If you were going to replace your mobo for the USB anyways, I would just RMA it. I don't think it would be the chip at fault. For my setup, the bulk may fluctuate a little (+- 0.1) but 96-98 seems a bit much.
It greatly depends on the game, but I keep my 2500k at 4.5ghz as I don't notice a big enough difference in performance at 5+ghz to justify pumping the extra voltage and getting higher temps.
Won't be playing it tonight, but what do you guys think would be better for a single 670: a large projector that's just above 720p that I should be able to max the game on, or triple screens but settings turned down. Will be playing with...
Around Christmas time I built an ITX build for my Mom for about $500. Used I think a i3 2100 for CPU and it works great. Also had 128gb SSD in budget. Want me to see if I can dig up all the specs?