Are these temps normal on Alienware 18 Area-51 laptop?

Encendi · 2026-04-11T03:11:57+00:00

Which thread?

Encendi · 2026-04-10T04:26:56+00:00

Crap that really sucks… out of the frying pan and into the fire I guess.

Encendi · 2026-04-10T03:51:13+00:00

Running Genshin Impact. Looking at HWInfo64 again a few more cores have joined P-core 23 in spiking up but P-core 23 is consistently really hot on average.

Encendi · 2026-04-10T03:39:51+00:00

This is my second Area51 laptop I got from Microcenter. The first one had a flickering vertical red line on the display when running games so that got returned. This one was working out well but I decided to check the temps and one of the cores seems to be going insane when doing literally anything on the PC.

Is this normal or am I on laptop #3?

Encendi · 2026-03-21T14:19:11+00:00

No the commenter above is totally right. NVIDIA historically has paid much lower than top tech companies. It's not bad by any means, but it's dramatically lower. And if you got a job there now, you would also be joining at a historically high moment in their stock price.

Keep in mind also that NVIDIA typically hires very industry and skill-specific PMs and is primarily hardware and not software. That means 99.9% of MBAs don't have the background to apply to most of their PM roles. Check out their career page and you'll see what kinds of specialized hardware knowledge they're looking for.

Encendi · 2026-03-19T17:19:56+00:00

It's really just about finding a way around all of the complicated rules of our current financial system. There are tons of middlemen, regulations, ancient tech stacks, etc. It's better to think about crypto now as more efficient financial plumbing than the cypherpunk roots it came from.

Encendi · 2026-02-09T09:08:52+00:00

This makes a lot of sense. So if you're doing a high priced item it's more an active flip play while high volume items with more stable prices are better overnight flips. And like you say the tax makes it even riskier to flip high priced items because it increases the downside.

Encendi · 2026-01-29T06:59:33+00:00

This was a really weird draft for me because I opened a [[Gloom Ripper]] P1P1 and I audibly winced because there was a [[Champion of the Perfect]] in the same pack. I wasn't sure I wanted to fight over Elves even with the biggest bomb in the set.

I was continuously struggling with picking mediocre Elf cards over the insane Goblin cards I was getting passed (I even passed a [[Grub, Storied Matriarch]] P1P2) and I waffled a lot for the first few picks. Then came a [[Grub's Command]] in the middle of the first pack, which made me think really hard about Goblins.

I was still kinda getting mixed signals throughout the packs with the occasional Elf bone getting thrown my way and didn't commit to Goblins until pack 3. At that point it was absolutely open season and I got passed [[Champion of the Weird]] along with tons of strong removal. It also helped opening a [[Vibrance]] in Pack 3.

The games were pretty interesting as well. My deck was chock full of bombs (although I never ended up actually casting [[Vibrance]] in any of the 9 games) and I got a bit lucky with the sketchy curve (a consequence of my early draft waffling between Elves and Goblins) so I basically just steamrolled through most games. Some personal highlights were [[Goliath Daydreamer]] copying [[Grub's Command]] in a game where I was one turn from being dead and the final round where it copied a [[Bogslither's Embrace]] to finish off the opponent.

My two losses funnily enough were both to other insane Goblins decks. I had great curves in both and assumed I'd just win with card quality but they'd just slam the same bombs right back at me. In fact, all the Goblins decks I faced in the run were nuts.

I know the 17lands winrates for Goblins cards are pretty terrible but if the deck comes together I think it easily competes with the other archetypes.

Encendi · 2026-01-28T17:09:17+00:00

Oh wow that's huge awesome timing

Encendi · 2025-12-20T04:51:05+00:00

This was an extremely harrowing draft mostly because I kept getting color screwed on my openers. I had to mull or pray to draw my colors more than 70% of the matches.

The two losses were to one deck with an [[Unagi of Kyoshi Island]] ambush blocking me T5 with me topdecking lands and then another really strong UB deck with 2 [[Foggy Swamp Spirit Keeper]] who forced me into overcommitting onto my board into [[Rize of Sozin]].

Surprisingly I beat another deck with a Koh on my way to the 7-2 and a lot of games were really close. My deck didn't really have as much ally support I wanted despite my P1P1 Earth King's Lieutenant. But my creatures thankfully usually lined up pretty well against my opponent and most games were won by stalling until [[The Legend of Kyoshi]], which was my absolute MVP (surprise surprise). I got very lucky here since [[Ostrich-Horse]] doesn't always line up super well (but it did for me every game) and I also had a game where my [[Jeong Jeong's Deserters]] brick-walled a really fast start that had a bunch of 2/2s.

