Danimacl

Thing is with a desktop it’s way easier to replace parts with quality parts inexpensively. Finding a new replacement motherboard from apple for a MBP will probably be like $900. Desktops are easier to work on easier to troubleshoot and almost always run cooler. Heat = death. Also laptops get tossed around constantly. When was the last time you ever aggressively moved a desktop or tossed it down on a bed.

It would actually have worse thermals unless you attach a fan to it directly. The reason it has the two slits on the side and vents out the hinge is to have proper airflow over components without direct contact with the heatpipes like the VRMs. 

Not all hero’s wear capes. Hahaha

Lol FML that’s really embarrassing. Literally in the before you post a troubleshooting question post that pinned at the top of the forum it says to reset CMOS. Not sure why I forgot that step. I feel dumb. It’s fixed now thanks 🙏.

Maybe. Have you tested it yet?
You should also reset your CMOS and see if that fixes anything.

or people really like these as well. https://www.amazon.com/1MORE-Earphones-Headphones-Resolution-Smartphones/dp/B01A7G35S0/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1G7MMKBKMZMDA&dchild=1&keywords=1more+triple+driver&qid=1585515293&sprefix=1more+%2Caps%2C221&sr=8-1

I like Shure SE215's if you like fun sounding headphones with a little extra bass.
 https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/earphones/se215

One of my jobs is a former Nortel campus, a massive defunct Canadian telecom and network equipment manufacturer. That place nearly gives me a heart attack every time I walk in. The whole space is incredibly over engineered, not in a good way. It's just system upon system upon system. Now 40 years later the building is cripplingly complex and to do any work takes twice as long as it should. Alot of electrical equipment I just end up working on live because tracking each cct to one of a billion electrical panels or UPS's ends up taking too long. Come up with a plan when building or expanding your system and make sure to Kiss (keep it simple stupid), label your shit and remove old equipment and wiring when you aren't using it anymore. Spent alot of time just pulling RJ21 terminated 25pair CAT3 cables out. As I'm working I just just try to pull all the easy stuff out because they don't feel like paying me to do it even doing that you see a massive improvement. 

No, if you just keep adding to systems without any real plan you end up with patchwork garbage. I don't have any photos on my phone of any big clean networking installs that I have done but heres a photo of a job I just finalized today. When good networking guys terminate they don't even let any wires cross in their bundles. I feel they would be better served just having someone full time who isn't in a rush trying to get onto the next job. Having an electrician on site would definitely come in handy if you were running a media production studio. Think of all the lighting, power and networking in their building. 
 

As an electrician who does data work I am horrified when I see that patchwork. Cables coming in from all directions. These guys need a full time electrician and a full time network engineer. 

No, if you just keep adding to systems without any real plan you end up with patchwork garbage. I don't have any photos on my phone of any big clean networking installs that I have done but heres a photo of a job I just finalized today. When good networking guys terminate they don't even let any wires cross in their bundles. I feel they would be better served just having someone full time who isn't in a rush trying to get onto the next job. Having an electrician on site would definitely come in handy if you were running a media production studio. Think of all the lighting, power and networking in their building. 
 

Mistakes were made
 
Trying to do too many things in the same window.
 
No planning or strategy. Seems like it was mostly a general plan of action and them figuring out the details during. That's fine if Monday isn't a thing.
 
Replacing core network hardware but not configuring it beforehand when there was no time constraints.
 
Not labeling everything so not to spend lots of time looking for a cable or port.
 
Not just removing the door of the server rack. Usually those just easily lift off for this exact reason. Prop the server room door open and get that keyboard out of the way. That room is painfully small and it's like they tried to make it harder.
 
If servers are getting dusty, fix air filtration.
 
Unless reorganizing a rack, remove servers from service and the rack for maintenance and inventory one at a time. Don't further complicate everything by doing all at once plus lots of other stuff at the same time too. Kinda goes with the first point, do the different things in different maintenance windows.
 
If you have A thru Z tasks which could be independent of each other to varying extents, then you start A to Z all at once and get stuck on G and M for a very long time, you'll have to still finish and put back in to service the other 22 as well before Monday.

No, if you just keep adding to systems without any real plan you end up with patchwork garbage. I don't have any photos on my phone of any big clean networking installs that I have done but heres a photo of a job I just finalized today. When good networking guys terminate they don't even let any wires cross in their bundles. I feel they would be better served just having someone full time who isn't in a rush trying to get onto the next job. Having an electrician on site would definitely come in handy if you were running a media production studio. Think of all the lighting, power and networking in their building. 
 

No, if you just keep adding to systems without any real plan you end up with patchwork garbage. I don't have any photos on my phone of any big clean networking installs that I have done but heres a photo of a job I just finalized today. When good networking guys terminate they don't even let any wires cross in their bundles. I feel they would be better served just having someone full time who isn't in a rush trying to get onto the next job. Having an electrician on site would definitely come in handy if you were running a media production studio. Think of all the lighting, power and networking in their building. 
 

As an electrician who does data work I am horrified when I see that patchwork. Cables coming in from all directions. These guys need a full time electrician and a full time network engineer. 

No, if you just keep adding to systems without any real plan you end up with patchwork garbage. I don't have any photos on my phone of any big clean networking installs that I have done but heres a photo of a job I just finalized today. When good networking guys terminate they don't even let any wires cross in their bundles. I feel they would be better served just having someone full time who isn't in a rush trying to get onto the next job. Having an electrician on site would definitely come in handy if you were running a media production studio. Think of all the lighting, power and networking in their building. 
 

