Building new comp.

[Dragonskull]

The recent new rig has defect parts, I've had it into service once, but they can't find any hardware malfunctions. I've decided I won't use them anymore, and I am going to send back their parts. I simply don't trust them anymore. So I'm over to a different PC Online Store, Netshop.

Apparently, they've got a much wider selection of computer parts, and they take litararily nothing to put it together, so I won't do it myself this time. Not that it was anything wrong with how I built it last time (according to Komplett).
Also decided that I'm going with AMD processor, always had that and never had trouble with one.. this new rig I've had now for 2 weeks myself (2 months in the mail xD) has an Intel, and I just feel it's unreliable. It might be one of the other parts though. So I'll list the "old one" up as well, so if anyone have any ideas, come with them. It's cheaper for me to get the one I have in order rather than sending one back and ordering a new from somewhere else.

August08-rig: (2.760 USD)
[list]
[*]Antec 1200-Gaming Case[/*:m]
[*]Corsair Powersupply 750W Black, ATX/EPS, 140mm Fan, 8xSATA, SLI[/*:m]
[*]Asus P5N-D, nForce-750i SLI, Socket-775, ATX,Firewire,GbLAN,DDR2, 2xPCI-Ex(2.0)16[/*:m]
[*]Intel Core# 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz Socket LGA775, 1333MHz, 12MB, BOXED w/fan[/*:m]
[*]Corsair TWIN2X 6400C5DHX DDR2, 4096MB Kit w/two CL5 2GB Dimm's, E.P.P and DHX[/*:m]
[*]Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB SATA2, 16MB 7200RPM[/*:m]
[*]Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB SATA2, 16MB 7200RPM[/*:m]
[*]XFX GeForce GTX 280 602M 1GB GDDR3, PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI/HDCP, 512bit[/*:m]
[*]Creative SB X-Fi XtremeGamer ,PCI, Retail[/*:m]
[*]USB2 multikortleser 3.5" CF I/II,SM,MMC/SD/microSD,MS,xD (bulk)[/*:m]
[*]Sony NEC Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-7203S, LabelFlash, Multirecorder(Ram), SATA, Silver[/*:m]
[*]Creative I-Trigue 3220 (2.1 Høyttaler system)[/*:m]
[*]MS Win Vista Home Premium Norsk 32bit[/*:m]
[*]BenQ 24" LCD G2400WD TCO03 Black 1920x1200,5ms,4000:1,VGA/DVI/HDMI[/*:m]
[*]Has cost me: 17.000 NOK (with screen)[/*:m][/list:u]


Rough draft of new rig: (1.785 USD + 400 USD = 2.185 USD)
[list]
[*]CASE: Antec 1200[/*:m]
[*]PSU: MIST 1000W ( ATX (20+4 pins), CPU8 (4 +P4), S-ATA x6, PCI-e (6+2 pins) x2 )

Alternatives-
Gigabyte ODIN 800W
OCZ GameXStream 1010W
Antect TruePower Quattro 1000W

[/*:m]
[*]MOBO: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AMD 780G+SB700, mATX, AM2+, HDMI, VGA

Alternatives-
ASUS M3A78-EHM HDMI, AMD 780G+SB700, mATX, AM2+, DDR2, PCIe x16
ASUS M3A-H/HDMI, AMD 780G+SB700, mATX, AM2+, DDR2, PCIe x16, VGA
MSI K9A2GM-FIH, AMD 780G+SB700, Socket-AM2+, HDMI, m-ATX, PCI-Ex16

[/*:m]
[*]CPU: AMD Phenom 9950 BlackEdt 2,6 Ghz BOXED, Socket AM2+ Quad-Core 4MB cache[/*:m]
[*]RAM: Mushkin DDR2 4096MB extreme Performance, XP2-8000 2x2048MB 1000MHz. (5.5.5.15)

Alternatives-
Kingston, OCZ

[/*:m]
[*]HD: Western Digital 750GB Black 3,5", SATA, 32MB Cache, Dual Processor, 7200RPM[/*:m]
[*]HD2: Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 500GB S-ATA II, 16MB cache 7200RPM 3.0 GB/s[/*:m]
[*]Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S - DVD±RW (±R DL)[/*:m]
[*]GPU: Club3D HD4870 OC 512 MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.0,ATI RV770 XT, GS800 MHz, 2xDVI,HDMI
(Yes, I am aware it's weaker than the GTX280 by far, but I figured I don't need that much and as I'm going with AMD in the first place..)[/*:m]
[*]OS: Vista Home Premium 64-bit
(These guys actually deliver 64-bit, unlike Komplett)[/*:m]
[*]Cost Estimate: 11.000 NOK (without screen)[/*:m]
[*]BenQ 24" LCD costs: 2.500 NOK[/*:m][/list:u]

