Mr. Fox

Maybe they can network the "gaming NUC" (LOL) with their dumb-dumb ROG gaming smartphone (vomit). I think some people really do have poop for brains.

I am trying to not look at anything and maintain an apathetic perspective until after Battlemage drops. If it is as good as expected I will buy one. If not I will try to get a 4090 HOF or just do nothing. If I could get a water block for my A770 through normal retail channels I could buy a second one and sell my 4090 today for $200÷ more than I paid for it and still be the cheapest one available. I'd have enough money to buy two Battlemage GPUs, two water blocks and a 14900K, with cash to spare. Apathy, resentment, bias and outright hatred are normally very bad things, but they can be used in a positive way by consumers. NVIDIA deserves heaps of it. We need to burn it down so that something more respectable can rise from their ashes. In terms of mainboard, my black Encore and white Apex seem functionally identical in terms of CPU and memory overclocking. I think now might be a good time to consider them on the last firmware update for the rest of their lives. It would be a shame to ruin either one with the haphazard newer-is better-hurry-up-and-flash-it firmware roulette nonsense. I genuinely don't care about "security" patches. I hope both of them last longer than I want to use them. You never know with the sketchy QC ASUS are famous for. Windoze is becoming such a dumpster fire that we probably need to be more worried about that than what comes next on the hardware chocolate choo-choo train. I got to say... that just doesn't impress me. Even a little bit. Am I wrong to feel that way @Papusan? Am I just a mean old man with unrealistic expectations? Or am I a realist that doesn't drink the dumb-dumb flavored Kool-Aid? No child left behind.

They had to remove that because it is what they are. They are rotten to the core.

It is very simple if your bank offers it. You give someone your email address that you register with your bank and they transfer money from their checking or savings account directly to yours. Essentially a direct deposit. There are no fees and I like using it. The transfer is not reversible, so if you use it to pay for something make sure you are getting what you expect. It is best suited for in-person purchases for that reason.

The only thing that actually *should be* a priority relating to AI is outlawing it or severely restricting the development of it. It needs to become so overregulated and maliciously taxed into oblivion that there is no profit to be made in it so that nobody wants to do it and it becomes abandoned as a pursuit.

That looks very well-made. It should help avoid getting thermal paste in the notched areas where you don't want it and should be very good for facilitating the use of liquid metal. That would be kind of risky with so many exposed SMDs otherwise, even with one of those foam gaskets that der8auer came up with. You could literally fill up that narrow gap around the perimeter with thermal paste like a "caulk" and then clean up the IHS and apply liquid metal without losing any sleep about a mishap. Whether Intel or AMD, these CPU frames are much better than the stock latching mechanisms. And, they just look so much cleaner and smarter. They are a good example of something brilliant, inexpensive and sort of stupid to not use as a better alternative.

How awesome. Sorry, hope you feel better real quick, bro. This is for you... good technical info and a look at what comes with a mobo.

@ryan You need memory and a CPU cooler, too. Are you stuck on MemoryExpress. You might get better deals at NewEgg or Amazon. Have you checked Facepoot Marketplace, OfferUp, local pawnshops, etc? Sometimes you can find good deals on good used parts. People upgrade, lose jobs, have substance abuse issues, etc and you can get great buys on things and save hundreds of dollars. When you are open to mid-range parts, the deals are better and easier to find because the less expensive parts are more commonly purchased by gamers. As always, you can get input from us if you find a good deal. If you want it, I would give you my cell number so you could text me to ask if you find something.

If you buy a motherboard that has HDMI/DP for the Intel iGPU you could always build it and use it with the integrated graphics while you decide what GPU to buy. It would be fully functional and you could get the CPU and RAM overclock tuned to your liking. The beauty of a desktop (as long as you do not buy a proprietary prebuilt mess with severe physical limitations) is a massive amount of flexibility to do things in stages, make changes as often as you wish and upgrade as finances permit, while still having a fully functional system that can also be fun to play with. Here is some Intel iGPU silly gaming results (for giggles). 100+ FPS in CS2. 🤣 Nothing great by any stretch of the imagination, but also not a bad as one would expect based on horrible older iGPU gaming. Alternatively... you could also get a less expensive GPU to use for a little while. A750, RX 580, 5500 XT, 1660, 1060, etc.... all super cheap and decent 1080p gaming with modest settings are possible while you save money for a killer GPU like a 4080 Super or 4090. You might even be able to snag one of those used locally on Craiglist or Offer Up for like $100-125. When you get the GPU you want, you could resell the cheap GPU and probably easily recover 100% of what you spent on it, maybe even a small profit. There will always be a demand for cheap video cards as long as you can get drivers for them. https://www.newegg.com/asrock-arc-a750-a750-cld-8go/p/N82E16814930078 $209 https://www.newegg.com/peladn-radeon-rx-5500-xt/p/27N-008H-00018?Item=9SIAVWRK289852 $115 https://www.newegg.com/maxsun-radeon-rx-580/p/27N-0053-00048 $109 https://www.newegg.com/peladn-rx-580/p/27N-008H-00024 $88

I've never owned a 13700K, but I've never heard anything bad about one. It should be fantastic for gaming and from what I understand they overclock well. https://hwbot.org/hardware/processor/core_i7_13700k/ https://hwbot.org/submission/5126282_thebloodslug_cinebench___r23_multi_core_with_benchmate_core_i7_13700k_42671_cb

@ryan These are US dollars. https://www.newegg.com/tools/combo-builder/4293?cm_sp=product-dynamiccombo-seemore

Yes, NewEgg and Amazon are the most popular options unless you live near a Microcenter. If you're not shooting for high end overclocker-focus parts you can also get some decent deals at Best Buy, but they cater more to mid-range and low-end gamers. You can find decent mobo and CPU bundles. You're asking the wrong person about what to do with the laptop. I hate all of them universally and would recommend that nobody buy one unless they spend $500 or less and they absolutely must have a mobile computing option because of constant travel. So, yes... I would take it back and get a refund if you can. Even if it meant paying a 10% restocking fee or similar penalty. There is not a laptop made anywhere that I find interesting, desirable or compelling.

