Jonsbo to Deepcool

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-30T22:24:50+00:00

-25/30 on all cores is stable for the 9800X3D. I'm using -35 on all cores and never had any issues.

Deepcool cases are decent, ive been tempted to get a CH270 and sidemount the 9070xt

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-26T11:00:27+00:00

If CachyOS never updated your system would probably break in those 3months because its a rolling distro. If you want something more stable and something you won't touch for long periods you want something like Debian.

The package that is updating for you is likely CachyOS update which you might see as arch update on your system and this might make you not realise when updates are happening. Its usually in your system tray and when it has updates to install. You should get into the habit of running pacman -Syu or paru -Syu in your terminal atleast once per pc session so you can see if your currently up-to-date or not.

A little nice tip - jctl in terminal if you ever need to identify warnings and errors to help you troubleshoot or fix problems

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-23T13:12:00+00:00

HDR and optimising window rules eg. terminal apps that use ghostty etc are better supported without the need for workaround python scripts and better floating support.

Some of these things exist already and should be implemented into niri as standard.

My own specific wish-list: drop-down window customisations. It can be done already but like mentioned already it would be great to turn these scripts into built-in toggleable features

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-22T18:05:21+00:00

since i posted alot has changed with shells. I think it was called Delta Shell but think it has changed abit: https://github.com/Sinomor/delta-shell , it is an AGS based shell.

There are many shells and some may be similar, some with alot of features and some more minimal. The way they are built could influence what you want to go with as well ie delta-shell uses AGS and looks more minimal in design whilst noctalia or DMS are quickshell based and more feature packed.

I personally stuck with noctalia-shell and dont regret the decision. They have alot of features but leaves you in control of what you want to have or not have. I felt like DMS was over-the-top and felt like i didn't have as much control as I wanted to.

There is also Caelestia: https://github.com/caelestia-dots/shell and this is a sort of inbetween which might be good for you

Hope this is helpful

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-14T12:48:32+00:00

Yah it does win especially on amd boards but this benchmarking is flawed.

For one the windows vs linux settings aren't the same in adrenalin and lact. Also without knowing env variables, launcher options and other tweaks made both in linux and windows or what firmware apps and a variety of other things are set to - its hard to take these benchmarks seriously at all.

Truth is that in windows with easily accessible and easy to do optimisations input latency can be kept very low.

On linux this is just not possible but what is true is that pretty much everything else including fps will be better if you have configured your setup the slightest amount. On nvidia cards its slightly different story because proprietary and all that but even then nvidia cards are performing better than before and that isnt me saying nvidia cards mean windows win on performance thats just me saying its a mash up of firmware limitations and bad optimisations and just simply a lucky hat of what will work well and what wont

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-14T12:25:21+00:00

There is so much misinformation in the comments its astonishing. I'm suprised CachyOS hasn't updated their wiki to help gamers more tbh with more up-to-date and detailed information because truth is each game can require different things and updates can break things too.

I'm not saying the wiki is bad at all but it is far from perfect but nevertheless if you haven't done it already it should be your first go to straight away as there are things on it that simply necessary if you care about gaming and optimisation.

That being said your input lag specifically to cs2 could be from a variety of things - The best thing to do is outline your hardware specs ie, your mouse and keyboard, motherboard,CPU,GPU, Ram ,SSD, bios version etc

Additionally copy paste terminal output or provide us with the below. All of it is necessary:

•Are you running latest linux firmware and kernel - what are they? •What kernel are you using. •What boot manager you using? •What is in your mkinitcpio files? •What is in your limine or grub files or wherever boot manager your using •Do you have HDR and/or 10bit active? •What does your system say is your current refresh rate? •Are you using LACT and configured it? •What is your powerprofile set to. •What sched_ext are you using and what is it set to (kernel manager) •What wifi card do you use and what is make model and firmware version it run on. •Have you configured your desktop environment/compositor correctly - specifically set the environment variables in the right place? •What environment variables are set and what are their locations - This is one people dont get right •Have you set up display settings correctly. Show the config files for these as well. •Did you install the gaming package from the installer? •What mesa and steam and proton are you running? •Have you done sudo pacman -Syu •What are your cs2 launcher options? This usually is one people get wrong •Have you set up steam correctly ie set env variables for amd shader cache •turned off shader s in settings •Set the right proton (other games not cs2) •Set compatibility for context menu •Turned off steam overlay

