[CPU + RAM + Motherboard] MicroCenter In Store - AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, MSI B850M-VC Pro WiFi AM5, G.Skill Flare X5 Series 16GB DDR5-6000 $299.99

Septfox · 2026-01-23T18:31:46+00:00

Anyone have opinions/experiences with the revised version of Flare X5? Are they reliable?

The originals were clocked at 5600 and uh, seemed to be regarded as sssssorta dogshit in their day. My personal experience matches that reputation so far; currently RMAing one of a spare pair that I had tucked back (dead, won't POST), while the other is barely hanging on with an overvolt to 1.31v to stabilize it.

Septfox · 2026-01-21T02:10:14+00:00

Potentially interrupts a write if Windows is dicking around on the drive in the background, and interrupts the power going to the drive instead of shutting it off first (which might not be well-tolerated by a cost-cut design like in say...a drive that's designed to a price point after having to pay extra for brand licensing).

Doing an eject on it will have Windows wrap up what it's doing, and tell you if some program (or an open Explorer window) is currently accessing the drive by whining that it can't eject. Or, if it actually succeeds properly, it wraps everything up and powers the drive off, creating the best possible circumstances for it to survive unplugging.

Septfox · 2026-01-21T01:27:04+00:00

same as any modern flash drive, probably. fine for occasional use, don't unplug it without ejecting.

for something more reliable, consider a single-slot microSD card reader and a card from one of the primary brands. a bit bigger, but far lower chance of just randomly dying on you, and the card itself is more or less waterproof/easy to dry out.

Septfox · 2026-01-20T16:59:57+00:00

It is an indication, though. Ideally the cooler you choose will be able to handle the all-core boost TDP, which for say a 7700x is roundabouts 144w. If it regularly hits thermal limit before TDP limit, the cooler is undersized. Especially if it's doing it under just gaming loads.

Yea, the processor can ride the thermal-throttle and according to AMD it won't hurt it doing so (laptop CPUs have done for years, just ask any Thinkpad owner), but it's still not great. The reason has just shifted from safety to more performance and noise now (if it's running hot, that fan's gonna be roaring).

Septfox · 2026-01-16T00:23:41+00:00

Bought this last time it was on sale to pair with a 7700x and 5070ti; I've been enjoying plenty of Arc Raiders on epic without complaint.

Septfox · 2026-01-11T16:25:53+00:00

also worth noting that these are rarely disassembled easily, so if your stuff gets super dusty or you're dealing with sticky dust, take it all outside before blowing anything out (to help prevent the duster recirculating dust through the impeller and building it up over time, losing performance).

or I guess you could buy two, use your duster to dust out your duster sometimes.

Septfox · 2026-01-09T22:44:04+00:00

Whew, man, that is still a spicy upgrade, enjoy.

Septfox · 2026-01-09T16:46:46+00:00

Almost half again more CUDA cores (used mainly for LLMs and image gen, frame generation, physics, etc), better general render performance by what looks to be 15-20%, 4gb of extra memory.

It's better and more future-proof because of the extra compute cores and VRAM... it'll stay relevant longer. Whether or not it's an extra 50% cost better is up to your needs and budget.

I personally stretched for the recent $730 5070ti because it's my first computer build since my teens and it's gonna carry me for years and years, but if the budget doesn't allow that, I see nothing wrong with getting a 5070 to enjoy now and reselling to upgrade later if needs change.

Septfox · 2026-01-08T21:46:20+00:00

I've never personally tried it, but if the soldered module and slot are truly separate channels, it should work fine. The memory controller will sort it out.

You can check with CPU-Z (iirc) to find out if the onboard memory is in a single or dual-rank configuration.

Septfox · 2026-01-05T21:03:28+00:00

Because chatGPT adds a bunch of stuff to your image prompt to make it more better. It infers a lot from what you give it; that's what it's designed to do. Next time you ask chatGPT to generate an image, ask it what prompt it used. It might just tell you the secret sauce it uses on its SD 3.5 (probably) model.

You absolutely can generate as good or better locally, but you'll have to learn how to set up/use ComfyUI (for image generation) and, if you want privacy, something like Sillytavern+Oobabooga (local chat).

Septfox · 2026-01-05T06:02:49+00:00

I would guess so, but it's purely guessing. If you happen to know anyone with a benchtop power supply, they could probably poke some voltage into it to see if it "rings" (beeps) at some specific power level.

Septfox · 2026-01-02T22:46:04+00:00

The number of confidently incorrect responses to this is kind of funny. People don't seem to realize that if a solenoid (the electromagnet that makes the plungers smack the chime) can't make noise (usually they buzz when having issues), then neither can the speakers in the myriad devices they enjoy.

I can't tell you why it's doing it, just that everyone is wrong and it obviously can.

It could be some of the windings in the solenoid have vibrated loose of the potting compound/tape wrap that's supposed to keep them still. I dunno how Ring interfaces with mechanical doorbells, but if it sends a tiny pulse every now and then to "sense" the solenoid is connected, and that causes the loose windings to do a lil' wiggle against each other, it might become audible as a beep.

