Mr. Fox

This is one I had not seen before. Kind of a symphonic techno. Different.

I agree. I do not embrace their solutions, but I thought the issue itself was approached intelligently and not tainted by any kind of emotion or fanboy finger-pointing that Intel went too far trying to beat AMD. I do not agree with that. I think the methodology behind the "AI" and eTVB (and PBO on AMD) overclocking is a flawed and problematic approach that has effectively shown itself to be folly for both Intel and AMD. AMD's response was to limit their CPU overclocking abilities to keep the CPUs from being killed, which is a sucky approach that ignores the real problem, and I sure hope Intel doesn't take this lazy way out. I limit the Vcore max in the BIOS as well, so that any overshoots or spikes are capped. For example, my 13900KS can run 60x all P-core and 48x all E-core synced Cinebench-stable with manual Vcore set at 1.400V. On the CPU power menu I have L7 LLC set with AC and DC LLC set at 0.010 and capped the Vcore at 1.500V. No issues. I find the voltage needed for my other CPUs in the same way and lock it down. No degradation that I can find. Those benchmarks I ran yesterday at 6.0GHz and 8600 on memory were run to confirm nothing has changed since I last went on a number-chasing spree. And, no surprise to me, nothing had changed. While my core and package temperatures end up being a few degrees higher, I think the trade-off is safety and stability. If it gets too hot it will thermal throttle (as has been the case for years) but it won't grenade itself with insane voltage spikes trying to boost off the charts. The early guidance in the ASUS Z790 overclocking tutorials at oc.net suggest capping the Vcore at 1.700V is safe, but I don't see any reason to set it that high. I am also not convinced that tuning LLC to attempt to match the load VID and load Vcore, allowing high idle voltage and crazy load vdroop is a good idea. Way too much variance and wild swings in the highs and lows for me to think that is a smart idea. I'm pretty sure the old school way of doing things is usually the best way, and overclocking is no exception. The new and not-so-improved thermal-controlled dynamic clocking and algorithm-based voltage control nonsense is for the birds.

So, I found a factory heatsink and backplate to allow me to convert the Aorus RTX 2080 Ti Xtreme Waterforce GPU to air so I can use it in place of the much weaker Titan in the Rampage IV Gene system. Ordered from AliExpress.

I don't run these memory clocks very often because there is no real-world benefit, but it still works. 8400 CL38 is my daily driver and the performance is almost the same, but requires substantially less VCCSA and VDD and VDDQ. It looks fancy in screenshots though.

Indeed. It would mark the end of my interest in computers. I would own what I needed for work and spend as little as possible on that. Ultimately, I would no longer contribute anything on YouTube, or in technology-based social media, (which already is the only form of social media I actively participate in,) and probably abandon what little interest I left have in gaming. (The lack of interest has more to do with the repulsive selection of games than the act of gaming.) Literally everything I do for recreational enjoyment is either directly or loosely associated with overclocking in one form or another. It would become a totally pointless endeavor for me. While it is certainly fun to set memory clock and AIDA64 read benchmark records and gather a few points on HWBOT, once that notch is added to your belt there is virtually no benefit that I can identify moving from 8200 to 8400 to 8600. Above 8000 it is hard to measure a difference in anything other than a memory benchmark. Other than maybe Geekbench, the vast majority of benchmarks and games and productivity workloads show virtually no quantifiable or meaningful change above 8000. Running Y-cruncher and Prime95 and memory stress tests for hours (or days for some people) is actually more idiotic and harmful than the current stuff everyone is chirping about with Intel degradation. That is not much different than believe being a wife-beater makes your marriage stronger. Super stupid.

If it is the one I sold him it is a phenomenal sample.

Yup, I agree with that. And, if Brother @electrosoft says it is good, you can generally take that to the bank.

I have never used a TEC before, but they seem simple enough that fixing it should not be too difficult if you can confirm what went wrong. If I had to guess it would be the TEC plate itself probably gave up the ghost. Unless there is something proprietary about it, you might be able to replace it with a generic module. I would definitely look into fixing it. Please keep us posted and let us know if you figure it out. Sorry that this happened.

