Hello! I am hoping to get some advice / consulting from those that are more knowledgeable about current hardware and what it takes to min/max and optimize a custom PC build. I worked in IT years ago and for the last 20 or so years I've always built my PC. I am at a loss now though with what I should do to either upgrade or optimize my current build to maintain the speed and power that my work and hobbies demand.
I frequently utilize real-time render programs such as Unreal Engine, Adobe Premier and After Effects. I also play games like Helldivers and a few other higher end ones. I have found lately that my machine doesn't seem to be as fast as it should/could be and I am not sure what could be the bottleneck. I will post info below and hoping that I can get some insight on possible solutions, upgrades and maintenance procedures / best practices.
Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 3950x 16-Core Processor 3.5GHz
Motherboard: MSI MEG X570 ACE Gaming Motherboard AMD AM4 SATA 6Gb/s M.2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Wi-Fi 6 ATX
Video Card: MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 10GB GDDR6X PCI Express Gaming Z TRIO
Memory: Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 32GB (2x16GB) 3200MHz CL16 Intel XMP 2.0 iCUE Compatible Computer Memory x2 (64gb total)
Drives:
1. Samsung SSD 980 PRO 2TB (Temp Data)
2. HGST HDN 4TB (Archive)
3. Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB (Operating System)
4. SanDisk SDSSHD3 2 TB (Temp Data)
Power Supply: GAMEMAX 1050W ATX 3.0 & PCIE 5.0 Power Supply, 80+ Gold Certified, Addressable RGB Sync, Fully Modular ATX Gaming Power Supply, RGB-1050
CPU Cooler: H100i Platinum SE Cooler
My CPU is in a large warehouse/studio. The side panel is off and the warehouse is almost always around 76 degrees F. Should I elevate the machine so it's not on the ground? The floor is concrete.
TLDR: I feel my computer should be running faster and I am not sure what I should do to check/test and troubleshoot before upgrades.
I am not sure how to provide PCIE Lane info or other windows settings like virtual memory etc. I know I should start with my drives first and clean those up.
Is there anything that is blatantly holding me back? How often should I be applying thermal paste?
Do I need to post my BIOS settings?

7 CMBG is the oldest Canadian ARMA unit to date, we formed in 2007. We pride ourselves on our attempts to create an ARMA experience based on the Canadian Armed Forces. Many of our command staff are current or former serving members of the CAF, we can ensure realistic training and operations for prospective members based on the weapons and standards of the CAF.
The 7CMBG currently has many roles open that you can work towards. You begin your career in the infantry but can work your way up to being part of our air detachment, medical (KAT medical, with actual medical professionals providing training) weapons, or artillery teams. We also offer ways to learn to become the mission maker and create operations for the unit. Our primary focus right now is building up our Infantry forces due to many of our members being deployed or in training for the Summer.
Task Force Canada is our in-house mod that features fully modeled and functioning uniforms, weapons, vehicles, and gear. Our team of developers works hard to ensure we have the most realistic-looking and functioning equipment for our operations. 7CMBG deploys and trains with the same weapons systems as the CAF.
We currently host operations on Saturday nights at 1730 EST. Members should attempt to show up at least twice per month to remain active members of the unit. Once you become a member, you will gain access to our operations and training calendar where you can mark attendance and see other planned activities for the group.
To apply, go to our website at 7cmbg.ca and click on APPLY NOW. Your application will be sent to our J1 staff who will handle your interview and onboarding process. From there, you'll be placed in a squad and begin your career at 7CMBG. When you join our discord after applying, please ping a member of @J-1 to get together and have an interview.
Any questions? Join us on Discord by clicking here
We look forward to having you join our ranks!

I've seen a fair few "these are my balance change ideas for the whole game" posts, which isn't the goal. Rather than fix entire tower balance in relation to the game as a whole, I want to suggest a few changes to underused crosspaths. They're not meant to magically fix a crosspath, just bring it more in-line with the more powerful/popular one.
Feel free to tear me apart in the comments as that's how these tend to go.

• Dart Monkey
  • 2-0-3 Crossbow Pierce increase from 10 -> 12
  • 2-0-4 Sharp Shooter crits every 7 -> 6 shots
  • If you want group cleanup with the dart, you usually go for the top path. Crossbow tends to be more about range and damage, so the middle path tends to be paired most with crossbow and sharpshooter. These changes are meant to allow crossbow to get through a pack of bloons easier to hit the high-health targets, and the sharpshooter crit increase allows the disparity between how quickly each crosspath actually triggers a crit to be more in-line.
• Tack Shooter
  • 2-0-4 Overdrive no longer gains a pierce bonus. 0-2-4 Overdrive remains unchanged
    • 2-0-4 Overdrive Pierce 2 -> 1
    • 0-2-4 Overdrive Pierce remains at 3
  • 0-0-4 Overdrive Cost Cut ($3,400 -> $2,900)
  • Because the overdrive gets an extra pierce by default, middle path is generally not used with it. In addition, there are multiple ways for Overdrive to get pierce bonuses that does not include middle path. For that reason, widening the "deal damage vs high pierce" of the overdrive crosspaths seems like a good way to differentiate the two. A little price cut could be good to make up for this pierce nerf.
• Wizard Monkey
  • 2-0-4 Necromancer max graveyard count 450 -> 1,000
  • 2-0-4 Undead bloon max spawn rate increase +50% -> +100%
  • This seems pretty tame at first until you realize that the more undead bloons a necromancer has in its graveyard, the faster it spawns them. The idea with this buff is that the top path would be buffing the actual undead bloons themselves, rather than having the wall of fire to cleanup.
• Banana Farm
  • 0-2-3 Value of Bananas are increased by +25% -> +37.5%
  • Changes to farm are usually pretty controversial, but there is no reason to ever go for an 0-2-3 farm, save for the fact it is SLIGHTLY cheaper. It makes you less money (2-0-3 makes $720 while 0-2-3 makes $700) and you benefit from the actual money-making less while building into it. This change would allow the 0-2-3 to make more money than the 2-0-3, while the 2-0-3 would still be popular early game due to the benefit you get while building into the marketplace.
    • 3-2-0: $800 p/round
    • 2-0-3: $720 p/round
    • 0-2-3: Old $700 p/round, New $770 p/round
    • 4-2-0: $3,750 p/round
    • 2-0-4: $2,880 p/round
    • 0-2-4: Old $2,800, New $3,080 p/round

I've also just realized all of these proposed changes are for bottom paths. This wasn't planned, they just seem to have the least interesting crosspath options.

Please excuse my tardiness, today was busy with the new update.
DOTD
-2x 100M Ag, 10k Au, 10k keys (799 D-gems)
Good for getting a large chunk of leveling done on a bot, this is a good deal if you really want to level something new.
Robot
-[FOR PVE ONLY] Ardent Behemoh/Ardent Hwangje (699 D-gems)
Not a viable build in competitive play, but these weapons are very good in PVE. If you use these on a Seraph you can quickly clear many levels and get lots of resources. Don't buy if you already have a good PVE build though.
Resource
-200M Ag, 3k Au (699 D-gems)
A watered down version of the DOTD, this is another offer containing a high amount of silver. Buying this would allow you to get a good chunk of upgrades done without worrying about Silver for a while.
Event
-None
First day prices are always super high, don't buy pads until a few days into the event.
Titan
-None
Bad titans in the offers today, not worth the money.
Drone/Ship/Pilot
-Hiruko, 150 Micrchips (999 D-gems)
A bit pricey, but if you have the spare MCs to level Hiruko, it's worth it. It's a very good drone right now, as long as you have enough power cells of course.
Collector's
-None

TLDR - Shiny Weapon Drop Rate is 3.85% (1/26~) base, from any source. probably. With the 'Drop Rate Buff' added on May 21, 2024, that is likely doubled, to a 7.7% (1/13~) chance.
I tracked 1k drops for drop, attunement, shiny, and perks (just to quantify how unlucky i am)