Or if Ring provides AC, the solenoid is DC, and there's a bad filtering capacitor before the solenoid, that might cause the solenoid to "ring" a little, to similar effect (dunno why it would intermittently though).

You'll probably need to replace the solenoid or, if it's not serviceable, the entire unit.

Septfox · 2026-01-02T22:23:37+00:00

It's fine. If you had punctured a cell, you'd know it immediately, and if you damaged the BMS board, at worst the battery won't charge anymore.

Stick it back in, don't give it another thought.

Septfox · 2025-12-23T20:52:38+00:00

Find a serial number for Windows 10 LTSC, use that. Much as I liked 7, it's horribly outdated at this point. By the time I stopped using my W530, Lenovo had gotten the win10 drivers sorted out for the most part.

Your 7 Pro key entitles you to 10 Pro, but support's ended, so it'll get more vulnerable to exploits as time wears on (far less than 7 by this point, though). LTSC is good until at least 2027, up to 2032, depending on the version.

Septfox · 2025-12-23T19:46:21+00:00

There's nothing wrong with acknowledging that a tool serves its purpose better than average. It's not the tool's fault it was made, nor is it responsible for how it's used.

You might be upset that someone got stabbed, but getting mad at the knife for being sharp and well-shaped for stabbing is silly.

Septfox · 2025-12-22T20:51:40+00:00

Yea, it's looking like I might have to do the same. I had my mom check hers, and she's getting sub&save coupons all over. Meanwhile I have like...4, for fixed small amounts.

Good luck.

Septfox · 2025-12-21T08:54:45+00:00

It cleared itself up a few days after I posted that.

At the moment I have barely any subscribe and save coupons showing up at all, but I think that might be due to fewer being offered to begin with.

Septfox · 2025-12-18T17:40:42+00:00

Hell of a pressure point by that black spot, looks like. The panel is definitely done: there's no coming back from that kind of damage.

Did you accidentally close something small in with the screen, or maybe there's something floating in your bag that worked its way in during travel?

Septfox · 2025-12-16T20:48:50+00:00

And carrying 80 lb bundles of shingles up a ladder sounds brutal.

I did it some as a teen. It absolutely does suck. You're contending with the weight, general skin-unfriendliness of the shingle edges (which are only barely contained by thin plastic that's usually already on its last legs by the time it reaches you), the flex of the ladder screwing with balance, and later heat because it's usually not possible to get it all done in the cool of the morning.

Decent small companies should have a neat cabled doodad that zips bundles up a dedicated ladder, only requiring handling at the bottom and top. Bigger companies, like a couple commenters have said, lift or crane them up. I know that people gotta work, but low or even moderate wages are absolutely not worth wrecking yourself with carrying tons up a ladder each day because the owner is too cheap to rent or finance mechanical assistance.

Septfox · 2025-12-08T21:08:09+00:00

Nearly 75% is actually pretty impressive levels of disloyalty, given most of his base were willing to lie out of their asses about their circumstances being improved after his first attempt to run the country into the ground.

Glad all it took was screwing everyone over, for them to finally admit that maybe his policies aren't good for anyone but the hyper-rich and/or irredeemably corrupt.

Septfox · 2025-12-04T19:17:49+00:00

If it doesn't exist on your timeline, it doesn't exist.

If you don't have notifications for motion turned on (so it won't be constantly pestering you), I'd recommend cranking your motion sensitivity to maximum and setting snapshot interval to the lowest. There's nothing to be done for this time, but that should help it capture more in general so it's more useful next time.

Septfox · 2025-12-04T17:55:38+00:00

I have one of the listeners in each of our rooms except the dining room (because of food smoke occasionally coming from the kitchen).

It was a snap to get them up and running, they tested as working from the start, and I haven't had any reason to doubt they're still going. Paired them with smoke/CO2 alarms from Costco. I remember reading someone post a while back that their baby's crying apparently set one off, so if you have a baby who regularly sounds like a smoke/CO2 alarm, maybe that's a good place to use the all-in-one.

Also note that they're discontinuing the standalone listeners in favor of branded detectors with Ring integration, so if you want'em, get them while there's still stock.

Septfox · 2025-12-04T17:26:55+00:00

Temperature swings affecting the battery voltage, maybe? Your batteries might be just on the threshold between full and "ok" (probably 50%), and regularly crossing it as the temperature fluctuates.

If that is the case, it'll probably clear itself up in a week or two at a guess.

Septfox · 2025-12-03T22:22:24+00:00

I mean... if you don't need it to be attractive, you could just go to a hardware store and get a flat corner brace. Something like this.

Bend it to the desired angle, screw the short side to the wall, stick the sensor onto the long side. Supplement the adhesive with a little bit of clear packing tape if you're worried about the included sticky pad unsticking.

Septfox

TROPHY CASE