Advanced Plus Security Devjit’s Gaming PC 2026

[devjitdutta2025]

@Andy Ful does SAC get its info from SmartScreen like WDAC? If WDAC blocks a file and I use runbysmartscreen and if it thinks the file to be safe WDAC allows the file to run. Is it the same with SAC? Suppose a file is blocked by SAC but if I run the file using RunbySmartscreen and if it deems the file to be safe will SAC still block the file? You’re the best person here who can answer this for me.

 

[Andy Ful]

@Andy Ful does SAC get its info from SmartScreen like WDAC?

Yes and No.
Yes, for unsigned files and files with a bad reputation.
However, when the file is signed with an unknown reputation, SAC will allow it.

If WDAC blocks a file and I use runbysmartscreen and if it thinks the file to be safe WDAC allows the file to run.

Yes, that is right. For WDAC + ISG , RunBySmartScreen forces SmartScreen for files with no MotW to decrease the number of false positives. The ISG alone is a very restrictive AI-based file reputation system.

Is it the same with SAC?

No. With SAC, RunBySmartScreen extends protection only for non-EXE files such as scripts, shortcuts, scriptlets, documents, etc.

Suppose a file is blocked by SAC but if I run the file using RunbySmartscreen and if it deems the file to be safe will SAC still block the file?

That cannot happen (as far as I know).
For WDAC + ISG, RunBySmartScreen slightly decreases aggressive blocking of EXE/MSI files.
For SAC, RunBySmartScreen slightly increases protection for non-EXE/MSI files.

 

[Parkinsond]

That cannot happen (as far as I know).

I have had the experience before; unfortunately, it still will be blocked by SAC; RunbySmartScreen will not help to bypass block as in the case with WDAC.
I have no explanation for the mechanism.

 

[ForgottenSeer 123960]

In a standard SAC environment, RunBySmartScreen cannot "force" an override. If the kernel-level Code Integrity (CI) driver says "No," the application dies.

 

[devjitdutta2025]

Yes and No.
Yes, for unsigned files and files with a bad reputation.
However, when the file is signed with an unknown reputation, SAC will allow it.



Yes, that is right. For WDAC + ISG , RunBySmartScreen forces SmartScreen for files with no MotW to decrease the number of false positives. The ISG alone is a very restrictive AI-based file reputation system.



No. With SAC, RunBySmartScreen extends protection only for non-EXE files such as scripts, shortcuts, scriptlets, documents, etc.



That cannot happen (as far as I know).
For WDAC + ISG, RunBySmartScreen slightly decreases aggressive blocking of EXE/MSI files.
For SAC, RunBySmartScreen slightly increases protection for non-EXE/MSI files.

Beautifully explained….thank you.

 

[devjitdutta2025]

Update-

1) Replaced SWH with WHHL (All the options including SS and WDAC to ON) & disabled SAC

2) Replaced ESET with Norton 360 for Gamers (cheap license for 3 PC’s with features like Sandbox, Browser cookies protection & ransomware protection along with a good BB). Only thing missing is the hardened mode….come on Gen D.

 

[blackice]

I just noticed we have basically the same PC.
7700X
32GB RAM
7900XT (I have he XFX black edition)

 

[devjitdutta2025]

I just noticed we have basically the same PC.
7700X
32GB RAM
7900XT (I have he XFX black edition)

The XFX and PowerColor cards are great. I went with Sapphire because it was readily available at a great price. If only AMD made FSR4 available to the 7000 series

 

[devjitdutta2025]

I’ve disabled and removed all the optional windows features including powershell ise and vbscript to reduce some attack surface. Till now I haven’t had any software acting up.

 

[Sampei.Nihira]

Powershell ISE has a LoL Bins rule from H_C's Firewall hardening.

 

[Dave Russo]

MS PC Manager is good if you prefer it, and it's sufficient if you don't want to clean the system registry. I personally don't like it and prefer Reg Organizer over it.

For a password manager, the best free options available that sync online are Bitwarden and Proton Pass.

Do you know if PC manager works only with Edge browser?

 

[devjitdutta2025]

Powershell ISE has a LoL Bins rule from H_C's Firewall hardening.

I don’t use H_C.

 

[blackice]

The XFX and PowerColor cards are great. I went with Sapphire because it was readily available at a great price. If only AMD made FSR4 available to the 7000 series

There’s always swapping the DLL with the leaked version for RDNA 3 and using optiscalar.

Also, what cooler do you use for your 7700x?

 

[devjitdutta2025]

There’s always swapping the DLL with the leaked version for RDNA 3 and using optiscalar.

Also, what cooler do you use for your 7700x?

I have an arctic 360mm AIO. I’ve changed 2 things on the CPU side-

1) changed the max temps to 80 degrees(since I personally find 90 to be too hot for my liking).

