The compatibility charts are to only show that the heatsink will FIT.

But if you read the third paragraph on that page, you will see this.

The NH-D14 is a big cooler that extends over the first RAM slots on most mainboards. The cooler offers sufficient clearance for all standard size memory modules, but you won't be able to use memory modules higher than 44mm. Corsair Dominator DDR3 modules can be used if the top heatspreader is removed as shown here.

Let me say this as well, the FORM FACTOR of the motherboard DOES NOT mean that it WON'T cover the DIMM slot. It just means that the motherboard has more expansion slots than a m-ATX board. I have seen m-ATX boards that are the same width as ATX boards.

The NH-D14 is superior than the TRUE, but the TRUE is still an excellent cooler.

The only good upgrading to ATLEAST an i7 860 is that they are good for stuff like 3D model, media converting, HD encoding. Other than that your pretty good on the gaming front.

You don't need a new case for the HD 5850, it will fit just fine. The GTX 470 and HD 5850 are the SAME LENGTH. So, if you say again that they won't fit I will have to slap you through the internet.

Try an ethernet cable?

Not your RAM, but your motherboard. The heatsink itself is extremely big and WILL block a DIMM SLOT.

It's hard to make things completely flat sometimes. I don't really have a problem with my TRUE limited edition Black. It's running my i7 920 @ 3.6 on idles temps of 30-33c.

The Noctua NH-D14 is extremely big though. Even without a fan, I believe it blocks one DIMM slot. So your already limiting yourself to 2 sticks of RAM(for dual channel).

Is the hard drive usage light flashing when this happens?

The two cards are identical in length. They are both 9.5 inches in length.

There are hacked drivers that let you run PhysX on a Nvidia GPU while using a primary ATI GPU and drivers. If you do pick up an HD 5850, I suggest looking at ones with non-stock cooling like this Gigabyte one.

As for the RAM I would suggest, like the others, to upgrade to 4GB.

As for the rest of your PC, your pretty much good. You already have a quad core. If you wanted to get a bigger HDD you could, 1TB and 2TB HDDs can achieve far better speeds than your 320GB HDD and even your 146GB VRaptor.

there the same size actually.. in fact (varying on model) the hd 5850 is actualy SHORTER in size :P

also it would consume over half your psu under idle.. better make sure you have no power hogs under your hood :PionusX

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5850-review-crossfire/9

Our test system is a power hungry Core i7 965 / X58 based and overclocked to 3.75 GHz. Next to that we have energy savingfunctions disabled for this motherboard and processor (to ensure consistent benchmark results).

Our ASUS motherboard also allows adding power phases for stability, which we enabled as well. I'd say on average we are using roughly 50 to 100 Watts more than a standard PC due to these settings and then add the CPU overclock, water-cooling, additional cold cathode lights etc.

Keep that in mind. Our normal system power consumption is much higher than your average system.

System in IDLE = 168 Watts
System with GPU in FULL Stress = 348 Watts

The monitoring device is reporting a maximum system wattage peak at roughly 350Watts, andfor a PC with this high-end card,this is simply low and certainly remains within acceptable levels.

Have you tested each stick of RAM independently? Have you tested a stick of RAM in each DIMM slot independently? What program did you use to test your RAM?

It's not really confusing... If you click on the cards and scroll down a little bit you will see benchmarks for other programs and games.

The 260m is better though. The 5650 would be more like a 250 and the 330m is just that, a low end 300 series. The 5650 is BARELY above middle ground.

No offense again, but you just made two contradicting posts.

You say your not a noob with computers and overclocking, but you don't even know how to lower the speed of your CPU.

FYI, most overclockers, like myself and other people from the Extreme Overclocking Forums, will tell you the best way to overclock is to use the BIOS.