Shiny Drop Rate over time

https://i.ibb.co/pPNv1p5/image.png
As the sample size builds up, there is some fluctuation until it stabilizes between 3.5% - 4.0% Sample is obviously not large enough to be certain. But based on Bungie's historical enthusiasm for using the number 7 literally everywhere, I am drawing the conclusion they tested the initial drop rate as either 7, 7.7, or 7.77%, and found it a bit too high, so sliced it in half. With today's 'BRAVE drop buff', it appears to be a drop rate buff specifically for shiny drops, which is likely doubling it, to restore the drop rate to 7.7% (ish) (probably)
and some of the raw stats -
Some of the finer details you may be interested in:

Raw Info
Total Weapon Drops	1025
Total Shiny Weapon Drops	38
Total Drops while Attuned to Any Gun	1011
Total Drops, Dropped Gun is Attuned	493
Attune Hit Percent	48.76%
Shiny Percent	3.71%
Shiny Hit Rate	1 / 26.97
Drop is Shiny, AND is Attuned	23 / 38
Shiny=Attuned Percent	60.53%

Gun	Total Drops	Attuned Drop Hits	Attuned Drop Chances	Attune Hit Pct	Attune Hit Rate
recluse	97	0	0	0	0 / 0
hungJury	89	0	0	0	0 / 0
succession	91	0	0	0	0 / 0
edgeTransit	134	94	183	51.37%	94 / 183
fallingGuillotine	0	0	0	0	0 / 0
elsiesRifle	106	44	89	49.44%	44 / 89
mountainTop	79	24	59	40.68%	24 / 59
midnightCoup	170	121	242	50.00%	121 / 242
hammerhead	132	106	220	48.18%	106 / 220
forebearance	0	0	0	0	0 / 0
blastFurnace	63	63	151	41.72%	63 / 151
lunasHowl	64	41	67	61.19%	41 / 67​

Attunement Rate for Mountaintop, Luna, are a bit off, but the sample size is small enough to attribute it to luck. You may have noticed an oddity though - 0 drops of Falling Guillotine, or Forbearance. So lets also get into some drop mechanics / Onslaught Tips

Weapon Drop Pool

Your initial drop pool, is only the first 4 weapons available - Recluse, Hung Jury, Succession, and Edge Transit. The remaining 8 weapons cannot drop, until you FULLY complete the associated weapon quest. Specifically, when the quest makes you Attune to the weapon on step 2, for the first time, that adds the drop into your loot pool. If you just don't do the quest, don't attune, etc - you can remove guns you don't want, from your loot pool. Between the weapon unlock mechanics, the layout of the map, and the initial plan of '6 extra weapons unlock 1 per week', I believe the initial plan was 8 weeks of Onslaught, with 1 unlock per week, and that was 'buffed' before the announcement to 6 + 6 over weeks, and finally into 6 + 6 over 3 weeks.

Shiny Drop Sources

All weapon drops are equal - wave 10 boss, opening the chest w/ 10 tokens, claiming a vendor engram from Shaxx, or turning in a weekly Arcite bounty - Every drop has a chance to be shiny.
finally, if you only take one piece of information away -

Heavy Ammo Crates in Onslaught only despawn when a build phase ends, or a player enters the boss portal.

NOT the Spark / Round 6 Portal. If you have a heavy crate sitting on the ground when the Spark/Rift portal opens, Don't open it, leave it outside, burn your heavy clearing the Sparkbearers inside, then refill after.

Okay so i finally got the book today and.......eh.......i can see what its trying to do but there's just this feeling of it all being orbs of locations suspended in a void with nothing between them and very little Vecna. And that gave me an idea of a way to run this adventure still using most of the locations aand setups it gives but just making it more dire.
Vecna Won
First off Vecnas the god of secrets, hell yeah he would keep his universe domination plan a secret as well so heroes cant get the hint and stop him. The first change therefore happens in chapter 1 when the party are disrupting the ritual.
First off this is THE ritual and its functionally complete, its one of many rituals taking place across the multiverse around those obelisks that came up a lot in 5e. The party are able to disrupt this ritual however they cant stop them all and Vecna still succeeds in rewriting the multiverse. However, now he misses a bit, the party themselves.
The party tumble through the 'crevice of dusk' and find themselves in the dark reflection of Neverwinter, however now its not the Shadowfell, its reality. Vecna is worshipped there as a god, characters the party met earlier are now twisted as Vecna wished and the universe is cataclysmically changed. If the party follow up on their backstories they are changed as well, close family members are now evil tyrants, all the heroics they performed are all for naught. Vecna won and made the universe as he wished and he wished for Evil!
The party are one of the few bastions of the old universe, missed by Vecnas reality rewrite by disrupting the ritual, and now they are Vecnas only Blindspot.
The Wizards three (actually three)
Once the setting is established as being Vecnas and the party have started causing a ruckus they are picked up by one of the last bastions of the old universe left, the wizards three but this time Mordenkainen is actually himself. The wizards have spotted them as not beloning to this new reality and are apparently relativly unoticed by Vecnas sight so far. Comparitivly the wizards three are trapped in their sigil sanctumn and under siege by vecnas forces. the three of them are tired and wearing thin, eventually they will give out but for now they can help the paarty by instructing them on restoring the universe by restoring the rod of seven parts.
The rod here is still an ultimate symbol of law, however it is a symbol of the old universes laws, all of them, enough to rebuild the universe as it was if these laws are restored. You can think of the rod as being like a blueprint of the universe before Vecna changed everything and if brought to the right place it could Re-establish its laws and restore the universe to its original form.
The rods pieces are trying to do their thing, maintaining pockets of the old reality within Vecnas new one, though Vecna wishes to obtain them to destroy it and some are held in the hands of some terribly powerful beings who don't want to see Vecna ruling the universe.
And so now the quest is set, collect the rod pieces before vecna can to restore a blueprint of the universe before Vecna changed it. The Wizards three can direct the party towards one of these places of stability where the first piece of the rod is but they don't have knowledge of the other pieces..
At a certain point in the adventure have the wizards sanctum finally be breached and Vecna himself destroy them easily, a final bastion of the old universe fallen to his might.
Between the pieces
This now gives us an opportunity to build what Vecnas universe is, have characters backstories twisted by his will so where one player was a noble guard captain, now he's seen as a corrupt tyrant. Another player who had a heroic father now looks upon a villain. This in between world is just the normal dnd world but now twisted for vecnas evil goals. Have characters within this world give the party clues on these other areas of stability so the party can try to reach them. Use the areas around the stability areas as setups for what vecnas done to the unuverse. It fills in the gaps between the set pieces of the adventures.
The rod pieces themselves
The rod pieces should all be protected by powerful beings who see their potential or work for Vecna to protect them. Maybe some pieces are held by villains who would rather stick it to Vecna than live in his world. I personally love the idea of Strahd in his castle fighting a siege war against Vecnas forces and the party have to infiltrate the castle to reach and convince him to give up his piece of the rod so they can destroy Vecna, only for Strahd to choose to accompany them to make sure of it.
Have new allies within these pockets of the old reality who can join them or aid them in their quest, villains who grant them boons, other great heroes who offer a heroic sacrifice so they can escape. These are the last threads of the old reality and every one of them wants to do a big hit against Vecnas new one that twisted their world into the monstrosity it is.
Kas
Okay so Kas has to be here but having him in a deception role seems......weak.....he's a powerful general and fighter, not a deception master. So lets have him be resistant to vecnas reality change the same as the party. H e is also on a quest to restore the rod of seven parts but he intends to use it to restore the universe to his specifications instead. He will still help the party collect rod pieces but with the condition that he gets to be there when they eventually fight vecna. I would also add in background fluff on him where Vecnas new reality constantly mocks him as a failure and there are monuments to Vecna beating him in battle and the like. Really making him hate Vecna more.
Vecna is a god, he's always here!
So Vecna himself, he's a god in this new reality and he enjoys it, often appearing to his greatest worshippers and giving them guidance, maybe striking the final blow on battles against the old reality and mopping up the remnants of some of the reality pockets. He cant enter them himself as he would be significantly weakened but he can still send his forces in from outside.
Vecna is also a God with a capital G. He doesn't have a stat block, he cant be killed by just being stabbed on the street, if a player tries to attack him they are just disintegrated on the spot with no hope of survival against a God. The only way to defeat Vecnas godhood is to begin restoring reality to how it was when he was only the god of Secrets
One bit that I'm not fully sold on but i think could work is that the party are 'Outside' his realm, they were missed in the spell so unless he directly looks at them and works out they aren't from his remade reality he doesn't know they exist. The party are his one blind spot caused through the pure luck of them disrupting a tiny part of his ritual. A fluke that will eventually bring him down. He may occasionally speak to the party and make his prescense known but unless the party give themselves away he remains unaware of their true goals until the end. The one secret he doesnt know himself.
Finale
Going into the finale, when the rod is rebuilt the party will now have the goal of reaching where Vecna originally cast the spell. Maybe they have allies from the other reality pockets, maybe the wizards three survived, maybe Kas is helping the party out. Whatever allies they have they infiltrate Vecnas lair and reach the birthplace of his universe. When they attempt to use the rod Vecna himself appears and the fight ensues. Vecna being within range of the rod when it irs restoring reality is weakend to just his god of secrets form but still can call in aid from his reality to help and exhibits enhanced power. Maybe the rod restores other heroes from the old reality to help, maybe the party bring their own horde of allies gathered over the campaign, theres lots of ways this can go.
Conclusion
Eventually Vecna will be defeated and the rod can do its thing, at this point each party member gets a perfect wish each to influence the restored universe...….and are then dropped off in the tavern where it all started, no-one else has any memory of what happened, Vecna himself doesn't even know he succeeded and follows other methods of ascension instead. The party have the choice of telling people what happened but the chance of vecna finding out this plan and trying it again is too much of a risk......... I guess the party need to keep it a secret to themselves...…
Roll Credits I don't know if this is actually a good campaign but it sounds like the kind of thing i would run if i was to do this campaign concept. Meanwhile I'm going to return to my Curse of Strahd sequel campaign where Strahd and Azalin are duking it out to rule the domains of Dread.
Thank you for reading

