Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.
You can calculate the maximum refresh rate of a monitor at a given resolution by using its horizontal refresh rate. In your case, the VW266H has a horizontal refresh rate of 83KHz. So the formula is [horizontal rate in Hz] / [vertical pixel resolution] * 0.95 = maximum vertical refresh rate...
It says on the listing you get the 3yrs warranty with advanced exchange service. Also you can use it with Bing 8% cashback for eBay, though you might want to wait and see if the cashback increases any for Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
Currently I'm running:
AMD Opteron 170
3GB DDR PC3200
4x7200rpm HD
XFX Geforce GTX 260 (core-216) Black Edition
Creative Audigy 2 ZS
On a Seasonic S12 500W with these specs:
+3.3V = 30A
+5V = 30A
+12V1 = 17A
+12V2 = 16A
According to a watt meter I'm using, my PC uses about 140W...
I don't have a GTX 280, but I do have the GTX 260 core-216 version and on the box they also say it requires a 12V with 40A. But I am using a somewhat old Seasonic S12 500 which has two 12V rails with 17A and 16A and have absolutely no problems running this. Though I'm still on an old Opteron...
$30 MIR only good for 11/17. The case is classified as a mid-tower but is pretty much a full tower in size. Comes with 6 fans (4x120mm and 2x140mm).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146047&Tpk=NZXT%20Tempest
Does it happen only when it's raining? I'm using a 7800GT and I get all sorts of polygons flickering but only when it's raining. Mine looks most like the last screenshot you posted. I'm running with full dynamic lighting and full details except no shadows or AA.
I'm using an Opteron 175 and Abit AN8 Ultra with 2x512MB and 2x1024MB Corsair XMS. It does run in dual channel and also must run at 2T command rate. I don't know what the case is for the Core Duo but I'd imagine it'd be the same.