- Joined
- Mar 2, 2014
- Messages
- 2,052
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte Z390 I AORUS PRO WIFI
- CPU
- i9-9900K
- Graphics
- RX 580
- Mac
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
The "Windows 11" I installed on my "Mini-ITX 2" Skylake computer (listed below) resulted from a need for a single-slot, single-backplate graphics card with a reasonable amount of gaming power. The AMD RX 6400 is rated at 4.3 TFlops, which is better than my GTX 1050 TI OC in my "Mini-ITX 3" computer (2.7 TFlops), but which unfortunately cannot be used with Mac OS.
I wanted to avoid the "TPM" requirement of Win 11, so my installer is a Win 10 installer that has had its "guts" replaced from a "true" WIN 11 download from Microsoft. The new "guts" are two files named "install.swm" (3.6 GB) and "install2.swm" (1.2 GB) which replaced "install.wim" (IIRC) in the original WIN 10 installer. The result works as WIN 11, although I have no idea if this hybrid would cause trouble if I tried to do something different than I have done so far. Windows Update works (automatically), the graphics driver (AMD Adrenalin) runs the RX 6400 correctly, and all my games play very well. Microsoft Mail did NOT work, but thanks to my stepson I now use Thunderbird, which does. I have seen no indication from this computer that it is any different from a real Win 11 machine.
Learning to use Windows is another story. Things like the length of time for a "Windows Update" to complete, and the lack of progress bar, misleading "percent complete" text numbers, and general disregard for user friendliness by various apps keeps sending me back to my Hacks. But then I have only used Macs since about 1986. So although I miss Carbon Copy Cloner ("Mini-tool Shadowmaker" is not that much fun), I'll probably get there before I die.
I'm actually contemplating building one more "Mini-ITX" computer. So far I have a new Apex MI-008 case, with USB3.x front panel added, a new RX 6400 in a box, and have installed a Noctua 80 mm NF-A8 fan on a 2.5" - to 3.5" adapter panel. The 250 watt built-in Allied power supply will have to power:
ASUS B760i motherboard
Intel Core i7 12700F CPU
Noctua NH-L9i-1700 CPU cooler
64 GB Crucial CL40 4800 MHz DDR5 RAM
2 WD SN850X 1 TB Nvme SSDs
The Noctua NF-A8 fan
Based on the power usages I have measured on my existing computers, I think 250 watts can do the job without much stress.
Now all I have to do is con the wife into buying all the parts for me on her Amazon Prime membership... this will not be easy.
I wanted to avoid the "TPM" requirement of Win 11, so my installer is a Win 10 installer that has had its "guts" replaced from a "true" WIN 11 download from Microsoft. The new "guts" are two files named "install.swm" (3.6 GB) and "install2.swm" (1.2 GB) which replaced "install.wim" (IIRC) in the original WIN 10 installer. The result works as WIN 11, although I have no idea if this hybrid would cause trouble if I tried to do something different than I have done so far. Windows Update works (automatically), the graphics driver (AMD Adrenalin) runs the RX 6400 correctly, and all my games play very well. Microsoft Mail did NOT work, but thanks to my stepson I now use Thunderbird, which does. I have seen no indication from this computer that it is any different from a real Win 11 machine.
Learning to use Windows is another story. Things like the length of time for a "Windows Update" to complete, and the lack of progress bar, misleading "percent complete" text numbers, and general disregard for user friendliness by various apps keeps sending me back to my Hacks. But then I have only used Macs since about 1986. So although I miss Carbon Copy Cloner ("Mini-tool Shadowmaker" is not that much fun), I'll probably get there before I die.
I'm actually contemplating building one more "Mini-ITX" computer. So far I have a new Apex MI-008 case, with USB3.x front panel added, a new RX 6400 in a box, and have installed a Noctua 80 mm NF-A8 fan on a 2.5" - to 3.5" adapter panel. The 250 watt built-in Allied power supply will have to power:
ASUS B760i motherboard
Intel Core i7 12700F CPU
Noctua NH-L9i-1700 CPU cooler
64 GB Crucial CL40 4800 MHz DDR5 RAM
2 WD SN850X 1 TB Nvme SSDs
The Noctua NF-A8 fan
Based on the power usages I have measured on my existing computers, I think 250 watts can do the job without much stress.
Now all I have to do is con the wife into buying all the parts for me on her Amazon Prime membership... this will not be easy.
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