TL:DR
Some parts of the text was in Reddit-tables, but they got somehow lost.
This project began when someone on Reddit asked about the export speed of Rekordbox 7 compared to Rekordbox 6, prompting the entire initiative. My intention is not to "blame" or "shame" any company or its products. I approached these tests with an unbiased, open mind, taking great care to provide a level playing field for all tests conducted. This report reflects my impartial findings.
Test DateMay 16th - May 20th 2024 Report ReleaseMay 21st 2024 AuthorMixMasterG CompanyAnd The Groove Remains Production Team Websitewww.ATGR.nl
Publication of (sections) of this report is allowed, with full data source statement included.
Introduction:
Welcome to the real world Rekordbox 6/7 speed comparison test on macOS 2024.
When I began these tests, my initial goal was to quickly compare the speed difference between Rekordbox 6 and Rekordbox 7 on an Apple ARM computer for tasks that are notoriously slow, such as opening, exporting to USB, and analysis. I used my personal, extensive track collection for these tests. Due to unexpected results, I expanded the test to include several other macOS computers. As a reference, I decided to include Algoriddim djay Pro 5, the most optimized DJ software for macOS, and Serato, the second most popular DJ software on macOS.
Mandatory Rekordbox 7 analysis when exporting to USB
When I initiated the tests, the measured export times from Rekordbox 7 to USB were unreasonably long. Similar reports poured in from users of my applications in various settings. Identifying the cause of this sluggishness swiftly became my top priority. It turned out that Rekordbox 7's export process necessitated the analysis of tracks by RB7, even if those tracks were already fully analyzed in Rekordbox 6.8.5. When an artist updates from Rekordbox 6 to Rekordbox 7, RB7 silently analyzes the tracks before exporting, leading to excessively prolonged export times. Fortunately, RB7 analysis is a one-time requirement per track and can be manually initiated at times that its more convenient then minutes before a gig. I issued this short YouTube video to make users aware: Slow USB export from Rekordbox 7? This is why and how to fix!
I gave the full explanation and interpretation of the test results, together with performance tips in my weekly Ask Me Anything live stream for DJs, the video can be watched back here Ask Me Anything for DJs - Results of the Rekordbox 6 Vs Rekordbox 7 real world speed-test There is a time index in the first remark under the video.
All previous AMA livestreams, are available in this YouTube playlist: Ask Me Anything conversion & collection management for DJs past streams
The Test parameters:
Main collection managerMusic (the app formerly known as iTunes, will be referred to as iTunes) Total number of tracks in collection116.747 / 1.47 Tb Audio file formatMP3 preferred - 320 Kbs / 44.1 kHz / 16bit/CBR Location of audio filesexternal SSD, Samsung T7 2Tb / formatted macOS Extended Export driveexternal SSD, Samsung T7 2Tb each test run (FAT32 and HFS) started with a fresh formatted export drive Drive's connection to computeron all test systems USB-C
The software used:
Music (=iTunes)1.2.5 RB6Rekordbox 6.8.5 RB7Rekordbox 7.0 SeratoSerato 3.1.3 djaydjay Pro 5.1.7
Computer specifications
M1 = MacMini (2020) - M1 8 cores (4 efficiency 4 performance) - GPU 8 cores - RAM 8Gb - macOS Sonoma 14.4.1
i9 = Intel MacPro - i9 9900K u/3.6Ghz 8 cores - GPU AMD RX 580 8 Gb - RAM 16Gb - macOS Monterey 12.7.5
MBP = MacBookPro 14" (2021) - M1 8 cores (2 efficiency 6 performance) - GPU 14 cores - RAM 16Gb - macOS Monterey 12.7.1 because the similarity in times for Rekordbox 7.0 on the M1 and MBP, the Rekordbox 6.8.5 tests were skipped on the MBP.
Note: for the tasks that were tested, none of the DJ softwares utilizes the GPU
Test conditions
I aimed to standardize all test conditions as much as possible, including:

• Data for collection was stored on the internal drive, the audio files were stored on external storage.
• Each test used the exact same external drives, connected to the computer over USB-C, using the same cables.
• All collection data was identical across all systems, synchronized using Carbon Copy Cloner before the test.
• All computers were freshly rebooted prior to the test, with the "open windows from previous session" option disabled.
• No other applications were open besides an on-screen stopwatch.
• Wi-Fi was disabled, and network cables were disconnected.
• No screen capture applications were used; all video recording was done externally to avoid occupying system resources from the test.
• Between the various exports in a single test run, the export drive was not formatted (so each of the 3 exports added to the previous). Only after a full export run (sync1, sync2 and sync3) on a given computer, the drive was reformatted.
• The partitioning scheme used in both FAT32 and HFS (=macOS Extended journaled) was Master Boot Record.
• Analysis in Rekordbox was only performed for "Phrase" to maintain the converted Mixed in Key/Traktor values. Analysis requires at least one option to be checked, all other options (BPM/Grid, key etc) were disabled.
• In Serato DJ Pro analysis for BPM and Key were disabled
• In Rekordbox, the Sync Manager was enabled to synchronize all playlists from iTunes, ensuring the sync was up-to-date with no changes made to the iTunes collection during the test.
• All test playlists originate from iTunes and were accessed through the iTunes section of the DJ software.
• All (116.747) tracks from iTunes had been pre-analyzed in: Rekordbox 6, Serato, and djay Pro 5. In other words, the DJ software had a real and big collection of tracks. Since djay Pro 5 does not re-analyze already analyzed audio files, all djay analysis data was deleted from the system before running the analysis tests.
• Because iTunes sync can not be disabled in djay Pro, the values used for startup without iTunes are the same values from the test run with iTunes sync enabled.

