Chuck38

Soo... apparently the support guy, Jose, was able to get in contact with someone higher up who will talk to the RMA director and will then send me an email with the details about my graphics card. Should expect to get the email in the nest 24-48 hours.

Alright, I'll call them up tomorrow and see what's up.

this is the only answer your going to get here: ask their support, we don't know about their internal affairs   there could be a lot of reasons why it takes longer than expected but in case they forgot or lost it you should contact them to be sure.

It's worth it.

Just use the stock cooler. The cpu will be almost silent on the stock cooler.
 
Just chuck in in the case, you don't need them screwed in.
 
Should be fine.
 
Facing up.
 
Just have a 120 or 140 in the front and you should be fine.

I believe they use a 3/8" OD tubing size, looks to be also what Hardware Canucks say:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/65552-corsair-hydro-h75-h105-cpu-coolers-review-3.html

Those are wired up for 12V operation with a resistor so it wouldn't work where for a front panel power LED they are directly current limited and powered by the pins so you would just need a regular 3mm LED and to cut out and solder on the new one. 

Yep those should be good, you might need a bit of hot glue to hold it into the plastic housing but other than that it should be fairly straight forward. 

I would say a 380 4GB. They're both amazing cards but the 380 does slightly better on more occassions than a 960 from what I've seen. And Definitely go with a 4GB card, 2 GB cards just aren't going to be cutting it for much longer in the PC Gaming world. 
 
Really the decision for this will come down to do you prefer the Nvidia side of things or the AMD side of things like drivers, recording capabilities, and etc.
 
My vote is 380 though for sure. I know you said don't suggest other cards but what about a 380x, it's $50 more than a normal 380 4GB but will perform a lot better. It's just something to keep in mind but still. 380 4GB.

Please note: it may have liquid vr, but it probably won't handle it that well.

Go for the 380 4GB, best value of both. Another good option is the 380x if you catch it at a good price.
 
MSI is one of the best assemblers btw.

380, with 4 GB RAM if its not too expensive.
 

The 380 is quite faster. 2gb / 4gb won't make that much of a difference, but if you can, try getting 4gb.  it can run the division at around 30fps on ultra at 1080p, which is better than console.

Alright. R9 380 4GB it is.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

Alright. R9 380 4GB it is.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

R9 380 definitely - it's about 15% faster on average

I did it! Bought the MSI R9 380 4GB. http://www.amazon.com/MSI-R9-380-GAMING-4G/dp/B00ZPOBI0M/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1459217378&sr=8-4&keywords=r9+380
 
Again, thanks for all the comments. Not sure which one to mark as solved.

Ah, I've been there too. But I decided to spend my budget on a 380, since a GTX 960 performs a bit worse than the R9 380. Also, some vendors offer AMD LiquidVR, if you also want to get into VR later on.

I like it. Might pick one up.

I'm standing with Apple.
 
Glad to see they're sticking up for whats right. Last thing we need is the US government with a key to everyone's iPhone and personal data.

^FTFY

I'm standing with Apple.
 
Glad to see they're sticking up for whats right. Last thing we need is the US government with a key to everyone's iPhone and personal data.

Correct that would be for the molex 4 pin conectors themselves. 

I tried
 

Hi folks,
Just wanted to let you all know that MSI and PCPartPicker have joined forces to offer a build contest! This is a great opportunity for you to enter in your dream build and possibly win! However, some rules do apply,
Look here for additional info. http://pcpartpicker.com/blog/92/msi-build-your-dream-pc-guide
And here for the official rules set by MSI. https://www.facebook.com/172177528083/app/228910107186452
Good luck to all of you!
-Chuck
PS: You can find my build guide here. hint hint. http://pcpartpicker.com/guide/WMMnTW/msi-build-your-dream-pc-guide-the-red-dragon