Mr. Fox

The problem is way too much of the new tech exists for all of the wrong reasons. Optics, aesthetics and form over function. Not better, stronger, faster, more reliable. Change purely for the sake of change, not because it was needed. They need something shiny and new to sell, and otherwise have nothing to offer. It doesn't actually need to be any good if the sheeple believe it is and buy it.

Happy Saturday. Here's some humor to brighten your weekend.

Enjoy... 📕 The Honest Guide to Social Media An unfiltered dictionary for the chronically online. Welcome to the modern digital jungle, where validation is currency, filters are armor, and everyone’s shouting into the same algorithmic abyss. Below is your field guide to the biggest platforms — rebranded to match how they actually feel after five minutes of scrolling. Proceed with caution (and maybe therapy). 🟦 FACEPOOT Origin: Facebook, aged like milk. Definition: A nostalgia machine and misinformation buffet rolled into one. Tagline: “Connecting people who should really stay disconnected.” Highlights: Wedding photos, pyramid schemes, and your uncle’s political rage posts. Symptoms of Overuse: Excessive commenting, blurry memes, and mild regret. 🐦 TWATTER Origin: Twitter, after decades of progressive emotional decay. Definition: The internet’s public restroom wall — but with more branding deals. Tagline: “Screaming into the void since 2006.” Highlights: Cancelations, performative empathy, and people mistaking sarcasm for insight. Symptoms of Overuse: Doomscrolling, passive-aggressive replies, and believing that you’re a thought leader because one tweet got 40 likes. 📸 INSTASHAM Origin: Instagram, but with 100% more self-delusion. Definition: A virtual shrine to fake happiness and overpriced lattes. Tagline: “Look perfect. Feel hollow.” Highlights: Beach photos taken three years ago, toxic positivity, and sponsored “authenticity.” Symptoms of Overuse: Comparing your life to someone’s highlight reel, compulsive face-filtering, and the urge to say “link in bio.” 🎵 TITKOK Origin: TikTok, filtered through chaos and caffeine. Definition: A 15-second dopamine slot machine powered by thirst traps and trauma jokes. A safe haven where freaks can feel normal. Tagline: “Addicted to stupidity in 15 seconds or less.” Highlights: Teenagers doing dances that require core strength you’ll never have, plus one guy who suddenly teaches you taxes. Symptoms of Overuse: Time loss, brain rot, deception, pronoun obsession, random sound bites of dysphoric maniacs, celebrations of murdered dads and husbands that dare to hold a mainstream point of view and learning more about strangers’ childhoods than your own. 💼 LICKEDIN Origin: LinkedIn, pretending to be professional while secretly desperate. Definition: A corporate cosplay convention where everyone humblebrags for attention. Tagline: “Where job titles are inflated and egos are unemployed.” Highlights: Inspirational posts from people who just got laid off and “networking” messages that feel suspiciously flirty. Symptoms of Overuse: Referring to yourself as a “thought partner,” writing essays about “resilience,” and applauding strangers like it’s church. 👽 REDDTIT Origin: Reddit, the front page of the internet — and the back alley too. Definition: A labyrinth of echo chambers where self-proclaimed geniuses debate minor details with cultlike fervor. Tagline: “Where idiots network with other idiots to prove who’s right — again.” Highlights: The same 12 opinions recycled endlessly, karma farming, and communities built entirely around hating slightly different communities. Symptoms: Chronic smugness, hateful and illogical paragraph-length replies to strangers, and the belief that you “did your own research.” 🎧 DISCHORD Origin: Discord, the world’s loudest chatroom disguised as “community.” Definition: A digital basement filled with niche obsessions, inside jokes, and arguments that last until 4 a.m. Tagline: “A place where introverts talk nonstop and logic goes offline.” Highlights: Half-baked debates, moderators on power trips, and 400 unread messages you’ll never catch up on. Symptoms: Sleep loss, cult-like server loyalty, and knowing way too much about people you’ve never met. 📱 FINAL THOUGHTS Social media promised to connect us — and it did. Mostly to anxiety, insecurity, identify theft and a steady stream of disinformation and sketchy content we can’t stop hate-scrolling. So take this dictionary as both a guide and a warning: every “like” is just another brick in the digital asylum the sheeple of the world built together. Now log off. Or at least pretend to.

When liars convince idiots that feces is good to eat, all of the idiots will be eating feces.

Another good and valid reason to build you own and not buy prebuilt garbage. It would be interesting to see if forcing a normal ASUS BIOS using an SPI flash would work.

