So it's been a while and I've been annoyed at my PCs xD
Specifically, the troubleshooting that I described in the last blog post, continued.
The HDMI audio started crackling again, and the stuttering came back. Oh come on!
So, in my one last ditch effort, I bought a cheap USB Bluetooth adapter for around 13 euros (maybe I'll detail it later on).
Arrives in the mail, plug it in, Windows detects it and it works, then I plug in that JBL Horizon alarm clock (lol) and it's connected and...
Well, it works, but it stutters just like with other sound card solutions.
Oh come on...
At this point, I just said fuck it, I don't care - the motherboard and the GPU just seem to hate each others guts. Who am I to force them to work together when they clearly don't want to? It's like trying to get a toddler to eat something that they don't want to - you theoretically could, but it's a huge hassle and they'll likely just spit it out and make a mess. It just ain't worth it, man...
The only other option I could think of is that the NVME SSD is somehow eating to the PCI-E bus of the motherboard and it just can't handle the load. But then again, the RX 570 works fine and it uses PCI 3.0 x 16, while the RX 6600 is stuck at PCI 3.0 x8. It makes no sense.
As I said, the most infuriating part of troubleshooting tech is when something should logically and technically work, but it just doesn't -.-"
So, with that in mind, with Display Driver Uninstaller in hand and a screwdriver in another, back to the graphics card swapping it is.
RX 6600 goes in System #6 and the RX 570 goes in System #7.
It's far from ideal and generally a total waste and a mismatch of GPUs, but what can I do? It's not like I can return the RX 6600 since it works fine. It's not the store's fault that I have a shitty OEM motherboard lmao.
Besides, I can keep the RX 6600 to use in a more powerful PC when I get one down the road. And I need two GPUs for them anyway, as I don't really want to go back to the NVIDIA GTX 660 on System #6 which is originally had (I still have plans to stick it in System #3...).
With that, the cards are swapped and everything works all nice and dandy!
Now it's just a matter of trial and error to see which games are more CPU bound and which are more GPU bound, to see which system fits which game the best.
For example, I installed RoboCop Rogue City on System #6 because it requires a beefy GPU while the CPU load is relatively doable on older CPUs. On the other hand, I installed Baldur's Gate 3 on System #7 because I've heard the later acts are super CPU intensive and I play it on a gamepad anyway, and even if I could, all of the combat is turn based so technically I could handle it even at like 20 fps if I really needed to (In reality I get around 45-60 fps on medium settings [ultra textures, 16xAF], 1080p, ultra quality FSR 2)
So this is how it is at the moment. Could be better, could be worse. At least I can still play a variety of newer titles that my beloved System #1 just can't handle. But wait!
I noticed that the RX 570 is running REALLY loud and REALLY hot.
Then I noticed that it's getting thermal throttled and not reaching anywhere near the 1268 MHz overclock that this model is supposed to.
Aww man!
Quick solution that I did just this morning:
Yes, I know about repasting the thermal paste. Thing is, the seller said that he had JUST repasted it himself before shipping it off to me. I roll the dice on trusting the bro at his word, and I don't really feel like taking the thing apart just yet as it does work. I mean my motto is, if it works don't fix it, hehe.
In my quick and dirty testing (thanks Unigine Heaven and your magnificent, tesselated dragon statue) I turned down the overclock to around 1142 MHz and the fans to spin at 100% at temps above 85 celcius. Seems to be stable, and the clock speed doesn't drop at all (which keeps the frametime completely stable, which is marvellous and delicious).
Hey, it ain't pretty, it ain't the most efficient (nor quiet) thing in the world, but it works.
So now, I leave these systems be as they are and NEVER TOUCH THEM AGAIN UNTIL THE HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE and PERFORM VARIOUS BLOOD SACRIFICES TO RANDOM DEITIES TO GRANT MY PCs EVERLASTING LIFE.
Ok, well, maybe not that dramatic, but I'm just glad that they seem to be stable and work. What a ride it was.
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