Qub3d

I’ve been quietly reading and listening to the events of this past week, and because of how LTT has affected my life I wanted to leave a quick note. I have been lurking around LTT content for over 10 years now (and a forum member for nearly as long). I found Linus when I was building my very first PC in high school, using funds from my first summer job. I have followed the early exploits like HighLANder, whole-room watercooling, Vessel - it’s implosion and the Phoenix of Floatplane rising from the ashes, LTT’s merchandise efforts and now labs. This incident was unfortunate and I don’t think Linus or the team are suddenly mustache-twirling evil, but this has crossed the rubicon in that I’m now painfully aware that I’m not watching a couple of Canadian tech nerds building a mineral oil PC in a kitchen. This is a large organization, with the problems and caveats that comes with. It behooves us as viewers to reevaluate our parasocial relationship with what is not a person, but a business. I am glad the team seems to be taking the recent criticisms seriously after initial missteps. But this is going to forever change how I view content from the LMG team. It’s corny, but I as I said - I grew up with Linus and the team, their infectious love of tech resulted in my path through college and now my work at $BigTechCompany, and I know I’m not alone. I hope they can reconnect to and recognize the trust and the value people had there. But it may be irreplaceable. I guess we will see what the future holds.

Indeed - if there is one thing I don't see the Chinese delivering on anytime soon, it is Extreme UV lithography. Mainly because the West is only just barely making it work as is.

OK, this may be a problem for North American customers, because these things are pushing system power draw to the maximum available on a 15 Amp circuit. What, are we expected to plug our PCs into EV chargers?

I'm sure the AIB partners, who've almost certainly been building marketing, box art, silkscreens of "4080" etc on all the cards are just SO. ECSTATIC. to get to re-brand them all. EVGA really coming out of this looking smart...

This is fascinating. I am not going to believe for a second that Nvidia did this out of the goodness of their heart (don't make the mistake of Anthropomorphizing a company) so my immediate question is - what pushed this decision? My intuition pushes me to two things: 1. the Intel Arc launch and 2. Board partners finally hitting a point where they simply can't continue giving in to Nvidia's whims - see EVGA. I also wonder how much of the wind was taken out of Nvidia's sails (or, rather, sales -- haha) by the spectacular ongoing contraction of crypto.

It may be the average member here is too young to remember, but the original Netflix subscription cost (when streaming first became available) was 7 USD. So, in a way, this has already happened. (I know, inflation etc)

The article mentioned off-hand that the Pro/Pro Max use a layout closer to the 13:

Summary The VESA industry group seems to have decided that response times and ghosting need a standardized spec, similar to how it standardized HDR specs a few years back. The result is "ClearMR" (site link: https://www.clearmr.org), which aims to provide a simple single bullet list item to give a general expectation of a monitor's speed and clarity. Quotes My thoughts I always appreciated how RTings and BlurBusters stepped in to provide 3rd party oversight, but it would be really fantastic to have certified information regarding display clarity on the box from the get-go. It really shows how far display tech has come as well -- the fact that the industry is willing to do this also shows that they feel the need for another price differentiator, because who cares about refresh rates when your options are between insanity like 360hz vs 400hz? The downside, of course, is that these badges may be used as a way to create artificial "halo" products and increase prices. But I suppose that was going to happen anyway... On a final note, the Ars article is really great, especially the sections showing the test images. Really neat stuff, and even if marketing is driving, its clear that some serious tech chops are getting put into this under the hood: Sources https://www.clearmr.org/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/vesas-latest-standard-grades-displays-on-motion-blur/

Buddy, Safari did basically the same thing ages ago. The remaining players in the space, like AdGuard, use a companion App that you have to install alongside an extension. https://adguard.com/en/blog/safari-adblock-extensions.html I wouldn't be so sure about edge. In fact, of the chromium-based browsers, the only one I really expect to stick with v2 for any non-trivial amount of time would be Brave, and they have their own set of issues.

