Finished my buid just have a few questions.

Ill list my hardware:

CPU - Intel Q9550 2.8 stock
CPU cooler - ZALMAN CNPS 8000 92mm

MoBo - EVGA 750i ftw

GPU - EVGA GTX 260 216 cores 575 mhz

RAM- Dominator 2 gigs at 1066 (5-5-5-15)

CASE- CoolerMaster 690

PSU- tx750watt Corsair (it came with 3 fans, and i added 2 more)
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With this setup I am able to run games like Far Cry 2 and Dead Space maxed out at 16xx X1050.(thats my native monitor res) That makes me really happy, so on to my concerns;

Room temp is 70 - 75 F

My idle temps for the CPU is anywhere from 39c to 44c and it varies a bit from core to core. Load temps (prime95) have gone all the way to 62c and looks like they hover there. Are these normal temps?


My GPU temps idle are at 42-43c. Under game playing for an hour or so the temp is around mid 50c - low 60c. Are those normal?

Should I get more fans?

Lastly do you guys think I should change anything around? I have less the 30 days or so to make any returns or exchanges. Any and all help/comments are appreciated.

Thanks.

Get two more GB of RAM.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2 [...] y-better/5

Yes, your temps are normal. They could have been better with a better cooler, but they are fine, nothing to worry about. Your GPU temps are fine too. You don't need more fans.

If you're planning to do SLI later change the PSU to HX1000 or something else from this list. If not, it's all fine, but you could have had a cheaper P45 motherboard instead of the eVGA 750i.
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html

You don't really need GTX 260 SLI for 1680x1050 IMO, but 24" monitors (1920x1200) are getting cheaper every month. If you think you'll buy one soon it would be good to have a PSU capable of SLI.

That's 1920x1080. SLI is worth it at that resolution in some games. In others a single GTX 260 will be plenty, especially if you turn the eye candy level down a bit.

Here's a chart for Age of Conan for example. It's for 1920x1200, not 1920x1080, but it's pretty close.
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3408&p=3
One GTX 260 gets 28.8 fps, which is OK IMO. Two of them get 46.4 fps.

The RAM is a bottleneck if you only have 2 GB.

The CPU is not a bottleneck, especially at a large resolution like that. Overclock it only if you play Flight Simulator X.

If you don't already have a good hard drive get one. There's a $75 WD 640GB for example, incredibly fast compared to the models of only 2 years ago. That's about it. A very nice system, really.

It is a bit weird. Try CoreTemp too. CoreTemp shows me 35,31,34,35 (Q6600 with Scythe Ninja, at stock, idle). It's normal for the second one to show lower temps (it's farther from the sensor or something like that), but the difference from 32 to 21 is a bit too much IMO. Plus, I suspect you have more than 21C in the room, and there's no way air cooling will ever make the CPu cooler than the room.

It's hard to say right off, how did you apply the thermal paste? If it was too thick or uneven it could be a problem.

I would think a better cooler and reapplication of TIM would be in order. Does that cooler use push-pins? If they were loose you could get something like that.

Xigmatek + bracket, check my sig for the link to my parts list.

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

Try to get something that bolts down, that's on that list