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Thanks, I will look into it. I had my mind on Thermal Grizzly as an option but I was curious if others had different experiences with other brands/producta. I don't mind being hotter on idle, the laptop is my daily driver and sits on a arm bracket above the desk in open position 95% of the time. At the moment most of my travel is for work when I need to supply the boss with the images. Asus ZenBook Pro Duo has a hinge mechanism like Zephyrus gaming laptop where the screen lid will push the laptop up and raise the chassis's base about 1 cm off the table for extra intake. Though I am using it on a arm with a gap of 2 cm under it for airflow.

I was interested in tips and thermal paste advi e for the CPU, that one has a tendency to thermal throttle, especially when I import/export images, create panoramas and gaming.

Hello, I will upgrade my Asus ZenBook Pro Duo UX581 laptop with a motherboard with i9 9980HK, RTX 2060 and 32GB DDR4 2466 MHz (from i7 9750H, RTX 2060 and 16 GB DDR4 2466 MHz) and doing it myself I would like to do everything I can to cool down and improve the laptop. The i9 9980HK has the same 54W max TDP as the i7 but is more densely packed with the 2 extra cores and want to try and keep it as cool or better to get a little longer max Turbo and more consistent 5 GHz single and dual thread workloads. The GPU stays consistently cooler because its the underclock version with 85W TDP hardware limit (no OC software I tried has managed to get it to run faster), it's typically at 65 C at 100% usage. Any thermal paste you can recommend that can get even a few C lower? I'm not going to try liquid metal because of the nature of being a laptop and it won't always stay horizontally oriented. I had looked into the 2nd gen Asus ZenBook Pro Duo which came out with the 10th gen, better GPU and 2x M.2 slots instead of just one, but has identical exterior. Unfortunately Asus changed motherboard layout by the tinniest amount and it won't fit in my 1st gen. I will scrub down and clean the heatsinks and fans until they are sparkling.

Thanks, I will try to test a few desktop environments and see what works and what doesn't. One beautiful thing about the Linux community is how fast and responsive it can be to solving issues kernel level (compared to Windows) and making changes.

The worry at that time was that I kept the Lightroom catalogue and the files themselves on the Desktop, which is hidden behind Window's own encryption to the account that's logged in. Trying to rescue those files with a corrupt Windows can be one hell of a nightmare (happened before with other files), anything that's within the root access of Window's structure is a bi%$h to extract if you are not logged into that specific account to where the files were made at that time. (I don't like partitioning drives anymore and I would rather keep the drive's hole structure intact and in one piece). Now that I can't get that scenario out of my head I will use my spare M.2 (that originally came with the laptop, which is only 512 GB) and backup all those files there ... for the time being.

I was expecting to for the Linux community to need about a year or so to build the touch and pen functionality in the OS, especially since touch screen notebooks are starting to build a lot of momentum. I'm curious how well does Linux manage OLED technology as well, that would be a bit easier to implement since we have only one (still selling) panel from Samsung on the market (with a lot of laptops using it). How about the Thunderbolt implementation through Type C USB port on Linux? Is it fully functional?

Thank you so much for the information. I will look up on RPi4 systems or something I can build on my own. After Windows 10 tried to force 1903 update on me last month and ending up with BSOD in the middle of the process I got pretty much scared Sh"$^*£^^ that it might have corrupted the only storage I have with my hole library. Luckly Windows managed to roll back the update safely but every time I see the Windows Update screen the 1903 is ready to install message haunts me. I am also looking into setting up a hard drive with ISOs of old games (before they disappear into the nether of the Internet and we end up all paying subscription on all the games and access in the near future, I learned this (again) the hard way when I was playing the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and I got kicked out of the single player campaign saying I lost internet connection but the internet was working fine and I could play for hours).

Could I run a home type Raspberry Pie server with the external drive, have it be able to connect to the laptop through USB type A or C for fast direct access, and run the scrip from inside the server to the 2 external backup drives for self backup, and add the cloud sync with something like Google Drive (Or whichever is most affordable in price)? Or would this make over-complicate the matter? (I don't know how I can be such a noobie in this department). Maybe a Linux server might be automated through command lines?

