Newbithian

Could I get a citation for that? When Tom's Hardware benchmarked various thermal pastes without removing the IHS last year, the results showed that liquid metal pastes provided as much as a 3-5ºC difference over something like Arctic Silver 5 which is, to my understanding, one of the most popular thermal pastes available. It is certainly a negligible difference, yes, but hardly "zero."

If you look on the specs page for the ROG Maximus X Hero, you'll see this: Notice how it says PCIe 3.0 x4? That means a PCIe connection is possible; thus, NVMe is supported. I'm like 99% sure the Maximus X is a Z270 board... are you thinking of the Maximus VII?

Yup, the board originally had MX browns. Replacing the switches was actually surprisingly easy.

Das Keyboard Model S Professional wrapped in vinyl with blank PBT keys and Kailh Bronze switches.

Some form of mass storage (storage that is non-volatile, unlike RAM), be it an SSD, HDD, SSHD, or otherwise, is necessary in order to install your OS, as well as whatever else you may want to store, such as programs, games, etc. Like others have already stated, it does not have to be an SSD; an HDD will suffice. That said, I personally believe that an SSD is one of the most apparent and effective upgrades you can make to almost any system (that doesn't already have one) and I whole-heartedly recommend investing in a quality one as soon as you can afford it.

Hmm, you might be right, I don't know much about Bluetooth audio myself.

I'm looking to connect my V-Moda Crossfade Wireless IIs to my Schiit (Modi + Magni) stack via bluetooth for occasional wireless usage, and I'm wondering what sort of bluetooth adapter would preserve audio quality the best. I realize some loss of quality is inevitable with bluetooth.

Is it plugged into USB 3.0 or USB 2.0? If the former, try the latter, and vise versa.

Yes, it is more efficient. It also runs cooler, has more VRAM, and supports DX12. However, I suspect the question was not what was more efficient or advanced, but rather what was more effective. That said, I used two different measurements to reach my conclusion: The GTX 470 has a 55.18% higher PassMark score. [source] The GTX 470 has a 12% higher UserBenchmark score, with 23% higher benchmarks and 29% higher overclocked benchmarks. [source] In my experience, I've found that those two do an OK job of comparing cards between the same manufacturer, in lieu of benchmarks including the same base hardware over a large spectrum of non-synthetic applications. It could be said that newer titles are made with newer hardware in mind, and that synthetic benchmarks aren't representative of real world performance (which is certainly true); however, with these scores and the suspicion he already owned the GTX 470, I could not in good conscience recommend he spend $90 on "upgrading" to a GT 1030.

I am concerned for your cousin's living situation... maybe time to invest in a cat? That said, you should strip the card and clean it thoroughly with denatured alcohol (a la rubbing alcohol); however, there's a high probability that the card is irreversibly damaged due to corrosion if it's been longer than 72 hours since the video card was exposed to the urine.

Assuming your current GPU is a GTX 470, then yes. The other two would be a significant downgrade.

Of those, the GTX 470 is the most powerful, followed by the GT 1030, and finally the GT 730, which is weaker than modern integrated graphics.

When you have a value above 0 for reallocated sectors (SMART 5), current pending sectors (SMART 197), or uncorrectable sectors (SMART 198), it's a good idea to monitor the drive and backup its contents immediately, if you haven't already, and then work on replacing it. In a datacenter setting, 76.7% of harddrives with at least one of these values above zero (including Command Timeout (SMART 188) and Reported Uncorrectable Errors (187)) imminently fail. [source] In this case, you have three above zero values by the sounds of it; thus, in addition to the difficulties booting, it's a reasonable assumption that the drive is failing.

I would imagine it'd be rather challenging and cost-prohibitive to sue some dude in China for misleading advertisement. That said, I generally avoid "cheap generic power supplies," a la the kind often found in pre-built systems, because they have a tendency to fail shortly outside of their warranty period, sometimes taking other more expensive components with them. A cheap generic power supply may be able to supply 1000W of power, but not reliably maintain that load.

Trust me, I'm hardly handy when it comes to DIY as-well; I'd imagine there are many way better ways to construct a desk, but hey, it works, and I love how it looks personally. I'm hoping with the polyurethane it remains somewhat durable. I might do something to clean up the bottom a little, though I haven't determined what yet. Thanks! The color scheme's changed a lot over the years, I'm currently trying to go for a mix of modern and retro/industrial look, and move away from the whole gamer-esque red/black generic look.