Get Unraid for your server OS. Its nuts how good it is at being beginner friendly, while being robust when needed. It has a docker app “store”, as well as plugins, and a virtual machine manager as well. It also has a very, very nice Web GUI: you manage the server from another PC you use in your house.

I can not overstate how much I learned by starting with Unraid.

IIRC MPV can be configured to play HDR video as SDR, and you set the .conf things like quality and standard to what you want.

The CPU was done in BIOS on an ASUS x570. For me it was under AI Tweaker > Precision Boost Override > Curve Optimizer.

The GPU was done in the driver software on Windows. Or LACT if on Linux.

Unraid + Unifi network equipment. Everything is scheduled and automatic, with the exception of large Unraid updates, but those are only every ~6 months. Every night mover from cache SSD - > HDD array, then checks for plugin updates, then docker container updates, if Monday morning SSD trim, and if 1st of the month does an array parity check/repair.

After all that if it’s Monday morning, Unifi will check for firmware then software updates.

Sometimes a docker container will get a breaking update maybe once a year, and then I just go look @ documentation and see what needs to be changed to the config to fix.

It will help some, and will also help temps, but AMD hardware does well with undervolting, especially the 5800X3D. I undervolt mine, and read the consensus that - 30 across all cores should be achievable for anyone, unless they’re really, really unlucky. My 6800 XT I also only run @ 92% Voltage, and it runs cooler and faster now, too.

Just look up W10 LTSC. Shouldn’t bug you with upgrades, and has a few more years support.

Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC is hands down the best! A nearly naked fresh Windows install. Just Defender and Edge. And even then, a lot of the performance impacting Defender options are unavailable due to the W11 version.

It’s still my go to for gaming. Once it’s all set up, it just stays out of the way, and runs as lean as modern Windows can.

I highly, highly recommend adding StartAllBack on top of it. Makes the bottom toolbar much, much better.

I always use a single copy/paste Winget command to install nearly everything in one go, without needing any interaction for each install. Also allows updating installed programs with a single command.

Massgrave.dev for ISO’s and activation.

Edit: For some features, you have to be comfortable using Powershell as admin. I myself have to Powershell install 2 AppX packages before I can use Winget. If you go with this version feel free to message me for help.

There’s a systemd OOM service that can be setup. I use CachyOS and they have it as a checkbox to turn it on or off.

The website I didn’t know I needed. Thank you!

I’ve run it on and off for about 6 months. Just switched to it as daily driver. Absolutely love it. Arch but with automatic x64v3/4, including Wine & Proton?! Sign me up. Which is installed with an fantastic gaming meta package, and I regularly get ~10% FPS boost. Excellent default kernel, too.

Correct, for Linux atm it’s mainly app image only for v3 versions.

Edit: for anyone using any app images, I highly recommend Gear Lever to manage them, including updates.

I like Zen so much I stopped browser hopping. It has sane defaults, vertical tabs default, and it’s x64_v3 optimized speed is nice. Default theming is nice, too.

Pipewire can adjust the sample rate on the fly to match what all is playing, so maybe if there is a hypervisor that can do the same?

+1 for Cachy, its Arch with cheat codes for speed.

This also handles the device settings and open-razer driver, it’s more than just RBG control. I use it to set polling rate and DPI, my mouse doesn’t have rbg, either.

Look for the option when installing that is along the lines of “wipe entire drive.”

If you want Debian, check out Vanilla OS. They reached a milestone not too long ago, and it’s a bulletproof distro. It containerizes most programs, it’s immutable, and has atomic updates.

Someone already mentioned, turn off secure boot in your BIOS/uefi settings.