That is a good price. I would replace my 4090 with a Windforce 5090 if I could buy it that price here. I'd like to try the mod adding the second 12VHPWR connection to the empty space on the PCB. The cheapest I have noticed here is $1999 for the Zotoc 5090 Solid (non-OC). Edit: Hmm. Looks like it is. https://www.microcenter.com/product/692139/gigabyte-nvidia-geforce-rtx-5090-windforce-triple-fan-32gb-gddr7-pcie-50-graphics-card

A$$zeus selling GPUs that can only work with one of their motherboards was likely a very deliberate act and solely the result of ulterior motives. Not a smart buy for anyone that hasn't sold their soul to the ROG clown posse. The idea itself isn't a bad one. Much better than a fragile arson 12VHPWR (aka 12V-2x6) cable. The proprietary part makes it suck. With the baloney we are seeing with respect to AMD/Radeon GPUs now, it just gives NVIDIA a stronger chokehold on the GPU market that ultimately benefits only NVIDIA. There is no reason for them to feel compelled to release a Super or 6000 GPU line because they are effectively only competing with themselves. You either take what they offer and pay more than it is worth, or you settle for something substantially less. If AMD doesn't keep their prices in check they'll have nothing to sell to budget-conscious shoppers that are willing to sacrifice performance and good thermals to save money.

I ordered mine on 10/30 as well. I should have ordered two, but I think I will wait and order one from a US distributor for the 4090 because I do not know what kind of debacle I will encounter with FedEx extortion for their "handling fees" and miscalculation of tariffs. The UPS blunder of roughly 200% over-calculation of tariffs from Germany took a week to correct for the 5090 GPU block, and FedEx is about as incompetent as USPS. (The tariff itself wasn't the actual problem, it was the incompetence and gross miscalculation and their lack of concern with respect to correcting their obvious and unmistakable error.) So, I made the 1-hour trek to and from the new Phoenix Micro Center with my VIP 20% off coupon for the pre-Grand Opening only to find a line about 5-people wide and roughly a half-mile long. So, I turned around and drove home. Didn't even look for a parking space (and did not see one). Basically wasted two hours of my evening. I am sure the store would have closed before I could make it through the door because the line was so long and there would have been nothing left available to purchase that I would be interested in purchasing. More evidence of what a truly $hitty outfit Team Group is. Basically "it sucks to be you... thanks for being stupid enough to buy from us" so they can just bite my butt. This is A$$zeus-level disregard for people that keep their lights on. I have had this happen a couple of times in the past and the merchant took care of me (the customer) and filed a claim with the shipper for failing to deliver the product to the intended destination. From: rma @ teamgroup . com . tw Sent: Thursday, November 6, 2025 1:43 AM To: 'Mr. Fox' Cc: rma @ teamgroup . com . tw Subject: RE: RMA No: 25I0985 Dear Customer, Good day! Regarding your inquiry, TEAMGROUP would like to first provide the following statements and explanations: 1. The shipping address is automatically taken from the recipient address provided in your original RMA application. Therefore, all shipments are sent according to the address you submitted during the RMA request. 2. Please also note that we only initiate claims or complaints with the shipping carrier (USPS) if the package shows as undelivered or lost. If the tracking shows the package as delivered and the simplified address displayed matches your address, we consider the RMA process completed, as we can only rely on the status provided by USPS tracking to determine completion. 3. If the tracking number indicates that the shipment process is complete, we consider the RMA fulfilled. If you have not actually received the package, you will need to check with neighbors, household members, or relatives to see if someone accepted the package on your behalf. Any claims regarding non-receipt must be submitted by you, as the actual delivery status (marked as complete) is beyond our control. TEAMGROUP has no visibility into the physical receipt of the package, so it is normal procedure for you to file a claim. 4. Unfortunately, we are unable to resend the package. Refunds are the only alternative in such cases. However, if you require assistance with the claim process or need relevant documentation, TEAMGROUP will do our best to support you. We appreciate your understanding. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused and regret that we are unable to provide further assistance in this matter. If you have any further questions, please feel free let us know.

By some miracle USPS managed to "redeliver" my already delivered 4TB NVMe. Team Group did not repair the old one. They sent a new one. Knowing how inexpensive the parts are that go into them, and factoring in the costs of shipping and handling, sending it to Taiwan to "attempt" repair was truly idiotic and reflects a lack of regard for the people that buy their products. I will still be a brand detractor after this. I've got a bunch of Team Group drives and flash storage, but not planning buy from them again based on this. I changed my Amazon review from 5-star to 1-star based on the 6-week RMA experience.

