourself a huge favor and buy, like claviertrekky suggests :

the asus direct II cu or msi twin frozr II versions of either 560 ti or 6950.

So something like this guy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565&cm_re=msi_twin_frozr_ii-_-14-127-565-_-Product

Ah. I built my first PC eight years ago. At the time, I hated how retailers charged double for what you can build yourself for half the price.

Should be fun man. Luckily, you have GAF as all I had was myself and my thinking skills, so if you run into trouble, just post pictures/videos and ask.

Oh awesome. Yea I've already looked at some videos in the OP on building it and I'm going to look again. I definitely don't want to mess this up. You guys a great help and I plan to get help as often as I need it. I'm really excited to build this PC though, it should be a lot of fun.

 

[Corky]

So something like this guy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565&cm_re=msi_twin_frozr_ii-_-14-127-565-_-Product

Yeah ^^ that's the one I got, very happy with it. My personal, unfounded, brand preference made me pick the 560 ti over the 6950 but I bet you'll be happy with either. But yeah that's an amazing card for its price.

 

[beje]

Somehow stupid question. I'm currently running this build:

Asus P5Q + Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.6GHZ (OC) + 4GB DDR2 Kingston HyperX 1066 CL5 + GTS250 512MB GDDR5

And I want to know for how long more or less will I be able to use it for gaming taking into account that...
- I use a 22" 1080p screen (no need for AA as pixel density is high)
- I don't mind gaming at "Mid" settings as long as the game is playable and has a nice framerate
- I don't care about Crysis and such (IMO) hollow showcases that need alien hardware to work.

I just want to know because I really want to think in advance how much time do I have before a full upgrade becomes a necessity as I will need to save some money for it.

Oh, and another question, if the answer to the previous question is less than a couple of years, would it be a good idea to upgrade just the graphics card to something in the 200€ range in something like a year so I can wait longer before upgrading the rest and then keep the graphics card? Or the rest of the system I have right now is such a bottleneck for a newer graphics card it wouldn't be wise?

Quoting myself, as I didn't get a response a couple of pages back. Thanks in advance!

 

[Tashi]

Yeah ^^ that's the one I got, very happy with it. My personal, unfounded, brand preference made me pick the 560 ti over the 6950 but I bet you'll be happy with either. But yeah that's an amazing card for its price.

Great, that makes my decision much easier. Thanks a lot for the help.

So far I've got shipping to me right now:

Motherboard
hard drive
cd/dvd drive
RAM
Keyboard
Mouse
toolkit

Next weekend I'll order:
processor
case

following week I'll order:
video card
power supply

 

[clav]

Yeah ^^ that's the one I got, very happy with it. My personal, unfounded, brand preference made me pick the 560 ti over the 6950 but I bet you'll be happy with either. But yeah that's an amazing card for its price.

I prefer a one large fan heatsink design as scientifically one big fan pushes more air than two small ones. If you ever built servers, there are drawbacks using small racks vs. big racks as that will affect cooling since using a smaller fan is far less efficient than using a bigger fan. However, you'll have to balance space as space is not infinite.

Looking at the twin cooler, it seems as the card has heatpipes mounted to heatsinks with two fans on them. OK design I guess. Certainly better than most cooling on stock cards.

Great, that makes my decision much easier. Thanks a lot for the help.

So far I've got shipping to me right now:

Motherboard
hard drive
cd/dvd drive
RAM
Keyboard
Mouse
toolkit

Next weekend I'll order:
processor
case

following week I'll order:
video card
power supply

Heh. Can we know the specifics some time later?

Quoting myself, as I didn't get a response a couple of pages back. Thanks in advance!

I use a very similar build with a smaller cache processor OC'ed (E2180 to 3 GHz) and 7GB of RAM.

I don't plan upgrading for quite a while as I'm not much of a power user, but I do understand those who desire power.

Well, if you only do light gaming and mostly do web surfing, word processing, and video watching, then it'll last you for another three years at least or longer.

As for the graphics card, yeah, you can. The CPU then becomes the bottleneck for some games (i.e. Battlefield Bad Company 2, Starcraft 2) when the graphical settings go to high since now the CPU has to process more cycles for physics and other CPU crunching effects.

 

[Tashi]

Heh. Can we know the specifics some time later?

lol my bad. It's basically the OP build. That's why I didn't post the specifics. I will take pics and do a full rundown when the items start to come in.

