@Fixxxer: To be fair, the people doing first line phone-based sales/support to home-consumers are always the LAST to know about anything; Just because the drones don't know doesn't mean that their bosses don't either...

@arnav: Be glad that you did; The only real benefit that Sandy Bridge has over 1366 as far as I can tell is that most implementations do away with BIOS and use EFI instead (as the Intel Macs have always done). This is useful for one huge reason: Booting to GPT-formatted partitions.

@DeputyRob: That vintage would be an H/P 5X chipset.

@topsully: The problem with PBS though is in it's moniker: Purely Boring Shit.

@thatdecade: Then with any luck...

@SBM_from_LA: The issue isn't so much their limited knowledge, it is the high rate of turnover of their staff.

@COOP: You mean Chicago Screws?

@Shane Baker: Actually they DO tap the thread; First they drill a hole, then they tap it.

@Ducce: The answer to question A is likely no, and if it is yes, the result will in all likelihood be the same as it were in A — namely, a rather secular and stable dictator will be replaced by an unstable fundamentalist Islamic state.

@Ducce: Africa doesn't count.

@Unspellable: Precisely; Assuming this revolution is successful, the transition will likely be similar to that undergone by Iran in the 1970's during the Carter administration.

If Jupiter were that close to our planet, Earth would be one of its' moons.

@jdale: Actually, if Earth were that close to Jupiter, Earth would be the moon.

@skt.smth: This. The only artists that make money themselves are the ones that have work that is sold in large volume; This is an even better thing for the record companies, so that's what they aim for — not the best art, but the art that will net them the best/safest rate of return on investment.

@skt.smth: You've just described EXACTLY how and why monopolized union labor is a bad thing, and yet you seem to still like unions.

@Jon Bach: Assuming you are who you say you are, on what planet does any reputable company associate Koolance with quality hardware?

One good place to skimp is on the video card; A GTX570 will handle pretty much anything out right now, and most things for awhile yet (games are currently limited by consoles) — it performs right around a GTX480, but runs cooler and uses less power. At ~350 USD each, you could grab two and put them in SLI for ~700…

Buying a computer from one of these outfits (Origin, Falcon Northwest, Etc.) is idiotic for two huge reasons: Price and warranties.

@Esper_tricks: No, it's lazy and may end up frying your hardware.

@JSR694: I see I'm not the only one who made that association...