Mr. Fox

Here is a free new GPU benchmark that looks like it might be a good one for comparing GPU performance.

For the money I don't think you're going to do any better than that 12900KS on iGFX.

There is a possibility that they look alike if they are made by the same company and just rebranded with their own names, logos and proprietary aesthetic gadgetry. A lot of AIOs are basically Asetek clones.

Got the Klevv DDR3-2666 and tightened up the timings. Nice bump. Hard to believe it is DDR3, eh @tps3443 https://hwbot.org/submission/5622859_ This quad channel kit is really nice. They are super heavy and the heatsinks look excellent.

I have no interest in running a CPU with the IHS and stock solder intact. In light of that, this is probably the ideal alternative to a custom loop. Definitely superior to a standard AIO and/or a stock CPU with no delid/bare die. It can't replace my more elaborate (and costly) setups, but it does not need to in the situation for which this system is purposed. In short, I think it is excellent and I am super glad that I snagged it. I think this exceeds what one can typically expect from a SFF desktop.

Speaking of that... MSI finally dropped the new BIOS with MC 0x129 for the Z790I Edge. Working like a champ. No issues with stability or loss of performance. Memory tuned nicely. 57x P-Cores, 47x E-Cores, 52x Cache, VCore 1.290V, 8200 CL38-48-48-84. Sweet little monster now with the 3090 Ti FTW3.

To the extent it actually produces a measurable difference it is likely to be on a bone stock version of Windows 11. If a person has done a good job of exorcizing the demonic powers hiding in the smelly butt-crack of a vanilla cancer version I suspect it probably doesn't change much, if anything. I am wondering to what extent simply logging out and then into a new/different account might produce a similar result. If there are fewer startup processes and no scheduled "maintenance" running in the background when logging in on a new or seldom used Windows user account this will definitely result in a performance boost.

I just know what I don't want and know what I won't settle for as an alternative. Pretty cut and dry. Remember, it was not long ago that I gave it a spin with 5950X and then with 6900 XT and both were disappointing to me. Had I pretended that I was happy and been willing to settle then that would have made me a fanboy for sure. I don't care about brand. I care about getting what I want. I'd kick Intel to the curb in a heartbeat if AMD actually offered something that looked enticing to me on the surface and delivered on my expectations. I'm not ready to roll the dice again. Maybe someday, but the wounds are too fresh to even consider it. I've given them multiple opportunities to give me something that makes me happy over the past ~15 years, wasted some of my hard-earned money in the process, and it hasn't worked out for them. I'd say that is pretty open-minded, but I am not going to lower my standards as an accommodation.

For now we have to just settle for disabling the service. Even using NSudo does not allow manually deleting the BitLocker service. At least we can disable this trash. Maybe it can be removed from the ISO with NTLite like Defender.

Windows 11 truly does suck, but that may not be a legitimate crutch. It sucks for all CPUs, not just Ryzen 5.

That is patently false. Some might be, but a small percentage and far from "all" (contrary to what the AMD YouTube shills want everyone to believe). That's easy. Linux is a better OS than Windows 11 no matter what CPU you are using. Windows 11 has been a defective product from launch day and will never be a good operating system. Windows 11 truly does suck, but that may not be a legitimate crutch. It sucks for all CPUs, not just Ryzen 5.

Don't know why anyone would want to use it. It is truly disgusting. After Windows 7 to present, the newest version of Windows is always inferior to the one before it.

Go get it... @ryan Imagine being able to actually buy something worth having for $10. You can't even buy a pound of good beef steak from the grocery store or a Whopper cheese value meal that cheap today. And, you can grab the demo if you want to play it a bit first.

This game is a blast if you are anything like me. If you are annoyed by AI dialog, gathering objects and clues, crafting, storyline distractions and prefer the chaos and adrenaline rush of non-stop run and gun action like Left4Dead, CoD Zombies, DOOM, Unreal Tournament, etc. then you're going to instantly love this one. On sale for $10 until August 28 on Steam. And, you can grab the demo if you want to play it a bit first.

Well, there is a difference. Every new Skylake CPU was better and faster than the one it replaced. Intel was stuck in a rut but still managed to raise the bar with each '+' that got added. I liked them all. Those that complained were mostly AMD fanboys grappling for a reason to cast stones at the brand that was doing better. I do not remember anyone that preferred Intel losing any sleep over it. I know I didn't.

Yes, and that is an extremely stupid and misinformed approach for those fanbois to be taking. If that were to happen, AMD would lower the bar for itself because it would no longer need to compete. It would ruin things for all consumers. Although, I do not agree that AMD has surpassed Intel. I still view their products as inferior. There will be times when one brand leapfrogs another in terms of winning benchmarks. As long as Intel is not permanently damaged by the media smear campaign they will not stand for second place. Winning means too much to them. The notion of AMD beating them at something seems to not set well with them as a company. That is one reason I prefer them. It is also one reason why Intel's lower quality silicon samples are committing hara kiri. They're pushing things harder to win. In contrast, AMD seems to be equally content participating in a race as they are with winning a race. We already see examples of them not feeling compelled to push themselves harder. Imagine if they no longer needed to compete. Prices would be higher and quality/performance would be lower. At the end of the day they are both giant companies that will do shady things to one other, to their employees, and to the people that buy their products. Profits matter more than people.

