Mr. Fox

I wonder if SPI flashing would brick the new castrated GPUs? It's so extremely stupid that they would reduce the voltage because of the crappy power connector. The voltage was already too low for good overclocking, so they just screwed it up more by lowering it further. The 4090 needs about 1.300V to do what I want it to do, and there is no reason our Suprim X cards can't handle that with ease. I benched the 3090 KPE with between 1.300 and 1.400V without issues. It didn't need the chintzy 12VHPWR connector for that either. The whole thing is just a fiasco because the Green Goblin felt compelled to do something new and stupid without giving it enough thought and research to determine that it was a stupid idea. Change purely for the sake of change is always idiotic, and this is a very good example of that. The 12VHPWR connect is totally pointless and unnecessary. All it has done is cost money for revised PSU/cables that were not necessary, caused stress, anxiety and frustration, and wasted multiple millions of dollars and hours for GPU owners, GPU manufacturers and GPU repairers. Remember kids: Newer is always better newer.

Sad news about the connector shortage. So stupid that ASUS decided to use an oddball design, but actually good news for anyone that did not waste their money on a 4090 made by ASUS. Good that all of the burned ASUS cards haven't depleted the stock for the "normal" 12VHPWR connectors that everyone else would need. I think that guy (byzking) might be trolling. I have two CableMod cables and the adapter that I am not using. I had zero issues with the cables, or the 90° adapter. I stopped using the adapter just to be safe, plus I no longer need it on the open bench. I would still be using the cables except I have no need for them since both of the desktops now have ATX 3.0 Corsair RM1200x SHIFT PSUs.

I picked up another TF2 flow/temp meter new on eBay for a bit more than half normal price to install in the Dark Base Pro.

I haven't heard anything that I would take to the bank yet on price, performance or release date. There is such a head start on AMD with 4090 that I would imagine it might not be for another year or until AMD releases something powerful enough to take the crown from NVIDIA, whichever comes first. If I were NVIDIA, I would not release a faster and more powerful GPU until I needed to in order to beat the competition. I'd milk my current flagship until there was no milk left. I'd get it ready and hit the pause button until I had a reason to put it into production.

If you want to buy it, it is still available. No worries. So many of these remake/cover versions are better than the original. I think this is supposed to be humor, but I think most of it is better in the Rammstein version of "You Spin Me Round" LOL. But, I do still like the original.

The Heroes and Righteous of the world will always be punished for doing the right thing. Here's another random example of exactly that: Stockton police investigating 7-Eleven workers in viral beatdown and Investigation underway regarding the now-viral video of clerks beating would-be robber Caught on live video beating the stuffing out of a would-be robber that deserved worse, now facing bogus assault charges instead of reward and recognition due to corrupt leadership that deliberately chooses to never do the right thing. Same scenario that played out on the opposite coast last year. No good deed goes unpunished.

It's worth crying over, but the humorous hyperbole helps me cope with the unpleasant reality of the disaster we are headed for. They were the last and only motherboard manufacturer that provided firmware that puts the final decision about certain things in the hands of end users, while their competitors ram it all up our butts whether we want it or not. For example, the US Government (and probably others) won't allow any computer system connected to their internal networks to function with Intel ME enabled because it is a massive security hole. It also impairs performance by enabling other worthless trash like Intel Watchdog Timer. It's OK for consumers to have the risk exposure though, yet the only solution for consumers disabling it with a simple BIOS option has been provided by EVGA. It is so naughty of them to let their customers decide if they want the filth. Another example is the option to choose to go full legacy boot (not UEFI with CSM) if you want to. That may also have something to do with the Zotac and Gigabyte 40-series compatibility issues, not to mention the excommunicado treatment from NVIDIA for not drinking the neon green Kool-Aid. When you go against the flow, it comes at a cost. Few are willing to do what's right when it costs them something to do the right thing. The Heroes and Righteous of the world will always be punished for doing the right thing. Here's another random example of exactly that: Stockton police investigating 7-Eleven workers in viral beatdown (Caught on live video beating the stuffing out of a would-be robber that deserved far worse, now facing bogus assault charges instead of reward and recognition due to corrupt leadership that deliberately chooses to never do the right thing.)

It is only a couple of brands that have something goofy in their vBIOS. My 4090 works flawlessly with the Z690 Dark. Gigabutt and Zotrash would need to help EVGA make accomodations for their UEFI weirdness, which they never did or were not willing to do. EVGA has been hated and ostracized for their elitism, superiority and commitment to being better than the Kool-Aid drinkers for a long time, so it is not surprising they are headed toward extinction. It seems like that happens to any person, organization or company that dares to do the right thing or strives for excellence. The blame rests on Gigabutt and Zotrash though. When EVGA is gone only the trashmasters will remain, and we will have to decide whose broken trash is the least broken and trashy.

