Computer fixed. Replaced mobo with a P5KC and Proc with a Q9450. It's... fast.

[schild]

There's an open slot between the soundcard and gfx card. I could probably wedge a slot cooler in there. Definitely going to just get a giant fan and aim it at it for now though.

[Dtrain]

I hate picking out cases because case manufacturers often have no discernable sense of style.

Here's one I at least find tolerable: http://www.amazon.com/Antec-P182-Advanced-Super-Tower/dp/B000P0CTSQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1209012735&sr=8-5

Lian Li still makes a pretty nice case for my tastes too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112099

[rattran]

Which video card do you have? The single slot 8800s run damn hot with stock cooling, and seem to have unreliable fans. You could always got for an aftermarket cooler, or as has been suggested, a slot cooler.
I ended up replacing the stock hsf setup on my 8800gt with a thermalright cooler, went from 70c under load to 40c.

As for cases, I've gone through quite a few over the last couple years, the Antec p182 or 900 are fine, as are most of the coolermaster I've used. Currently using a monstrous cosmos 1000http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119138 which is huge, heavy, and runs cool with a ton of quiet fans.

[Engels]

For schild's needs, I suggest the LianLi above. They are very nicely made, with smoothed out interior edges and decent working room. The P182 is ginormous and cable management is a pita.

[schild]

8600GTS.

[schild]

Ok. Not getting many (any) delayed write errors anymore with my bigass fan.

Am however hanging in some games, Guild Wars and Far Cry notably. Completely hard locking at the login/menu screen.

[Trippy]

What are the temps like now? I think your heat sink is probably not installed properly.

[schild]

Illustrator and Photoshop doing their thing, Thunderbird and Firefox, Trillian, Steam and Speedfan.

36/35C.

[Trippy]

No I meant what are your GPU temps like with the fan blowing on the card.

[schild]

about 50-56C.

[Strazos]

Still seems too high. You may have already fried the card.

[schild]

Still seems too high. You may have already fried the card.

Runs COD4 at 1920x1200 maxed out without a hitch.

I'm pretty sure you're incorrect.

[Trippy]

Still seems too high. You may have already fried the card.

My GPU (7800 GT) "idles" (only Windows desktop stuff, no 3D) at 53 C.

[Engels]

Ya, that's not outrageous. My 7950gtx here at work is idling at 60

[Miasma]

My 8800 runs at 64 just displaying windows at 1900x1200 and I've never had a problem.

[Tale]

Lian Li still makes a pretty nice case for my tastes too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112099

Except for the time someone put a glass of red wine on top of my Lian-Li during a party, then knocked over the glass, directly into the top fan hole. OK it was me.

[Dtrain]

Lian Li still makes a pretty nice case for my tastes too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112099

Except for the time someone put a glass of red wine on top of my Lian-Li during a party, then knocked over the glass, directly into the top fan hole. OK it was me.

And there wasn't a party either, rite? 

[Tale]

And there wasn't a party either, rite? 

I posted this somewhere nerdy at the time:

Red, red wine
In my PC
Dropped glass, went through the top fan
Oh no, no, no, no

Red, red wine
Ran down the IDE
Pooled on the graphics card
Splattered around

Red, red wine
Swore at the guests
Yanked out the power cord
And played some Wii

Red, red wine
It's up to you
All I can do, I've done
Main screen turn on.

Red, red wine
First boot just fans
Second a post then a hang
Oh my poor PC

Red, red wine,
Third boot it's back again
Never so glad to see Windows
Who needs paint jobs?
It's red, red art

[Lantyssa]

That's pretty good.

[Signe]

78 is with the AC on. I live in Phoenix.

Why don't you just move some place with a temperature that can sustain human life and their computers?

[schild]

Replaced my Fatality Mobo and E6600 with a Q9450 and a ASUS P5KC.

heh

it's uhhh faster.

[schild]

Asus MOBOs (P5/LG775 series) REQUIRES FLOPPY DRIVES FOR BIOS UPGRADE? WHAT?

[Engels]

Hmmm, I'm not sure about Asus, but Gigabyte now has a bios flasher that can be used within the OS. That's a fairly new development, however. Traditionally Bios flashes where always done via bootable floppy.

[schild]

Found out ASUS can flash from any USB drive. Already done. Purring like a kitten.

This machine is DISGUSTINGLY fast.

[schild]

Alright, everything runs a million times better than before. I put it in the zalman case. Everything runs cool, perfect, no overheating.

It had to be the case + stupid hot graphics card + bad mobo or processor before. Because I can run CoD4 at 1920x1200 with EVERYTHING turned on including soft smoke edges and 4xAA which I couldn't before.

[TripleDES]

Got myself a Gigabyte X48-DQ6 with a Q9450 and 4GB of ECC RAM. This thing is sure fucking fast.

[schild]

Got myself a Gigabyte X48-DQ6 with a Q9450 and 4GB of ECC RAM. This thing is sure fucking fast.

Ah, you went with the X48? Do you like it? I almost got one, I just couldn't be bothered to make the price jump.

I went with the P35 Combo motherboard so I can upgrade when prices drop. The Q9450 is probably the most joyful processor I've ever had the pleasure of getting to work though. It is a disgusting beast of silicon that will end the world if unleashed. Speaking of, when I booted up, ASUS Bios read:

UPGRADE THE BIOS TO UNLEASH THE FULL POWER OF THIS PROCESSOR.

I was like, well fuck yea I will.

[rattran]

Nice machine. I think the quad cores are still largely wasted in current gaming, but it's nice to have more power than currently needed.

Now you just need a faster/cooler video card.

[Engels]

His heating issues were about the case, and it seems he replaced it. His vid card is an 8600GT, which isn't exactly a slouchy vid card.

Grats on the new build, schild :)

[Murgos]

Can someone link me to a MB+CPU utility?  Preferably one that shows RAM information as well...

edit: just competent reporting, no tweaking necessary.

edit2:  Grabbed http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

[TripleDES]

Got myself a Gigabyte X48-DQ6 with a Q9450 and 4GB of ECC RAM. This thing is sure fucking fast.

Ah, you went with the X48? Do you like it? I almost got one, I just couldn't be bothered to make the price jump.

I wanted ECC RAM, so I had to go with a X38 or X48 mainboard (or the old ass 975X). I also looked for a better PCIe slot layout, because I have a PCIe NIC, PCIe soundcard and obviously the graphics card (board has from top down: 1x (NIC), 16x (Graphics), 1x, 1x, 16x (Sound)). I wanted as much air as possible between the soundcard and the rest. Gigabyte offered the best option in regards to that. Additionally, their DQ6 boards have all solid capacitors, high quality voltage regulators and crap like that, thought I might want those gimmicks. Between the X38 and X48 boards were just a few Euros, so it was an easy decision.

[Miasma]

*Various frustrating, difficult to pin down and expensive to fix questions/problems.*

Hey, did us PC gamers ever welcome you back into the fold?

wb

[schild]

Nice machine. I think the quad cores are still largely wasted in current gaming, but it's nice to have more power than currently needed.

Now you just need a faster/cooler video card.

I'm in Photoshop and Illustrator about 30% of the time. Having just used it for one night, the quad core was fucking worth it.

[Furiously]

I was also going to suggest you run rivatuner and up the speed on your video card fan.

[schild]

I was also going to suggest you run rivatuner and up the speed on your video card fan.

Already had, was already at 100% on the previous machine :) So were the toher fans :(