T.Sharp

I was also wondering about this, whether to store them filled with coolant to minimize oxidation, or just get it as dry as possible. I think getting them bone dry and then capping would be the best bet. You can blow out a lot of the water with an air compressor or a datavac. Avacado's idea of using a heat gun is great. I was thinking you could also put it in the oven at a very low temp (like 150f) to dry, assuming your oven goes that low.

I love my Aeropress, it’s kinda like a mix between a french press and pour over. Uses a lil paper filter so you don’t get any fines in your cup. Light or medium roast only because that’s where you get the flavor. Dark roasts cook off all the complexity and end up tasting the same. You also get more caffeine with lighter roasts, as the heat destroys it. Natural or Honey processed are my favorite processing methods, where the bean is dried in the fruit or hulled and dried without washing. That way the bean absorbs much more of the fruit flavors. There’s lots of local roasters near me which is a big plus. Always freshly roasted whole bean, and then grind right before brewing, to get the best possIble flavor. Conical burr grinders are the only way to go, none of that weed whacker / blender blade nonsense. Coffee starts to oxidize as soon as it’s ground, so pre-ground is a sin Ohh and black only when you’ve got dank beans. Sugar and creamer would be unethical. Lol

Interesting that the 4090 likes some heat, I wonder what could cause that. I've heard of cold bugging with LN2, but at ambient temps that's surprising. Either way, if it's water cooled, temps are already gonna be more than good enough with TG-PP10. UX Pro would be more important for air cooled 3090's and whatnot. Anything besides air cooled GDDR6X cards, It would be a waste of money. The other options like U6 Pro, ZT-PY6, CX-H1300, are plenty good enough.

I expect it will last for years in the fridge. The expiration date seems more like a formality than anything, probably a requirement for such products being sold to OEMs. Not to mention, I'm sure TG would be happy for you to throw your stock away after 12 months and order more But... if you're all about having the best performance, you should try some UX Pro. It's the best stuff around, although not cheap. (the results here may be skewed a bit, as he explains)

I like WizTree and BulkCrapUninstaller. MS Autoruns is also great for disabling unwanted background processes.

I'm also a big fan of thermal putty as a pad replacement. It removes all the guesswork and allows for the best possible contact and pressure on the core. A very common issue that people run into when upgrading to high performance pads, is that they are more stiff / harder to compress than OEM. Even if you get the proper thickness, they can prevent optimal core contact. Good putty matches or outperforms high end pads, so there's really no downsides AFAIC. Sure it leaves a bit of residue, but high end pads do as well. IME, it's easier to remove and clean after it has been on a card for a while, because it will stiffen up a bit and come off in complete pieces. Depending on the age, you may be able to reuse it too. You can knead and mix it back together to soften and even out the consistency. Not too long ago, the only decent choice was TG-PP10, but it has since been discontinued. Fortunately there are quite a few options on Aliexpress that outperform PP10 now. Snarks Domain on YT has done some nice testing of different putties. Based on his results, I snagged some U6 Pro and it has been great. More gooey than TG-PP10, which I'm not super fond of, but once it bakes for a while, it becomes more cohesive. (I take my cards apart a lot for experiments. lol) Just today I got in a shipment of CX-H1300 because I wanted to try one of the cheaper less hyped products. The consistency is more like a non-Newtonian fluid than U6, and it isn't nearly as gooey or sticky, which is a plus. It's very dense like U6 Pro and I expect it will perform about the same. Will update when I test it on my 6700 XT. Here's how the paste print looks with perfect contact. The unevenness is caused by the warped die. It may not look that bad, but putting a razor blade on it shows that it's far from flat EDIT : One other great product I forgot to mention, is PTM7950. It's a paste alternative that comes in a 0.2mm sheet that you cut to size. It starts to melt above 45c, allowing the excess to flow out and creating a very thin bondline. The big benefit is that it doesn't suffer from pump-out like regular paste, and can maintain its performance for a very long time. It will actually improve over time as the bond gets thinner from heat cycling. With air cooling, you can reach ~95% of the performance in just a few minutes of Furmark with the fans turned down. In my testing against KPx paste (which performs identically to Kryonaut Extreme in Luumi's tests), the PTM runs about 2c cooler after giving it time to fully seat. With water cooling, your results may vary, since the block may never get hot enough to allow the PTM to achieve optimal bondline thickness. You could try turning the pump and fans way down, but I'm sure some people wouldn't be fond of letting their blocks and coolant get above 45c. If you're interested in PTM, I got legit stuff from "passionate girl store" on aliexpress. It's much cheaper than other sources. Here's an Nvidia engineer discussing the PTM used on the 4090 FE :

The fewer connection points between PSU and GPU, the better, in theory. Every time you add a connection (right angle adapters, cable extensions, splitters), you add contact resistance. None of the contacts will have the exact same resistance either, and differences can compound as connection points are added, leading to current imbalances between wires. It is possible that using a squid splitter that takes 3-4 PCIe cables from the PSU, and combines them into a 12VHPWR connector, would have lower resistance than a single direct PSU cable, since the current is shared across more wires and contacts for most of the path, but I haven't seen anyone test this. Use an anti-sag support to relieve any strain on the PCB / slot.

If you have the space, I'd recommend powered nearfield monitors. The Kali LP6 V2 is a really good value, as well as the JBL 305p. The JBL has a slight bit of hiss when nothing is playing, so you may notice it if the room is dead silent. The Kali V2 reduced the hiss from the first gen. Both are very well tuned speakers and insane value. LP6 V2 testing : https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/kali_lp-6v2/ 305p testing : https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/jbl_305pmk2/

Sounds like an interesting project. My thought would be to do an ITX build with the GPU connected by a riser cable, so it's mechanically isolated from the mobo slot. A case like the Ghost S1 where the GPU is vertically mounted, would probably be best for a GPU with a heavy cooler, so it doesn't flex the PCB as much. Maybe put the case inside a box lined with something like memory foam (not springy and very soft), and add some good air filters & fans on the box. If a consumer GPU is going to survive, I think a consumer mobo would be fine. Definitely agree with the AIO for the CPU cooler. Take as much mass / leverage off the board as possible.

Bit of an update... I have an AC powered 120mm 2600RPM axial fan that runs pretty much 24/7. I took it apart a few days ago and lubed both ball bearings with Triflow, after I noticed that the bearings were sounding a bit rough when I would turn it off and let it coast to a stop. After a few days of running, the "rough" sound has gotten worse. It still spins very freely, and the hub seems cooler than before (less friction), but the light grease that came on the bearings definitely made it run quieter. Fortunately those Fushi 693 bearings come pre-greased, so If it gets worse, I'll just replace them with new ones.

Heck, you can even replace ball bearings in GPU fans and whatnot. Pretty much any BB fan uses 693 bearings.

I've been using Triflow with PTFE because I had it, but idk if it's the best choice, it's very light oil. Maybe better to use something heavier like engine oil.

As far as other stack options, it's hard to beat the L30 II + E30 II for the money. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-e30-ii-dac-review.36028/ https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-l30-ii-review-headphone-amp.36027/ Personally I prefer a DAC/Amp combo in a single box. I think mini stacks are kinda pointless and just add clutter, but those two are top notch for the price class. Here's a solid combo unit : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/aoshida-smsl-c200-review-dac-amp.36850/ Also has balanced line-out which is nice if you ever want to connect powered studio monitors, and it has an internal PSU which is a big plus imo (no wall warts)

It's an older model, basically just an overclocked E12 controller from what I've read, but yeah not a bad price