The difference in price is about 500-600 USD

Any immediate ideas? I know Terran won't like the ATi

[TerranUp16]

I still don't really see a reason to go w/the HD 4870 at all atm unless your prices are very different over there than they are here. There are now GTX 260's going for less than HD 4870's and the GTX 260 stomps on the HD 4870- the 4870 was not really designed to compete with the GTX 260 in terms of price hence why it was originally $100 less. However, nVidia has since then forced the price of the GTX 260 down by at least $150 and at times even more. And the GTX 260 is also more relevant to Dilogus and Wartide in terms of its capabilities. Also, even if the AMD is a sticking point, there isn't much of an advantage in going for an ATi gpu. I ran a 6800 Ultra and then an 8800GTS 640mb Superclocked and then dual 8800GTS 640mb SSC's in SLI with AMD cpu's without issue (my GTX 280 is my only gpu that hasn't interacted with an AMD cpu) and I haven't seen anything indicating that there's any kind of a benefit to using an ATi gpu with an AMD processor. Ofc, it's up to you, but I just figured I'd point all that out.

As far as processors go atm, I have two issues with AMD. First, the Phenom just doesn't stack-up to the Core 2 Quad's- particularly the 45nm Core 2 Quads. You mentioned that you felt your rig was unstable. Did you disable C1E in the BIOS? C1E is an energy-saving procedure that down-throttles the multiplier of the cpu when it is perceive to be idle. Of course, it has to throttle back up when its power is needed. Not an issue when you need a heavy amount of processing power for a sustained time, but I find that's rarely the case for quad cores and games. I disabled C1E (but have kept SpeedStep, another form of power-saving, active) and have found my system to be much more responsive. My second issue with AMD processors at the moment deals with motherboards. Unfortunately, because of the relative dominance of the Core 2's, motherboard manufacturers have not given the requisite attention to AMD mobo's and they have slackened-off compared to Intel mobo's. It's, of course, possible that your nForce 750i was the issue as I did note that I can't vouch for 750i's as a whole but rather only the eVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW which is a significantly modified nForce 750i. Still, if you don't plan to SLI, there are a lot of very good Intel motherboards to choose from.

My other issue with what you're mentioning atm is that I don't really see much of a need for a 1000W PSU. I am running three 500GB SATA 5400-7200RPM HDD's, a 65nm 2.66GHz quad core, a GTX 280, an 8800GTS 640mb SSC, 4GB of 1066MHz Corsair Dominator DDR2, a Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer, and more fans than I can shake a stick at with a Corsair HX620W (aka, a high-quality 620 watt PSU). So 1000W is pretty overkill for what you're proposing (and generally more expensive and more prone to failure typically unless you go for the REALLY expensive 1000W's).

Finally, you have two different capacity HDD's listed. So you don't plan to utilize RAID? Once again, this is largely up to personal preference, but if you're just looking for data storage then external HDD's would likely be the better route to go instead of two, unlinked internal HDD's.

Once again, completely up to you, but this is just my take on the situation atm.

[~VanMavus]

TerranUp16 Wrote:I still don't really see a reason to go w/the HD 4870 at all atm unless your prices are very different over there than they are here. There are now GTX 260's going for less than HD 4870's and the GTX 260 stomps on the HD 4870-

Not... really...

The HD 4870 > GTX 260.

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It's around 5% faster then the 260 and 10% slower then the 280 .

[TerranUp16]

~VanMavus Wrote:

TerranUp16 Wrote:I still don't really see a reason to go w/the HD 4870 at all atm unless your prices are very different over there than they are here. There are now GTX 260's going for less than HD 4870's and the GTX 260 stomps on the HD 4870-

Not... really...

The HD 4870 > GTX 260.

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It's around 5% faster then the 260 and 10% slower then the 280 .

Don't Quote Benchmarks

You even linked to the [H]ard|OCP review which does not support what you just said.

I should also probably point out that all those reviews you linked to are outdated. The latest version of the HD 4870 is the 1GB version and the latest GTX 260 is the GTX 260 Maxcore (aka, a GTX 260 w/216 stream processors instead of 192). Considering that both are priced roughly equally (with the old GTX 260 being the absolute cheapest atm)...

