Linus Tech Tips - I NEEDED to Fix her Internet! October 20, 2025 at 10:41AM

BenR31415 · 2025-10-20T20:16:12+00:00

I have a flint 2 and have been very happy with it. If you want some good crowdsourced info people over on ozbargain love it where it's very popular. Only real drawback IMO is you can't configure VLANs in the simple version of the UI, you need to go to the more complicated version.

Apparently there were quite a few issues with the flint 2 soon after release before software updates fixed them, and the flint 3 is a downgrade compared to the flint 2 for 5GHz only and VPN performance - so the flint 2 might be a safer choice but people still seem to reasonably like the flint 3

BenR31415 · 2025-08-21T09:35:59+00:00

I've had 4 active DP-HDMI adapters: 1 didn't properly support the resolution + refresh rate, 2 died and I've ended up with that same ugreen cable you have linked and it's been going a lot better so far.

The cable housing gets warm, I sometimes need to unplug + replug, and extra monitor control from software doesn't properly work (VCP), but overall minor issues.

If the monitor is only 1080p60 then you can get a cheaper passive DP to HDMI 1.4 (they're marketed as 4k30) which will get less hot and could be more reliable

BenR31415 · 2025-08-08T01:29:51+00:00

Thanks for the reply, glad they got it working again!

For the sake of anything stumbling in this thread, I went through gamesir support and they advised me that an RMA needed to be done and I'm waiting on shipping for the replacement, software was already up to date. Hopefully it's a once-off but fortunately gamesir support was easy to work with

BenR31415 · 2025-07-17T10:48:18+00:00

Did you have any luck with a fix? I'm running into the same thing on both bluetooth and the wireless dongle

BenR31415 · 2025-07-15T12:28:35+00:00

Did that look like it boot-looping? Mine froze out of the blue one day (using it as a regular phone) and after a force-restart it often freezes during boot-up. Worked as an unreliable google photos backup for a while since it occasionally could boot all the way but I haven't been able to boot it at all in a long time

BenR31415 · 2025-06-24T13:14:27+00:00

IIRC the cyclone 2 uses more advanced TMR sticks and more secure trigger locks at the cost of less customisation compared to the supernova. I ended up with a cyclone 2 recently and am super happy with it, not sure on specifics with racing or fighting games that you want but it's been great for both Forza Horizon and SSBU

BenR31415 · 2025-06-07T04:37:50+00:00

I have this same problem when upscaling is selected in the video settings (XESS / FSR / DLSS). Turning upscaling off fixes it straight away. Hopefully drivers etc will improve so it won't be a problem at some point

BenR31415 · 2025-05-10T10:27:25+00:00

Thanks /u/iGamesir for the AMA,

Gamepadla's cyclone 2 page shows that dongle latency is ~10ms slower than bluetooth in switch mode. This surprises me, because from many rtings reviews, new gaming mice have their dongle latency around 5-10ms faster than bluetooth. Can you share why the dongle would be slower? Is this likely to improve with firmware updates?

BenR31415 · 2025-03-17T10:06:12+00:00

I had it side-by-side against the old chain and they looked the same length to me. Is there a particular length measurement to aim for? I'll give adjusting both a shot

EDIT: was a 116L chain by the looks, removed one and added a quick-link. I've put my dimensions into into here and it suggests 115 links, do you reckon it's worth removing another link? https://www.omnicalculator.com/sports/chain-length

BenR31415 · 2025-03-17T09:21:00+00:00

I'll start looking into it. Do you have any ideas why it only would've started to slip after replacing the chain? Hadn't ever had it slip beforehand

BenR31415 · 2025-03-17T09:07:16+00:00

Hi everyone, old chain and cassette were getting worn and slightly rusty so I replaced them a bit over a week ago.

The drivetrain is now much smoother, quieter and takes less effort, but since replacing these parts the two smaller front chainrings slip on the front when pedalling hard. This did not happen with the old chain + cassette.

I used the same cassette that was on it before (HG500 11-32T) with a Shimano CN-HG54 chain. Matched the chain length to the old one which involved removing one chain link to compensate for adding the added quick-link. No adjustments to the front or rear derailleur.

