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The Dark Hero fan works amazingly well. I ran it full blast on my test bench. I'm going to miss that feature. I noticed the fan would blow air strongest at a certain point on the fan, and I rotated the fan in the orientation where the ram sticks were getting hit with the best breeze. PS: For some reason BestBuy sent me (2) 9950X3D2's. 💀 I guess it's meant for me to find a 2,200FCLK unit! 😂 Still waiting on motherboard.

I used Asus Astral 5080 vBIOS before since it has a 450w limit on the MSI 5080 I had last year for a bit but all three fans worked. I'm going to end up flashing it again on the SFF OC like yours. That and Melon should open them up like a beast especially yours on water so a fan not working won't be an issue for you. I wonder if a different version might wake up the non working fan since there are three variants floating around for the Astral 5080 (Black, Noctua, White) The tight knit community is alive and well. Crazy how enhancements and QoL are being implemented Fast and Furious.....

Final (ish) analysis of the whole can't boot / memory problems: Motherboards: Asus X870E Crosshair Hero (still waiting for the Dark variant to be sent out) HP Omen 35L Prebuilt B850 tower (8400F, 5060, single Rage 6000 DDR5 stick, 512GB NVME) Asrock Phantom B850i Asrock B850M-C CPUs: 8400f 7500X3D 9800X3D Memory: Kingston Rage (Rage) DDR5 6000 1x16GB SR Teamgroup (TG) 8200 2x24GB Kingbank (KB) 8400 2x24GB Corsair Vengeance (CV) 9200 2x24GB --------------------------------------------------------------------- Rage memory boots and runs in every motherboard with every CPU TG, and CV boots and runs with every MB and CPU except the 7500X3D KB boots and runs in Hero and HP except with 7500X3D . Total no go in both AsRock boards. This is a two fold with conflation: KB known issue with Asrock boards so they're a no go atm....it was conflating an issue with the 7500X3D. 7500X3D has a dud IMC and can't handle 24GB sticks in single or double config. None of the 2x24GB sticks will post on Asrock boards in single or double sticks with the 7500X3D. They will post on HP and Hero but trying to get to desktop they keep getting BSODs and exception errors on the login screens over and over tested from 4800-6000 it doesn't matter. BSOD city on the MBs it can actually boot. It has no problem with a single stick of SR 16GB Rage memory. All MBs are functional. It was the KB issue and 7500X3D IMC being faulty causing all the problems. Returning the B850i Phantom (popping it in the mail tomorrow) and send the 7500X3D to AMD for an RMA or see if MC would allow a replacement but it will work itself out one way or the other. I plan on running the SFF with my 9800X3D now anyhow and put the 9850X3D delidded into the new Hero Dark when it arrives. In a "we're blessed" moment, Imagine not having a decent amount of hardware to swap and test to log data and diagnose problems all because of a flaky/dud IMC on the CPU and hidden but known compatibility issue with KB sticks with some AsRock MBs.....crazy. ------------------------------------------------- Smart play when you want a third decently powerful GPU in play since you run three rigs usually at all times. Odds of scoring a secondary 5090, unlike the 4090 days, for a somewhat sane price (less than $3k) have long flown the coop. $1100 is super close to MSRP. Did you snag a WF OC SFF or normal? Unlike some of the OCN forum members who continue to pick up new 5090s, that's too rich for me. I'm going to ride this Vanguard into the ground as my main rig gem. This. I'm more than content with my Vanguard since it is a 1.125v sample right out of the box, but the 5080 tops out at 1.040 so that is going to be major fun OCing the 5080 for funsies to see where it goes. Just hoping Jensen doesn't shoot us the bird right back and find a way to lock it out in a future driver revision. I can just imagine Jensen screaming, "THE MORE YOU SPEND THE MORE YOU BUY MOTHER%$*$)($S!!!" and smashing his keyboard against a bunch of GPU displays...... 🤣 ---------------------------------------------- Jensen right now watching everyone celebrating having control over our own hardware to push the voltage where we want:

Using CPU-bound settings, the 270K Plus holds its own against the 9950X3D2 in this benchmark. This is a run by Zero989 at oc.net and a run with my 5080 system using the same settings against his X3D build. I actually played the game last night for about an hour and it was extremely boring. (I have never cared for this genre, so that comes as no real surprise.) I should have just stuck with the free demo. It was a waste of money for me, but it was super cheap so no great loss. What you see in the benchmark is the closest you will get to experiencing something mildly stimulating when playing the game. 9950X3D2 270K Plus

This is the state of my setup right now. I'm excited to test the 6800c34 ram for sure!