[Dragonskull]

Note that it isn't the HD4870x2, but the single 1GB card. it's basically 1/4 of GTX280, and half the price of GTX260. Not to mention the GTX280 is the part crashing on my current rig- either because of itself, becasue of the cables or because of the Corsair 750W PSU.
As for going with AMD- it's simply personal preference.
I'm not going to RAID, no. It's purely storage, and when money is a limit, external HDDs are way more expensive. You can about double the price per GB.

I'll check the power-saving thing in the BIOS.
Think I might try running XP on it also before I send it in.

[TerranUp16]

HD 4870 1GB's are half the price of GTX 260's there? Wow, that's actually really interesting. Anyway, could possibly be a defective GTX 280- did you try contacting the manufacturer of the card (XFX)? XFX in particular is very good about returns and warranty support from what I've heard. I've always used eVGA and haven't had to RMA anything, but everything everyone has indicated to me about XFX is that their defection rates are as low as eVGA's and their warranties are very good and their service excellent.

[Dragonskull]

Aye, I've been in contact with XFX. They were very interested in getting my card to work. But if it is defect, Komplett should've changed it already. They ran a couple of benchmarks and figured my comp was all okay.
Anyway, I'm rather confused at the moment. I just installed Crysis for the sole reason to test it at max, just to check it as that's basically the only game I haven't tried to install yet. I ran it up to max resolution (1600x1050 - I thought I'd go to 1920x1200, but apparently that wasn't an option) and put everything to Very high. Now, normally it would crash just by adjusting the resolution. but guess what, it just started up like nothing and ran smoother than I've ever seen it before. Could it really be that ALL my other games, AND my Vista is defect? Lmao.. that'd sure be amusing. Better come up with a good solution to this one. Maybe I can't run UT3 on low-quality, maybe I should max it up and try it then. =_=

[WG]

Ut3 would crash me too on occasion, just a buggy game i suppose.

[Dragonskull]

It's not on occasion, it's basically in a matter of minutes. Although I did play UT3 for like 15min just now without a crash.

The thing is, UT3 isn't the only thing crashing randomly. WC3 does, and sometimes if I fullscreen a YouTube-clip or another movie, it crashes too. Not to mention it crashed during installation of Vista and during determining the WEI. To me, it feels like a cable is loose, or there's a bad contact. But neither me or Komplett can find it.

[TerranUp16]

UT3 is very prone to sound card issues- found that out the hard way when I was originally trying to get my X-Fi XtremeGamer working on my Asus A8N-SLI nForce 4 last year...

For everything else, definitely weird, but if your system crashed during the Vista installation that could explain it. Why it would have crashed then I don't know. Could be a bad mobo. Like I said before, I only hopped on the nForce 750i train b/c of the eVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW which is a very, very, very highly modified 750i. I can't speak for the quality of other versions of the 750i (though from what I've read they're supposed to be relatively stable).

[Dragonskull]

Aight, so you got any experience with these?
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AMD 780G+SB700, mATX, AM2+, HDMI, VGA
ASUS M3A78-EHM HDMI, AMD 780G+SB700, mATX, AM2+, DDR2, PCIe x16
ASUS M3A-H/HDMI, AMD 780G+SB700, mATX, AM2+, DDR2, PCIe x16, VGA
MSI K9A2GM-FIH, AMD 780G+SB700, Socket-AM2+, HDMI, m-ATX, PCI-Ex16

All AMDs, mainly 'cause I chose the AMD-based PC-builder. (Because I love AMD, still hate Intel)

[Dragonskull]

Removed one HDD, reduced the PSU, got rid of the actually quite expensive Antec1200- got up on level with GTX280 again:

MIST Miditower, "Define", Sort/Titangrå
MIST, 650W, avtagbare kabler, Rev.3 - Ny versjon, ATX 2.2, med kabel kit
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AMD 780G+SB700 mATX, AM2+, HDMI, VGA
AMD Phenom 9950 BlackEdt 2,6 Ghz BOXED Socket AM2+ Quad-Core 4MB cache
Mushkin DDR2 4096MB extreme Performance XP2-8000 2x2048MB 1000MHz. (5.5.5.15)
Western Digital 750GB S-ATA II 7200 RPM Caviar SE16 Special Edition 16MB cache
EVGA GeForce GTX 280 1GB Superclocked PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI/HDCP, 512bit
Optiarc / NEC DVD-brenner AD-7200S SATA Dual layer, sort bulk
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium OEM Norsk versjon 64-bit DVD-versjon, SP1
Multikortleser 3.5" USB2 sort CF I/II,SM,MMC/SD,MS,xD (bulk)

