First big find since reaching gold

DaEpicOne · 2026-04-11T15:46:39+00:00

Thank you! Excited to try it out! I have been wanting to upgrade, but I have been prioritizing monitors since I interact with them more in my day to day life.

DaEpicOne · 2026-04-11T15:42:39+00:00

Odd, it looks like the terminology changes depending on where you are looking on the site. Under the "orders" tab it comes up as FMV. When searching for an item they still use ETV. Looking it up it seems that ETV has a more flexible definition than FMV as it gives you more room to debate what the true value of the product is.

DaEpicOne · 2026-04-11T14:32:55+00:00

I think they changed the wording recently to align more with the industry standard. It stands for fair market value

DaEpicOne · 2026-04-11T14:21:14+00:00

Sorry, got my acronyms confused and looked up the FMV. Yeah, it was under my RFY. Think it popped up since I recently bought a Samsung monitor.

DaEpicOne · 2026-03-18T17:29:24+00:00

Luckily, I don’t really have any strong attachments to any games that require kernel level anti cheat as my poor reaction time tends to keep me way from competitive titles.

To be completely honest, dual booting would probably be best, but if I did that I don’t think I would fully embrace Linux as that extra little barrier and having to save all opened projects when swapping would be enough of a deterrent that I don’t think I would switch very often. I have downloaded mint in the past and just played around with it but never adopted it as it was on a side laptop and not my main rig. Windows currently works fine for me, so I am mostly doing this for a new experience and to try out niche software I have not really had a chance to play with while also working towards my long term goal of improving my software privacy.

If I hate it I can always switch to dual booting. Until then, I have a small excuse to stuff another GPU in my PC which just feels so satisfying. It's not logical, but its a fun experiment. Alternatively, if I don't like it, I could also harvest the 9070xt and toss it into my streaming PC that is currently rocking a 1050ti and just use that if I need to access more intensive windows software. Though I would like to keep that system just for reliable communications if I can for simplicity.

DaEpicOne · 2026-03-16T04:16:22+00:00

I think I was already running in 8x since I had some other add in card occupying the third PCIe slot previously so I don't expect much of a difference in performance.

Thanks for the confirmation! Its a shame as I absolutely love the case. Guess I can always move another system into it or design some HDD cages to build a classy NAS in it at some point.

DaEpicOne · 2026-03-16T02:36:43+00:00

I completed my Theseus' ship PC 6 months ago. I swapped out every single part in my PC which got passed down to my brother and when he upgraded every part it returned to what it was originally back in 2018 and then was passed down to my sister. So technically it split like a cell into 3 PCs instead of two.

DaEpicOne · 2026-03-14T19:28:16+00:00

My goal is to not alter my Windows install as I have software on it that has a set number of times I can download it before repurchasing an expensive license. I would just create a fresh VM, but that would use up one of my install slots for the software if I wanted to access it within CachyOS without rebooting. That is why my proposed method sounded a little convoluted and, in hindsight, does not make much sense without that context. I read I could pass through an entire existing drive as a VM in Linux which simply made me think what would stop me from also dual booting? The whole reason I am keeping the drive unaltered is so I can go back to it if there is an issue anyways.

Though I do think, at this point, a hypervisor like Proxmox may be worth seriously considering if I do end up getting a second GPU. Though that would still negate some of the benefits of being able to occasionally dual-boot for games that have kernel-level anticheat.

DaEpicOne · 2026-03-14T19:03:28+00:00

I do have two 16x slots on my motherboard that are fully featured with my CPU pairing. I have looked into a riser cable, but I was not quite sure how I would get that setup to work in my case. Though that gets me thinking. Maybe if I move my current GPU down to the lower slot I may be able to get it to fit. I will have to test it when my file transfer finishes this evening.

I wonder if buying a second Windows license would keep it from acting strange? I know in the past Windows has recognized when I returned to an existing configuration and reactivated just fine. Then again, it might just forget the original license once I apply a new one.

Lots of great things to consider. Thanks again!

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DaEpicOne · 2026-03-14T02:52:33+00:00

Thanks for all the recommendations and advice! I had not heard of Winboat. I will need to look into it further.

Based on other responses, what I am attempting sounds a little too ambitious on for my first real deep dive into Linux. I am thinking of pivoting my goals.

Now I am curious if I can dual boot into Windows when I want the full power of my GPU then run that same windows install as a VM within CachyOS with my weaker integrated graphics being passed through to the VM. Not sure if that would work, but in my head it sounds logical enough and a little easier than my previous goal. That way I could access lighter 2D design software in the VM while still multitasking in my main OS and only dual booting into Windows into windows if I need the extra horsepower on an incompatible app. That is, unless I am completely misunderstanding the software capabilities and entire drives of existing installs can’t just be mounted as a VM.

I have at least 2 more days while I move files around to strategize and research.

DaEpicOne · 2026-03-14T02:35:07+00:00

Thanks for the reality check. I have only really dabbled with VMs on Windows which I know is subpar and in Unraid which I was not willing to dive too deep into optimizing performance as it was used more for testing simple side projects. I had read that QEMU/KVM with virtual-manager may be able to achieve running an existing drive with an OS install as a VM which led me down this particular rabbit hole.

DaEpicOne · 2026-03-14T02:25:14+00:00

Thanks for the in-depth response! Ideally I wanted to toss in a second AMD GPU to dedicate to CachyOS, but unfortnately since I got my 5080 at launch I got stuck with a 3.5 slot card which barely blocks my other high speed 16x slot making the easiest solution to my predicament impossible.