I returned all of my stuff to BestBuy a few days ago, I came home spent a couple days browsing and I decided to try some different parts instead. More or less the same setup. (1) 9950X3D2 (Really love this CPU I bought it again could not resist) (2) Asus X870E Strix E-E (This one has Debug LED, does not have a quick release PCIe though and these can damage GPU's with improper removal apparently? (3) Gskill DDR5 2x16GB 6800C34 (This was the same cost as my Corsair kit) Hopefully this setup can hit the measly DDR5 8000. 💀 Almost went 270K Plus route, but I found my self splurging much more on Z890 motherboard cost and Z890 ram cost, which easily bridged the gap from 270KP to 9950X3D2 cost. So the savings of 270KP were just getting stuffed in to fancier board and ram to run the 270KP. I really liked the 9950X3D2!! I ran it for a solid 2 months. Gaming performance with 5090 Astral OC was excellent, it really impressed me so much. I just wasn't happy with my combination of parts, or quality of parts, so it all went back. My original open box X870 Dark Hero was questionable, my CPU bin was questionable, and even my Hynix A-Die SR ram was very questionable. Would like to play around with 8000-8200 Gear 2. Or daily 6400 Gear 1. 😁

I had a dickens of a time figuring out where I could mount the WireView Pro 2 Wired version in this small case. It does not look nearly as clean as it would attached to the GPU and I am not "thrilled" with the mounting location. But, I think it is better to have it than to not have it. Maybe in a week or two when I am bored and want something pointless to do I will route the EPDM tubing a slightly different way so it looks less "busy" than it does now. At least it is easily viewed in the current location. Looks like the shunt mod is working, so that's good. MrFox's 3DMark - Steel Nomad DX12 Score 10202 marks with GeForce RTX 5080 @ 3435.00/2250 MHz

So far testing this 9850X3D, it is a slightly better sample than my 9800X3D. 9800X3D can do 2133/6400 but at 1.29 VSOC while the 9850X3D does it on auto no problem. 9850X3D can boot 6600 but fails TM5 even at 1.30v. 9800X3D isn't booting 6600 no matter what. 6600+ stable (let alone booting) is unicorn territory. 9850X3D can do 8200 on auto no problem but eventually fails at 8400. 8400+ is unicorn status so I wasn't expecting it to pass if it even managed to boot. 9800X3D can do 8000 but fails 8200. 8400 won't boot at all. 9800X3D = SP113 (solidly average) 9850X3D = SP120 (slightly above average) I'll end up tuning 2000/6000, 2133/6400 and the as always in sync 8000. I've never fully tuned all three sets of DDR5 around AM5 so this should be fun! Might do a 8200 profile since this chip can fully support it. ------------------------------------- Out of the box quick benching, it is literally identical to the 9800X3D running CB23 but we'll see where that goes down the road after I wrap up memory testing and lock down all three sets of DDR5 to really dial it in and as always do a static vs test for shiggles. I haven't done any game benching/testing yet. That will be in a few days once I get at least 2000/6000 locked down on the 9850X3D. Realistically I expect the CV 9200 sticks to reign supreme as they did testing on the 265k/270k but those are slated for Nova Lake later this year so I'll want to make sure to have the KingBank or TeamGroup on standby 🙂

5090 is fixed. Got the new fuses from Mouser today and installed them after work. My SMD soldering is ghetto-looking because I am scared of exploding caps and blowing small parts off their pads with my hot air station and always use an iron. Using the hot plate to preheat the GPU to 110°C helped a ton using the iron. (I should buy a dead mobo or GPU on eBay super cheap and use it for practice to get over my fear of messing things up with the hot air.) But, hey, it works now. Powered through an 800W run of Steel Nomad to confirm it. I had ordered new thermal pads for the block and they got delayed from Amazon, so I will have to take it apart again tomorrow after work to replace the thermal poop with liquid metail and install the new pads. (Assuming they are actually delivered tomorrow.)