 

[j-wood]

I'm about to order my new PC! I sold my gaming desktop last year, and now is the time to get it back. Here is what I have picked out...can I get some opinions on this machine? Total cost (with a logtitech G9x, MS sidewinder x4 keyboard, and windows 7 home) was $1260.00

Case - Antec Twelve Hundred V3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Unbeatable Gaming Case
Model #:Twelve Hundred V3
Item #:N82E16811129100

Motherboard - ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Model #67 EXTREME4 (B3)
Item #:N82E16813157229

Video Card - EVGA 01G-P3-1372-TR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video ...
Model #:01G-P3-1372-TR
Item #:N82E16814130571

PSU - Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Model #:BP550 Plus
Item #:N82E16817371016

CPU - Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K
Model #:BX80623I72600K
Item #:N82E16819115070

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM
Model #:F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM
Item #:N82E16820231275

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Model #:WD5002AALX
Item #:N82E16822136795

One final question about this build...that case has 7 120mm fans (2 are optional) and 1 200mm fan...Am I going to run into any issues with that 550w PSU? The newegg calculator said I would only need 492w so that's why I chose that 550w...but I wasn't thinking about the case

Any thoughts?

 

[Movement]

I still cannot get this stock cooler plug off the motherboard, it's driving me crazy, I can get it about half-way up and it seems to be getting caught on one of the pins or something. I want to start overclocking so bad too!

 

[beje]

I use a very similar build with a smaller cache processor OC'ed (E2180 to 3 GHz) and 7GB of RAM.

I don't plan upgrading for quite a while as I'm not much of a power user, but I do understand those who desire power.

Well, if you only do light gaming and mostly do web surfing, word processing, and video watching, then it'll last you for another three years at least or longer.

As for the graphics card, yeah, you can. The CPU then becomes the bottleneck for some games (i.e. Battlefield Bad Company 2, Starcraft 2) when the graphical settings go to high since now the CPU has to process more cycles for physics and other CPU crunching effects.

Thanks, three more years of playing new stuff (even if it's not in very high) is what I was expecting, so I guess I'll just upgrade the GFX card if there's something down the road my current build can't play then do the rest of the upgrade afterwards.

 

[MidgarBlowedUp]

Sorry for the long post.


I have a multiple monitor question(s) that is kind of specific so I'm hoping someone can help.

I have one main monitor that is 16:10 than can do resolutions up to 2034x1440. I want to get a second monitor that I can rotate to a portrait position and have the monitors match each other in height and resolution. I do not have the space to install another 24" monitor so I'm wanting to get a smaller LCD for one side. I do not plan on using the side monitor for gaming I just want extra space for documents, menus, chat screen, stats, etc, to free up the center display for working and gaming.

I'm a little confused as to how to accomplish this properly.

To make this more clear.

Center Monitor = 2034x1440 and is just a bit over 1 foot in "viewable" height.
So to make this work properly I will need another monitor that is 1 foot in "viewable" length that can offer 1440 pixels in width? That way when I rotate it to portrait mode the width will turn into the height and the monitors will match in physical size and pixels.-> correct?

I don't know of any monitors that are small enough, I'm assuming a 15" would be pretty close to 12.1 or 12.2 inches in actual width, that offers a 1440 pixel width native resolution. I can also use 1280, 1200, and can tolerate 1050 pixel width if I must.

My only other option is to sell my CRT and get something like an HP LP3065 30" or a Mac Cinema 27" display, but I have three problems with these solutions. The first is the cost and the second is the fact that they look worse than my CRT, and the third is that the screen space gained will be extremely small compared to a separate monitor.


So, if my calculations are correctt does anyone know of a 15 inch-ish display that can be mounted on a monitor arm that can offer 1440 pixels in width or would I be better off picking one that offers 1280 pixels?

 

[clav]

Any thoughts?

No aftermarket cooler for the CPU?

Are you planning to use the stock cooler?

I still cannot get this stock cooler plug off the motherboard, it's driving me crazy, I can get it about half-way up and it seems to be getting caught on one of the pins or something. I want to start overclocking so bad too!

Are you trying to get the stock heatsink off?

I think you use the Intel right? You just twist the 4 pegs according to the arrow directions and push up if it doesn't come off after the quarter turn.

