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I had some time to play with the threadripper platform and tried a PBO with scalar 2x and -10 on all 96 cores, went from 119k to over 153k 😄 But the second try it shutdown 🤣 Still have the 1200w PSU 1U inside that the case came with so i think this is the weak link..i need to mode the case, cut it so i can add Bquiet 1200w ATX PSU titanium but dont have the time for the work right now

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:

I have had people (some not even noobs) argue with me and say things like "no, that's not the problem because my RAM is only reaching 65-70°C" and they often don't believe me that anything above about 40-45°C is "too hot" and will cause errors.

Sold to our beloved friend @Reciever

Speaking of PSUs, the Super Flower Combat 1000W SFX unit was delivered. I have never owned or even seen an SFX PSU except in pictures and videos. It is incredibly small, but unbelievably heavy. It seems like it weighs as much as an ATX PSU. Pictures and videos are usually lacking where perspective is concerned. But, yeah... it's soooo little. It is going to make building a SFF much easier.

Well priced too. I think I'll pick one up for a proper "just in case" scenario. I went back to running the Matrix vBIOS because it keeps my game clocks steady over 3200 everywhere. Fallout 76 is no problem. I can even run stock settings, but WoW will trip the WVP2 without adjustments with the 800w bios. On the flip side, my hot spot differential is ~12c with the stock factory application so I'm good atm on that front. No native 12vhpwr on PSU? 🤣 Nice on the warranty just in case. How did the A-die fare in the 5080 variant for comparison? Would it boot at 1050mv VSOC? Let us know how stability testing goes... let's see how this 9955X3D in the 5090 variant compares to the returned 5080... How are the noise levels between the two?

Got warranty activated today including the start date being adjusted to my purchase date so its a full three years. Swapped in A-die. It did not want to boot at 3000/3000/2000 with 1050mv VSOC. 1200mv worked but is probably too much. XMP 6000 C36 equivalent timings (and tREFI 16k) at 1200mv VDD/VDDQ/VDDIO but need to stability test.

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.

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.....

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! 😄

This is awesome. I tested it on both of my 5080 GPUs and it definitely works. I will test it on the 5090 and see if it will allow me to remove the EVC2 mod without losing anything. I hope that Jensen is not happy. He doesn't deserve to have a happy life.

Awesome. Thank you. I have always removed Defender garbage from Windoze so I don't have to worry about Micro$lop's ever-growing database of false positive file flags or bogus blacklists nonsense.

https://www.overclock.net/posts/29605610/ Defender throws up false virus readings. So had to disable to get it. 1150mV limits by default. 1250mv with XOC button. XBar scales with MSVDD. By default Nvidia made it so you can’t scale MSVDD beyond NVVDD default baked in. But now that we can raise NVVDD, you can push MSVDD higher and therefore XBar.

Now with Melon Volt 0.2 you can punch the voltage on that 5080, on both the NVVDD and MSVDD. No longer voltage limited on 5070, 5070 Ti, 5080, or 5090s on default vBIOS. Now just power limits until shunt that is. Overclock.net forum going wild with new version that lets us unleash the cards! Jensen is not going to be happy about this lol.

xx60 class card above $800. Hmmmm. Nope. No thanks. Hell freze first. Madness is the correct word for this. GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB pricing hits $800+ in the US as memory crisis takes hold NVIDIA raises RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell price to $16,000, now 87% above original MSRP

Yep, RAM is very temperature sensitive. The upstairs A/C in my house broke recently and we had to get it repaired. While I personally didn't mind the 10-15°F higher ambient temperatures, that destabilized the memory overclock on my desktop. At first, I thought something was horrifically wrong as the machine would just keep freezing and BSODing after over a year and a half of working great. Nope, it was just the higher ambient temps causing RAM instability. Whew. I wanted my 2.5% overclock though! Grr... performance being left on the table I couldn't access.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jXNs3Hrgpg Given the price mark up on Broadwell GPUs, you are going to see a lot more 4090s and 5090s get memory upgrades.