Happy birthday @Papusan! Hopefully it is a good one and shout out to Mrs Papusan! -------------------------------------------------------------- 4k only WoW testing to see if I wanted to upgrade/switch the wife's SP109 14900KS + 4000 Bdie tuned at 4000 vs 270k + KB 8400 tuned at 8400 (both passed TM5 Extreme). Tuned up the 270k at 5.6ghz with the KingBank 8400 sticks ran some vs tests with the same settings as the wife's 14900ks DDR4 tuned system and the 270k officially equals the 14900ks at 4k with the exact same CPU bound results even with a 9070xt in areas (fixed spots out in the world devoid of player data, namely Eversong Woods) dropping to 91-93% whereas the 9800X3D can lock it down to 100% on those same 9070xt cards. This is setting up two platforms and the 270k running the Powercolor 9070xt Red Devil and hers running the Gigabyte OC Gaming 9070xt. Swapped cards back and forth, basically the same results. In same scenarios, Red Devil runs 3200+, while the Gigabyte runs 3100+. Red Devil pulls ~18w more stock for stock too. Gigabyte = SK Hynix Red Devil = Samsung Overall, even in raids, scary just how powerful the 5090 is and how much Blizzard has improved their optimizations for GPUs but they really do need to to where I can cap out the 9070xt easily in raids on X3D at 4k and even push the 5090 close to cap out many times even with all the FX going on and seeing 70-98% utilization depending on encounter and situation. I must reiterate how much the Intel anything + 9070xt is dogwater for Fallout 76. Running the 270k + 9070xt again is just the worst...... ------------------------------------------------------------------- Couldn't resist and picked up an open box Asus G16 9955HX3D + 5070ti for $1800 from Amazon Warehouse to do some testing especially in Fallout 76 since the Alienware 275hx + 5070ti was grossly underfeeding the 5070ti in spots in QHD most likely due to the architecture and inability to tune memory / support much higher speeds. Need to see if the 9955HX3D caps it out properly at QHD and at what fps. Pros: The Asus bios for AMD supports full Overclocking options for AMD versus the Intel counterpart. This model is known to run dead silent on light/ no load for desktop use Actually has a lower sound profile under load than the Alienware Cons: No out of box BIOS level memory tuning for the 32GB of DDR5 5600 memory (2x16GB). If the 9955HX3D caps out the 5070ti in Fallout 76 in QHD, which I expect it to do considering a 9800X3D caps out a desktop 5070 in QHD, it gives more weight to a potential 9955HX3D+5090 laptop. @win32asmguy how goes the Raider tuning and testing? ------------------------------------------------------------------- Still waiting on Asus to send the X870e Dark Hero so I can set up a test bench with it with the delidded 9850X3D and collect more WoW/Fallout 76 data testing all my cards: 5060, 9070xt x 2, 5080, 5090, 6000. It's the linchpin to start moving other parts around and get the SFF going too. ------------------------------------------------------------------- @tps3443 Titan Rig has a nice open box sale on an Astral GPU block if you want to block your beast: https://www.titanrig.com/openbox-alphacool-core-geforce-rtx-5090-rog-astral-gpu-water-block-with-backplate.html

Confirmed only blown fuses. GPU is totally fine. I bridged the F1 fuse solder pads with a wire for testing and it's good to go. Now I just need the fuses and we'll be back to normal +1 fuse for extra capacity.

I am actually kind of surprised they have not already blown the way I have pushed this GPU for benching. I've run way more than they should have allowed me to, but Steel Nomad is famous for the massive power spike in the first couple of seconds and I think that experimenting with the 2000W vBIOS together with the shunt modding was the straw that broke the camel's back for the fuses. I normally have used a 800W or 1000W BIOS.

Finally overclocking GPU is fun again.

This is with the Astral 5080 XOC vBIOS. It totally exhausts the 450W power limit (pegged to 450W on the WireView Pro). I've ordered a block for it and will shunt mod it. One fan does not run so it is getting too hot and thermal throttling, but the software works great for the tweaks.

The same DEV that created the original Melonvolt just released a separate tool for manually setting/overclocking the XBar without touching MSVDD at all! Just tested on my 5070 Ti and works flawlessly. Just set the offset, hit apply and bam. Amazing work. https://www.overclock.net/posts/29605861/ I guess both Devs are now sorta working together and will implement this Xbar offset tool into the Melonvolt tool so we don't have to use separate tools. Things are happening so fast lately with RTX 50 series. Getting wild. Jensen is having a bad week! Edit: Tool works great because you can add Xbar without needing to waste power or push voltage to get it to scale up. Saves if you're power limited and saves on wasted heat. Real world gaming in Battlefield 6 was about 2% on my 5070 test. But I'll take it. Added 500Mhz to my Xbar. In total about 13% over a stock card. Not bad at all..