Fault tolerance:
During computer speed testing, achieving 100% identical situations is unfeasible due to the unpredictable consumption of system resources by various OS-related operations. I estimate the fault tolerance in the measured times to be around 5%.
The iTunes playlist(folder) used for the tests:
Sync1
Playlist folderATGR Necessities Number of playlists in folder24 Total number of tracks 3823 / 45,93 Gb Export to USBSyncManager
Sync2
Flat playlist Top 40 2023 Total number of tracks 587 / 4,46 Gb Export to USBRight click playlist -> export
Sync3
Flat playlistTop 40 2024 Total number of tracks 283 / 2,17 Gb Export to USBRight click playlist -> export
https://preview.redd.it/hmajmvglru1d1.png?width=1497&format=png&auto=webp&s=108356518b3998c94ec848f07a78b545425b5d7f
https://preview.redd.it/eo3gvokqru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=4487f3193d07c5e98ff8a796cc56fc303042e58d
https://preview.redd.it/qzzzy78sru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=deffef82a834e3ad3ef13aa2a59bd705316a6ef1
https://preview.redd.it/hqed25ntru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=2fb3c7ba5283722e569a207d2faa242b3aa32e26
https://preview.redd.it/7ubiz7iuru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=2f2cb345cf718b30cd473cca3b9c1d8a33c714e1
https://preview.redd.it/zu5yiajvru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=df06eed0e2d8cea446469ed498cf32c341f064c7
https://preview.redd.it/mq1chq9wru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=cfa752e197d88b63bd6fbea2ff95f9b9b552cabc
https://preview.redd.it/7eu2rl1xru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=863ce32b59be277fbc4a6d32b4b4cf90f8417213
Important conclusions and findings from these tests:

• Rekordbox 7 on macOS is not multithreading when it comes to analysis, hence the spikes in the tests. On Windows Rekordbox 7 utilizes all available CPU cores. Rekordbox 6.8.5 is also multithreading.
• Export to an HFS formatted USB is faster than a FAT32 formatted, especially after consecutive exports.
• Disabling iTunes integration in the SyncManager can improve startup times of Rekordbox considerably. Disabling iTunes sync can cause issues with exported USBs that were originally created using the SyncManager.
• Rekordbox 7 has a bug, where custom/edited BPM/Grids can be overwritten with mandatory analysis. Even when the BPM/Grid analysis is disabled!
• Export to USB using the SyncManager still shows 2 progress bars, where export through right click -> export only shows 1

(c) 2024 And The Groove Remains Production Team

Hi all,
I've been itching to return to PoE, but with nothing left that I want to accomplish this league I figured that the best way to do that would be to make a private league.
This league, however, comes with a few twists, which aren't in the form of any of the usual private league modifiers that you can add (don't worry, this isn't one of those masochist leagues). When making this league I had two goals in mind:

1. Make a fresh start league that would feel different to play than the current Ruthless Necropolis league, and experience how the endgame has changed without it being under the effect of Necropolis and everything it provides.
2. Make a space where everyone is effectively forced encouraged to play different builds and ascendancies than they would league start with normally.

As such, here's a rundown of how this private league will work.
Standard Ruthless, not Necropolis
Why? Because I want to 'return to Ruthless', and gravecrafting is a mechanic that largely goes against the spirit of Ruthless. Rare ground drops have mattered so much less this league and many people have found themselves forced to invest as much into corpses as they can because all other sources of crafting available in ruthless pale in comparison. The capabilities of gravecrafting would largely dictate what people consider to be more or less playable for a new league, which means it has to go.
While this also means losing embers and the Lantern, these are also mechanics that I want to explore the endgame without. Part of the original vision of ruthless was that you needed to do a specific mechanic in order to get its associated rewards (unless you liked Expedition somehow), but Embers give us breach/legion splinters on top of tainted currency, omens and more. The lantern would also wildly swing how exciting maps were depending on the devoted mods you could get - while this was fun for a while, I also want to experience the new ruthless endgame without this.
Without gravecrafting and embers, it will be interesting to see how the scarab rework has affected the endgame. A lot of mechanics like essence are much more accessible than before, and people might feel like taking advantage of that better when your gear doesn't come from filling out a spreadsheet full of corpses. Due to scarabs, there also won't be as much of a feeling of content drought as you might have felt in previous private leagues. This league was light on content anyway, outside of what embers added to your maps, and you'll be able to spend more points on the atlas than usual because you won't feel the need to invest in corpses etc.
Group Self Found, trading enabled
I like being able to trade away cool stuff that I find, simple as; you can just play SSF here if you prefer.
The most popular five ascendancies are not allowed
This is in respect to 2), and part of the challenge of the league; there's less room for experimenting with league starters in ruthless because there are options that are clearly above the rest, and this starts with certain ascendancies being much better than others.
The list of disallowed ascendancies, based on poe.ninja data for Trade and SSF, is as follows:

• necromancer
• guardian
• juggernaut
• chieftain
• deadeye

Obviously this leaves minion players in a rough spot compared to everyone else, but minions have always been a very solid starter so it balances out. Juggernaut and Chieftain overperform for obvious reasons, and Deadeye is likewise an instant pick for anyone looking to blast maps quickly on a bow character. With this, the meta will already shift - but wait, there's more!
Many popular and 'proven' skills are also not allowed
One goal of this league is to experiment with new starters, and on top of banning the most popular ascendancies this means also disallowing main skills with high popularity and performance for the league. This means you can't just plug and play a well-known tried and tested league starter - you'll most likely have to work out something new, or adapt what you've done before into something else. This rule was inspired by similar banlists you can find in other private leagues such a Ziz's gauntlet, though instead of being there to make the meta more even this list is here to encourage you to go for something that you probably wouldn't have league started for Necropolis.
The list below was formed by looking at the most popular and top performing skills across all of Ruthless Trade and SSF for Necropolis, on top of looking at the most popular and top performing skill(s) of each allowed ascendancy (i.e. splitting steel is banned because of its higher playrate and performance on Champion). In some cases only a particular normal or trans version of a skill is banned. Vaal versions of skills are only allowed if their normal version is allowed. In some cases a skill was only strong because of gravecrafting, but it's easier to just remove both gravecrafting and the most popular skills than it is to examine every possible build on a case by base basis to see what deserves a ban.
The list of disallowed main skills, based on poe.ninja data for Trade and SSF, is as follows:

• animate weapon of ranged arms
• arc (all versions)
• armageddon brand (all versions)
• artillery ballista
• bane (all versions)
• boneshatter (all versions)
• cobra lash
• detonate dead (all versions)
• dual strike of ambidexterity
• elemental hit of the spectrum
• exsanguinate (all versions)
• explosive arrow
• explosive trap of shrapnel
• fire trap
• flicker strike
• frost blades
• ice nova of frostbolts
• ice trap of hollowness
• lightning arrow
• mirror arrow (all versions)
• penance brand (all versions)
• poisonous concoction (all versions)
• splitting steel
• sunder (all versions)
• summon raging spirit (all versions)
• reap
• righteous fire (all versions)
• tornado of elemental turbulence
• toxic rain (all versions)
• volcanic fissure (all versions)

If you think something else should be added to this list, please let me know before the league starts. I'd like to encourage as much creativity as possible and not leave something allowed that people feel they can just autopick.
The league is due to start at 00:00 on the 31st of May, GMT. You can join the league here - I've put it in crowdfunding mode for now, though I'll be happily footing the initial costs of the league myself before it starts. I'm also planning to stream my progress on my usual channel.
Good luck to anyone who joins!