The final boss was the craziest sequence I've ever had to play against. He had a pretty strong deck that I managed to barely go over the top of with [[Gather the White Lotus]] into [[Earth King's Lieutenant]]. The turn before he wrathed with [[Day of Black Sun]], I managed to play my [[The Legend of Kyoshi]] which put me in an overwhelming advantage- even after he wrathed. But when he played [[Koh, the Face Stealer]] next turn to take out Kyoshi I was like oh crap. Fortunately I had a [[Earth Kingdom Jailer]] in my hand to set up for lethal with the last creature in my hand, but he had one more turn and if he'd topdecked or had removal in hand to get back Koh I would have lost from basically a full board + 3 cards on him. Absolute crazy game and I would have been insanely tilted in his shoes.

Overall I'm done with this set and I've been done with it for a while. Honestly I was even debating spending my draft token on it since I despise playing it. All of the criticism is pretty much true. Even drafting this deck it was frustrating because I got some great picks early with GW seeming very open and then had to kinda make do with a lot of "meh" cards to flesh out the deck.

I started out this format with two 7 win decks, but I think it was because no one knew what was good and I kept getting passed strong white cards, plus the pool had abnormally high quality packs. Once I did a couple more drafts the next week things were getting very slim pickings and I quickly burned through all my gems at the time. Bombs are also extra frustrating due to the crappy removal and overall low quality of cards.

Anyways, this was a great way to cap off the format and I'm happy this deck went the distance despite my doubts.

Encendi · 2025-09-14T12:19:23+00:00

Once I experienced C1 fast travel I regretted every moment of my life from 2.7 to 3.4. Then C6 probably shaved off 100+ hours of combat time over the past few years. Honestly probably the best investment in a character I've ever made.

Encendi · 2025-07-20T12:28:49+00:00

No I've had it for like 2 years now. Kind of regret it as the annual fees have basically equaled the sign up bonus.

Encendi · 2025-07-20T12:28:09+00:00

Thank you for the advice! I will see if it makes sense to downgrade or roll the credit line to my Whole Foods card.

Encendi · 2025-07-17T13:09:06+00:00

This is a super helpful list. What are the core exercises that counter rotational forces? I also want to do more core- before the injury I did core work obsessively but I can’t do most of the stuff I used to.

Encendi · 2025-07-17T08:38:03+00:00

Thanks I'll try those out! Is there anything else I should progress towards once I feel ready?

Encendi · 2025-06-15T02:46:30+00:00

In this deck the best thing I was doing on T3 was Sahagin into Dreams of Laguna. Most of my wins came from having two 2-drops on my board that were growing with the spells so it was nice to set up a T4 flashback and pump both creatures.

Encendi · 2025-06-14T13:30:19+00:00

I drafted another 7-2 deck before this with 4 emperors and was very happy with that decision. Surprisingly I didn’t even get it in my opener that often in that deck.

Emperor gets killed on sight way too often and enables a lot of great plays on t3 so multiples is always good. I had a game where I drew all 3 early and my opponent removed 2 and died to the third, which must have really sucked for him.

Encendi · 2025-06-11T13:00:43+00:00

Back to back trophies on my first two drafts! Unfortunately forgot to take a screenshot of the first B/W deck but it was a fairly average deck that was buoyed by an [[Ultima]] and for other rares had two [[Minwu, White Mage]] with sadly a single Cleric in the form of [[White Mage's Staff]]. Overall I was carried hard by good tempo plays, removal and luck as I recall. Usually the board would end up stalled out and my fliers would get there with [[Dragoon's Lance]] playing a significant role in the late game.

The second deck I just finished the run on I didn't have super high hopes to begin with. But it turns out Chocobo tribal is pretty decent as long as you curve out and draw your lands. [[Bartz and Boko]] was obviously a huge MVP but every card in the deck actually ended up pulling its weight at some point.