HOLY CRAP! here i was, just about to start work in the office when i stumbled upon this, bam 45 min gone LOL. omg cant wait to check this out once i get home.... what a total middle finger to Nvidia, friggin hilarious! show them those melons, guys! 😄

So 100% stability tested on all three tested 9950X3D2’s. (1) 2167fclk@6000c26 SP117 (Ultra Weak IMC) (This turd already went back) Ran this one on the Dark Hero open box I had. (2) 2200fclk@6200c26 SP118 (Cores use the least power of all, ultra efficient highest clocking chip, it uses the least pwr and has some very low temps. (I actually may have just stabilized 6400c26@1:1) I noticed a discrepancy in screenshots. The auto CLDO VDDP voltage was running at 1.150v stock, my other chip with the strong IMC will automatically run this at 1.045v. So I changed it on this one, and now it’s running VT3 at 6400c26 1:1. 🤷‍♂️ (3) 2167fclk@6400c26 SP118. The chip has such an easy going IMC, it’s just hard not to love it. But the cores don’t run as high although it’s still very good. I’ll probably be keeping chip #2. Further testing will be done with new G.Skill 6000c26 ram kit. Finally a high binned kit to test!

So Im thinking the next step for my setup should be a UPS, I am currently using a really nice extension but its probably time to get a proper power delivery system. From what Im reading something with Sinewave PFC to clean up the power. What do you guys use? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00429N19W?tag=ustxtaddt-20&plpRedirect=mhFallback&ref=clp_hp_h_pc&th=1 This appears to clean power from utility as well as on battery.

Here are some nice free to play internet arcade games.

Me thinking Intel is going back to pump out more powa😀 Exactly as bro @Mr. Fox want. More to everyone😎 This is what intel need to do. Forget about lowest power possible. Win for every costs. If the cores and cache need more power, then let it get what it needs. And stop make desktop processors from power efficient mobile crap. Leak Confirms Intel's Long-Term Socket Plan with LGA-1954 Intel's "Nova Lake-S" desktop processors are drawing nearer, and today a leaked partner slide from China confirmed many of the plans we anticipated. Starting with the LGA-1954 socket, Intel's testing tools had already verified the pin count. This slide not only confirms the pin count but also introduces a small detail about it. In the bottom left corner, there is a disclaimer stating that Intel plans to keep the LGA-1954 socket for multiple generations.

I enjoyed this video. He states a lot of known truths from memory makers purposely constricting supply. Honestly I don't blame them with past precedent showing over production = collapsed markets. I think they know the AI market is tenuous at this point and to go all in could result in a massive collapse. I do think they are spring boarding off of the AI bubble with tightly controlled production to um "re-imagine" the consumer market pricing by overly constricting supply. There has to be a balance in there somewhere. Time will tell because right now memory is in stock everywhere in droves. Consumers aren't buying at these prices. Nvidia marginalizing gaming into edge computing because AI is the big thing right now I hope it bites them in the arse down the road but I suspect it won't because Nvidia is branching out into serious CPU production and other markets. Nvidia will be the final push that starts to seriously effect Intel and AMD's CPU production segment. All I'm saying is Intel better stay the course with their GPU division like AMD has to fall back upon. They need a two pronged attack while they continue to figure out a way to get their legacy x86 architecture modernized to compete against the M and M like chips coming into their own. "The craft builder is not really going anywhere because their reason to build was never the price and you can't price out a reason that was never about price." This is spot on. We build and tinker for the love of it. His comparison of craft builders vs necessity builders was very valid. He is also on point with the crowd that buys pre built because they just want to plug it in and go and how many who used to like to tinker have transitioned to this crowd. I have SO many life long friends and gaming buddies who used to get in the trenches to build and tweak their rigs to play Quake and Unreal Tournament and early days of WoW who just don't have the time or updated skill sets to build and tweak anymore and when problems arise they get immediately flustered and frustrated and usually turn to me for help where before we shared knowledge and ate our own chow. I think I have one friend left from the early days (circa 90s) who still insists on building his own rig. The rest either go pre-built, a laptop or have switched to Apple. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anyone who doesn't think 13th and 14th can still bring the pain where applicable is in denial. Dufus is stuck on bad testing and data gathering while asking us to "trust me bro" on the "feel" of games and a lack of consistency. I'm not saying there isn't some validity to what he is claiming, but he has built his entire brand around dry humping Socket 1700. But, as someone who still runs all three and routinely swaps and tests with them even now, Socket 1700 is showing its age. The most recent updates to Agesa (ugh) and gaming as a whole, all that dippity dip dip in WoW is basically gone at this point and remember, I was one of the early ones who was calling it out in the old forums and maybe even here with the 7800X3D vs 13900KS in WoW where there was some absolutely atrocious spots of it that are now gone. Even when I go back to my old "dip" spots to test that is streaming in assets at a high volume, the dip is no longer present. Best case, Socket 1700 is still a ripper in games that can't take advantage of X3D and doesn't pull a lot of power. Worse case, it is a very hot and heavy running CPU that gets left in the dust in games that love X3D while pulling 200w+. Intel badly needs a light and nimble 8 core / 16 thread large cache enabled CPU that doesn't suck down a metric ton of power to game and own. That's it. No more ; no less. I do think we will get that with Nova Lake as even Intel finally realizes they can't compete overall without a big 'ole chunk of cache. Nova Lake new architecture + bLLC is going to be an absolute wrecking ball. It is literally the #1 reason I am holding onto these Corsair Vengeance 9200 sticks to pick up a MB + CPU as soon as I get the ok from @Talon 🤣 ------------------------------------------------------------ Nvidia keeps pushing up pricing to protect margins and profit because quite honestly if the margins aren't there they won't stay engaged in even supplying to the gaming sector since we're now a blip in edge computing to them. Their objective is to keep pushing AI till they're blue in the face.... What's the alternative? People aren't buying 9070xt even though it is competitive against both the 5070ti and 5080. If the current pricing travesties won't push buyers to AMD, nothing will.