you win some, you lose some: GPU cable keeping steady, still at +/-10% max. current imbalance, roughly equating to 1-1.3A, very happy with that. but now suddenly my machine kept crashing during RE9 Requiem gameplay, sudden black screen followed by a reboot, not BSOD, no warning, no freezing, nothing, just instant reboot. had a hunch so i ran TM5 and voila: the RAM started getting unstable! currently retuning the timings while keeping the speed at 7600. not sure if this is silicon degradation or rather the current heatwave. ambient temps are reaching 28-30C in my little gaming corner in the living room, thus pushing the RAM to the upper 50s during gameplay (remember: this is with RGB switched off and a 140mm fan pointing directly towards them). in any case, back to RAM tuning ugh....altho not much in the mood, crazily enjoying my gaming phase 😄 ill just do it on the side, one timing a day i guess.... 😛 at least i found the culprit quickly and can go back to stable gaming without reboots 🙂

Hey @Mr. Fox I would buy your parts, but I actually bought my 9950X3D2 and Dark Hero and Ram with the BestBuy 0% store Credit Card. So, if I were to return it all, it just goes back to the card. I used the card because I was not sure if I was going to even like or keep the setup. So it was a way for me to give it a good run in and test it daily. It seems pretty solid, other than being a weaker sample. And, I still might return it all. If I do, I’ll maybe be going for a 270K Plus. But I have really Moved away from overclocking and XOC. I just play games when I have time. I’m so busy with buying junk cars these days. I pretty much just keep it simple man! Congrats on the binned 270K plus purchase! That is a very nice chip! This is a picture of my yard full of cars from a days work. 😂

Id love to splurge on this. Great deal! But, I have to be smart. I don’t have a job anymore, so I’m completely self sufficient these days since May 2026. Things are going well, but I feel like bad luck can happen at any moment. So I have to be smart.

I made @tps3443 a crazy low offer on the 9950X3D2, X870E Apex, IceMan Direct Die block, G.SKILL 6000 CL26 RAM and Supercool Direct Touch RAM cooler. That CPU is a WHOLE lot better than the one he has. So is the motherboard and RAM for that matter. If he doesn't want it, if anyone here is interested I will let it go for the same utterly insane low price as a complete package. Ready to use, turnkey. Speaking of 6000 CL26, this is the best that the garbage V-Color dual rank trash kit is capable of doing. I spent about 5 hours yesterday with it installed in the SFF build and it just doesn't have much to offer. As the low clock speeds it is capable of it performs actually quite well, it just can't hit any clock speeds that are worth a darn. It is not even bootable at 6400 in 1:1... debug code 00 on every attempt. Great example why one should never judge a book by its cover. With EXPO specs like this kit has one would think it is a fantastic memory kit, but it really sucks unless you run it close to stock. As sucky as it is, it will be good enough for the SFF build since it is not going to get put through the benching meat grinder. It will have a mundane existence that is limited to the mediocrity of web browsing and 3D gaming.

The 5090 is a beast compared to the second and the (3rd) last.

Wow, by far the easiest delid I have ever done using the Thermal Grizzly Delid Die Mate and the Die Mate heater. Removing the residual solder from the die after delid was also much easier because there was less of it. Most of it stayed on the IHS and hardly any left on the CPU die. And, as always massive thermal benefit to bare die. The temps are fantastic. Cooler temps = less voltage and power, higher clocks... profit by every measurement. I am pretty sure I could use the heater to delid a Ryzen CPU with 75% less time and effort if I were to use dental floss to cut the glued spots.

Yeah MSI really came through as I was not sure if I would get any kind of extended warranty given that it was an open box model. Not that there was a choice because they discontinued the config with 9955HX3D and 5090 instead of just modifying it to have 2x16GB RAM. Ended up having to dial it back to C38 and tREFI 11677. I only ever used the stock 2x16GB Hynix in the 5080 variant. These have factory seals and I was hesitant on keeping that 5080 due to price so I never opened it up. The 5080 variant however definitely could do 3000:3000:2000 with 1000mv VSOC stable. The OEM memory had locked PMIC so 1100mv VDD/VDDQ pretty much. Fan noise was essentially the same, very good. Its one of the few that can have good performance, good noise and just warm palm rests. Not X170 levels of palm rest temps which could stay at ambient temp but the chassis is simply too thin to ever really be that good. This has much better fans than the old 2024 7945HX3D. Maybe it is better with heat dissipation. They use PTM7958SP from the factory so if the old model was using a paste this might be part of the difference too.