As an electrician who does data work I am horrified when I see that patchwork. Cables coming in from all directions. These guys need a full time electrician and a full time network engineer. 

No, if you just keep adding to systems without any real plan you end up with patchwork garbage. I don't have any photos on my phone of any big clean networking installs that I have done but heres a photo of a job I just finalized today. When good networking guys terminate they don't even let any wires cross in their bundles. I feel they would be better served just having someone full time who isn't in a rush trying to get onto the next job. Having an electrician on site would definitely come in handy if you were running a media production studio. Think of all the lighting, power and networking in their building. 
 

Right, Inductance, Resistance, and Capacitance and nothing else.  In other words, they need the most basic speaker cord they can find with good connectors.
 
 
I'll work in:
 
http://www.theaudiocritic.com/back_issues/The_Audio_Critic_26_r.pdf (page 5) somehow
 
 
 
noted.  links were also fixed. your welcome.

Nothing on ceramic cable risers? I hear they can really bring out details in 900hz range...  :P
 
Could we have this up (or stickied) with responses for improvements/alterations/suggestions and then stickied permanently without them when it's 100%?
 
Thanks h246.  ;)

Hey guys great to be back on the forum
 
So I am starting to plan/ buy components for my upcoming project/build. I Would like to document the the project and get some advice from you guys. 
 
My plan is to have a very clean FT-03 Mini with proper Acrylic rigid watercooling and custom sleeved cables by the end of it. I chose this particular case just because it is one of the few Mini ITX cases that can hold a full size GPU. I am basically in it just or a challenge. 
 
I'm not entirely set on components yet other than the Case, the PSU and the GPU. 
-Silverstone FT-03 Mini (silver)
-Silverstone 450W Gold SFX power supply 
-AMD Radeon 7970 (w) Ek Water Block (since I already have it and it will do the job for now)
 
For the project I'm leaning in the direction of the new 4790K or 4690K. As for motherboards will probably go for either an ASUS Z79 ROG Mini ITX board when it comes out or an Asus Z79I-Plus. Although I like the Dual LAN options available from other manufactures. 
 
As for cooling the thing I'm thinking it would probably be cleanest if I just externally mount an Aquacomputer Airplex Modularity System 280 Radiator / Pump / Reservoir Combo. Then Drill some holes in the side of the FT-03 To Put in some pass throughs.  I'm not really interested in internal watercooling solution as I actually don't think it would look quite as clean. Also the AquaComputer rad combo will probably be cheaper and simpler then separates. 
 
First Question: I'm pretty new to watercooling as I've only setup one custom loop before. So I'm not savy on all the newest latest and greatest components. It appears to me that not all of the hard line stuff is universal. What is considered the best hardline tubing system right now? 
 
 

What headphones are you using? What genres do you listen to

Try the optical on the motherboard and see how it is.

Here is my suggestion, don't go out and drop a grand on headphones for everyday computer use, it really really really isn't worth it. Its like buying an IMAX camera to shoot home movies, it's just a waste of money especially without the proper gear associated with it. HD800's are built for listening to uncompressed music files on high end systems, not everyday use. What I think you should do is get some really great headphones that are more suited for every day use, such as the Audio Technica ATH M-50 ($150), Grado SR60i ($80) or the Sennheiser Momentum's ($350). For any of those headphones I would make the recommendation of the Audio Engine D1 ($150) also FiiO makes some great little amps/DACS ($60-200).  If you decide that you really want to get a "audiophile" setup, that is to say large open back headphone for musical purpose only check out the Sennheiser HD600's ($400), AKG K701's ($350), or the HiFiMAN HE-400 ($400). On the DAC/AMP side H264 made the great recommendation of the JDS Labs O2+ODAC ($280). I hope this helps. :)
-Daniel M

I'm SLOWLY digging out from under the mess of this new editor.  BRING BACK TEXT TAGS. PRETTY PLZ.
 
Note: It's getting complete, somehow. Post your complaints corrections and additions below. Everything is my opinion, even if it has a graph or flies in the face of something Linus said.
 
First watch this:
 

FAQs:

What's the most important thing I can do to improve my audio experience?
 
 
I have a low impedance headset. People tell me that onboard audio is terrible and a dedicated soundcard will improve my audio experience. How much will it really improve?
 
What is a DAC? How is it different from a soundcard? Which is better?
 
So, do I need a better soundcard or external AMP/DAC or is my onboard good enough?
 
I think I need a better soundcard. What should I look for in a sound card or an external AMP/DAC?
 
What should I look for in a pair of headphones?
 
I was thinking about buying good high impedance headphones in the future. Should I just get the amp/dac or soundcard now that would drive them, and buy the headphones later?
 
Should I get a cheap soundcard with virtual surround like dolby headphone or use a headphone with discrete drivers?
 
But I want a surround sound headset! What are the advantages of a good pair of headphones with a cheap mic?
 
OK, fine, but can't you just tell me what to get already and be done with it?  This is all very confusing!
FEATURES:

Headphones:
 
Surround Sound:
 
Speakers:
 
AMPS:
 
DACs:
 
Sources:
 
Microphones
 
Charts
 
Links to headphone and Amp reviews on LTT forums (Please check for broken links and report!):