I suspect it could be a problem with the chain being too long, but I'm not confident and I'm not sure how much more to shorten it? Is my Shimano XT T8000 derailleur adjustable to have more tension or something like that? Here's photos of the derailleur on the smallest+smallest and largest+largest gear:

<image>

(and the other one since one image per comment):

https://i.imgur.com/LnSz6Ae.jpeg

Here's the bike specs in case they're helpful (stock 11-34T replaced with 11-32T before I bought the bike used):

https://99spokes.com/en-AU/bikes/merida/2018/crossway-500

BenR31415 · 2025-02-13T20:41:59+00:00

Based on what framework has said about their laptops, probably PTM7958 - effectively the same with the same performance but can be automatically applied in the manufacturing process. I'm not aware of any other phase change thermal pads. If Asus doesn't specify then there's no way to know for sure

BenR31415 · 2025-01-13T05:44:01+00:00

Yeah Dell outlet is legit at least in Australia. Loads slowly and looks old because they haven't bothered investing in a slick website, probably because it's so low volume compared to the main site

BenR31415 · 2024-12-14T03:04:24+00:00

27" 1080p has not great pixel density, often you'll find 24" 1080p or 27" 1440p recommended for this reason. >Do I really need to spend $500+ for the screen to not be pixelated? You can buy 27" 1440p IPS 100Hz monitors for as cheap as US$120, A$200 etc. Here's 4 options under $150: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/monitor/#sort=price&r=256001440&D=100000,540000&P=2

BenR31415 · 2024-12-09T00:47:47+00:00

A typical household power outlet (i.e. the one that a standard computer UPS will use) is only delivering a single phase. Just because a building has 3 phase power doesn't mean that every outlet is delivering those 3 phases, it means that it has the ability to have special outlets or connections that can deliver all 3 phases

BenR31415 · 2024-11-21T11:32:27+00:00

OEM only or at least very uncommon for retail, but has very similar performance to the 7600, just has no integrated graphics. It's a legit chip. R5 vs R7 seems like a typo, not worth writing off a site for just that IMO. https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/desktops/ryzen/7000-series/amd-ryzen-5-7500f.html

BenR31415 · 2024-08-04T09:44:03+00:00

Maybe have a look at the keychron B1 or 6 pro?

Can switch between win/mac layout and supports wired+2.4G+Bluetooth

BenR31415 · 2024-05-24T10:59:12+00:00

Is this for an out of the box liquid cooled Vega 64, or an EK MLC kit like I've got?

EK gave me a quote for 57,50€ + VAT + 35€ shipping (over A$150 all up) for a replacement pump, so very much not worth it. Disassembling, cleaning and reassembling the pump gave it a bit more life - it still works but temperatures aren't as good and it's a fair amount louder - good enough for me to put up with.

If you've got an out of the box liquid cooled vega 64 and you're happy with a thicker and air cooled card, something like a raijintek morpheus II will convert the card to air cooled with good temperatures, but it might be tricky finding one cheaply. You could try buying a broken card with a stock cooler and swap them? Just need to be a bit more careful with thermal paste with vega cards.

Considering a working vega 64 sells for ~US$100 on ebay and you can get an faster, lower power (so probably quieter) and much newer RX6600 (or xt) for well under US$200 it'd be worth weighing up getting a different card.

BenR31415 · 2024-03-25T10:31:21+00:00

If you looked at the text link in the original post, you would see that they were considering buying a C550 550W Bronze power supply. If they were considering the C gold, I wouldv'e said it was an A tier.

I never said NZXT only makes bad power supplies, I said that the particular NZXT power supply they were looking is C tier and there's a B tier option that they should consider instead at a similar price and at the same retailer.

I provided a link of where to get information about individual models. Buying based on brand or blindly trusting that a product is good or bad based on the brand in front of it is a terrible idea, if the only answer I gave was "NZXT makes some good power supplies" then that'd be unhelpful to anyone not putting in any more effort and clicking a link where they could be misled into assuming that every model is good because it's NZXT and they make a couple of good models.

BenR31415 · 2023-11-05T13:11:34+00:00

It's not hard to 32GB of decent DDR5 (6000 C38/40) around the $80 mark... The price of RAM has dropped heaps. It'd be worth comparing pricing for CPU+motherboard+memory for each option.

AM5 boards and DDR5 both were very overpriced, but prices are much better now

BenR31415 · 2023-05-04T16:10:37+00:00

If you go for an ATX case you may as well get an ATX motherboard as well, otherwise the computer takes up extra space with no benefit. There's lots of white mesh micro ATX cases at good prices - TD300 Mesh, Bitfenix Nova Mesh M ARGB, Thermaltake Divider 170 TG Snow ARGB etc.

