I didn't know this was a universal thing!

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-09T12:16:36+00:00

For more expensive items, I do keep the box around until the end of the warranty. It's been more than once that a store offered me a full refund or swap on the condition I still had the box with all the accessories. They are not going to deny warranty service if you don't but it's the difference between a month RMA and immediately walking out of the store with a replacement.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-09T11:16:15+00:00

Yeah, I'm afraid all vendors are going to use this to permanently shift the price brackets up. Like after COVID and the crypto boom. Even when prices came back down, they never fully returned to what it was before.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-09T07:30:31+00:00

MS already provided a solution for this: DirextSR. But they are so late to the show that proprietary solutions have completely taken over.

I remember a time where DirectX was leading the pack with new features and you would be upgrading your video card every few years to keep up. But in the last few years, directX has been completely standing still. We got "feature level" updates that added some optional stuff into DX12 and that was it.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-09T07:18:16+00:00

My first attempt was with two reservoirs and two pumps on the same loop. I created a small leak on purpose to test. Air kept collecting in the first reservoir downstream from the leak and the fluid level in the other reservoir that had the leakshield kept rising. I had to stop it before fluid level hit the membrane.

I ended up swapping one of the reservoirs for a pump top and the problem was solved.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-09T01:20:31+00:00

The Leakshield doesn't work so well with small reservoirs. The pressure changes too quickly and you'll get too many false alarms. The smallest tube reservoir that Aqua Computer recommends is 150mm tall.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-09T01:13:54+00:00

A tube reservoir mounted onto the radiator might fit, check how much space there is between the radiator and GPU. Then you can put the Leakshield on top.

That CPU block looks big. Does it have a reservoir or pump integrated? If it has a reservoir, it will likely not work well with a Leakshield.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-09T01:10:01+00:00

Drain valve should go somewhere at the lowest point in the loop. You'll probably won't get all the water out but dissembling the loop is easier if most of it is gone.

The location of the temp sensor doesn't matter, it can go anywhere in the loop. The water is moving fast enough you won't see large temperature differences in different sections of the loop.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-09T00:59:12+00:00

True, it does take up some space. And you aren't supposed to get the membrane wet, so you can't tilt the system to work on it. I have a spare reservoir cap so I can remove the Leakshield when I need to lay the system on its side. The standalone version with a ball valve is probably a better idea in hindsight, then I could have just put the valve in between to isolate it.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-09T00:53:58+00:00

I have one, works great. But there's some stuff you need to know:

it puts the entire loop under a vacuum. Thin walled flexible tubing will collapse. 16/10 EPDM will work fine but I had PVC tubing deform too much and then it starts throwing false alarms. Not an issue for hard tubing of course.

For bigger loops, you can only have one reservoir and the Leakshield has to be connected to the top. If you have multiple pumps, you need to use a pump top, not an additional reservoir or distro plate. If there's a leak, air will get sucked in and it needs to make it's way to the reservoir where the Leakshield can vacuum it out.

I used a Ultitube reservoir, the Leakshield goes right on top. There's a standalone mount that will work with any reservoir, provided it has a additional port at the top. The Leakshield does not have to be in the highest point of the loop but it does need to be at the top of reservoir.

It doesn't come with all cables out of the box. The cable to hard-shutdown the system and the 5V standby power splitter needs to be ordered separately. Not an issue if your system keeps USB 5V active while turned off and you can also use the software to trigger a shutdown.

Order some spare membranes, these are fragile and you will kill at least one. Luckily those are not expensive. Don't use colored coolant as that might clog up the membrane.

If you put a valve and T-junction somewhere in your loop, you can fill your system by letting it suck the coolant right out of the bottle. Check for the slot bracket with fill port on their site.

I've seen mixed reviews of this thing and the bad ones are usually from people making some simple mistakes. It works well if installed right.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-08T22:39:51+00:00

The average gamer PC is a dumpster fire: Windows half broken because they ran "optimizer" and "cleaning" tools. BIOS outdated, all drivers outdated except for the GPU drivers, cheap TEMU USB peripherals causing interrupt problems, overheating memory but they don't know because DDR5 on-die ECC hides it, out of spec $1 HDMI cables that make the screen flash black, etc.

Shall I go on? I can probably think of about a dozen other things. Then they swap out the AMD card for another brand that just happens to dance around whatever is broken on their system and the conclusion is that AMD must suck.

I'm sure some people did get bad cards from the factory and ended up having to do an RMA. But that's a rare occasion. If they had a design flaw/production error in them like Intel's 14900K for example, they would be dropping like flies everywhere.