A pretty hardcore Linux dev (and founder of SourceHut) weighed in on the LTT series today with two posts: 1 is from the point of view of what a new Linux user should do to help them succeed, the other is what the existing Linux community can do to help Linux succeed on the whole: https://drewdevault.com/2021/12/05/How-new-Linux-users-succeed.html He did something that I appreciate, which is admit where Linux stands compared to Windows in a fair and honest manner. Unfortunately, Drew immediately turned and fell into the pit that many complainers have -- he stood up and tried to argue that the challenges should have been more "linux-centric" and made use of the command line. Its like everyone is ignoring or forgetting Linus' repeated statements (including at the end of this video): These challenges are important in the context of getting an average user to switch. That does lead quite nicely into his second post, however... https://drewdevault.com/2021/12/05/What-desktop-Linux-needs.html I will say that Drew Devault tends to be a bit... fiery in his convictions, so I actually found this to be a good attempt at an olive branch from him: he is taking Linus' arguments in good faith. He throws down the gauntlet at the end: In theory, that was supposed to be Ubuntu, but that failed because Ubuntu tried to become the "everything" distribution, and ultimately fell to the demands of power users. It may take someone willing to stand up and say, "I understand you want that functionality, but no. I'm going to include less configuration/extensibility/functionality on purpose, so that the "normal" user (not the POWER user) has the first-class experience. Arch is that way, go have fun.

Budget (including currency): $1500 Country: USA Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Halo Infinite, Destiny 2, Blender 2.9+ Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): So I'm looking at doing a "partial" upgrade where I replace everything but my 1070. I made this list based on some feedback in another post: PCPartPicker Part List CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor ($483.98 @ Amazon) CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($105.99 @ Amazon)` Motherboard: Gigabyte B550I AORUS PRO AX Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard ($209.91 @ Amazon) Memory: *Team T-Create Expert 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($239.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Samsung 980 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Amazon) Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB MINI ITX OC Video Card (Purchased For $0.00) Case: Cooler Master MasterBox NR200P Mini ITX Desktop Case ($103.90 @ Amazon) Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS SGX 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Amazon) Total: $1407.76 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available *Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-11-29 14:51 EST-0500 I'm pretty comfortable with this list, except for the ram. All the usual brands are ridiculously expensive for 2x32 kits -- I am comfortable spending $300 on a kit because I understand that's the market, but anything that isn't a no-name seems to be $400+ Because I have to use an ITX, I'm stuck with 2 slots. My question is, would going with 2x16 (32GB total) ram significantly affect rendering speed?

Okay, memes aside, I'm going to share the thoughts of Rob Landley (author of BusyBox and ToyBox) regarding Linux. This was written as an answer to "why should we try to continue pushing Google to open up Android and not just extend vanilla Linux to Smartphones?", but it touches on points that answer the deeper implied question, "Why isn't any form of Linux a popular desktop OS?" Here is the full text: http://landley.net/aboriginal/about.html#selfhost (Last question on the page) The point that is central here is this part: aesthetic issues do not survive committees. Peer review does not produce blockbuster movies, hit songs, or masterpiece paintings. It finds scientific facts, not beauty. The ideal of an opinionated, coherent OS is at-odds with a completely open, democratic development-by-committee. As much as I loathe many of Apple's decisions, Steve Jobs produced a hardware/software ecosystem that fits the way an expensive slipper fits your foot.

The FSF is disingenuous at best and lying at worst. *All* distros? Look up busybox. --- As for the video as a whole, It's a cold shower but it's absolutely something Linux community members should consider. I have a server running on Manjaro, I run several centos (soon to be rocky Linux) boxes at my work, and I have ported several applications to BSD from Linux. Linux is an amazing tool but, like a Swiss army knife, It's capable of pretty much anything but really good at much less. I'm happy that steam is pushing such great development for gaming on Linux but it is not there yet. This is why while I have a MacBook dual booting Linux and I use it at work, My home PC is on Windows 11.

I imagine the secondary market for Oculus Go headsets is about to get really hot...

Saw the email, immediately bought one. Linus warned it would be expensive, but it honestly isn't terrible at 89.99 USD. Sure, a basic Gildan cotton hoodie is cheaper, but the price is on par with a high quality hoodie from somewhere like Patagonia. Unfortunately the size guide has no units. It looks about right for inches, though. https://www.lttstore.com/products/wan Woo!

