CapricaBuccaneers

Looks like a Batmobile.
 
The latest in-car entertainment, coming to you courtesy of Ben Affleck.

GSync is worth it, so in a word: yes. (If your rig can handle it)
 
However that monitor is a TN panel and I'm not going back to those again. So on that particular version: no.
 
 

HWmonitor always shows my 980Ti is running at between 405 and 595 MHz (min and max respectively).
 
The sensor tab in GPU-Z and Afterburner will show the correct value currently being read. This includes the GPU Boost in effect. 
 
The general info on the front tab of GPU-Z doesn't take into account that GPU Boost so it's basically a readout of what the basic values are for a given base clock speed.

HWmonitor always shows my 980Ti is running at between 405 and 595 MHz (min and max respectively).
 
The sensor tab in GPU-Z and Afterburner will show the correct value currently being read. This includes the GPU Boost in effect. 
 
The general info on the front tab of GPU-Z doesn't take into account that GPU Boost so it's basically a readout of what the basic values are for a given base clock speed.

The ridiculous amount of times I've seen people state that an RGB Keyboard is necessary. 
 
 

Not everyone has a free mount for an extra 120mm radiator, I really don't know how people come up with this narrowminded stuff.
 
Plenty of cases lose the ability to mount other radiators once you have the CPU cooled by an AIO. Some of those don't even have the ability to house a card as long as the Hybrid, which is why ITX versions of the 970 and things like the Fury Nano exist.

Not everyone has a free mount for an extra 120mm radiator, I really don't know how people come up with this narrowminded stuff.
 
Plenty of cases lose the ability to mount other radiators once you have the CPU cooled by an AIO. Some of those don't even have the ability to house a card as long as the Hybrid, which is why ITX versions of the 970 and things like the Fury Nano exist.

Yeah HWMonitor shows the wrong clockspeed on my GPU also (it's always in the 405-595Mhz range according to it) - GPU-Z sensor, GPU Tweak and AfterBurner show the correct reading, it's an odd one. It does show the correct fan speeds and temperatures though, shrug on that one.
 
Not sure on the firestrike - I don't use it, but the Heaven score should be at least in the 2100-2200 range? 
 
Its possible that your card has an issue with the BIOS? I recall that the early batches had a lower power limit amongst the bios problems. Have you checked which MSI bios yours is running?

Is it just in The Witcher 3 you're getting these problems?
 
Do you have any other installed games you can test it out with?  It can be a pain to install games just to benchmark, which is why I ask.

You probably have a driver issue - try a clean install with DDU or failing that use the option in NVidia's installer for a Custom installation, then tick the check box for a clean install under the list of modules that will be installed.
 
FYI I get over 60FPS with near max settings at 2560x1440, although it's worth noting my clockspeeds are different from yours.
 
You might have to try different settings for TW3's post processing options. Some of the biggest culprits tend to be Hairworks (which you already mentioned), high AA, and things like grass density and foliage visibility range.
 
Although again, it's worth mentioning again that 25FPS with a modern Intel CPU and a custom aircooled 980Ti is well below what I'd expect at 1080P.

Yeah that benchmark score seems much more like it, I'm glad you managed to fix it.
 
 

Fewer PCIe slots across every model mATX as compared to a normal ATX board.
 
The rest depends on exact model, buts it's not uncommon to see fewer fan headers also.
 
As far as size, it is smaller but not really enough to be drastic - there are many mATX cases which are actually the same size as a small Mid-tower ATX case. One example is the Fractal Arc Mini R2 I have which doesn't really save space compares to something like a NZXT H440.

Even if you're a diehard Corsair fan I would never recommend a K95 to anyone but the most profigliate.
 
The left side macro bank is a plastic segment grafted on and it looks cheap compared to the aluminium body beside it (which is just a K70). It's absolutely not worth the extra money over a K70, let alone any competitors which are much cheaper.
 
 
 
 

Don't be put off by the abysmal standard of posts from people like the above.
 
You'll unfortunately be stuck with 64GB as has already been mentioned, which is a shame because of the cost involved in setting up a rig with larger RAM capacity.
 
