I got all my parts, did the heatpipe mod right off the bat, and put it all together. I was able to find the right nylon hex lock nuts at a local Osh Hardware store. I hope while screwing them in when I slipped with the screwdriver over the mobo I didn't kill the traces overly much... I took some pictures as well if you'd like to see the gap with northbridge heatsink and stuff:

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/j...%20IP35%20Pro/

Specs are:
Abit IP35 Pro w/ 16b.09 bios
E8400
2x1GB Crucial Ballistic 8500
ZeroTherm NV120 CPU cooler
EVGA 8800GTS 512 G92

I have a couple questions though:

1. The RAM sucks! I can't get it to do 1T 4-4-4-12, even if I underclock it to 800MHz and ensure it's getting its 2.2V. If I do almost any overclocking, I get C1 errors. However, it technically works at spec when left alone and with little overclocking. Ugh. If I manually set the first four to 5-5-5-18, and to 2T, but leave the other settings to Auto it'll also error out. Has anyone found some good settings for this RAM and motherboard? I thought I was doing the "right thing" by getting this stuff

2. My overclocking attempts have been really pathetic. I'm plagued with constant BSODs, or failures to boot with almost all my OC attempts. I had super high hopes with this E8400 and motherboard, hoping for a 4.5GHz OC. Most I've hit was 3.6GHz, and when I did, my 3dMark '06 score dropped from 11k (when it was running base at 3GHz) to 9k with the loss all in CPU. What the heck? I also can't get my FSB over 400. Could somebody provide some guidance as to what to set the MCH and other voltages to if I'm looking to get the FSB stable at around 450 to 500? Any other voltages I should adjust? Should I increase or decrease the GTLRef?

On the bonus side, my PWM is 30 idle, 40 max on load. Sorry if this sounds like a rant..