1. Installing Windows 7 now will not prevent you from upgrading your hardware later. The worst that will happen is that your Windows 7 will get deactivated because it detected a hardware change. All you have to do in that instance is call the automated telephone number to get it reactivated.
2...
EVGA has a modder-friendly warranty. You can remove the stock assembly/heatsink and replace with your own or reapply thermal compound and it will not void the warranty as long as you don't damage anything.
From their warranty page (http://www.evga.com/support/warranty/): "The product must be...
Keep in mind the ATCS 840 is a full-tower case, and the Silverstone FT01/FT02 are mid-tower cases.
By Fortress I assume you mean the new one, the FT02? I have it and love it. Here are some pros and cons based on my experience:
Pros:
- Typical fantastic Silverstone build quality.
- Looks...
Ceramique is not electrically conductive and performs maybe 1-2 C worse than Arctic Silver 5. AS5 has traces of silver for better thermal performance but is also somewhat electrically conductive. Although you'd have to be a real klutz to spill it all over your motherboard and possibly cause a...
I also had an Antec P182 SE and just upgraded to a Silverstone FT02. Aside from a few minor gripes mostly due to the unorthodox motherboard mounting, the case is amazing and absolutely beautiful. And its cooling performance outperforms the P182 much more than I predicted.
I recorded some...
Two fans will improve performance but not by much. There are some reviews out there on your heatsink that have comparisons of 1 vs. 2 fans. If you decide to add another fan, set it up as push/pull.
The 640 will run ever so slightly quieter and cooler because it has 2 platters vs. 3 on the 750. If that doesn't mean anything to you, go for the higher capacity.
You can futureproof somewhat by getting one of the new Gigabyte GA-P55A boards, which have USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s ports. The downside is that, when in use, they share bandwidth with your PCIe graphics card. However any performance loss should be negligible.
There are 3 such boards currently...
You should reconsider excluding any cooler with a backplate. Removing the motherboard from your case isn't that big of a deal. Plus it's easier to install any cooler with the motherboard out of the case.
You will get the best performance from a 120mm tower cooler. I have a Xigmatek Dark Knight...
More memory is better than faster memory. But you need to ask yourself if you really need 6 GB of memory? You are going to be paying a hefty premium for a 4 GB stick.
+1 for the Western Digital Caviar Black. Look up some hard drive benchmarks, the Blacks outperform pretty much every other 7200 RPM drive. The 320 GB is single platter. Or you could get the 500 GB or 640 GB which are dual platter.
I have two 640 GB Blacks in my computer right now, along with an...
You can use both cards at the same time.
Install the driver for the card that connects to your primary monitor first (probably the PCI-E?) . And make sure in the BIOS that you select the card that connects to your primary monitor to display first. The BIOS might refer to PCI-E as PEG.
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