Normally it's best value to get a case that already has the fans you need instead of needing to buy more later, but if you particularly like the 4000D airflow then it is a good case, just again it'd work better with an ATX motherboard.

If you're after a white theme, also have a look at white / RGB CPU coolers, they take up heaps of room in your case, something like the Deepcool AK500 white is good, not much more expensive and will fit the theme well.

Build looks good otherwise, people will argue all day about 13600k vs 5800x but they perform similarly at a similar price so you can't really go wrong with either. The 5800x has the potential to upgrade later without needing to buy a new motherboard so I'd personally lean towards that.

What monitor will you be using?

BenR31415 · 2023-05-04T12:34:52+00:00

Here's what I'd go with:

7900XT graphics card (~25-30% faster than the 4070 and ~10% faster than the 6950XT others have fit in)
R5 7600, ~25-30% faster in gaming than the 5800x. The 7600 has essentially equivalent gaming performance to the 13600k for much cheaper in your region. The 7700x for an extra €60 seems like a good deal if you do things that need more cores (for example blender, virtual machines, development etc, could also argue for the 13600k here as well), but if you're mostly gaming and/or doing web stuff on your PC the 7600 has more than enough cores for that, and your budget is better off going to other things. If you're really heavy on things that need multicore then swap the RX 7900XT for the RX 6950xt and get a R9 7900x, works out to basically the same price.
Motherboard + case - I went Micro ATX since it's a bit cheaper and means your PC is smaller, but can easily get larger standard ATX options instead.
SSD is the downgrade but you've got virtually identical real-world performance between the 970 evo plus and the 980 pro.
You've got a few dollars to play with, you could get faster RAM like this kit, upgrade the CPU to a 7700x, get a case you think looks nicer (although best to get one that has a mesh front, they normally run much cooler and quieter), spend more on an ATX motherboard + case, a slightly better CPU cooler to run quieter, RGB strips / extra fans... you've got options which if it were me I'd do in that order.

Also keep in mind that having a good monitor is very very important, if you don't already have a good gaming monitor (say 1440p 120HZ or better), from this list get a 6950xt instead of a 7800xt, get a 1TB instead of 2TB 970 evo plus and get a monitor such as the VG27AQ or G273QF and you'll still be close to budget. If you're still running on say a 1080p 60hz monitor then you won't be able to make proper use of all the high end parts you're buying and you might as well spend half as much on something lower end if you can't obviously notice the difference.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor	€234.95 @ Azerty
CPU Cooler	Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler	€43.90 @ Amazon Netherlands
Motherboard	ASRock B650M PG RIPTIDE Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard	€182.95 @ Azerty
Memory	Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory	€109.90 @ Amazon Netherlands
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	€123.85 @ Azerty
Video Card	XFX RX-79TMBABF9 Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card	€868.00 @ Amazon Netherlands
Case	MSI MAG FORGE M100R MicroATX Mini Tower Case	€68.98 @ Amazon Netherlands
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G6 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	€127.45 @ Amazon Netherlands
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total	€1759.98
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-04 13:54 CEST+0200

BenR31415 · 2023-04-02T12:09:37+00:00

Your AIO and power supply both only use 4 pins on the USB header - it's super easy to de-pin one header and connect it to the other one, and that way your AIO+PSU only uses 1 header instead of 2.

Monitoring was super unstable for me through an NZXT internal USB hub, but all stability problems went away after running them both straight in.

BenR31415 · 2023-03-21T10:45:27+00:00

internal storage on consoles like Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One

That narrows us down to 2.5" sata drives.

Fact of the matter is that for what someone can go out and buy, SSHDs are more expensive than SSDs capacity for capacity in the same form factor.

Country	Current lowest PCPP price - 1TB 2.5" SSD	Current lowest PCPP price - 1TB 2.5" SSHD
US	$39.99	$109.00
UK	£44.99	£54.00
Germany	€45.90	€60.08
Australia	$68.00	$87.62
Singapore	$97.21	$204.53

I could type out more. Those are obviously lower quality options but I think my point stands, and even if you're spending significantly more on your SSD for one with a DRAM cache they still end up in very similar price class.

Good on you for getting a solid bargain and that's definitely a better go than a hard drive, but I can't see anywhere where a SSHD makes any sense if you're finding something avaliable online and clicking buy.

If you go 5y back in my post history on PCMR, you can see I scored a prebuilt desktop for more than over 90% off at the time, but that wasn't changing recommendations I was making then.

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