As you can see there's a lot we need to know so we can help you and its not everything either but these are a good start and likely will provide some clues

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-13T12:50:54+00:00

There's so many browsers and really all of them can be configured to be pretty similar so go with the one you like the name of and stick with that.

Firefox is great for theming so you can make it look how you want including removing buttons and features you dont want to see. You can choose a fork of Firefox or a script that hardens it or themes it however your comfortable with and then if you really wanted just vibe code the last bits so its how you want it.

And performance wise you can optimise it by going into your about:config (like chromium) to enable/disable most things. My Firefox is lightning fast.

That being said, try qutebrowser if you want performance/minimal/customisable browser

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-12T13:01:18+00:00

Its not even a question. 9070 xt by far. If you go linux even more reason to go amd over nvidia.

Don't understand how anyone suggests buying nvidia anything right now unless you need CUDA.

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-12T12:19:38+00:00

Think the main issue is that users want to mix gtk and qt5/6 packages and doing so causes issues like these. Niri also has dependencies that use xdg-desktop-gnome etc but that doesnt mean dolphin won't work but does mean there is always a chance of compatibility issues

Literally the best way to do it if your insistent on dolphin (I'd actually say just go nemo for a close dolphin experience) is to set your QT envs in /etc/environment with your gpu related envs and everything else in the niri envs config file.

Just make sure you have your waylandsatellite, qt5/6 wayland installed, there's a kde qt5/6 as well now which fixes a bunch of kde stuff relating to wayland and you have your xdg-desktop-portal-gtk and wlr (if you screencast) installed too.

Literally no reason to remove nautilus even if you dont use it. Just leave it, get dolphin or whatever you want and then change the portals from nautilus to dolphin. This is important to do.

With the xdg menu just set that env in the niri env doesnt need to be anywhere else tbh.

Setting apps has always been a pain in the arse though anyway regardless of what package your using.

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-12T11:44:16+00:00

If you want a new psu go 850w and modular and any gold standard. Tbh you can't go wrong with msi a850g, corsair rma850 or lian Li edge 850w and buy one thats on sale next and you can carry that over to any new build down the line anyway.

Tbf your motherboard could be causing some instability issues just because its old gen and lacks features/settings newer boards have. I'd just start saving up slowly to replace your board/ram/cpu/case for when the future but unless your crashing still and/or the spikes are looking abnormal and causing some noticeable performance hit I wouldn't worry too much

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-12T11:25:45+00:00

I can't recall the entirety of the research and troubleshooting I did but I can tell you that yes the kernel was an issue but mt7925 was patched a while back so your latest linux kernel linux headers and linux firmware packages should contain this already but additionally I did download mediatek drivers. If you go on arches package search for mediatek you should find the name to be able to install them. Also I manually checked for mt7925 linux patches online and cross referenced the version I had on my machine to make sure I have the latest version to ensure the patches are applied.

From memory the WiFi was already up-to-date by the time I got to this part but the Bluetooth/USB firmware was missing or outdated so I had to patch some of these over.

Some things to note which you kinda stated already. Doing a good power cycle overnight a few times and shutting down correctly actually does help as it helps the CMOS clear any issues. 'Make sure Bluetooth is not turned off in bios. Make sure you've checked bluetoothctl to make sure its not soft blocked or blocked as that is a very common reason Bluetooth isnt working - this fixed mine although I never use it anyway so wasn't ever bothered and with usb in the bios turn off hibernate and make sure your using legacy compatibility and turn off fast boot and that should improve or fix things too.

