CrippledROBOT

As I too have done a fair bit of research, I have found a mixed bag of results, HOWEVER, if areas are cleaned properly and the process is done correctly, you have done all that you really can to mitigate any issues. Metals like to react with one another, its just inevitable. Some will react more than others. The reaction between Nickle and Gallium is next to none. Read this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/something-to-think-about-liquid-metal-compatibility-with-copper-heat-sinks.800890/
 
This explains the reaction from a chemistry perspective. "Electrochemically speaking, gallium has a potential of -0.53 volts and copper has a potential of +0.334 volts. The difference between the two metals is going to create a "battery" with a potential of 0.864 volts. Gradually this battery will deplete; as the gallium migrates over to the copper. You may have heard some stories about how gallium "dries up" and evaporates. In many of those cases it is likely that it acted like a battery and migrated over to and became part of the copper heat sink. If you take apart the heat sink from the CPU and clean it up you may find that the copper heat sink is colored a silverish-grey that resists efforts to even buff it off with a scrubbing pad. The stuff you can polish off is a corrosive residue of oxidized gallium and the stuff you cannot remove easily is now an alloy. One good piece of news is that if this happens repeatedly the battery action will stop, as it is pretty inefficient to put gallium and have it migrate over to a gallium-copper alloy."
- Credit belongs to original poster at the link attached. 
 
 
In short, if you want that extra overclocking headroom and are willing to disregard the Intel warranty, delidding is certainly a good option, THOUGH a strong water cooler will allow you to get the same or similar overclocks WITHOUT physically altering the chip, possibly saving you a warranty and bringing you piece of mind.
 
As @done12many2 said (and as the article that I linked noted), the reaction with copper is creating an entirely new AND stable alloy. It will likely, over time, show "evidence of corrosion" but this is nothing to be afraid of and is really just a stain. Reactions are occurring, but nothing that would cause catastrophic failure. 
 
 

If there's a lot of public dissent to the quality of their services, I'd take that somewhat seriously, since I haven't purchased from them I haven't got any details of my own.

No idea. I don't really know anything about either one of the cases. I just Google imaged them both and went by appearance.

I'd go with the Ghost. The DA2 looks like they just took the Ghost and added an aluminum shroud around it. A lot of wasted space on the top and bottom IMO

try just inserting the ram into the slot and not fucking around with cleaning the contacts
 
it'll most likely work, if not, then blow it out with compressed air

The CPU is tasked with calculating a lot of stuff going on in video games, the GPU is doing the image redering but it's all based on the result of the CPU calculation...so if you're CPU is not fast enough the GPU will have to wait, it's usage will drop and the FPS will be lower as a result.
 
CPU is just as important as a good GPU for a gaming PC...you need both to get a smooth enjoyable stutter free gaming experience.

Correct me if I am wrong, but as Coffee Lake is a naturally hotter chip (50% more cores overall for each chip), we are going to see higher temperatures. 
 
My advice is to not surpass a 1.35 vcore. Similarly, while the maximum temperature for the Coffee Lake chips is 100c at the TJunction, I wouldn't push anything past 85c at maximum loads. My chip peaks out at that level for extremely short periods of time while all cores are at 100% load in Battlefield 1 (at 4.6ghz across all cores) in a tiny case. Avoid going any farther than that!

I'm sitting at 1.19v for 4.6ghz across all cores and peaking at 80-83c (albeit in a small case). Do you believe this is OK long-term?

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4MVkXP
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4MVkXP/by_merchant/   CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor  ($289.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($34.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 525GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($138.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($43.85 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB AORUS Video Card  ($354.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair - Carbide SPEC-04 TG ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1273.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-04 11:44 EDT-0400

I would get ahold of Acer and see if they will replace the battery under warranty. I suppose it could be a problem with the charging circuitry too, but my first suspect would be the battery.

Oc'ing technically isn't covered by your warranty unless you buy the Performance Tuning Protection Plan from Intel. that being said, settings are saved on your motherboard and there shouldn't be an easy way to tell if your cpu was oc'ed once removed from the socket.
Oc'ing is also fairly safe and there's no worry about damaging your cpu as long as voltages and temps are kept in check. Clock speed doesn't matter in this regard. 

If you want your cpu to run at clocks speeds higher than stock, that's oc'ing. 
Here's a good place to start:
 
4.5ghz isn't high at all and should be doable with a core voltage of 1.2v or less. Results may vary.

Real talk...keep saving until you can afford something current gen and DDR4.  Any CPU that would go in your current motherboard will be a short term disappointment and a long tearm waste of money.

Just a side note for spreading knowledge.
I've actually had error 41 when my CPU overclock didn't have enough voltage and was causing random unexpected shutdown errors. It all went away when I increased the voltage a little. This doesn't help the OP, but interesting to note that this error doesn't necessarily point to a failing power supply

That's fine. Intel's processors start going into thermal control when it approaches 100C.
 
Also such tests are unrealistic workloads for most people. They're only useful to either see if an overclock is stable or to grab data points on the viability of your cooling system.

sounds like power supply, but check the event viewer for errors before ordering parts.

Can do via steam virtual desktop.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/382110/Virtual_Desktop/
 
But both the Rift and Vive lack the pixel density of a good monitor. By pixel density I mean pixels per degree of fov.

The Oculus Rift is probably better for that use, since its software has a built-in desktop interface. But it's kinda dumb to buy a VR headset for, they are not good monitor replacements at the moment.
 
Using a regular gamepad and actual VR mode is much better, and there are a bunch of games that support that.

You can buy Virtual Desktop on Steam. And probably a few other ways.

No, that's not how it works IIRC

Depends on what voltages you're putting through it. An i7 8700k with a manual vcore of 1.2 will last longer than an i7 8700k with a manual vcore of 1.4 (ON PAPER). Everyone's experience varies a little bit, though in general, the more voltage you apply, the shorter the life span. The second major detractor from CPU life is temperature. Here's an article on such: https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Impact-of-Temperature-on-Intel-CPU-Performance-606/
 
 
Ultimately, if you're running your overclockable chip at "appropriate voltages and temperatures" (varies for each situation and person, but I like to generally keep chip below 85c for extended use and peak loads and keep voltage as low as it can be while remaining stable) you'll get plenty of life out of the chip! As for the specific years, I can't really say. There are so many factors or "moving parts" in that equation that I cannot give you a concrete answer. Certainly not a major life difference however!
 
I hope that helps!

If you are considering Ryzen, go for the R5 2600. 

Give us your performance expectations. what  you want to do with your pc. stream, game, how many fps on wanted game, what resolution ?

Honestly, you would be best saving all your money until you can properly upgrade your full system. You would likely need around 400$ total to get a Ryzen APU, DDR4 memory kit, mobo, and storage, assuming you are still using a mechanical drive. 

I think most gaming laptops throttle back when only on battery because they hit power limits. The battery itself can only push so many amps, and it's probably less than the machine at full load. Most people don't realize that when you are using your laptop while plugged in, there are actually times when it has to draw from both the charger and the battery at the same time in order to get enough power.