Stihl are excellent. chainsaws. I agree. That was the brand we always bought back in the day that I actually had a use for them. I also like Husqvarna and always loved their amazing dirt bikes. Here is another amazing repair by Tony at Northwest Repair. I posted a comment suggesting that he reattach the I/O bracket reinforcement to the heat pipes using JB Weld. I am 99.9% certain that will be more than strong enough to hold it forever.

You made the right decision. 😆 Newer is always newer. I was still a mechanic when electronic ignition surfaced. I always used Mallory dual-point distributors in my street rods. I had some friends that "upgraded" to MSD electronic ignition kits. The claimed "they never wear out" and "zero maintenance" and I was happy to replace my points and condensor when they got worn out. Very easy and affordable. I laughed at my friends when their ECM failed and they had to save up or work overtime to buy a new one. They were expensive. I reminded them "no moving parts" and "never wear out" and "zero maintenance" was the reason they felt newer was better.

Yes, I already knew this and I suspect you did as well, but speaking about it is unpopular. AMD is often protected as the meek and lowly underdog, but the fanboys rush to crucify the big, mean evil Intel and NVIDIA when they make mistakes. One of my sons prefers AMD and he has had two Ryzen CPUs die in the past two years. He does not overclock. He sets PBO and plays games. I have had Intel CPUs die as well, but only one that I have no idea why. The others were executed courtesy of the incompetent idiots at ASUS. The way I look at it is this: pick your poison. None are perfect or free of fault. Decide what you want and buy it. Then deal with whatever happens. Expect the worst. All of them suck and all of them are dishonest. None are honorable or trustworthy. And none of them care about you, your PC, or how it affects you. It's not their problem. We should not expect more from Intel or hold them to a higher standard simply because their failure rate is lower or because their faults are more rare. In the end, what we expect from any of them does not matter. We do not matter. They only care about money, market status and shareholders. They all operate on the same business model.

That is pretty cheap. It's nice to see Linus presenting a rational explanation and it really fits with the fact that manual overclockers are generally having none of the issues. Mostly the gamerboyz that try to use the bugged mobo manufacturer "features" and eTVB garbage and misguided sloppy LLC undervolting mistakes. (I don't agree with the advice at the end to install the latest BIOS update. The better solution would be to suggest manual tuning.)

For those who have drank the Kool-Aid and joined the muppet show of Winduhz 11 apostles, here is some fuel for the fire for those of us that despise the new cancer OS. Windows 11 offers no benefit and is actually harmful to performance. The only thing Winduhz 11 offers is a new level of ugliness for those that prefer a less-useful and tackier-looking GUI. The joke is on Windoze 11 users, but it's not a funny one. Utterly worthless OS downgrade. But, everyone is too busy hating on Intel to talk about this right now.

I saw my posts and forum name and avatar several times at both EVGA and OC.net forums. 🤣 No matter what degree of merit any of this new round of psychotic pablum has, all of the negative publicity is going to be harmful to Intel and it could ultimately be more harmful to overclocking enthusiasts if they start locking things down and interfering with user tuning controls. The media is a two-edged sword and they have the power to create more issues than they solve. GN is certainly a trusted source and I do not doubt the accuracy (very well supported by facts) but I do question whether or not any of it is going to benefit anyone and may end up being more harmful than helpful in the long run. One of my biggest take-aways from all of the hype (and it surfaced a few times in the GN video) is the hidden nugget (unintended and inconvenient truth) that refusing BIOS and OS updates when my systems are functioning the way I want them to is an extremely wise personal best practice that I have abided by for more than a decade and I shall continue doing so indefinitely because it has exempted me, almost entirely, from the stupid nonsense that update evangelists have suffered from. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you do, it will eventually get broken. Nothing I have seen so far changes my fondness for my nicely binned 13th and 14th Gen i9 CPUs and none of it makes me pause to consider the possibility of AMD as a viable option. All of these big tech companies are equally dishonest scumbags that are rotten from head to toe and never let an opportunity to cover their own asses with lies and misrepresentations to slip by them. None of them give a rat's butt about their employees or the people that buy their products. We cannot trust any of them to be honest about anything... ever. The current mess with Intel causes too many of us to forget the past messes, missteps lies and scams from AMD and NVIDIA. Some fairly recent. Speaking of lies and missrepresentations, for those who have drank the Kool-Aid and joined the muppet show of Winduhz 11 apostles, here is some fuel for the fire for those of us that despise the new cancer OS. Windows 11 offers no benefit and is actually harmful to performance. The only thing Winduhz 11 offers is a new level of ugliness for those that prefer a less-useful and tackier-looking GUI. The joke is on Windoze 11 users, but it's not a funny one. Utterly worthless OS downgrade. But, everyone is too busy hating on Intel to talk about this right now.