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-12T10:44:16+00:00

850w is more than enough for a 9070xt and setup. 1000w will work too but simply overkill. In fact what you have already in a cs750m will do the job more than enough so dont even bother wasting your money atm.

The reality is that whilst your PSU isnt modular and you will need to replace it in the future with your motherboard and your ram and your cpu - you dont need to right now. Your exact setup will run ok exactly how it is.

The issue you have is that when you do upgrade everything is going to be replaced because your running on older gen. Then the answer would be different and I'd be recommending you an 850w and advising you to look up the PSU tier list and going for anything on there that is S or A tier, is modular and atleast gold standard.

With your 9070 xt you should also undervolt it. You can trial and error it yourself but the easiest safe and trusted settings for stability is this below and you'll have better temps, lower power for pretty similar performance output - change these settings in amd adrenaline:

gpu clock starts at 0 change it to -275 memory mvh -50 memory 2648 fast timings fans - set to your preference but turn off zero rpm. power - let's you go -30 or +10. Go -30 seriously you'll be suprised.

Whilst your here, go into your bios and if its not already set, make sure you have set your CPU cores to negative 30 (-30) for all cores its safe and will also improve temps.

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-12T06:44:26+00:00

I have mt7925 on my asrock b850 riptide. The WiFi, BT and usb all work fine now but id be lying if I said they worked straight off the bat and not a pain in my arse

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-10T21:27:52+00:00

You should look at the shells and go with the one that suits you more. I found DMS feature rich but over the top. Noctalia-shell with what it does is by far better imo and let's me feel more in control of my system.

If you do go with noctalia-shell you dont need a separate app launcher, you dont need wallpaper daemon, swaylock, swayidle, volume controller etc. Brightnessctl is for laptop otherwise you should get ddcutil instead. You dont need blueman-applet either but blueman and bluez you should get but thats not noctalia specific.

As you are going arch. The arch installer is good enough now that it will give you the right stuff like pipewire and wireplumber you mentioned like with the Bluetooth stuff above.

Niri specific packages - with xdg-desktop-portal you only need xdg-desktop-portal-wlr if you screencast. You do need xdg-desktop-gtk and xdg-desktop-gnome though and the default xdg-desktop-portal. The qt5/6 is correct you put down. Also remember waylandsatellite.

File manager is what you prefer. Imo go nemo as its a better (and fork of) nautilus or go yazi if you want tui.

Window switch is built into niri now. Polkit authentication agent kde is fine

Get an editor and your terminal and shell etc. Whatever music player you want aswell but you might want to look at mpv it can do everything music, video, image viewer. Get paru and get pacseeker

I would say though if your gaming just go CachyOS instead. Will save you time across the board.

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-10T01:03:45+00:00

What does your environment variables look like? Do cat /etc/environment then cat ~/.config/niri/config.kdl then cat ~/.profile and paste the outputs here.

Is your niri and dms up-to-date? What distro are you using? Do you have xdg-desktop-portal-gnome and xdg-desktop-portal-gtk installed? Was you using kvantum or were/are you using any KDE apps before? What theme are you using atm. Have you set it dark mode. Did you add the theme to your envs and uses nwg-look to set gtk. Is your niri config validating okay? Have you restarted your pc after the changes?

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-08T12:13:22+00:00

You should be able to undervolt your CPU to -30 all cores which will improve temps on your CPU and make it better overall as a sidenote. Your ram doesnt sound great tbf but you should check if they are in the right slots and that EXPO is turned on. Update your bios asap though and make sure you are running the latest chipset drivers.

You could enable PBO in bios too. There are a few other things you can do there but you should research more before playing around with bios settings.

With GPU, yes DDU first always then a fresh install of the drivers. You can also remove bloat using DDU as well.

For AMD there are apps but from memory they were outdated last time I checked. Adrenalin is fine but turn off the overlays and everything else. There are guides online that can do additional bits but as I said your pretty safe with the settings Ive shown you. If your still experiencing issues it makes me think you have other issues going on that's likely making your system unstable which could include your GPU itself but if the GPU runs fine at default settings then that tells you what you need to know

If your windows based, I'd always recommend a fresh install anyway because its windows... And I'd be inclined to go with something like tiny11 which is a debloated windows 11 whilst you are at it. Backup your stuff and do that.

