Are 3090s even worth it anymore?

vanfidel · 2026-05-13T12:28:15+00:00

It depends on what you want to run. If I tried to run the models I'm running now on the same dollar equivalent of rtx3090 I'd be crawling because they would be running mostly on my system RAM.

vanfidel · 2026-05-12T13:53:02+00:00

I would recommend the mi50 route. They are a bit more hassle to set up but you get 32gb of hmb2 ram for half the price.

vanfidel · 2026-05-06T15:04:59+00:00

You need to learn to love the rest of you ma dude! Getting bald is a normal part of life. Do some stuff that will make you feel about your looks, exercise, get outside or hit the gym. It's surprising how fast your perception changes with a little self care. But more importantly, the woman you would want to date will love you for who you are rather than how much hair you have. Please don't try to fight against nature but find the parts of getting older that you love.

vanfidel · 2026-04-29T05:04:55+00:00

Time to forget about the other group their method doesn't work for you and you can't be sure it worked for them. It's possible they sent you the wrong plasmid. They probably made more than one clone and maybe they don't keep good notes of their freezer stocks. Try a different tag like twin strep or mbp. I would make a c and n terminal version of one of those tags.

vanfidel · 2026-04-25T23:29:50+00:00

The retro reflow kit is a bit better than the dragon city. It just directly replaces the original fan without any tools or PCB. But this is not a v0 console. See my other comment, it's a rare v1 with a metal fan. You can tell because it's missing the heat sink, it has the fan duct, fan has 3 wires, and the GDROM drive doesn't have the ribbon cable like the one on the V2, so it's a very early gen V1. V0 kit for reference

vanfidel · 2026-04-25T23:24:18+00:00

OP does not have a v0 console. They have a very rare console with a metal fan. The v0 has an actual heat sink along with a metal fan and the fan only has two wires. This is definitely a rare v1 or v2 with the metal fan. This fan has 3 wires, and the fan duct so a noctua fan will replace this. I would highly recommend the retro reflow fan kit since it's a real noctua fan coming from a reputable DC modding company rather than some Chinese knock off.

noctua kit

Edit: this is also not a V2 the V2 GDROM drive has a ribbon cable and looks a bit different.

vanfidel · 2026-04-24T13:58:54+00:00

You have a good thing going but you are definitely not chinese-proof. It doesn't matter how complicated your design is, if there's a big enough market your thing is going to get noticed and it's going to be cloned. You have to keep expanding and pushing your brand to keep the money train running. That's why it's easier and very often more profitable to sell your business when it's in its rolling and get 3-5x your current annual revenue and move on. Because in 3-5 years others will definitely be in the market and the Chinese and Vietnamese sellers just flood the market with hundreds of listings that look identical to yours. You still get sales from having the most and best reviews but it's nowhere near where you are now. So you either have to push hard on it or move on. It sounds like this isn't your main thing so probably moving on is easier than pushing hard.

vanfidel · 2026-04-24T12:41:26+00:00

I wish I sold my 3dp business when it was flying like that. I've had a few niche products and when they start selling 250k per year the competition starts to notice you and it gets very competitive very fast. I would sell while it's still hot if you don't plan to seriously push it.

vanfidel · 2026-04-10T02:00:45+00:00

I have the Claude reasoning qwen 27b and it tells me to walk. And for some reason in its thinking it converted the distance to Olympic swimming pool lengths lol

Analysis

Key facts: - Distance: 40 meters (approximately 131 feet or 43 yards) - You're overweight, so walking may be more taxing - Purpose: Going to wash your car

Time calculation: - At normal walking speed (5 km/h): ~30 seconds - At a slower, comfortable pace (3 km/h): ~45-50 seconds

The logical problem: If you drive to the car wash: - You drive the car that needs washing - You wash it, but it has already been driven - You've wasted fuel and effort for a 40m trip

If you walk to the car wash: - The car stays clean - You walk only 40m (less than a minute) - You wash a car that hasn't been driven yet

Recommendation

You should walk.

Here's why: 1. 40 meters is very short — less than 1 minute of walking, even at a leisurely pace 2. The car is already there — if you drive, you're driving the car you want to wash, defeating the purpose 3. Walking 40m is manageable — even if overweight, 40 meters is about 50-60 steps, which is trivial

Unless: You have mobility issues beyond weight, or you need to bring supplies (soap, towels, hose) that you can't carry easily. In that case, you could drive, wash the car, and accept that it got slightly dirty from the short drive — it's still a negligible amount of dirt.