Bit cryptic with the Norwegian words in there, but I didn't bother to translate. >_>

[TerranUp16]

Haven't heard of the PSU brand so I can't comment on that. Also can't comment much on the mobo. Anyway, only caveat is for your GTX 280 since it's an OC edition, make absolute certain that after you get Vista booted and the gpu drivers installed, the VERY FIRST THING YOU DO is that you download eVGA Precision from eVGA's website and install that. Then you create a profile for your GTX 280 that raises the fan speed from 40% to 60% or higher (preferably 80% but you can get away with lower speeds). Reason being is that for whatever reason 40% is the stock fan speed and with even a standard-clocked GTX 280 Crysis can push the temp to 82C under load. Slapping the fan up to 80% doesn't increase noise much and I never get temps higher than 70C (not even 71C) with the stock clock. Granted, the GTX 280 can go into the 90's without having issues, it's just that there have been issues w/some GTX 280's hitting 100+ and most of them are OC models, so just watch that (sounds like a much bigger issue than it actually is- as long as you've got your fan above stock speeds you'll be fine).

[Dragonskull]

Aight, only reason it's the OC version, is they won't get the non-OC in before next month or so, and it's actually 5% off on it - would seem little, but on GTX200-price level that's about the price of 4 games.
I never heard of MIST either, but their prices are on the average- not among the cheapest, yet not the most expensive (like Antec and Corsair). And considering I don't want to go for the Corsair 750W again, this seemed the best choice. Heard something about the 750W being unstable. Will check with someone that have MIST first. 650W should be enough, the GTX manual suggests a minimum of 612W. Don't really know if that includes everything, or the GTX should have 612W alone(fill me in anyone?).

[TerranUp16]

612W is a really odd number... thought it was 550W. Anyway, it's a system estimate. Like I said, I'm running a GTX 280 and 8800GTS 640mb SSC and everything else in my rig off a Corsair HX620W (you might want to look into that as well as my experience with that has only ever been extremely positive and numerous friends and other people I know have it and feel the same way)- wattage isn't really as important as build quality, hence the concern over MIST (that, and if your PSU dies for some reason it can destroy your other components).

For the GTX 280, there's nothing wrong w/going for an OC model- just warning you to be sure to follow the prescribed steps to ensure you don't have issues w/it.

[WG]

PSU is pretty much the most important part of the system so its well worth it to go with a well known quality brand and even spend more if need be. Ive seen bad PSUs fry an entire system before so it is indeed an issue, imo.

Look at units by Seasonic (my fav), Corsair and Antec as they will be your best bet for a quality product.

[Dragonskull]

Guess I might go with the Antec PSU.

[TerranUp16]

Which Antec? The lower quality lines of Antec PSU's have been known to have a lot of issues over the past year or two. Their higher quality lines are generally pretty good though.

[~VanMavus]

Aiyeee... good luck J,

You're computer is shaping up to be something but don't cheap out at the last minute on a PSU .

[Dragonskull]

Hmm, they have no Antec in-between 500W and 850W, the 850W is 150% the price of the 750W Corsair-
"Antec TruePower Quattro 850W SLI, 80Plus, 2x8Pin PCI-E + 2x6Pin PCI-E"


Any experience with Gigabyte, OCZ or Thermaltake? Hmm, they're the same price-class as Antec, but with a wider selection.

"Thermaltake 750W ToughPower ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V Active PFC" - 50USD cheaper than Antec's 850W


Err, scrap the Thermaltake.. they're not available for AM2+-based rigs.

It's only two PSUs more expensive than the Antec850W available- Gigabyte ODIN680W and Antec1000W.