I have this Jonsbo Z20 on the shelf, but I'm going to go with the Mechanic Master C26 for the SFF portable 2026 project. Z20 = ~20.1lL vs the C26 = 13.2l. Both support mATX.The C26 doesn't support an AIO but I was going to go with the Thermalright AXP-120-X67 I have brand new on my shelf anyhow or a max height ~130mm air cooler if needed. C26 supports up to ~310mm length GPU so the GB WF OC SFF 5080 should fit as it is exactly the length of the FE edition (304mm) and ~2.5 slots wide (closer to 2 than 2.5). Specs: MC 7500X3D + Asrock B850M Combo deal MC Open box GB 5080 SFF Corsair SF1000 Samsung 990 Pro 2TB KB 2x24GB 8400 sticks Thermalright AXP-120-X67 Noctua NF-A9 x4 Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 PWM Sx2-PP Mechanic Master C26 Then it comes down to the C26 or Z20 The downsize from 20.2L to 13.1L is pretty massive..... C26 weighs 6.6lbs (3kg) vs the Z20 11lbs (5.5kg)....again in the land of portability pretty massive The entire buildout in the C26 will weigh right around the Alienware 18 + PSU or a hair less actually and more importantly open up carrying case room for wireless KB/M and a 18-23" portable display and be much quieter under load vs any gaming laptop out there along with being able to tune every component with no restrictions. This type of build allows a 5090FE to slot right in but with a 1080p or 1440p 18-23" portable display that is overkill. The idea is lock in 120-165hz solid fps on the go\ as quiet as possible. This Windforce sff 5080 is much quieter under load than my Vanguard 5090. I'll probably end up with a Noctua NF-A12 on whatever cooler ends up end game on the CPU. I don't think a tuned 7500X3D will hold back a 5080 especially at 1440p, but if I do find it is a bottleneck, I will shift my 9800X3D into it and then sort out my desktop core system again. C26: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's that positivity!! 🤣 Good set of baseline data though to see how it fares over the coming months/year. Are you going to routinely test the connection with a firm push check from time to time or leave it completely alone and see how the integrity potentially gives up the ghost? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Curious to see your results with the A die swapped in and hopefully the warranty extension can be applied to really bring it home. There is always the chance of a poor IMC even on a laptop unit so fingers crossed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember to pre-order your ROG 20th edition bundle to get the 20th edition 5090 Astral since it isn't being offered stand alone for only $5499.99...... "Only" $10,349.96 or $11k+ after tax.... https://eshop.asus.com/us/90yv0nf3-mvaa00-rog-astral-rtx5090-p32g-edition-20.html Don't forget you still need a CPU, memory and storage too.... might as push for a $15k build at this point....

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/274990/274990 https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/273887/gigabyte-rtx5080-16384-250110-2 This should work. 450w from Aorus, should make all fans work and has a higher default boost. If not maybe Gaming OC, same 450w but lower boost by default. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/273730/gigabyte-rtx5080-16384-250108

Maybe another variant would wake up the non-functional fan. This is the XOC 450W vBIOS I use on the Prime 5080 and all three fans work. The one not working is near the I/O so that is a more critical fan being close to the die and VRM. But, it certainly will not matter when blocked. Absolutely. I have hated having to use the EVC2 for voltage control. It is a cool mod from a hardware geek perspective, but a real pain in the butt to have to implement, and we should not have to. All GPUs should function like a K|NGP|N or HOF GPU. I'd love it if we could get the power limits unlocked (adjustable) or simply removed (increased to something more than the GPU can ever pull, like 5000W) using software to avoid having to shunt mod. The risk involved with that kind of geeky fun (and loss of warranty) loses appeal when GPUs cost two to five times what they are actually worth. If it is done with software, there is no way to prove or enforce a warranty that excludes overclocked hardware that fails for reasons that have nothing to do with overclocking.

so guys, for easier follow-ups here the author profile on overclock.net as well as his newly set up GitHub page for the magical mVolt tool that lets us unleash our GPUs via software ONLY 🙂 overclock.net profile: https://www.overclock.net/members/b00nza.701858/?filter_threads=1&filter_replies=1#activity GitHub: https://github.com/b00nz/mVolt/ latest version now supports profiles, profile set at logon, V/F curve editor and other UI tweaks. i did a quick check last night, both Xbar and GPU Core Voltage adjustments work flawlessly on the fly, same with Clock offsets for Xbar, Core, vRAM. like....no need for anything else anymore, really 😄

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.

