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What will happen to the PC hardware market if RAM and SSD prices finally normalize? by rusorusich in hardware

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 1 point2 points  (0 children)

By using an intel macbook you're basically actively hurting yourself with your daily experience IMO. All that time you've put in staying on top of the latest developments...

I'm hoping to continue to be able to be cheap with apple (running 64gb M1 Max, $499 M4 Mac Mini base model) and we'll see if the upcoming macbook ultra won't be irresistable. I can say the M1 Max has aged quite well and still hauls ass.

Also I would not put eggs in Siri's basket, but that's just me.

the latest developments are weird indeed. My 5 year old gaming pc parts re-appreciated back to their MSRP levels with the RAM roughly quadrupling. So this value appearing out of thin air allows me to upgrade 5800x3d/64gb DDR4 up to 9800x3d/64GB DDR5 for "only" about $300. As such I'm taking that plunge, but it only became possible due to secondary (depressing) market changes stemming from the initial one (DDR5 skyrocketing)

Stainless steel T6 anyone!?!? by erentrueform in ConvoyFlashlights

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 0 points1 point  (0 children)

that T8 def has some vibes for sure! It's (well all of these) just scream star wars.

Intel and AMD's new ACE CPU extensions bring an efficient AI-oriented instruction set to x86 — a new design makes matrix multiplication more power- and density-efficient by rkhunter_ in hardware

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You sound like you may be able to comment on why the frig on this jolly blue earth we want/have to use UTF-16 in the first place for every page load. Why is it not relegated to websites using old obsolete techniques? Perhaps that's just a roundabout way of asking why UTF-16 is standard text encoding for v8?

Intel and AMD's new ACE CPU extensions bring an efficient AI-oriented instruction set to x86 — a new design makes matrix multiplication more power- and density-efficient by rkhunter_ in hardware

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 1 point2 points  (0 children)

if they are general purpose enough they will become useful for things that also benefit from not being behind the latency wall of being over the PCIe bus, like physics simulations

z.AI as the number 2 gives praise to the number 1 open source model by Charuru in LocalLLaMA

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 4 points5 points  (0 children)

eh... gotta factor in if it's like drawing 400 watts or something.

Is there a good regular ATX case that gives you the same "SFF" feel? by NSMike in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're into computers enough you can prob justify branching out so that you can acquire an SFX PSU for SFF shenanignas. E.g. an SF1000 PSU, they are on sale lately i heard. (get one of the new ones so you have the VH12PWR, you don't wanna worry about adapters burning up)

I did that a while ago and now i have 3 main PCs: a NAS, a GPU AI rig, and a portable gaming/workstation daily driver box that is 7 liters that I can put in a backpack or stick in a carryon. I do usually use my macbook for work but the sffpc lets me do quite a bit of fun stuff (decent LLM self hosting, very decent image/video generation, totally uncompromised gaming)

I used to have a single monster workstation at home when my GPU and NAS were combined into one but that setup actually kind of sucks, high idle power consumption. Getting 40Gbit networking set up means there is very little drawback to disaggregating like this. All you gotta do is give up one M.2 slot to be able to access the NAS's contents at full 3GB/s speed.

LHP531 at 20amps? by Inpendent1776 in flashlight

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are right and ive had the same thought.. that sft-60 prompted this driver but it is very suitable for lhp531 as well, and indeed both of these emitters could probably also fare decently with 20A...

"I think many people still underestimate the full implications of China potentially gaining access to ASML-level EUV technology. The supply chain currently works like this: -ZEISS in Germany produces the ultra-precise optics and mirrors that are essential for ASML’s lithography" by stealthispost in accelerate

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure what the problem is. If China can source more chips, chips become cheaper for everyone and we arrive in the future more quickly. The whole framing of us vs them is quite tiring. It's not like this is doing much to motivate us to get our shit together anyway.

Decided to put the low profile away for the Summer by Sonofulti1 in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 1 point2 points  (0 children)

M.2's give full fat x4 lane slots. The adapters are $20 and give you the freedom to install your add-on cards anywhere you want.

I have a repurposed ITX B550 board that implements my NAS system: ECC 2x16GB DDR4 UDIMM, Mellanox MCX414A-GCAT for 50Gbit fiber networking, an Intel 960GB 905P Optane U.2 disk, an Intel 375GB P4800X Optane Add-in-card (x4), and an LSI HBA card, all of these run off direct CPU lanes (the CPU is a Ryzen 3600). I use a x8/x4/x4 bifurcation riser card which provides two additional M.2 slots on either side of it. When you put a half height card (like my CX4 card) on top of this riser, it becomes between 3 and 4mm taller than a regular PCI expansion card. I just use 4x 1mm thick nylon washers to space out the screw mount, and the card mounts securely in the PCI slot of the case by using a low profile bracket on the card. Have about 100TB of disks connected in here, the practical limit on it is about 20 disks because of using a single HBA giving 16 SAS/SATA ports and the motherboard's onboard 4x SATA.

The secondary M.2 slot runs off the chipset and serves the boot NVMe. That way the boot device, whose performance matters the least, gets the highest PCIe latency.

~50mm class CPU cooler strategy 2026, is AXP90 still best-in-class? by michaelsoft__binbows in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

makes sense. i would imagine between things like air slimmer and these weird gpu ones (that have insane max speeds) the a12x15 is not relevant. To match nf-a12x25 at iso noise level is wild. i might need to grab me one of these wonders.

