Mr. Fox

Hi, brother. Crazy busy day at work, and went out doing stuff with Mrs. Fox after work.

Exactly. If you do it when you have spare time, only because you want to, or because you have something that might be useful to someone looking for your content, it removes all of the stress that makes it a chore. My videos that have the most views and likes are things like laptop teardowns, BIOS settings and how-to videos. Product reviews are worthless to most subscribers. They are only interesting and useful to those thinking about buying that product. And, the amount of effort that goes into the product review makes it unenjoyable, not to mention often being worth more than the purchase price of the product. Calculated based on an hourly wage basis, unless the product is worth at least $500 chances are very good you're not coming out ahead financially if you view your time as having value. Even when the product is free to you as the reviewer, your time is being donated for pennies on the dollar.

Thanks for this. Even though I am a subscriber to Stephen's channel, I never saw a notification. Typical of YouTube to do that with small channels, like his and mine, that are not making them gobs of money. When you combine all of the little channels together, YouTube is making money off the channels in the aggregate, but the channel owners are not benefitting. I left a comment for him. I forgot how I used to look when I was packing a bunch of extra weight. I was pretty "husky" as they used to say.

That looks great. Nice job. You will likely need more tubing once you get the manifold installed as the two short runs to/from the CPU block will need to be longer to reach the manifold. It looks like you have enough space to attach it to the front panel fans using the brackets they provided. I'm guessing the fan in the middle. You could maybe also attach it directly to your pump out line with a rotary fitting with male G1/4 threads on both ends. They're probably just idiots. It seems those are more common that they used to be, especially the hateful kind of idiots.

There is a lot of misinformation in the media, and social media, including YouTube. Some is deliberate agenda-driven propaganda and some is just pure ignorance on the part of "experts" and "influencers" that don't know what they don't know. The end result for people that believe everything they hear is the same. They are no less stupid than before they heard it. But, they believe lies and follow wrong advice. Some people still run Furmark and swear it is safe. So yeah, kids... run Furmark to test your GPU and run Prime95 to test your CPU. It's good for both of them. Do it often. It has to be safe because they show it on YouTube. Here is what about 10 seconds of Furmark looks like on my Gigabyte 4090 using the Galax HOF XOC vBIOS with 1.100V. If you haven't heard any GPU coil whine, just do this and you'll hear it. LOL.

This manual has English pages. From what I can see in the instructions it is made like the EK manifold and the lines on it have nothing to do with the flow path. It looks like in are on one side and out on the other. The end ports are in and out. You connect lines going out of the manifold to each peripheral on the side where the water comes into the block. The water returning to the manifold connect to the side where the water leaves the manifold. They have diagrams in the manual showing what I just described. I think the lines on the outside of it are purely an aesthetic and not relevant based on what I see in the manual. https://download.alphacool.com/legacy/1020140_1020139_1020138_Distro_C5_C3_C2_Manual.pdf The e-cores are not anything to get too excited about. They're not capable of withstanding Cinebench R23 above 4.7. At 4.8 all E-core it errors out. The E-cores are a little weaker than my SP117 13900KS with SP97 E-cores. But, it seems like a really solid CPU sample. It definitely needs a delid and bare die. It runs very hot with the stock solder and IHS. It hits 105°C and thermal throttles at 5.9 all P-core in Cinebench R23 even though the voltage around 1.250V. Chilled water at 16°C isn't enough to keep it cooled down at P59x and E47x. It errors out in Cinebench R23 at 60x all P-core unless I pore on the voltage and then it thermal throttles. I suspect a delid and bare die will solve that issue. In "normal" workloads it seem cool and stable enough to run P60x, E48x. Cinebench is just too much load for the stock solder and IHS.

It was shipped on 2/19. USPS received it from DHL on 2/26. It was delivered today. So, yeah, stupid how long it took. Looks like it sat in a shipping container in Germany for 4 days and then sat at USPS/Customs in NYC for 3 days. 12 days total. That is a very strange manifold. If the lines on it indicate the flow pattern that is going to possibly be awkward to use. It might not be depending on how you are going to install it, but trying to get a visual of it in my head it seems weird. Everything is linear with the EK manifolds. One row of ports is inlet and the other outlet. No crossing over or right angle turns like that. Did you buy that one because it was less expensive? If it is split in the middle with the two ports next to the "O" being connected and the two next to the "L" being connected, then maybe that will be fine. Maybe the lines on it are purely aesthetic and not an indicator of flow path? I look forward to seeing what it looks like installed and how you found out the flow path works.

CPU from @snakeyes111 finally made it here from Germany. All is well.

