Without a deep inspection, it looks fine to me.

Follow the newegg reviews and let them be your guide.

You'd love that processor.

I haven't been able to max mine out at 100% yet. :thumb:

What are you using to OC?

What specs should I be most interested in when evaluating a video card?

Nothing yet. I did one of those automatic overclocks with AMD Overdrive, but that was just for fun so I could see what it could do. I reset everything back to stock. When I get some time I'll sit down and do a true BIOS overclock.

Look at the benchmarks at places like Tom's Hardware and Guru3d.

I know the stock heatsink and thermal paste leave much to be desired. If you start seriously OCin that bad boy, keep an eye on your temps. What are you using to cool that machine?

You want fast core clocks and fast memory clocks coupled with as many pipelines as you can afford.

Memory size and interface. Max resolution. Chipset (obviously). DirectX. OpenGL

Card dimensions

Wow, RAM IS CHEAP!

4GB of DDR3 for 50 bucks?

Yeah, I'm still using the stock cooler, which is another reason I didn't up any voltages when I did the quick overclock test. I did have a tube of Arctic Silver 5 laying around, so I used that instead of the crappy thermal pad.

This is my case and it provides amazing airflow:

HAF 922

Inflow: 200mm fan in the front, 200mm fan on the side, 120 mm fan on the bottom

Outflow: 200mm fan on the top, 120 mm fan on the top rear

I was not thinking of spending that much on a case (was shooting for 50 bucks or so), but the one you have seems very impressive, and might be worth the extra cost.

YES! I'm glad you said that! My old case was a mid tower and my 5850HD was so long that it pushed up against the hard drive cage. There was barely room for the power cable into the back.

Make sure you get a case big enough to fit your card!

The case I have now is significantly longer than a normal mid tower, but it's not as huge as a mid tower. You want enough room to let the air flow around and not get stuck.

I actually got it at Fry's for $10 cheaper than that. I had to add 1 of the 200mm fans and 1 of the 120 mm fans myself though.