Is there any solution to be able to write on 2 drives at the same time in an automatic process ? Ideally would be to have 1 drive as external storage and that drive to be backed up on 2 separate drives (as long term storage) and use the cloud solution to backup from the external drive for on the go access. I was never good with networking even though I am very passionate about PC hardware and PC building.

Hello. I've recently acquired an Asus ZenBook Pro Duo and read about Deepin OS. The OS looks gorgeous and, possibly, easy to get used to (coming from a Windows user since 1994, but I am open to other distros. With the recent (in the past 6 to 12 months of) really bad Windows updates I'm a bit worried about stability of using Windows on the only main device I have for my image processing and gaming device. I am wondering of anyone has tried different Linux distros with Asus ZenBook Pro Duo. I know touch screen laptops work well with Linux but I wonder how hard it is to implement drivers and functionality with 2 screen, snapping multiple windows and software. Asus has proprietary drivers for its ScreenPlus that I have noticed because I could not get the screen functionality to work 100% with a fresh copy of Windows 10 and I was forced to use the default Windows 10 configuration that came with the laptop, like the switching the screens between each other with one button, the triple window snapping on ScreenPlus, the brightness configuration and other functionality. As well as the pen and pressure support for both screens is very important to me (and the last 10% reason that pushed me into buying this laptop instead of the much better performance Gigabyte AERO 15 OLED) as I use it in both Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. I am looking for replacements for both Lightroom and Photoshop as image processing software because of the sluggish performance and heavy RAM utilisation for Linux, but it should function well with multiple screen, touch screen (I love the pinch to zoom and finger panning ... a lot) and pen with pressure support. If anyone is interested in building a Linux distro around this or adding support for it I will be more then willing to alpha and beta test it, but as a secondary OS installation that is.

Hello. Last month I have bought an Asus ZenBook Pro Duo as my main work and play device. I sold my old PC because of space constraints and financial needs. The laptop has only one M.2 drive (one of the few but huge flaws in the laptop design) so I am limited to 1.9 TB Corsair Force MP510 drive. The other issue is the laptop has only 2 USB 3.1 Type A and one Type C Thunderbolt port. I have one 1TB Western Digital Blue SATA drive on external enclosure with the Steam and a few other games installed and other personal files (Music, Movies, Documents, Memes GIFs, etc) that I keep only at home. I am looking for a backup solution to my 400GB Picture library (I used to have a lot more of them but I lost almost 7 years of my Photography because of 2 hard drive failures, painful lesson to learn) with at least 2 redundancies and I am not sure if a NAS would be a good solution since I do not have an Ethernet port. My left side USB port is taken up my the USB Cooler Master Ergostand III (I use it as a USB hub for my wireless keyboard, mouse, headphones) and the right side USB port for the SATA SSD. I was thinking of using cloud storage for my Picture library as well but, at the moment, I'm using spotty 4G tethered data so it's difficult to get reliable upload speed (but I hope I can back everything up at least as a backup backup solution). I also wish to make it configurable to work with a desktop PC in the future as I am waiting, and planning, to build another PC in the next 2 years as a workstation and gaming desktop (I will wait for the AM5 platform as well as DDR5 for desktop, for 128GB RAM configuration, and better Ray Tracing performance on the GPU side). Oh, and before I forget, I am thinking of getting a very fast micro SD or USB storage to attach to the laptop and use it as RAM drive on the go because the laptop has only 16GB of DDR4 (of which I can use it all up by just having Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop opened at the same time) if I can't clear up the M.2 drive of my image library. The pain of being on the bleeding edge of a new type of product 1st generation on the market (dual screen laptops). Hopefully it won't cost more then 250-300£ as I can't afford at the moment those very expensive NAS and I don't have a reliable or extensive network where I live.