Thanks! It works! I copied all of your settings. Only thing I changed was, I flipped the CCD0 55.50 and CCD1 55.25 etc, and I ran 1.500v VDD mainly because I am not sure how good my ram is, I think you had the 6000c26 sticks. But I may try 1.480v now. Very proud of this Intel GSKILL 6800c34 ram kit right now. It has impressed me so much!! I’m absolutely thrilled. Its not a Expo kit, so it runs DCPO, but they seem like an amazing bin.

So far I have been strictly playing with 1:1 memory tuning. 6400c28 is completely solid even with 2,200 fclk. I think I may even can stabilize 6600 1:1. But it starts to show IMC limits at 6600 (1:1) I just tried 1:2 today for the first time, DDR5 8000 1:2 posted up first try. Even with only 1.400v VDDIO. There was definitely something seriously wrong with my last setup to not work. PS: These are my setting below. I can't seem to get my latency down much. I am wondering if its OS related at this point. I even tried some manual Nitro Path settings. I am on a really old bios 1401 from 05/2025.

That's excellent @Reciever got everything up and running! And from the looks of it, he’s got it running really great too! You know, I actually almost kept my first one that was stuck at 2167fclk, and on the very last day to return, I had a change of heart lol (Glad I did!). But I’m playing with it. But the SP#’s are looking good on this one! The 1st CCD is good, but the 2nd CCD is very strong looking. I set a 1.180v Vsoc voltage and loaded right in Windows at 2,200fclk. No wheas! I will do some testing to ensure all is well with it. My last 9950X3D2 would not load 2200fclk no matter what you did! I tried literally everything. Now time for some memory testing, but at this point I’m liking it much better than that very first one. EDIT::: 2,200 FCLK + 6400c30 Gear 1:1 works perfectly fine so far.

So far so good. I received my X870 Strix E-E today from UPS. Very thankful this board has Debug LED! And easy access CMOS battery. 😅 BestBuy sent me “Buy one Get One Free”9950X3D2’s. So I popped one in, and it booted right up with 2200 FCLK, and 6400c30 1:1. Already better results than my 1st 9950X3D2 from a few months ago. I plan to thoroughly test this one and become well acquainted before I drop in the other one for testing. Theres nothing like swapping chips and feeling that crappiness, or feeling the greatness from one to the next. But it takes some really getting to know one chip, or that feeling never occurs with the 2nd. PS: This chip is a SP118, not really sure if that’s good or not. But I’m not too overly worried about core silicon clock-ability. Mainly want good FCLK and good IMC! These 9950X3D2’s just rip bone stock anyways. I will report back with anymore further findings and what the 2nd 9950X3D2 is.