Yes, I agree.

Sad that they would offer it, and sad that some people will actually go along with the program. We live in an era of rampant stupidity where intelligence is rare and idiocy and foolishness are becoming the new normal.

I forgot to share this. Others may find it useful. The Rampage IV Gene BIOS fan controls are poor (very limited) compared to newer ASUS motherboards. I found this application for manually controlling the AIO pump and fans on the Gene. It works fantastic. And, it is inexpensive. You can try the free version before buying. The default configuration is annoying because it has system tray icons (like Core Temp does) showing values for monitored sensors After fussing with the settings to turn them off and configuring he option to minimize to tray I am very pleased with it. I suspect it will work for most systems, including laptops. I turned off everything except the fan controls. I don't need the monitoring for everything because I use HWiNFO64 for that. https://www.argusmonitor.com/

I had one truly amazing Patriot Viper Blackout DDR4 Samsung B-die memory kit. Two others of the same SKU were trash and none of the Patriot DDR5 I have tested was any good. The TG Xtreme 48GB DDR5-8200 kit I have is excellent. Definitely superior to the the G.Skill. But, the TG Delta kits seem to get beaten by Trident Z kits. The CPU I have with the SA bug is rock solid. I would buy it again if given the opportunity. No regrets. And, with tighter timings 8200 performs the same or better than 8400. So close there is no way to quantify a difference other than an AIDA64 memory benchmark and the difference is so small that the added hassle of tuning and higher voltage simply isn't worth caring about. Monumental waste of effort due to the absence of a tangible benefit in any workload scenario other than an AIDA64 benchmrk. I am sure it could go higher with the memory overclocking with more VCCSA, but even with the SA bug it runs better than most that don't have the SA bug. That's why I am running that CPU in the SFF system. Without water cooling for the memory there isn't any thermal headroom, which makes the SA bug irrelevant in practical application. Keeping everything in perspective, if you are getting 8000 or 8200 with under 1.200V VCCSA and are capped because of the bug, but the VID and Vcore needs are superior that is a way better CPU that one that is a VID pig that can run 8400, 8600 or 8800. I'd much rather have a strong core overclocker that doesn't crater itself under molten silicon due to insane voltage requirements. I sure have had a nice time doing nothing today. Not ready to go back to the grind tomorrow. That old X79 setup with the Titan GPU does plenty of things "good enough" and I've wheeled it into the living room and hooked it up to the TV. Played some Modern Warfare and Crysis 3 Remastered today on it from the comfort of my recliner. I would never know it is averaging only 75 FPS instead of 175 FPS but for the OSD telling me so. For an "almost free" computer it's pretty awesome. I say "almost free" because I had to pay the postage and trade spare parts that I never had any intention of using. Close enough to free. The only reason I get to do this is Mrs. Fox is away visiting her family. She would pitch a fit about me doing this if she were at home. Crysis 3 Remasered - GtX Titan 1080p with medium settings...

I had not heard of this group before. Nice orchestral folk metal.

