Likewise.

TBH I got 2 rigs, both are with Windows 7 x64 SP1 and this error occurred on both.

Got Windows 7 64bit and I'm getting the compatibility error: "The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running..." when trying to open your custom primecoin wallet.

Thought every x86 program can run on a x64 OS (but not vice-verse), anything I can do?

You won't need.

You're welcome.

Which of the 280x is getting HW errors? One of the Elpida ones or the Hynix?

No need, just go buy yourself a beer on me

Is it the same r9 280x that causes problems (511 degree)? Try swapping the slots of your cards and see if it's the card or the PCI-e slot that causes the issue.

Try this:

Which card is it the one that doesn't wanna use 1060 core? Is it the Hynix one? Because normally Hynix and Elpida ones will use different clock speeds to get optimal speed.

BTW, have you tried running your rig without the 270x?

If you don't want anything to happen to it than don't mine. Seriously, it's ill advised to mine on a laptop.

Which gpu though? It's kinda important.

How could you have possibly fried your MB if the computer goes through post and loads up?? (rhetorical question).

Anyway, post full settings here because it seems you are trying to mine from wafflepool - which is scrypt using nfactor algo, so you might have conflict in settings.

Doesn't look so free. 

The settings don't make much sense. low TC with low intensity should be for cards that use -g 2.

What's your hardware setup like?

This would make more sense:

tl;dr version:

A bunch of question about vaporware.

So after 24hours of mining I stopped and waited another 24h to see the total XPM I got and my total earning is 7.11 XPM, which at the current rate of 1 XPM = 0.00177004 BTC (to make it easier for other readers who wish to convert to bTC) equates to 0.0048 BTC / MH (Scrypt) / day, or 0.0048 at 57k CH/h /day.
Was using v1.3 for about half of that time (1.4 wasn't out yet) than swapped to v1.4 so earnings may vary by around 5%~.

Ideas how to improve it other than buying a new CPU? Currently I am using -ss 2 otherwise the CPU is at 100% load and am with 1015/1250 clock speeds (core/mem respectively), using R9 290.

Tried this, but I gotta say that the CPU is a huge limiting factor here. My R9 290 are getting 57k each probably because I got a Pentium G2030 powering my rig (had to use -ss 2).

I am running v1.4 and I saw an exact 10% increase from v1.3 (52k before).

I still don't know if it's profitable, haven't mined for 24h yet.

This is assuming you get the device today (you used the current difficulty, well, almost).
LTC has had its difficulty increase by about 60% the last month, so assuming this rate continue until the time they deliver their miner, you can expect a difficulty of about 14,750, which means your ROI is 54.58 days.
And TBH, 2 months ROI with this is almost guarantee that you won't see ROI at all or barely make any profit.

This of course doesn't include LTC price change (up or down).

Scrypt is Scrypt and it represent just a certain algorithm. Any coin currently that uses it can be mined with said miner, but coins that are based on different algo can't be mined with it.

Don't think anyone can answer you that unless they worked at KnC at the time. But when you think about it, and not even that hard, it's the only logical move from a monetary POV.
They are in the business of making money, and to maximize profit, they should mine with the miner themselves and than sell it.
And please don't bring up the gold rush / shovel sellers analogy, it's so retarded and completely irrelevant to cryptocurrency and how it works.

You don't need to see a spike as obvious as you imagine. They could easily just add a single miner to their farm once a day and you'd never see a sudden spike in network hashrate. You would however, see an increase in hashrate similiar to an exponential growth graph.
Keep in mind that you will need to add up the total network of all Scrypt coins together in order to see it.

The intensity levels you're talking about depends on the number of gpu threads that are being used. For R9 290 you're gonna use -g 1 (1 gpu thread - they don't play well with -g 2) which comes with higher intensities: -i 20, although you can go lower to -i 19, -i 18 and even -i 17.
-i 13 is for cards that use -g 2 like the 280x.

Worksize 512 has no meaning with r9 290, use 256.

Vectors have no meaning when it comes to scrypt mining.

Use the latest SGminer: http://sgminerwindows.com/

Go back to default clock speeds: 947/1250 (core/mem respectively).

Use AMD 13.12 drivers.

Make sure you have no undervolting or overvolting applied.

Run the miner. Does it work fine? (doesn't need to be at optimized speeds, but is it above 800KH/s?)

If all is well than it's time to tweak the settings: find which memory type you got (elpida, hynixafr, hynixmfr) and search for configuration that work well with it (mostly clock speeds).

TC value depends on the amount of system RAM you got.

The last step is to optimize your voltage once you found the speed you like.