Mr. Fox

It reflects badly on NZXT for sure. But, I think it reflects even more negatively on the people that signed up for such an idiotic idea, because they lacked common sense to such a degree that they could not recognize how stupid and fiscally foolish it was. Taking advantage of stupidity isn't nice, but it is not the same as using deception, fraud and treachery to mislead otherwise intelligent people into believing your lies. They didn't do that here, they just took advantage of idiots. Bad, but not the same magnitude of crime. Being stupid is a tragic thing.

While I find it very difficult to believe, there are actually some people that actually like how Winduhz 11 looks. Many of us think it is repulsive and find it disgusting. Unfortunately, there are some people that want their Linux distro to look like Winduhz 11 or Mac OS and some have gone to the effort to make desktops environments that are designed to do that. The nice thing with Linux is if you don't like it you do not have to put up with it, and changing it is very easy compared to remediating the aesthetic abortion in Windows.

I have all of those mentioned and the XSPC Photons are hands down my favorite based on how they are designed. That said, the Eisbecher Auroras are very nice and well built. Beware of the Photon X4 units. They are made well, but they use a proprietary XSPC pump. Otherwise, they look the same as a D5 and function the same, but good luck finding a replacement X4 pump if you need one. Titan Rig has Photons on sale 25% off. https://www.titanrig.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Photon

Maybe we can add to our expressions of disdain for who they are and how they do things by calling them Micro$heist or Micro$cheiße. The older Micro$lop just doesn't seem to be as derrogatory or contemptuous as they deserve.

I failed to notice that Brother @Clamibot was having issues specifically with Cinebench R15. I hardly ever run R15 so that might be why I was not connecting the dots. I use R20 and R23 95% of the time. I agree the problem is most likely Windoze being a garbage OS and not the CPU or Cinebench. And, R15 is probably old enough that the stooges at Micro$lop don't care if it works correctly with their modern garbage OSes.

The Heatkiller Pro IV CPU waterblocks are amazing. I actually like them as much as the Optimus CPU blocks. My favorite D5 pump/res units are the XSPC Photon (getting hard to find) and the Alphacool units. Both have thick glass tubes, which is the only way to fly. Steer clear of acrylic reservoir tubes as they crack and scratch too easily. The XSPC Photon glass tubes are insanely thick glass and molded with threads on each end that literally screw onto the pump body and end cap on the Photon tubes. They cannot separate over time and leaks are not even a thing. Likewise, the Alphacool Eisbecher Aurora have 4 metal rods to keep the glass tube sandwiched between the top and pump body. Avoid any that simply rely on rubber o-ring compression like rigid tubing compression fittings. They are bad about leaking and internal loop pressure pushing the top off the tube (Primochill D5 pump/res for example). XSPC Photon D5 Alphacool Eisbecher Aurora D5

I have never had that issue before. Are you using one of the saved BIOS profiles or testing your own? You should be getting like 43-44K easily in CBR23 with one of saved profiles unless it is just getting too hot. Unless there is some kind of error elsewhere causing Cinebench to malfunction. https://hwbot.org/submission/5546221 https://hwbot.org/submission/5546469 That iTX motherboard and 4070 look SO TINY in that big Enthoo case, LOL.

For the AMD owners here... give me a shout if you need to do this. Similar to the issue of getting a new Intel ME cancer payload with a BIOS update, it doesn't go back to the old AMD SMU with a flash downgrade, but there is a way of doing it. (Got the info from Svet at MSI forum and have tested it three times with success.)

Intel cores run at MUCH higher clock speeds stock, overclock better and the memory latency is lower, along with data transfer speeds that are much higher. Or, should we say used to. Then came the Intel Core Ultra chiplet abortion and flushed it all down the toilet. Like a marathon runner that has a decent lead in a race deciding to stab himself in the calf with an ice pick just for the hell of it.

I am going to stick with the Carbon. It's solid. MSI always leaves a few things to be desired, but produce an overall decent product. I'd like to steer myself away from ASUS if that is possible. I've given them enough money alread. I've got the Taichi boxed up and ready to submit my RMA. Carbon is back in use.

One thing that I really like about it (not enough to forgive the issues) is the in-BIOS control of the lighting. I can make all of the RGB static white and save it in the BIOS. It should be mandatory that all motherboard firmware include that feature. The A-Tuning software also works well, and the per-CCD core ratio manual overclocking works correctly (broken in the MSI firmware). I am not going to try another one. The fact there is so little meaningful engagement in that ASRock X870 thread at oc.net suggests to me that nobody has a good one, or the people buying it are still content with point-and-click DDR5-6000. Neither of those are inspiring.

I have not. I will have to check it out. Edit: Wow. Shameful. Seems like shady and scummy is the new standard for all aspects of computer technology. Sad that NZXT is part of it. The trick of the day would be finding a brand that is good enough to not be shady and scummy. I don't think there is one.