If you really want the shortest version of story read the last 6 lines. i have tried re-installing the TP Link AC600 driver more then once, using the manufacturer driver and the Microsoft default driver when plugging in, it did not bring back the WiFi connection in the Windows Task Bar or in Network Settings. In the Change Adapter Settings the WiFi adapter was on (it showed up with the green icon of WiFi) but Windows would not see any WiFi network even though my phone was tethering a WiFi network and the house WiFi was fine (I could connect the tablet to it with no issues on both). I tried command lines as well to clear the networks settings and it didn’t work. I have been having problems with my internet bandwidth for more then a month now but I though it was just because of signal issues from my cellular provider, it was never more then one or two bars of 4G signal but once I got here I had the same problems with my cellular tether and the house WiFi network. I tried killing the Delivery Optimiser Service, deactivate it in service.msc (to the point that it started locking my permissions to make changes in its status and I’m the only user with administrative access as well), tried to block its internet access with a firewall and after restart it would make a different process to work around that, tried virus scans from Malwarebyte, BitDefender and ESET thinking maybe I have gone crazy or stupid and can’t recognise bad behaviour. Tried registry modifications, a piece of softer that modifies Windows 10 permissions for data collecting that seem to break features in Windows the more I tried to block stupid Microsoft data collection (at a point I couldn’t log into Office 2019 and I couldn’t read my personal scheduling spreadsheet to manage work time across my devices). Adobe Creative Cloud would not let me download their software on Windows 8.1. AMD Radeon driver for Windows 10 wasn’t detecting my graphics card when I tried to install it, Windows 7 version worked but I noticed (before giving up and going to sleep) that my monitor was on after restarting Windows 8.1 but was not displaying any information, just black screen with backlights on. I would have to have to turn off the power supply for a minute or two before I would finally get an image, even to see the BIOS boot up. Call me crazy if you think I am but I did not give up every time I ended up with a problem, I poured at least 4 hours in every single one before either it was fixed or I couldn’t fix it. I’m not a Linux user and I haven’t used command lines much since I was back in primary school with Windows 98 and XP. Command lines is not my forté, the only Linux driver I could find on TP Link AC600 was on their official website and the kernel they said it “should” work (they even mentioned they can’t guarantee it would work) was quite old. Tried Googling for a workaround but everywhere I looked I would need repository updated for default Linux to make it work ... which I can’t since I can’t connect to any other form of internet except WiFi? Or walk back to town for an hour and a half with my computer strapped in my back and beg one of my friends to let me use their fibre optic connection. I’m sure, at this point someone will say either I talk to much or I can’t make really short and concise phrases to convey my needs and wants, right? It’s 2 AM and I’m to tired to stay awake and to nervous to sleep.

