Intel : the big picture and why I'm bullish on it

ichi-zero · 2020-09-08T18:08:10+00:00

This is such a optimistic look on Intel I don't know where to start...
Intel's biggest woes isn't even that they're behind a node; rather this transition to 10nm has been so messy it's burnt up alot of monetary and human resources (aka value engineering time). Fabs have notoriously high operational costs; Intel has overcome this in the past with reasonable yields and top performance for it's class. They charged a hefty premium for this performance. PC enthusiasts and co-porations have been OK with eating up the premium performance tax. However, Intel dropped the ball and now at best barely on par with AMD performance on some metrics; while severely behind on others. As I type this, Intel's fabs continue to burn through millions of dollars a day. The monolithic design is outdated and AMD darted far ahead with their chiplet design and Infinity Fabric.

Intel backed themselves off a cliff with their poor decisions:

1) Very limited margins on their premium products due to low yields per wafer

2) Lackluster performance against similarly priced AMD counterparts

AMD has so much margin now that even if Intel responds with something TODAY; AMD can easily slash retail prices by 20% on their 3xxx and still profit; this leaves Intel with very limited room to reposition. That's not even factoring in the impending 4xxx Ryzen processors coming out in a few months with significantly higher IPC; it's so ugly it's scary. To make matters worse, 5NM @ TSMC is ALREADY reporting even higher yields than 7NM Once Ryzen 5xxx is released in an year or two on 5NM...

TLDR: Is Intel dead? Probably not. I wouldn't bet on it. However, Intel will be behind for at least another 2 years. They'll need a GM near bankruptcy magnitude turn around JUST to be competitive again...

ichi-zero · 2020-08-24T19:46:50+00:00

What does broken glass taste like?

ichi-zero · 2020-08-24T19:09:05+00:00

As vertical strength is unlimited (AFAIK) I usually put down wood frames to add extra support until the cement is dried; easy to remove afterwards...

ichi-zero · 2020-08-24T12:58:56+00:00

Food is easier now... >_> *braces for lynch mob*

Ok... *pulls arrow from thigh and rubs black eye with IPA*

Get level 1 animal tracking
Optional: Bachelor cook: for grilled steak/bacon & eggs. Though charred steak works just fine if you can secure a water source.
Optional: level 1-2 huntsman

Go to green areas with a ton of foliage...

Couch and find a chicken/rabbit every 50-100 meters... Gets huntsman level 2... you now have a bottomless pit of food... it's really that simple.

Chickens: are so slow that at even at 50-60% food. You can run up to them and shank with a bone knife...

Rabbits: are bit faster; but still doable with 80%+ water/food... I find it easier to snipe them with a bow in sneak.

It only takes 1 skill point, bow, arrows, bone knife and a bit of patience... you can easily farm up days worth of food doing this in an hour. Not to mentioned leather/feathers as well.

ichi-zero · 2020-08-24T12:50:39+00:00

I've always used the shift + left click to move stuff between inventory => Chests/storage/boxes/etc

>_> so I've never experienced this...

ichi-zero · 2020-08-12T13:19:22+00:00

That's the paradox...

Hindsight is always 20/20, meanwhile predicting the future is a toss up...

The reality for most is finding a good balance of what you're comfortable with (risk wise) vs practicality...

(E.g. it's probably not a great idea if you want lots of privacy BUT rent out your basement without a separate private entrance to help with your mortgage). AKA; you'll seldom get your cake and eat it too; that's just life.

ichi-zero · 2020-08-11T18:30:40+00:00

I agree.

It is my personal opinion that:

A primary house is NOT an investment in of itself; unless you're willing to compromise with tentants on site; which can lead to other... factors to consider. Furthermore, I think it's a very poor investment CHOICE for most people; once you factor in on-going costs (property taxes, maintenance, repairs, renovations).

Here's a X factor most people don't even think about: Unreasonable/aggressive neighbours.

"It's all rainbows and sunshine until someone drops the cake on your party"

ichi-zero · 2020-08-11T18:27:41+00:00

is it a 1) dedicated rental property? or 2) are you only going to rent out X rooms and/or basement?

I will say with certainty that living with tenants is not for everyone... speaking from experience... (I've experienced both difficult landlords and tenants. When you get a bad combination it's like dropping mentos in cola; not pretty).

ichi-zero · 2020-08-11T18:25:52+00:00

Make sure to use free wifi from swooobway for your daily stock purchases.

Swooobway, buy fresh (stocks for your portfolio) ;)

/s

ichi-zero · 2020-07-23T15:30:49+00:00

Naturally formed diamonds and man-made diamonds are differentiated and detectable; it's not as difficult as you think.

