Mr. Fox

The best way to tell is in a multi-boot environment. That is how I effectively rake the new crap OSes over the coals and tear them a new posterior orifice. The average Joe can only offer anecdotal opinions. I can directly compare the performance of Windows 7, Windows 10 LTSC 2019, Windows 10 LTSC 2021, Windows 11 all on the same system. It makes deficiencies and defects glaringly evident and leaves no place to hide. Where CPU and memory performance are concerned, you can easily measure the decline with each new release of Windows. I don't have Windows 7 on my laptop, but I do have LTSC 2019, LTSC 2021, Windows 11 and Liux. That is where I spotted the dramatic decline in CPU performance on the laptop. I suspect the weaker the hardware is, the more evident the decline will be in terms of what you can feel in the seat of your pants. You will feel the pain of a Windows 11 downgrade more on a quad-core i7 than you will on an octa-core i9 even if the percentage of performance loss is roughly the same.

Are there any pictures of the @Papusangaming desk to share yet?

Yeah, you are spot on about getting shanked. You cannot be honest and deal honorably with a party that is dishonest and has no honor. For the most part, the tech industry is dominated by companies and people of that low caliber of integrity. China being a key player in that industry probably has something to do with the problem as well. Hard to say what the motivation is. It could also be that they noticed that AMD uses overclocking as a lame excuse to void a CPU warranty and thought they may as well take the low road like AMD and save a few bucks by using the same excuse. One thing for certain is nothing seems to be made with the level of quality that used to be normal. It does not matter what it is, (tech, cars, homes, appliances... everything) quality continues to decline as prices increase. I may have to do a talking head feature video on my YouTube channel about this experience and share the email information with a broader audience. Maybe GamersNexus or WCCFTech will spot it and add some gasoline to the fire.

I have Windows 11 aesthetic atrocities mostly fixed using StartAllBack and OldNewExplorer. With a few minor exceptions it looks and feels like a properly mitigated version of Windows 10. The Start menu is on the left side where it belongs, the Taskbar functions correctly and the right-click context menu is no longer a terrible mess. What I can't fix so far is the horrible decline in performance with Windows 11. I don't understand what the Redmond Retards are doing, but every major release of Windows from 8.X forward causes a measurable decrease in CPU performance. Windows 11 is the slowest version yet. For example, the least taxing ThrottleStop benchmark takes more than 6 seconds longer to finish because of what these idiots have done to impair CPU performance. Memory latency also worsened, which is consistent with the degradation of performance with each new major Windows release. There is no reason I can identify that anyone should waste any time downgrading a system to Windows 11. While there is something to lose, there is nothing to gain. It's uglier, less efficient to navigate and slower. Nice job, Micro$lop.

Yes, I used to buy it. It was inexpensive. It was easy money for them because it was seldom needed as their processors were reliable and resilient. That reality was likely the reason it wasn't popular as most probably viewed it as being unnecessary. That is how insurance works. It is a waste of money until you need it, and then it becomes priceless. Needing it and not having it is tragic, especially when you're a wage-earner that isn't leeching an existence off of taxpayer sweat.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In contrast to Arctic Cooling's handling of this, we see examples of the opposite. @johnkssshas always shared the belief that honesty is always the best policy. It seems that might not work for any of us going forward. We may have to stoop to their level to get the job done.

I totally agree. Probably another example of "monkey see, monkey do" nonsense. If AMD can give people unlocked processors built with the express intent of overclocking and say it is not covered under warranty, or that doing it arbitrarily voids the warranty, and get away with it, they probably figure they may as well do the same. It gives both companies a scapegoat for shirking responsibility. They can say the warranty is voided due to overclocking and then the owner of the product has to fight and make the case the overclocking didn't cause the failure. It is a very dishonest and deplorable way to run a business, but it is sadly becoming very common. It also creates an incentive for consumers to be dishonest in order to receive what they paid for and are entitled to by virtue of that payment. I could have lied to the rep from Intel and told him that I only used it with firmware defaults. Doing that probably would have even been in my financial best interest, but I still try to live by the principle that honesty is the best policy and telling lies will eventually catch up with you. It is sometimes easy to confuse slyness and deception with wisdom based on the outcome.