 

[Hazaro]

Been really busy past few days. Not too much time to check in.

I'm looking at building a new PC in about a month or so, but I've got a few rather stupid questions to ask before doing so.

1: Is now the right time to build a new PC? I keep hearing about Bulldozer or whatever so I don't want to spend a fortune now if some vastly improved parts are coming out soon.

2: Noise is going to be a big issue, so I just want to know roughly how loud a PC should be without using one of these special silent cases. My current 5 year old PC sounds as loud as a launch Xbox 360 with a disc spinning and fans on full blast, but I'm not sure if that is normal.

3: Has that Sandybridge motherboard issue from a few months ago been rectified yet?

1: Yup. Bulldozer will be likely be competitive, but it is catchup for AMD to SB.

2: You can get a silent PSU, very quiet heatsink, and an aftermarket cooler on your GPU to make it very quiet at idle. Load noise is almost all GPU, so if that bothers you you'll want a special aftermarket cooler. You can get a dualfan heatsink type of card and keep the fans at 50-60% and it will be pretty tolerable imo.

3: Yes it was fixed a few months back. All new motherboards out now are labeled B3 and every affected board was recalled.

Any thoughts?

Since you have that many fans the modular is not going to be a benefit and I suggest getting the XFX Core 550w.

Unless you do a ton of CPU intensive work sub the 2600K for a 2500K and upgrade the GPU to a 560Ti/6950

I still cannot get this stock cooler plug off the motherboard, it's driving me crazy, I can get it about half-way up and it seems to be getting caught on one of the pins or something. I want to start overclocking so bad too!

Pinch the pins from the backside of the motherboard.

Sorry for the long post.


I have a multiple monitor question(s) that is kind of specific so I'm hoping someone can help.

I have one main monitor that is 16:10 than can do resolutions up to 2034x1440. I want to get a second monitor that I can rotate to a portrait position and have the monitors match each other in height and resolution. I do not have the space to install another 24" monitor so I'm wanting to get a smaller LCD for one side. I do not plan on using the side monitor for gaming I just want extra space for documents, menus, chat screen, stats, etc, to free up the center display for working and gaming.

I'm a little confused as to how to accomplish this properly.

To make this more clear.

Center Monitor = 2034x1440 and is just a bit over 1 foot in "viewable" height.
So to make this work properly I will need another monitor that is 1 foot in "viewable" length that can offer 1440 pixels in width? That way when I rotate it to portrait mode the width will turn into the height and the monitors will match in physical size and pixels.-> correct?

I don't know of any monitors that are small enough, I'm assuming a 15" would be pretty close to 12.1 or 12.2 inches in actual width, that offers a 1440 pixel width native resolution. I can also use 1280, 1200, and can tolerate 1050 pixel width if I must.

My only other option is to sell my CRT and get something like an HP LP3065 30" or a Mac Cinema 27" display, but I have three problems with these solutions. The first is the cost and the second is the fact that they look worse than my CRT, and the third is that the screen space gained will be extremely small compared to a separate monitor.


So, if my calculations are correctt does anyone know of a 15 inch-ish display that can be mounted on a monitor arm that can offer 1440 pixels in width or would I be better off picking one that offers 1280 pixels?

15" I dunno.
Not many 17" at that res either.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254037

 

[Kunohara]

So my 8800GT finally bit the dust. That thing would run anything you throw at it, and lasted a good long time.

I was thinking of getting a new system since my rig is about 3 years old. But then I figured I see what the highest gpu and cpu I can upgrade on my current motherboard, and see if I should just do that.

This is my motherboard. The cpu I have is a Core 2 Duo E8400 3GHz, I've got 4GB of RAM, and a Corsair TX750W ATX power supply.

My question is what is the highest cpu and gpu that I can upgrade that is reasonable for this system? I would like to stick to Nvidia cards.

Thanks.

 

[clav]

Don't spend money on a CPU. Any money put down would be better off spent on a newer one. You might as well get the i3-2100 + cheap motherboard + 4GB DDR3 as Intel dropped the ball and shafted users of the LGA775 socket for upgrades.

GPU. If you plan to use the GPU on the newer system down the road, then the Geforce GTX 560 Ti as discussed on this page is a great start. If you want to spend more, then get the GTX 570.

