‘Chinese GPU miners reportedly bulk buying Nvidia laptops to mine Ether’ – yeah, who’d thought some capitalists in China would put a crimp in the computer Gaming Industry!? I’m not a gamer, but I appreciate how they keep/kept the computer components advancing ‘n improving year after year for decades.

I was just plodding along waiting for the next opportunity to buy the right GPU, and then there it was – ‘Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition for just $399’, then – poof!?! That was the first time I realized there might be a problem…wrote about it in this Dec 3rd, 2020 post – on sale 12/02/20 ‘n “Sold Out” 12/02/20. No rush, I thought, just wait until after Christmas and they will be abundant.

By Feb 8th, 2021 they were not abundant ‘n I had discovered where all those GPU’s were going…wrote about it here – GPU’s, Covid-19 ‘n Chinese GPU miners.

I had PC building plans, and Chinese GPU miners were wreaking those plans…imagine what they were doing to the computer Gaming enthusiasts’ plans!? Well, I was seeing some old GPU’s still below the $500-600+++ price that a GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER was going for now (if you could find one!?)…I had paid $237.99 for my 1660 SUPER on 8/6/2020 ‘n now the prices were ridiculous. Ended up buying an entry level GPU, the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, for $239.95 ‘n hoped to use it in a mini-ITX build. That same GTX 1050 Ti is now going for $319.99 @ Amazon…same old ‘n slow entry level GPU was $139 last year!?!

OK…new GPU’s are being ‘Gobbled’ up by capitalist Chinese GPU miners, but I did now have the former $139 old ‘n slow 1050 Ti that I willingly paid $239.95 for…old parts in the shed – including that old Ryzen™ 5 3400G APU. Can still stick the 1050 Ti in ‘Rose’ in hopes of graphically speeding it up…maybe.

At some point, I became tired of moving cables…from behind desks ‘n under desks. I became tired of getting down on my knees ‘n sides ‘n back ‘n head and finally decided I needed a new plan!

Since I wasn’t going to pay $500-999 for a $200 GPU, maybe I could switch the ones I have around…maybe even build a new mini-ITX in the process?!? All that switching ‘n moving a couple GPU’s around is gonna require lots of under the desk/s work. However, that ‘Wagon on Wheels’ mobility idea doesn’t require getting under any desk…tho some better cable management would be nice.

As just mentioned on *Karmi’s Daily Blog Log* 2/23/2021 entry, I moved ‘Antec Jr.’ out from under the desk, all the way over to the right-side between the desk ‘n wall. Built a wooden ‘Sled’ for it to sit on ‘n to also make it mobile by simply sliding it out where there is plenty of light ‘n easy access – ‘n no head-bumping!  😉

‘Apevia’ was next, so it was slid into the ‘Antec Jr.’ old spot, under the desk ‘n on the right-side. For mobility, a ‘Sled’ wouldn’t work under the desk, but a ‘Sliding Shelf’ with a small brace at the end would ‘n did work!

Also, reorganized all the cables under ‘n behind the desk, eliminating many, rerouting others, and arranging the ones connected to the computers to have enough length to be slid out w/o the need to unplug them.

  • I like this new Plan of total mobility!!!

Also mentioned in that *Karmi’s Daily Blog Log* of 2/23/2021, “lots of hardware experimenting in ‘da works now,” e.g. testing a Liquid CPU cooler installation in the new Cooler Master Elite 130 mini-ITX build. I want to see if I can get the Ryzen™ 9 3900X into ‘CM130’ and keep it cool with a 120mm Liquid cooler…a $59.99 one should arrive by Monday. That case is supposedly designed for a 120mm Liquid Cooler, and the case just can’t handle a big enough heatsink/fan for the 3900X. Never installed a Liquid Cooler so this is definitely an experiment…ran some searches ‘n found this – Which AIO CPU cooler is recommended for use with AMD’s Ryzen 9 3900X?:

A rule of thumb for water cooling is to plan for 120mm of cooling for each component you want to cool. So, a single CPU installation will need at minimum a 120mm AIO, and that grants us about 150W of thermal capacity. You can certainly go with a 140mm if you want to increase capacity for overclocking, etc., but it’s generally not needed.

Not knowing anything about these coolers I decided to go w/ Cooler Master since they also made the case – Cooler Master MasterLiquid Lite 120 AIO CPU Liquid Cooler. I can afford that, and if it doesn’t work with the Ryzen™ 9 3900X then I’ll stick the Ryzen™ 5 3400G back in and save that liquid cooler for another experiment later.

Most AMD processors are overrated, IMHO, and the Ryzen™ 9 3900X is definitely overrated. Take a look at this performance pic:

That Intel® Core™ i7-8700 (launched Q4 ’17) has 6 cores w/ 12 threads – compared to the AMD Ryzen™ 9 3900X 12 cores w/ 24 threads.

I am *NOT* going to let the Ryzen™ 9 3900X have that GeForce GTX 1660 XC anymore…not until GPU prices come back down. After seeing the results of that test, I decided to give the 9 3900X a shot in the Cooler Master Elite 130 mini-ITX case w/ the GTX 1050 Ti OC. Anyway, until GPU prices come down ‘n availability goes up, the 9 3900X gets the entry level GTX 1050 Ti OC – no matter which case it ends up in.

Like I’ve said before, I focus on the Desktop performance of this particular benchmark test, then Gaming and Workstation focus is last. The 9 3900X has the best CPU/APU tests so far on the 1050 Ti GPU:

Good Desktop performance (much better than the Ryzen™ 5 3400G APU) and best Game score on that GTX 1050 Ti to this point (not good, but best so far). Really want to get the Ryzen™ 9 3900X working in the new ‘CM130’ mini-ITX build, and my other two GPU’s won’t fit in that ITX case.

Part of my new Plan will depend on the 9 3900X working with the liquid cooler in the Cooler Master Elite 130 case, i.e. I’m hoping to free up the Apevia case for future builds, but until then use the Ryzen™ 5 3400G APU in it.

Moving my main computer, ‘Antec Jr. ’, out from under the desk ‘n over to my far right-side next to the wall has worked perfectly. I rarely open it, but the new ‘Sled’ makes it mobile enough for easy access now, for when I do need to get into it.

Having the ‘Apevia’ test computer on my right-side also makes it easier to use, with the ‘Sliding Shelf’ allowing it to sit out 10” further (than before) for easy access ‘n viewing. The shelf makes it possible to slide it out another 18” for easy opening of the ‘Flip-Top’ whilst still sitting in my chair. I’ll be doing a lot of hardware testing with it, so more mobility was absolutely needed. I now have 3 computers on the mobile cart to my left and 2 computers on my right.

Adding more hardware tests has allowed me to be more selective with my Linux Distro testing. Am still testing lots of them, but only posting on the ones I find more interesting. Besides, anyone interested in trying Linux out is going to have to install it eventually or find someone to do it or pay a lot of money for a computer with Linux already installed. I just want to provide some info on newer hardware, since most Linux hardware talk is focused on older hardware.

At some point this year I also hope to do some research on printers for Linux…ones with drivers for more than just Ubuntu ‘n Ubuntu-based Distros. Have done some prep-searching over the past year so I have a very basic idea what brand/s may provide for the most Distros. Linux is far from being a decent Desktop OS, but Distros that offer at least some easy printer options will get the most attention from any new comers, IMHO.

LINUX IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES – you never know what you’re gonna get!

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