Good Evening Everyone! Finally had some time to set aside to upgrade to the platform I purchased from Brother Fox. CPU and Memory are phenomenal, had the profile from Mr. Fox when he had this and thus far its been great. Had to apply a bit more LM and reseat the direct die block for temps to be where they should otherwise its been a breeze! The one weird issue I havent been able to square quite yet is the 9070 XT. Since the combo was coming included with a CPU and RAM block, I decided to block the 9070 XT also so now everything is in a loop 9070 XT > RAM > 7900 XTX > CPU > Pump > 1080mm Rad > pump Sadly thus far I havent been able to get the 9070 XT to output video. Its detected, no errors and drivers install but 0 output. The one oddity I could find is that doesnt run at PCIE 4.0 (set to 4 for testing) only cycling between 2.0 and 1.1 PCIE Gen link. I have removed my NVME to 10Gbps adapter occupying M.2_1 which should be CPU linked but no change. I was going to try moving the DIMM_2 adapter today but discovered ants in my bedroom so I've been doing a full cleaning today instead of more troubleshooting. CPU is sitting at 37c for idle and load temps were 57-59 for the 9950X3D2, load being BattleField 6. 7900 XTX temps increased to 35c load where it used to be closer to 25c when it was alone in the loop. If I can sort out the 2nd GPU slot and get video output from the 9070 XT ill be right as rain but for the moment I am pretty stoked

I am not using the chiller yet. (It needs thorough cleaning due to about 10 years of sediment build-up... don't want any more trash added to my loop. Working on that today). But, I've managed to get my ambient down to 66°F running my mini-split at 60°F. Broke 18K. With the chiller I will be in the top 25 (current #26). https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/3dmark_-_steel_nomad_dx12/submissions/6065553 | https://www.3dmark.com/sn/15796279 Chiller has been rinsed out and is sitting in the garage with the tank filled with white vinegar to bust up the rest of the white sediment build-up. Will have it back in service probably later today. Got to run to Walmart and grab a few more gallons of distilled water.

Nasty finger salute to the Green Goblin, with both hands. People that care just won't use their cancer drivers that block mVolt+ from working. I'm still using 576.28 and I generally won't play games that require that I install a specific driver or newer. It's a matter of principle for me, and that matters more than falling in line with their wishes. Same reason I won't play the crapified new games that require Secure Poot and TPM to be enabled for some garbage anti-cheat bloatware to work. They can kiss my post-defecation, smelly, unwashed posterior orifice.

I put up a video comparing ram air cooling via 4.5 different methods. Stock sticks = 76c. Asus 60mm fan = ~49c Noctua top shelf performance quiet 60mm fan on Asus bracket = ~49c Thermalright ram cooler = ~42c I've mastered the art of posting videos when I'm battling the flu or covid, lol. Sometimes I don't realize how under the weather I am till I watch something back and can hear it in my voice and a smidge of labored breathing. 🤣

Here is something interesting. I normally use a hardware KVM to switch between computers, but using two at once with a KVM is not a solution to use both systems simultaneously. You are merely switching from one to the other. I decided to give Synergy 3 a go and it works flawlessly for using a single keyboard and mouse on two computers connected to separate monitors. It functions indistinguishable from using a single computer with two monitors. Really useful. Similar to the old "Mouse without Borders" utility, but better and a lot more features. https://symless.com/synergy/download

I figured out a better mounting location for the wired WireView Pro 2 than using the radiator fan screws. I did not like it where it was. I had not noticed that the distro block had holes that went all the way through where the screws attach the distro block to the chassis. I used those holes with screws to attach it to the distro block much lower than before. The fan mounting bracket included with it aligns perfectly with the holes in the distro block. Now it doesn't have the ugly long "snake" for the 12VHPWR cable. This is aesthetically more acceptable.

Thanks brother. It is true PC hardware is an absolute mess right now, but that is why I went with the slightly older stuff. The problem is that the average PC buyer still thinks we are back in last 2024/early 2025. They still have that 60 to 70% off mentality. They argue that the PC isn't worth 1200 to 1300, even though the PCs I have built outclass anything selling new in that price range. The 4070 Ti is still going for 500 to 600 used and I won't even get into SSD/RAM pricing. However, I will always stand my ground. We shall see how it goes. I am happy to see you're enjoying your return to Intel. Next gen should be very interesting and I think Intel will give AMD a run for its money, as long as Intel keeps pricing reasonable. But only time will tell.