At full speed, yes. Much louder. At low speed, not any louder. But, I had Arctic F12 wimpy wuss fans on the radiator. At max speed they were too slow (1800 RPM) to get loud. They were also weak and the cheapest name-brand fans money can buy. I would never buy them again, but they did a so-so job and lasted a very long time. At full speed a significant portion of the noise is generated by the massive amount of air (800 CFM) getting rammed through the radiator fins at high velocity. I am possibly going to replace this with P12 Max fans in a week or two. Not because of being loud at full speed, which should be expected, but even at low speed the fan motor itself is audible. It is not the fan blades making noise chopping the air, but the actual motor itself makes a faint "whirring" sound almost like a gearbox of some sort. That sound is not very loud, but it is constant. The decision to keep it or replace it with P12 Max fans will depend on whether or not I become desensitized and stop noticing that sound over the next week or two, or if it grates on me and becomes annoying. Below is what I posted at oc.net: This was a cost experiment as much as functionality. Temps are the same as before and driven primarily by my high ambient temperatures and extremely low humidity in Phoenix (usually around 27°C (80°F) and often less than 10% RH). The low humidity is both a blessing and a curse. It makes ambient cooling less efficient due to no evaporative cooling effect. The positive effect is when I run my chiller there is no issue with condensation due to the absence of moisture in the air. ESD is also a danger with low humidity. The 120mm fans were quite old (about 10 years of running 24/7) and worn out. Some were not spinning full speed and laggy in starting. Replacing them with a good low-cost fan, such as the P12 Max, would cost about $100 USD. This automotive fan was less than $30 and 800 CFM. With the controller and piece of plywood, screws, etc. the total cost was just under half the cost of buying new 120mm fans. Amazon.com: 12" inch Slim Fan Push Pull Electric Radiator Cooling Fans 12V Mount Kit Unversal Black : Automotive Buy 12" inch Slim Fan Push Pull Electric Radiator Cooling Fans 12V Mount Kit Unversal Black: Fans - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases www.amazon.com RioRand PWM DC Motor Speed Controller Switch Control 7-70V 30A Fuse (RRLSKJAASSSSSSS): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific RioRand PWM DC Motor Speed Controller Switch Control 7-70V 30A Fuse (RRLSKJAASSSSSSS): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific www.amazon.com

This was a cost experiment as much as functionality. Temps are the same as before and driven primarily by my high ambient temperatures and extremely low humidity in Phoenix (usually around 27°C (80°F) and often less than 10% RH). The low humidity is both a blessing and a curse. It makes ambient cooling less efficient due to no evaporative cooling effect. The positive effect is when I run my chiller there is no issue with condensation due to the absence of moisture in the air. ESD is also a danger with low humidity. The 120mm fans were quite old (about 10 years of running 24/7) and worn out. Some were not spinning full speed and laggy in starting. Replacing them with a good low-cost fan, such as the P12 Max, would cost about $100 USD. This automotive fan was less than $30 and 800 CFM. With the controller and piece of plywood, screws, etc. the total cost was just under half the cost of buying new 120mm fans.

Remember, that new nicely binned 11900K that I sold you came from Walmart. So, I procrastinated about doing this for months now. I finally just did it to get it over with. It actually works quite well. At the lowest speed it is quieter than the nine 120mm fans it replaced. When I dismantled the radiator to remove all of the 120mm fans, I used a thick foam weatherstrip to seal the 4 sides of the radiator against the housing so that the air being forced in could not escape anywhere except through the radiator. I have a window screen (with an aluminum frame) that I made. It is sandwiched between the plywood and radiator housing to catch dust and lint. I can take the fan off with the four thumb nuts to remove the screen for cleaning.

I got the screws. This is so much better with a nice backplate.

Thank you. I love it. When I saw this GPU for $799 on NewEgg I could not resist it. So much better than spending the same amount, or slightly more, on a 4070 Ti Super. Such a compromise. This is way better. They have more of them. I could not use my Corsair RAM fan with the EK 360 Direct Die AIO due to the fitting placement, so I decided I may as well set it on the backplate and blow cool air into the opening around the x-bracket. It actually dropped the temps a couple of degrees. Speaking of beautiful and backplates, GPUs without a backplate are so stinking ugly. And, the naked PCB seems unsafe to me. All of those contacts, circuits and exposed SMDs. The Titan cards had no backplates, which was common in that era. Well, to fix that I found a new open box XSPC Titan backplate, complete with thermal pads and screws. Unfortunately, the screws included are the wrong size. They include M3 x 11MM and this GPU uses M2.5. I have the M2.5 screws up to 8MM and I need 11MM long for the fours screws around the core. But this looks WAY better than a naked PCB. I will have to order some M2.5 x 11mm screws on Amazon. The M2.5 x 8MM were long enough to use everywhere else. I am temporarily using the 8MM screws around the core under the backplate instead of going through the back plate.