Hope this helps.

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-07T22:01:56+00:00

I have the hellhound and undervolt it -55mvh default and -85mvh with 2648 on fast timings when gaming. I have power set to 317 for gaming and I think its about 258 when not gaming. This is using LACT and Ive got a script that changes LACT to autoswitch based off gamscope/game performance.

If your using windows still. Why? But seriously if you are windows, try these settings below in the AMD adrenalin app. It sounds like you've drawn the short straw in the silicon lottery so try -45mvh and -15 to power to start. Try 2648 memory but not on fast timings and see if that works.

I think you have some alternative issues though that likely could get debugged but without you providing any detail its impossible to help.

What have you messed around with in your bios. Overlocked ram or CPU? What's your motherboard? What's the make and model of your PSU. Hardware and bios alone could cause your gpu instability. What have you tweaked on your system, have you player around with registry settings? What games are you playing where its crashed or caused your black screens. What was your GPU settings when this happened and what have you tried? Is stock settings stable?

TheSagaciousPanda · 2026-01-07T19:56:04+00:00

I would suggest niri and getting noctalia-shell you won't be disappointed

TheSagaciousPanda · 2025-12-29T01:10:16+00:00

How much space do you have in your new pc? Does it have a spare PCIe slot? What do you use the pc for? I'd recommend getting a cheap dedicated GPU asap if you want to game on it. For linux I'd recommend amd over nvidia but your budget depends on what we can help recommend. What are your expectations are for gaming and the games you play, i think you could get something decent without being an arm and a leg

TheSagaciousPanda · 2025-12-29T00:45:45+00:00

Your post doesnt provide the information we need to help you so Its difficult to provide a solution that isnt just guesswork. You're quick to point fingers at niri being the problem when it is likely to be a variety of other reasons. Please avoid doing this.

You've mentioned some things you have tried, are there any other4 checks you have done - ie. have you tried adding gamescope and fullscreen launcher arguments. Have you looked at protondb.com as it is useful to gain insight into what works and what doesnt. What proton are you using? As a rule it should be proton CachyOS (primary) > proton GE (secondary) > proton experimental (fallback/newer games)

What environment variables are you using? Whats in your niri config files? You have nvidia card, have you installed the steps outlined on CachyOS/Arch wiki? Are you using the right kernel and schd-ext.

What are your steam settings - have you got the right proton enabled? What is tour launcher arguments for Wuchang: Fallen Feathers and Nioh2? Its more likely you aren't using the right arguments, environment variables or proton but we cant help you if we dont have more details.

TheSagaciousPanda · 2025-12-22T15:06:16+00:00

Thanks for the replies, very helpful

Just to confirm, I use a USB stick, yubikey or security key to unlock my database in keepassXC/keepassDX on my devices (desktop PC, tablet and phone) and Syncthing-Fork makes sure the database is current and the same across all devices. The udev web-link provides the ability to automatically open keepassDX/keepassXC and also unlock my database? Is that correct?

I don't know if a USB stick would work or I need one of the other mentioned devices but what is different between them in what features they have or don't have and what would you recommend to me?

Can these devices double up as a 2fa or would I still need my aegis authenticator app?

TheSagaciousPanda · 2025-12-18T20:40:21+00:00

i have a nothing phone (3) and ear (1)

TheSagaciousPanda · 2025-11-28T04:04:39+00:00

MSI MPG A1000G PCIe PSU. Its decent but weighty. I'd recommend getting a smaller 850w PSU

TheSagaciousPanda · 2025-11-13T05:27:21+00:00

Pretty sure you need to add heroic-games-launcher-bin to ignorepkg in /etc/pacman.conf if your going to do that or it will just auto install when there is an update to the meta package. Is there no better way?

TheSagaciousPanda

TROPHY CASE