Hehe, check this out.. the most expensive AMD-rig Netshop could put together (except the HD4870x2 is slightly more expensive, but as far as I can see, the mobo doesn't support crossfire)

1 x Antec Twelve Hundred Gamer Case ATX miditower without PSU
1 x GIGABYTE ODIN GT_680W w/Cables Silent, 14cm fan, fancontrol, SLI
1 x FOX+ QF DESTROYER 780a SLI- DDR2 4xPCIex16, 7.1HDA, Dual Gigabit, 2xeSATA
1 x AMD Phenom 9950 BlackEdt 2,6 Ghz BOXED Socket AM2+ Quad-Core 4MB cache
1 x Mushkin DDR2 8GB extreme Performance XP2-6400 4x2048MB 800MHz. (4.4.4.12)
3 x Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB S-ATA 16MB cache 10000RPM -- Raid 5, 2 partitions (increased performance)
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 280 1GB Superclocked PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI/HDCP, 512bit
2 x Plextor PX-810SA/T3B Sort 18x8x16xDVD+RW 18x6xDVD-RW RTL
1 x Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro PCI
1 x Creative Speaker GigaWorks S750 Speakers7.1 THX
1 x SteelSeries 7G Norwegian Professional gaming keyboard
1 x Logitech MX AIR laser mouse USB, 2000dpi
1 x Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 OEM Norwegian 64-bit DVD-version
1 x Samsung 24" LCD XL24 1920x1200,1000:1, 6ms, VGA/DVI
1 x Multi-card-reader 3.5" USB2 sort CF I/II,SM,MMC/SD,MS,xD

A stunning 46 074 NOK, which is 7 290 USD! Although the screen is already about the price of my current rig; 2 400 USD

[Dragonskull]

The most expensive Intel-rig you get is this.

1 stk. Antec Twelve Hundred Gamer Case ATX miditower u/PSU (På lager 17)
1 stk. XIGMATEK NRP-HC1501 1500W ATX No Rules Power Supply Series (På lager 1)
1 stk. Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 DDR2 Silent Pipe X48, FSB1600, 2*GbE LAN, 1394 (Ubekreftet 14.10.2008)
1 stk. Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 3.2GHz S775 12MB, BOXED u/vifte 1600Mhz (Ubekreftet 15.10.2008)
1 stk. Mushkin DDR2 8GB extreme Performance XP2-6400 4x2048MB 800MHz. (4.4.4.12) (Ubekreftet 19.10.2008)
1 stk. Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB S-ATA 16MB cache 10000RPM (På lager 9)
1 stk. Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB S-ATA 16MB cache 10000RPM (På lager 9)
1 stk. Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB S-ATA 16MB cache 10000RPM (På lager 9)
1 stk. Raid 5, 2 partisjon (Krever 3 disker) Raid med paritet økt ytelse/sikkerhet. (På lager 20+)
1 stk. EVGA GeForce GTX 280 1GB Superclocked PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI/HDCP, 512bit (Ubekreftet 17.10.2008)
1 stk. Plextor PX-810SA/T3B Sort 18x8x16xDVD+RW 18x6xDVD-RW RTL (Ubekreftet 14.10.2008)
1 stk. Plextor PX-810SA/T3B Sort 18x8x16xDVD+RW 18x6xDVD-RW RTL (Ubekreftet 14.10.2008)
1 stk. Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro PCI (På lager 1)
1 stk. Creative Speaker GigaWorks S750 Høyttalersett 7.1 THX (Ubekreftet 22.10.2008)
1 stk. SteelSeries 7G Norsk Professional gaming keyboard (På lager 5)
1 stk. Logitech MX AIR laser mus USB, 2000dpi (På lager 2)
1 stk. Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 OEM Norsk versjon 64-bit DVD-versjon (På lager 1)
1 stk. Samsung 24" LCD XL24 1920x1200,1000:1, 6ms, VGA/DVI (På lager 1)
1 stk. Multikortleser 3.5" USB2 sort CF I/II,SM,MMC/SD,MS,xD (bulk) (På lager 20+)

56 087NOK -> 8 880 USD
That's one heavy PSU though, not to mention the CPU at the price of my planned rig. >_>

[TerranUp16]

Ick for the PSU on the Intel.

As for PSU's, the Antec 850W is supposed to be a good one, but once again 850W is still relative overkill for what you're looking at getting and there are good quality 600W's available for a lot cheaper than the 800W+ PSU's.

[TerranUp16]

~VanMavus Wrote:

TerranUp16 Wrote:I still don't really see a reason to go w/the HD 4870 at all atm unless your prices are very different over there than they are here. There are now GTX 260's going for less than HD 4870's and the GTX 260 stomps on the HD 4870-

Not... really...

The HD 4870 > GTX 260.

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It's around 5% faster then the 260 and 10% slower then the 280 .

(Twiddles thumbs)

[~VanMavus]

Yes but Warhead is "nVidia the way it's meant to be played" or something ... has support for nVidia.