Hi, recently I some more time on my hands so I want to get into a good workout routine.
I'm female, super unfit but not overweight and I have never worked out before. Atm I just want to get fittehealthier, I'd like to train my core and start toning building up some muscle on my arms and lastly its not a priority but I'd like to lose just a bit of weight.
So can anyone give me tips on what workouts to do/what to eat, I can't go to the gym atm but at home we have a few small weights and a cycling machine thing. If there's any advice on what foods to eat less/more of and meal prepping recipes or tips that would be helpful too (i am staying away from calorie counting due to a bad past eating disorder though).
Thanks!

Hi All,
I’m looking at starting a single player brutal run to see how quickly I can 100% the game.
What builds have you had great success with? Spells,gear & weapon combos?
It seems that ranged weapons seem far superior on a PvE only server so far?
Any other tips/strategies are welcome!

Hey folks! With the announcement of another crack at the Windows on arm stuff, I can't help but hope against the odds that they've figured it out this time, and I might be able to get a powerful windows laptop that's slick, quiet, and I can dev on it without crazy heat and jet engine fans. I know building for Arm is in the new 2023 beta's so even native support is a thing. Anybody try Unity on an arm device through emulation last time this was a thing?
Meanwhile I've heard Unity on M series is great from some folks, would have loved to pick one up if it wasn't for horror stories I've heard about swapping projects between mac and windows. Anyone have anything positive to add to that list?
What are folks using now, and looking forward to in regards to hardware to dev on? I cant say that development on a gamer laptop has ever been a great experience for me, though I do it occasionally.
Anybody use Parsec or other tools to remote into desktop for doing the heavy duty stuff?
I never really see hardware discussions here so I'd love to hear from folks on that front, and I doubt I'm the only one. Give is your hot takes!

Who we are: <Chaos by Design> is a community focused raiding guild on Stormrage - US. We are committed to completing all levels of PVE content, such as Heroic and Mythic Raids and Mythic+ dungeons, while simultaneously building a cohesive and engaging community for our player base. We are also proudly LGBTQ friendly, and strive to create a safe and inclusive space, not only for our open members, but for all who join our ranks.
Our Motto: “People over Progression”. This is the guiding principle that the guild was founded on. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many bosses you kill, if you don’t enjoy the company of the people you’re killing those bosses with. While we enjoy pushing content and progressing, our ultimate goal as a guild is to create the best community environment possible for all who call Chaos by Design home.
Raid Goal: Our raid team’s goal is to achieve AOTC for each tier and then venture into light Mythic raiding once AOTC is on farm. We have a fun and relaxed atmosphere but know when to focus and kill bosses.
Raid Days/Times: Thursday 8:30-10:30pm server time (EST) & Sunday 8:30-10:30pm server time (EST)
We are currently recruiting all roles and classes for TWW. We are focused on building a lasting community across WoW!!
Please reach out if you have any questions or are interested:
BNET: Sinister#1675
Discord: sinister01

Got back in town today after a month away. Just noticed that the weird office building across from Chevron that has been vacant forever is now a dispensary.
Huge signage too. Wellgreens. I thought it said Walgreens when I drove past. Which I thought was puzzling. I wonder how long it will take Walgreens to sue over the name?😂
If I recall, the voters approved 2 to opened in town. So we have the one downtown on the 101 and this one.
We will see what happens with them. Personally I voted no. Not because I’m against their product. But because they can’t use merchant retail services and have to use cash.
That in turn makes them targets for violent thieves who think that they are fat and easy targets. So they need armed guards, right? I just don’t want robbers showing up and accidentally killing somebody. Even if they don’t have guards, they are still targets.
It just doesn’t seem worth the risk to me to have businesses that require armed protection again violent gangs.
We do have armed robbers show up. CVS by Smart N Final was robbed at gunpoint last weekend. The 7-11 on Santa Fe has been robbed at gunpoint. The proximity to I-5 cutting through town makes some robbers think it’s easy to pull off a robbery here.
Let’s hope they stay safe and that all precautions are taken.

Hi, I'm gonna give some feedback on my wargames experience. I know this is a big part of the long term homeworld strategy, so I hope the feedback is helpful. I am NOT going to talk about fleet v fleet or campaign at all, if anything applies to those modes, it is incidental and not intended as the focus of my feedback.
Setting / Map
So I feel that the map selection is incredibly limited. The fact is it feels like there are maybe 3 different possible maps for every stage, and that just doesn't feel great. Very repetitive.
Just more variety is needed here.
Spawns
I think the Incursion spawns are terrible. It is a war of attrition and it just feels like running a sprint every time and doesn't feel like anything we do ever creates a calm experience. I think challenge is an interesting concept, which I think Blizzard did well in Starcraft 2 co-op, by having difficulties (AI gets smarter, more capable), and eventually mutators (the difficulty remains, which is basically fairly straightforward once you get used to it, and now mutators make you play differently).
The constant nonestop onslaught is okay at first, but stops being fun quickly.
Artifacts and Fleets
I put both of these together because I think the two are heavily woven in.
I think the artifact system is interesting but _too_ random. The fact is that I may want to try out say a bomber build with the bomber fleet, with a focus on tank frigates and high damage bombers, or all assault frigates, etc. The problem is the artifacts are so random, sometimes I just get a fun combo of nonestop recon buffs and nothing useful. It just doesn't feel good.
And on that note, the ship comps are very weird given limited resources. For example a comp of 6 assault frigs + 2 support frigs is FAR more hitpoints and damage, than 3 times that cost in interceptors. A frigate at 20% hp that can heal is 0 money lost. 5 interceptors where 4 died is 4/5 of the cost destroyed and unrepairable. I like the Homeworld 2 version where fighters have squads, and as long as the squad is still alive, it can be reinforced. It solved that problem better than homeworld 1's style of individual fighters did. And for a mode where resources are very scarce, this is critical.
Frigates have the added bonuses of if you cap a frigate, you get another free frigate. Good luck capping fighters / corvettes.
So this all leads to very weird situations:

• recon ships are a waste of cash as they'll die and you lose too much cash
• interceptors are the same
• bombers are a specific strategy where if you get lucky on RNGesus roles, you can stealth bomb insta pop destroyers and frigates, and hope not too much cash is lost per run.
• optimal strategies seem to revolve around basically death-balling assault frigates and getting the right random artifacts.
• most of the time, we can't really "fight" and instead have to objective dunk.

What i'd like to see

• Get rid of incursions, and replace them with occasional carrier warp-ins. We can now destroy them and create breathing room to repair, rearm, etc.
• Allow us to sabotage the enemy's resources to significantly reduce their ability to reinforce. That way its not just an infinite wave of enemies.
• Make capturing count towards the unit count max. This will at least limit frigates a bit.
• Make artifacts semi-random. Or at least let us choose at least paths we want to focus on. My argument would be to eliminate randomness and let us just choose a "tech tree" that we buy via artifacts. This will create a wonderful progression. The fact that its not random isn't a bad thing.
• Add randomness in the form of mutators. For example every difficulty level will add some:

enemy carriers spawn more units, enemy units cost less, double carriers, enemy assault frigates lob miniature giant space hamsters at you, etc. These can all be interesting random changes that become addons as the missions progress to make the game more challenging, while also not taking away our agency in our ability to execute on strategies with our faction.