Two in a row, same day, for Gigabutt Garbage. Same exact problem with an identical component. Nice.

GPUs should not be shipped installed in a system. Has always been a bad idea, but even more so now that they are so big and heavy.

The guys from extremehw.net often do that in their discord server. I've only participated a couple of times but it's still kind of nice to get to hear the voice and/or see the face of a person that you interact with frequently in a forum. Thanks to the wonders of AI we also now have to think about voice cloning as a tool in identity theft. Isn't that special. I wonder how much longer until we see bots harvesting audio clips like they do email addresses and phone numbers posted on the web?

I think this version is better than the George Michael wuss-boy version. 😆 New release from FFDP...

They're happy to provide unmatched mediocrity and class-leading incompetence at no additional charge to their customers.

In the case of something like that handheld hunk of junk, PC stands for "poopy crap" LoL. I think you could rattle-can a piece of died up dog dung with white Krylon and label it "gaming" and the kiddos would be lined up for a city block waiting to get their hands on it.

Welp...

To be fair, they were not always horrible garbage peddlers.Things started circling the drain with Haswell machines due their half-hearted and half-assed effort and things have gotten steadily worse since. I have no reservation in saying that I believe they are incapable of doing anything correctly where high performance computers are concerned. The only thing they do somewhat well is business machines, but even those systems have kooties.

Sad, lame and lazy. More status quo. Nice. (Not really.) I wonder what their problem is? Don't care enough, or it's just too difficult? Mmm. How 'bout no. Huh-uh. The new design as not as horrible as the old, which was utterly atrocious, but it's still butt ugly. And, it's still made by a disgusting company that produces trashy proprietary crap. Hard pass.

When you finally kick laptops to the curb, I doubt you will have any regrets. I now have zero interest in wasting my money on one. I wouldn't even want to if the socketed CPU and MXM Clevo beasts returned. I don't want to waste my money on overpriced compromised trash. Laptops are a compromised, no matter how they are made. They will always be an inferior option. They have a place and they fill a need, and the best approach is to attend to that in the cheapest way possible. There is no such thing as a "desktop replacement" laptop.

They don't care. They know people are going to buy their stuff because it's better than the alternative, not because it's good in its own right. They meter performance so they can sell you a minor variation of the same GPU later that performs better because of firmware and driver witchcraft, not because they released something more special.

I'm probably going to volt mod and shunt mod it. Just got to take time to do the research how and then find the time to do it. Between work (my day job) and product reviews I don't have a lot of spare time right now. I probably need to start passing up some of the review opportunities and take a few days of vacation to get this done. 4090 is wickedly powerful, but it needs about 1.300V to get jolted out of it semi-comatose sissy gamerboy operating mode.

And here I am, looking for a way to push more voltage and more power through it, not limit it. I am not too worried about it. If it's plugged in correctly, and stays plugged in, it won't melt. The 4090 has never pulled as many watts as my 3090 Kingpin or shunt-modded 2080 Ti did. I don't understand why people think 500 to 600 watts is a lot. Heck, I pull that much with my 13900KS LOL. Really not a big deal. I guess the gamer kiddos don't know what they don't know. *smh*

No, we can't fix it. Ignorance is temporary and easily cured by receiving information, but stupid is permanent. That guy probably would change his tune if his had melted. I think the issue is not plugging it in correctly as much as it not staying plugged in. I had no problems with mine, even with heavy overclocking. But, I did not want to have to babysit it and constantly check on it. It was easier to just live without it.

I don't see a huge problem. They have replaced GPUs that had melted connectors while using their adapters and have been a more honorable company than we usually see. Maybe they made a mistake in some manner, but at least they are owning it. I guarantee you we wouldn't see such honorable behavior from the likes of companies like Asus, MSI or Gigabyte. Asus has released far more defective trash than Cablemod has and they don't care how it turns out once they get your money.

Makes sense he is using the Dark K|NGP|N mobo, as it is better at memory OC than the Apex. Cablemod info... I got the email mentioned and will take advantage of the offer.

Maybe? I find it difficult to conclude otherwise. There is certainly no shortage of it. The question is, who will the stupid blame for their stupidity? I mean, it has to be somebody else's fault, right?