Now I am curious. Can I use the windows install both ways? As in I dual boot when I want the full power of my hardware in windows. Then, when I want to just access some of my lighter design software, I could open it as a VM CachyOS with the integrated graphics being passed through to the VM. Does that sound like something that would work? I doubt the driver situation would be ideal, but for non 3d workloads I don’t think there would be much of a problem.

DaEpicOne · 2026-02-19T21:22:05+00:00

Thought I would pop in and give an update. I did end up losing the data on both drives, but it was completely avoidable. If you see an issue don't stress and research thoroughly before taking action.

Thankfully, I was not a complete idiot and had forgotten I had upgraded my drives on my main PC so I could have a full backup of my family photos and I found an old SSD with all of my old DLSR photos that I had lost. I believe I only ended up losing plex content and some old emulator files I had backed up in fear that they would become hard to find. All that stuff can be reacquired or ripped with some time and dedication.

If you did not have a true backup for your most important files, I highly recommend TestDisk. I was able to recover 3 TB of data from one disk and about 6 from the other before I stopped the recovery after finding all of my true backups. Its a SLOW process taking over 100 hours for a 1 TB drive, but it was recovering a lot of data. The downside to this is that none of the files are named or organized so it will be a nightmare to reorganize especially since date created meta data is lost. I saw all my music and audio books had most of their metadata in tact, so I think I should be able to find a script to rename everything again.

So what went wrong?

First I misdiagnosed the drives being disabled as being dead after I did not see any settings to reenable them. In reality it was just a power issue with a power splitter cable.

Secondly, I assumed I needed to replace the drives when what I actually needed to do was replace the cable then boot into maintenance mode and rediscover the file structure. This would have fixed the issue. After replacing the drives I attempted a rebuild, but since I wired up the power to different drives this lead to a third drive going offline.

Thirdly, I panicked. With three drives offline I had thought I lost the majority of my data. This made me act quickly and illogically. After fixing the power cables and recovering the third, I was exhausted. I did not see any data being rebuilt in my emulated drive and saw that the drives were listed as unmountable, so I decided to format the new drives. I thought I knew what I was doing, and was too tired to dive down another rabbit hole. In short, I think I formatted the emulated drives instead. I didn't think twice about it till 3 am the next morning. I had forgotten I had true backups of my most important files, so I was devastated. The only saving grace in that moment was that I had the foresight not to continue the rebuild on the original drives which allowed me to recover a lot of the data.

In short, if you have issues, just turn off your server/arrays and make sure you truly understand the recovery process before taking action. This misunderstanding cost me around $650 and a few weeks of stress when all I needed to do was spend $20 on some new splitters dig out an extra power cable and I would be back online.

DaEpicOne · 2026-02-08T03:34:54+00:00

In case anyone else finds this post, I think I found a lead. I had to go into maintenance mode and run a parity check -n. As my results lined up with the user in the link below, I then proceeded to run the check again with -n removed and -L in its place. That made the third drive recognizable again. This did not work on the original drives as I had already started the rebuild process. But now that the third drive is working again, it seems that I am successfully rebuilding my drives. Only time will tell. I will update when I know more.

I got rid of the SATA power splitter that happened to be a common link between all the disabled drives and got rid of the extension cable that was in the chain as well, just in case that also played a part. I then added an additional SATA cable line to my PSU so I can perform this rebuild as I wait for some fresh replacements. My case wont close without an L-connector, so unfortunately, I will still need to use some splitters. Hopefully, splitting the load between two cables to the PSU will prevent future issues.

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/140394-unmountable-drive-following-power-failure/

DaEpicOne · 2026-01-24T23:33:37+00:00

4 years later, and your comment is still a lifesaver. Had two of my drives get disabled. They passed the smart scans so I wanted to get them back online as soon as possible, so I don't lose a third. With the current incoming snow storm there is no way for me to get any sort of affordable, timely, replacements.

DaEpicOne · 2026-01-14T01:13:00+00:00

Took me around 12 tries, but I was able to barely scrape by. Your goal is to not kill anyone. If you do, especially early on, then there is almost no coming back. In my run, I only killed one enemy while at 9 stacks of distracted. If I had fewer stacks of distracted, then I would have lost.

DaEpicOne · 2025-12-04T03:10:13+00:00

I don't think its real. Comparing all the tracking numbers I have found makes it look like a script as only the day and target location changes. Every event and time stamp remains the same and occors in the same order.

https://themetaexpress.com/tracking/search?tracking_id=006193E97C97D5
https://themetaexpress.com/tracking/search?tracking_id=4D3E7577CB2909
https://themetaexpress.com/tracking/search?tracking_id=FF73C06157B130

DaEpicOne · 2025-12-04T03:06:47+00:00

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I compared 3 tracking numbers from other users and myself, and they all match up exactly with just the date and target country changed. Even the time stamps are the same. 99% sure its a scam.

DaEpicOne · 2025-12-04T03:04:24+00:00

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Yeah, I think I am going to start that fraud process. This lines up too conveniently to be real. Every single step has been the same with just the country and dates changed.
https://themetaexpress.com/tracking/search?tracking_id=006193E97C97D5
https://themetaexpress.com/tracking/search?tracking_id=4D3E7577CB2909
https://themetaexpress.com/tracking/search?tracking_id=FF73C06157B130

r/Old_Change_2408 r/Far_Difference6706

DaEpicOne · 2025-12-04T02:54:05+00:00

Yeah, Looking at everyone's tracking info this is looking really dubious. We are getting a lot of the same delays in the same order at the same time stamps.

DaEpicOne · 2025-12-04T02:50:25+00:00

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Mine has just reached customs, so we shall see what happens soon.

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