 

[Kunohara]

Don't spend money on a CPU. Any money put down would be better off spent on a newer one. You might as well get the i3-2100 + cheap motherboard + 4GB DDR3 as Intel dropped the ball and shafted users of the LGA775 socket for upgrades.

GPU. If you plan to use the GPU on the newer system down the road, then the Geforce GTX 560 Ti as discussed on this page is a great start.

Are you saying my cpu is fine for the moment?

Also, I have been reading this thread quite a bit, and I have no idea the 560Ti would work on my motherboard. I just hope it fits.

 

[Gvaz]

Are you saying my cpu is fine for the moment?

Also, I have been reading this thread quite a bit, and I have no idea the 560Ti would work on my motherboard. I just hope it fits.

He's saying you'd spend more money just to get a mediocre cpu for the slot you have, rather than buy a new one that's quite a bit better with a new mobo.

I think.

 

[clav]

Are you saying my cpu is fine for the moment?

Also, I have been reading this thread quite a bit, and I have no idea the 560Ti would work on my motherboard. I just hope it fits.

Yeah since I don't think it's worth it to spend $200-$300 on a new CPU in a dead socket (no longer supported). I tried the Q6600 ($100) with mine, and I didn't see a big difference. The best way to upgrade is to buy a SandyBridge CPU.

What kind of case are you using?

He's saying you'd spend more money just to get a mediocre cpu for the slot you have, rather than buy a new one that's quite a bit better with a new mobo.

I think.

Yes.

 

[Kunohara]

He's saying you'd spend more money just to get a mediocre cpu for the slot you have, rather than buy a new one that's quite a bit better with a new mobo.

I think.

Oh ok, that makes sense.

So would this be fine with my system? That card looks nice, but I'm just so afraid of it being to thick for my board.

Case is Antec 300 Mini Tower Gaming Case ATX.

 

[clav]

Oh ok, that makes sense.

So would this be fine with my system? That card looks nice, but I'm just so afraid of it being to thick for my board.

Can you take a picture inside your desktop as it is?

edit:

I found this. http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10370AC8944&vpn=THREE HUNDRED&manufacture=ANTEC

This is your case?

I think it will, but just post a picture to make sure.

Actually, you don't have to do that. I think it will fit judging those stock pictures.

I assume you don't have anything underneath the current graphics card, correct?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Kunohara]

Can you take a picture inside your desktop as it is?

edit:

I found this. http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10370AC8944&vpn=THREE HUNDRED&manufacture=ANTEC

This is your case?

I think it will, but just post a picture to make sure.

Actually, you don't have to do that. I think it will fit judging those stock pictures.

I assume you don't have anything underneath the current graphics card, correct?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Here is my case. The card goes in the blue slot. The card I linked before is the one I would like to get. Would it fit?

Yes, that is my case.

 

[Kyaw]

That card will fit fine in the case but is your mobo new enough to support the PCI-E 16x slot?

 

[MidgarBlowedUp]

15" I dunno.
Not many 17" at that res either.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254037

You know, something like that may actually work if it were 1600x900 with GPU scaling.

If the display is 17" it should be around 14.5"~ wide and if you select "Full Screen Scaling on the GPU" in the Nvidia Control Panel then it should format the image giving you black bars, depending on the resolution you choose and the format of the display, on the sides of the screen which would actually be top and bottom if in portrait mode.

For instance, a 21" display with a native resolution of say 1600x900 (16:10) is going to be around 17.5"~ viewable width. If you scale the resolution to something like 1440x900 it should scale the width down and provide about 1 inch of black bars on each side. Effectively giving you 15.5"~ viewable height when in portrait mode.

So, if I were to get a 17" monitor that can do 1600x900 then you should be able to scale it down to 1440x900 and get pretty close to 12~13 inches viewable although it will in no way be perfect but, it should be close. You could also tweak it smaller by going to 1280 or 1200 and adjusting the main monitor accordingly.

---Looks like no one makes a 20" or less monitor that does 1600 x Anything so I'd say that 17" you posted would be my best bet. I could GPU scale it down to 1280 x 900 to fill, then run my main monitor at 2048x1280. So that should take your typical 14.5ish inch width down to say 12.5 to 13 inches which is pretty close to the height of my 24" monitor which is actually about 12.25 inches measured with a ruler.