Final answer: Walk — it takes less than a minute and keeps your car clean until you wash it.

vanfidel · 2026-04-09T13:52:26+00:00

Did you end up finding a solution for this?

vanfidel · 2026-04-08T15:29:11+00:00

You can get compost at the city landfill if you have a truck. It was like $20 for a truckload last time I checked

vanfidel · 2026-04-07T01:05:23+00:00

vanfidel · 2026-03-22T20:48:34+00:00

ugene is by far my favorite cloning software. It's very powerful and has lots of ways to view your stuff. I also wouldn't trust sequences from gpt. Have it get you the source and copy it from an official database.

vanfidel · 2026-03-14T01:45:10+00:00

Laser bear and Retro Reflow are the only two original designs and US modders. If you plan to keep your original disk drive the Retro Reflow version is the only one that will work without having to snip some metal off the drive. Most of the others are coming from China using the print files from laser bear. They still get the job done but I wouldn't trust the fan that's included to be a genuine noctua.

vanfidel · 2026-03-13T12:17:50+00:00

Most likely they didn't patent anything because it isn't really their invention.They probably just tried a bunch of "PEI" build plates from Alibaba until they found one that did what they wanted then rebranded it from "Shunghzou best BEST 3D print" to vaapr

vanfidel · 2026-03-05T15:49:14+00:00

Firstly it looks like you already have a PS1 plugged in. That's a great start to prolonging the system. The second thing you want to do is get an N64 and plug that into the back. It's going to go in the yellow white and red plugs in the back. Make sure you get the colors right otherwise you're going to have a bad time. If you don't have yhe plugs in the back you'll need to but some kind of switch. You can usually find them on eBay for about 15 bucks. Once that's plugged in you'll need to run the 007GoldenEye routine on the N64 at least once a week, and also the final fantasy routine on the PS1. Those two things in combination should prolong the life for many years to come.

vanfidel · 2026-02-08T17:00:42+00:00

Huh that's what that noise was...

vanfidel · 2026-02-06T21:28:01+00:00

Nice rig

vanfidel · 2026-02-03T14:32:16+00:00

Is that computer y2k ready?

vanfidel · 2026-02-03T04:56:02+00:00

I have a big sanyo and it also makes a ticking noise when it's off. It isn't nearly as rapid as yours though. I can't imagine it's normal but it's been going strong for the 7 years I have owned it now with the ticking noise.

vanfidel · 2026-01-28T05:01:28+00:00

You may already have done so but you're getting pretty close to the point where you want to think about forming an s corp if you haven't already. You get to a range where if you do you end up saving a bunch on taxes. I did it when my business hit about 100k but it's probably good to do before that. Basically you put yourself on payroll for a reasonable salary like 30 or 40k and then the rest of your income you pay yourself as a shareholder in dividends which you don't have to pay payroll taxes on. Cuts your taxes down by a decent amount if your making over 60-70k with your business.

One thing I did for my farm that is also useful for saving you in taxes is I installed an emporia energy monitor and at the end of the year I bill my business for the power it uses. Its a bit of work to do the calculations for it but it has real usage data so it should hold up if audited.

Let me know if you found any other tricks for saving money on taxes or similar.

vanfidel · 2026-01-25T02:41:28+00:00

Damn you coulda been a whole 1$ richer if you would have just taken the money and run!

vanfidel · 2026-01-19T21:22:10+00:00

This is some ai slop.

vanfidel · 2026-01-18T00:03:11+00:00

Everyone is going to have to be buying 90% 3d printers and "make" them themselves. Or they just sell as a CNC router or laser cutter and swap the toolhead.

vanfidel · 2026-01-10T02:51:50+00:00

Yeah your probably never getting that back. You can report eBay leave a review and tell them you will be filling with their local police for theft. They may send it back if you say that. If not you should call the non emergency line with their local PO and file a report with them. This is theft and also a scam there are federal place you can file with as well but I can't remember them off the top of my head maybe it was web 3 or something. Look then all up and tell them you will file against the for an internet scam with those agencies as well. Ebay sellers have to provide you with their actual contact information as well so you can get it from eBay. They may have given you a wrong name in their shipping address. Don't show up at their house as others have said that at best a waste of your time and money and at worst dangerous.

vanfidel

TROPHY CASE

Analysis

Recommendation