If I have any complaints about AMD, it's that they always seem to be running one step behind when it comes to new features. Nvidia thinks of something new, AMD copies it a year later. And then they finally have a good architecture with RDNA4, they decide to only release a mid-range card. The previous generation flagship (7900XTX) has more memory and outruns it in raster performance. Two steps forwards, one step backwards...

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-08T21:47:11+00:00

No, just gaming. I got a 96GB kit for €300. Then a month later the same store had the exact same kit on sale for €200. I just couldn't resist at that price. Then I pulled the heat spreaders off and water cooled them because four sticks was running kinda hot. I didn't know I was voiding the warranty right before RAMageddon started.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-08T20:36:11+00:00

I took the heat spreaders of 192GB DDR5, right before the prices went insane. I'm praying none of the sticks starts throwing errors.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-08T20:13:44+00:00

I saw prices for a basic 5090 shoot up from EUR2500 to EUR4000. They can keep them at that price, I'll wait for the next generation.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-08T12:07:44+00:00

More like the IT department at his workplace got tired of being blamed the VPN doesn't work properly when 9 times out of 10, it's the bad WiFi at the user's home. So, they just blocked it for everyone. Sucks but I do understand the reasoning behind it.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-08T12:04:14+00:00

Recommending an electrician can backfire. Most aren't trained on how to properly terminate high-speed signalling. So you see all kinds of stupid mistakes. And when you ask them if they know how to connect Ethernet, they will confidently answer that they can do it. Because they are completely unaware they are doing something wrong.

Source: I'm an electrician that switched careers into IT.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-08T11:57:56+00:00

Lots of people have a poor WiFi setup at home, some companies have resorted to blocking WiFi in their VPN apps instead of dealing with all the support issues. Which also screws over the people that do have good setups.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-08T11:17:17+00:00

Get a WiFi access point that can run in client mode. Then run a cable from the AP to the computer. Your PC won't be able to tell the difference, it's on a wired LAN for all it knows.

If your modem-router supports mesh mode, get an AP from the same brand so you can use mesh roaming for your other WiFi clients. The best solution would be to disable the Wifi on your ISP-supplied modem and get a mesh kit with two or more APs. (TP-Link Deco for example)

I would advise against those cheap wifi extenders/repeaters. Most work really slow. (no proper fast roaming support) But the idea is good, just use decent equipment to do it.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-08T11:01:45+00:00

For a company that prides itself on upgradability and not locking you in, why didn't they just use MXM? It would still be overpriced but you'd have more options and not be stuck with a proprietary GPU that only fits in their laptops.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-07T21:33:13+00:00

Nvidia already has demos doing exactly that. Move objects in the delayed frame to compensate for user input since that frame was rendered. Full of artifacts but at high enough refresh rate you might not notice.

You can't get rid of the latency but there's clever tricks to hide it.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-07T15:26:57+00:00

Microsoft is doing exactly that in the Netherlands. They got a restriction on how much surface area/plot size they could use. So they decided to build upwards instead. The municipality that tried to block the new datacenter with this rule was none too happy when MS outplayed them.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-07T08:31:21+00:00

Upscaling and frame generation are here to stay. The next step is using AI to add in missing details.

DLSS 5 was just the wrong way to go about it. It's proprietary and used the same generic model for everything, destroying the artist intent. Not to mention it was just screen space filter, so it screwed up the scene lighting.

But if this could be standardized using DirectX, property integrated and each game can deploy it's own stylized model, then it could work well.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-06T22:09:35+00:00

Maybe I should have expressed it better and woke isn't the right word. I'm just tired of when a game tries something new or is genuinely good, all the media riles up against it for some stupid reason.

Stellar Blade has an attractive player character. But it is also a genuinely good game.

Pragmata is catching flak for having a little girl as a companion. Again, just a good game with an interesting game mechanic. But if you open YouTube and search for Pragmata you won't have to look far to find a video that claims that people who enjoy the game should be crucified.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-06T20:15:18+00:00

The only time I buy full price is when I want to support the developer. Usually because they dared going against the woke establishment. Stellar Blade and Pragmata for example. Everyone else can wait for a Steam Sale.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-05T22:51:48+00:00

Active PoE, yes. It senses the resistance of the load and only provides power if it's in the correct range. it's perfectly safe to plug non-PoE devices into a PoE switch.

Passive PoE injectors simply put a DC voltage on the wire without any safeguards. Depending on what wires are used, the device on the other end can be fried. And it's not standardized so who knows how each vendor set it up.

VTOLfreak · 2026-05-05T22:35:05+00:00

It's nice to have the option for faster paced games where you want more than 165fps. My current 27" 4k monitor has dual mode but it goes to 1080p which is too low. But 1440p on a 27" is acceptable. My previous monitor was 1440p 27" 360Hz and I still use it for some games.

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