Mr. Fox

Happy to help. I have not been able to beat any of my Strix high scores with the Apex using my best 9950X. https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/cinebench_-_r23_multi_core_with_benchmate/submissions/5898291 https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/y-cruncher_-_pi-1b/submissions/5904464 I hate cutting aluminum and you are right about using a dremel or grinder. It loads up the griding disk with metal and resists the process. Using a hacksaw or a jigsaw is the easiest way to cut aluminum, but you can't use a hacksaw for some things. My MSI X870E Carbon and the Z790i Edge both had the rear I/O heatsink made about 1/16" too long and had contact interference with the GPU backplate. I was able to install the GPU in both motherboards but it was jammed against the backplate hard enough to damage the anodized finish on the GPU backplate. The NVMe heatsink was also touching the backplate on the Z790i Edge, but not jammed against it super hard. I had to install the GPU first, then the NVMe heatsink.

For the GPU, I would say select whichever one costs less, especially if you are putting a waterblock on it. My Zotac 5090 Solid OC was a good buy compared to the other more expensive options that deliver nothing for the extra money. It is an excellent GPU. The air cooler on it was fantastic (unlike some of the other affordable brands/models). It ran freakishly cool for an air cooled GPU. The only 50-series GPU I would recommend avoiding like a plague is an FE model. For overclocking potential probably the best GPU silicon quality most consistently will be an AORUS Master, but the cost vs benefit isn't justified. I love overclocking more than anything else I do with a computer, and really the only reason computers matter to me at this point, but paying a WHOLE LOT more for a very small gain in GPU benchmark scores is just not a very intelligent decision. I have owned the following X870E motherboards and I list them in my order of preference: X870E AORUS Master (best overall - only flaw is no way to disable WiFi/BT in BIOS) X870E-E Strix (replacement for second AORUS Master that arrived with shipping damage) X870E Apex (returned first for refund, second was junk, I am using #3) X870E Carbon (returned for refund - good mobo, but no async BCLK and weird glitches) X879E Taichi (my least favorite out of all AMD motherboards I have owned - hated it) I had a X870E Taichi and hated it. The PCIe bifurcation was garbage and I did not care for the firmware. I have only owned two ASRock motherboards and did not like either one. I had a B850 AORUS Elite that I used in a build for my granddaughters and it was excellent. The only criticism I had was the PCIe slots below the GPU slots were X1, but using them did not drop the GPU to X8. This is unavoidable with anything below X870E dual chipset due to a lack of PCIe lanes with an non "E" AMD dual chipset motherboard. PCIe X1 dramatically reduces NVMe speed... makes NVMe speed like SATA SSD. If you plan to insert anything in other PCIe slots in addition to your GPU in an AMD motherboard the "E" version is an absolute must have. The only complaint I have with the Gigabyte boards is no way to disable WiFi/BT in the BIOS. Super stupid flaw they could fix effortlessly if they cared. If you use WiFi/BT and use Windoze 11 as your main OS (I do not do either one) this truly is a non-issue. It really pissed me off that Gigabyte did not provide that option in the BIOS. I asked twice and both times they said no... "you're the only person complaining about it" (essentially we don't care what you want and you are not worth the minimal effort needed to make a BIOS as good as our competitors). Gigabyte is the only brand I know of that omits this essential basic BIOS option. The Strix was an accidental blessing. I purchased a second AORUS Master from Central Computers on sale for less than what I paid for the first. The big and heavy NVMe heatsink under the GPU was not latched. Apparently shipped from the factory without being latched. It flopped around inside of the box and broke several things and scratched up things that did not get broken. I asked them to open the box and inspect before shipping a replacement. They had quite a few in stock and ended up opening all of the boxes and all were damaged in the same way. They offered the Strix for no difference in price. I accepted. The Strix is better than the AORUS Master in terms of firmware. A close second only because I could not install both of my Sabrent quad NVMe X4 cards like I could in the Master. It only has one extra PCIe slot. The AORUS had two, both usable at X4 without dropping the GPU from X16 to X8. The AORUS Master allowed me to install 10 NVMe SSDs and 4 SATA drives while maintaining the GPU at X16. The Apex is a great motherboard with a glaring engineering defect entirely due to an idiotic PCIe slot arrangement. I can only use the X4 PCIe slot above the GPU. The Sabrent quad NVMe card's heat sink touches the GPU backplate. The Strix performs as well as the Apex in terms of the CPU overclocking. It has asych BCLK and I can use the Sabrent card in the bottom slots without the GPU dropping to X8 like it does in the Apex. If I knew everything I know now before buying my first I probably would have purchased two X870E-E Strix Gaming WiFI. If I were going to recommend one, it would be the X870E-E Strix as the best all-around X870E motherboard with the fewest flaws and compromises. Hope this helps. https://www.newegg.com/asus-rog-strix-x870e-e-gaming-wifi-atx-motherboard-amd-x870e-am5/p/N82E16813119682

I have never been exposed to Unraid. I have obviously heard of it from those that build and use home servers, just never had any reason to use it myself. It is a full OS with a GUI or a CLI only? Linux? Did you (or do you plan to) get replacements from EVGA for the PSUs?

Recently discovered this channel. This guys is great. Pulls no punches and calls the balls and strikes regardless of who is up to bat. Go Alberta, go...

Interesting... #1 and #3 are the same reasons for me, too.

Maybe if I can buy one cheap enough. I wouldn't mind getting my hands on an AORUS Master 5090 and adding a second 12V-2x6 connector to it. If not then I might shunt the 4090 Suprim and add an EVC2 to it to see how close I can get to 5090 performance with a vasectomy reversal. I think whatever I buy going forward, whether it is made by Nvidia or AMD is going to include an EVC2, unless another K|NGP|N option with unlocked voltage surfaces. Shunt mods are going to also be as routine as delid and bare die have become for me. If I can't do that then I don't have any use for it and there is no point in buying it. Stock is no more exciting to me than running a Celeron.