Nice to hear from you, brother. And, glad to know you are doing well. I think PC building is a huge mess overall. Prices for anything used by AI are totally unreasonable to the point of absurdity. I think it is hurting all consumers, SI companies and manufacturers of other component products (cooling, case and PSU) that are selling a lot less merchandise now due to the ridiculous costs of the key components that are keeping consumers from building or buying new systems. I was running all AMD but just went back to Intel with two Z890 Apex and 270K Plus builds. I moved the 4585PX and B850MPOWER and 5080 Prime into a SFF living room build for my wife. I sold the X870E Apex and 9950X3D2 to Brother @Reciever for his next beastly build. It's Brother @Talon fault that I moved back to Intel. It feels like I am back home again.

Thanks! I can see some areas to flesh out, but once I started tightening up my Corsair Vengeance 9200 sticks even at 6000 temps shot to 76c and errors so I plan on testing no fan (obvious overheating) vs with the included ram fan to see where it tops out vs the 140mm blaster master. Corsair heatsinks are just the worst.....followed by Patriots. Middle of the pack are G.Skill heat blankets and Kingston (HP). Best I've seen so far are KingBank and TeamGroup. Good call. That setup was just not delivering. Did you check Gear 4 just to remove the MB from the equation? The fact it was open box always leaves a "why was it returned?" on the table. 2200 fclk, 6400 and 8000 are the minimum entry bar for being "acceptable" in my book. I've binned ~7 9800X3D CPUs and sent back 4 and sold off 2 to guildies who don't care about that criteria. You would have to really remove the GPU wrong and it would take at least 50-60+ insertions and removals to notice anything. If you picked up the newer revision with the AIO power connector on board, it has been corrected on that model. It sucks that we sometimes have to parts fish, but for us PnP doesn't cut it. I assume you kept the Astral? Time to play around with mVolt+ with that big 'ole heatsink on it. I've been working with the eval x870e Dark Hero for ~3 days now and 2200/6400 and 8000-8200 is no problem on this delidded 9850X3D. I can't stabilize 8400 but I'll keep trying but I'm asking for unicorn magic sooo....yeah. I really like this motherboard as it is basically the Extreme bones underneath this time around vs the normal Hero and it shows. I may kick it into gear 4 so I can see if the Dark Hero can truly do 9200 since it is rated up to 9600 and I've already tested these Corsair sticks up to 9066 on the z890 Strix-A once in Gear 4 I do the no fan vs included Dark Hero fan vs 140mm fan tests as outlined above. On the other hand, I am also a firm believer that eval and review samples may get an extra bit of QC too..... Hopefully this 9950X3D2 is a 8400+ monster!

Yeah I liked my setup, but it was kinda weak. Booting 7600 1:2 was a miracle scenario maybe 1 out of 4 tries in that platform. I was kind of bummed about the 2167 fclk, but not a deal breaker for me. That's really good to hear about the motherboard!

If you get a good setup, like what I sold to @Reciever and offered to you, the 9950X3D2 will be great. I do not know why, but is seems like with the X3D chips (all of them) it is harder to find one that has an IMC strong enough to handle 8000 and 2200 FCLK. I had the Strix X870E-E motherboard for a good while and it was a very good motherboard. I think you will like it. It overclocked the memory as well as the X870E Apex does with a good CPU. Ran it 8000-8200 daily. No issues.

This and the previous two WireView Pro 2 I bought on Amazon for the same price as ordering from Thermal Grizzly directly. Roman seems to be leveraging Amazon for distribution of many of his product offerings. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H83WL9JW?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 I never really tuned 6000 to the max. I got it stable and then focused on increasing speed with the same timings, but here is the 6200 C26 settings I have tuned on the B850MPOWER now using the weak V-Color dual rank 48GB trash kit. You might be able to run the same timings at 6400 with a good single rank kit. If you are using 16GB modules you should be able to tighten up tRFC. This is all I really have so I hope it helps. Edit: the WHEA error above is because I had too much CO negative offset to maximize CPU clock. This hits the 3D cache harder than a non-3D cached CPU. Below (without WHEA error) is the same memory settings with a less aggressive CO undervolt.