You should do you, brother. If I were you I would buy a 4090 now and cross the next bridge whenever I got to it. It is anyone's guess when the 5090 will drop and how many internal organs you will need to sell to pay for it. Tomorrow is always approaching, but never arrives.

Thanks. I know a couple of guys that might be interested. Looks like it is going for about $240 on NewEgg. How much do you want for it? I will let them know and put them in contact with you if they want it. If you haven't already tried, overclock.net marketplace is also a good option.

The ignorance and stupidity of the general public, including "gamers" is more than astounding. It's actually rather pathetic and tragic. I remember you posting earlier in this thread. I will see if I can find it using the forum search to see which kit it is. I don't remember if it is the part part number as both of my 8000 kits or not. Edit: @RaidermanI have looked and coming up with nothing using forum search posted by you, which is really strange. I know I remember seeing it posted, more than once. What is the part number? Can you post a picture of the box showing that? I might know someone that is interested depending on the part number.

In that case just let him do whatever he wants to and don't try to influence him. He will either be happy or regret it and either way it will be his decision and not your problem. I used to have family members ask me for advice on computer and automotive purchasing decisions all of the time. I would tell them exactly what to do and why, and then they would do the opposite. Then they would come to me asking for help resolving issues I told them they would have buying what they were planning to buy against my advice. It was frustrating for me to deal with that, so I stopped giving advice and I just tell them to do the research on their own and make a choice. Then I don't have to be tempted with saying "see, I told you so" or frustrated by the lamenting "I should have listened to you" because I didn't tell them anything. They eventually figured it out and stopped asking for help with car problems after my response was always, "sorry, I changed professions a long time ago, and I'm no longer interested in working on your car or mine. Take it to a shop." And, I don't provide any advice on that either. If they don't like the repair shop or they get screwed, that's on them. Then they can't pull the "your shop did... to me" card. They still ask for computer advice and I tell them that my opinions are not compatible with theirs, so just buy whatever they can afford as long as it is not made by Apple. It was usually some piece of crap they bought because it is cheap or because some idiot they thought was smarter than me told them to. I still get sucked into their computer problems most of the time. I tried the "bring it over and leave it here and when I have spare time I will look at it" trick and that never works. They always do. I did have a few relatives buy Apple products even though I told them not to and when they asked for help fixing problems or doing upgrades I just told them, "no, I'm sorry you should have listened to me, I am not interested in working on crApple products" and wish them good luck getting it fixed or upgraded. Now the crApple fans don't even bother asking me anymore. Glad to hear it is working nicely for you as well. What CPU, IMC and DIMM voltage values and tight secondary timing are you using the memory?

I was thinking 4090 not 4080S when I said that. I guess it depends on whether you are paying scalper prices or the correct price, LOL. You know me. We're the same. Don't want the less expensive red cards. Rather pay more for the green crud than the red crud. Less crappy costs more.

Good questions from Brother @electrosoft. If he has not owned an AMD GPU before, this has potential to go either way. He may be happy with it and saving several hundred dollars might be what he is trying to accomplish. He could be tickled pink. But, if he is easily annoyed by some things, including change, and he is used to NVIDIA features he may have massive regrets. This is going to depend on his personality to some degree. If he enjoys ray-traced games, (or playing WOW like @electrosoft does) I would urge him to stick with the Green Goblin's overpriced GPUs. I have a friend that has been an AMD GPU fan for a long time that purchased a 7900 XTX and regrets it. He loves his 6800 XT, but he is not impressed with his most recent purchase. It might be the only way to know is for him to FAFO, but if he is not happy in the end it is a costly mistake.

Here's this: CORSAIR MP600 ELITE with Heatsink M.2 SSD Review by Mr.Fox

Paying less and getting less is true most of the time. The bar is set low here and those that choose this path like it set low. Merchants like this group because it lets them make money selling garbage to people that embrace garbage because it is cheap. Fast food dollar menu, fat and happy. Their tummy is full of crap and it didn't cost much. They're not hungry and they'll come back for more crap very soon. Paying more and getting more is not guaranteed, but it should be. The group that chooses this path are often disappointed. Nobody likes getting screwed or being lied to. They expect their steak to be tender, juicy, delicious and cooked to order. That's what they paid for. If it is not, they reject what is on their plate. And, they should. They're a pain in the butt, and they should be. They will tell others what sucked and won't be polite about it.

I agree with that because it is a huge problem for the merchant and the honest customers. It sucks that it takes such a long time to process a refund, but (as usual) bad actors screw things up for everyone.

