I don't know if anyone noticed, but I lost my Emerald globe, back to Ruby.
It's going to take longer to get new colors.
That's the downside to new projects.

It's back!

I am not currently running the i7 overclocked, because I have the default CPU fan that came with it. It's runs over 80 C just at 3.5GHz. It's heating my office quite nicely at the moment. After I've paid for the current hardware, I may think about getting some better cooling, but right now 3.5GHz is a lot better than what I had

My i7 is 3.5 out of the box but it is overclocked to 4.3.
Expect to go higher when time permits.
The temperatures of the cores range 51C-61C at full load.
I am using air cooled, Noctua NH-D14.

There is another thread where water coolers are being recommended but water (any liquid) in a PC makes me nervous.

It was recommended to me that if the CPU is pushed to its capabilities a NorthBridge cooler is needed.
The i7 Sandy Bridge has the NorthBridge built into the CPU chip so there is no NB chip to cool.
My motherboard has the Intel Z68 chipset which is rumored to run hot so i plan to put a fanless heatsink cooler on it.

it looks like SN2S will be here for awhile.

Who gets the work units depends on their profile settings.
I opt-in on new projects and have over 3 days of SN2S validated.
I like to collect the badges but in the scheme of things they really have no value.

The power crunchers will run just SN2S until they get Sapphire.
It is not likely your abacus will have an impact on them.
This project will be around for a couple of years so there is plenty of time to get a badge.

There are heated discussions regarding points/badges/work units on another thread.
Some would like a badge for returning one WU.
Some do not like the point system.
Myself, run time and work units are important, everything else is window dressing.

Warning - opinion alert
With WCG you can see results as the WUs complete and the project ends.
Some projects outside of WCG never complete, i.e. looking for extraterrestrial broadcasts.
Some projects just collect worthless things like prime numbers.
I feel my time is not being wasted at WCG.

I do not like that members with 2 PCs have to compete with members with 200 PCs.
There is no level playing field.
So, I am happy to do the best I can with my limited IQ and resources.