I think I forgot to mention... Given the unsavory trajectory of GPU pricing, I grabbed another 5080 on sale from Microcenter last week for $1100 and snagged the last one available. I put the Prime 5080 in the SFF living room build because the Gigabyte Windforce OC I snagged has a higher core voltage and crossbar clock and I want it in one of my preferred builds. That's still more than a 5080 should cost, but about $400 less than the asinine price most are selling for and it's not going to get better anytime soon. I rationalized spending less on something that I don't need right now versus paying an undetermined amount more later when I do need it. I also think it might be easier to source a waterblock for the Windforce that isn't selling for an idiotic price. I could only find one option for the Prime, and the price was totally unacceptable. Paying current 5090 prices is a fool's errand and I will have no part of it. Utterly insane and absolutely not worth it, even by a long stretch of the imagination. The price-to-performance math and logic simply does not work for 5090 at current prices.

The pleasure is mutual, brother. I am super excited for you and I can hardly wait for you to get the stuff in your hands. Having everything under water is going to be a real game-changer. I think my next purchase may need to be a block for the 5080 Prime if I can find one that isn't absurdly overpriced. I do not like anything being air cooled if I can avoid it and GPUs put off a ton of heat into a chassis.

Always a pleasure buying from you @Mr. Fox. Personally it's much less stress buying from you since you know what's under the hood and no post-sale shenanigans from me. Here's hoping your next project will scratch that itch just as mine will for me! A bit of a laugh but I actually tried to get a second opinion from my good friend Hiew to talk me out of reaching out to Brother Fox. He just straight up told me I was buying it before I even said anything. He's been so happy with the previous bundle I bought from Fox so that it comes up semi-regularly the performance compared to the 5800X3D for anything he does. From time to time he's downloading at 5Gbps and just giggles as the cpu gets to work. 5800X3D pretty much took care of all my needs but I did like the idea of the 9950x3d2. I have been too busy with work to know Mr Fox even had this chip but more than happy to buy it from him. Outside of our circle I probably wouldn't even consider it. Time to pick up a waterblock for the 9070 XT everything on my pc will be under water now. I may take some time off from work to get everything set up.

So Asus is sending me an Asus X870E Crosshair Dark Hero all shiny new to evaluate and add to my collection which is nice. I'm going to hold off on putting the 9850X3D delidded combo in the current MB in LM form and do it all up with the revamped edition. Glad I found out before I tore down my current system to install it. Still might pop it in but with just paste for now because that's quick and easy to collect some baseline data. Wonder if I can get sent one of their newer AIOs that interface directly to the MB connectors? 🤪 My original Crosshair Hero is solid but the LCD is flickering a little (common problem) so I could RMA it for a new one or at least a repaired one to then sell off with the 9800X3D. I could also just switch the wifey to AM5 and sell off the 14900KS SP109, much needed to be retired Asus Strix-A Z690 (loose USB ports in the rear) and B-die 2x16 G.Skill 4000 sticks. Does anyone in this thread still run a 13900k/14900k besides @Talon and I? -------------------------------------------------------- I saw that over there, congrats brother! Definitely looking forward to the lid and delid results! It's a top notch sample and best way, just like @Talon, to get the most out of it. I'm working on it, lol. I think I want my ram water cooled equally as much as the CPU at this point. Even with a fan, temps are an issue 8000+. I suspect they could even provide a little bit of help on the low end too. Still being able to game at 5.8 is damn nice and that is with just auto scaling and no fine tuning. Power and thermal reductions must be nice too. With credit flexibility, why not return it all and give a 270k a whirl to compare and contrast? Worse case, you return it and pick up another AM5. 270k would definitely be cheaper. At the very least, return the 9950X3D2 and try another one. Sorry the job situation hasn't resolved itself yet but at least you have a good side job that seems to be paying dividends atm. Man, that's a lot of cars lol. What do you do with them exactly?

Just saw you grabbed that SP98! I honestly debated grabbing it too. But this SP97 is so good already, I have no complaints with it. I'm able to game at 5.8Ghz P and 5.3Ghz E on this beast. @electrosoft 5.85Ghz P passed gaming for the short bit I tested, but got angry in geekbench of all things. This was all with no manual core voltage tuning though, just auto scaling. Percentage wise for gaming, over my SP89, it's about 5% faster in some tests for gaming. Nothing amazing, but what you'd expect from the clock speed bumps.

