Batman's CaseLabs Mercury S8 Work Computer

[E-curbi]

I know you are

Told the gf, we're calling the new shave brush Crystal Blue Persuasion, and she didn't understand - too young to reference the reference.

Then, I explained the Haight-Ashbury era to her and viola! Now she gets it.

gf: “OH, I see butterflies in the handle, and the head of a lion at the lower right.”

Do you see the little cartoon boy with the large eyes just above the lion? How about the piranha fish at the lower left eating that lightning bolt?

 

[FireFox]

Told the gf, we're calling the new shave brush Crystal Blue Persuasion, and she didn't understand - too young to reference the reference.

Then, I explained the Haight-Ashbury era to her and viola! Now she gets it.

gf: “OH, I see butterflies in the handle, and the head of a lion at the lower right.”

Do you see the little cartoon boy with the large eyes just above the lion? How about the piranha fish at the lower left eating that lightning bolt?




View attachment 114208

You are worse than me

 

[E-curbi]

You are worse than me

I'm not so bad.

Surprise, only found out today while re-mounting a PSU! The new Wera Red Bull driver’s bitholder tip is permanently magnetized, holding a small magnet within the housing! It says nothing about this in the specs, although for the money, yea it probably should be.

In contrast, the Wera Kraftform Kompakt green standard non-stainless steel version (half the price) is not magnetized yet structurally identical. So I’ve been using this star-shaped magnetizer (2nd pic below) overnight to charge my driver tips and bits (and bobs). I couldn't resist that one.

Hey Knoxxypoo, we just received an email from Julie at Lovense, asking us how things are going.

 

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The Chubby 3 Manchurian has Bloomed! My God it's now become a Monster, how can we contain it, what can we possibly do with it?

gf: I can think of a few things.

 

[FireFox]

 

[E-curbi]

$499 msrp for the EVGA Z390 DARK, not so bad. So happy EVGA is now in the game.

Asus has been waiting for EVGA to lay down their cards and this is it, now Asus will set their price for the Maximus XI Apex and announce availability.

It's a crazy game of competition and world records and now Asus will play their hand.

 

[E-curbi]

Hey Knoxxy,

I believe this excerpt from the Apex 11 manual in German says "When you have an M.2 drive installed in the DIMM.2_1 port, the PCIe16X_1 drops to 8X."

So the DIMM.2 on the Apex 11 motherboard is HALF-USELESS.

Yes, the Deutsch manual is the only manual posted at the Asus Global website, nothing in English yet at the US site.

It says nothing about the DIMM.2_2 port, so maybe I can still use the other side of the riser card to install the Optane U.2-M.2 drive via that Intel proprietary cable (pic below), without losing any CPU PCIe lanes for my video card.

Things are looking better for the EVGA Z390 DARK, everyday.

Half-useless
Half-useless
Half-useless

Do you see any other bad news in there?

 

[E-curbi]

The DIMM.2_2 socket faces the front of the build and that's ideal to run the cable down below in my chassis's lower compartment. As long as I can still use that single socket DIMM.2_2 to connect the Optane 2.5in drive while still maintaining all 16X CPU lanes for the video card, then I'll grab the Maximus XI Apex.

DIMM.2_1 socket faces the CPU
DIMM.2_2 socket faces the front of the build

I'll just never use the DIMM.2_1 socket which faces the memory modules and CPU, ever. Which kinda stinks.

I like calling them ports instead of sockets, but Asus calls them sockets on the PCB.

Will also mount the Optane 905P PCIe HHHL 280GB SSD drive (2nd pic) in slot 16_3, which doesn't stink at all.

So I'll have (2) Optane 905Ps in the Batman, both 280GB capacity will be fine and less expensive, and the (4) Samsung 860 PRO SATA SSD drives in the Supermicro mobile rack for category redundancy.

Sounds like a plan Sam!