It's nice to see such a sense of urgency and emphasis on service from DHL. Puts them in the same League of Losers (LOL) bucket as USPS.

Amen. It is taken for granted that newer is going to be trash, and even in the rare circumstance it might have something better it comes with something worse. It is pretty sad how some people deliberately look for ME updates. I mean, they obviously don't understand things. There should be a public outcry against it, yet some of the sheeple purposefully update it as a standalone item even. Can't fix stupid. EVGA is was the only manufacturer that actually understood Intel ME is undesirable. Not only did they refuse to update it (appropriately) they provided a way to disable it with a simple firmware option. This should be standard on all motherboards (consumer, business or enthusiast). It offers nothing of value to anyone other than spying governments and hackers. It's designed solely for the purpose of remote access and created to be a backdoor access point. It makes sense that the CCP requires that motherboard manufacturers keep it updated.

I linked to it in the above post. But, here is a link to the file Safedisk put on his Google Drive. https://drive.google.com/file/d/12BvcW0xg68IQfGmv1K0-blIk6606YY1S/view That link above is for the white Apex. This link is for the Apex Encore https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SABixIb6seTaeyyPJNC9rISTGZ_IAtfc/view Both are version 9901. You can also tell by the file name. The Encore version has Encore in the file name.

Well, I returned the 14900KF turd to Amazon today. The previously returned 14900K from Amazon was received by them Monday of last week. They have it, haven't updated the order to show it received and still no refund. I spoke to their customer service twice and both reps confirmed they have it and I will just have to wait until they process the return. The garbage 14900K returned to NewEgg was refunded within 2 days of them receiving it. The SP102 (P114) 14900K coming from Germany is still in Germany sitting in a DHL shipping container for 4 days waiting to be put on a flight to the US with no date specified. Once it is received here by DHL it will be handed off to the goons at USPS for delivery via "Priority Mail" (LOL). So now it is a waiting game to get the one from Germany and get my $1200 back from Amazon. I am using the SP96 14900K purchased from @Talon in the white Apex. It is delidded and bare die now and overall a very respectable sample. It is very similar to my SP108 13900K installed in the Munchkin PC for P and E cores, but weaker on the IMC/memory overclocking. The memory controller SP was reported as kind of weak (MC78) on other BIOS versions and I could not get it stable past 8000 on the memory until I flashed test BIOS v9901 from Safedisk. That changed the MCSP to 82 and now it's stable at 8200 and running fine using the settings that were stable at 8000. This one from Brother @Talon is WAY BETTER than the trash bin crap samples sent back to NewEgg and Amazon. They must be saving all of the "average" 14900K to be rebranded as "KS" and leaving the trash for those that can't wait and don't want to pay extra for normal. I also flashed test BIOS v9901 for the Encore and it is very solid. It did not change any SP numbers on the SP117 13900K, but I was able to lower the VDIMM for 8600 from 1.650V to 1.600V without losing any stability. BIOS v9901 seems like the best for both versions of the Apex. An observation in comparing four 14900K/KF CPUs to four 13900KS CPUs (including the one the white Apex killed with TurboV Core) is that the 14th Gen seem slower at the same clocks than 13th Gen. Probably due to vulnerabilities mitigations. All of the 13900KS CPUs are 500-700 points higher in Cinebench R23 than the 14th Gen CPUs at P58x/E47x/C50x on both the Apex and Apex Encore. I'm really not identifying the 14th Gen CPUs as being a legitimate upgrade over 13900KS. Ignoring the SP ratings and VF curves and giving them what they need to run stable, the 14th Gen seem equal or worse depending on how much voltage is needed, but not demonstrably a better product in terms of performance or benchmark results when run at the same clock speeds. None of the samples I have so far will overclock higher, so kind of pointless product unless if you have a decent 13900KS. With the LLC tuned this 14900KS needs 1.280V for Cinebench R23 at P58x/E47x/C50x which is coincidentally identical to the SP108 13900KS (P120), but doesn't score as well. Temps and power draw are also the same. Pretty interesting. So, moral to the story is, don't pass up a nicely binned 13900KS in favor of a 14900K. You'll accomplish nothing. Thanks for killing my SP112 CPU ASUS. Your garbage motherboards have killed 3 so far (one 10th Gen and two 13th Gen). Good job, guys.

Probably paying attention to things that matter and are of importance. Windows 11 is not important and it doesn't matter. It is stupid and irrelevant.

I haven't heard anything of late. I certainly hope that it's still going to happen.

They have done away with some of the fancy schmancy trim that makes things look special even if they are not. That may account for part of the cost reduction as well.

I might have to try to get one of these for testing in my Munchkin PC.