Mr. Fox

NZXT has their own PSUs (good quality) and their own mobos.

If you get a good motherboard in a pre-built you can buy it with a more affordable CPU and pick up a good second hand i9 K/KS CPU later. You do not need more than an 13th Gen i5 for gaming excellence. People will be selling their 13900KS processors once 15th Gen drops and you can probably pick up a nicely binned CPU, maybe already delidded even, for a lot less that buying it new in a pre-built or even a self-built machine.

If you get a nice 360mm AIO installing it is no different that repasting the heat sink on an air cooled desktop or installing chassis fans. Even if you have never done it before, the process is simple and they usually include very clear directions. Yeah, A770 is insanely good for $300 USD and Battlemage may put us into the 4080 performance range for $500 USD versus $1200. I think you will find all of it easy enough. If you have replaced thermal paste or installed RAM in a laptop, it's easier than that. Basic tools and an average mechanical aptitude will be all you need. The only thing to bear in mind is if you have to use force it is an indication something doesn't fit and you need to stop and have a closer look. The "get a bigger hammer" approach does not work.

Here you go... a build for every budget, bro. https://nzxt.com/product/player-one-intel-arc-edition

Yikes. I hope my 1TB version of that doesn't meet the same fate. It's a couple of years old. This one doesn't surprise me. Lenovo's consumer-focused (non-business class) garbage took the bottom feeder's crown in the turdbook cesspool.

I am happy for you and they certainly are a nice upgrade from your 7200 kit, but I can't see the logic in me spending $300+tax on an 8200 Trident Z5 kit when my 8000 Trident Z5 kit is serving me well at 8600 24/7 Y-Cruncher stable. Even if the 8200 kit was a little bit better, that is a high premium to pay for such a minor benefit in my case. Maybe I will upgrade when DDR5-9000 hits the shelves if the price is something I can stomach. I am not going to upgrade the memory on the Z690 Dark because it's already stupid fast at 8200 and it is more than I need for my work computer. I'm going to get my refund from B&H for the Patriot trash sticks and leave the money in the bank. I emailed them my order number for the v1.0 adapter that I stopped using when all of the fires started and asked for a refund. I bought it from their global store directly, so we shall see what they tell me I need to do to get my money back.

All turdbooks. EOM. Anything made by Alienware. EOM Add the Patriot Viper 8200 DDR5 kit to the do not buy list. This memory is trash. @tps3443found the same to be true in his testing. I was hoping to replace my generic A-die with a slightly better product, but it is more than slightly inferior. XMP1 and XMP2 both fail TM5 testing and increasing the voltage does not help. Tested with both the Z690 Dark and the Z790 Apex and the outcome is the same on both platforms. It is ridiculous that the only DDR5 modules that have been good enough to keep are my generic green sticks and the G.SKILL 8000 kit I already own. Everything (literally) I have purchased hoping for something better has been utter trash. I think I am done wasting my time with the endeavor. It's pointless, and shameful how much defective garbage is being offered for sale. Two TeamGroup DDR5 kits (including their so-called Xtreem memory), one G.SKILL 32GB kit and now one Patriot 48GB kit returned as garbage in the past 90 days. These are the trash sticks to steer away from: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1796763-REG/patriot_pvx548g82c38k_viper_xtreme_48gb_8200mt_s.html ^^^poo-poo-cah-cah^^^ Tested these so you don't have to... These were also pretty lackluster, but somewhat forgivable to the extent they are cheap...

Happy Birthday, Brother @ryan(a day late). You're not getting old yet.

There are similar options down below in the "More like this" section. None are off the hook amazing, but all are better options than a laptop at the same price. All are upgradable, unlike the one way dead-end street we call a laptop.

There is no such thing as a "good laptop" and a laptop is never a better product than a desktop of similar value. All laptops are a poor value when purchased new. They are all garbage.

Add the Patriot Viper 8200 DDR5 kit to the do not buy list. This memory is trash. @tps3443found the same to be true in his testing. I was hoping to replace my generic A-die with a slightly better product, but it is more than slightly inferior. XMP1 and XMP2 both fail TM5 testing and increasing the voltage does not help. Tested with both the Z690 Dark and the Z790 Apex and the outcome is the same on both platforms. It is ridiculous that the only DDR5 modules that have been good enough to keep are my generic green sticks and the G.SKILL 8000 kit I already own. Everything (literally) I have purchased hoping for something better has been utter trash. I think I am done wasting my time with the endeavor. It's pointless, and shameful how much defective garbage is being offered for sale. Two TeamGroup 48GB kits (including their so-called Xtreem memory), one G.SKILL 32GB kit and now one Patriot 48GB kit returned as garbage in the past 90 days. These are the trash sticks to steer away from: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1796763-REG/patriot_pvx548g82c38k_viper_xtreme_48gb_8200mt_s.html ^^^poo-poo-cah-cah^^^ Apex is running the G.SKILL 8000 kit 8600 CL40 24/7 stable and the Dark is running the generic sticks 8200 CL38 24/7 stable. I think I need to be content with the modules I already own and stop chasing the DDR5 unicorns.

This is going to be interesting... really excited to see how Battlemage turns out.

Looks good. I had not heard this was coming. I've not been a huge Fallout game fan, but only because of the style of gameplay. I can hardly wait for Halo S2 to drop. I loved S1, but it was WAAAYYY too short. This gal does a fantastic impression of the Micro$oft AI voice.

