After a thorough cleaning of the cam cover, and the entire top of the cylinder head, cleaning of oil passages, installation of new lifters on the passenger and drivers side, replacement of the cam-to-cam chain pads and fresh mobil 1 15w50
the noise is still there.
I took a new video...about 3/4 of the way through I held it at 1800rpm and you can hear the noise begin to skip around and become random.
also note that for about 1 minute the noise went away again, and gradually came back.
2001 Boxster S knock - YouTube
enjoy.
side note #2- is this fast enough to be a lower end noise?