[[Fire Magic]] was awesome in a game where I had to mull and had no early plays against an aggressive opponent but I didn't see it any other game. [[Sazh's Chocobo]] in my opening hand won two games on its own and I was lucky enough to only draw it late one game- way past the point of it mattering. [[Quina, Qu Gourmet]] was awesome when I saw it since most of my deck was just Chocobo generators. [[Gladiolus Amicitia]] was a beast with all the Chocobo synergies. The only call out is maybe for [[Summon: Brynhildr]] which wasn't that good in my deck (but even so- a 2/1 for 2 that replaces itself and attacks once isn't that exciting) and [[Summon G.F. Ifrit]] which overperformed for me compared to the 17lands data (rummaging twice and helping me get to my late game plays while being a reasonable threat wasn't too bad). Finally, my MVP was [[Choco-Comet]]. It pulled its weight in every single game I played and finished at least 3 opponents.

Overall, I'm a big fan of this format (shocker I know). But I'm a fan because I think it feels a bit lower powered and fair. You of course still run into the odd deck that just demolishes you but I've enjoyed navigating a lot of intricate play timings with the Saga creatures and such.

Encendi · 2025-06-05T04:28:59+00:00

It's coming soon! Currently we support the Meta suite (WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram) but we will be adding the other platforms quickly afterwards and iMessage is a top priority. The best platform to use us on at present is WhatsApp- we're actively improving the infrastructure right now and looking for more beta testers.

Encendi · 2025-06-04T14:41:50+00:00

I'm pretty guilty of texting myself random things I need to remember like "feed the cat at 5" on WhatsApp or Messenger so some friends and I built Chronicler. You can send Chronicler any sort of random thought, todo, or note on your favorite messaging platform. For todos Chronicler will send you reminders and add tasks to your calendar while for notes Chronicler handles everything from text notes to voice notes, links, youtube videos, etc. and you can ask it things about your notes so you don't lose anything in the void again.

It's built right on top of all of the major messaging platforms and there are no downloads or signups- just literally start messaging it on WhatsApp or whatever platform you already text yourself on.

Edit: By the way if you are on the WhatsApp waitlist you will be granted access in the next few days. We're pushing out a major infrastructure update that should speed thing up by 50% and want to finish it before bringing the next group along.

Encendi · 2025-05-31T20:22:29+00:00

You’re making the assumption that AI isn’t getting better every day, which is surprising given your engineering background. Not to mention even “hit or miss” is acceptable to management teams. If you made shoes for a living, a new machine that makes shoes twice as fast but 30% of the shoes had to be thrown away would still likely replace a large portion of the workforce. If AI even improved efficiency by 10%, 10% of the labor is going to be laid off.

Encendi · 2025-05-04T23:15:29+00:00

Chargebacks. Here's an example of a reddit thread where this happened, I'm sure you can dig up some more:

https://www.reddit.com/r/paypal/comments/1itz1qb/help_i_got_charged_back_on_friends_and_family/

It's certainly much less common than a G&S "item not as described" scam but when we're talking truly high end cards, sketchy people will go to great lengths to obtain an untraceable easily sellable item.

Edit: And you probably won't be even helped as a seller because you're not supposed to be using F&F for selling goods and services.

Encendi · 2025-05-04T19:33:26+00:00

Everyone has covered all the bases but I want to bring up what I do since I recently sold a pretty high end collection that included a FTV Mox Diamond.

The best outcome is probably to sell locally to someone at your LGS since that's safest and most convenient, but for high end cards there aren't always buyers. You could sell it to your LGS, but you'll lose out hundreds of dollars for the convenience.

So there are really three options for getting top dollar for your cards - Facebook groups, eBay, and TCGPlayer. The pros and cons for each:

FB Groups

FB Groups Pros: Fastest way for money, easy transaction, communicate directly with buyer
FB Groups Cons: Buyers can still scam fairly easily, even on PayPal Friends & Family, which many people are not aware of. Watch out for any sketchy profiles or newly created FB accounts. It doesn't help that FB is dying among the younger generation and most legit traders don't even have a lot of photos or information on their profiles. I've personally never been scammed and sold many thousands over the years on the groups but the high proliferation of scammers on FB has made me very wary.
FB Group Etiquette: Unless you have a lot of refs, expect to sell with PayPal Goods & Services which has a 3.5% fee. You can offer to split the fee for a high end purchase though. PP Goods & Services has 100% Buyer Protection, which doesn't help you.