I have never had such a bad time in my like like the past week (with the last 48 hours in particular) with using my computer, and I have been using PCs almost exclusively since my first one back in 1997. (I will try to be brief how I ended up in this state. I haven’t refreshed/reinstalled my Windows 10 in about a year and the performance was getting pretty bad so I decided to reinstall it with a fresh format of my 256GB M.2 main SSD, it went fine, reinstalled all my software and games as well, spent a day and a half on this last weekend. Come to 2 days ago, took my PC to my friends house (on the outskirts of the town, pretty much countryside to be honest) because I’m babysitting 2 puppers while the owners are on holiday for 2 weeks. I try to connect to their WiFi (the only internet access they have, this will come about later in the story) but all of a sudden my Windows 10 WiFi/Network Button has disappeared and so did any way to connect to WiFi (i have tried everything I could find, yes I have gone deep into Share & Network settings, drivers reinstall, etc) and they only way to fix it was to reset Windows 10. So I lose all my software and games ... again. Spent an entire day trying to fix that issue and then reinstalling only the most important software and World of Tanks. At that point it was evening and I really needed to blow off some steam, so I power up World of a Tanks, activate a few boosters and I try to blow some shit up ... after an hour ... no go. Windows Delivery Optimisation thought it was a brilliant idea to download at full speed “something”. Don’t know what it was, Windows 10 had all the updates installed and it was the latest version (according to Windows itself as well as current Windows version state after a quick Google Search). After one hour of downloading over 30GB and using the entire bandwidth I just gave up waiting and went on Google searching to a way to kill Delivery Optimisation. Spent the entire night (went to bed at 2 AM) trying literally everything I could to stop and deactivate the service, only to resurface after reboot. Did the same on the home WiFi as well as my cellular (unlimited) data tether. I went to bed pissed. Woke up this morning and decided I had enough of Windows 10. I’m going to go back to Windows 7 (a first in about 8 years). So I make a Windows 7 USB stick and start the installation process ... till I found out directly that Windows 7 doesn’t speak M.2 format and doesn’t even see my ADATA SPG 8200 SSD (in BIOS it works just fine). Back to Google search for the next 4 hours ... so I try to install Windows 7 on my SATA SSD so I can clone that installation to the M.2 drive. Well good news stops to where the cloning software cant make a recovery USB stick of my only USB stick with me. So I can’t clone it within Windows 7 because Windows 7 doesn’t speak M.2 (with or without SATA and Intel Z97 drivers installed). So fuck Windows 7 then ... I’m switching to Linux (at this point my blood pressure was visible through he veins of my face and hands). So I download Linux Mint Cinnamon version on the USB stick and manage to install it on the M.2 SSD with no issues. I start up Linux and low and behold ... WiFi doesn’t work. (Insert rage swearing for about 10 minutes). Apparently my TP Link AC600 WiFi USB doesn’t speak native Linux. So I calm down and go on the internet and try to download a driver ... try ... apparently I need to compile my own installer, bloody brilliant ... 5 minutes later I get only errors, can’t get past Step One: Sudo Make. So I go on the internet again and see alternatives: almost everywhere I go I see the same advice: connect with Ethernet to get the stuff you need to make the device work. Really? So I’m stuck with 2 access points that work only wirelessly and an OS that doesn’t do all hat much without internet connection ( needs to “sudo get” the shit out of everything) and a useless USB WiFi dongle that’s basically dead, in the country side with no neighbours to lend a wired connection on my holiday. (Insert 15 minutes of constant rage). This was half an hour ago. Now my only option is, you will never guess anyone has every said this: Help me Windows 8.1 ... you are my only hope. (The top 3 most hated OS after Windows ME and Windows Vista). So why Windows 8.1? Well Windows 7 doesn’t work on M.2, Windows 10 eats the shit out of my limited speed WiFi tether connection (not just here but back at my place too, my only internet connection I can have is my 3 cellular data), Linux still doesn’t play well with compatibility and needs internet to be 100% working (at least in my case). The only OS missing is Hackintosh’s Mac OS but then again: you need a Apple computer to be able to install a Mac OS (if I had that then I wouldn’t need to do a Hackintosh). So now I’m waiting for the download of Windows 8.1 ISO to be able to use the bloody computer. I’m so lucky my friends left their laptop home so at least I can make another Windows installation USB or else I would be stuck. My Lightroom backlog is stuck at over 4000 unfinished pictures and I already wasted 2 days of my 2 weeks holiday basically doing nothing but boil my nerves. And this hole situation really puts a dent in my future decisions because my PC is getting old now: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI, 32GB Hyper X 1866MHz, Intel Core i7 4770K 4.5 OC on 240 AIO, R9 Nano, ADATA SPG 8200 256GB M.2 NVME, WD Blue 1TB SATA, 1 TB Hitachi and 1TB Toshiba 2.5” HDD, 500W Bronze Silverstone SFX, Thermaltake Core P3. I am looking for a replacement but I’m really tired of Windows 10 shenanigans to make another PC, would like to go portable but Intel is pulling it’s 14nm so hard now that the laptops just can’t keep up with the heat and the TDP from cramming more cores at slower and slower frequencies (i7 9750H is slower then i7 8750H, I mean seriously they released a lower base clock and a lower boost clock CPU). While my main usage is photo editing I still love playing games (I can’t wait for Doom Eternal) but on laptops the RTX 2070 and 2080 are so expensive, I was thinking of eGPU but even with the bigger cost overhead ... you get one tier lower performance from what you paid on the GPU because if the 4x lanes. I though Linux might be a solution to Windows 10 but again, the compatibility issues with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and DNG Converter AND big name games (like Doom Eternal or World of Tanks). I’m just tired of having to jump so many hoops just to get stuff done. I wouldn’t even mind switching to alternative photo editions WITH some time to do that but there’s so much to jump over and over. Then there’s Mac OS and Apple devices. The only other platform that is supported for Adobe suite ... but a shitshow for gaming. Top it off with insane prices per performance/components/value, no upgradability (of significant usefulness), encrypted storage that is non user replaceable, and again prices: over 2000£ for a barely midrange GPU, RAM upgrades that only know square factor costs, same with internal storage. Besides Linux only Apple has a more reasonable approach to user data usage and privacy. For the first time in 24 years I’m at a complete lost at what I should do and I always kept myself up to date informed on PC and laptop options over the years. The state of OSes just boggles my mind to be honest. Microsoft turning Windows into a service and doing some of the worst stuff I ever seen on the backstage. Apple becoming the Jesus of user privacy in an age where everyone wants everything from you (attention, data, money, hype, etc) but will cost you your soul (if you are poor), a valuable organ (if you are healthy enough) or at least 2000-2500£ for something more then just meh performance. Linux getting better and better ... but like going sideways in keeping up with the other 2 in terms of compatibility. SteamOS and Valve support is getting better and yet big developer/publishers are still going like: Linux? Meh So after installing Windows 8.1 happily find out that AMD has not released in update Radeon driver since 2017 ... brilliant ... Windows 10 driver would not detect my R9 Nano, so I try Windows 7 driver, which funnily enough its up to date, and it worked. Good news right ? Finally got my PC working? No. Adobe Creative Cloud with all of its apps do not work, install or even let you download on Windows 8.1 (but they do work on Windows 7 and Windows 10 ... wink wink). So there goes another holiday day gone with nothing done. My options for tomorrow are as fallows: 1) Windows 10 and get my bandwidth strangled to death my stupid services that cannot be stop 2) Windows 8.1 which is unable to run anything, like literally anything (and I though Microsoft couldn’t make the worst OS ever made ... worse) 3) Windows 7 that doesn’t know what M.2 NVME is so there goes my pretty pennies SSD out the window (no pun intended?) 4) Windows XP? Really? Seriously? 5) Linux ... if I can find an Ethernet plug out in the middle of nowhere ... or manage to find a WiFi USB dongle that works out of the box with Linux Distroes 6) OS X ... there’s an apple tree in the garden ... maybe I can download a OS X installer from it

