xDLGx

So uninstalling an update fixed it, that's interesting. Good job Microsoft. At least it was "just" incompatible software then. Glad you got it sorted and hopefully Windows Update won't download the update and install it in the background :P

0xc0000005 is an access violation... I think without googling. All from hardware memory problems to all kinds of software/driver problems can cause that. Have you got any antivirus software you can disable while testing? Software running in the background can cause this... including things like special network or sound drivers. Can be really any two things that are not compatible in some way and conflicting.

What's your old card? Tried that again? Any crash logs to investigate? Maybe the event viewer can give some insight to what happens just before things crash.

You really don't need a 780 or a Titan to max out those games at 1080p

Should be a software issue, question is where the problem might be. A bad card should not pass DX9 and DX11 tests and crash with DX10. Tried different versions of drivers?

The highest end PSUs are effective regardless of load. When I idle with my 1200i and the PC draws around 100 watts the reported watt in corsair link (where the psu claims to be 99% effective) and my measurement at the wall is only off by 2%

Basic question people need to ask themselves is if they need the extra performance. What resolution do you play games at? Do you play in 3D? Use eyefinity? Personally I play with a single monitor, 2560x1600 resolution, with a single 7970 and I have not found a game I can't max out yet without any framerate issues whatsoever. An upgrade for me at this stage would be pointless as I'd get no benefit. Now if I was planning to go into 3D gaming or use eyefinity it would be different. You could also get 10-25% extra performance from overclocking that 7970.

You should run some tests on the CPU too, if the machine lets you do that without rebooting... run for example prime95 blend test and see if it logs any errors. I'd also not simply trust memtest, passing memtest doesn't mean that there is not a problem with your ram (not passing memtest generally means that you know there is a problem). Take the ram out and test the system with only one stick at a time. When a PC reboots without any type of warning the problem is with the RAM the majority of the time. At what speed are you running your RAM? Might want to try clocking them down, even if you're running at their certified speed. Also make sure that the timings are correctly set by the bios. You could use OCCT to stress test the PSU too but I've read about people killing lower quality PSUs doing that, so keep that in mind. Unless your PSU is already faulty it should be fine though, it has got more than enough watts to handle your system. Another really stupid thing worth trying is to deactivate the Windows paging file, reboot, then reactivate the paging file again. That thing can go corrupt and cause reboots, bsod, black screens among other things. Happened to me once.

Check for dust, get a can of compressed air. That case has got a lot of openings in it. If you get some new fans try to get some fan filters that will fit in some way too so you don't suck in huge amount of crap. Also check you cable management, make sure you don't have cables in the way of airflow.

You should have one or two fans (one large if it fits, not sure if there is room for 140 or 200 mm?) in the top blowing air out and one in the floor sucking in. Possibly also one in the side panel and that one could suck or blow. You don't need noisy high speed fans, better to get high quality airflow optimized fans and run them at low rpms. A problem with those third party open-air GPU coolers is that since they dump almost all the heat into your case (compared to reference coolers which are blowing it out the back) you need enough airflow in your case to push all that hot air out.

Yup Steam supports multiple "steam library folders" nowadays. It's under Settings --> Downloads and then you get to choose before each install.

Personally I wouldn't want my card to run above 80c but no you don't need one right now. Depending on the card, case airflow etc. some are in more need of custom fan profiles than others.

In games with very fast movement, such as some action games, first person shooters and driving games, 30 fps is not enough to give a smooth experience. Until you've done gaming in 60 fps and you try to go back to the console 30 fps you won't fully understand it no matter how it's explained. It also depends on the game engine, some engines handle lower fps a lot better than others.

Well with a PowerColor V3 at least increased fan speed won't be as loud as with a reference card. The cooler you can run the better.

CPU bottleneck is something you almost only have to worry about if playing games in lower resolutions, where your fast GPU might be able to render say 200 fps but your CPU can't keep up so you "only" get 150 fps (so it's not a problem anyway). Once you're playing in 1080p or above it's pretty much always the GPU that's the bottleneck, except for a few rare CPU heavy games maybe.

If you're on a reference cooler card you'll need a custom fan profile when overclocking, and the card will be making a lot of noise while playing games. The more you overclock the hotter it gets and once you start overvolting it will go up even further.

I'll look into that one. Funny way of trying to save power.

You can't mix AMD and Nvidia cards, drivers would go nuts. Read that it's possible with hacking but yeah...

Of course, but what I mean is that even if you pass every test and can play all your games you can still buy a new game and suddenly that won't work. Crashes and problems doesn't have to mean that your overclock is unstable.

It's fully backlit, it's just that even the numlock indicator turns off (numlock is still active afterwards, without the light) as that led is not connected to the normal backlight. Since it's an indicator it's active when numlock is, even if you turn off the backlight of the keyboard.

Must remember that some games or applications can be sensitive to overclocking, so while you can pass every stress test and most games there can be a few games that will just crash. I for example use toned down overclocking profile but with higher voltage in Bioshock Infinite because it will artifact where other games and tests won't.

I've used Nvidia cards for many years but right now I'm sitting with an AMD card and so far I can't say I'm missing anything, so few games really make use of PhysX. AMD has their TressFX... which is used in only 1 game (?) so far, but it's brand new so. As it stands today it doesn't make or break the games, at all. It mostly looks cool in tech demos.

This started happening today and I can't seem to figure out why. I've got a Qpad MK-80 keyboard so there are no special driver software, it's just a normal mechanical keyboard with any extra keys and junk. The backlight keeps turning off, within a minute or two of turning it on. This includes the numlock light. The keyboard doesn't stop working, even for a second I think (don't notice even when playing an fps), it's just the light that goes out. The mouse is connected via the same USB hub and nothing seems to be happening to that. No problems at all with the keyboard on my Mac or a Windows 7 laptop I've also tried now. I've tried different USB ports on the Windows 8 machine with the same result. Anyone had something similar happen?

1250mhz is not meh, not even on the cherry picked high end 7970. Most cards don't get close to 1250mhz without problems. Most extreme overclocks of the 7970 were done on the earlier models too, before they started locking down voltages and I guess the first few production batches had tighter quality control as well.

If you're not playing games or at least no heavy games go for the iMac. You can't build a PC that really compares to how clean and conveinent an iMac is.... this image comes to mind also http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/jpcarmaniac/Macvs.Dell.jpg Another plus point with an iMac is that it's absolutely silent until you push it hard, just like with Macbooks you think that the fans are broken. They also use almost no power.