PC management

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• SKILL.md

SKILL.md (first lines)

# PC Management — Owner's Manual
## Machine: ASUS ROG Strix GL703GM (laptop)

This is the standing owner's manual for the user's physical PC. Every hardware
recommendation below is anchored to the real, verified spec of this machine.
Before giving hardware/performance advice, re-read the **Machine Profile** and
**Current Health** sections, and re-run the diagnostic commands in
**Appendix A** if the system may have changed.

---

## 1. Machine Profile (verified)

| Component | Spec | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chassis | ASUS GL703GM (ROG Strix, ~17.3") | Gaming laptop, single cooling loop for CPU+GPU |
| OS | Windows 11 Home **Insider Preview** (build 10.0.26220) | Insider ring = less stable than release. Expect occasional quirks; keep backups. |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-8750H (Coffee Lake) | 6 cores / 12 threads. Base 2.20 GHz, all-core turbo 3.9 GHz, single-core 4.1 GHz. 45 W TDP. |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 | ASUS ships this model with **6 GB GDDR5**. Windows adapter RAM may report ~4 GB (known underreport) — confirm with GPU-Z. Driver 32.0.15.8228. |
| Display | 1920×1080 @ **120 Hz** | 120 Hz panel. Cap games a few fps below 120 (≈117) when using VRR. |
| RAM | **1× 16 GB DDR4-2667 (SK Hynix)** in ChannelA-DIMM0 | ⚠️ SINGLE STICK = single-channel mode. This is the #1 no-cost performance loss on this box. |
| Storage | C: 118 GB (OS) · E: 818 GB · L: (LOREIN) 113 GB | C: is the boot/OS drive. See health warning. |
| Network | Realtek 1 Gbps Ethernet + Tailscale tunnel | Wired Ethernet preferred for online gaming. |
| Power | "High performance" plan active | Good for gaming, but only meaningful while on AC. |

### Why this spec matters for advice
- **i7-8750H** runs hot by design (Intel thermal throttle ceiling 100°C; ASUS
  sets PROCHOT lower, often ~95°C). It is a 6-core mobile chip that is
  frequently **power- and thermally-limited**, not a desktop part. Do NOT
  recommend aggressive overclocks. Tuning = undervolt + power-limit management,
  not pushing clocks.
- **GTX 1060** is a 2016-era Pascal card. No DLSS/Frame Gen/Reflex. It is the
  FPS ceiling for every game. Tune for frame consistency and latency, not
  upscaling wizardry.
- **Single-channel RAM** silently caps the CPU/GPU. Fixing it (see §4) is the
  highest-ROI hardware change available.

---

## 2. Current Health & Alerts

Re-confirm with Appendix A before acting; this reflects the profiling session.

1. 🔴 **C: drive critically low — 8.3 GB free of 118 GB (~7%).**
   SSDs degrade badly above ~90% full (no garbage-collection headroom). This
   also starves the page file and shader cache. **Action required** (§5).
2. 🟡 **Single-channel RAM** — see §4. Estimated 10–17% FPS loss in many
   titles (up to ~40% on 1% lows in bandwidth-sensitive games).
3. 🟡 **Insider Preview OS** — treat as less stable; verify backups before
   big changes. Avoid suggesting registry hacks that assume a release build.
4. 🟢 **High-performance power plan active** — good baseline for AC gaming.
5. 🟢 **120 Hz panel present** — use a 117 fps cap with VRR for tear-free,
   low-latency play.

---

## 3. CPU Usage & Thermals (i7-8750H)

Goal: keep the 6 cores at full turbo (3.9 GHz all-core) without thermal
throttling, on AC power.

### 3.1 Power & scheduler (safe, do first)
- Keep the **High performance** power plan when gaming on AC:
  `powercfg /setactive 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c`
- Disable PCIe / NVMe link-state power management (removes I/O latency at
  loads): Device Manager → disk/NVMe → Properties → Power Management → uncheck
  "Allow the computer to turn off this device."
- **Never** set CPU max state to 99% as a "fix" unless the user wants lower
  temps at the cost of performance — on this chip that caps turbo and costs FPS.

### 3.2 Undervolting (advanced — optional, high reward)
The 8750H runs hot. Undervolting lowers temps and lets it hold turbo longer.
Use **ThrottleStop** (NOT Intel XTU, which is unreliable on locked ASUS BIOS).
- Start at **-125 mV** on both CPU Core and CPU Cache offsets.
- Test stability with TS Bench (1/2/4 thread) and Cinebench R20/R23. If it
  blue-screens, step back to -100 mV.
- Many chips are stable around -125 to -145 mV; some reach -175/-200 mV on
  core with cache lower. Validate, don't guess.
- Watch **Limit Reasons**: red PL1/PL2 = power-limit throttle; red THERMAL =
  too hot; red VR THERMAL = VRM overheating (cooling/paste issue).
- NOTE: recent ASUS BIOS/microcode updates may **lock voltage control**. If
  FIVR shows +0.0000 offsets that won't apply, undervolting is disabled by
  firmware — skip it, rely on cooling/paste instead.

### 3.3 Physical maintenance (often the real fix)
- These laptops accumulate dust and dry thermal paste after years. If CPU
  peaks >90°C in games, **clean fans + repaste (e.g., Noctua NT-H2)** is the
  most reliable fix. Intel considers <100°C safe; sustained 95°C is acceptable
  but louder/less stable.
- Use a flat, hard surface (or a cooling pad) so the bottom intake isn't
  blocked.

### 3.4 What NOT to do
- Don't disable Windows Security / VBS without weighing the tradeoff (see §6).
- Don't install "game booster" / RAM-cleaner apps — they add overhead.
- Don't push unstable undervolts just to chase numbers.

---

## 4. RAM — Fix Single-Channel (highest-ROI upgrade)

The machine has **one 16 GB SODIMM**. Adding a second DDR4-2667 SODIMM enables
**dual-channel**, roughly doubling memory bandwidth.

- **Buy:** 1× 16 GB DDR4-2667 SODIMM (match SK Hynix spec / CL19 if possible).
  Same size as installed stick → clean dual-channel. (Mismatched sizes still
  run dual-channel up to the matched portion, but identical is best.)
- **Expected gain:** +5–17% average FPS, up to +30–40% on 1% lows in
  bandwidth-sensitive titles (PUBG, Overwatch, Metro, Far Cry, Rise of the
  Tomb Raider). Gains are largest at lower in-game settings where the CPU
  bottleneck dominates.
- Total after upgrade: 32 GB — also eliminates swap thrashing with modern AAA
  + Discord + browser + OBS.

Confirm slot count before purchase: `Get-CimInstance Win32_PhysicalMemory |
Select DeviceLocator, Capacity` and check the mainboard has a free SODIMM slot.

---

From AnonymousNomad/covert-coder, Apache-2.0.

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