From selected start time...

People that are willing to enable this dung so they can play the latest Battlefield and Call of Duty need to watch this video. It should be terrifying to anyone that has a brain that still functions correctly. Hard to believe that any person of average intelligence could actually believe that Micro$lop is an above-board company that has the interest of consumers at heart. They do not care if people pirate Windows because they are data pirates. And YouTube is kissing their butt.

YouTube and the Micro$lop Mafia. Screw 'em both. May their nasty executives go broke and burn in hell for eternity. I prefer Rumble over YouTube anyhow. I hope a bunch of YouTube content creators get ticked off, leave and move to Rumble.

If it works reliably (unknown) that would be a whole lot better than those stupid thin sense wires. I hate them on all of the crappy new PCIe 12VHPWR (aka 12V-2x6) rubbish cables. Those sense wires really suck. I genuinely do not trust any of them. They are all an unnecessarily fragile and hazardous piece of garbage.

I found them on eBay shipped from China. The idea of using it is still somewhat unsettling and they are $50 a pop. Until the fiasco with CableMod 12VHPWR adapters melting I had always viewed CableMod as a provider of superior quality PSU cables. They have a new 12V-2x6 StealthSense cable (not adapter) that is supposedly a superior solution that seems like a very high quality option that surpasses the quality of what most PSU manufacturers include. It probably is, but I am a bit gun shy. They have some things their competitors do not, like being UL-approved and their StealthSense thing piqued my interest. Nonetheless, It's hard not to feel apprehensive though. Using a third-party solution loses a bit of credibility. If the PSU cable that came with the PSU or the adapter that ships with a new GPU melts and damages the GPU it is easier to point the finger. Whether having a right to point the finger and whether or not they will have your back is a whole different matter. Good chance they will not give you the time of day and just blow you off. If there was one thing that could be said in CableMod's favor is they did not hang their customers out to dry when their defective 90-degree adapters failed. They went beyond what I think any of their competitors would have.

The part you timestamped is one of the rare examples of common sense being easily recognizable when he opens his mouth. His vulgar communication style and his frequent assaults on peers makes it very difficult for knowledgeable enthusiasts to take him and his channel seriously. The lowest common denominators in the personal computing space that run a PC the same as a console will always be the reason we can't have nice things and hardware manufacturers will continue to get away with selling trash. The masses don't know what they don't know and their ignorance is a hindrance to all of us. It gives license to hardware manufacturers and bloatware developers to produce garbage they know most consumers will never recognize as such. As long as it is riddled with rainbow puke and reminds them of the cartoons they enjoy watching on Saturday morning, the sheeple rejoice. If he could clean up his act a little bit and not act like a horse's butt, and didn't charge insane prices for normies to join his Discord and learn things about overclocking and performance tuning, he would be an unstoppable force. He is a very stupid smart guy that makes himself hard for most people to like.

I see that after looking closer to the link you posted. I would only purchase the 12V-2x6 connectors on both ends. But, I don't see them available for sale anywhere in the US.

Ouch... sometimes truth is painful. If Jufes is speaking it, almost guaranteed to be painful. Tact isn't his thing, LOL.

This video was from 2 years ago. This nonsense is out of control and has been for a long time.

If they make one with the same 12V-2x6 connector on both ends the pin-out will be the same regardless of PSU brand. If they only use 8-pin on the PSU side then pin-out could be off between brands (or even models within the same brand) and end in disaster.

All part of the mainstream brainwashing scheme. They do it with everything, not just political brainwashing crap. Whatever the mentally handicapped braintrust wants to make a fabricated reality to support their sicko dystopian aspirations for the world is how they roll.

It is really unfortunate that nobody produces a high quality 90 degree 12VHPWR (aka 12V-2x6) cable. It is really inexcusable. How hard can it be? CableMod produces a new type (Steathsense) that is supposedly the best available but I do not want to be a guinea pig. The straight connections really suck and are not even good for many of the largest cases on the market.

Well, I am glad you got it sorted. No telling how mysterious things like that happen. Micro$lop is pulling lots of shenanigans. I have Windows Update disabled completely and even renamed system files to try to stop it from running, but it somehow manages to do it anyway. I'm so glad I shifted to Linux being my main OS. Seldom ever any nonsense. Well tht thermal sensor I purchased to keep tabs on my 12VHPWR connector temps seems to be working well. It shows up in HWiNFO64 so I was able to add it to my RTSS OSD profile. Worth every penny of the $10 that I paid for it. Now I need to order another for the 4090/Strix build.

That is very odd. Does it have dual vBIOS? Maybe it got swtiched? If not, then maybe a driver update did something. I know NVIDIA has pushed out firmware with drivers in the past. I haven't seen them do that in a long time though. If I remember correctly it was a real hassle that you went through to get that flashed.

I ordered a thermal sensor from Amazon to connect to the T-sensor on my motherboard and it works well. I have the probe inserted between wires in the 12VHPWR cable near the GPU socket. I confirmed the temperature in HWiNFO64 from the T-Sensor is within about 1-2°C of what it shows with my IR thermometer. Looks like I did not need to worry about my 12VHPWR connector melting unless something changes in terms of load balance. Wonder if the Ampinel will release on schedule with enough stock to not immediately sell out? Supposedly will be available for pre-order, but I'm not seeing that it has been yet. https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/3dmark_-_steel_nomad_dx12/submissions/5914714