Yeah, forcing the entire cohort of multi-millions of Chinese children to all be gaming at the same hour sounds like a technical nightmare. At best, you will be paying for the server load that is maxed an hour a few days, then 50% or less of load for the rest of the week. $$$

Summary China's National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) has issued rules restricting Chinese citizens under 18 to a maximum of 1 hour of playing a day, and only on the weekends. The move comes officially as a way to counter the "spiritual opium" of video gaming addiction, though many believe this is part of the state crackdown on the growth of large tech corporations, both internal and external to the Chinese mainland. Quotes My thoughts It will be interesting to see how well this holds. Even in China, with all the sophisticated tracking tools, I can't imagine them tracking the cumulative playtime of a user cross-referenced over every game on any device, from PC to console to Mobile. It may be this is more a flex of the governmental muscles to remind the gaming companies that they operate at the pleasure of the state. On a purely ethical level, I don't hate the idea of restrictions. As our own Linus Sebastian noted: we sort of expect a child's gaming to be limited -- by their parents. If the society at large is failing to do that, is it wrong for the state to try and step in? We know that modern games are making increasing use of gambling-style mechanics to both increase playtime and money spent. 3 hours a week seems a bit strict, however. Sources https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-rolls-out-new-rules-minors-online-gaming-xinhua-2021-08-30/

@Kinda BottleneckedOne final question for you. I looked at someone else who built in the NR200 with the arctic cooler, and while it fit, they really had to bend the crap out of the AIO tubes. Is this a problem long-term?

You're the second to recommend the NR200. I guess I better look into it! Any reason you like the Arctic AIO in particular? Its all just asatek under the hood for these coolers AFAIK.

The case is an interesting design - it actually comes with a 140mm AIO cooler: As for the SSD - I'd guess brand name? It was by far the most popular choice on PcPartPicker. Its also well battle-tested.

I've used NZXT cases before and found them just fine. Where did you come of the opinion that they have bad airflow? Also, SFF isn't exactly a huge field for good airflow... I will take a look at the SSD recommendation. Thanks!

Budget (including currency): $1500 Country: USA Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Minecraft (Modded), Destiny 2, Blender animations Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): I have a current setup consisting of an XPS 13 (2018 Model, i7-8550) with a 1070 eGPU. I have found that this is starting to CPU bottleneck pretty hard, as a 4-core U series processor is just not enough any more. GPU prices are nuts, so I will be using the 1070 in my new build until they normalize. I really like the NZXT H1, and before you point me to the GamersNexus video, I am aware, they have replaced that riser with a new part that has proper isolation and grounding. My main request for input: Is the 5800X good enough as a render machine? I don't do a ton of rendering, but I'd like something that doesn't take 30 minutes to render a single frame at 1080p. PCPartPicker Part List CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor ($389.99 @ Newegg) Motherboard: ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard ($184.95 @ Amazon) Memory: Crucial Ballistix 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($169.99 @ B&H) Storage: Mushkin Pilot-E 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($112.99 @ Amazon) Custom: NZXT H1 ($349.99) Custom: H1 AIO Cooler ($0.00) Custom: H1 SFX 650W PSU ($0.00) Total: $1207.91 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-08-22 00:31 EDT-0400

I've given up trying to get the community-at-large to stop pre-ordering. Now I just sit back and watch, then grab the "game of the year" edition or "complete edition" for half the price once all the bugs are fixed. I hope that the devs can get some leverage out of this, though. As a software dev, I can say from experience around 95% of "crunches" happen due to mismanagement.

I remember watching a Bitwit video where he talked about all the locations he visited being completely devoid of any stock. He then flew down on a whim to CES to check out the Vegas location, as people had been posting that it was seemingly full of stock. He entered assuming that it was completely stocked and that all the other locations had simply diverted shipments to Vegas so that way CES customers would be presented with a good view of things, but after he walked around for just a few minutes it was pretty clear that the store had basically just taken anything they could get their hands on and threw it on shelves. It was a pretty sad display honestly.

I've liked the use of the term "2nm equivalent". One way I've heard this explained to me is that since the advent of finFET and gate-around-source + atomic layer deposition, cutting edge fab development has essentially become 3D printing transistors out of atoms. Thus it's more effective to think of each process size as being named after the equivalent size of 2D process node would have to be to put the equivalent number of transistors in a given unit squared. this means that these process nodes are almost certainly much larger than seven nanometers on average, but we can just use height much more effectively than previously. In fact I can't find it now but I believe it was a veritasium video that had a physicist straight up state it may be theoretically impossible to build a 2D transistor below about 7 nanometers in size due to quantum effects. ----- now I'm of the opinion that quantum computing is not going to magically replace classical architecture anytime soon, if ever. that said our current understanding of how to build transistors may very well change and become more "quantum", in that they rely on constructive and destructive interference to produce effectively the same thing as what a transistor would.