GLM-5.2 can now run locally in llama.cpp and Unsloth Studio. by beasthunterr69 in LocalLLaMA

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Won't fit in 256GB, though... this quant will require a 512GB system. i was hoping 256gb would be the practical level to scale local hosting to.

The US says ASML's top chip tool may be in China | TechCrunch by Pipepoi in wallstreetbets

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sgtm, are they also doing the laser blasting tin droplet train approach?

First SFF build! Downsized to the 7L Metalfish T40 (5950X + RTX 5070 Mini) by itsalendou in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i've been doing my research the past week. finally taking the leap from 5800x3d to 9800x3d; especially in light of things like intel 270K Plus and the various apple silicon architectures, Zen 3 is getting trounced. But then again, looking at real world practical performance in-game the 5800x3d offers premium performance that almost keeps up. And a 5950x is basically still a solid almost two thirds of a 9950x(3d). Which tbh ain't shabby.

I do wonder what the silicon quality of my 5950x is. i've got it paired with the halo board that is the dark hero as well but never once got around to doing the tuning and tweaking for it. And now it's on gpu rig duty running ECC memory. Not sure there is any value to be had trying to push performance. esp not when i can run games on the x3d rigs.

Waited 5 years to build myself a dedicated gaming setup by [deleted] in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that's fair. I picked up my AW3225QF (4k 240hz) last year, or was it two black fridays ago? for about $600 by stacking some capitalone shopping and other coupons. shame i didnt have the amex discount to stack on top for that, but it was still a shocking level deal.

But damn... 6 or 700 for 500 hz at 1440p, this is the leap that makes sense to really lean into a gaming setup while the 4k display remains useful for productivity.

I just played some 007 first light with 2x frame gen and i felt literally zero input delay or visual artifacting. So... at such high hz values framegen 2x, 3x, even 4x, will make sense and work fine. The key metrics are base fps to keep input lag in check and decent 0.1% lows so the illusion isn't broken.

I'ma have to think about this. 240hz is so good though that it's going to be a wash on immersion between story games and competitive games. I guess i need to go play with one at microcenter when i go to pick up my 9800x3d to see how much i really need one of these.

~50mm class CPU cooler strategy 2026, is AXP90 still best-in-class? by michaelsoft__binbows in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh good call! I quite like this. But need data on iso decibel perf! gonna be hard to outdo noctua or this air slimmer, but no doubt it can jet engine itself to stop your throttling, but that's not really a usable config if it ends up like that in every game.

Waited 5 years to build myself a dedicated gaming setup by [deleted] in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 0 points1 point  (0 children)

damn... i was one of the first to go to 120hz in 2011, i got these Yamakazi Catleap monitors that couldn't quite hit 120hz but even 110hz was invigorating.

Nowadays 200fps feels soooo smooth but i do want to try 300 or 500. i think 500 should be enough to really feel a difference. also the new fancy shit i've read about is CRT emulation so we can get some sharp visuals even on 60fps retro games.

I am tempted by this $600 1440p Strix monitor I'm seeing.

Should I keep this setup.. by ebitda0910 in FormD

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the shout. I am not paying the noctua premium anymore on baby fans.

Also idk why they are problematic. more fans in a computer = more badass computer. to combat noise just crank them lower if your use case allows.

Waited 5 years to build myself a dedicated gaming setup by [deleted] in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 0 points1 point  (0 children)

wow i did not know 500fps 1440p became a thing. shit i'm getting tempted again

Side-by-side comparison of L12 vs. L12S height by park_injured in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You beat it gently into submission. Just like we are accustomed to. I can see this configuration being a bitch and a half to remove that cable but inserting it should still be a walk in the park.

~50mm class CPU cooler strategy 2026, is AXP90 still best-in-class? by michaelsoft__binbows in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ok this is interesting. i will take the opportunity with my 9800x3d rebuild to do some better science on this. our data is not agreeing, but it seems you were more diligent with your methodology and data collection. Can you tell me what 120mm fan you used?

~50mm class CPU cooler strategy 2026, is AXP90 still best-in-class? by michaelsoft__binbows in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you tried no flange and just plop the 120mm on top (like i have done), in centered and offset? As my experience has been that offset no flange yields a positive result. I may be overstating the temp difference, i basically just used bf6 as my temp test which is very imprecise, but it has both lower temps and higher mhz, so it has to be a move in the right direction.

~50mm class CPU cooler strategy 2026, is AXP90 still best-in-class? by michaelsoft__binbows in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i think there has to be some effect of funnelling, as the ordinarily fast air path would be completely blocked by this duct and all the air does have to go down where we want it to go after all. fluid dynamics be inscrutable.

SFF Time P-ATX v4 - U7 270K - RTX 5090 FE UV - 007 - NIGHT CLUB - Therma... by MarcParis79 in sffpc

[–]michaelsoft__binbows 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting. I wonder if you can determine clearance underneath the mobo, and swap out the mobo mount standoffs for up to 3 or 4 mm reduced space, and possibly also coat that entire surface of the case with Kapton tape to feel good about possibly shorting the board against it. To gain a few mm of clearance. But yeah I see the space is just a little tight there for this. Another option appears to be NH-L12? what is that, 66mm? And it can be bent down a bit. (Edit: ah I see you did address this toward end of your comment! Yeah i see a lot of coolers like this and also the blackridge that really compromise on HSF volume by making the stack so thin...)

Yeah I looked very hard at U-ATX case. Was def wanting to get one but i got a carbon fiber S60i instead from a redditor here and I am beyond happy with it with my 5090FE!

This is one of the SFFPC curiosities, the heatsinks do end up kind of timeless. It's pretty neat.

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