The D version of that monitor, HW173D, seems to offer both VGA and DVI inputs so I may pick up a used one instead of the new version with just VGA.

 

[CrankyJay]

those are my temps without overclock, what temps do you get when gaming under load? Thanks

68-69. I've been meaning to re-seat my heatsink and add a second fan to it.

 

[SRG01]

Guys, I'm paranoid about ordering bare drives from Newegg for their bundles. How safe is it to order HDDs online?

 

[black_vegeta]

Guys, I'm paranoid about ordering bare drives from Newegg for their bundles. How safe is it to order HDDs online?

They're fine. They come wrapped in bubble wrap.

 

[mkenyon]

Any thoughts?

I don't like Antec cases at all. I'd recommend the HAF or even Phantom over that guy in that price range for a full tower. If you're open to a really big mid tower, check out the 600T White edition or 650D.

As many others have stated, 2600K isnt going to get you anywhere above a 2500K for games. Maybe a few years down the line when games are multi-threaded, but even then it won't be anything significant. You'll get a lot better mileage for your money out of a better card. 560Ti or 6950 as others have mentioned.

 

[RS4-]

For those with the Asus P67 boards, any luck with getting the BT thing to detect ps3 controllers?

 

[blanky]

If the Samsung SH S 223 is not an option as optical drive, what would be a good alternative?

 

[MidgarBlowedUp]

If the Samsung SH S 223 is not an option as optical drive, what would be a good alternative?

Myabe Sony Optiarc AD-7260B or GH24NS50

 

[rkn]

This thread (and the screenshot thread) convinced me to build my first PC, which I did a couple of weeks ago - went with something similar to the $1000 build, and other than a faulty DVD drive, it went w/o a hitch! Thanks PC Gaf.

I'm now contemplating going with SLI GTX 570s, currently running an evga sc version, convince me not to? Would dual 570s set me up for stuff coming out this fall and next year? I'm running 1900x1200 resolution, so far everything has pretty much run maxed out, though some games like Metro and Crysis (1) still have fairly framey moments.

 

[Hazaro]

This thread (and the screenshot thread) convinced me to build my first PC, which I did a couple of weeks ago - went with something similar to the $1000 build, and other than a faulty DVD drive, it went w/o a hitch! Thanks PC Gaf.

I'm now contemplating going with SLI GTX 570s, currently running an evga sc version, convince me not to? Would dual 570s set me up for stuff coming out this fall and next year? I'm running 1900x1200 resolution, so far everything has pretty much run maxed out, though some games like Metro and Crysis (1) still have fairly framey moments.

Get a new single card at the tail end of this year since you already are solid with the framerate.

 

[SRG01]

They're fine. They come wrapped in bubble wrap.

True... but I was reading the reviews and nearly 20% of the reviewers said that the drives were DOA or died within a week

 

[tangmaster96]

I would reccomend getting an amd processor because they better for gaming

 

[vocab]

I'm now contemplating going with SLI GTX 570s, currently running an evga sc version, convince me not to? Would dual 570s set me up for stuff coming out this fall and next year? I'm running 1900x1200 resolution, so far everything has pretty much run maxed out, though some games like Metro and Crysis (1) still have fairly framey moments.

Not worth the money.

 

[RumblingRosco]

I would reccomend getting an amd processor because they better for gaming

I'd love to see a legit reasoning behind this... but my hopes are probably too high.

 

[clav]

Guys, I'm paranoid about ordering bare drives from Newegg for their bundles. How safe is it to order HDDs online?

Have a backup solution.

Your computing experience should not be ruined because you don't backup.

This thread (and the screenshot thread) convinced me to build my first PC, which I did a couple of weeks ago - went with something similar to the $1000 build, and other than a faulty DVD drive, it went w/o a hitch! Thanks PC Gaf.

I'm now contemplating going with SLI GTX 570s, currently running an evga sc version, convince me not to? Would dual 570s set me up for stuff coming out this fall and next year? I'm running 1900x1200 resolution, so far everything has pretty much run maxed out, though some games like Metro and Crysis (1) still have fairly framey moments.

If you have money to burn and use dollar bills as toilet paper, do it.

 

[momolicious]

The Hyper 212+ is very very audible, its not too loud but you can REALLy hear the blowing. Is it really quieter than the stock cooler like people say?