2) did not change PPT, EDC, TDC but let AMD Ryzen Master find the optimal curve for my CPU. Till now it has worked extremely well without any crashes and max temps around 75C while gaming on a hot day with the AC set to 25C.

 

[lokamoka820]

Do you know if PC manager works only with Edge browser?

In my experience, it works with Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Brave. I'm not sure if it works with other browsers, such as Opera.

 

[blackice]

I have an arctic 360mm AIO. I’ve changed 2 things on the CPU side-

1) changed the max temps to 80 degrees(since I personally find 90 to be too hot for my liking).

2) did not change PPT, EDC, TDC but let AMD Ryzen Master find the optimal curve for my CPU. Till now it has worked extremely well without any crashes and max temps around 75C while gaming on a hot day with the AC set to 25C.

Mine won’t undervolt almost at all without throwing errors cycling cores in OCCT. The numbers Ryzen master gave me lead to instant blue screens. I used an AIO for a while and that kept my temps just below 90° with all core workloads (I compress a lot of video files). But with the price or ram and GPUs I decided I wanted no chance of leaks and went back to my good air cooler. Eco mode is fine, but I can cap the PPT and get just about 1.5% slower for about 85°. The air cooler can pretty much run the chip just below max temps at full load on stock until it starts getting warm outside. But I agree, with how often I leave it running for 8 hours compressing my blu rays I don’t want to leave it sitting at 95 and slowing down gradually. Also it makes the room hot to pull over 130W for that long.

 

[devjitdutta2025]

Mine won’t undervolt almost at all without throwing errors cycling cores in OCCT. The numbers Ryzen master gave me lead to instant blue screens. I used an AIO for a while and that kept my temps just below 90° with all core workloads (I compress a lot of video files). But with the price or ram and GPUs I decided I wanted no chance of leaks and went back to my good air cooler. Eco mode is fine, but I can cap the PPT and get just about 1.5% slower for about 85°. The air cooler can pretty much run the chip just below max temps at full load on stock until it starts getting warm outside. But I agree, with how often I leave it running for 8 hours compressing my blu rays I don’t want to leave it sitting at 95 and slowing down gradually. Also it makes the room hot to pull over 130W for that long.

I suggest that you start with a negative curve offset (-10) and see if your CPU is stable. If it’s rock stable, increase it to -15. Do this in increments of 5 steps until the CPU is no longer stable. Do you have a custom loop or CLC? If it’s a CLC, no need to worry about leakage. You can also go to BIOS and set the throttling temps to 90 degrees.

 

[blackice]

I suggest that you start with a negative curve offset (-10) and see if your CPU is stable. If it’s rock stable, increase it to -15. Do this in increments of 5 steps until the CPU is no longer stable. Do you have a custom loop or CLC? If it’s a CLC, no need to worry about leakage. You can also go to BIOS and set the throttling temps to 90 degrees.

I had a 5800x that could run -16. This 7700x isn't stable below -8, and -3 on a couple of the cores. It's not worth the effort to adjust and test since there is no temperature change or much extra boost at these low offsets. At that point I prefer stability. The reason I prefer a PPT setting to a Temp setting is this: Gaming goes to about 70C whether in Eco or Stock, with the exception of building shaders. The issue I see when people set a temp limit is you actually lose clocks when running heavy single threaded applications. A single core can run up to 90 easy temporarily. If you limit it to say 70C you lose a lot of boost in these single core situations. I'm guessing that most people who read on reddit to just slap a -30 and roll have pretty unstable PCs. If you've ever gotten corruption or sudden blue screens during low loads you know the pain of this. I agree CLCs are mostly safe...but when they aren't they aren't. I literally don't have the money to replace any components at current prices, so why bother for -4C.

 

[blackice]

Have you noticed any difference from Norton in gaming at all?

 

[devjitdutta2025]

I had a 5800x that could run -16. This 7700x isn't stable below -8, and -3 on a couple of the cores. It's not worth the effort to adjust and test since there is no temperature change or much extra boost at these low offsets. At that point I prefer stability. The reason I prefer a PPT setting to a Temp setting is this: Gaming goes to about 70C whether in Eco or Stock, with the exception of building shaders. The issue I see when people set a temp limit is you actually lose clocks when running heavy single threaded applications. A single core can run up to 90 easy temporarily. If you limit it to say 70C you lose a lot of boost in these single core situations. I'm guessing that most people who read on reddit to just slap a -30 and roll have pretty unstable PCs. If you've ever gotten corruption or sudden blue screens during low loads you know the pain of this. I agree CLCs are mostly safe...but when they aren't they aren't. I literally don't have the money to replace any components at current prices, so why bother for -4C.

Yeah I did have blue screens on idle when Ryzen Master set the offset to -20. Manually changing them to -10 got rid of the issue.