Reslivo

Nothing. It's as I am for now. Work business.

I can't; I don't have access to another PC for a few weeks.

Tried the third-party controller and nothing. I'm seriously lost now. I can't even clone to my HDD because the write speeds are far too low.

Z87 MSi MPower Max 4790k @ 4.5 16GB 1866MHz HyperX Fury RAM (4x4GB) Haven't tried the non-intel SATAs yet, but will give that a shot tomorrow. Highly doubt it's that though as HDD works perfectly fine and gives the speeds needed. Have changed cables, three times, but to no avail. Have also posted this on the Crucial forum and they've said SSD looks fine. There's definitely an issue somewhere.

Around four days back, I noticed that my computer was being incredibly slow when booting up. This just happened suddenly, there was no warning or indication that this would happen. I opened up the tower, checked all the connections and replaced the SATA cable, all the while ensuring that it was plugged into an Intel-controlled SATA3 port. This didn't change anything. When I boot up, it will take around 5 minutes to get to the login screen, and then from there it will take 20-30 minutes for everything to stabilise so that I can load up programs & applications. I have also just upgraded the firmware for the SSD to MU04. I decided to download a couple of SSD benchmark suites, all which gave the same result - the SSD was seriously (and I mean seriously) underperforming: Here is a copy of my SMART tab from the Crucial Storage Executive: CrystalDiskInfo says: AS SSD Benchmark: AS SSD gets stuck on 4K write speeds. It doesn't go past 0MB/s and just hangs. I've tried installing the Intel RST, but to no avail. It just works the same as the previous Microsoft controller. I'm lost! Help

With how the current trend of games is being set, you'll be fine with that setup on that monitor for another 3-4 years at the very least, I'd say. I run the same 144Hz@1080 on a 970 and it's been fine for me for 90% of games with high-max settings.

Will post screens a bit later but I'm at - 4.5GHz @ 1.32v. Don't go above 70c at load, using a Hyper 212+. Ambient temperature is about 17-19c. 2500k.

2133MHz is the sweet spot for Ivy Bridge, much like 1866MHz is the sweet spot for Sandy Bridge,

It can be worth it, especially when you see how much temps can drop.

Lapping is probably more risky than delidding due to the risk of static shock. But I guess it's all up to you & your friend.

Higby's posted a huge update list, which I'm guessing will be implemented very soon: Looks great! :D

CPU: 2500k Cooler: Hyper 212+ OC: 4.5GHz @ 1.32v Idle: 28-31c Load: 68-71c Ambient temperature is around 17c.

Delidding (removing the IHS) can dramatically improve your temps, but it is a relatively high-risk step to take. Keep in mind that SB IHS' are soldered on and cannot be removed, whereas IB CPUs use (low-quality) thermal paste, and can be removed. Regarding the article above (removing the IHS, then replacing the thermal paste) - you may as well just keep the IHS off and attach your cooler straight to the die - that's where the dramatic temps improvement will come from.

It's my opinion that ASUS and MSI have gone downhill a bit since P67 - their boards just don't compare to Gigabyte or ASRock anymore, neither in features or build quality. As for EVGA, they're good... when they're actually on-time. But usually they're very late to the party. God knows why. I would recommend picking up anything like a UD5H or an Extreme6 while they're hot. Nobody knows how long they'll be at the top of the market, so get the best while you can. ASRock for reliability & aesthetics; Gigabyte for features & build-quality.

You should generally go by the rule of 1GB VRAM per 1080p screen, in which case the 7970 should be fine.