 

[clav]

The Hyper 212+ is very very audible, its not too loud but you can REALLy hear the blowing. Is it really quieter than the stock cooler like people say?

Yes.

Plus if you face the fan in the right direction, it can cool your RAM as well.

 

[SRG01]

Have a backup solution.

Your computing experience should not be ruined because you don't backup.

I do have back-up solutions, but that's not my main concern. I don't want the hassle of ordering a HDD and having a very high chance of it DOA or die within a week (according to nearly 20% of the drive reviews edit: on Newegg).

They're Seagate Barracuda drives, if that helps.

 

[Angelus Errare]

I would reccomend getting an amd processor because they better for gaming

:lol

 

[clav]

I do have back-up solutions, but that's not my main concern. I don't want the hassle of ordering a HDD and having a very high chance of it DOA or die within a week (according to nearly 20% of the drive reviews).

They're Seagate Barracuda drives, if that helps.

People rarely sell retail drives these days, so you pretty much don't have a choice.

That said, I like it when drives are packed in a box. I ordered from Amazon directly and was impressed with their packing (two plastic holders propping the drive in a box) when I ordered the Samsung F4 OEM.

I had a Maxtor drive that was bubble wrapped from Newegg that died many years ago within a month.

 

[JimmyBoy]

Simple question.

In a single card configuration where the objective is to play Battlefield 3:

Radeon HD 6870 or a GeForce GTX 560Ti ?

I just can't choose.

 

[clav]

Simple question.

In a single card configuration where the objective is to play Battlefield 3:

Radeon HD 6870 or a GeForce GTX 560Ti ?

I just can't choose.

Real comparison should be the Nvidia GTX 560 Ti or the Radeon HD 6950.

What's your budget?

The 560 Ti is better than the Radeon 6870.

 

[SRG01]

People rarely sell retail drives these days, so you pretty much don't have a choice.

That said, I like it when drives are packed in a box. I ordered from Amazon directly and was impressed with their packing (two plastic holders propping the drive in a box) when I ordered the Samsung F4 OEM.

I had a Maxtor drive that was bubble wrapped from Newegg that died many years ago within a month.

*sigh*

My alternative would be to just order the parts locally, but I'll be paying at least $50 more.

 

[bill0527]

Guys, I'm paranoid about ordering bare drives from Newegg for their bundles. How safe is it to order HDDs online?

Mine came last week in a pretty big box stuffed with brown shipping paper. Inside the shipping paper was a small bubble wrapped mailer and the drive was inside, also wrapped in bubble wrap. It's working fine so far.

 

[clav]

Mine came last week in a pretty big box stuffed with brown shipping paper. Inside the shipping paper was a small bubble wrapped mailer and the drive was inside, also wrapped in bubble wrap. It's working fine so far.

Yeah that sounds like the way Newegg packages stuff.

I ordered 2.5" 500 GB Seagate drive months ago and it came exactly like what you just described. Still works.

 

[SRG01]

Thanks for the reassurances guys

Now my next dilemma would be whether to wait for desktop Llano or just bite the bullet on a i3 setup right now...

 

[cackhyena]

Real comparison should be the Nvidia GTX 560 Ti or the Radeon HD 6950.

Why is that?

 

[clav]

Why is that?

If you pay a little bit more than the the amount for the 560 Ti, you'll have better performance and won't have to pay as much as the 570.

However, people have brand preferences, so if you're brand loyal, forget what I just said.

:lol

All of this will depend on:

What are you planning to do? (single-card now, sli/x-fire later)
What's your budget? ($?)
What's your setup? (Intel Core 2, i5, i7, AMD Phenom, etc.)

I'm in the no X-fire or SLI club as I don't think it's worth it.

Oh whoops. I realized I screwed up my wording.

Real comparison should be the Nvidia GTX 560 Ti or the Radeon HD 6950.

What's your budget?

The 560 Ti is better than the Radeon 6870.

Fixed.

 

[Movement]

I can already tell I'm gonna be addicted to overclocking heh. I'm running 4.3MHz right now, keeping temps at ~ 64 degrees C. Coolermaster Hyper 212 + is highly recommended, though it was a serious bitch to get on. I'm going to get another fan to help with the push/pull of the heatsink, and maybe another case fan. I love this!