Public Service Announcement I used to think that Team Group was a respectable company. Not any more. I had a 4TB NVMe I purchased that failed and it took 6 weeks for the RMA process. They had me send it to California. In a defiance of logic, they shipped it to Taiwan for "repair" and then shipped it back to a US location. They then sent it from that location via USPS Ground Advantage. Fortunately, that drive was only used for game storage. Imagine the security concerns over some unknown sweatshop slave in China having access to sensitive personal data. In their typical and customary incompetent manner, USPS delivered it to someone other than me. (This is a frequent issue in my area for USPS. I get mail almost weekly that does not belong to me.) TL;DR - Team Group sucks. They have a crappy product support system. Buy another brand. In stark contrast, I have had one Silicon Power SATA SSD and one Silicon Power NVMe fail in the past couple of years. Their process was quick and they shipped new replacements within a matter of days. From: Mr. Fox Sent: Wednesday, November 5, 2025 4:39 AM To: rma @ teamgroup . com . tw Subject: RMA No: 25I0985 USPS shows this as delivered yesterday but it was not received. They have apparently delivered it to the wrong address or placed it into someone else’s mailbox by mistake. I have alerted USPS and requested a lost mail search. Search ID #MRC #5 2264 826#. I also lodged a complaint with USPS for escalation. Service Request #302488#. Technically, a claim can only be filed with USPS by the shipper (Team Group). They do not accept claims by intended recipients. I am looking for Team Group to provide a replacement or refund of the original purchase price ASAP. The RMA process took roughly 6 weeks already, which I find unacceptable. Please handle this failure swiftly. For your convenience, the original purchase invoice is attached to document the amount of my claim.

Aside from hideous thermals (especially insane hotspot) the 9070 XT was indeed a great value for budget-restricted gamers if it could be purchased for within $100 of the correct price. It was so-so at overclocking. Where it really shines brightest over all other previous Radeon GPUs is ray tracing. It jumped AMD from abject failure to 3090 ray tracing levels in a single bound. Before the 9070 XT this was AMD's most severe shortcoming in terms of image fidelity. When ray tracing first became a popular talking point I considered it a gimmick, but now my opinion is the exact opposite. I think it is the biggest visual enhancement in graphics fidelity in over a decade and I wouldn't be nearly as satisfied without it. A real game-changer (pun intended). The kind of thing where you don't know what you've got until its gone. Whenever I play games that lack ray tracing it is immediately evident and they feel very cartoonish. and similarly insane... I called this out as soon as I saw it: proprietary, fragile, modular piece of crap with no service parts. Absolute rubbish FE GPU. NVIDIA is replacing the GPU for damage control reasons, not because they care. If they cared they would not have produced a piece of garbage.

That is entirely possible if the colored plastics have a lower melting point. The conventional black plastic connectors are something close to 200°C if my understanding is accurate. Per Google Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/share/1bef51d272b8 The housing for both the conventional 12VHPWR and its minor revision, the 12V-2x6 connector, is typically made of a glass fiber-filled thermoplastic 🌡️ Material and Flammability Rating The connector plug housing is required to be made out of glass fiber-filled thermoplastic. This material is specified to meet the UL 94 V-0 classification for flame retardancy. 🔥 Melting Point The melting point of the plastic is not a commonly published specification, as the critical thermal consideration is the maximum operating temperature the plastic can withstand before deformation or failure. However, related testing provides some context: The notorious connector melting issues reported with the 12VHPWR connector were primarily caused by poor or partial seating of the connector pins, leading to high electrical resistance, excessive heat generation, and subsequent melting of the plastic. The material is designed to handle the heat generated under normal, proper operating conditions. Some third-party solutions aimed at protecting the connector have been designed to shut down power if the temperature near the connector reaches around 110°C—this suggests that temperatures significantly higher than this, caused by a fault (like an improperly seated cable), are enough to cause the plastic to melt or fail. For reference, the melting point of the lead-free solder often used in manufacturing is around 232°C, which is significantly higher than the reported plastic failure temperatures. The connector's pins heat up due to resistance, and that heat then causes the surrounding plastic to melt. The high temperature that leads to melting is generally due to thermal runaway caused by poor contact and extremely high current density in a small area, rather than an inherent weakness of the plastic under its rated operating temperature. The article below discusses the issues with the 12VHPWR connector, including contradicting specs and corner-cutting, which led to the reported melting issues. 12VHPWR is a Dumpster Fire | Investigation into Contradicting Specs & Corner Cutting

As odd as it may seem, a game that is more demanding than one might imagine is Quake II RTX. The way that game has been modded and modernized not only looks insanely good with the new textures and ray tracing, it pulls an insane amount of power. With 5090 running stock (apart from the presence of my shunted resistors) HWiNFO64 shows GPU rail powers is in the 800W range. Hard to believe a game that is so old could be so taxing on a GPU. I cannot think of a scenario where I would find a practical use for it, but the curiosity is still there. I am always curious about stuff like this regardless of whether or not I would find it useful. I may check out the trial for that reason alone. I have always preferred local storage over network storage, but my activities on PC are such that network storage is not beneficial in practical application. I have a 1TB USB SSD connected to my router with music and movies on it that are accessible from any of my computers and televisions. Other than the initial testing to confirm functionality I have never accessed any of the files on it. The only files that I actually take care to avoid losing are applications that I have purchased and those that are still functional but no longer available (or difficult to find) for public download and I have those sitting in cloud storage for safe-keeping. My interest in Linux was always driven by curiosity. It has ramped up as my growing contempt for Micro$lop and disdain for Winduhz has peaked to unprecedented levels. I'm very happy that I did not have to start from a place of total unfamiliarity and ignorance as my desire to eliminate the use of it increases.