Newer is always better newer. Doing more with less and dubbing it as "more efficient" is almost always code word for sucky. The best approach is always do MOAR with more. Getting higher performance from lower power is usually a joke that isn't a funny one. 1+1=2. If you build something with the goal of using less power there will be strings attached.

I think an unfortunate sign of the times we live in. Quality isn't job #1 any more. If the RMA process isn't blazing fast (2 business days or less) and hassle-free it just adds insult to injury when consumers have to take a slow ride for something that isn't their fault. Sadly, the process is seldom fast or hassle-free. Usually the exact opposite of fast or hassle-free.

The reasons is fanbois (which does not include everyone) never speak badly about their brand cult. Their love of inanimate objects is unconditional, but they sure don't have any problem joining the posse on a mission to smear their favored brand's competitors or those that dare prefer something different than them. I never noticed anyone that preferred Intel trolling AMD forums, ridiculing the AMD brand and those that prefer it, demonstrating glee or rejoicing over AMD's failures. According to at least one highly respected system builder (Puget) the current rate of CPU failure on Intel systems, while higher than normal for Intel, is still about half that of the AMD CPUs in the systems they build. While that has been publicly announced, it is not convenient for the social media influencer muppets to report that because it undermines their agenda. Large companies seldom consider the impact on employees when they cut staff to save money. It is unfortunate and wrong, but it's not something out of the ordinary or a rare sin Intel is committing. This happens frequently, but seldom gets talked about unless there is already some kind of media buzz going on and it provides additional sauce for their juicy story. Big insurance companies are one of the more common offenders, like Progressive, Allstate and others. Employees are considered expendable to big companies that only care about profits and shareholder interests. In the service sector (like insurance) those let go first are often the smartest and most experienced because they are paid the most and it is cheaper to keep the noobs that don't know what they are doing. They go from being noobs to overworked and underpaid noobs with the company "doing more with less" to maximize profit.

I hope that person was being facetious, but would not doubt the possibility that someone would be nutty enough to want it. Stupity has become very common.

Totally absurd. What next? RGB thermal paste and pads?

Application Optimizer? Is that the recent gaming enhancement from Intel for 13th and 14th Gen CPUs? The X79 Rampage IV Gene is 4th Gen. But, I don't think I use it even on the platforms that support it. If that is what you are referring to, I am pretty confident it doesn't work on Gen 4. I have never even investigated this on my current tech systems because gaming isn't ranked very high on my list of priorities. I do enjoy FPS gaming and occassionally binge play, but I don't give a lot of time or effort to the pursuit of it. I put the 2080 Ti into this system just so it would not be a slideshow with decent settings (High versus Low or Medium) and resolutions above 1080p. Most modern titles (CoD MW, Battlefield 2042, Crysis 3 Remastered, etc) were a bit too much for the GTX Titan to manage gracefully. The first generation Titan is only 6GB of vRAM and the core and memory clocks are very slow by current standards. It did manage to play older games (released during its time) very smoothly. The X79 platform does not have the necessary firmware support for Resizable Bar (decoding above 4G I believe is what is missing) and neither does 2080 Ti firmware from what I can remember. I know that was released like 6 to 12 month after 3090 was released because Vince (Kingpin) sent me an updated XOC vBIOS when that happened. I actually did look into this and I was able to add the module into the firmware along with NVMe support, but there is no BIOS menu option to enable decoding above 4G or Resizable Bar. I believe older GPUs like 20-series RTX cards would support it but you would need to have an updated vBIOS as well as motherboard support.

So, I pulled one of the two dual NVMe cards from the Encore for the X79 Gene. It already had eight, LOL. One less won't hurt anything. I sacrificed the Windows 11 drive since I almost never use that sucky POS cancer operating system anyway. Set that one on the desk for later, kept the one with Linux and put it on the single NVMe card in the Encore.

Hearing about you building a home network for your kids brings back a lot of fond memories. I built each of my five kids their own desktop. Correct on the Titan being too slow. It can still work on low to medium setting, but no ray tracing sucks. It's basically the same as 780 Ti. Nearly identical performance and in the same generation. 2080 Ti totally obliterates it. I had the 2080 Ti already. I bought it like about a year ago for Windows 7 benching. Just converted it to air cooling so I could use it in this system (no custom loop SFF). I actually really like this antique. It performs surprisingly great. After the BIOS mod for NVMe support (which did not exist when X79 was released) it because a pretty compelling machine. And, the best thing about it is... No driver mods required. That YouTube channel is pretty worthless. Besides just being dead wrong about a lot of stuff, the guy is about as entertaining as watching paint dry. Not really any better than Gamer Meld. Lots of nonsense from some of these bobble-heads. Ignorance isn't a sin, but it is contagious. Simple fix for it is knowledge, but know-it-all folk are hard to cure.