That was quick delivery. Are they available stateside for the wired version? Do you happen to have your best AM5 6000 2x24GB zentimings tune on hand? I'm in the process of tuning the Vengeance 9200 2x24GB sticks at 6000 now so I want to see how they stack up while dialing them in. I'll then take a small break to benchmark the 9070xt's and 5080 for comparison to the 14900KS / 270k data I've collected in WoW and FO76. Then head on to 2133/6400 and 8000 after. My ETA for actual Hero to Dark Hero swap is probably a week to ten days from now.

https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/3dmark_-_port_royal/submissions/6063003 https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/3dmark_-_time_spy/submissions/6062987

Thank you. The Bykski block looks and works great. My hotspot temp is like 8°C more than core with liquid metal. I wish a PC enthusiast vigilante would find the people responsible for it and exterminate them. Maybe if we pooled our resources and put a bounty on their heads, LOL. https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/3dmark_-_steel_nomad_dx12/submissions/6062828 https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/3dmark_-_speed_way/submissions/6062831 That silly 3DMark "Estimated game performance" measurement is so hokey. "Less than 20 FPS" LOL.

Man that is purdy. I said it before and I'll say it again. That industrial blue and off white with the black and just that TINGE of red from the Q-Code display always has that blend of blade runner meets Neuromancer. I might have to go with some Noctua or Arctic 140mm aRGB fans ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No surprise here.....bots be botting trying to scarf up any type of hardware deal possible to regurgitate it back on the market at higher prices....#winning ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cancer meet cancer. What can go wrong? 😀 Microsoft blames RGB peripherals for crashing Windows 11 — RGB software is causing blue screens, crashes, and game freezes

Instead of watching paint dry..... Gonna hit up that area with Fitz one more time.... Like IT and The Shining, I need the SHINE.... Watched a good Stock vs Expo vs ULL vs tuned DDR5 shoot out. instead.... As always, tuning your own ram rules the roost: I like this guy a lot. He's really passionate and grinds out a lot of good data.

As was I watching this head to head shootout from Jarrod seeing the traditional Asus PBO overclocking controls: I'll make sure to run it through the ringer, but for that price I just had to grab it if only for comparison and data analysis when it arrives. That's a good approach. If 6000 just isn't working, optimize in the opposite direction and tighten timings and find the sweet frequency to really lower VSOC. What is the most the 9955HX3D can pull in the MSI? I know in the Asus, it can pull up to 75w performance mode, but like the MSI balanced is 55w. I'm fingers crossed with G-Helper but probably because of the tailored, specific nature of their laptops, I don't have my fingers crossed. X3D, especially in laptops, just gives the business to Intel depending on the games you play good for WoW and especially Fallout 76. Really? Well, that sucks. Maybe down the line for next gen they will, but if there is no 3D-Vcache on their mobile chips, X3D will continue to reign surpreme. Hopefully on desktop that bLLC is going to level the playing field and then some for Intel. I know I'm definitely picking up a Nova setup once @Talon grabs his on day one and gives the early "yeah, this rocks," feedback. 🤣 Sad you had to jump through all those hardware mods just to use your damn GPU and eventually someone broke through and let you do in software what it should have done all along. Bring on the Chiller.

Nice to be back in beast mode.

Frank and Dusty are jamming together in paradise now. Billy is no spring chicken, so he may join them soon. ZZ Top was one of my favorite Southern Rock bands of all time. True icons that produced some legendary and timeless music hits. The entertainment industry just does not make music like they did any more. I had the privilege of seeing them live, in concert, at the Arizona State Fair in November of 2005.

For less money? Depends on the eyes that see. Still heavly overpriced. Should be more like "more garbage for more money"😎 PC Partner warns of rising GPU prices and budget card shortages — analyst suggests makers are hiking prices beyond memory costs The question is whether price increases have benefited anyone beyond those early in the supply chain. Jon Peddie, who has been tracking the graphics industry for about 25 years, does not seem to believe that all the graphics card prices are due to increased costs. "[This all does] not necessarily equal an increase in profits, although I suspect it does, and the AIB suppliers are taking advantage of all of the press reports on higher memory prices and shortages to raise AIB prices more than the delta in memory costs," Peddie said.

Thanks. Nice. All rolled into one now. No need to use a separate tool for crossbar. I love it.

Z890 Apex #2 landed and launched. The crappy Gigabutt Duo X is on its way back to Amazon. Everything is as it should be now. No problem not booting with 40x D2D like issue with the Duo X. The BIOS was from 2024. I flashed 9901 but left the 2024 version of Intel ME. No plans to update it. No need until something proves otherwise. So far nothing has. Temps are great. Runs 8800 no issue, same as the other Apex.

Sweet! Just tested it and it works perfectly. Thanks for alerting us. Jensen stopped caring about what we want and need, so he needs to also stop caring about what we do if he has not already.