Sounds like you're having as much fun as i have in the last 24 hours. I was planning to return the Carbon and replace it with the Taichi, but so far I am very unimpressed with the lack of memory stability with the Taichi. It has a lot going for it but that, in and of itself, is a deal-breaker. Not sure why, but it is not stable and has a lot worse latency in comparison. I wasted 16 hours yesterday trying to get it stable. Memory training takes 3 or 4 times longer than the Carbon and has 10ns more latency using the same memory timings. @cylix the no-lane sharing benefit of the Taichi means nothing. Here is the gotcha: If you use the second x16 slot for anything the GPU runs x8. Not being able to use my x4 PCIe add-card means I ended up losing NVMe storage capacity in spite of being able to use all M.2 slots without affecting the GPU. Using the PCIe slot on the Carbon does not cut the GPU bandwidth to x8. That allows me to install up to four NVMe in a x4 PCIe add-in card. So, the Taichi EATX motherboard essentially offers nothing in terms of expansion options than what you get with an ITX motherboard. Very disappointed with the poor overall functionality of this motherboard so far and will most likely return it and keep the Carbon. The opposite of what I expected. Edit: yeah, have tested every available BIOS and this thing is just pure trash. Not sure if it is the one I received or the product in general. Definitely going to RMA/refund on this and go back to the Carbon. It unequivocally sucks at memory overclocking like nothing I have ever seen. Rubbish.

I have not seen that. Maybe if you're wanting to target the wrong buyers. I've never expected to pay less or get less for a delidded CPU, but I don't care about what gamerboys want. Some of them also wig out about liquid metal making the etched letters on the IHS unreadable and similarly stupid noob notions.

Thank you. My current Ryzen 8000 memory profile is largely based on your work and I really appreciate it. On another note, the 14900KS that I purchased from @tps3443 is now bare die on a Thermal Grizzly Mycro Pro block. Just finished that a few minutes ago. And, the X870E Taichi just arrived right as I was finishing up that project.

The BIOS features do appear to be better and in this video it boots Intel XMP 8400 2x24GB G.SKILL with no issues. UNTIL he downgrades to a newer BIOS. (Newer is always better newer,) I'll leave it on 3.04 when I get it.

I think I am going to be done with my Ryzen memory tuning for a while. It's a bit more tedious than Intel memory tuning (which is tedious enough in its own rights, LOL). Anyone that wants to give these settings a go with their AM5 DDR5 setup, feel free... @jaybee83 @cylix @Raiderman. This was good enough that I wrote the settings to my memory module user profile space. The screenshots show BIOS pages where anything was changed from default. The water cooling is certainly working well. After lots of stress testing the RAM temps have maxed out like 38°C.

Pathetic, indeed. That is also a fitting description of the human beings that gave place to that and created the opportunity. We can attribute many of the things that are wrong with the world we live in to these stupid, sick, depraved losers that thrive on that kind of trash tech. Bottom-feeders like that are why we can't have nice things. Welcome to a world where hell-bound morons obsessed with the AI fairytale decide for everyone what matters most.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. We all have much to be thankful for. I am thankful for all of you.

I went ahead and ordered a Taichi on NewEgg today. I have until January to return the Carbon. Taichi has two more SATA ports and I can use all of the M.2 slots without chopping the GPU back to x8, and the onboard clock generator that only the idiotic MSI Godlike offers. (The loss of storage options with the Carbon as a replacement to the Apex Encore was immediately painful.) The EATX size is not a big deal to me... not a problem. Added bonus (possibly) is that my TeamGroup Xtreem 48GB 8200 kit is on the Taichi QVL. It does not work correctly with the Carbon and neither does the G.SKILL 48GB kit. Only the older A-die 32GB memory seems to work correctly on the Carbon and the MSI QVL doesn't show anything else. I would have preferred the Taichi Lite for several reasons (including better aesthetics) but the lack of the GPU release made it unattractive. It's too hard to get to the release on the top x16 slot under a large GPU. I will make sure the Taichi is better before I return the Carbon.

200% that was a STEAL for that CPU new/sealed. I am super impressed with that motherboard and CPU. I removed the trashy stock G.SKILL heating blankets and have the memory on water now in the Carbon. Huge improvement (like 20-25°C) in memory temps under load. It's really too bad this is a 4-DIMM motherboard. I could have used the IceMan RAM blocks and the memory overclocking would also be better. Brother @Clamibot got those parts in his kit anyhow.❤️ This was hitting 55-60°C in TM5 before, usually erroring out due to overheating. No more. (lots of new bubbles in the loop now, LOL... will clear up in a day or so)

That sounds awesome, brother. I look forward to seeing how that turns out. Really interested in that. ❤️

That is a great deal. Congrats. These silver Byski RAM sinks and aluminum heatsink on top fit the Edge aesthetic nicely. It looks better than the black ones.

I reached out to @chew on oc.net (chewonthis) and he says it works, but it absolutely does not work or something I am setting due to lack of understanding of how AMD firmware works is making it not work. (I am thinking the BIOS is bugged.) I am still within my return Windows and seriously debating whether I should RMA this and get the Taichi instead. Overall I really like it, but I expected a little better in terms of BIOS tuning function. I could also be jumping from the frying pan to the fire and end up regretting the switch. I should probably poke around in the oc.net X870E Taichi forums first and see what, if anything, people are complaining about. I need to ping @Raiderman about something else (not computer related).