It's less that the TIM is bad (some guys have done controlled testing for gap height and found the TIM is actually decent quality) and more that the gap between the IHS and the die is too big by default. The process of de-lidding effectively reduces the gap when remounting the IHS. It's been shown that this is the big difference maker in reducing temperatures, rather than the replacement of the TIM itself.

Either way it'd be nice if they improved the gap issue to improve the thermal transfer.

On the splash radius impacting self jumping- It shouldn't be hard for them to apply normal radius self splash all the time, much like they do with the direct hit. (at least it seems like they do with the direct hit...maybe I'm wrong)

probably don't want to hear it ..but sticky launcher

Problem:
1. The sticky launcher is far too effective at defending close range due to the low arm time and massive damage when in close vicinity. This significantly reduces the major weakness of demoman and lets them deal with enemies without needing to use the pipe launcher close range in many scenarios.
2. With 8 stickies in a clip and low arm time there is no other comparable offensive weapon in the game. From a public game perspective a competent demoman w/ a sticky launcher can single handedly swing large games in ways that no other class can. Even in a more open 6v situation where scouts have room to work against them demoman have to be limited to one primarily due to the crazy damage output of the sticky launcher.

Some possible solutions:
1. stickies begin with reduced splash radius once launched, increasing to current splash radius after sticky is in the world for x seconds (so it still rewards precision up close/afar, but they won't be nukes when used close range or offensively)
2. begin with reduced damage once launched and increase over time to current level.
3. normalize damage over distance somewhat so they aren't nuclear bombs up close
4. slightly increase arm time to reduce viability for certain close-in defense situations
5. Some combination of the above

I'm not saying do all of those things w/ the sticky launcher, but something needs to be done if you want to be honest about it's balance. If making those changes to the sticky launcher it would be nice to reduce the self damage from pipes though.

check slickdeals.net a couple times a day to see if a laptop shows up, you can usually find a good deal if you don't need it right away.

only thing that is coming up in the short term for desktop is IVB-E, which is the sucessor to the i7-3930k /3960x. (6c/12thread beasts).

I would only expect incremental improvements there though over the 3930k, and haswell will still likely be faster when 8 or less threads are utilized. Also, they cost more.

Next it should be time for the 5v5 bball arena + letting people pass the ball with +attack2. Alley oops!

Word of warning, TF2 is a very CPU limited game. Assuming you are already running dx8 max fps config you probably are going to be disappointed with a new video card purchase. (it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, just don't expect a lot in source games if your CPU sucks). I upgraded from an 8800gt to a radeon 7850 and the fps difference was pretty negligible.

they pretty much taste exactly like their "barbecue" chips but with a little spice, and it's not particularly sriracha-ey. Should have been better 6/10

what percentage of the games do you play that are source games? if it was a 50/50 thing I would do it. I recently made the switch and it has made a world of difference to me.

Edit: looks like you play TF2 a lot and you kinda said source games are the only ones you can manage high enough fps. Yes I would get it if I were you. get the 24" asus 144hz its the best bang/buck

I was the project lead on this way back when it originally released, but got totally burnt out from pushing it out the door. I'm continually amazed to see it's still hanging around, the new guys have continued to work at it. I wish our modeller/animator didn't disappear off the face of the earth (taking the source files with him) back then because they are still screwed up and detract a bit from some of the cool things that were done.

I think the font could be better on the "HRG" and "AG"

When the internets were just starting up and AOL was taking off we got an account at home. I had to come up with a screen name for myself and being the clever 14 year old I was I settled on a 'cool' spelling of the word fish- "PHISH". All caps BECAUSE THATS AWESOME. The next few years I was continually confused when people would ask me if I'd ever been to any shows lately. "What did that mean!?!, why do they ask me that!?" Then I found out a band had been using MY name. Jerks!

I stuck with that name through 5+ years of TFC. Clanmates would always call me "FEEEESH" on roger wilco/ventrillo so towards the end of TFC I adopted the equally clever Pheesh. Using PH in place of the letter F, brilliant! Thanks 14 year old me!

PS: Phaser you will always be Seph to me, suck it up.

if you have "r_renderoverlayfragment 0" set in your fps config you wouldn't see sprays.

Although based on your apparent usage maybe that's a good thing

had mine a few weeks... going from 60hz, DEFINITELY worth it. It's been a massive difference in visual clarity during motion, much easier to track everything (non lightboost). Going from 120hz to 144hz? Not likely worth the $$$ if you already have 120hz. This is a lightboost capable monitor- Going from 120hz non lightboost to 120hz lightboost? possibly worth it if you have an nvidia card, based on what I've heard...but probably still not the best use of money if you already have a 120hz monitor.

usually around 'Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle', but I've had some success with using 'Ryan Gosling in The Notebook'