• Change up fighters / corvettes to be groups, that way we can micromanage groups retreating and repairing vs just losing cash immediately. I want to see fighters and corvettes changed so that we don't just waste cash on them. This will lead to far more varied tactics. Edit: Just imagine fighters total count is divided by 5, and you build 1 squad of 5 fighters for the appropriate cost. Now only 1 icon to manage, way easier on the selection management side, easier to micromanage, and a far more efficient use of your resources.
• With that, make the ships sleected work similarly to how starcraft selects large numbers of units (small colored icons, etc). So we can still micromanage as needed. The "select damaged" is a good feature, but often hard to manage given that I can issue a dock order, but now I need to order other units and don't have an easy way to do it. The entire selection system needs some very serious re-work to be a good game control scheme requiring micro managing. At a MINIMUM "select damaged" and "select undamaged" would be very useful.
• I think some game design from you guys is needed on how to change the game from a DPS race, to positional gameplay, even to some extent. That way "the blob" isn't the optimal strategy.

Closing thoughts
I see the community is very small and not really growing that rapidly. I hope to see wargames changed to a point where everyone will be excited to jump in on it. Finding it hard to find people to play with even among HW enthusiasts.
I haven't even unlocked all the fleets for war games and I'm kinda done with it. Looking at the year 1 pack... I don't even have enthusiasm for buying it because... I just don't play enough to justify spending extra.
Edit: It's not all doom and gloom. I love the graphics, the atmosphere, and the unit designs. I love the idea of the mode and love the idea of it being a very cooperative experience, something I always wanted in homeworld. I think the flaws of the game are absolutely things that can be fixed with a few patches, though some things are probably harder than others.

For me, it's:
Year Negative Four

• J'onn J'onzz is accidentally teleported to Earth by Dr. Saul Erdel. He disguises himself as police detective John Jones, using his powers in secret, but never revealing his Martian identity to anyone.

Year Negative Two

• After years of exploring the world, Arthur Curry discovers Atlantis and is imprisoned by its current rulership for three years.

Year One

• Clark Kent debuts as Superman in Metropolis (he was never Superboy)
  • Other than Luthor, Gerald Shugel, Prankster, and Bizarro, Superman's first year is mostly spent intervening in ordinary crimes and crises, as not a lot of supervillains have come out of the woodwork yet.
  • By the end of the year, Clark learns of his Kryptonian heritage.
• Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham after training abroad and begins operating as the Batman.
  • Batman has his first encounters with Catwoman, Hugo Strange, the Mad Monk, and Dr. Death. Other than this, Batman is mostly fighting street and organized crime.
  • The Bat-Signal is established by the end of the year.
• Diana leaves Themyscira and begins operating as Wonder Woman.
  • Wonder Woman is mostly working to stop Aries' plot, but she also encounters Paula von Gunther, Angle Man, Dr. Poison, and The Cheetah (Priscilla Rich).
• Hal Jordan encounters Abin Sur and becomes the Green Lantern of Sector 2814.
  • Jordan first encounters Hector Hammond and Legion.
  • Sinestro begins mentoring Hal.
• Barry Allen becomes The Flash.
• Oliver Queen returns to Star City and becomes Green Arrow.

Year Two

• Arthur Curry escapes prison and makes his public debut as Aquaman.
• The wizard Shazam appoints Billy Batson to be Captain Marvel.
• Superman first encounters kryptonite, The Parasite, Metallo, Toyman, and Mister Mxyzptlk.
  • Superman and Batman first meet.
  • Superman later has his first encounters with other superheroes, teaming up with them when their paths cross.
• Batman first encounters The Joker, The Scarecrow, The Penguin, The Riddler, Poison Ivy, and Killer Croc.
  • The Holiday murders begin.
  • Batman wrestles with a venom addiction before kicking it.
  • By the end of the year, the Falcone and Maroni gangs are mostly dismantled, and Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face.
• Wonder Woman first encounters Dr. Psycho, Circe, Giganta, and The Cheetah (Barbara Minerva).
• Hal encounters the Puppeteer, Sonar, Black Hand, Evil Star, and the Invisible Destroyer.
  • Sinestro is stripped of his ring and exiled after it is revealed that he is misusing his power to rule Korugar.

Year Three

• Superman first encounters Brainiac, whom he stops from bottling Metropolis.
  • Superman first encounters General Zod and his confederates when they escape from the Phantom Zone.
  • Superman has his first encounters with the machinations of Darkseid, as Intergang begins using mysteriously advanced weaponry and emissaries of Darkseid begin to attack Project Cadmus.
    • Orion and the Forever People come to Earth to work against Darkseid.
    • Superman first encounters a Boom Tube and visits SuperTown, where he meets Lightray and other new Gods for the first time.
• Batman first encounters Mr. Freeze, Clayface, and the Mad Hatter.
  • Batman first encounters Mr. Freeze, Clayface, Deadshot, and Man-Bat.
  • Bruce Wayne adopts Dick Grayson, who starts operating as Robin.
• Roy Harper becomes Speedy.
• Guy Gardner is appointed as a back-up Green Lantern.
• Alec Holland becomes the Swamp Thing.

Year Four

• Wally West becomes Kid Flash.
• Kara Zor-El lands on Earth and becomes Supergirl.
• J'onn J'onzz unites Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, and Aquaman to fend off a White Martian invasion. They temporarily operate out of a satellite Batcave in Rhode Island and form The Justice League.
  • No longer keeping his presence hidden, J'onn J'onzz starts operating publicly as "Martian Manhunter" at the encouragement of his teammates.
  • The League builds the Hall of Justice in Washington, D.C., which becomes their stable base of operations.
  • The League later encounters Starro, Kanjar-Ro, Doctor Destiny, the Royal Flush Gang, and other villains.
  • Green Arrow becomes the first League recruit and helps Bruce Wayne finance the Watchtower Satellite.
  • Zatanna discovers her magical powers and enlists various superheroes to help her find her father, reconnecting with Bruce Wayne in the process.
  • The League later recruits Black Lightning, Zatanna, Black Canary, The Atom, Hawkwoman, and Hawkman.
• Aquaman takes the throne as ruler of Atlantis.
  • Garth becomes Aqualad.
• Barbara Gordon becomes Batgirl.
• Jack Ryder becomes The Creeper and Boston Brand becomes Deadman.
• Superman first meets Darkseid face-to-face.
  • Superman encounters Mongul and War World.
  • Morgan Edge's WGBS buys out the Daily Planet.

Year Five

• Aquaman meets Mera.
• The League recruits Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Metamorpho, and Firestorm.
• Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash form the Teen Titans.
• Oliver Queen loses his fortune, grows the goatee, and redesigns his costume from the Silver Age green-and-red suit to the Neal Adams suit.
• Batman first encounters Ra's al Ghul.
• Roman Sionis becomes Black Mask.
• Helena Bertinelli becomes The Huntress.

Year Six

• Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen go their road trip across the U.S., going from being mere colleagues to friends.
  • John Stewart is inducted as a Green Lantern.
• Nathaniel Adams returns and General Eilling starts Project Atom, blackmailing Adams to work as a government asset while posing as Captain Atom.

Year Seven

• Dick Grayson starts attending Hudson University, meaning that he and Batman begin to work together less frequently, though they still keep in touch and team up when Dick is on holidays.
  • Bruce Wayne moves from Wayne Manor to his downtown Penthouse.
• Raven unites Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire to form a new version of the Teen Titans.

Year Eight

• Dick Grayson becomes Nightwing.
• Jason Todd becomes Robin.
• Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman visit Superman to celebrate his birthday, only to find that he has been captured by Mongul.
• Barry Allen dies saving the universe from the Anti-Monitor.
  • Wally West becomes The Flash.
• Power Girl from Earth-2 becomes stranded on Earth-0.
• Amanda Waller launches Task Force X.
• While the original Justice League is on hiatus, the U.N. forms the Justice League International.
• Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters stuff starts happening now.
• Swamp Thing, Constantine, Etrigan the Demon, and the Phantom Stranger team up to fight the Great Darkness.

Year Nine

• Deacon Blackfire's cult takes over Gotham, but he is stopped by Batman and Robin.
• Jason Todd is killed by The Joker.
• Barbara Gordon is paralyzed by The Joker.