 

[FireFox]

I believe this excerpt from the Apex 11 manual in German says "When you have an M.2 drive installed in the DIMM.2_1 port, the PCIe16X_1 drops to 8X."

That's exactly what it says.

 

[E-curbi]

That's exactly what it says.

Thanks bilingual buddy.

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EVGA Z390 DARK

https://www.evga.com/products/pdf/131-CS-E399-KR.pdf

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=131-CS-E399-KR

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“Creators are among the most demanding and the most vocal, but also the most passionate AMD users, because they really benefit from every ounce of performance.”

-Lisa Su


You’re damn right we are Lisa … and thank you for the amazing Radeon Pro discrete workstation graphics cards.

 

[E-curbi]

No English manuals so far from Asus for the M11A, and EVGA is still struggling to post their Z390 DARK manual pdf.

I won't buy "either or any" motherboard until I can first study the manual. Does that make me a jerk? Or simply prudent?

Get your damn manuals up, please.

 

[E-curbi]

EVGA Z390 DARK User’s Manual is up.

https://www.evga.com/support/manuals/files/131-CS-E399.pdf

No 16X CPU PCIe conflicts connecting either M.2, since both M.2 ports are wired to the 24 PCH lanes.

With the EVGA Z390 DARK:

When you use the top M.2 port, the U.2 connector is disabled (all PCH chipset lanes)
When you use the bottom M.2 port, the 4X PE3 slot is disabled (all PCH chipset lanes)

None of the 16 CPU PCIe lanes are affected in any way, they remain active for your video card in slot PE1.


Still in disbelief and utter dismay , Asus wired HALF the DIMM.2 to the 16 CPU PCIe lanes on the Apex 11, what were they thinking?

Maybe when the English manual goes up, I can find out for certain at least one port on the M11A DIMM.2 is connected to the Z390 chipset lanes, and usable.

 

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Apex 11 selling for 399.99 Euros in Europe, 333.33 Euros excluding VAT online vendor called PROSHOP.

Expecting stock in 6days.

So that equates to $460USD

 

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M11Apex vs Z390 DARK

No matter which Z390 mobo I order first, once it arrives, I’m going to wish I had ordered the other.

So came up with a plan. Absolutely cannot afford not to get the Apex 11 since I’m so familiar with the Asus bios for getting work completed quickly and switching OC profiles on the fly, and those ultra-quick 6-second boot times (using Optane SSDs and 3200/14 DIMMs) and fast wake from sleeps I’ve grown to love, yea even though I hate the fact that Asus wired the DIMM.2 so as to be half-non-functional, at least for my use case. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Also feel like I have no choice but to experience the amazing EVGA Z390 DARK and believe the price will drop by $50 or even $100 to $399, once and soon after the Maximus 11 Apex’s msrp is announced and the board becomes available to purchase. If history repeats itself, as the EVGA X299 DARK’s msrp was adjusted down significantly to wow, look at today’s price ... only $249.

Love to pick up the Z390 DARK for $249, but won't be able to wait that long, will grab it in February or March.

Then move the Apex X back into the original box awaiting The Learning Computer tertiary build.

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Been looking for a case for that tertiary build and this new PC-O11 Dynamic variant by ROG slightly wider to accommodate a 120mm rear exhaust, and slightly taller, looks like it might be ideal.

Thanks Dmitry and Der8auer.

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Looks like Austria is getting the Apex 11 FIRST! Go figure, isn't Der8auer German/Austrian? The only manual up so far globally is the German version. Coincidence? I don't thing so.

So good news, we may see Der8auer's video review and tear-down very soon.

 

[E-curbi]

Oh the hell with the above plan, ordering the EVGA Z390 DARK right now!

That’s the motherboard the Dark Knight would choose.

It’s just so Batman!

Update: ordered, Woooooooooo!


...track #10 is the best.

 

[E-curbi]

EVGA just sold out of Z390 DARKs.

Oh the irony is SO THICK!

