[Bikerjack]

As anticipated I am morally obliged to stay with the Gigabyte board and AMD 8150 processor - rightly or wrongly, for better, for worse etc.

Also, I have taken your advice and moved to a 1050w Power supply (very necessary if Crossfire is to be utilised with both cards) and I have gone for a SSD 240Gb drive. Since I am effectively buying a new rig, it basically means I will get my old PC back as a usable/saleable bit of kit which will help offset the additional cost of the upgrade. I also have an ASUS HD 6770 Radeon card that I can sell.

We had issues finding a suitable case that would take the two cards and an additional fan for cooling with the power supply sitauated at the top. I am reliably informed that the power supply can interfere with the card cooling if too close at the base of the case? That's a new one on me! I am limited to the amount of space the case can take up due to a custom built computer station so a case over 500mm tall was out of the question.

I am confident that the "shop" will adequately stress test the rig before handing it over. Interestingly, they hadn't come across CLOD before so, perhaps it will help them to experience the difficulties we are all having. If they come up with radical and successful solutions (using Crossfire for example) you will be the first to know.

It will be a few days before I get it back so watch this space.