I sent him a PM asking for his PayPal. If he has not quietly sold it already I will buy it. Probably not a smart move, but most things we are passionate about produce behaviors that are not very intelligent. Too bad I already sent the delidder tool and heater back. This will drive me to sell the parts I had offered to @tps3443 to pay for it and fund the replacement motherboard, etc. I honestly have not had time to put either the delidded 270K or delidded 9950X3D2 through their paces to say definitive gains in performance were achieved, but the massive thermal improvements alone made it worth the effort in both cases. I've had too many competing interests consuming my time. I'm going to expect decent performance gains on the 270K. I'd not expect as much from AMD simply because things are so limited by design by AMD. But I would delid them both again in a heartbeat just for the thermal gains even if nothing changed on either one in terms of performance. Bare die is the only way to fly. I need you to build a custom loop and stop settling for an AIO, brother. Since he spent more than I am offering to sell him the parts for he could come out ahead moneywise and with a better and stronger system if he were to return what he bought and use the money to pay for it. But, maybe the return window already closed. No matter the situation, I respect the decision to say no for the reasons that he did. Priorities are always God, family, work, play... in that order... and the first two are hard to separate. If the last two get out of order everything falls apart.

SP97 with just Noctua AIO. Was around 300w and 70c for a single run. Crazy good silicon.

@tps3443 let me know he is not able to obtain these items, so if anyone here is interested in grabbing it for $1600 let me know. If not I may list in the marketplace at oc.net for probably $1800. 9950X3D (delidded) IceMan Bare Die Block (or Thermal Grizzly Performance IHS - buyer choice) X870E Apex G.SKILL Trident Neo 6000 C26 32GB (2x16) 1.450V F5-8400J4052G24G Supercool Computer Direct Touch Memory Cooler kit

If I had not already purchased the 9950X3D2 I might have considered it, but 3x retail is too much even if it is an amazing silicon sample. It will be obsolete too soon to make it a smart buy. Kind of nutty when you think about it. No response from him yet. Crickets. I'm surprised that I didn't hear from him. I offered all of what I mentioned for $1600. You could not even buy the mobo and memory for that, not to mention all of the extras it would be like getting for free. Maybe he did not see my text message. Yeah, there is not much difference in anything except memory benchmarks to be brutally honest about it. A little bit, for sure. Not a lot. And, a little bit doesn't mean very much when it comes to gaming, and it won't mean the difference between winning or losing. A little bit really matters when you've barely got enough to make things work.

Yeah my Astral wasn’t even that great of a deal either lol. At the time they were brand new for $4,329.99 + tax and they had a single open box for like $3,779 or $3,889 + tax in the Best Buy store, I’m forgetting exactly how much it was. The box was kind of ripped a little, coil whine is not as quiet as my 5090 FE was (That one had a tiny bit, but you had to like put your ear against it to hear it, 1.2KW per limit certainly amplified it just a little bit) But the quietest GPU I ever owned was probably the 5080 Astral OC, it did not make any sound under load, even with your ear right against it lol. The 5090 Astral isn’t bad at all though but it makes a deep buzz if you lean in and try to listen to it. You won’t hear it in a closed case or anything though. Not a squeal or anything annoying at all which Is perfectly fine for me. I think most high end GPU’s will make a buzz under heavy load if you lean in close and listen to them. Too many check boxes these days to be super picky on GPU’s. Max Voltage, core overclocking ability, are 1% lows impacted with +3,000 memory OC, coil whine?, are the core and memory chips actually soldered on the board? lol, does it even work? lol. 😂 Unless something is making a high pitch squeal noise, I don’t care! Two prior products come to mind where I did care!!!. My Z590 Dark Kingpin motherboard, and EVGA power supplies lol. But yeah the Astral overclocks really well, and that’s what made me love it and decide to keep it. Excellent GPU. I’d probably long return my 9950X3D2 and Dark Hero X870 before that 5090 Astral goes anywhere!! Speaking of which that return period is coming up FAST on the AMD chip!! I may swap it out.

I am making a little more progress. This dual v-cache CPU doesn't like being rag-dolled like my other CPUs. It is more sensitive. That's not a good thing, but it is good I am starting to better understand what it can tolerate, and when I treat it kinder and gentler it performs better.