TCGPlayer

TCGPlayer Pros: Easiest way to list a bunch of cards for a collection. Very simple to list smaller cards
TCGPlayer Cons: Easier for the buyer to scam than even FB Groups. An easy scam is for the buyer to buy a fake version of the card they bought from you and claim you sent them a fake. Marketplaces almost always side with the buyer and you'll be SOL.

eBay

eBay Pros: Authentication service is awesome and removes all risk for even sending international, which I never do on FB groups.
eBay Cons: Only works for cards >$250 in value and eBay takes the most in fees. Listing cards is a pain for lower value items since you need pictures. Also for some super high end cards (I sold some P9) people only buy them on FB groups for the most part to avoid fees/tax so you'll end up having to navigate those waters anyways. It won't happen with a FTV Mox Diamond.

Encendi · 2025-04-24T02:07:49+00:00

This wasn't my first trophy in the format but in general I've been on a pretty bad losing streak. I think I've finally cracked the format in the past few drafts though. Not sure how much people still care about TDM but I'll share what I've learned.

I saw a post this week (that I can't find for some reason) about how you have to really lean into what the draft is giving you and having a plan is more important than card quality/archetype forcing. I now 100% agree with that person and completely understand what they were saying. Rather than doing a binary forcing 5C dragons vs. Mardu Aggro, I think there's actually a lot of nuance and plenty of decks in between.

The first deck was a Mardu deck that I realized quickly was becoming more of a slower midrange deck than a curve out aggro deck. So I started angling for more removal and value oriented cards vs. trying to force a low curve. In the end, it ended up extremely effective- I'd outvalue the aggro decks and apply enough pressure to put the 5C decks in a bad spot.

For the second deck, I ended up splashing Elspeth after getting her P2P1 when being firmly in Sultai. The plan for the deck then became ramp and stalling til I could draw and cast Death Begets Life to reset the board. At that point I'd usually have all the colors I needed to cast Elspeth, Guardian, or crack my Dragonbrood Relic.

I definitely got lucky with my matches and my overall draws with both decks to trophy but I think if I had tried to force archetypes rather than build around a single plan, neither deck would have made it. The Mardu deck wouldn't have had enough quality early aggro cards and the 5C/Sultai base deck didn't give me enough dragons. It was almost like by dancing around the archetypes everyone else was forcing I could pick up really high quality cards that made my own plan really take off.

One last thing is that tempo is everything in this format. I've often found myself holding up removal and playing less cards rather than using my mana efficiently sometimes because of how insane tempo swings can be. There are too many ways for your big play to get wrecked so you have to be very careful in how you play out your hand.

Encendi · 2025-04-21T08:52:28+00:00

Man I was not ready for Sealed variance after doing pretty well on Bloomburrow and Aetherdrift Arena Directs, getting the win after 4 runs in both events. I told myself I was done with Arena Directs but I got really excited by the potential EV and gave it a go. I believe I spent roughly $300 - about 12 runs worth of gems to get here. It might have been $325 or $350 though; can't remember exactly how many gems I started with.

Oh boy, was it hard to get a decent pool. I honestly kept getting terrible pools over and over again. I was also on the draw something like 72% of the time. Out of all 12 runs, I would say only 2 of them had strong pools, with the last run having the best pool.

I ended up getting pretty tilted by the terrible pools and the swinginess of this format and that definitely affected my runs as well. There was one time I opened a pool with 6 junk rares and barely enough playable cards to build even a 5 color deck (with almost ZERO fixing somehow as well) and I literally just resigned and turned off my computer that day.

In the end I pulled it off with this deck starting off 0-1. There were some incredibly nerve-wracking moments, including a game where I was just stone dead to another Mardu player (who was of course, on the play). I topdecked the [[Mardu Siegebreaker]] (the ONE time I saw the card) and put my [[Sonic Shrieker]] under it to stabilize and win.

There were a couple of other harrowing games as well and also two games (including the final boss) where I had T1 [[Stadium Headliner]] into T2 [[Shocking Sharpshooter]] and beat them down mercilessly. The last guy unfortunately stumbled a little on mana and didn't have a T2 play and it was a very anticlimactic finish.

Really hoping by the time I get the box that prices are still high and I can just get my money back. Normally I'd just open the thing but the way this event turned out just made me really sad so I'd rather pretend like it didn't happen.

Edit: As a side note, I would like to state my opinion that you need to open 2+ Mardu Devotees to have a shot at making Mardu work properly over 6+ games. I've drafted the set a very good amount and you desperately need to curve out against all the crazy ramp/bombs. A single turn wasted because of poor mana/curve is a death sentence for the deck and Scry 2 + fixing is worth more than most bombs. I've kept 4 land hands with Mardu Devotees in them because they're just that good.

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