 

[Deleted member 178884]

EVGA just sold out of Z390 DARKs.

Not surprised, it was hyped up hard.

 

[E-curbi]

Not surprised, it was hyped up hard.

Yep, agree 100%. EVGA also put a great deal of effort into the design and engineering, and they don't have zillions of dollars in their back pocket freely at their disposal for R&D like Asus does. Gotta give 'em some solid credit.

The Z390 DARK simply blends with my theme so well.

I'm sure the Asus board is also outstanding, I never planned on using LN2 with either board, lol, so for my ambient overclocking for work (Good Air and simple short loop water), it's just splitting hairs between the two boards, and I needed a change most of all, been using the ROG boards exclusively since 2012, time for something fresh and ORIGINAL, well thought out and completely NEW.

ROG didn't even bring the Apex 11 to CES 2019 Las Vegas to promote their own product, kinda disheartening and sad in my humble opinion.

Anyhoo, EVGA sent an email and is shipping the Z390 DARK board to me before they go home today.

 

[Deleted member 178884]

Anyhoo, EVGA sent an email and is shipping the Z390 DARK board to me before they go home today.

That's one expensive board, I only had the cash to grab a 600c and a nice 1080ti ftw3 waterblock. Enjoy that board bud and can't wait to see how far you can push that 9900k, Luumi already has his z390 dark and it's crazy good:

 

[E-curbi]

That's one expensive board, I only had the cash to grab a 600c and a nice 1080ti ftw3 waterblock. Enjoy that board bud and can't wait to see how far you can push that 9900k, Luumi already has his z390 dark and it's crazy good:

I only have an 8086K, not a 9900K, but I'll do my best to find that Extra Sweet DARK SAUCE and thanks brother, you totally ROCK!

 

[Deleted member 178884]

I only have an 8086K, not a 9900K, but I'll do my best and thanks brother, you totally ROCK!

Oops completely forgot, mixed you up with someone else haha. I imagine if the board got his 9900k to boot at 5.6ghz, that 8086k will do FAR better than that.

 

[E-curbi]

Oops completely forgot, mixed you up with someone else haha. I imagine if the board got his 9900k to boot at 5.6ghz, that 8086k will do FAR better than that.

I'm stuck at an 8086K 5.7Ghz boot on Noctua Air right now with the Apex X board, so maybe I can get to 5.8 or even 5.9. A nice 200Mhz increase for all my OC profiles would be so great, but maybe not possible.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Deleted member 178884]

I'm stuck at a 8086K 5.7Ghz boot right now with the Apex X board, so maybe I can get to 5.8 or even 5.9. A nice 200Mhz increase for all my OC profiles would be so great, but maybe not possible.

Fingers crossed.

Hopefully, that'd be insane. Either way can't wait to see some awesome single threaded results come here with that board, it's bound to do better than a Apex X, good luck!

 

[E-curbi]

Hopefully, that'd be insane. Either way can't wait to see some awesome single threaded results come here with that board, it's bound to do better than a Apex X, good luck!

... I won't let you down.

 

[E-curbi]

Best price I've seen so far for the Apex 11 is this listing from Germany below.

369euros = 423USD, so the US msrp is going to be about $419? $429? Could be $70 or $80 less than the EVGA Z390 DARK. Maybe.

Oh well, I've been without a dedicated work rig throughout the holidays and man do I need to get back to work full-time. My EVGA Z390 DARK will be here in two days. I'm more than ready to put rebuild The Batman into his brand new self.

Cannot find bios and drivers available for download at the EVGA site as of yet. Hmmm, do the boards arrive with bios pre-loaded? I doubt it. Do they slip some media inside the box?

First time EVGA mobo buyer. Although had an amazing experience with the KingPin 980 video card, loved that card, yet it offered about as much crossflow - airflow through your case as a billboard, it was HUGE.

I moved to smaller HHHL cards right after.