PC Help (Computer Techs Look!) Several problems (Gamer)

I recently just built a new computer around a two months ago. I have experienced numerous problems ever since the computer was built and I just want to try and straighten things out.

First off let me name all of my computer specs.


Amazon.com Deal 3 frequently bought together.
CPU, MBO, Memory

http://www.amazon.com/Rampage-II-E [...] B001KA9PZK

ASUS Rampage II Extreme LGA1366 Intel X58 DDR3-1600 ATX Motherboard
Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D Dominator 6 GB 3 x 2 GB PC3-12800 1600MHz 240-Pin DDR3 Core i7 Memory Kit
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz 8M L3 Cache 4.8GT/sec QPI Hyper-Threading Turbo Boost LGA1366 Processor

Graphics cards:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] P-_-03ship
2x BFG GeForce GTX 280 Video Card - 1GB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0 x16, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, HDMI Support, VGA Support

Monitor: Samsung 2493HM 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - 10000:1 (DC), 5ms, 1920 x 1200, DVI, HDMI

Power Supply: Zalman Tech Co., Ltd

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817379009

ZALMAN ZM1000-HP 1000W Continuous @ 45°C (Maximum Continuous Peak: 1250W) ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Modular Heatpipe-Cooled SLI Power Supply - Retail

HD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136296
2x Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (bare drive) - OEM

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Now, those are all my computer specs. I am currently running on Windows 7 RC, as I was previously running on W Vista and hated it.


My computer does not seem to run very fast at all. It boots up slow, well it did in Windows Vista, 7 seems a bit faster to be honest.


I play three games:

Crysis, Crysis Warhead, and WoW, occasionally counterstrike.


My problems.

Slow speeds while on the computer. Graphical problems, such as alt tabbing into WoW and the game tears up going 1 frame every 5 seconds with weird looking graphics (I have to alt tab out of game and back in and it seems fine). I run WoW at the max settings for everything (I should be able too...). I have noticed significant lag while playing the game, such as in Dalaran, or just anywhere when I take my mouse and just spin its not smooth if you know what I mean. I have the latest drivers for my graphics cards. I have my Nvidia settings set to enable SLI, and Physx.


I am just wondering if there any problems with my PC. I am not very good with computers yet, I am slowly learning hopefully I will be a geek soon and I can understand a computer entirely etc.


Being a gamer and being on the computer a lot I like to have a very fast and powerful system. I feel like I am at low speeds and its just not fun.


Now I believe in the BIOS everything is set to automatic, so my computer is definately running slow to begin with but I don't think it should be this slow should it? I mean I can tell its running slow if you know what I mean, but its not as slow as I might be describing it.

I have also had a few crashes, which I am not sure if its normal or bad, I have had a recent blue screen (dump memory rebooted etc while I was on the internet watching a movie).



Questions:

Are there any software programs I can run to pinpoint possible problems?

Are there any good benchmarking programs to see if my computer is running up to speeds it should?

Overclocking: I am interested in overclocking my pc to make it run faster. Are there any good forums etc? I cannot do this myself... I need assistance!


Also, when I think about my computer specs, is that processor a bit low? 2.6 ghz just seems low to me. Also when I go into my G 15 LCD monitor and look into my Computer Performance its usually always at this:

CPU: 0-5%
Ram: While doing nothing 44-50% normally
Ram: While playing a game above 60%++

Not sure if that's normal or not...

Could my processor be malfunctioning, maybe factory built it and its got glitches running slow? Maybe my memory isn't working properly?


Thanks for reading, I know I wrote everything that was on my mind or tried too, I probably missed stuff but i'll post more. Please reply with any info you might have. I am trying to get this computer straightened out. I also didn't build it myself. I have a guy that lives near me that's friends with my parents that knows a lot about computers and has built tons in the past. He helped me choose parts and put it together.


Also, I am using the heatsink that came with my processor, as the heatsink we bought didn't fit for some reason.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail

So any support on buying a new heat sink for my PC would also be a great help as well! I am looking to overclock in the future and I would also appreciate assistance in regards to pc upgrades etc to help better my computer.

Any tips are also welcome! Thanks!

This bracket will allow you to use your cooler with your CPU:

XIGMATEK ACK-I7361 CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233027 $9.99

Your problems could be any number of things. The first thing you should do is manually set the RAM speed/timings/voltage to the manufacturers specs in the BIOS. Your RAM is rated at DDR3 1600 at 8-8-8-24 timings at 1.65V. You should then download and run memtest86+ overnight to test for RAM errors (www.memtest.org).

Your CPU could also be overheating and throttling. Do you know what your idle and load CPU temps are? Speedfan and Realtemp should both work for showing your temps. CPU-Z is also a helpful tool. It will show you if everything is running at the correct speed.

I will look into all you said. That bracket thing sounds like a good idea i'll tell my friend about that and see what he thinks!


Now, I was on the phone with Corsair and I was talking to them about timings a while back and they told me certain numbers and I think only one number in the settings was different, I cant remember exactly what. The rampage II bios is very big, there's tons of settings for those who arn't familiar.


There is also an entire "tweaker" section that allows you to change so much this is basically an overclocking board. I wonder if I can find anyone with a similar computer setup or someone that knows a lot about the parts im using that knows most of the correct numbers to verify with.

Where in the manual does it give me the information to change the specific things in the bios to the proper settings?

I didn't build it myself I had help from a guy that knows a lot about building computers. He doesn't know anything about overclocking etc so he said it was good to leave the settings as automatic or default whatever the preset is. I will look into the bios tomorrow when I have time and report any findings/questions I have.

When I download the .exe version. It tells me that it is not compatible with the version of windows I am running. (Windows 7 RC). So are there any other ways?

Any way to make it?

Also I turned on crysis warhead and put every setting on as high as it could go. After like 5 min of some laggy gameplay and movies (in game) I kind of got to a black screen that wouldn't load haha. Is this computer not good enough to handle every setting on max for crysis warhead?

If I were you I'd just bite the bullet and throw vista/XP on just to test to see if its a win7 problem.