Well, it seems like a lot of fuss over a fan. As Roman said, had Igor's Lab not generated unrealistic expectations then nobody would be saying terrible things about the fan or Igor's Lab. The biggest flaw is the fact that it is priced about three times more than it is worth. Igor made a mistake. Not the end of the world. He is human and allowed to screw up once in a while. Unless we see a trend developing where this is a recurring issue, or he tries to deflect and make excuses to justify his test results should not harm his reputation. He should just admit what he did wrong and move on. The people that can't move on need to seek counseling, LOL. Welp... it still works. Nice. I'm very glad. I would have been sad if it did not. I'm not sure what the "0071 Test BIOS" is supposed to do. Safedisk uploaded it to HWBOT. It didn't break anything, but I don't know what makes it different. My CPU and RAM overclock seem to be unaffected. Hopefully, it's something super useful that hasn't captured my attention yet, like disabled mitigations.

I do not think that you can do it directly. You might be able to do it if you do the recovery flash procedure if the file is renamed correctly. Or, you might be able to get someone to mod it for you.

Absolutely. In fact, before I purchased the A770 I was wanting to purchase another 4090. I wouldn't mind having one, but the price makes we want to puke. I am so satisfied with the A770 that I have not even turned on my desktop with the 4090 in more than a week. I have done a bit of gaming and since my work desktop was already turned on I played on it instead and honestly don't feel like I missed out on anything.

I would strongly urge you to not buy a Dell, Alienware or HP desktop. If you watch any of the GamersNexus or Greg Salazar videos you will see they are dead-end garbage. While they are better than a turdbook, the case, motherboard and power supply is generally a proprietary form factor and upgrades range from difficult to impossible because nothing or most of what you would buy simply will not fit. Wiring connectors are not standard, parts are oddball shapes and sizes, and screw holes do not line up. Even something as simple as a GPU upgrade can be difficult or impossible due to internal case design space restrictions and missing power connections. You are generally extremely limited. These severe limitations are deliberate on the part of the OEM. You would be better off buying a used older custom build in a full tower case and upgrading that over time as you find good deals. You can likely find a decent buy locally on FB Marketplace or Craigslist, or a local pawnshop. Even something old and slow, and very cheap, will be able to accommodate upgrades if it is not a big name consumer pre-built turdbox. If you don't plan to do any crazy overclocking the TeamGroup Elite kits are pretty cheap, do not have RGB crap and heatsinks are easy to remove if you soak them in paint thinner for 30 minutes or so. That will dissolve the adhesives without doing any damage to the memory modules. I have not seen any naked 24GB modules for sale.

Sorry to hear you were in an accident. I'm glad to hear that you had nothing significant result from it and I hope your life returns to normal swiftly. It was my understanding the Omen is a pretty popular laptop among those who like gaming laptops. B0B of All Trades had a pretty big audience that was freakishly fond of them and zTecpc sells them like hotcakes. But I have found that younger tech enthusiasts are often kind of a goofy group. They're happy to overpay for something brand new if they can put it on a high-interest credit card and make monthly installment payments for a long time, but if they have to pay cash for something used, but like new condition, they expect an opportunity to rip off the seller for pennies on the dollar or they don't want it. If a person who realizes the value of the large storage drive and memory capacity wants it, it shouldn't be too hard to sell. The trick is getting a smart person that recognizes a good value to see it versus of a bunch of people wanting something for nothing. I have had better luck selling things in forums like this one and overclock.net than I have had with eBay.

You might find a sweet deal at a local pawn shop, if not Craigslist or FB Marketplace. You could also sell 3 of the laptops (keep the one you like most) to offset the cost. Excellent review, Brother @Rage Set. Thorough analysis and very professional presentation. It was easy to read and enjoyed it. Corsair MP600 Core Mini Gen4 NVMe SSD Review by RageSet

I guess they have to have a few lame excuses to get people to buy turdbooks. It sure as hell isn't because they are respectable products. And, excuses taken from the Alienware Owner's playbook are now "open source" and can be freely used by all... ...yeah, but the screen is sooo gooood ...yeah, but the keyboard is just amazing ...yeah, but the build quality is spectacular Like my daddy used to say, "Son, an excuse is just a reason surrounded by a pack of lies."

Yes, that is exactly what I was referring to. 👍 I just kind of gave it quick glance and moved on because the AMD CPU and compromised form factor were both conditions that made it a product of no interest to me. It looks like the one in LTT's video can use a standard production motherboard. I don't think it is going to be pleasant to cool, but it certainly shouldn't be any worse than the pathetic turdbooks the world has embraced in such a disgusting manner. Edit: I just watched the LTT video. Looks like it has a poor quality screen, low quality keyboard and touchpad and the chassis gets extremely hot (flesh-burning hot).

Those Viper Blackout DDR4 modules I mentioned also had heatsinks with screws and normal thermal pads, not the cheap trash that is so common now that is utterly worthless and traps heat. Not sure if that is the same one I saw the other day or not, but will only be available on Chinese sites like AliExpress and uses desktop CPU and desktop 4080, and has water cooling. It's kind of neat, but I think it would have more compromises that I am willing to make. I don't know if they use a standard desktop mATX or mini-ITX mobo. That would also be a requirement. Proprietary mobos are one of the numerous reasons I despise laptops now. But, I can certainly see where this would be very exciting for some folks.

Those must be new to market. I don't remember ever seeing them before. Did you find them at Newegg or Amazon or some other place? One of the best Samsung B-Die DDR4 kits I had were Patriot Viper Blackout. They also had the most effective stock heatsinks I had ever seen before. Unlike all the rest, they actually worked, LoL.

Which kit? There was no detail in your post.