Turns out the CPU is the problem. Something must have crapped out internally on the 12900KS. The only thing I did not try before ordering the Z690 Dark was swapping the CPUs on the Strix and Unify-X. I installed the Dark and the problem was exactly the same. The secondary DIMM slot is messed up. I swapped CPUs and the problem followed the CPU to the Strix mobo. Only boots with the primary channel. If memory is populating a slot on the secondary channel it will not boot. I asked Intel for an RMA. The rep I chatted with said he would ask for permission to honor the RMA request and would have an answer for me on Monday. He claims overclocking the CPU or RAM voids the warrant based on Intel's latest policies. I guess that means the best plan going forward is to always pay extra for a 2- or 3-year Allstate or Square Trade warranty with accidental damage protection because now nobody, except EVGA (at least for the time being--who knows if that will last), is going to have your back when you do them the favor of choosing their brand when their product fails, including Intel. Sad that now Intel is playing the AMD card. It's so awesome how big tech companies almost never want to do the right thing by the people they love taking money from. It is like each brand has become a cartel. Allstate and Square Trade should start marketing their products as "Manufacturer Integrity Replacement Policy" or "Surrogate Warranty" plans.

Something to go along with that. EVGA does not offer a cross-ship RMA option on products purchased used or new if that item is not purchased directly from EVGA or one of their authorized sellers. The warranty transfers as you noted, but the only option is to send it in and wait. Congrats on the nice birthday gifts. That was a good gift. Please post some pictures once everything is set up.

While I know that much is subjective and varies by personal taste, I find the Windows 11 default GUI overall to be the most aesthetically repulsive and inefficient to navigate version of Windows to date. The Windows 8.X Start Screen was more unacceptable, but it was the only aesthetic atrocity compared to a list of unpleasant eye sores featured in the latest abortion.

I guess it depends on how you define do better. I think the obvious answer is "no" it can't. The exception would be which OS is better at misleading consumers that remain stupid enough to believe the fairytale that newer is always better. In that scenario, Windows 11 is a lot more effective. Most computer users don't know what they don't know, and their ignorance allows them to live a pathetic life in a state of misguided bliss. That is sad because it requires little time and effort to identify the ways that Windows 11 sucks. The enhancement of performance is one of the easiest myths to bust. It takes more that 6 seconds extra for Windows 11 to run the least taxing ThrottleStop benchmark than it does for Windows 10 LTSC 2019. Degradation of performance is sadly obvious and undeniable. In the examples below, the tests were run just a few minutes apart on a multi-boot system. @Papusan

The Eurocom Tornado F5 and other boutique-branded versions of the same product was definitely an interesting machine. It had several redeeming qualities and all of the elements that would be needed to constitute a paradigm of excellence. This is ironic because it was a "whitebook" product that was superior to the mainstream BGA equivalent piece of crap that received MSI branding. In spite of its admirable traits, it had some very damning artificial firmware-induced defects that largely spoiled it and prevented it from being viewed as excellent overall. Even so, ignoring the defects with origins rooted in engineering incompetence on MSI's part, the form factor made it impossible for me to love it. I have owned about five 15-inch laptops and about nine 17- and 18-inch laptops. In my experience, all of the laptops smaller than 17-inch were impossible to view as quintessentially excellent products. Using a 15-inch always left me with a sense of disappointment because it was simply too small and compromised to generate excitement, enthusiasm or a satisfying user experience.

Indeed. The best laptop money can buy is, at best, a lackluster equivalent of a mediocre desktop.

The sheeple always love the suckiest crap and hate on the better crap. If it is actually good or great they have a total come-undone. They have no ability to grasp the magnitude of their own tragic stupidity.

Sadly, this is true. And, in great part because of how utterly stupid a massive number of the world's population have become. They buy trash with no knowledge or understanding that they are purchasing pathetic garbage on the blind assumption that marketing propaganda is accurate and honest. The same biowaste specimens are allowed to breed and vote, create policy, surrender their children to a system so they can be taught how to become equally stupid and worthless zombies, slaughter the ones they didn't spawn intentionally, and pretend their biological composition bears no relationship to their true identity. So, now we have what we have. GIGO.