[Dragonskull]

People, I think I've found out what part of my current rig is defect after all- it seems it's the soundcard, e.g. Creative X-FI XtremeGamer. I found out by chance- I was about to adjust some settings with the sound, e.g. "properties" on the Soundcard, and I got the same crash as I've always had. That also explains why it crashes so often with UT3, and possibly also WC3- maybe when there's too much sound f.ex. So I'm wondering if it's any way to test if that's the only defect part without physically removing the card. Must say I'm relieved if it really is the soundcard, as it's WAY cheaper then the GTX280, and if I can just get rid of the soundcard, I can keep this rig and I'll save the money and time it takes to get this one sent back and a new one ordered. Then I'll just need to order a 64-bit DVD and I'll be all good.

[~VanMavus]

You can just pull the soundcard out and try playing UT3/WC3 without it?

[TerranUp16]

Dragonskull Wrote:People, I think I've found out what part of my current rig is defect after all- it seems it's the soundcard, e.g. Creative X-FI XtremeGamer. I found out by chance- I was about to adjust some settings with the sound, e.g. "properties" on the Soundcard, and I got the same crash as I've always had. That also explains why it crashes so often with UT3, and possibly also WC3- maybe when there's too much sound f.ex. So I'm wondering if it's any way to test if that's the only defect part without physically removing the card. Must say I'm relieved if it really is the soundcard, as it's WAY cheaper then the GTX280, and if I can just get rid of the soundcard, I can keep this rig and I'll save the money and time it takes to get this one sent back and a new one ordered. Then I'll just need to order a 64-bit DVD and I'll be all good.

Your nForce 750i mobo should have onboard sound, so just yank-out the sound card and turn-on the onboard sound. You'll also want to double-check that the sound card is seated properly and that you have the proper drivers installed (X-Fi's are really finicky about staying in their sockets and are also really finicky about drivers). If you are certain it is the card, pop some messages to Creative and they may be able to help you out. It's very possibly an IRC (Interrupt Request Control) issue.

VanMavus Wrote:Yes but Warhead is "nVidia the way it's meant to be played" or something ... has support for nVidia.

And if all goes well then so too will Dilogus and Wartide. That didn't stop the ATi x1950 from dominating its nVidia competition. And if that is really an issue, nVidia's TWiMtbP program is FAR larger than ATi's equivalent, so it's more likely that whatever game you're going to want to play is supported by nVidia's program instead of ATi's which ofc you can factor into your decision.

EDIT: Thinking back, the only games I've seen the ATi logo on are Call of Juarez (which seems to run better on nVidia hardware anyway), Half-Life 2 originally (but it wasn't on the Orange Box and it's rather irrelevant now as any high-end gpu these days is capable of mauling HL2:Ep2/Team Fortress 2/Portal at 1920x1200 with 16xMSAA and 16xAF at 60fps), and Act of War: Direct Action (also irrelevant because any modern card has more than enough power to compensate for any inefficiencies caused by being engineered one way or another).

Really though, both programs are focused more on pushing games to make graphical advances and to innovate graphically and to push the latest graphical hardware than they really are about optimizing the game for a certain card. For example, nVidia's TWiMtbP program is currently pushing CUDA and PhysX GPGPU acceleration because that is new technology that can benefit games but needs an extra shove to get developers to implement it. I mean, hell, even Photoshop CS4 is going to have the nVidia logo on it (or if it doesn't it certainly could because they are cooperating with nVidia) because it will tap into CUDA for gpgpu acceleration.

[Dragonskull]

Nevermind, it's not the soundcard. Still crashing without it in. I'll swap the cables connecting the GPU to check if it's the cables.
Still kind of odd that it crashed when trying to get into Soundcard-Properties.. maybe it's really flashy design and stuff... XD
Or it's simply the PSU making everything crash altogether.

[TerranUp16]

Sounds more like a motherboard issue than a PSU issue- like the drivers or BIOS are effed. What pins do you have connected to the GTX 280? You should have one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCI-E power plug connected from the PSU to it.

[Dragonskull]

As far as I can tell, it's two 8-pins, but both have 6 pins in one part, and two extra loose. So it's one 8-pin connected with 6 pins and 2 pins loose, and one with all 8 pins connected.
I've tried updating the BIOS drivers, but they're up to date. Don't know what else I could do. Updating the drivers for the GTX280 only resulted in more crashes last time- at least so it seemed.
Haven't booted it yet to test the other set of cables, getting the screw back in on the soundcard was a pain in the ass. xD