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Laptops are good only IF you want portability, there is lack of space or both (or if you are just bored of desktops and need a different challenge when OCing). To get a good discount will take too much time and too many phonecalls and even that won't guarantee something like 15% or more especially when the product was just released. Getting something from the outlet will almost certainly have something wrong. To fix that will require a serious amount of time (talking about many hours on the phone in the best case scenario, months in the worst). If something breaks you still have to go through many hours on the phone even for the slightest fix, let alone cases like @mw86 's or like people from countries like that those laptops are not being sold directly from Dell (i.e. Greece - let alone the price you have to pay to buy one...). Plus you never get the most out of your hardware out of the box (Throttling, poor cooling, power limitations, compatibility, etc....) My next system will be a maxed out desktop unless I have to move again back to the States (very likely given the circumstances) and portability will be an issue.

This is true, but outlet systems are second hand yeah? 2k here would buy this rig (I know because I'm helping sell it ) - 800D 2600k in Maximus IV Extreme XSPC RASA 360 watercooling on CPU Dual 3gb 580s 16gb 2133mhz RAM 120gb Vertex 3 1tb Caviar black Asus 27" My 18X was over 3k new with base CPU and RAM, no SSD etc. I still say desktops are the price/performance kings, but portability is of course not their forte.

Hey Conkers, Thought you might find this interesting, Dutch guy is making a custom full cover waterblock for the MARS II. All Pictures | L3p Build Log (whole system) - Project : L3p L4n No idea if they're for sale, but it's probably worth checking. :D

Why risk disappointment, bleeding or anything else? Just get IC Diamond. Well known, performs well and won't disappoint.

yeah! yeah exactly! i'm atm checking on which services are really not used on a gaming system. like which services someone who only uses the system soley to game can disable, without running into any problems. i plan on putting the list up after it's all done. can take a moment though. yeah it's quite interesting, of course there's crap to do, but that's with every job i guess haha i didn't get to do any more tests since. but that's okay, since today the ICD24 arrived, i will do a repasting tomorrow and then i will check further.

Looks pretty nice for the price. No BluRay Drive?

@Brian K. could add a small SSD for boot drive/OS OCZ VTX3-25SAT3-60G Vertex 3 Solid State Drive - 60GB, 2.5, SATA III, 6Gbps at TigerDirect.com vertex 3 64gb $85 $140 1.5Tb hard drive / SATA 6Gbps / 5900 RPM (even though 5900rpm its a green efficient drive and studies showed given sata 6gbps and 64mb cache 5900vs 7200rpm made small difference but a lot in power savings. price per gig compared to the 500gb is extremely good large cost savings if can afford $50 more for HD Seagate ST1500DL003 Barracuda Green Hard Drive - 1.5TB, SATA 6Gbps, 3.5 5900 RPM, 64MB at TigerDirect.com found your tower cheaper... your paying $130 with the shipping 120+10 shipping see here its 110 with free shipping Thermaltake VM70001W2Z Armor A30 Case - Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX, Transparent Window, 2x 60mm Fan, 90mm LED Fan, 230mm LED Fan, 2x 5.25, 1 Ext 3.5, 2x Int 3.5, 1 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0, 1x eSATA Front Ports at TigerDirect.com Edit: added after Brian thanked post Glad you liked my suggestion Brian not sure what caught your eye but glad to help

Nice build Brian, I would definitely try to get the 448 core version as benchmarks in general seem to justify the price. It's also worth checking into 6970s as the 7970 has flooded the market with people trying to get rid of multiple 6xxx cards. Friend of mine picked up dual 6970s for $425.

Water cooler for the Mars II?! I'm guessing 4x universal ones then ram sinks and other passive stuff? Anyways your system looks great as it is. I'd love to build myself a desktop but I simply am not in a single place for long enough

Most likely overheating is causing this GPU failure. Hopefully there is no permanent damage. For a start download GPU-Z and monitor your temps. Also clean the vents and make sure you have proper airflow underneath your laptop. A repaste will be beneficial as well but if your GPU is already damaged and you 're within warranty you should better ask for a replacement, sooner or later it will fail. (there are a couple of solutions left but not recommended at this point). welcome to the forum btw