A key feature I'm looking for in a keyboard is the placement of the function keys. Most keyboards have them grouped by fours and offset from the normal number keys.

Considering in spent the first year playing WoW on my laptop, I became very used to having the function keys directly above the number keys. Moving to the standard offset groups of four has really messed with my fingers and causes me to look down too much to make sure I'm hitting the right keys.

And for 7.99... you can't beat the price. Plus it's a slimline model and review say the keys have a soft and tactile feel when pressing them. Hopefully it'll be better then the standard keyboard with the relatively longer distance to press them down and a not-so-soft feel.

I suppose there is another question I have about the case cooling. What is going to be the optimal setup for the fans?

The main 250mm side fan is reversible... so I can either have it drawing air out of the case, or pushing into it. I can install the rear and front 120mm fans in either direction.

So... should I have the main fan pushing air in and the two smaller ones pulling air out? Or should the smaller ones push air in and the large one pull hot air out? Or a mix? Or none of the above? I'm just not sure what the best configuration is going to be for optimal air flow and cooling.

The front and side fans blow in and back fan blows out. Also the psu blows out. My case has a top fan to help alleviate the heat.

You need to look at the CFM ratings of each of the fans. Optimally, you want the amount of air being drawn into the case to be the same as the amount being drawn out. Just because the big fan is twice the size of the small ones does not mean it moves twice the air.

That said, you might be obsessing just a little. :) I'd have the 250mm blow in, the front blow in, and the rear blow out, letting the PSU move some air for you too. Given that the case isn't air tight, it doesn't hurt a bit to be pulling in more air than you're blowing out. It'll find a way out.

That case is actually a favourite of the over-clocking set; so for someone concerned about cooling, ya done well. :)

One thing, Raps...all the cooling in the world doesnt mean boo if you don't clean your case regularly. If dust clogs up one of the fans on your VC and you don't notice it...goodnight irene.

You should remind yourself on the VS raid calendar. :p

That said, you might be obsessing just a little. :)

No doubt... I sure am. I just don't want to lose another system to bad cooling.

The 120mm fans will move 35.43-95.22 CFM depending on their speed setting. I can't seem to find any specs on the 250mm.

I spoke to one of the design engineers here at the office. He also suggested the front fan pull air in and over the harddrive. The side fan should push air out. The rear fan *could* be used to pull air in and onto the cpu heatsink, but may get warm air from the powersupply instead of cold air.

That case is actually a favourite of the over-clocking set; so for someone concerned about cooling, ya done well. :)

One thing, Raps...all the cooling in the world doesnt mean boo if you don't clean your case regularly. If dust clogs up one of the fans on your VC and you don't notice it...goodnight irene.

You should remind yourself on the VS raid calendar. :p

You make a very valid point. I'll have to setup a weekly maintenance time. Five minutes a week to open it up and blow it all out with one of those compressed air cans will really help.

I did that with my laptop... cleaned all the fans each week. Made sure each one still moved air. Still, the video card fried on me. Damn thing still boots up just fine... runs like a champ... just can't see anything on the screen clearly.

I'll probably set it up as a file server with remote desktop or vnc access so I can still use it for something.

Well... system is ordered. w00t. I feel like a kid in a candy shop.

Excellent. Now you'll be able to taunt us all with your mad fat FPS.

I can't wait to see what type of numbers I get with this system. I've tried to find some place to reference approximate values I can expect for fps... but my google-fu is weak.

I know my laptop was getting about 25 fps. Shadow's desktop was getting about 10. If there is any type of linear extrapolation... this system should get me 70 or better. But I'm 100% talking out my arse here. I really have zero clue what I can expect.

Anyone have a system with similar specs able to tell me what they are getting for fps?

3.0 gHZ Core2Duo
GeForce 9600gt w/ 512 GDDR3
4GB PC1066 RAM
3gb/s Sata transfer
Running colder then the glaciers in Fren's backyard

The long and the short of it is that your FPS will be so high, even with all the features turned up, that you won't notice it.

Cake-boy's system should be getting about the same FPS as your new one. His may be a -little- higher, but not much.

I usually get 60fps 24/7 except in Shatt then it is like 34. That is on my desktop.
On my laptop I'm lucky to get 13.

That is with all the settings maxed out on my desktop. I did find this article to make wow look ever better.

I can not fricken wait to have this beast running. Frame rates in the 60s would blow my mind. Hell... being able to walk around Shatt or IF without lagging all to hell will be sweet.

If I could have justified the $150 for overnight delivery... I so would have. I'll setting for the mostly free three day. Everything should arrive by Tuesday/Wednesday. I'll have it together that night and (hopefully) be done with installs and updates by Thursday evening.

Only thing I'm not looking forward to is setting up WoW again... but if I just copy of addons folder and my wtf folder that should be simple. Or I can just start from scratch with everything to ensure a clean and fresh setup.

When I built my last machine I just copied the whole folder. Didn't have to resinstall it at all. If you are getting vista make a folder named games right on the c drive and put wow in there. That will alleviate the problem Vista has with games being in the Program files folder.

Do you think Bliz named it the "wtf" folder on purpose? I have wondered aboot that.

Do you think Bliz named it the "wtf" folder on purpose? I have wondered aboot that.

Yeah, wtf does that stand for?

*EDIT* Oh, Warcraft Text File. Boring.

When I built my last machine I just copied the whole folder. Didn't have to resinstall it at all. If you are getting vista make a folder named games right on the c drive and put wow in there. That will alleviate the problem Vista has with games being in the Program files folder.

I should have remembered that you can just copy the entire directory. A friend of mine has his WoW install on an external usb drive he takes from system to system depending on where he's at. That'll save a huge amount of time.

And no... I'm not going with Vista. Really have no desire to... nor did I ensure all my devices are Vista ready. I plan on sticking with 32 bit XP Pro. I may try vista on a VM... but that's about it.

Heck, beware of the Saitek... I have two of them, and the shift keys are flakey on both of them. Other than that, they are great.

You are referring to the keyboard I got? I'll look out for that as the shift key is the modifier I use the most for hotkeys and macros.

If it does turn out to be flaky... I won't be too upset. I don't expect much from an $8 keyboard. I simply want the function keys to be where I want them.

I'm referring to the Saitek Eclipse keyboard that Heck linked to.... It doesn't have the function keys directly above the number keys, but in the 'standard' groups of four....

Just saw this review http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2287197,00.asp

The power supply and video card arrived today. Everything else is currently on schedule for delivery tomorrow. w00t!

This will be difficult... one night Kara clear or put new computer together. Hmmmm...

Raps needs badges, bad. I think I can wait one day to put this beast together in favor of 22 (or 19 depending on how much of an a-hole Prince is) badges.

Everything else arrived this morning. I'm debating taking a half day to go set it all up. I'd love to be in Kara with my new system tonight. We'll see.

Heh, nice.

Though, you know if you try and get it ready by Kara that -something- won't work...

Heh, nice.

Though, you know if you try and get it ready by Kara that -something- won't work...

Damnit Beam! Don't go and fuck up my fantasy. Let me live in my delusion that everything will work correctly out of the box, or that I won't screw it up somehow. :D