The only other real 'low rent' option would be to setup a second cheaper Device for more mundane tasks such as web- browsing so that the resources from your workstation aren't being taken up. Hardly ideal, but that's the way it ends up sadly.
 

Have a look at MSI's GS series, the GS60 and GS70 models tend to be the cheaper variants.
 
In general though if you're wanting 'cheap', 'thin' and 'gaming performance' in a laptop, the games you want to play will have to be particularly low on GPU demands.
 
I still have my MSI GT70 and to be realistic, I'd have to say you're going to have to drop one of those three wish list items entirely.
 
Thin laptops don't tend to have good gaming performance, and things like the Aorus models get extremely loud very quickly. Gaming laptops tend to be thicker and more expensive. (I wouldn't recommend a laptop for gaming, even though I have one - the cost is too high for the relative performance).

The ridiculous amount of times I've seen people state that an RGB Keyboard is necessary. 
 
 

Seems like a good monitor, it's basically the Asus version of the Acer Predator X34 - they use the same panel also. It seems to be generally a bit more expensive so, if you have no other preference stick with whatever is cheapest.
 
As far as quality control, all of the companies have issues that crop up from time to time, it's one of the bugbears of mass manufacturing: there will be a bad one eventually. I haven't seen any information to suggest any one company is absolutely better than others, for instance my Dell monitors have had no issues (some of them have LG panels), but my LG Flatron died less than a year after purchase. So don't pay any attention to people saying one company is black and white better than everyone else. Buy what suits your setup and budget, and if you happen to get a bad one, that's what return policies and warranties are for.

I came across Will Bright's post about these whilst browsing Head-fi on Friday and must admit this particular model intrigued me. I have a couple of older model Fostex headphones, so this wouldn't be a hard sell.
 
I hope massdrop takes off in a massive way worldwide, because being in the UK these incredible deals get drop kicked by the department-of-you-can't-have-fun-things (aka. Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs) and you get taxes and levies out the rear. Obviously this is mostly selfish since I've missed out on some 'phones I'd probably have taken a punt on just because of the price (probably the K7XX and the original drop for the X00).
 
Although I recently treated myself to a new pair of Oppo PM-3s, so maybe that's just wishful thinking. 20% mandatory taxes here makes these kinds of purchases once-in-a-while for me.
 
Until then I'll just be jealous of you bastards and your good deals.
 

Well there's a G13 box right above that Ultimate Gaming sign - I have one and like it but I can assure you it's not above Ultimate level for games. 

Yeah I'd have to agree - take the risk on the G1, at worst you'll get a bit of coil whine and you have to manage the fans.
 
Performance wise they tend to be really good. 
 
Also so bear in mind the G1s tend to be some of the longest cards you can get, so if that isn't an issue you should be fine.

The Fury is in a different class here - it's really not a fair comparison.
 
I see them around the €540-550 mark a lot here's an example of XFX Fury from   Amazon.de for €543: http://www.amazon.de/XFX-R9-Furt-4TF9-Grafikkarte-Radeon-Express/dp/B014FFL95K/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1459217048&sr=8-12&keywords=Radeon+fury
 
If that XFX model for €450 has nothing wrong with it, then is absolutely the winner here.

The short answer is: you're not going to be able to get Hi Res downloads for free in any meaningful quantity. Go onto places that sell them such as Hdtracks.com and check out their exorbitant pricing - people selling them seem to think it's big money, so they price it accordingly.
 
I've listened to some sample tracks that Richersounds had on demo units and I have to admit I couldn't tell the difference between the 24bit and the normal red book version. Though that may have something more to do with the original recordings as opposed to the bit rate and sampling frequency.
 
You could try downloading a couple of samples from linnrecords.com if you wanted to test for yourself.

The ridiculous amount of times I've seen people state that an RGB Keyboard is necessary. 
 
 

The ridiculous amount of times I've seen people state that an RGB Keyboard is necessary. 
 
 

It simply comes down to: Noctua offers more variants for the 120mm fans, you can get the S12 for airflow and silence, F12 for static pressure etc.
 
The 140mm fans come with fewer variants, the fan themselves are capable of greater airflow and pressure at the same RPM due to being larger. (All other things being equal).
 
The NFA14 fans are what I use on my NH-D15S cooler because they're the best for radiators.