I guess I will have to change the case as well then, probably going to go with Raijentek Styx for style, sturdiness, and compactness for storage, and top it off it can fit a slim ODD for the use of disks (just in case some of them might still be around by then :P)

So, hmmm, after a few nights with no sleep, thoughts keep pouring in and I was wondering how long can the fluid inside an AIO last? What came to my mind this question is that the PC build I have now is starting to grow gray beard and hair (Intel Core i7 4770K, 32GB Hyper X 1866 MHz RAM, Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI, XFX Radeon R9 Nano [I will be replacing this one with a 120mm AIO GTX 1080]) and I want to retire it. I'm looking to replace it with a laptop but I want to wait for next year, to see if Intel will finally manage to squeeze out their 10nm and to see if there will be any new improvement to OLED panels at a lower cost. And I realized that there are still so many games that I have yet to play or finished (even just counting the AAA quality games) and I won't have time to catch up, life has constant changing priorities, BUT at some point when I get older I will have freer time so I was thinking if I can turn my current PC in a timepiece to be used in something like 25-35 years from now. I would probably put the PC in a more permanent storage condition to be used later but will the 240mm AIO I have on the CPU still be able to function by then? Or should I orient towards air coolers (for both GPU and CPU)? I do plan to expand the storage to the highest capacity 2.5 inch hard drives I can buy (don't have any room for 3.5 inch in the current case) and make backups to most games of the past 10-15 years with relevant Windows 7 and Windows 10 releases if I need OS refresh. Another reason why I was thinking of doing a timepiece PC is companies come and go and these days we have so many games that are offered as service or are stuck on a digital platform that demands internet connection for authentication and even just usage (Steam, Epic, etc). Not sure we will see everyone last for another 30 years from now. Any ideas about a project like this is greatly appreciated.

After reading up a bit on the RTX 2070, which goes for around 350£ used, there are quite a few of them dying with artefacts and crashes. How bad and prevalent is this issue, it would make me pretty sad if I have to avoid them if it’s to common to get an RTX 2070. RTX 2070 seems to fall right between GTX 1080 (300£ used) and GTX 1080 Ti (450£ used) as performance and price with the added Ray Tracing capability. One of the big reasons I am looking more towards GeForce cards (I don’t like nVidia as a brand but in the current wishlist of mine I don’t have much of a choice) is being able to play Minecraft at 60 FPS with Shaders for the GTX 1080 but also GeForce are the only cards that can do Path Tracing in Minecraft and he performance seems to be 30 to 50 FPS for GTX 1080, 45 to 60 FPS for RTX 2070 and around 60 to 75 FPS for GTX 1080 Ti. My main games these days is World of Tanks, Minecraft and Doom (no, I’m not 14, I’m actually turning 31 in a couple of months ? )

There seem to be quite a few GTX 1080s on eBay for 250 to 300 GBP. I wouldn't expect an i7 4770k 4.4 GHz to bottleneck a GTX 1080 at 1440p right? Hopefully, my PSU can handle it until I can get a replacement for it.