Year Ten

• Anarky debuts.
• Tim Drake assumes the mantle of Robin.
• Virgil Hawkins becomes Static.

After the first decade or so, time starts being more amorphous and operating on some cross between a timeline that develops and a stationary Simpsons-like timeline where time doesn't really move. Some things progress, some things don't, everything is kept vague, and characters don't notice or call attention to this. Essentially, large amounts of time are zipped into small amounts of time, and both the longer and shorter time intervals between events are "correct" depending on how much we're zooming in on the timeline. For example, Kyle Rayner had a good number of years as a solo Green Lantern and Tim Drake was Robin for a solid amount of time before Hal Jordan returned and Damian Wayne showed up, but somehow, superheroes in general have only been operating for about 10 to 15 years, max. This is really the only way you can keep Batman perpetually in his 30s or 40s without having weird consequences like each Robin only holding the title for a year before he gets a new one.
So after this, I stop having specific "years" and it becomes more like "periods of time in which certain things co-occur." So there might be considerable time intervals between events, yet those events might also paradoxically be squished into some 10-15-year timeline.
The Fall of Heroes Era

• The Death and Return of Superman happen.
  • Superboy and Steel debut.
• Bane debuts and Knightfall happens.
• Diana is replaced by Artemis as Wonder Woman.
• Shortly after Clark and Bruce return, Hal becomes the Parallax.
  • Kyle Rayner becomes Earth's Green Lantern.
• Oliver Queen dies.
  • Connor Hawke becomes Green Arrow.

The Reconstruction Era

• Clark Kent and Lois Lane get married.
• Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Rayner), The Flash (West), Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter reform the Justice League.
  • Electric Superman Blue never happened, lol.
• Robin, Superboy, and Impulse form Young Justice.
• Cataclysm, Contagion, and No Man's Land happen (sorry for having so much destruction during the reconstruction era)
• Cassandra Cain becomes Batgirl.

The Millennium Era

• Obviously didn't happen around the turn of the millennium anymore because floating timeline.
• Our Worlds at War and Bruce Wayne: MurdereFugitive happen around here.
• Oliver Queen returns from the dead.

The Infinite Crisis Era

• Hal Jordan and the GLC return.
• Infinite Crisis, 52, and OYL happen.

The Final Crisis Era

• The War of Light (Sinestro Corps War through Blackest Night) stuff happens.
• The Black Glove/Leviathan Saga (Batman & Son through Batman Incorporated) stuff happens.
  • Bruce meets Damian Wayne.
• The New Krypton stuff happens.
• Katherine Kane becomes Batwoman.

There are things I'm on the fence on, such as whether the Golden Age heroes are part of this timeline. On the one hand, I like the idea of Superman being the world's very first superhero and the public never having had encountered anything fantastical until his debut. If the JSA existed before him, then his debut would be met with "hey look, I guess flying men are back" instead of "can you BELIEVE a man can fly?!" Batman's debut also seems more striking if Gotham was never patrolled by a Green Lantern (that guy probably would have single-handedly demolished Gotham's mob in the '40s instead of letting it grow to the size it would later become).
On the other hand, I wouldn't want to jettison the cool relationships that exist between the Golden Age and later characters, like Kyle Rayner knowing Jade. I think I lean toward "keep them on Earth-2, but allow them to have regular meetings and friendships with the Earth-0 guys." But if the walls between universes are that porous, that just raises the question of why Power Girl got stuck on Earth-0 when the rest of the Earth-2 people can go home whenever they want.

https://www.academia.edu/119773754
Greek had many adj. in -imos and only a few in -oimos. This suggests that some o-stem nouns formed adj. in *-o-imos, but that this type was short-lived, leaving only a few remnants. This seems shown by doublets :
​
*ku(H)d- ‘(loud/joyous) sound’ ? >
kûdos- ‘renown / glory’, kū́dimos ‘*renowned > epithet of Hermes’
kudázō ‘insult’, kudoimós ‘din of battle / uproar’
​
and the late and secondary nature of some (after *-tm- > *-dm-) :
​
*Halut-mn ‘bitter drink’ > L. alūmen ‘alum’, G. aludmaínō ‘make bitter’, alúdoimos ‘bitter’
*Halut() > ON öl ‘beer’, OE ealu(ð), E. ale, Arm. awłi ‘(strong) alcohol’ >> Geo. (a)ludi ‘beer’, Os. älyton ‘magic beer in stories’
​
​
With this in mind, Greek hetoîmos ‘at hand / ready / imminent / active / zealous’ probably came from a late derivation from *hetós ‘activity / zeal’ (or similar) with retained accent. No etymology with -mos added to an unknown *hetoi- makes sense (see summary in Dieu), so this seems needed. Since ‘ready’ can refer to both things and people, with slightly different meaning, knowing which one it originally came from would certainly help. I proposed ‘activity / zeal’ to match :
​
*yet- > Skt. yatná- ‘zeal / effort / aspiring after / volition’, yatúna- ‘restless / active’, yátate ‘place in order / join / meet / seek / strive / try / exert oneself, TA yatatär ‘is capable of / can (be)’, TB yoto-
​
This is the best possible match to explain all data. PIE *y seems to become h or z in Greek, no clear conditions (Whalen 2024a). This even goes back to LB e-pi-ju-ko ‘item or material used in building’, matched G. epizugís ‘kind of iron pin’ used of tiles) and likely Linear A au-ta-de-po-ni-za as the fem. of Greek autodespótēs ‘absolute master’ (the fem. of *potis is *potniya > pótnia, so this would show optional internal *y > dz in a location where sandhi or *Hy- vs. *y- could not work).
​
​
Since all data favors *-e- (G. -e-, Skt. -a-) not *-o- (Skt. **-ā-), the Tocharian evidence needs explanation. Adams says *yot-o- is needed for TA yata-, but this would not give TB yoto-. An o-grade in a verb, especially when it otherwise would exactly match Skt. yátate, seems unlikely. Since it is PToch. *e that gave TA a, this seems like *ye- preserving *e (that normally would > *yä, so possibly prevented from creating *yyä). This would also fit with other optional outcomes of *yä / *ye (likely from *yE), etc., of clear origin :
​
*sindhu- > MP hyndwg, *hinduka- >> *yäntuke > *yE- > TB yentuke
​
*ukso:n > *wäkso:n > *wäkso:n / *wOkso:n > TB okso
​
*H2anH1-tmHo- ? >> *ana-lmö > *OnO-lme > *(w)O- / *wu- > TB onolme \ wnolme ‘creature / living being / person’
​
Adams also gives 2 words with *sup- > sop- or sp-, showing the same alternation, though he doesn’t discuss it.
​
​
Since PToch. *e can become *o near *w, even when not touching (*swäle > TA ṣul, TB ṣale = mountain/hill, *en-swäle > oṣṣale ‘north’), and -w- is a common affix in verbs, this allows :
​
PIE *yetewotor ‘he moves / strives’ > PToch. *yetyäwetär > *yetäwyetär > TA *yetäyetär > *yetetär (y-dissim.) > yatatär ‘is capable of / can (be)’, TB *yetäwetär > *yotwotär > yoto-
​
​
I do not feel that reconstructing *o to explain *e when *e > *e is possible in the specific *ye > *ye makes any sense, yet linguists continue making these mistakes. Instead of thinking about whether the context or environment allows a simple sound change, they stick to changes already known, and mechanically reconstruct a single sound, no matter how unfitting it may be. Many similar cases exist; just for V1 > V1 being overlooked, consider how in most Indo-European, the word for ‘grandfather’ comes from *H2awo- and ‘grandmother’ from a related form in *-iH2 or *-yaH2 (Whalen 2023a) :
​
Arm. hav, L. avus ‘grandfather’
​
Go. awó, L. avia ‘grandmother’
​
Old Norse words, however, show 2 different oddities in related words:
​
*avon- > afi ‘grandfather’
​
*a:won- > ái ‘great-grandfather’
​
Though linguists like Jay Jasanoff have explained ái as coming from Indo-European *H2e:(H2)wo- as a vrddhi derivative of *H2a(H2)wo- there is no evidence for lengthened grade in PIE. Supposed examples are most often found in Indo-Iranian, where *o > *ā was common. It is unlikely these 2 features would cluster in one area if both were real. Other examples of PIE *ē in Tocharian (most by Adams) ignore that, again, *ē and *o merged there. Even the 2nd H2 Jasanoff believes in seems better explained by optional *w > *xW in Anatolian (found in other words and positons, partly seen by Kümmel, Whalen 2024b). It is unlikely PIE had a word for ‘great-grandfather’ at all, or at least not a single word. The cause of this change for *avon- / *a:won- is probably optional metathesis *H2awo- / *aH2wo-. This new *H2 was deleted afterwards, creating new *a: separate from *a: > PGmc. *o: or *e: > *æ: . An optional *H2w > *v might explain *avon- > afi ‘grandfather’ as well (2 variants creating 2 very similar words is more likely than them coming to look the same by chance instead).
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This metathesis is also seen in *H2aw- > Old Latin ahvidies ‘offering to the gods’, Skt. ávati ‘promote/favosatisfy / offer to the gods / be pleased’; *Hravo- \ *raHvo- > L. ravus \ rāvus ‘hoarse’, Skt. rāva-s ‘cry/shriek/roayell / any noise’, A. rHoó ‘song’ (Whalen 2023b). There is also no methodological reason to create intermediate a >> e: > a: instead of a > a: more directly. Since some type of H-metathesis is already needed for roots with *-aiH- vs. *-aHy-, etc., ignoring the same when ahv- is literally spelled out for them makes no sense. The same is reconstructed by others for an explanation of the Li. tone in *H2awso-m > L. aurum ‘gold’, *aH2wso-m > Li. áuksas. Since *H2aw- > *aH2w- is exactly the same environment in both, its existence should not be doubted by those linguists, at least.
​
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Dieu, Eric (2018) Grec ἑτοῖμος / ἕτοιμος “qui est sous la main, prêt, disponible”, hitt. zē(y)a- “cuire (intr.) ; être cuit, être prêt”, zinni- “finir, en finir avec, venir à bout de” : du “tout cuit” étymologique ?
https://www.academia.edu/39436453
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Kümmel, Martin Joachim (2014) The conditioning for secondary h in Hittite
https://www.academia.edu/959610
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Whalen, Sean (2023a) Indo-European word for ‘grandfather’
https://www.reddit.com/IndoEuropean/comments/13fwrn0/indoeuropean_word_for_grandfathe
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Whalen, Sean (2023b) Latin cūria, Volscian covehriu ‘assembly’
https://www.reddit.com/usestlatos/comments/14p1ji1/latin_c%C5%ABria_volscian_covehriu_assembly/
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Whalen, Sean (2024a) Cretan Elements in Linear B, Part Two: *y > z, *o > u, LB *129, LAB *65, Minoan Names (Draft)
https://www.academia.edu/114878588
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Whalen, Sean (2024b) Greek Consonant Changes: Stops and Fricatives in Contact (Draft)
https://www.academia.edu/114138414
​