Ah, then that wouldn't work for me. I like to float between projects in flux and know I always have something to work on at any given time. I can see that approach would drive you batty. My wife is a completest to the point she can have problems falling asleep if something she is working on isn't completed. She'll lay there and think about it. She will be dog tired (even now) and can't stop till something she's working on around the house is completed. Me? I can shut down my brain and disconnect. I had to learn to do it years ago because as a programmer, I couldn't turn off my brain even after work. I would sit there or lay in bed with code just dancing through my head to the point I would have to get up and keep working. A lesser form would take hold in any hardware or software (or even gaming) projects I did back then. Took awhile, but I was able to translate that into everything I do and learn to shut down and then turn it back on the next day. Agreed, we didn't know how "good" we had it back then but AI and generated scarcity is driving record profits. Companies are charging these prices but I see everything in stock in abundance on the consumer side except 5090s which are in the single digits at MC so the wall has been hit for everything 5080 and below. Cheapest is the $3599 Ventus..... Those two Gigabyte Infinity OC 5090s at my local MC are still in stock after all this time at $5299.99. Biggest shock was I haven't checked Best Buy stock in quite some time. Only two 5090s in stock. The $3999 MSI gaming and $4329 Astral. Newegg cheapest in stock is $4149 TUF 5090 with a very limited selection.... I mean....sheesh.... 5080s? Plenty in stock everywhere but prices are still going to rise across the entire stack outside of the 5090 which does its own insane thing.... https://videocardz.com/newz/msi-and-colorful-announce-rtx-50-price-increases-for-distributors-rtx-5070-ti-now-starts-38-over-msrp Incoming MSI and Colorful price hikes: It will take a bit, but as always these prices will hit everywhere else and in the US prices will just adjust up with some retailers adjusting in the now even with current stock on hand because....profits.... Glad I snagged that $983 open box 5080 when I did last week. Same as snagging that $1971 Vanguard 5090 last August. The market is reaching a point where inventory is just going to stagnate because even at current pricing clearly cards aren't moving same as ram and storage. Crap tons of stock everywhere..... Something has to give and when this crashes, I hope it is spectacular...

Hello. I'm new to this group, but I am not new to computers.

Saw that too. The IMC has me saying nah lol. Besides my current chip has been flawless at 5.7Ghz P, maybe that chip could do 5.8? Maybe. The thing about SP, is that the number doesn't always tell the full story. Sometimes chips just fail to scale with the voltage headroom they should have left.

thats how i roll 😄 nah man, 100% hands off. WVPII totally provides peace of mind, let it run in the background and do its thing until an alarm gets triggered 🙂

ok so i figured since im having so much fun with RE Requiem and it draws an insane amount of wattage ill test my current GPU cable connection thoroughly and provide you the summary for comparison / reference sake. so total of 5 gaming sessions recorded with HWInfo64, threw out all data points below 95% gpu core load and anything below 600W for both total gpu power, as well as 12VHPWR only. that left me with approx. 7.5h of data with a monitoring frequency of 1s (27,215 data points total). the game was maxed out with RT and PT at 4K, no FG and DLSS set to Quality. as mentioned before im rocking the matrix vbios as a daily driver with a 24/7 stable OC of 34Gbps vRAM and +130 on the core, that gives me gaming clocks in the range of approx. 3060 Mhz +/- 30. ambient temps are currently quite high, were talking about 27-28C in my little "dad corner" 😄 gpu core is in the range of 68-73C under load, vRAM hotspot a tad higher at 70-76C and GPU hotspot approx. 85C on avg. with short spikes up to 93-94C (top 10% are in the range of 88-90C). FPS avg 102.9 1%% low 72.4 0.1% low 67.8 Total GPU Power avg 703W 10% high 761W 1% high 775W MAX 799W 12VHPWR Power avg 688W 10% high 744W 1% high 753W MAX 758W (interesting to see that as 12VHPWR wattage approaches the vbios limit at 800W, the gap to the total gpu power widens, thus the PCIe slot starts to draw more and more power, on avg. only 15W but the max spike is at 41W). Max Delta Current across 6 pins avg 1.06 A 10% high 1.99 A 1 % high 2.57 A MAX 3.3 A (stock setting for alarm in WVPII software is 4A) Max Delta Current across 6 pins (%) avg +11% 10% high +22% 1% high +29% MAX +35% (stock setting for alarm in WVPII software is +40%) this is how it should be, with even the absolute max individual data points still below the alarm threshold (which only comes into play if you get repeated, sequential limit breaches in a row, so a single data point spike aint enough to trigger it). this will provide a nice baseline once this cable inevitably gives out on me an ill need to test a fresh install / cable to compare 😄