I doubt it will happen. It might, but I would not hold my breath. If it does it will probably be priced like a 4090 and have 100°C hotspot temps.

I should just sell both of my monster computers locally for about $5K each and be done with PCs, LOL. None of these parts are worth buying at current prices. It feels almost like part of the evil plan to make us all "own nothing and be happy" whether we like it or not. @Raiderman had better snag a 5080 now and not wait for the "Super" version that will likely sell for 5090 prices, or maybe even more.

I wonder how many that had melted connectors were installed in challenging situations where space was abnormally limited and smart cable management was either very difficult or even impossible. We never know the entire story behind the photos and YouTube videos. User error includes choosing to install the GPU in an environment where its survival is unlikely. The examples of Radeon GPUs with melted connectors really dispel the notion that it was due to excessive load because those GPUs are incapable of drawing more power than the cables and connectors can handle.

Interesting video. Brother @electrosoft asked a rhetorical question not long ago about why nobody we know has melted connectors. Nobody could give a definitive answer. This makes me even more curious. 1600W for 15 minutes did not melt the connector. I think the answer might be "defective Chinese trash" after watching this. More accurately, "expensive defective Chinese crap." People are getting worried about exceeding 60-70°C and twice that much heat didn't melt the plastic connector. Thank you. I think I can still do better. Just need to get my core temps to stay down in the 20°C range or lower.

The curse of Frank Azor. Congratulations AMD. You really found yourself a winner.

You explanation piques my curiosity so I may have to investigate it. Even if it turns out I do not have a need for it, I am still curious. I would say at least 1300W. The Lian Li Edge seems like a solid and affordable option. I have one in my 4090 build. I have a Thermaltake GF3 1650W PSU in the 5090 build. I like both of them. The GF3 is hard to find. It has dual 12VHPWR sockets and like 6 PCIe 8-pin sockets in addition. I may have to drop down to 0.001 Ohm shunt resistors to bump my power limit. I backed off my core clock a bit and the scores went up. I ran the benchmark again with GPU-Z and HWiNFO64 running on my second monitor so I could watch and it is still showing power limit perf cap reason, so... hmmm. I'm pulling 1350W from the wall already. HWiNFO64 shows like 959W on GPU power rails. Apparently that's not enough. My core temp is still hitting 41°C with 9°C water, so that's not helping. I guess I am going to have to think about using liquid metal on the GPU. I don't want to, but 41°C is definitely not helping https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/144631382 | https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/3dmark_-_steel_nomad_dx12/submissions/5918232

It is definitely a specification engineering flaw and inherently defective design and not an NVIDIA defect. Any company stupid enough to use it is going to have burnt and melted wiring and connectors just because it's trash. The only thing we can blame NVIDIA for is being the stupid bastards that made this defective piece of crap the new normal.

I think the temptation will be easier for me because I have worked from home as a "virtual office employee" since 2002. I've never worked from an office in all of those years, although I used to have to travel extensively and excessively. Thankfully that ended about 7 years ago. Now I just stay home all the time. I never go anywhere and I don't want to. My compute is walking from my breakfast stool in the kitchen to my desk in the office. About 30 feet one way. There is no "stopping by" anywhere on the way home. It's both a blessing and a curse. I'm so used to staying home all the time I never want to go anywhere, LOL. The hour drive to Micro Center will be a massive pain in the butt. There won't be any impulsive shopping as long as I don't just go there for the heck of it. After about 13 years of 75% overnight travel and only being home one or two days a week, I don't like driving even 30 minutes to go do something anymore. (Mrs. Fox finds that pretty annoying and boring, but she hasn't forgotten my absence 5 to 6 days a week for many years ) All that being said, I'm sure if I have something specific I want to buy I will be more than happy to waste 2 hours of my life driving back and forth to get better pricing and a better warranty, no shipping and the overall better Micro Center experience. I'm going to like not having to purchase almost everything online anymore. That always sucks.

I would love it if this works and we could make our own drivers for Windows 7 on whatever modern hardware we choose to run.

Interesting....

Off-Topic: The Phoenix Micro Center grand opening for VIP members is 11/5. My wife better hide my wallet. 🤣 It's an hour each direction from where I live, but at least it's not the 6-hour drive each direction to Tustin, CA.

Another reason to disable it. Windows Updates help keep the PC repair industry working. "Please be patient, Windows is currently bricking your computer..." From the selected start time...