My company upgraded me from a 16" M2 Max to a 14" M3 Max (unbinned 16/40 cores) and my SD generations (same pictures for testing) have not improved (they're the same or slower). I am using torch==2.1.2 nightly with MPS support and have applied all the recommended tricks on both machines, in any case: they're exactly the same performance:
(((Drawn by Alena Aenami))), Intricate details in serene landscapes, peaceful, Alena Aenami's artistry. Ethereal sky, gentle cloud formations, soothing light rays dance across a breathtaking tranquil beach scene; soft sand meets the ocean waves beneath an azure blue horizon. Nature's canvas: smooth, flowing lines, soft colors blend harmoniously to evoke emotions. Serenity permeates this enchanting setting. Negative prompt: human,face,person,people,boy,girl,woman,man, signature,logo,text,letters,username Steps: 30, Sampler: DPM++ SDE, Schedule type: Karras, CFG scale: 7, Seed: 2545687968, Size: 640x1536, Model hash: d91d35736d, Model: juggernautXL_juggernautX, Clip skip: 2, Version: v1.9.3
Time taken: 1 min. 37.8 sec.
M2 Max -> 3.4 it/s M3 Max -> 3.35 it/s
About 90s every time. I'm seeing this is a pretty average score for A1111 so I'm not worried about that, just wondering if anyone has had the same experience, or if the difference is actually the 16" -> 14" thermals downgrade (smaller chasis=hotter=throttle?)
Using Vlad's Benchmark I get: https://vladmandic.github.io/sd-extension-system-info/pages/benchmark.html
Benchmark Data with different parameters / torch versions...
Benchmark Data

timestamp	performance	version	system	libraries	gpu	pipeline	model	username	note	hash
2024-05-22 00:02:39.068635	2.7 / 2.57 / 2.63	app:stable-diffusion-webui updated:2024-04-22 hash:1c0a0c4c url:https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui/tree/master	arch:arm64 cpu:arm system:Darwin release:23.5.0 python:3.10.14	torch:2.1.2 autocast half xformers: diffusers: transformers:4.30.2	0GB	Automatic none	rundiffusionXL_beta.safetensors [f3efadbbaf]	martin	bdf89e
2024-05-21 23:23:21.513603	2.24 / 2.1 / 2.18	app:stable-diffusion-webui updated:2024-04-22 hash:1c0a0c4c url:https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui/tree/master	arch:arm64 cpu:arm system:Darwin release:23.5.0 python:3.10.14	torch:2.1.2 autocast nohalf xformers: diffusers: transformers:4.30.2	0GB	Automatic none	rundiffusionXL_beta.safetensors [f3efadbbaf]	martin	0a0725
2024-05-22 00:15:58.666952	2.37 / 2.6 / 2.5	app:stable-diffusion-webui updated:2024-04-22 hash:1c0a0c4c url:https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui/tree/master	arch:arm64 cpu:arm system:Darwin release:23.5.0 python:3.10.14	torch:2.4.0.dev20240521 autocast half xformers: diffusers: transformers:4.30.2	0GB	Automatic none	rundiffusionXL_beta.safetensors [f3efadbbaf]	martin	7a3161

Anyone that can test for me on their 16" M3 Max (16/40)?

This is my $2,100 build:
CPU: i7-12700k $239.52
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler $32.90
Thermal Compound - ARCTIC MX-6 4g Thermal Paste $6.55
Motherboard - MSI B760 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard $159.99
Memory - G.Skill Trident Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory $114.99
Storage - Crucial P3 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive $117.99
Video Card - MSI GAMING X SLIM GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12 GB Video Card $624.00
Case - Fractal Design Pop XL Air ATX Full Tower Case $109.97
PSU - Corsair RM1200x SHIFT 1200 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular Side Interface ATX Power Supply $205.99
Optical Drive - LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer $54.99
OS - Microsoft Windows 11 Home Retail - USB 64-bit $138.99
Wired Network Adapter (Doesn't come with case :( ) - Asus USB-C2500 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet USB Type-A Network Adapter $29.99
Case Fan - ARCTIC P12 PST 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fans 5-Pack $34.99
Monitor - MSI G272QPF 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Monitor $249.99

I want to build a setup a budget brand component stereo I want to get a Amp,Reciever, tower speakers, bookshelfs and a 12 inch powered sub.
Im trying to keep an 800 to 1200.00
Im sure a lot can give me some good components to choose. Ive looked at some rockville and pyle ect.
I want to show people they dont have to.spend a arm and a leg on decent sound. Any recomendations on would be appreciated.
250 ft for reference