Hello, I currently have an XFX Radeon R9 Nano 4GB with an Intel i7 4770K OC'ed at 4.4 GHz and 32GB DDR3 at 1866 MHz. While I do need a hole PC upgrade it's not a good time for me to do that, but, I am looking very forward for Doom Eternal release in November (I have it pre-ordered) and I do need a GPU upgrade since even the original Doom was quite fussy about 4GB buffer on Max graphics settings. I am aiming at 1440p at 75 Hz FreeSync on my HP Omen 32, one slight bump in that road might be my SilverStone 500W 80+ Bronze SFX (the PC is in a Thermaltake Core G3 which I love but I do need to change it because of thermals). On UK Part Picker right now there's: Radeon RX 590 for 200 GBP A few GeForce GTX 1080s Used for 210-250 GBP GeForce GTX 1660 Ti for 250 GBP Vega 64 for 300 GBP GeForce RTX 2060 (Not Super) for 320 GBP Radeon RX 5700 for 350 GBP That would be my budget, not sure if I could squeeze in for RX 5700 Ti or RTX 2060 Super though. Confusingly Vega 64 and RX 5700 seem to perform quite similarly at 1440p. If anyone can offer me an advice for a MATX case for airflow as well would be much appreciated, I'm hoping for better thermals and to fit in a Gigabyte GA-Z97-X SLI and my 240mm AIO, for fans I already have 4 120mm push-pull (Corsair SP and CoolerMaster stock) fans and one 120mm Corsair AF.

Thanks for the PartPicker list. I have thought about the FX line from AMD because I love AMD (even if it's less performance but very good bang for the buck). The problem is even FX 9590 does not perform better than the i5 3470 I have right now with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop because Adobe optimization is almost purely based on Instructions Per Clock, making it very sensitive to GHz and Intel CPUs. These are most the useful information I could find out there: Core count test: https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Lightroom-CC-6-Multi-Core-Performance-649/ I5 3570K to i7 7700K test: https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/How-Much-Faster-is-a-Modern-Workstation-for-Adobe-Lightroom-CC-2015-8-901/ The only test they have with AMD CPU, though its Ryzen and it's a huge improvement compared to FX: https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Lightroom-CC-2015-10-1-CPU-Comparison-Skylake-X-Kaby-Lake-X-Broadwell-E-Kaby-Lake-Ryzen-7-973/ PS. I already have a water cooler AIO: Cooler Master MasterLiquid Lite 240mm

I'm okayu with 4.6 GHz, it would be less stress on the GPU and the less voltage will be better on the motherboard. The 5th and beyond gen of Intel are on DDR4 only and it will cost me at least 300£ for the CPU, 100£ for a decent motherboard and at least 300£ for 32GB of RAM so 700£ overall for the overhaul. That's a lot more then about 250£ to stay in DDR3 tech. There seems to be less to no gain beyond 4 Cores for image editing but GHz, RAM and storage speed is king. I haven't hear any comparison between quad and dual channel RAM though. My budget is 250 to 300£ for the CPU and motherboard.

I have a Thermaltake Core P3 which I love a lot because of the compact size (my desk is only 1.2 meters by 60 cm) but it still can take full ATX size, 240mm rad, one and even two (slim for the second one) 120mm fans, a full size up to 300mm GPU, I have the very compact R9 Nano) and I hacked a way to mount 2.5 inch drives to the bottom of the case with room for about 4 drives. The only downsize is it takes only SFX PSU and is only 2 PCI brackets parallel to the motherboard for vertical GPU mounting).