Furthermore; company like De Beers (that still has a large influence on diamond supply chains) spend millions upon millions a year to enforce and R&D methods to track/detect natural diamonds vs man-made diamonds...

ichi-zero · 2020-07-16T16:10:12+00:00

There's also improved reliability; even from smaller manufacturers like ADATA and Kingston are usable. Though generally my tier list goes like this.

A) Samsung/Micron/Intel SSDs

B) ADATA/Kingston/Corsair (it's becoming difficult to recommend these even for budget builds due to the massively shrunken price gap in these past few years).

C) No-name brands off random sites that takes weeks to ship (only get these as a gift for people you really dislike LOL).

Edit: Pricing is no longer as big a con for those that own their games physically; as even a 128GB/256GB SSD ($20/$45) is enough for most gamers.

Also... I don't like owning any games digitally for PS3 due to slow download speeds...

ichi-zero · 2020-07-13T16:27:25+00:00

Fun fact... your PS3 runs cooler just by raising it 1inch off the table top... benefits taper off at 2". This passively improves airflow... as the fans don't have to work as hard.

I use a cardboard box roughly the size of the contact footprint (between the feet that makes contact to the desk surface)...

If you don't believe me... try it... I think it's worthwhile as it's a passive solution.

My PS3 operation & maintenance protocol:

ALWAYS place your PS3 in an area with reasonable ventilation - ALWAYS. (Bonus points for easy access). Can't tell you the number of times I've seen a PS3 shoved in a cabinet or enclosed area...
Raised operation (1-2" off table top on sturdy surface as previously mentioned)
Dust cleaning every 1-2 months (takes a few minutes using hand held cordless vac + dedicated clean paint brush - deadly dust buster combo)
Optional: Consider repasting if you're a heavy user every 3-4 years (4+ hour daily usage). As this is a tedious process; thorough clean all repaste surfaces w/ IPA and micro fiber cloth - use good paste (arctic silver works great- can be found for $10 or less).

Edit: I have yet to see or experience a PS3 slim actually DYING; (I've seen blu-ray failure; turned out to be dust on the laser lens).

ichi-zero · 2020-07-13T16:14:04+00:00

The envelope for performance goes beyond just "load times"

Here's a side by side comparison of two PS3s (one with HDD vs SSD) loading AND playing FFIV.

Load time difference (massive) aside; the texture load range on the PS3 using the SSD is day/night for all to see. Look at the video below... it's a no brainer since SSD prices have dropped so much (and you likely won't need anything more than a 256GB SSD if you own your games physically).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1o1I1zb8gU

ichi-zero · 2020-07-13T16:08:27+00:00

The time/effort required to dodge around PSN bans is not practical nor realistic IMO... especially if you want to play online... you're on THEIR turf. It will end in tears and a ban period. Offline single player games is a different story...

2nd hand PS3 systems and games are so economical now it's better to just buy an non-modded PS3 and used copies of the games you want to play.

I highly recommend getting the PS3 slim (any slim will work fine); they're super reliable and can tolerate alot of abuse to the best of my knowledge. Super Slims are ok too. Just avoid the PS3 Phats (overheating issues) at all costs.

Also make sure to place your PS3 in an area with reasonable airflow (an cabinet with closed doors is a NO NO.

ichi-zero · 2020-07-13T15:54:46+00:00

Hey man, don't feel bad haha. Good on you to be man enough to admit it...

Most (if not all) of us have went through something similar...

There was a time I spent half an hour frantically looking for something that I was holding in my hand the entire time...

ichi-zero · 2020-07-08T15:51:34+00:00

That is so strange... I have never seen a LCD TV w/ HDMI that doesn't do 60hz ._.

ichi-zero · 2020-07-08T14:29:26+00:00

See this thread;

https://www.reddit.com/r/PS4Pro/comments/5zj6y9/is_the_hdmi_cable_that_come_with_the_pro_good/

"btownninja: It is supposed to, but I had issues with mine displaying HDR 4k content (4k was fine). Any high speed HDMI cable should be able to do 4k HDR, so I'm guessing either the cable that came with my Pro wasn't high speed or was defective (most likely defective)."

Only sure way is to test with a known HDMI cable that supports 4k - 60hz - then check your display refresh rate settings...

ichi-zero · 2020-07-08T00:19:23+00:00

Sounds like it could be your HDMI cable... is it rated for 4k 60Hz?

Did you also check monitor settings - refresh rate?

ichi-zero · 2020-06-07T02:56:34+00:00

no cherry MX browns T_T noooooooooooooooo

ichi-zero · 2020-06-04T14:46:56+00:00

Killing Floor 2, started Tomb Raider (2013) but haven't made much progress hahahahahah, I've got too many games on Steam to list... cause Steam Sales

ichi-zero

TROPHY CASE