Whoa, that is really messed up. I am using 0080. The motherboard already has WiFi and Bluetooth. No need to waste money on an add-in card. The CPU is $200 more than it should be. A new 13900K should be a bit under $600. Please do not buy a 256GB NVMe. That is USB thumb drive capacity. They should be giving 256GB drives away for free to dispose of them without adding to landfill e-waste. Go with 1TB or larger.

Yeah, I feel very lucky as my experience with ASUS has been less that nice. As long as they keep working and I don't have to use their horrible warranty service I am set for now. I am pleased with both setups at this time. I do wish I had discovered people using a 14900K in the Z690 Dark before I bought the Encore. I probably never would have purchased it. Me having too many spare parts on hand is financially dangerous for my PC hardware sickness. Like the wife of an alcoholic having beer in the fridge, LOL.

I had four and two went to @Rage Setif memory serves me correctly. If not him, then my friend in New Jersey that I sold the Z690 Strix setup to. I can't remember now, LOL. Edit: I might actually be thinking of the generic Hynix M-die that I had four sticks. These are the only two generic A-die modules I have owned. It's hard to keep track of some of this and I forget things that are no longer relevant in my day-to-day grind. They are excellent for overclocking. Not so much for a gamer that is scared of memory tuning because they have no XMP profiles. My intent is to sell them bundled with the motherboard and CPU, but if those don't sell or the buyer doesn't want the RAM I will promise you first dibs on it. I will send you a PM later today.

It's all available now. I bought the Encore for 14900K and rebuilt that system, and then yesterday I saw on OC.net that people are using 14900K in the Dark with the most recent BIOS with no issues. Wish I would have seen that before I bought the Encore, LOL. The memory is the green A-die in the photos above. 2*16GB. Ran it daily at 8000 CL35. Super fast due to the tight timings. I will probably put the package up for sale in the Marketplace later today or tomorrow. I don't want to sell things piecemeal.

Things will never be as good as they were when EVGA was in it to win it. I blame NVIDIA for it, and I won't have a surprised look on my face if other companies follow in their footsteps. Without the GPU business I think they were doomed, and now that they are no longer building motherboards there is no reason to do business with them anymore. I don't care about keyboards, mice, video capture devices and PSUs. Those are a dime a dozen. It was all about their impeccable quality, overclocking focus and unmatched warranty service with GPUs and mobos that had me hooked for life. As it turns out, it was for the duration of their life and not mine. So, we are left with the likes of ASUS and MSI. Definitely not great, but I guess it could be worse. Let's hope NVIDIA does screw things up with either of them. MSI (and maybe ASRock) for GPUs and ASUS for mobos. That's all she wrote... kind of sucks. Too bad Galax HOF GPUs are not plentiful here in North America. I could probably get happy about that. I might wish I hadn't sold them, but if you are interested in my Z690 Dark, 13900K and generic A-die drop me a PM. I also have a new EK 360 AIO that was used less than an hour for a product review and put back into the box, and a couple of good tower air coolers if you prefer air cooling. You would need drives, a PSU, a GPU and a case with E-ATX support. If I keep them I know I am going to feel compelled to build a third desktop and that would be really stupid. In fact, I have already started plotting my potential next move in terms of frivolous financial expenditures if these parts keep whispering sweet nothings at me. Brother @Recievermight want to arm wrestle you for them.

I thought of you when I saw it, for the reasons you said.

Enough to pay for a decent motherboard, a CPU, good DDR5 kit + NVMe, a nice used GPU or new midrange GPU. Take your pick.

Sweet! It's happening. Get the popcorn. Heads are going to roll and there will be hell to pay. Finally. Long overdue.

Or even a weapon. I bet it would hurt real bad to get smacked across the head with that thing. Cops could use it for breaking down doors like a battering ram, but it might not be good for the computer parts inside of it.

I don't know. If a person is that desperate for "mobility" these portable desktop options seem like such a lame and horrible compromise. As much as turdbooks suck, I almost think it would be better to just buy one of those crippled piles of crap instead and resign yourself to the fact that you paid a lot for a disposable piece of junk. I think that a genuine "need" for such a contraption should be rare in the grand scheme of things. If a person travels a lot, and some do for sure, then they are destined for garbage computing options with a turdbook because there are not any good options no matter how you measure it. The options for mobility all suck. If they do not travel a ton, then they should just have a proper desktop and stop being so silly about insisting on "mobility" that they don't really need. I am so happy that when I was 70% business travel for more than a decade that I did not have to compromise to such a great degree. Laptops were not as trashy as the garbage being offered today. "Desktop replacement" was closer to reality. Now the concept is truly a joke. Sounds like a good explanation to me of why we call them "jokebooks" and "turdbooks" LOL. I bet you can hardly wait to get a desktop and put that crippled nonsense behind you. I'm curious why you bought that. Or, was it a Christmas gift?