Basically yes, but trying to do it with last gen tech for budget reasons. Though I wish I could find a tree that grows money

Hello, this is my first post here, even though I have been fallowing Linus's videos for some years now. I do want to apologise first for the long post first, trying to give a good context to the topic. I built a decent and with a limited budget an i5 3470 PC 2 years ago. I had change the motherboard one year ago to MSI H67 because the old one had damaged pins, my won fault because I haven't built an Intel PC since Pentium II and didn't expect the pins to be so sensitive. This month I added 2 more sticks of RAM for 4x8 GB DDR3 1833 MHz HyperX. The reason for that is because cause 50% of my PC usage is Adobe Lightroom and I can end up using past 16GB when stitching multiple images together, which is essential for me. For this reason I do not wish to got past Intel's 4th gen Haswell because its the last generation that uses DDR3, outside the HEDT platform. So now I am looking to upgrade to i7 4770K or i7 4790K and Z97 motherboard. Also I wish to overclock to at least 4.6 GHz and get the most I can get of the IPCs because Adobe Lightroom and games works mostly on that for speed. It will be paired with XFX Radeon R9 Nano to play at 1440p. The other aspect I am trying to get most out of is a storage subsystem but I know its going to be limitated because most I can get is 10GB M.2 SATA or PCI Express out of it and only one slot. And not all Z97 this feature either. I would love a faster storage subsystem for scratch disk for Adobe Lightroom catalogue (which uses a lot of 4K and sub 4K datasets) and to be able to work with over 1 GB image files but I have to leave it for down the road in the future. I would like to upgrade to AMD's Ryzen R7 2700 and OC it but the cost of replacing the 32GB of RAM to DDR4 twice as much as the CPU and high-ish motherboard. I will have to wait 14+++nm and the 7nm out, probably go for 2nd gen 7nm and DDR5 (hopefully it will not be as expensive, inflation cost added of course, as DDR4 is) and max out on 128GB for when Mirrorless Camera Sensors go past 24 Megapixel (possibly into 40-50 Mp). Reading all this, now, sounds confusing about what exactly I am asking the community about, maybe I should try making it in bullet points: *Is Intel Core i7 4790K just an overclocked i7 4770K or is there some extra binning to them to get a bit more MHz în it, Iight save a few £ going for the i7 4770K *Can you get (I know there is some silicon luck to it) 4.6-4.7 GHz without getting passed 1.35 Volts on the CPU on the i7 4770K, I do not want to upgrade the 500W Bronze Silverstone power supply just yet. I do have a 240mm AIO to keep things cool, also I do not want to delide the CPU. *Are there any Z97 motherboards I should avoid (known issues) or look for specifically (extra features worth the money), though I know I am a bit on the mercy of the availability of eBay at this point. *Should I try to OC the RAM beyond 1833MHz with the CPU or leave them at 1600 XMP default *Not sure how many of you have any experice with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop (almost all reviewers never test such software and is extremely frustrating to find relevant information the just one or two to cross referances instead of just one source), would quad channel RAM with the Intel i7 4820K or i7 4938X give better performance (games excluded, I know very few use more then 4 cores). Right now I have a 16MP Olympus and that gives me RAW files of around 20MB. If I stitch 20 Images that would give me about 400 to 500MB DNG file. I'm not sure how many times the files are sampled in the blending process but I used to get consistently to 14GB of RAM usage and start using Window's Pagefile (yes, I do close all software before that). That's when Lightroom starts bogging down and taking a couple of hours or more to finish the process, unless it gives me errors which does happen often. Doing 30 or more images would big down the PC up to 8 hours just for one image, on 16GB of RAM. This is why RAM quantity is important to me, as well as IPC on CPU, and I hope 32GB will be enough for a while longer, can't upgrade to higher Megapixel camera yet but I do want to 3, 4 years down the road. I am trying to improve my photography as much as I can on a budget. In an ideal situation the PC setup I would love to have is a quad core pushed to 5GHz, 128GB quad channel RAM, 512GB M.2 PCI-Ex for Pagefile and scratch disk, another 512GB M.2 PCI-Ex for the images and catalogue work drive, and this on full PCI-Express Lane of its own (which can be done only on the HEDT platforms) and the rest a couple of SATA SSDs for Windows, Games, JPEG dedicated drive for easy access and HDD for long term storage solution. Such a setup would cost beyond 2000£.