When you can take as much as you dish out and come back for more, you have the respect of everyone in the room. It's when the opposite is true that we start running into bigger problems.

Yep, I do not like when they do that. At the very least, there should be a maximum fan speed thermal test and the winner should be the winner in terms of cooling regardless of noise level. People that are annoyed by fan noise and want good cooling results at low fan speeds should consider water cooling if they are still using air.

I'm so elated that I bought something from MSI that I could just poop my pants. At first blush, it looks like MSI might suck just as bad as ASUS does. I guess the ultimate test will be whether they make lame excuses and fabricate lies to shirk their responsibility like ASUS is so famous for. I'm going to inconspicuously mark this motherboard with a unique identifier in addition to the serial number tag and take a butt-load of DLSR photos of things, including the perfect CPU socket pins, and see where this chocolate choo-choo train leads. In technical terminology, this is what one calls "not giving a rat's ass about customer experience or brand identity" LOL. Looks like they have perfected the cure for repeat business. "Thank you for spending your money with MSI. What can we do to make sure you never do it again? We love your money, just not you."

For those that like using air, this may be of interest. It looks like IceGiant took the negative feedback to heart and are releasing a new and improved copper base version that beats the NH-D15 by a little bit. If I were interested in air cooling, I would prefer the look of this product over a typical tower cooler. This is a pre-release prototype so it doesn't have the polished look of the original. While still inferior to a good liquid cooling setup, improvement is always good.

I emailed the sales department and asked them to apply it to my order. Hopefully they will. Thank you.

Drivers can make a massive difference in features and performance. It should be (or has potential to be) fun seeing the performance improve over time as they figure things out.

When I first switched to EVGA from ASUS the BIOS was the difficult thing to get used to, but I really miss it now. ASUS and MSI BIOS has more silly crap on the menus, but the simplicity, functionality and results from EVGA Dark mobo firmware really leaves everything else in the dust. As long as everything is maxed out the way it should be, who give a rat's butt if you can see it on a menu. I know I don't. One less stupid thing that I need to fart around with disabling or maxing out to get the results I want. I also appreciate the fact that their software hasn't been farmed out to the whoredom of the Micro$lop Store like the deplorable filth from MSI and ASUS. Some people need to lose their jobs and a few limbs at MSI and ASUS for allowing that kind of idiotic crap to occur. Comparing their frequent demonstrations of abject incompetent nonsense with the better product quality and much better service and support, EVGA really is a no-brainer for me. I won't pass judgment on MSI until we see how this plays out, but I can't imagine them being any more sucky than ASUS. I certainly hope not. I love the Unify-X mobo. When it works right it is fantastic.

Remember that even guys doing extreme overclocking on LN2 usually don't use anything more than a 120mm fan blowing on VRMs, so that 160-175W should be fine with what you are planning. Even 200W isn't all that much power to need to deal with if done right. I would be surprised if what you are planning doesn't turn out to be more than enough. Hard to say if the heatpipe with no radiator on the cold end would be adequate, but it might be if there is ample air circulation around the heat pipe.

I can see already that the dipsticks at MicroStar are going to give the retarded clowns running the ASUS dumpster fire a run for their money on sucky service. Open a ticket on the web and wait for them to care enough to act. Bastards. I am just not in the mood for one of their clusters right now. I should have done this in the first place, but definitely not very intelligent at the original ludicrous MSRP of $830. Now that the price is $330 less it's worth the extra $50-75~ over the cost of the product I purchased from one of their inferior competitors. It kind of sucks that I am going to lose a couple of M.2 NVMe slots, but I will replace them with SATA SSD (spare parts) with no regrets. Had this been an EVGA failure it would be totally resolved by Monday or Tuesday and I bet I don't even hear from these numbnuts before then. I should be able to sell the free backpack for enough to at least offset the sales tax. If and when MicroStar makes it right then I will have to decide whether to sell the Z690 Strix D4 or Unify-X.

It will probably work fine. VRMs are not as difficult to keep cool as a CPU or GPU, so any way you give the heat a path off the VRM is going to bring improvement. Just a fan blowing on them is enough in some cases.