[*]

would've grabbed the G400 if it was EU :)
good prices, good luck

i guess you're 'joking', but to those who don't (actually) know:
you speak of 'placebo effect' when a perceived or an actual improvement is seen, after someone's been given a 'placebo'.
a placebo is something which, basically, has no actual content.

TLDR: someone was given nothing, and there was an improvement.

examples:

a problem with many claims (regarding software-settings), is that proof simply isn't available.
in a lot cases, you'd need an actual developer (or otherwise very knowledgeable person) to give you the facts.
this also means that many claims about something being placebo or not, are hard to (dis)prove.

therefore.. try things out for yourself. if you are not totally sure it changed anything, you might as well discard it. sometimes it depends on hardware, whether something has an effect or not.

the markC fix does does absolutely nothing if you have EPP disabled in windows.
some (very old) games force EPP on, even if you have unchecked the box in mouse options. what markC fix does is change EPP to be linear, so when it gets forced on by the game, you won't have any acceleration (as if EPP is still off).
games like CSGO or TF2 don't force EPP on, so markC fix is totally useless for these games.
placebo.

most of your other points are totally valid and have little to do with placebo or not.
points like 6 and 7 are physical, they're not placebo. they're personal. if you'd look around at some, LAN you'll see a huge difference in how players sit on their chair. close or far away from monitor, what mice they use, how they grip.. their whole bodies are in totally different positions.

and if you say that the original makes you feel disorientated, how would that be placebo? it makes me wonder if you even know what the word means..
anyway, if you've used stock for a long time, it's not strange for the original to feel off. it's not even strange to perform worse with it.

cowmanglia already made a good point for point 4. i noticed i perform worse with viewmodels enabled because they distract me and obscure my screen. i'm sure it has a lot to do with being used to one or the other.
my grenade launcher aim goes to total shit when i enable viewmodels. for some, it's the other way around.

if it's the board you want, and it's still in good shape, then $40 is a very nice deal.

the ABS keycaps on the board will lose texture as its being used, so if you care about texture on keycaps then make sure it's not too used.
the board has plate-mounted switches, which makes a keyboard (feel) nicely sturdy. nice bonus.
supports both USB and PS/2, nice bonus.
detachable cable, nice bonus.

don't forget to check it has the switches that you want

drake, hahahaha

as a kid i'd often get warm milk with honey if i couldn't sleep. made me feel all comfortable and sleepy.

nowadays i mostly use sounds / asmr, or babbling in languages i don't understand - like listening to radio-stations on which they do nothing but talk.
for asmr, i'm particularly fond of keyboard typing sound. something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u92sXtFyPzI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc9JaWbv2O0
or other random sounds, like controllers being used, rubik's cubes being solved or pencil drawing/writing on paper (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zz4NLgfYgA).
(youtube has a ton of these kinds of clips if you're interested.)
and i love rainy nights.

is now a good time to buy a new PC?
because i'm thinking about getting a new PC, but i am absolutely clueless about what to get, and when to get it.

also, setsul, what's your opinion on the new CPUs?
i see that older releases like the i7 5820k are still recommended, despite the release of Skylake.

i think it's tf_avoidteammates_pushaway? could be wrong, sorry

$200? man, don't get a headset.
for $200 you can get prince-quality headphones + seperate microphone.
no headset of $200 is gonna get you money's worth. no way.

i think tf.tv gets about one thread a day on headsets, and they all get the same responses:
unless you want something cheap, like <$20, it's worth getting separate pieces.

maybe we should have a sticky "Are you looking to buy a headset?"-thread.

is it silly to expect that a microsoft representative would use proper interpunction? he even makes spelling errors
not saying it's fake, just saying it's looking quite unprofessional. what a mess.

ridiculous if it's true, though

gotta love how this shot looks like a proper sellout gamer-gear brand sponsored bitch

"this product will change your life!!!"

truk is a boss.

as if there hadn't been enough shit with i55 :(

in case you're a privacy-enthusiast:

http://cdn.overclock.net/1/1e/1e4c5193_QP5DBAz.jpeg

link to bigger picture: http://cdn.overclock.net/1/1e/1e4c5193_QP5DBAz.jpeg

edit:
keylogger (yup) and ads integrated directly into your OS.
you're basically sending information about everything you do, and how you do it.
so if you like doing shady things, you may not want to upgrade to win10.
there's also a real-time anti-malware running that will turn it self on again if you disable it. nice.