So I would say that I lucked out and have not had any performance issues, though I am having a problem with the sound. Virtually every conversation I have with an npc, I get this static/crackling noise where I can't even understand what they are saying. Is anyone else having this problem?

I usually don't mind minor bugs, but I don't even know what is going on in these quests because I can't hear anything ><

System specs
2500k
hd 6870 X2
g.skill 1600
x-fi titanium

I've had the same issue - there's another post a couple pages back or so. Someone posted in there changing the sampling rate to 44Khz should fix it, but I've not tested it personally.